The Northern Territory (NT) faces a critical shortage of Aboriginal school teachers, despite having the highest proportion of Aboriginal students in Australia. Many of these students consistently perform below national educational benchmarks. Research indicates that increasing the number of Aboriginal teachers can positively affect student outcomes. 

This report presents findings from an Australian Centre for Student Equity and Success (ACSES) Fellowship study, Increasing the Number of Aboriginal Teachers in the NT: Planning for the Future, which explored how teaching is perceived as a career by Aboriginal senior secondary students and current Aboriginal teachers. The study also examined strategies to promote teaching as a viable and appealing profession, including the use of participants’ own words and perspectives to inform culturally relevant promotional materials.

Key findings

• Teaching should be promoted more proactively as a career choice to Aboriginal people with culturally relevant messages.
• Positive impacts of teaching – such as benefits for Aboriginal students and communities – should be clearly communicated.
• Aboriginal people bring unique cultural knowledge and understandings that are highly conducive to teaching.
• More Aboriginal teachers should be supported and recognised as role models, alongside clear information about training pathways and opportunities.

Key recommendations

• Promoting teaching as a career: Aboriginal students should be given culturally relevant information about what teaching involves, its benefits and pathways into teacher training.
• Role models and mentors: more Aboriginal teachers should be supported to share their stories as role models and systems of mentoring should be developed to guide aspiring teachers.
• Clear pathways: information about pathways should be accessible, alongside clear guidance on requirements such as Year 12 completion and literacy/numeracy proficiency.
• Targeted encouragement: schools, training providers and universities should apply targeted approaches to encourage more young Aboriginal people to consider teaching.