Aboriginal Community-led Preservice Teacher Education: Learning from Country in the City

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Franzy

Teachers in Australia continue to face persistent challenges implementing Aboriginal content, pedagogies, and meaningful engagement with Aboriginal communities. This paper reports a research project on place-based learning for preservice teachers at an urban university led by Aboriginal community members. Results from surveys and individual and group yarns with 64 participants completing elective courses, including “Learning from Country”, show experiential learning benefits, major shifts in understandings of Aboriginal cultures and histories, and the value of local urban Aboriginal community presence.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages20

Reading Time50 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Teacher quality and challenges in Aboriginal education

Developing preservice teachers’ critical consciousness

Learning from Country: concept and aims

Research purpose and overview of key concepts

Australian Journal of Teacher Education | Volume 46 Issue 1 | Article 4 | | --- | --- | | 2021
Aboriginal Community-led Preservice Teacher Education: Learning from Country in the City
Katrina Thorpe
The University of Technology Sydney, [katrina.thorpe@uts.edu.au](katrina.thorpe@uts.edu.au)
Cathie Burgess
The University of Sydney
Suzanne Egan
The University of Sydney
Follow this and additional works at: [https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte](https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte)
Part of the Higher Education and Teaching Commons, Indigenous Education Commons, Junior High, Intermediate, Middle School Education and Teaching Commons, Other Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons, Pre-Elementary, Early Childhood, Kindergarten Teacher Education Commons, and the Secondary Education and Teaching Commons | | Recommended Citation Thorpe, K., Burgess, C., & Egan, S. (2021) . Aboriginal Community-led Preservice Teacher Education: Learning from Country in the City. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 46(1) . [http://dx.doi.org/10.14221/ajte.202v46n1.4](http://dx.doi.org/10.14221/ajte.202v46n1.4) [This Journal Article is posted at Research Online.](This Journal Article is posted at Research Online.)[ ](This Journal Article is posted at Research Online.)[https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte/vol46/iss1/4](https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte/vol46/iss1/4) Aboriginal Community-led Preservice Teacher Education: Learning from Country in the City Katrina Thorpe University of Technology Sydney Cathie Burgess Suzanne Egan University of Sydney Abstract: In Australia it is well documented that teachers continue to struggle with implementing Aboriginal content, pedagogies and engaging with Aboriginal communities. This paper describes a research project analysing place-based learning for preservice teachers at an urban university led by Aboriginal community members. We argue that place-based learning is critical in developing preservice teacher’s knowledge and confidence in Aboriginal education. Surveys, individual and group yarns provided in-depth data from 64 participants completing elective courses including placebased ‘Learning from Country’ (LFC) experiences. Three key findings emerge from the data. Firstly, the utility of an experiential ‘learning by doing’ approach, secondly, the profound shifts in participant understandings ofthe diversity of Aboriginal cultures, histories and communities and thirdly, how these experiences highlighted the strength and presence of the local urban Aboriginal community. These findings suggest that LFC holds promise as a pedagogical strategy to improve teacher capacity in Aboriginal education. Introduction The critical role of teacher quality in improving student outcomes is widely acknowledged (Hattie, 2009; Naylor & Sayed, 2014), even more so for those who experience disadvantage such as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students (henceforth referred to as Aboriginal students due to the location of project) (Gillan, et al., 2017) . Lack of teacher knowledge about and experiences with Aboriginal peoples, cultures and histories either in their own schooling and/or in their teacher education course (Lowe, et al., 2020) and the impact of racism (Bodkins-Andrews & Carlson, 2016) can make teaching in this space fraught with difficulty and inertia (Buxton, 2017) . Furthermore, many teachers lack confidence, feel uncomfortable teaching Aboriginal content and fear that they will overstep their authority if they speak on behalf of Aboriginal people (McKnight, et al., 2019) . Some teachers perceive Indigenous content as irrelevant to their discipline area or relevant only if they have Aboriginal students in their class (Phillips, 2011) . We argue that in order to develop effective teachers in Aboriginal education, we need to develop preservice teacher’s critical consciousness (Freire, 1970/2000), in relation to the impact of Eurocentric, assimilatory education practices t

FAQs

What main findings support the value of LFC for teacher capacity?

The findings indicate that experiential “learning by doing” is useful, participants’ understandings shift toward the diversity of Aboriginal cultures, histories, and communities, and the experiences highlight the strength and presence of local urban Aboriginal community life. Overall, LFC is promising for improving teacher capacity in Aboriginal education.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Franzy