Increasing the number of Aboriginal teachers in the Northern Territory is more challenging than it appears, writes former teacher, now Charles Darwin University academic, and Warumungu Luritja woman Dr Tracy Woodroffe.
Growing up, I always told everyone that Darwin was the best place in the world to live. The wet season, with its torrential rain easing the tropical heat and turning everything lush and green, contrasts beautifully with the dry season’s crisp, windy freshness, bright sunlight, and bustling dragonflies. This is where I was born and grew up, surrounded by Aboriginal family, friends, and the wider community.
My decision to become a teacher was made in Year 6 at Millner Primary School, setting me on an uncommon and challenging path that would become my life’s work. Aboriginal teachers are in the minority in Australia.
Statistics and analysis
In 2020, only 1.3 per cent of Australia’s registered teachers identified as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, according to the AITSL Australian Teacher Workforce Data. In those statistics, you can see that in 2020, in the Territory, the proportion of the teacher population that identified as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander was 4.6 per cent.
In the NT in 2021, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people comprised 30.8 per cent of the total population (NT Government, 2025), with Aboriginal students recorded as approximately 38 per cent per population (AIHW & NIAA, 2023).
NAPLAN reporting annually describes a need for greater academic achievement.
Given these statistics, the current 4.6 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teachers is insufficient to leverage the professional and cultural knowledge needed to significantly improve Aboriginal student academic achievement. Strategies such as the More Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Teacher Initiative (MATSITI) and the Remote Aboriginal Teacher Education (RATE) program were founded on the premise that Aboriginal teachers improve Aboriginal student learning. So, it follows that if students in the Territory are still experiencing difficulties, an increase in the number of Aboriginal teachers could help to bring about positive change.
What can be done?
Increasing the number of Aboriginal teachers is more challenging than it appears. A new approach is needed to support existing programs, emphasising the cultural message that teaching is a valuable profession for Aboriginal people and greatly benefits our children. Aboriginal children need role models who inspire them to believe they can succeed in education and potentially become teachers themselves. Role model effect studies in the United States (Dee 2004; 2005) emphasise two main benefits: one, the students can see themselves represented, and two, student have a teacher who has high expectations of them.
The 2024 Australian Centre for Student Equity and Success (ACSES) First Nations Fellowship ‘Increasing the number of Aboriginal teachers in the NT; Planning for the future’ explored the concept of messaging in Aboriginal teacher recruitment. It was about finding out Aboriginal perspectives of teaching to improve promotion of the profession to Aboriginal people. You can find the research description, findings, recommendations, and resources on the project website at https://firstnationssuccess.cdu.edu.au/projects/increasing-the-number-of-aboriginal-teachers-in-the-nt/. There were a number of outputs produced including a book, for teachers to have career conversations with Aboriginal senior secondary students, called Conversation starter: Do you want to be a teacher? The text can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.25913/fz8j-jb41.
As Australians we seek new ways to overcome inequity in education in our country. The Fellowship research, while focused on the Northern Territory, offers insights that could be relevant elsewhere and applicable to other professions.
References
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare & National Indigenous Australians Agency. (2023). Measure 2.05 Education outcomes for young people, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework website. Retrieved from https://www.indigenoushpf.gov.au/measures/2-05-education-outcomes-for-young-people
Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership. (2024). In Focus: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Teachers (April 2024 ed.). https://www.aitsl.edu.au/research/australian-teacher-workforce-data/in-focus/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-teacher
Dee, T. S. (2004). Teachers, race, and student achievement in a randomized experiment. Review of Economics and Statistics, 86(1), 195–210.
Dee, T. S. (2005). A teacher like me: Does race, ethnicity, or gender matter? American Economic Review, 95(2), 15–165.
Northern Territory Government. (2025). Population characteristics. Northern Territory Economy. Retrieved May 2, 2025, from https://nteconomy.nt.gov.au/population#:~:text=Population%20characteristics,-The%20NT’s%20population&text=At%2030%20June%202021%2C%20the,remote%20and%20very%20remote%20areas.
