Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Nurse Education in Practice journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/nepr Issues for Debate Closing the gap: A whole of school approach to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander inclusivity in higher education Amanda C. Fowler a,* , Beverley Ewens a , Caroline Vafeas a , Leitha Delves d , Colleen Hayward b , Noel Nannup c , Gwen Baum a a School of Nursing and Midwifery, Edith Cowan University, Western Australia, Australia b Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Equity & Indigenous) Head of Centre Kurongkurl Katitjin, Edith Cowan University, Western Australia, Australia c Elder-in-residence, Kurongkurl Katitjin, Edith Cowan University, Western Australia, Australia d Senior Learning Designer, Centre for Learning and Teaching, Edith Cowan University, Western Australia, Australia ABSTRACT The recruitment and retention of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nurses and midwives is key to the delivery of culturally appropriate health care and improving the health outcomes of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. A working group to address inclusion and engagement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students at a West Australian University has impacted on the curricula, faculty staff and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students within the School of Nursing and Midwifery. The University's Reconciliation Action Plan was the foundation and catalysed the group to promote cultural safety education for staff and provide inclusive activities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. A conceptual framework was developed to demonstrate the action taken within the School of Nursing and Midwifery to address the inequity for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students that could be seen to exist. Through collaboration with staff and students, both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and non- Aboriginal people, a shared understanding and goal setting has developed to enable positive action to provide ongoing support for these students at all parts of their journey in higher education. This paper will highlight the process involved to promote the recruitment, retention and academic success of these students. 1. Introduction Indigenous Australians, also referred to as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islanders are a group of people that inhabited Australia and its surroundings pre-dating European settlement. In 2011, there were 669,900 people identified as being of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander origin on the Australian census constituting 3% of total Australian population (Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), 2011). Relative to the non-Aboriginal population; this group of people ex- perience disadvantages in education and employment, and dispropor- tionate levels of poor health and welfare benefits, disease prevalence, and social and emotional wellbeing because of complex inter-related causes (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), 2011). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people's life expectancy is 10–12 years less than the non-Aboriginal Australian population (Best and Fredericks, 2014). End stage renal failure is ten times more likely to occur for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders than non- Aboriginal people, and in 2009 was the most common reason for hospital admission in this population (Stumpers and Thomson, 2013). The Australian Government has committed to reducing the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' health disadvantage with the im- plementation of national strategies and local initiatives to ensure all Australian citizens have equal access to health, social and educational resources and opportunities. Nurses and midwives are at the forefront of health care delivery and are usually the first point of access by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people for their health care needs yet Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nurses and midwives continue to be significantly un- derrepresented in the workforce (Best and Stuart, 2014). In 2015 only 1.1% of the nursing and midwifery workforce comprised nurses and midwives who identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islanders (CATSINaM, 2015). The recruitment and retention of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nurses and midwives is key to the delivery of culturally appropriate health care and improving the health outcomes of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (Kelly et al., 2014; Stuart and Nielsen, 2011). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nepr.2018.04.001 Received 10 January 2017; Received in revised form 2 November 2017; Accepted 7 April 2018 * Corresponding author. School of Nursing & Midwifery, Edith Cowan University, 270 Joondalup Drive, Joondalup, WA, 6024, Australia. E-mail address: Amanda.fowler@ecu.edu.au (A.C. Fowler). Nurse Education in Practice 30 (2018) 86–90 1471-5953/ © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. T