Darcel Russell

Darcel Russell joined the National Quality Council in May 2007 as its Equity representative for Indigenous Australians.

Darcel Russell began work at the Australian Education Union (AEU) as the Federal Aboriginal Education Officer in July 2001.  She was elected unopposed to the position of Deputy Federal Secretary in January 2006. Darcel is a Goori woman from Minjerribah (North Stradbroke Island), which is located off the South East coast of Queensland. Most of her family still lives on the island, where Darcel enjoys going as often as she can to catch up with family, friends and fishing!

Prior to commencing work with the AEU, Darcel was the manager of the Indigenous Studies Product Development Unit, TAFE Queensland.  The unit’s primary responsibilities include the development of accredited training programs specifically for Indigenous peoples, and the development of a range of print-based and multi-media resources to support the delivery of these programs.  Before working with TAFE, Darcel was employed by Education Queensland, where she worked as a Remote Area Teacher Education Program (RATEP) teacher-coordinator, a classroom teacher, and as a curriculum and instructional designer.

Darcel is the current chair of the ACTU Indigenous committee and the Indigenous representative on the ACTU executive.  She is passionate about the power of public education as a tool for increasing social opportunity and promoting change.  “The public education system has the potential to provide Indigenous people with the skills to enact social change.  This needs to be underpinned by the philosophy that our system must work towards affirming and establishing Indigenous identity for Indigenous people and educating non-Indigenous people about the diverse and unique histories and natures of our communities,” she said.

Darcel also co-chairs the National Indigenous VET Advisory Taskforce.