Embedding Indigenous knowledges in Australian initial teacher education: a process model

Abstract

In this chapter, a model for supporting the ongoing process of embedding Indigenous knowledges in teacher education and teaching practice is dis-cussed. This model was developed out of an Australian Office for Learning and Teaching (OLT) project which examined factors that supported the practicum journeys of Indigenous and non-Indigenous pre-service teachers, and their school-based supervisors. The model foregrounds and illustrates the relationships and interactions between policy and practice contexts in initial teacher education. Selected vignettes from the participants provide examples of the embedding practices in each context. In this project, we positioned preservice teachers as ‘future curriculum leaders’ and ‘knowers’ and, therefore, their curriculum decision-making and practices around embedding Indigenous knowledges are shared to exemplify how the practice contexts in schooling can inform future professional work of all teachers and shape praxis in schools and teacher education institutions.