Preparing Teachers to Work with and for Remote Indigenous Communities: Unsettling Institutional Practices

Abstract

This chapter reports on data from two separate Australian Government-funded projects related to the development of a remote professional experience. The first project, PREEpared (https://www.preepared.com) was interested in finding ways to better prepare pre-service teachers and teacher educators to counter oppressive curriculum and pedagogy and work with and for Australian remote communities in the context of Initial Teacher Education (ITE). The second involved planning, implementing and evaluating two remote placement experiences to understand the experiences of all relevant stakeholders. The question of how can ITE best serve remote communities was posed and a themed analysis conducted from a range of interview responses. Findings suggest those in initial teacher education need to unsettle some of the taken-for-granted professional education practices and documents the essential elements of a curriculum necessary to prepare pre-service teachers to work and learn in ethical, respectful and reciprocal ways. Analysis suggests that a specialised initial teacher education curriculum and professional experience that acknowledges and respects local needs and contexts is needed to adequately prepare teachers to work in and for remote communities where it is difficult to both attract and retain teachers.