Teacher Education, Aboriginal Studies and the New National Curriculum

Abstract

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in Australian schools continue to have poor education and health outcomes, and the introduction of a new national curriculum may assist in redressing this situation. This curriculum emphasises recommendations which have been circulating in the sector over many years, to require teacher education institutions to provide their students with an understanding of past and contemporary experiences of Indigenous Australians, as well as the social, economic and health disadvantages that challenge Indigenous communities, and to equip them to integrate Indigenous issues into their future teaching programs. This article, while focusing on teacher education developments at the University of Tasmania (UTAS) to meet National Standards and Frameworks for preservice teachers, provides some general background, and identifies recently developed resources, including the potential for Indigenous centres within universities to assist educators.

Aboriginal Community Engagement in Primary Schooling: Promoting Learning through a Cross-Cultural Lens

“…For teachers, curriculum gaps and inadequate pre-service training create challenges in the classroom (Andersen, 2012;Hart, Whatman, McLaughlin, & Sharma-Brymer, 2012). We suggest this may be due to the lack of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander academics in higher education.…”

Is There a Case for Mandatory Reporting of Racism in Schools?

“…The Focus Area 1.4 (Strategies for teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students) and Focus Area 2.4 (Understand and respect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to promote reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians) from the Australian Institute of Teaching and School Leadership Standards (n.d.) have been cited by researchers as drivers of respectful changes in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education (Andersen, 2012; Ma Rhea, Anderson, & Atkinson, 2012; Sarra, 2012). The impact of racism is a heavy burden on teachers that limits their effectiveness on their work in these foci areas.…”

Culturally Inclusive Curriculum in Higher Education

“…For example, if considering the Australian curriculum, we would explore how at the macro level that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education more or less reflects specific government agendas (specific to the time each policy was developed). We would consider recent articles such as those by Nakata (2011), Andersen (2012), Norman (2012) and others that reflect this politicisation. At the meso level we would focus on the plethora of research and approaches to the planning and delivery of educational programs, and consider strategies for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education.…”

“…There is tremendous value in having Indigenous people talk about and demonstrate their own cultural positions. As noted by Andersen (2012), Indigenous perspectives and ways of knowing and understanding have a lot to offer Western ways of thinking. One hidden message, which becomes explicit during the presentations, is how limited the opportunity has been for many of our students to learn these ways of thinking, due to the nature of mainstream Australian schooling.…”