Thinking Together about School Exclusion

This workshop aims to provide a space for teachers, pre-service teachers, and education support staff to come together and think collectively about school exclusion. The workshop is organised by a group of critical educators and scholars from Naarm who recognise school exclusion to be an entrenched, systemic problem and represents our first experiment into a collective response to addressing it.

• PURPOSE: The purpose of this workshop is to recognise and map the various forms and practices of exclusion in present-day schooling and the effects this has on students, teachers, school staff, schools, communities, and society more broadly. Teachers and education support staff will have the chance to think through and discuss alternative approaches that teachers, school staff, and school communities could take to avoid practices of school exclusion and explore some of the resources available to support teachers and school communities in doing so.

• AUDIENCE: Please note that whilst we recognise there is growing interest and commitment to alternative approaches to school exclusion, this workshop is reserved for teachers, pre-service teachers, and education support staff. Please contact us ('Contact host' section below) if you are unable to attend this workshop but you are interested in future workshops and events.

• WORKSHOP FORMAT: The workshop will be held in-person and participatory, providing teachers, pre-service teachers, and education support staff with the chance to think through the issue of school exclusion and alternatives collectively. Please note online attendance is not available for this workshop.

• ACCESSIBILITY: Please note the venue is wheelchair accessible including toilets and is located near a wheelchair accessible tram stop. Unfortunately we will not be able to organise Auslan interpreting for this event. If you would like to bring your children to this event we will have some art materials set up in the room and children are welcome to be with us in our activities.

Doors will open at 10:15am for a 10:30am start. Tickets are $5 (minimum) for wage-earners whose communities are not directly impacted by school exclusion. Tickets are free for those who are unwaged and/or those whose communities are directly impacted by school exclusion. Money collected from ticket sales will be donated to Olive Kids, a foundation providing financial aid, healthcare, education, and other support to children living in Palestine.

Please note tickets are limited due to physical space restrictions; if you can no longer attend, please cancel your ticket.

We acknowledge the Wurundjeri-Woiwurrung people of the Kulin Nations, who are the Traditional Custodians and Owners of the lands on which the in-person event is located. We recognise their continued connection to their land and waters they have taken care of for thousands of generations. We pay our respects to Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. We remain committed to centring Indigenous people, their knowledges, and right to self-determination. It always was and always will be Aboriginal land.