Charles Darwin University has launched a First Nations Training and Teacher Education Hub to develop future First Nations teachers, educators and leaders in the Northern Territory.

The Hub, which opens on December 2, will link academics, First Nations organisations, the NT Department of Education and Training, and regional communities to support Closing the Gap targets.

Data from the Australian Council of Education Research shows 4.6 per cent of NT teachers identify as First Nations, compared to 39 per cent of school students.

Nationally, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people make up 1.3 per cent of teachers and 6 per cent of students.

CDU Senior Lecturer in Education and Hub Director and Djiringanj (Yuin) woman, Larissa Pickalla, said the launch marked a shift in how the Territory would build and retain its teaching workforce.

She noted the Hub would create programs and partnerships that support First Nations educators to progress.

"This is our heart work: creating the programs, partnerships and visibility that support First Nations educators to thrive," Ms Pickalla said.

"When First Nations children see teachers who share their culture, language, and story, they believe they belong.

"You can't be what you can't see, and that's what this Hub is about."

A central initiative of the Hub is a new Associate Degree in First Nations Cultural and Language Education, which aims to increase cultural responsiveness in the education workforce.

The degree brings together units from education, linguistics, Indigenous Knowledges and creative arts.

Ms Pickalla said the qualification recognises skills and experience held within First Nations communities.

"Before this degree was built, there was nothing for us to build our capacity within the Western qualification framework that recognises the strengths we have as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and to be able to formally teach our culture, language and story," she said.

"The impact of this work will live far beyond the university, in every school, every classroom and every community.

"Every educator we support today is a future qualified teacher, a leader and a mentor for the next generation."