We recognise the transformative power of education in our lives and communities. Education enables us to assert self-determination, improve health outcomes, create employment opportunities, and strengthen our communities.

Yet Australia has the fourth most socially segregated education systems in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and that inequity is only growing. This reality disproportionality affects our mob, as education in Australia has been used as a tool to assimilate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples - taking us from our cultures, languages and family. This history continues to impact our communities and influence the education systems available to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander learners today.

In 2015, with the support of the UN Secretary General's Global Education First Initiative Youth Advocacy Group and the Asia South Pacific Association for Basic and Adult Education, Hayley McQuire held a National Indigenous Youth Education Advocacy Workshop to establish a network of young mob to understand to share collective experiences and rethink the future of education. The gathering brought together 19 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people from around Australia.

From that workshop came a powerful Call to Action, outlining the changes young people wanted to see in the education system. It became clear that greater work needed to be done to ensure that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people are engaged in the decisions made about their education, and supported to become the next generation of education leaders who will redefine and reimagine education.

Out of this shared vision, the delegates formed the National Indigenous Youth Education Coalition to drive this work forward.