Subject English as a Meeting Place: Private school English teachers and their embedding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives

Subject English as a Meeting Place: Private school English teachers and their embedding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives

In education, due to the renewed focus on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives in version 9 of the Australian Curriculum, it is imperative that teachers’ approaches to and their experiences of Indigenous content are understood. This understanding will inform the future of culturally responsive practice and how English can serve as a meeting place for Indigenous perspectives to be holistically and authentically embedded. This collective case-study research aims to explore, assess, and understand subject English leaders’ and teachers’ level of professional knowledge and experience regarding the embedding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, histories, and perspectives. This paper, written by a Mandandanji researcher, is based on the preliminary findings from semi-structured interview with several English teachers across three private schools in South East Queensland. This project is strengths-based, framed by Indigenous Standpoint Theory and Decoloniality theory, and informed by the principles of self-determination and co-design. These initial findings have been thematically analysed to understand English teachers’: experiences in preservice education and professional development, embedding of Indigenous perspectives, teaching of Indigenous students, text choice influences, connections with local community, and their descriptions of self-determination, codesign, and their vision for English in their schooling context.

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