Exploring Queensland secondary teacher induction training undertaken prior to working with remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students

Sindi Morley; Tessa Benveniste; Roxanne Bainbridge

doi:10.55146/ajie.v52i1.32

Authors

Sindi Morley Central Queensland University https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6894-3062
Tessa Benveniste Central Queensland University https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7189-5118
Roxanne Bainbridge The University of Queensland

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.55146/ajie.v52i1.32

Keywords:

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, social and emotional wellbeing, teacher training, remote education

Abstract

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities that are considered remote to metropolitan-dwelling, non-Indigenous Australians experience challenges attracting and retaining qualified teachers. Initial teacher education (ITE) is known to inadequately prepare teachers to engage Indigenous Australian students, however, we understand little about the induction training received by postgraduate secondary teachers prior to commencing work in remote schools with high enrolments of Indigenous students. This exploratory study investigated the relevance of the information provided in pre-service induction training and how this translated into classroom practice. Thirty-four Queensland secondary teachers with experience educating remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students responded to an online questionnaire investigating four different types of pre-service induction training: cross-cultural awareness, culturally appropriate pedagogy, classroom management, and student social and emotional wellbeing. Thematic analysis of their open-text responses identified three themes: training content, application of training and applicability to Indigenous students. Findings indicated inconstancies in completion rates, content significance and conversion of material into effectual classroom practices. It is suggested that providing community-specific pre-service induction training for Queensland secondary teachers could support them to engage remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in learning and may reduce the high frequency of teacher transfers and increase attendance rates of students.

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Author Biographies

Sindi Morley, Central Queensland University

Sindi Morley is a provisional psychologist with a Master of Professional Psychology from CQUniversity. She is a long-term resident of a remote Cape York community, with the entirety of her primary and secondary education being completed remotely. She has worked closely with remote First Nations students, teachers, and leaders for a period of 4 years as a teacher aide in a remote secondary school. These experiences provided some understanding of the challenges present for both non-Indigenous and First Nations peoples living and learning remotely.

Tessa Benveniste, Central Queensland University

Tessa is a senior postdoctoral research fellow at the college of psychology. In 2018, she completed a PhD investigating the expectations, experiences, and outcomes of boarding school for remote Aboriginal students, families, and communities in South Australia. From 2018-2020 she was the project manager of an NHMRC funded project focused on psychosocial resilience and suicide prevention for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students studying at boarding school. Her current focus is continuing to research at the interface between education, health and wellbeing, particularly in regional and remote areas.

Roxanne Bainbridge, The University of Queensland

Professor Roxanne Bainbridge is a Gunggari/Kunja woman from south-western Queensland. She is the Deputy Director at the Poche Centre, and previously worked as a Professorial Research Fellow in Indigenous Health at Central Queensland University Australia, an Adjunct to The Cairns Institute at James Cook University, and an inaugural Senior Atlantic Fellow for Social Equity at University of Melbourne/University of Oxford. With a background in anthropology, Roxanne focuses her interests on medical anthropology as a culturally constructive critique of the biomedical sciences and policy makers that provides new understandings of human health, wellness and illness for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

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