Aboriginal Chapter 3

3
DELIVERING THE PROMISE:

EMPOWERING TEACHERS TO EMPOWER
STUDENTS JEANNIE HERBERT
Given the focus of this chapter is the importance of preparing teachers to deliver on the
promise of education for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, the following
brief reflection of my personal journey in education provides some useful insights.
I remember my fear on that first day of school, the feeling of abandonment I experienced
as my mother walked away and left me there – a sobbing mess. And, I remember the
teacher coming and sitting down beside me on the bench, putting her arm around me
and using my handkerchief (in those days we all wore a handkerchief pinned on our shirt
or dress) to mop up my face while she quietly talked to me about the books I could look
at when I came into the classroom. I was easily seduced. But my abiding memory of that
day was of a person who wanted to capture my interest as a learner. For me, entering that
room was akin to stepping into an Aladdin’s cave of treasures. I was captivated then, and
I remain captivated.
Copyright © 2012. Cambridge University Press. All rights reserved.
Born and raised in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, I graduated as a

primary teacher in 1962. Over the years, I have been fortunate in being able to take
advantage of some unique and incredible opportunities, teaching in many different
learning environments, from pre-school through to university, both in Australia and
overseas. My experiences as a teacher, dealing with cultural and linguistic diversity
in my classrooms on Christmas Island, at Bougainville (Papua New Guinea), in Saudi
Arabia and in Australia, have had a lasting influence on me because I believe they
reinforced my childhood experiences of growing up in a large extended family that was
spread across various locations, from Broome through Derby and out across the stations
that straddled the Fitzroy River.
‘Going bush’ with Granny was where my ‘education’ in the value of engaging with
others began.
The combination of my life and work experiences has enabled me to realise that
the quality of the communication occurring within any learning environment is the key
47
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education : An Introduction for the Teaching Profession, edited by Kaye Price, and Jessa Rogers, Cambridge University Press,
2012. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uwsau/detail.action?docID=6026713.
Created from uwsau on 2023-02-28 13:09:13.
48 ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER EDUCATION
factor in enabling learners to effectively engage in their own learning. This truth has
become increasingly evident through my work in a diversity of roles in Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander education, from pre-school through to university: as a teacher;
P–12 guidance officer; and lecturer, researcher and manager within in the university
sector. Increasingly, I perceive a positive change in the outcomes emerging from my
continuing engagement with Indigenous students, lecturers, researchers and local
communities; a change I will address in this chapter.
FIGURE 3.1 Summer School, Saudi Arabia. A group of children in the three-year-old class,
the majority of whom were non-English speakers. The goal of this class was to offer a wide
range of formal and informal activities that would provide opportunities for children to
learn to speak English through listening to stories, songs etc. and to engage in creative
activities such as painting, cooking and conversation, as well as a wide range of physical
activities.
FIGURE 3.2 My grandmother, Ida Buckle, 1947.
CHAPTER 3 EMPOWERING TEACHERS TO EMPOWER STUDENTS 49
INTRODUCTION
This chapter focuses on issues associated with preparing school teachers to deliver on
the promise of education for all their students. But what is that ‘promise’? Many view
education as the process that prepares students for living their lives. The Brazilian
educator and philosopher, Paulo Freire, one of the most crucial educators of the 20th
century, in his book, Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1972), argued that education in its
broadest sense is integral to freedom and that it enables the individual engaging in
critical pedagogy to become self-managing, capable of transforming the nature of their
world and themselves (Aronowitz, 2009). The argument that critical thinking is central
in enabling education to become a tool of empowerment has important implications EMPOWERMENT: as
for universities seeking to deliver teacher education programs that: (i) enable graduate teachers, we can
work with students
teachers to acquire the capacity to effectively engage in critical pedagogy; and (ii) in developing the
prepare them to use this knowledge to effectively address the deep learning needs of ability to become
stronger and more
all their students. This argument has particular relevance in Australia where the real confident within a
long-term impact of our colonial history is rarely examined within a context of how diversity of learning
contexts.
they may have influenced, and continue to influence, educational service delivery
throughout the country (Herbert, 2017).
A critical factor for teachers in Australia is to acknowledge the impact of our
colonial history on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples – the First Peoples
of this land. Inherent within that acknowledgement, however, is the need for teachers
to comprehend and accept what that might mean for them within both a personal REFLECTION:
reflective teaching
and professional sense. In reflecting upon the persistent failure of our education is a personal tool
systems to deliver education that does prepare Indigenous students to build better that teachers can
lives for themselves and their families, and that does enable them to take their rightful use to observe
and evaluate the
places as equal citizens in Australian society, it has become increasingly obvious that ways they behave
something is not happening in Australian classrooms. That truth is revealed, not only in the classroom.
It can be a private
in the statistical evidence across all levels of education, but also in the continuing process at the
impoverishment of the everyday lives of so many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander end of the day, or
one that teachers
families. But that same evidence also reveals that there is a solution to this persistent can discuss
problem, for those statistics also reveal that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander with colleagues.
The process of
students can achieve educational success. We, as teachers, have a critical role to play
reflection supports
in enabling Indigenous Australian students to achieve the educational success that the development
will enable them to build better futures for themselves and their families. But we, as and maintenance
of professional
individual teachers, also need to recognise and accept that we have a responsibility to expertise and
deliver an education that will transform the culture of the classroom in ways that will contributes to
student outcomes.
enable all learners to not only recognise the impact of our history, but to also work
together in overcoming the oppression of our colonial past.
Researcher Laurette Bristol deals with a similar challenge in Plantation Pedagogy RESPONSIBILITY:
as teachers, we
(2012), which seeks to provide teachers with deep insights into the realities of are accountable to
teaching in post-colonial settings such as in the Caribbean, highlighting the ‘impact the profession and
the students in our
of colonial-slave legacies upon contemporary classroom performances’ (p. 3). In care.
arguing the need for teachers in such settings to ‘self-consciously strive to be cultural
agents of social transformation as well as agents of social reproduction’ (p. 3), Bristol
TRANSFORMATION:
educators being is positing the notion that ‘although ‘teaching’ is informed and formed by the culture
motivated to bring it serves, it has the potential to transform the culture within which it operates’ (p.
about change,
as well as being 3), although she acknowledges that this will be dependent upon the willingness of
capable of and such teachers to become ‘self-conscious agents of social transformation’ (p. 3). In
supported in doing
so.
arguing such change as being dependent upon the capacity of individual teachers to
recognise and acknowledge that education was and continues to be, ‘the apparatus of
colonialism’ (p. 3), Bristol calls for a ‘revolution’ whereby teachers are challenged to:
(i) ‘consider what teaching is and what it is for in a postcolonial context’ (p. 2); and (ii)
‘self-consciously strive to be cultural agents of social transformation as well as agents
of social reproduction’ (p. 3). She warns, however, that for this to happen ‘teachers
… must become self-conscious agents of social transformation by constructing their
teaching as subversive activity’ (p. 3). The need for such self-consciousness is obvious,
given Kemmis’s (2006) argument that ‘[e]ducation always transforms society, even as
it reproduces it; and even where education aims to transform some aspect of society, it
also reproduces others’ (p. 16).
If we are to produce vigilant teachers who have the capacity to deliver transformative
education, then the seeds for delivery must be sown in our universities. Bristol argues
that ‘teaching is a purposive generational activity, where the content of a society’s
culture is passed on from one generation to the next’ (p. 84). A critical tool in achieving
these outcomes would be the creation of communicative spaces, in which participants,
pre-service teachers and practitioners from both schools and universities participate
in specific activities designed to enable them to acquire knowledge and understanding
of broad learning concepts through personal engagement in learning tasks that
provide them with explicit lived experiences. A useful source of reference material
for teachers seeking to transform their classroom practice is the considerable body of
literature about ‘action research’ that has been produced by Professor Stephen Kemmis
RESEARCH: includes
reflection on and colleagues over the past four decades. Their critical approach enables them to
practice as well reveal the practices good teachers use to ensure students do experience education
as in-depth study
of what works and as a tool of empowerment. It is through such critical learning experiences that pre-
does not work. service teachers and practitioners could acquire the knowledge and skills needed to
demonstrate, to their Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, that they value
their engagement in both the learning place and the learning process. Such learning
experiences would also provide future teachers with valuable insights into the milieu
within which teachers work in a world where continual and increasingly rapid change
has become a fact of life, a reality that classroom teachers must address in order to
ensure the ‘education’ they deliver is relevant to their students’ needs.
CRITICAL THINKING QUESTION 3.1

GUIDED Undertake research into the ways education became the tool of the coloniser, and
RESPONSE the long-term implications of that reality.
VIGNETTE
A graduate teacher who had grown up in Sydney was appointed to a small, three-
teacher school in a very remote part of the State. Arriving at the school, the new
teacher had to rapidly adjust to a very different reality to the one expected. All
teaching staff, including the principal, had a class to teach and all were rostered
for playground supervision during classroom breaks as a means of encouraging
students to remain at school rather than ‘taking off’ to go home or out bush
somewhere. The new teacher was told that most students were not really interested
in school and would simply head off whenever an opportunity presented itself. They
tended not to return that day. Many did not return for a few days. The principal also
explained that most students enjoyed learning activities that enabled them to be
very active and creative but that, due to very limited English literacy and numeracy
skills, school was very difficult for some students.
What do you think you might be a good solution in this situation? GUIDED
RESPONSE
FIGURE 3.3 Students’ photographs of their environment can stimulate discussion and be
used to demonstrate aspects of topics in STEM, literature (stories), geography/Country and
art/culture

Describe what you would do to create a learning environment for disengaged
Aboriginal and or Torres Strait Islander students, one that provided learning
experiences and that empowered them to acquire an education that was not only
meaningful to them, but also provided them with the knowledge and skills they
GUIDED would need to overcome the life challenges that lay ahead of them.
RESPONSE
BACKGROUND TO CONTEMPORARY TEACHER

EDUCATION
Teacher education courses in the 1960s prepared graduates to take their place in
a society that had certain expectations concerning the role and responsibilities of
particular professions. During this era, there was a strong commitment to providing
practical experiences for pre-service teachers enrolled in Early Childhood and Primary
education courses, a reflection of societal perceptions about the importance of their
role in preparing children and young people for their future as responsible citizens.
To ensure graduates would have the capacity to live up to societal expectations, the
initial selection process and subsequent teacher education course ensured those
seeking to become teachers were psychologically suited to the profession, appropriately
prepared to assume their role as teachers and accepting of the broader responsibilities
of citizenship associated with the role. Essentially, this approach tied the personal
to the professional, and the school, including its teachers, to its role in society. The
importance of accepting responsibility for such positioning, both at individual and
collective levels, was quite explicit. In addition, there was a perception that ‘being
responsible’ was an important indicator that an individual had the capacity to respond
to the critical duality of this role and thus be likely to fulfil the expectations implicit
in the notion of what constituted a ‘good’ or, in contemporary terms, ‘quality’ teacher.
APPLIED LEARNING ACTIVITY 3.1

GUIDED How would you describe a ‘good’ teacher?

RESPONSE

When accessing any website on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education, it
is essential to use the following six evaluation criteria: authority, purpose, coverage,
currency, objectivity and accuracy. When evaluating material for use in Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander education, ask these questions:
• Who published the document?
• Are the author’s credentials/affiliations listed?
• Check the URL. What institution or organisation published the document (for
example, is it an Aboriginal Education Consultative Group or Association)?
• Is the information presented in the document cited correctly in a bibliogra-
phy or reference list?
Select a topic relevant to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and
GUIDED
cultures. Try to find three websites that provide the answers to the four questions. RESPONSE

A useful process for conversations that need to focus on the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of
pre-service and practising teachers needing to acquire specific knowledge and
understandings related to various aspects of their work/role, is Collaborative
Conversations (CCs).1 CCs can be characterised as purposeful talk focused around
particular topics. CCs can be used to encourage discussions that generate new
thinking and stronger understanding. The initial discussion in beginning a CC
usually begin with the question ‘why are we/are you here?’
What strategies could teachers use to promote CCs? One strategy might be to
use a variety of groupings for conversations. Some teachers use ‘Think–Pair–Share’.
Thinking about a class tutorial or other class experience you may have had, what
other strategies could you use to encourage CCs? They can also be adapted for
use in class tutorials or other group settings, relevant to the information you are
seeking. GUIDED
RESPONSE
IMPLICATIONS FOR CONTEMPORARY TEACHER

EDUCATION
Determining what constitutes a ‘quality’ teacher requires contextualising the notion
within the broader setting of teacher education. In acknowledging the cyclical
nature of teacher supply and demand, Dyson (2005) identified the status of teaching
within society and the quality of teacher education as being critical issues for
contemporary pre-service teacher education in Australia. Andersen (2012, p. 41),
in reflecting upon the lack of equity in educational outcomes around the country,
argues the critical need to improve the capacity of our pre-service teachers to take
up this challenge, suggesting that the implementation of the Australian Curriculum
1 I have used this process to enable me to engage more effectively in my own work – undertaking research activities in schools and the
wider community as well as in my research and management roles within the university. It is particularly valuable in ‘giving voice’
to disempowered individuals and/or groups whose experiences and/or opinions are critical in creating solutions that will ultimately
address the needs of the hitherto ‘silenced’ in our schools and communities. There are no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answers in these conver-
sations … the focus is always on getting participants to actively engage in the process. This can only happen if they feel safe and
know their opinions are valued. Good teachers do value such interaction for the insights it provides for them in seeking to know their
students – the key to being a ‘good’ teacher. A brief insight into how I have used this process in order to ‘give voice’ to Indigenous
Australian students is located on pp. 17–20 in the article by Herbert (2017), listed in the references of this chapter.
and development of the National Professional Standards for Teachers should enable
such change.
Raising the status of teaching as a profession is the focus of the Australian Institute
for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL), established in 2010 to provide national
leadership by promoting excellence in the profession of teaching and school leadership.
Initiatives to improve the process of credentialing teachers have focused on enhancing
professional standards and teacher performance, hence:
Developing professional standards for teachers that can guide professional
learning, practice and engagement facilitates the improvement of teacher
quality and contributes positively to the public standing of the profession
(AITSL, 2011, p. 1).

Achieving Highly Accomplished or Lead Teacher (HALT) certification is a milestone
in your career. Teachers applying for certification will use the HALT career stages
of the Teacher Standards to critically reflect on their own practice and the impact
they have on their students and colleagues. How can HALT certification help with
your career? Can it help you progress professionally and gain valuable recognition
GUIDED for your skills, while allowing you to continue teaching?
RESPONSE
Considering the quality of teacher education programs and their purpose requires
a focus on the crucial role of the teacher because:
Effective teachers can be a source of inspiration and, equally importantly,
provide a dependable and consistent influence on young people as they
make choices about further education, work and life (2011, p. 1).
In 2013, however, AITSL acquired some additional responsibilities relating to

teacher preparation. One that is of particular interest in this chapter resulted in
the development of Focus Areas 1.4 and 2.4, directed at the teaching of Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander students and development of understandings relevant to

promoting reconciliation.

The chapter identifies two Focus Areas within the National Professional Standards
for Teachers. Select three (or more) other Focus Areas with relevance to Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander students and cultures and construct a table similar to
GUIDED Table 3.1.
RESPONSE
TABLE 3.1 NATIONAL PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS FOR TEACHERS

Standard 1 Focus area Graduate standard
Know students and 1.4 Demonstrate broad knowledge and
how they learn Strategies for teaching understanding of the impact of
Aboriginal and Torres Strait culture, cultural identity and linguistic
Islander students background on the education of
students from Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander backgrounds.
Standard 2 2.4 Demonstrate broad knowledge of,

Know the content Understand and respect understanding of and respect for
and how to teach it Aboriginal and Torres Strait Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Islander people to promote histories, cultures and languages.
reconciliation between
Indigenous and non-
Indigenous Australians
Source: adapted from AITSL, 2011, pp. 9–11.
Obviously, universities have a critical responsibility to ensure they produce high-

quality graduates. The AITSL standards not only define the work of teachers in terms
of what they should know and be able to do at various stages in their careers, but
also provide ‘a common understanding and language for discourse between teachers,
teacher educators, teacher organisations, professional associations and the public’
(AITSL, 2011, p. 2). Within this context, the standards represent a critical support
structure for those engaged in the development of pre-service teachers. So how might
universities use this structure to prepare quality teacher graduates who can deliver on
the promise of education? WEB ACTIVITY
PRACTICUMS: CRITICAL TOOLS IN QUALITY

TEACHER EDUCATION
Worthwhile practicums provide opportunities for pre-service teachers to develop
professional expertise through engagement in classroom environments that align with

their area of teaching specialisation. Essentially, in providing the student teacher with
a school-based space in which to rehearse their future roles as teachers, practicums
represent a vital component of teacher education, a space in which future teachers
attempt to translate theory into practice, experience issues they will likely confront
in their future classrooms and acquire the knowledge and skills they will need to be
effective teachers. A critical element in ensuring the value of the practicum experience
is the effectiveness of the supervising teacher educator since, without appropriate
advice and support, pre-service teachers are likely to find themselves inadequately
prepared to effectively engage in their future classrooms. Such outcomes have vital
implications in a discussion focused on the importance of preparing teachers to deliver
on the promise of education for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, when
considered within the context of current research.
ENGAGEMENT ACTIVITIES THAT ENHANCE PRACTICUM

EXPERIENCES AND OUTCOMES
It is critical that the supervising teacher educator organises pre-practicum meetings
with the principal and potential supervising teachers during the early stages of
organisation of a practicum. This meeting is vital to ensuring schools and the
relevant staff members are aware of any specific strengths and/or learning needs of
the pre-service teachers who will be undertaking their practicum in the school. This
also provides an opportunity for the school to ensure the university is aware of any
particular strengths they may have (including important school or community events
that may be occurring and that could provide valuable opportunities for pre-service
teachers to engage with the school’s local Aboriginal and or Torres Strait Islander
communities) and any particular areas where they might require some specific
support and/or knowledge from the university. This collaborative engagement would
enable each group to develop a deeper respect for what each brings to the educational
engagement and will encourage ways of combining their respective strengths to the
mutual benefit of all. Such face-to-face engagement should be an integral component
of every practicum that is organised because, in the longer term, it will enhance
the capacity of the groups to communicate more effectively with each other and,
ultimately, encourage the building of much stronger relationships between schools
and universities.

In conversation, an initial teacher education student pointed that there was an
excellent Learning Support Program in the senior secondary college she attended
but the private secondary school she had attended previously had not had any
support for Indigenous students who ‘are heavily supported in many public schools
but not so much in private schools because, ironically, the teachers aren’t very
GUIDED educated in the matter’. Undertake research to justify or refute this comment.
RESPONSE
TEACHER PERSPECTIVE
Most of the advice when it came to organising our placement in schools was
about how to choose the school. The most critical advice appeared to be that we
should select a school type in which we had limited prior experience. This was
intended to enable students to gain insights into the wider spectrum of schools
and teaching opportunities that might be available. It also enabled students to
think about the type of school they might prefer to teach in as opposed to those
they thought might not suit them.
From the university perspective, I had to choose a school that was either a
high school or a college because I’m studying a Bachelor of Secondary Education.
For most of my own high school experience, I was in a private school so I chose a
public school for my placement and it was most certainly a huge shock because
the differences between the two were huge. I’m glad I took the teachers’ advice
in choosing schools because I believe I learned a lot about how differently schools
work, including differences in focus.
As for organising a placement that aligned with my scholarship needs, the
most useful advice I received was that I should spend it at a primary school so
that I could get used to being an authority in the classroom. At the time, I was
one year out of Year 12, so would have been just two years older than the Year
10s I would have been teaching. I was still getting used to being an adult, so the
thought of trying to be an adult in a room full of teenagers only two years younger
than myself was daunting, to say the least.
Working in a primary school was wonderful because it helped me find
my footing in the education profession. Being nearly 10 years older than
the students really helped me recognise my authority and strengthened
my confidence in my ability and aspiration to be a teacher. Furthermore, I
discovered that one of the most useful things about engaging with supervising
teachers as part of preparation for placement was the frank and truthful advice
and encouragement I received. They did not sugar-coat what my experiences
would be like. Instead of saying that everything would be fun and free from
any negative experiences, they told us to go into our placements with realistic
expectations. Of course, within any school setting, there will always be a mix of
great, well-behaved students and others who are not so pleasant. Supervising
teachers talked us through their personal strategies on how to deal with
problematic situations and/or students. I remember one supervising teacher
told me never to get in between two male high school students who were in the
middle of a fist fight, because there was no doubt I’d get punched, too. While
this seemed like common sense to me, she indicated that she had learned the
hard way.
It was also extremely useful when teachers explained the intentions behind
what they were doing in the classroom. I remember one particular teacher, who
was teaching Year 7 maths, found that the noise level in the classroom was
extremely high on most days. To help solve this, he designed a seating plan
that enabled him to place students who wouldn’t normally talk to each other in
the same classroom groups. This brought the noise level down quite a lot. He
also explained that it helped the Year 7 students get to know each other better
because they were new to the school. (Real-life experience – Nyingari Williams
Little – Second-year Initial Teacher Education)
Reflect on your opportunities to engage with your supervising teacher, principal
and potential supervising teachers when organising your professional experience.
Describe the ways in which this was useful and any additional experiences you
could suggest to your teaching institutions’ professional experience coordinator.
GUIDED
RESPONSE
The Review of Higher Education Access and Outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander People Report (Australian Government, 2012) identified the persistent
failure of the schooling sectors to effect ‘significant improvements in [English] literacy
and numeracy attainment’ as the underlying reason that ‘a school-to-university
pathway will continue to be inaccessible for high numbers of Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander school students’ (p. 19). Finding ways to overcome the continuing
failure of the schooling system to improve Indigenous educational achievements and
to facilitate transition into higher education is part of the larger agenda of the Closing
the Gap in Indigenous Disadvantage that was established by the Council of Australian
Governments (COAG) in 2008. Using the evidence, this body continues to drive
reforms designed to address issues such as the failure of education to deliver on its
promise to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and Australian universities
need to recognise and accept their responsibility in equipping future teachers to deliver
quality education to all students.
Universities, in particular regional universities, need to adopt a proactive
approach, led by senior staff, to engaging with Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait
Islander communities located within their catchment areas. The purpose would
be to establish a dialogue designed to identify issues associated with the persistent
failure of individual universities to attract high numbers of Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander students from within their catchment areas and ways in which
they and Indigenous communities might work together to address this issue. The
purpose would be to encourage thinking around ‘mutual benefit’ and, ultimately,
would serve to enhance retention and success rates, with students to travel to other
locations where many will experience a deep sense of isolation. It has been my
experience that this ‘sense of isolation’ often results in individual students suddenly
disappearing, just ‘dropping out’ of the course. Evidence suggests that few return
after they abandon their studies, with Patton et al. (2012) reporting that ‘data
indicate a 68.2% attrition rate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students
studying their initial teacher education qualification … attrition rates for Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander students remain unacceptably high, with only 36.3%
completing their course’ (p. 24). This is especially the case with students from rural
and remote locations, hence it is critical that ALL staff who work with Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander students, in whatever capacity, become increasingly
vigilant in identifying the specific learning needs of individual students in order to
ensure critical interventions can be implemented to address these needs in a timely
manner.
Australia is not alone in this regard. Recently, in the United Kingdom, the British
Educational Research Association – Royal Society for the Encouragement of the Arts,
Manufacturing and Commerce (BERA-RSA) Inquiry into Research and Teacher
Education released its final report, Research and the Teaching Profession: Building the
Capacity for a Self-improving System (BERA-RSA, 2014). The inquiry was established
to investigate issues around teacher quality, including what the contribution of
educational research and enquiry should be in relation to initial teacher education,
teachers’ continuing professional development, etc. and most importantly to consider

the international evidence: ‘Does research really improve the quality of the teaching
profession and beyond that the quality of students’ learning experience?’ (BERA-RSA,
2014, p. 3).
In considering teacher education within the context of contemporary Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander educational outcomes, the Review of Higher Education
Access and Outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People Report (Australian
Government, 2012) highlighted the importance of research in: (i) embedding
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledges and understandings within
curriculum documents; (ii) building cultural competence of non-Indigenous staff
and students; (iii) ensuring relevance and value of courses across all disciplines
areas; and (iv) establishing research collaborations, between university researchers
and community-based groups, in order to create long-term, respectful relationships RELATIONSHIPS:
using knowledge
that will ensure delivery of education that is mutually beneficial and serves the about who we are,
public good (pp. 183–205). Based on the evidence gathered, the BERA-RSA Report what we think,
findings supported a broad definition of ‘teacher education’ that is inclusive of ‘initial what moulded
us, to allow our
teacher education programmes … and programmes to support teachers’ continuing students to come
professional development and progression to leadership’ and clearly revealed the on the same
journey, taking
‘positive impact that a research literate and research engaged profession is likely to that out of the
have on learner outcomes’ (p. 6). It argued that enquiry based practice is critical during classroom to assist
in establishing
initial teacher education and throughout teachers’ professional careers, empowering cohesive
teachers and all who work in educational institutions, to better understand their communities.
practice and how they might improve their impact within the learning environment,
through on-going reflective practice.
The value of research and enquiry based practice is equally important within the
Australian context, as highlighted in the Patton Report (Patton et al., 2012) on the More
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Teachers Initiative (MATSITI), an objective of
the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Action Plan 2010–2014, which
was developed as part of the COAG reform agenda. This project on retention and
graduation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students enrolled in teacher
education, focused on the need to increase the number of Indigenous teachers within
Australian schools as a means of creating learning environments that enable Aboriginal

and Torres Strait Islander students to experience a pride of identity and a deeper sense
of belonging within their schools than has been the case in the past. Interviews with a
range of pre-service teachers concerning their practicum experiences revealed levels of
participant concern that indicated a need for future work, around addressing ‘racism
… from teachers and students in schools’ (Patton et al., 2012, p. 35), increasing the
number of Indigenous teachers in schools, embedding Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander knowledges in curriculum and dealing with issues of economic hardship and
housing that were linked to participation in practicum. The Patton Report (Patton
et al., 2012, p. 16) also cites arguments around the need to increase numbers of
Indigenous academics in education faculties (Herbert, 2005) and embed Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander curriculum and pedagogy into teacher education programs.
PARTNERSHIPS: The project also revealed the importance of strong partnerships between university
developing and
maintaining and school staff responsible for organising and supervising practicum activities
genuine home– (p. 37) to ensure timely solutions to problems and positive mentoring of student
school partnerships
teachers throughout the program.
with Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Setting times for personal reflective practice is an effective way for pre-service
Islander students,
parents and teachers to revisit their ‘day’s activities’ in the classroom setting, to identify their
caregivers is areas of strength and weakness while simultaneously providing an opportunity to
essential for a
identify their personal learning needs. The value of such reflection as a component
supportive school
environment that of their engagement with their supervisors – both university and school – was noted
aims for improved by some student teachers participating in the MATSITI initiative) (Patton et al., 2012,
educational
outcomes. p. 35). Significantly, this report highlights the importance of building sustainable
relationships between pre-service teachers and supervisors, and between Indigenous
and non-Indigenous staff and students in order to ensure teacher education programs
that are not only ‘more culturally responsive’ but also ‘transformational’ in terms of
addressing racism at both institutional and course levels (p. 20).
While acknowledging that difficulties may occur through having to engage within
the various communities of practice that operate within what Williams terms the
‘third space between schools and universities’ (2013, p. 118) the issue of the quality of
teacher educators is, nevertheless, a critical factor in the delivery of effective teacher
education preparation. Many teachers report dissatisfaction with the way in which
their teacher education programs left them unprepared for working with Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander students in schools, and this is a critical issue that Hart and
Moore (2005), citing Bhabha’s work around ‘hybridity or the third space … “a space of
separation” ’ (2005, p. 8), endeavour to address in their teaching with undergraduate
students. Goodwin et al. (2014) and Burnett, Lampert and Crilly (2013) emphasise the
importance of reflective practice and opportunities for deep engagement with mentors
(preferably Indigenous), which emerged as possible strategies for enabling teacher
educators not only to discover their own inadequacies but more importantly, what
they, personally, need to do in order to make a meaningful contribution to the quality
of the teacher education programs they deliver and the quality of the teacher graduates
their programs prepare.

List three ways in which you think staff (and fellow students?) might exercise
vigilance in relation to potential student ‘drop out’ from your institution or
university, and three ways in which you think you, personally, could contribute to
ensuring the learning environment in which you are engaged could be made more
GUIDED welcoming in ways that acknowledge and respect the diversity of the student body.
RESPONSE
But what happens in the university is only one part of this critical equation.
Producing quality teacher graduates is also a responsibility of the school sites at which
pre-service teachers engage in professional experience programs and, if, as indicated

by the research, the teacher has a critical influence on student achievement, it could
be argued that:
Teachers need to be capable of preparing students to live, work and be
successful in a society in which they will be required to solve problems,
work collaboratively, and think creatively and critically. Students will also
need to be self-directed learners, and be committed to life-long learning, in
a rapidly changing world. One aspect to achieving this is active and strong
partnerships between teacher education providers, teacher employers,
principals and teacher regulatory authorities (TEMAG, 2014, p. 4).
Within such partnerships it would be possible to ensure that practicum is a connected,

holistic experience that enables the pre-service teacher to begin to develop a feel for
how effectively they are engaging with the learning and the student learners. In effect,
it is within the practicum setting that the pre-service teacher’s sense of their personal
identity as a teacher is born.
Cattley (2007) highlighted the importance of practicum placements in schools
in her research into the emergence of professional identity in pre-service teachers,
indicating that: ‘[A] thorough understanding of the breadth and complexity of
the teacher’s role is a key element in identity formation’ (p. 337). In arguing the
importance of professional identity as a vital part of the process that enables one to
be ‘continually constructing a sustainable identity as a teacher’ (Cattley, 2007, p. 338),
she stressed the potential influence of the practicum experience on the vulnerable
pre-service teacher, given the reality of the widely differing experiences that may
result from placements in a variety of schools with a variety of supervising teachers.
In discussing her choice of reflective writing as the preferred tool for pre-service
teachers to use in endeavouring ‘to develop a sense of “where and how do I fit?” in
the school context’ (2007, p. 338) Cattley argued that the process of reflecting ‘upon
their responses to, and observations of, various elements of the teaching environment’
(2007, p. 337) could be useful in enabling them to view themselves in new and
different ways, to appreciate the need to be open to change, to comprehend the
changes they themselves are going through and how they are adapting and growing
in relation to their own professional identity. Cattley emphasised the importance

of appreciating that ‘a large amount of autonomy is bestowed upon the teacher and
also the pre-service teacher in practicum settings’ and that this ‘also imposes a large
responsibility upon, while adding to the vulnerability of, pre-service teachers’ (2007,
p. 338). To fulfil expectations, the practicum must provide pre-service teachers with
a practical learning experience that is built upon a genuine collaboration between
all stakeholders. The growing recognition of the importance of schools in the early
and continuing development of teachers is evident in the United Kingdom, where
a range of initiatives around the building of partnerships between schools and
teacher education faculties is underway (BERA-RSA, 2014, pp. 27–33) including the
‘designation of several hundred “Teaching Schools”, with particular responsibilities in
relation to teacher education, research and other matters’ (p. 28). WEB ACTIVITY
GENUINE ENGAGEMENT: KEY TO EFFECTIVE

INCLUSION OF ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT
ISLANDER STUDENTS
The Review of Higher Education Access and Outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander People. Final Report (Australian Government, 2012) reveals the importance
of implementing strategies that will enable pre-service teachers to access tutoring,
mentoring and other services underpinned by effective collaborative engagement
practices (pp. 199–205). But responsibility for producing quality teachers does not
reside only in universities and schools. Governments and corporate bodies also have
a responsibility for ensuring universities are sufficiently resourced to employ and/or
develop high-quality academic staff who have the capacity to respond to the specific
learning needs of all pre-service teachers. Where community concerns are voiced
concerning specific issues such as the apparent inability of education systems to close
the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous educational achievement, strategies
must be developed and implemented to ensure a solution is possible. Ideally, such
strategies are the outcome of genuine engagement between all stakeholder groups,
including communities. Interestingly, in developing educational initiatives through
a collaborative process, good teachers, including pre-service teachers, as a direct
result of their engagement with communities, are likely to reach a point at which they
begin to question the very notion of ‘closing the gap’. This should be seen as a positive
development, for it could suggest that the very act of engagement is beginning to
influence teacher thinking, enabling them to develop real insights into how Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Island peoples perceive they have been positioned for ‘failure’ within
the Western knowledge system that underpins Australian education services. Aligning
with arguments put forward in the Review (Australian Government, 2012) around
ways of ensuring genuine community engagement, it was suggested that various State
and Territory Indigenous Education Consultative Bodies across the country would
have the capacity to facilitate that vital connection between schools and Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander communities.
The acquisition of such understanding is critical in enabling teachers of Indigenous
students to recognise the essentially assimilationist nature of what passes for education
in this country, for it is only from this position that teachers, individually and
collectively, can begin to comprehend the symbolism of the broken promise and the
importance of changing their own discourse around Indigenous education from one of
failure to one of success. Such attitudinal change in enabling teachers and pre-service
teachers to engage more effectively with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students
and their families, will become the catalyst for them to enhance their own capacity
for delivering education that empowers Indigenous students to get what they want
from their education. It must be said that the community-based engagement driving
such change will likely change that community’s attitude towards education. Because
the concept of ‘engagement’ is not always clear, it would be useful for teachers to visit
the What Works website (www.whatworks.edu.au), which offers resources on how to
engage effectively with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander parents, caregivers and
other members of the community.

As a professional teacher, identify your own learning needs, within the context of
your responsibility to become an effective teacher with the capacity for empowering
all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students you lead. GUIDED
RESPONSE
CHANGE THAT IS MAKING A DIFFERENCE FOR

ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER
STUDENTS
Considering the way in which change is beginning to gather momentum at the
community level, it must be acknowledged that over recent decades the Australian
Government has taken the lead in bringing States and Territories together to develop
policies specifically designed to redress educational inequality highlighted in the 1989
National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Policy (NATSIEP).
One of the most critical initiatives has been the establishment of the COAG
co-operative working parties, which are focused on bringing communities together
in collaborative partnerships to deal with a range of community concerns. While the
notion of closing the gap evolved out of the 2005 Social Justice Report that outlined
specific concerns regarding Indigenous disadvantage, it is COAG that ensured that the
key indicators of Indigenous disadvantage be used to assess, and publicly report on,
the degree of continuing disadvantage in each State and Territory of Australia (DCM,
2007). While aligning the processes in this way is justified as enabling governments to
monitor and overcome Indigenous disadvantage, it also risks regenerating the deficit
thinking that has had such a negative impact upon educational service delivery for
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
The intense focus on Indigenous disadvantage over the past decade has meant
that ‘closing the gap’ has become the mantra for public and private sector service
delivery to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. This is a vital understanding
for teachers, who must use their knowledge of Indigenous education history as a
critical filter in evaluating claims concerning ‘closing the gap’. Obviously, engagement
with Indigenous communities could validate the accuracy of such filters, while also
supporting COAG’s stance that overcoming Indigenous disadvantage requires a
collaborative approach – all levels of government working together with the private
sector and Indigenous peoples. In her address to the ACER National Conference
in Darwin, Herbert (2011) highlighted the critical need for such action in order to
establish community based relationships essential to building the respect and trust
that is needed in order to build the quality engagement that will encourage and
increase Indigenous educational success across all levels of education. The need for
such activity on the part of educational institutions is reinforced in a paper by Hart

and colleagues (2012) exploring issues affecting teacher practicum for Indigenous
pre-service teachers when the space allowed for Indigenous knowledge within
mainstream curricula and pedagogy is dominated by Western knowledge, and
Indigenous knowledge is ‘othered’ (p. 703). Bradley (2012), in addressing this notion
of ‘othering’, discusses his use of problem-based learning and reflexivity in delivering
a subject that aims to facilitate knowledge transfer between different cultural groups
in ways that enhance students’ capacity for meaningful engagement with Indigenous
knowledges and epistemologies. Such arguments align with the Review of Higher
Education Access and Outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People
Final Report (Australian Government, 2012) findings around the need for schools
and universities to engage with local communities, business and industry groups to
ensure educational programs are connected to community needs, thus ensuring the
relevance of their programs for Indigenous learners and addressing the social justice
agenda in formal education.
WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR DELIVERING QUALITY

EDUCATION IN CLASSROOMS?
Based on the premise that quality can only be assured when systems recognise and
accept that – at all times, across all levels of education – students must be the core
focus of teaching, it is not simply those who engage at the learning interface who are
accountable for student outcomes. When the quality of students’ learning outcomes is
used as the key benchmark for determining the worth of the profession, governments,
systems and teacher education providers must accept responsibility for the way in
which they might be influencing the quality of the service that teachers are able to
deliver.
Teachers and others who engage with students at the interface of learning cannot
be expected to continually bear total responsibility for what happens in the classrooms
of the nation. The Queensland Indigenous Education Consultative Body (QIECB)
Position Paper on Schooling and Teacher Education (QIECB, 2003) suggested that
much of what happens in classrooms is a direct reflection of the resources allocated by

governments and systems for the school-based development and delivery of education
programs. Government ministers and leading bureaucrats, with their counterparts
in universities and other educational institutions, must accept responsibility for their
contribution in terms of what is not happening in fully preparing teachers and other
school staff to effectively work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people – to
engage with the total diversity of the student body.
Having considered the way in which the role and responsibilities of universities,
governments and systems impact upon teachers, it is equally important to consider
how teachers develop and maintain the quality of their own work. A critical question
is: ‘Do all intending and current teachers have the capacity to develop into good
teachers?’
The content of teacher education programs is increasingly determined by the

regulatory demands of the profession, which reflects the ever-expanding accountability
framework imposed by modern governments. Those located at the end of the line,
classroom teachers – present and pre-service – often appear to be subsumed by the
demands associated with acquiring the skills and knowledge required to continually
demonstrate their accountability as service providers. For example, an initiative of the
Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), the National
Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN), a battery of standardised
tests designed to assess students’ English literacy and numeracy competence, was
implemented in 2008. ACARA is now implementing the new National Curriculum.
This is not to imply that we do not need a national curriculum or that student assessment
is not important – interpreting and teaching to the curriculum and assessment have
always been integral parts of the teacher’s role. It is simply to suggest that much time
may be taken up in schools where teachers may be required ‘to teach to the test’ or
where the appropriateness of using such standardised tests is inequitable considering
the diversity of a school’s student population. While many educators may question
the value of administering NAPLAN tests to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
students in situations where test questions could be culturally biased, ‘schooling
systems generally perpetuate a view of learning that fails to take into account culturally
diverse practices, values and beliefs’ (Santoro et al., 2011, p. 66). And, ultimately,
teachers will be required to take responsibility for implementing the new curriculum
in schools across the nation. Legislators need to acknowledge the pressures they are
placing on teachers – pre-service and practicing – to continually be updating their
own knowledge and skills in order to maintain the relevance of what they are teaching.
The continual change that is a feature of contemporary education also has critical
implications for government in terms of maintaining resource allocations to ensure the
implementation and maintenance of new initiatives. The 2011 Review of Funding for
Schooling chaired by David Gonski (the Gonski Review) promised individual school
funding would be linked to individual schools’ student needs, thus ensuring schools’
capacity to deliver quality teaching programs that addressed the learning needs of all
students. A central recommendation of that review has resulted in the Quality Schools
package funding (from January 2018), which is based on the Schooling Resource
Standard (SRS) (Australian Government, 2018).

Research reveals that many classroom teachers, especially those operating in early
and primary school environments, are ‘time poor’. While there is no disputing the
importance of accountability in ensuring the delivery of quality education programs
across all schooling sectors, the level of current demands verges on over-regulation.
Contemporary governments need to be careful that they do not rob teachers of the
critical time needed both to plan and prepare quality teaching programs and to
participate in the professional development required to maintain currency of their
profession and qualifications. Ensuring the quality of future education programs
designed to prepare this nation’s future citizens cannot be left to chance. Quality
teachers are required to deliver quality education programs in schools throughout
Australia. Within this critical context, maintaining the currency of their qualifications
and capacity to deliver quality education should not be seen as the sole responsibility
of individual teachers.
INCREASING THE INDIGENOUS ‘VOICE’ THROUGH

MORE ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER
TEACHERS
The MATSITI, funded by the Australian Government, was implemented to focus
on increasing the number and professional capacity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander teachers teaching in Australian schools. A critical aspect of the four-year
project was to engage teacher education institutions and schools in activities that
enhance the quality and relevance of teacher education programs for pre-service
teachers as well as the professional support and leadership programs that are offered
for graduate teachers in their schools. This was an important initiative for, as Santoro
et al. (2011) indicate in their discussion around the challenges associated with getting
teachers, in schools, to engage more effectively with Indigenous students ‘one way to
do this is to involve Indigenous teachers in teacher education at both the inservice and
preservice levels’ because these teachers ‘understand Indigenous worldviews and have
first-hand experience of the challenges facing Indigenous students in White schooling
systems’ (Santoro et al., 2011, p. 66). This argument aligns with the experience outlined
in the paper by Hart and colleagues (2012) who used interpretive phenomenology to
seek to discover the essence of practice teaching experience through listening to the
pedagogic voice of Indigenous pre-service teachers and their evaluation of pedagogic
relations with their supervising teachers in schools and with the university staff
members involved in their practicum experience. Questioning pre-service teachers
about the phenomenon of being a pre-service teacher, doing practice and reflecting
on practicum experiences and how they ‘make meaning from and within their lived
worlds’ (p. 2) and their supervising teachers about their supervising experience while
student teachers are embedding Indigenous knowledge and perspectives into their
teaching practice is intended to enable each to reflect more deeply around aspects of
their professional practice and what they personally bring to that practice. They cite
Nakata (2002, p. 281) in locating their research within the ‘cultural interface’ because
it is time educators stopped talking about Indigenous peoples and their knowledge and
culture in paternalistic and racialised ways, and realised that Indigenous knowledge is
not ‘out there with Indigenous communities’ rather it ‘is all around us and is with us’
(Hart et al. 2012, p. 8), it is as Nakata explained ‘our lifeworld’ (2002, p. 285).
WEBSITES PROVIDE ACCESS TO VARIOUS

NETWORKS AND PROGRAMS
Pre-service teachers preparing to work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
students can access information on various websites. For example, Principals Australia
Inc. offers:
a wide range of professional services which focus on leading a school’s

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education strategy; helping schools
build a clearer picture of what is working well and what the strategic
opportunities are; fostering focused discussions on the critical success
factors for a school’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education focus;
and supporting schools to gain a clearer understanding of their role in
Reconciliation (PAI, 2018).
Developing strategies to improve community engagement by enhancing staff capacity

to effectively engage with the diversity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students
in their classrooms is a key factor in achieving these goals.
Another example is the 3Rs (Respect, Relationships, Reconciliation) website. The
3Rs was originally designed to support the provision of initial teacher education and to
improve teaching in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education around the Focus
Areas 1.4 and 2.4. The 3Rs website is hosted by the Australian Council of Deans of
Education (ACDE) and is an authentic resource for all teachers. LINK
TEACHER CAPACITY TO ENGAGE

Effective communication is a critical component in any teacher’s capacity to deliver
on the promise of education, and especially to influence Indigenous educational
achievement. These responses have a particular resonance when considered within the
context of the 2001 MCEETYA Taskforce Discussion Paper on teachers of Indigenous
students that highlighted quality teaching as a critical element in achieving this vision:
accomplished teachers demonstrate their professional standards by their
commitment to preparing all students for a productive and rewarding
life as citizens in a democratic and multicultural Australia, and by their
commitment to achieving educational equality for Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander students (2001, p. 3).
In considering current societal expectations, there is a tendency to position teachers as

leaders within their educational settings. This implies that all teachers are adequately
prepared to assume such a role; that their teacher education has enabled them to
develop as educational leaders who have the capacity to effect change in teacher
thinking. Leaders look to the future, so envisaging themselves as leaders assumes
that teachers can think beyond the immediate confines of what is happening within
their classrooms today to a futuristic consideration of the value of current learning in
terms of preparing students for tomorrow. Such thinking is aligned with the notion of
education as lifelong learning and requires teachers to be attuned both to the individual
needs of learners and to the effectiveness of their own contribution in preparing those
learners to operate in a future world. They must be prepared to take the lead: to
demonstrate leadership. Research findings (Herbert, 2006; 2011) indicate that teachers
are most successful in this role when they have a deep understanding of where their
students are coming from, when they are able to empathise with their students in ways
that ensure they, themselves, have the capacity to deliver learning programs that cater
for their students’ individual learning needs. But that same research also suggests that
not all teacher education programs produce teachers who are able to engage effectively
with all students, especially with Indigenous students.
The Department of Employment, Education and Workplace Relations (DEEWR)
Schooling Issues Digest: Student Motivation and Engagement defined engagement as
being ‘influenced by such factors as socio-economic status, parental education and
occupational status, ethnicity, student age and gender. The school has no direct control
over these factors, but can adapt its approaches to the needs of its particular students’
(Frydenberg, Ainley & Russell, 2006, p. 2).
The Digest also cites the Programmes for International Student Assessment (PISA)
2000 statement defining engagement ‘behaviourally as participation (attendance and
punctuality) and affectively as a sense of belonging (feeling accepted at school)’ that
ultimately leads to ‘a disposition towards learning and functioning within the school
that is an important outcome of schooling in its own right’. If engagement is perceived
to be an important outcome of education, then schools have a critical responsibility
to provide students with the time, space and interactive experiences that would
enable them to acquire the knowledge, skills and understanding they will need to
effectively engage in the learning process. While this implies that the teacher is a prime
influence in building effective engagement within the classroom it also raises questions
concerning the accountability of those bodies that exert control over the capacity of
teachers to deliver effective learning programs. Adequate resourcing – people, space
and time – appears to be essential in enabling teachers to build the structures and
processes that could enable education to make a difference for Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander students in public school spaces.

An Aboriginal student entering your Year 10 class has attended less than one month
collectively of primary school education from Kindergarten to Year 7, with a few
short episodes of attending junior secondary schooling. How would you ease his
GUIDED transition from this background to the rigours of Year 10?
RESPONSE
CONCLUSION
Essentially, this chapter has highlighted the critical importance of teachers being able to
engage with their students, and their communities, in ways that enable those students
to engage with their own learning. The intent of the discussion was to highlight the
notion that achieving ‘good practice’ begins with the teacher’s willingness to strive for
such outcomes. The ability to achieve ‘good practice’ to become a ‘quality teacher’, from
an Indigenous point of view, is closely related to the individual teacher building the
capacity to engage with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, and increases as
the pre-service teacher develops the attitudes that enable open, honest and accepting
cross-cultural engagement.
I have reached this conclusion through my personal engagement in the deep

reflective practice that has enabled me to revisit the situations, the experiences and the
feelings – within and about learning experiences – that have been the realities of my life’s
work as an Aboriginal teacher. I have shared many of these reflections with my students
and colleagues, and the communities in which I have worked. And it seems to me that
it is that crucial act of sharing, that cooperative act of communication, that ultimately
enables the individual learner to engage in their own learning and accept the challenge
of determining their own future. My own PhD research revealed that Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander students demonstrating a willingness to take responsibility for
such decision-making are able to empower themselves through their education. And,
based upon my own life experiences, I know that as these individuals continue on their
learning journeys, they will experience the transformative engagement that will enable
them to take control of their own lives, and ultimately, determine their own futures.
It has been that reality, that has convinced me that education can still deliver on its
promise as long as we, who believe in its power are prepared to stand up and fight for
the right of all of our peoples to have access to the quality education that has long been
denied them in this country.
Teachers committing to a respectful learning engagement with Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander students will not only make a difference in terms of Indigenous
educational outcomes but will finally deliver on the promise of education for the first
peoples of this nation: equality for all Australians.
SHORT-ANSWER QUESTIONS
1. Personal reflective practice is an effective tool for classroom practitioners. In SHORT-
setting aside time each day, what might you reflect upon? ANSWER
QUESTIONS
2. In considering current social expectations, there is a tendency to position
teachers as leaders within their educational settings. Such thinking is aligned
with the notion of lifelong learning. How are teachers most effective in this
role?
3. One of the most talked about aspects of education is ‘engagement’. If
engagement is perceived to be an important part of education, what, then, is a
school’s responsibility?
4. What is Dyson’s (2005) conclusion in relation to a quality teacher?
5. What have initiatives to improve the process of credentialing teachers focused
on?
6. What are the Focus Areas 1.4 and 2.4 directed at?
7. In relation to the emergence of professional identity in pre-service teachers,
what was it that Cattley (2007) indicated?
8. How could the process of reflecting on responses to, and observations of,
various elements of the teaching environment be useful for a teacher?
9. It is not only those who engage at the learning interface who are accountable
for student outcomes. List three others who are accountable for student
outcomes.
REVIEW QUESTIONS
REVIEW 1. What would you consider to be the greatest potential strength for establishing
QUESTIONS a strong teacher–student relationship with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
students?
2. What would you consider might be the most valuable outcomes of building
a learning environment that is based upon ‘effective teacher–student
engagement’?
3. Communication is a critical tool for a teacher seeking to deliver education that
is empowering, particularly to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.
Briefly describe three situations in which communication skills could be used
to engage students more effectively and/or enable them to be empowered by
the learning experience. Describe a situation and what could be done; why and
what evidence could there be to suggest the experience would be empowering
for the student?
4. Plan a learning activity that you consider would enable you to provide a group
of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students with a rewarding learning
experience. Outline three desired student outcomes and why you believe the
planned activity would enable the students to successfully achieve those
outcomes.
FURTHER READING
Freire, P. 1972. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books
Heiss, A. 2018. Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia. Carlton, Vic: Black Inc.
Howard, G.R. 2006, We Can’t Teach What We Don’t Know: White Teachers,
Multiracial Schools, 2nd edn. (Multicultural Education Series). New York:
Teachers College Press.
McRae, D., G. Ainsworth, J. Cumming, P. Hughes, T. Mackay, K. Price, M.

Rowland, J. Warhurst, D. Woods and V. Zbar. 2000. What Works? Explorations
in Improving Outcomes for Indigenous Students. Deakin, ACT: Australian
Curriculum Studies Association and National Curriculum Services. http://ncis
.anu.edu.au/_lib/doc/visitors/what_works_2000.pdf
Milner, H.R. III. 2010. Start Where You Are, But Don’t Stay There: Understanding
Diversity, Opportunity Gaps, and Teaching in Today’s Classrooms. Cambridge,
MA: Harvard Education Press.
Sarra, C. 2014. Changing the Tide of Low Expectations in Indigenous Education.

(website). https://chrissarra.wordpress.com/
REFERENCES
AITSL (Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership). 2015. Respect,
Relationships, Reconciliation (website). https://rrr.edu.au/
—— 2013. AITSL Annual Report Promoting Excellence in the Profession of

Teaching and School Leadership. 2012–2013. Melbourne: AITSL.
—— 2011. Australian Professional Standards for Teachers. www.aitsl.edu.au/

teach/standards
Andersen, C. 2012. ‘Teacher education, Aboriginal studies and the new National
Curriculum’. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 41(1): pp. 40–6.
Aronowitz, S. 2009. ‘Foreword’. In Critical Pedagogy in Uncertain Times:

Hope and Possibilities, edited by Sheila L. Macrine, pp. ix–xi. New York:
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Australian Government. 2018. Quality Schools Quality Futures. www.education.gov

.au/quality-schools
—— 2012. Review of Higher Education Access and Outcomes for Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander People. Final Report. www.education.gov.au/review-higher-
education-access-and-outcomes-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-people
BERA-RSA 2014. Research and the Teaching Profession: Building the Capacity
for a Self-improving System. Final Report: Inquiry into Research and Teacher
Education. www.bera.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/BERA-RSA-Research-
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Bradley, J. 2012. ‘“Hearing the Country”: Reflexivity as an intimate journey into

epistemological liminalities’. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education,
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Bristol, L. 2012. Plantation Pedagogy: A Postcolonial and Global Perspective.

Global Studies in Education, Vol. 16. New York: Peter Lang Publishing.
Burnett, B., J. Lampert and K. Crilly, 2013. ‘“I can’t believe I just said that”:
Using guided reflections with non-Indigenous pre-service teachers in Australia’.
The International Education Journal: Comparative Perspectives, 12(1): pp. 161–
79 https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1017667.pdf
Cattley, G. 2007. ‘Emergence of professional identity for the pre-service teacher’.

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Dyson, M. 2005. ‘Australian teacher education: Although reviewed to the eyeball

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Goodwin, A.L, L. Smith, M. Souto-Manning, R. Chervuvu, M.Y. Tan, R. Reed and

L. Taveras 2014. ‘What should teacher educators know and be able to do?
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Hart, V. and K. Moore 2005. ‘To see through the eyes of another.’ The Third
Space – an alternative view of Australian Studies. Paper presented to Social
Change in the 21st Century Conference, October, 2005. QUT, Brisbane.
Hart, V., S. Whatman, J. McLaughlin and V. Sharma-Brymer 2012. ‘Pre-service

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3

DELIVERING THE PROMISE:

Born and raised in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, I graduated as a

FIGURE 3.2 My grandmother, Ida Buckle, 1947.

CRITICAL THINKING QUESTION 3.1

CRITICAL THINKING QUESTION 3.2

BACKGROUND TO CONTEMPORARY TEACHER

APPLIED LEARNING ACTIVITY 3.1

GUIDED How would you describe a ‘good’ teacher?

APPLIED LEARNING ACTIVITY 3.2

APPLIED LEARNING ACTIVITY 3.3

IMPLICATIONS FOR CONTEMPORARY TEACHER

CRITICAL THINKING QUESTION 3.3

In 2013, however, AITSL acquired some additional responsibilities relating to

and Torres Strait Islander students and development of understandings relevant to

CRITICAL THINKING QUESTION 3.4

TABLE 3.1 NATIONAL PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS FOR TEACHERS

Standard 2 2.4 Demonstrate broad knowledge of,

Source: adapted from AITSL, 2011, pp. 9–11.

Obviously, universities have a critical responsibility to ensure they produce high-

PRACTICUMS: CRITICAL TOOLS IN QUALITY

professional expertise through engagement in classroom environments that align with

ENGAGEMENT ACTIVITIES THAT ENHANCE PRACTICUM

CRITICAL THINKING QUESTION 3.5

teachers’ continuing professional development, etc. and most importantly to consider

Australian schools as a means of creating learning environments that enable Aboriginal

CRITICAL THINKING QUESTION 3.6

pre-service teachers engage in professional experience programs and, if, as indicated

Within such partnerships it would be possible to ensure that practicum is a connected,

in relation to their own professional identity. Cattley emphasised the importance

GENUINE ENGAGEMENT: KEY TO EFFECTIVE

CRITICAL THINKING QUESTION 3.7

CHANGE THAT IS MAKING A DIFFERENCE FOR

such activity on the part of educational institutions is reinforced in a paper by Hart

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR DELIVERING QUALITY

much of what happens in classrooms is a direct reflection of the resources allocated by

The content of teacher education programs is increasingly determined by the

Standard (SRS) (Australian Government, 2018).

INCREASING THE INDIGENOUS ‘VOICE’ THROUGH

WEBSITES PROVIDE ACCESS TO VARIOUS

a wide range of professional services which focus on leading a school’s

Developing strategies to improve community engagement by enhancing staff capacity

TEACHER CAPACITY TO ENGAGE

In considering current societal expectations, there is a tendency to position teachers as

CRITICAL THINKING QUESTION 3.8

I have reached this conclusion through my personal engagement in the deep

Heiss, A. 2018. Growing Up Aboriginal in Australia. Carlton, Vic: Black Inc.

McRae, D., G. Ainsworth, J. Cumming, P. Hughes, T. Mackay, K. Price, M.

Sarra, C. 2014. Changing the Tide of Low Expectations in Indigenous Education.

—— 2013. AITSL Annual Report Promoting Excellence in the Profession of

—— 2011. Australian Professional Standards for Teachers. www.aitsl.edu.au/

Aronowitz, S. 2009. ‘Foreword’. In Critical Pedagogy in Uncertain Times:

Australian Government. 2018. Quality Schools Quality Futures. www.education.gov

Bradley, J. 2012. ‘“Hearing the Country”: Reflexivity as an intimate journey into

Bristol, L. 2012. Plantation Pedagogy: A Postcolonial and Global Perspective.

Cattley, G. 2007. ‘Emergence of professional identity for the pre-service teacher’.

Dyson, M. 2005. ‘Australian teacher education: Although reviewed to the eyeball

Freire, P. 1972. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.

Goodwin, A.L, L. Smith, M. Souto-Manning, R. Chervuvu, M.Y. Tan, R. Reed and

Hart, V., S. Whatman, J. McLaughlin and V. Sharma-Brymer 2012. ‘Pre-service

Herbert, J. 2017. ‘Listen to the voices: Informing, reforming, and transforming

—— 2011. Educational Success: A Sustainable Outcome for All Indigenous

—— 2005. ‘Is success a matter of choice? Exploring Indigenous Australian