CEIEC Keynote: Chris Sarra

Bio

"Director of the new Indigenous Education Leadership Institute. Dr Sarra is well known as the former principal of Cherbourg State School whose students made significant literacy and numeracy improvements while absenteeism dropped by 94% during his tenure. Dr Sarra, 2004 Queenslander of the year, holds a Master of Education in School Guidance and Counselling from QUT and is now Director of the new Indigenous Education Leadership Institute. In 2003 he won the Australian of the Year, Regional Local Hero Award for Queensland, and was named in the Bulletin's Smartest 100 people in Australia, which saw him recognised as one of the top 10 educators in the country. In 2004 he was named the Suncorp Metway 'Queenslander of the Year', and was also presented with a 'Deadly' Award for his contribution to Indigenous Education. Also in 2004 he received the QUT Faculty of Education Alumnus Award, and the Vice Chancellor's Outstanding Alumnus Award. " Quote taken from Grant's website.

Abstract

Transforming Aboriginal Identity through Transforming Mindsets

In his address Dr Sarra will comment on the that schools and teachers can play in transforming the lives and identity of Aboriginal children so they can actively engage in the pursuit of stronger smarter educational outcomes. Dr Sarra will identify specific beliefs and attitudes that must be challenged if the rhetoric about improving outcomes for Indigenous children is to approach reality. In this address Dr Sarra will not theorise about things that might work, but rather, reflect on his time as a leading educational practitioner, a researcher, and as an Aboriginal man, to provide some specific insights
into how he transformed identity and mindsets of teachers and Aboriginal children to result in a 94% reduction in unexplained absenteeism within 18 months; a 93% real attendance rate at school; improved student literacy and numeracy performance; and dramatically improved student self esteem.