Abstract

Education is often described as the single most important key in turning around social disadvantage and economic marginalisation as well as in bolstering cultural affirmation and environmental care. And yet, do current policy settings in education meet the needs and aspirations of Australia’s First Nations? Current outcomes in education remain a source of ongoing concern. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people remain more likely to leave school early and less likely to go to university.

Is it time for a lifelong learning policy in Australia to secure First Nations people’s rights to an education that is, with, and by them? Is it time for positive disruption?

Bio

Tony Dreise is a proud descendent of the Guumilroi and Euahlayi peoples of north-west New South Wales and south-west Queensland.

Tony is the Director of the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research and Professor of Indigenous Policy at the Australian National University. Tony undertook his PhD at CAEPR where he explored the relationship between Australian philanthropy and Indigenous education. He holds both a Bachelor of Teaching degree and a Masters of Public Administration.

Over the past twenty-five years, Tony has served in a number of professional capacities including as a senior executive in government, a regional director in Indigenous education, and a national executive in Indigenous adult education and youth training connected to the then Australian National Training Authority. In more recent years, he served as the former Hub Leader and Principal Research Fellow for Indigenous Education at the Australian Council for Educational Research. Tony has also worked with the OECD in identifying promising practices in Indigenous education internationally.

Tony is a passionate advocate of both lifelong learning and regional development. At a national level, he is a former Board Member of Adult Learning Australia and a former Member of the National Vocational Training Equity Advisory Council. At a regional level, Tony has volunteered in a number of regional capacities including as both President of the Northern Rivers Social Development Council NSW and Deputy Chair of the Northern Rivers Board of Regional Development Australia.

Tony’s work in Indigenous education has appeared in both Australian and international publications and conferences. His work at a national level has included analysis of how Indigenous children and young people are faring in Australian education. Tony is a firm believer that Indigenous education results will only improve through sustained and continuous improvement within education institutions and within the wider community environments in which children and young people live. As such, he has been keen to advance theories and programs in ‘whole child’ development, ‘place-based’ investment, and institutionalised and de-institutionalised equity.

Media

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