Session 4.4 Master Classes

Tracks
Track 4
Saturday, November 2, 2024
9:35 AM - 10:25 AM
Plaza Auditorium

Overview

Plaza Auditorium


Details

Moving across the Indigenous Cultural Responsiveness continuum in teacher education - Dr Justine Grogan, Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership


Speaker

Agenda Item Image
Dr Justine Grogan
Senior Advisor - Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander Education
Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership

Moving across the Indigenous Cultural Responsiveness continuum in Teacher Education

Abstract

Over the last four years, the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) has had the privilege of facilitating work on behalf of the Commonwealth Department of Education to explore cultural responsiveness in the Australian teaching workforce. This important work brings together findings from extensive research and consultation efforts. Consultation was wide-ranging to capture the diversity of First Nations Education experts and stakeholders that make up the teaching workforce. It is clear that teachers must do more than simply know and deliver Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural content. AITSL’s recently released Indigenous Cultural Responsiveness toolkit was developed to provide teachers with a foundational tool to enhance culturally responsive practice. The aim of the self-reflection toolkit is to provide the Australian teaching workforce with the necessary resources and tools to create encouraging and supportive environments for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and staff and increase cultural safety in Australian schools. AITSL is currently conducting a literature review, environmental scan of free national professional learning resources, and an implementation trial across 40 schools nationally. The trial aims to gather insights into how teachers use the tool, whether their beliefs and awareness of cultural responsiveness changes, whether they change practices in and outside of the classroom, and whether there were barriers to implementation that can be addressed with further updates to the tool or with additional resources. AITSL intends to share these research findings and discoveries with everyone involved in the field of education.

Biography

Dr Justine Grogan is a First Nations Wongaibon descendant and Senior Advisor for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education at the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL). Prior to working at AITSL she was Indigenous Lead, Course Coordinator and Lecturer in First Nations Education for over 10 years at the University of the Sunshine Coast. Her PhD, Honours and research areas focus on embedding First Nations Knowledges and Perspectives in early years, primary, secondary and higher education with key areas in colonisation, Critical Race Theory, anti-racism, white privilege, power and professional responsiveness. Justine was awarded the prestigious Aurora International Scholarship which gave her the opportunity to study at universities in the United States of America including Berkeley, Stanford, Harvard, Columbia and New York University (NYU). She has written and published many journal articles with highly raked publishers such as Cambridge and Higher Education Research and Development.

Session chair

Deborah Munro
Lecturer
Queensland University of Technology

loading