Charles Darwin University’s Graduate School for Health Practice has won over $200,000 in a competitive tender to develop a Bachelor of Midwifery targeted at Indigenous students.
The 'Indigenous Pathways to Midwifery' project provides opportunities for Indigenous women with non traditional academic backgrounds to build academic skills and confidence to succeed in tertiary study. It will also develop a Bachelor of Midwifery curriculum, the first in the Northern Territory.
Professor Lesley Barclay, Co-Director of the Graduate School for Health Practice, said this was a very important project that will accelerate Indigenous professional development opportunities and provide for skilled clinical leadership from Indigenous women in maternity care.
"We are delighted about this opportunity,” Professor Barclay said. “We very much look forward to working with education colleagues in the University to provide specialised input into the program and collaboration with partners from the Northern Territory Department of Health and Community Services, Danila Dilba, the Larrakia Nation, Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Training and Education and the Australian College of Midwives in this endeavour."
The project is funded by the Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST) as part of the Cross Sectoral Lighthouse Project. These projects aim to develop successful Indigenous higher education projects to increase participation of Indigenous students in higher education.
The project will directly address long standing midwifery skills shortages and address these in rural and remote Australia, where they are most acute and where the outcomes of poor standard health care are most seriously felt.
For further information contact Lesley Barclay on 08 8946 6974 or email lesley.barclay@cdu.edu.au.