Ben Lewis is the director of the Dandjoo Darbalung Indigenous access program at St Catherine's College in WA. The program enables Indigenous people to access college and tertiary education at Perth's five leading universities. Dandjoo Darbalung provides a wrap-around pastoral, cultural and academic program for Indigenous students so they can be successful at university. With community support, Dandjoo Darbalung has delivered amazing results, improving academic outcomes for First Nations students. In this episode, Ben, originally a secondary teacher, talks about his experience completing his prac and working in a rural setting in Newman, WA. He also talks about the unique challenges faced by Aboriginal students when it comes to accessing tertiary education. Ben discusses the need for more Aboriginal professionals in the community, and how the program he oversees supports aboriginal students to reach their academic goals. Want to find out more about closing the gap? The 2020 Closing the Gap Report outlines progress against targets set in 2008. It marks the twelfth time a report is tabled in Parliament on progress toward Closing the Gap. Join us in our new For the Love of Teaching Facebook group, where we chat about the podcast, feature live vids of guests, and talk teaching! Have you subscribed to For the Love of Teaching? Don't forget! It means you'll be the first to know whenever a new episode is released. For the Love of Teaching is a podcast by Teach Starter. We make quality, downloadable teaching resources that save teachers hours of time and make their classrooms buzz!  

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