Walking Alongside First Nations Students
Across Australia, too many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students are navigating an education system that was not designed with them in mind.
While progress has been made, significant gaps remain. Approximately one in three First Nations young people do not complete Year 12 or equivalent studies. Many face barriers, including distance, limited resources, and a lack of culturally safe learning environments. For students in regional and remote communities, these challenges can be even more pronounced.
Behind these statistics are young people with ambition, intelligence, and a deep connection to culture. What is often missing is not potential, but access; not capability, but opportunity.
It is within this context that Mary Ward International, the Loreto Sisters, and the Aurora Education Foundation (Aurora) have come together in partnership to establish the Indigenous Education Scholarship Fund.
Aurora is a First Nations organisation dedicated to supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students to achieve their educational and employment goals on their own terms. At the centre of its approach is a simple belief: education is strongest when it is grounded in culture, identity, and community.
This shared commitment comes to life through Aurora’s High School Program. From Year 7 through to life beyond school, students receive tutoring, mentoring and practical resources. Elders, mentors and staff walk alongside them, helping to strengthen identity, build confidence, and navigate pathways to further study and employment.
For many students, this support is what makes the difference. It creates the conditions for students to remain engaged in school and begin imagining futures that feel possible.
Alongside this, the Redefining Indigenous Success in Education (RISE) Project is listening more deeply. It follows the journey of hundreds of students to understand which factors truly support success. Academic learning, cultural connection, and wellbeing are all part of the picture. These insights will help shape more effective and responsive education pathways for future generations.
For Mary Ward International, this partnership continues a long-held commitment. Education has always been at the heart of the Loreto tradition. It is not simply about learning, it is about dignity, justice, and the freedom to shape one’s own future.
At the heart of this work is a shared understanding: lasting change begins by listening and walking alongside communities as they shape their futures.
“First Nations young women already carry knowledge, resilience and vision for their futures. Our task is not to direct them, but to listen, to walk beside them, and to support the paths they choose. In working with Aurora, we are reminded that education is not an act of charity, it is justice in action,” said Sr Libby Rogerson CJ.
Over the next six years, this partnership will accompany hundreds of students as they move through school and beyond. It will strengthen connections between families, communities and education, while contributing to a growing understanding of what meaningful, culturally grounded learning looks like in practice.
And when young women are supported to learn, lead, and shape their own futures, the impact reaches far beyond the classroom – because strong women build strong comunities.