Chris Sarra on Indigenous Education

Dr Chris Sarra is one of the most outspoken and recognised educators in Australia today. He’s experienced many of the issues faced by indigenous students throughout their schooling first-hand – including a crippling lack of belief in their ability to succeed. He has set out to change the toxic tide of low expectations of Indigenous children in schools throughout Australia.

As outlined in his memoir Good Morning, Mr Sarra, Chris established the Stronger Smarter Institute in 2009, which strives to share its nationally acclaimed ‘strong and smart’ philosophy with other school and community leaders throughout Australia.

Chris espouses a strong and positive sense of what it means to be Aboriginal in today’s Australian society and proves that indigenous students can achieve outcomes comparable to other students. His unwavering optimism and his unfaltering passion and enthusiasm for indigenous education, overcoming negative perceptions of indigenous students, and the need for high expectations in schools, is undeniable and contagious.

Lunchbox/Soapbox

Sometimes there’s nothing better than a good rant. Every Thursday, the Wheeler Centre hosts an old-fashioned Speakers’ Corner in the middle of the city, where writers and thinkers can have their say on the topics that won’t let them sleep at night.

Featuring some of our most compelling voices across just about every sector of human endeavour you can imagine, the themes dominating Lunchbox/Soapbox are proudly idiosyncratic. BYO lunch. Ideas provided.