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With a non-Indigenous father and a mother of the Kungarakan and Yanyuwa peoples of the Northern Territory, Paulina Motlop understands the benefits of having different ‘world views’.

And the relatively new Assistant Professor in the School of Indigenous Studies (SIS), in her role in the Faculty of Education, is hoping to help student teachers consider the particular strengths and qualities of Aboriginal children they might one day encounter in their classrooms.

Her other role, in SIS, is to hone the skills of the 21 Indigenous orientation students who are undertaking a bridging year between high school and first year uni. These are students who narrowly missed getting into UWA, but who have the potential to do well here.

A/Professor Motlop has a wealth of experience to bring to these roles, thanks to her life-journey, or, in her words, her ‘frangipani dreaming’.

She was born in Darwin but at age two was brought to Perth by her parents, where she spent a western suburbs childhood, attending Cottesloe Primary School, Swanbourne High and Claremont Teachers College.

She was transferred to Darwin in her job with the then Commonwealth Education Department when she was 24, although she, her sister and three brothers had retained their cultural roots to the place and the people they had visited many times.

She taught physical education in the same Darwin primary school her children attended (they are now 28, 25 and 21) before taking on leadership roles in other Darwin schools including ones that serviced a low socio-economic area and another which had the highest population of Indigenous students of any school in the region.

She was also an educational officer in the Territory, responsible for physical education in 14 schools.

These experiences confirmed for her that Aboriginal children are often misunderstood by non-Indigenous teachers.

“Some Aboriginal children might have trouble with spelling because they might not hear a certain sound as it doesn’t exist in their language,” she said.

“Others might speak Aboriginal English, Australian English and two or three Aboriginal languages and have to code-switch.

“Others might have intergenerational trauma because their parents had bad experiences at school.

“We all have different personalities and different learning styles and it’s important that teachers build relationships with their students to really get to know them. The teacher can then pitch for high expectation, which doesn’t always happen.”

A/Professor Motlop believes in “flipping teacher education on its head” by graduating more Indigenous teachers and non-Indigenous teachers with cultural competency, greater understanding and appreciation of identity, perception and worldview.

“This is what is required to help Aboriginal kids go further,” she said.