Will American and Canadian indigenous literacy strategies work in Northern Australia?
That’s the question driving Associate Professor Tess Lea, winner of a prestigious Churchill Fellowship, as she begins a three-month academic tour of North America, visiting Canadian and American universities.
Tess is committed to improving the literacy and numeracy standards of Indigenous children living in the Northern Territory. On this trip she will investigate what world-renowned experts are doing in the fields of educational research, policy and practice.
Through connections with these international peers, Tess hopes to learn from the North American experience, and decide whether any of their strategies match the Territory’s needs.
Tess returns to Darwin in mid-May, to present a paper in the School for Social and Policy Research seminar series, at CDU’s Casuarina campus on May 24.
Churchill fellowships are awarded each year to Australians who ‘like Churchill, are innovative, filled with a spirit of determination, and who possess a strong ethos of wanting to benefit the community rather than themselves as individuals, and who recognise that with opportunity comes responsibility' (Churchill Memorial Trust).