Utyerre Apanpe, the First Nations education network, is the cultural authority guided by Elders, designed, and led by First Nations people to support and drive the change to reform the Australian education system.

Since 2019, over 100 First Nations educators from over 60 Nations and language groups across Australia have been engaged in the Utyerre Apanpe network forums and the First Nations education movement.

This Network of First Nations’ Elders, cultural professors, and senior educators, qualified in both cultural and western education, regularly gather to discuss the state of education for First Nations children, and to highlight the system of learning, teaching and practice inherent in First Nations cultural law, which has been practised for over 65,000 years. It is proven and backed by the United Nations* and World Bank as the best option for our children and people to be lifelong, active, and inspired learners.

For Utyerre Apanpe members, the next phase of the cultural authority’s remit is to nationally share and recognise the foundation for this shared learning the Dr M.K. Turner Report– Apmerengentyela, From the Land. As one of the initiators of Utyerre Apanpe, the legacy of Dr Turner and many other Elders who stood with her, has provided the pathway for the movement to grow and continue to be a force in First Nations Education system rights. This Report was led by founding Elder, Dr. Turner, who was at the forefront of First Nations language and education for fifty years. She articulated Amperengentyele as the system of learning that comes from the First Nations’ world view.

The Report was developed with Utyerre Apanpe, and recommends recognition and resourcing by Federal, State and Territory governments of a stand-alone First Nations model of education to be available nationally for all Indigenous communities. This model will acknowledge and privilege a First Nations’ way of thinking, learning and governance.

Dr M.K. Turner OAM was a celebrated Elder and leader of the Arrernte nation. She passed away two weeks before her Report was launched. She was a recognised educational leader and dedicated her life to protecting First Nations systems of knowledge, learning and language.

For decades, Elders have been calling for recognition of a First Nations learning system that has been successfully practised on this continent for millennia.

Join the Utyerre Apanpe movement and the call of action to the Government to invest in and support the recommendations of the MK Turner Report:

1. Australian governments commit to the establishment of a new First Nations education system.
2. Strong First Nations governance is developed around the new First Nations education system.
3. Australian governments support the teaching of First Nations languages in the new system, through a new national Language of Instruction (LoI) policy.
4. Establish a national network of First Nations Language and Literacy Centres to support the new Apmerengentyele education system by maintaining local Indigenous languages.
5. Develop and support a First Nations education workforce.
6. Establish the M.K. Turner Institute as a national centre for First Nations knowledge, practice, research and evaluation in the Apmerengentyele education system.

*The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) Article 14 – Right to Education, guides Utyerre Apanpe’s purpose.