Growing-Our-Own – Interfacing AUQA’s Audit Report, University Policies and the Bradley Report
Professor Alison Elliott Dr June Slee Head of School Education, Charles Darwin University, Northern Territory, Australia
Senior Lecturer, Charles Darwin University, Northern Territory, Australia Abstract In 2005, the Australian Universities Quality Agency undertook a quality audit of Charles Darwin University. Its recommendations for improving the university’s community engagement in remote regions have informed the delivery, objectives and pedagogic underpinnings of Growing-Our-Own, an initial teacher education program. Developed jointly in 2008 by Charles Darwin University and Catholic Education Northern Territory, Growing-Our-Own educates to teacher qualification level, teacher assistants who live and work in remote Indigenous Catholic Community Schools of the Northern Territory. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how the university and school authority partnership has combined the external recommendations of AUQA’s Audit Report with the university’s internally audited policies to synergise two-way community engagement with remote Indigenous schools. Growing-Our-Own was developed to address serious issues facing Indigenous education, particularly workforce capacity, succession planning and standards. These issues are summarised as a background to the paper. External and internal measures to ensure the program’s quality are identified and discussed within its pedagogical paradigm. In conclusion, the extent to which GrowingOur-Own affirms aspects of the Review of Australian Higher Education: Final Report (Bradley Report, December, 2008) are considered, and the wider implications of this are discussed. Keywords: Growing-Our-Own, AUQA’s Audit Report of Charles Darwin University, The Bradley Report