Date and time 

Wednesday 7 August 2024, 4.00 pm to 6.00 pm 

Delivery mode 

Online – a Zoom link will be provided 24 hours prior to the event 

Audience  

Teacher, Library Technician, Leader 

Description 

Looking to register more than one person? Contact us at isLearn to arrange a group discount for your school.

Transform your classroom or school library into a source of respectful and inclusive information for teachers, students and community members. School libraries can contain resources that perpetuate overt and covert racist ideas which can be difficult for students and teachers to identify. Learn to consider First Nations perspectives, apply an anti-racist lens, and enhance your resource evaluation knowledge and skills with the AIATSIS Guide to selecting and evaluating educational resources. Join our professional learning event to explore exciting ways to decolonise and improve your school or classroom resource collection. 

‘Future teachers, nurses, doctors, police, lawyers and politicians are in our schools today. Culturally responsive and racially literate pedagogy is essential for a more equitable tomorrow.’ 

- Sharon Davis | Director Education, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies cited in AITSL Indigenous Cultural Competency in the Australian Teacher Workforce Discussion Paper 2020. 

Key takeaways 

• a conceptual and practical understanding of anti-racism and how it applies to library collections
• understanding of why considering the positionality of authors is essential to decolonising library collections
• learn more about the AIATSIS Resource Evaluation Framework
• strategies to apply the Framework to the selection and evaluation of educational resources. 

Presenter information 

Shaz Davis

Sharon (they/them) is non-binary and from both Bardi and Kija peoples of the Kimberley, Western Australia.

They completed a Bachelor of Education at the University of Notre Dame Broome, specialising in Aboriginal Education, and graduated with an MSc in Applied Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition from the University of Oxford, UK.

Sharon was the inaugural Director of Education at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, and previously led Aboriginal Education across 164 schools for Catholic Education Western Australia.

Sharon is a current board member of Reconciliation Australia, the Stronger Smarter Institute and the Aurora Education Foundation. Previous board and advisory group appointments include the Roberta Sykes Indigenous Education Foundation, Indigenous Education & Boarding Australia, and the AITSL Advisory Group for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education.

Julie Bover

Julie (she/her) is an early childhood and primary school teacher, and an advocate for social justice in education. Her particular areas of expertise are equitable education for First Nations people and LGBTIQA+ support in education institutions and systems.

She holds a Bachelor of Education in Early Childhood Teaching and a Master of Education from the University of Canberra.

Julie teaches casually in primary schools and has over a decade of teaching experience in early childhood and primary classrooms, as well as time as an approved provider of her own family daycare service and with Reconciliation Australia’s Narragunnawali team.

She supports and leads others from a values and ethics based perspective to support a more just society through education.

Julie is an active member of the LGBTQIA+ community and a current board member of A Gender Agenda.

Link(s) to relevant VRQA Standards

• Curriculum and Student Learning – Student learning outcomes​

• Care, Safety and Welfare of Students – Safe environment​