Our voice matters: Guiding cultural competency for Australian teachers
Leading education researchers and national policymakers are visiting Thursday Island early next month to seek input from TSIREC members and community leaders about future initiatives to increase the cultural competency of the teaching workforce
What does cultural competency mean?
According to the National Education Association (US), Cultural competence means understanding your own culture, other's culture, and the role of culture in education.
Research over decades shows that by using students' culture as a basis for learning, communicating high expectations, and reshaping curriculum to reflect students' diversity, an educator can achieve better educational outcomes.
The Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) is currently leading a project on developing the existing teaching workforce's cultural competency.
With input from TSIREC and Tagai State College leaders, AITSL has recently launched a discussion paper that outlines the current knowledge and understanding of cultural competency and its practice among the teaching workforce and highlights some of the challenges and barriers faced in undertaking this work. A further focus of the paper is to increase the understanding of cultural safety in Australian schools.
On Tuesday 2nd March 2021, AITSL is hosting a forum with TSIREC and our invited community representatives. This forum aims to connect our voices and research in education further to unpack the areas of discussion of the paper.
AISTSL are also seeking our input and guidance on the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community's needs and aspirations in increasing cultural competency of the teaching workforce, including the co-design and development of a suite of resources and tools.
Want to know more?
You can read AITSL’s discussion paper
Watch AITSL’s Carly Jia, Senior Advisor, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education, as she shares her tips for culturally competent teaching in the video below.
