ALTC Special Initiatives Grant

Dr Zubrzycki receives ALTC Special Initiatives Grant

Dr Joanna Zubrzycki, Senior Lecturer in Social Work at the Canberra Campus  is the co-recipient of an ALTC Special Initiatives Grant in the  Transition of Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander Students into Higher Education category.

The $220,000 grant will fund Indigenising Australian Social Work Education - a collaborative project by Australian Catholic University, Curtin University, NSW Health and the University of Western Australia.

In 2011 the Australian Association of Social Work will for the first time release new national educational guidelines to outline the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander curriculum content that will need to be taught in all 26 Schools of Social Work. 

The focus of the ALTC project is to develop learning and teaching strategies that will assist the 26 Schools in successfully integrating these guidelines into their curriculum.  The aim is to better prepare social work graduates to work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in a range of contexts in the human services. The development of more appropriate teaching and learning in this area also has the potential to attract and retain more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students to social work.