HARs included in “Improving Teaching in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education” project report

In September 2012, Monash University researchers released a report as part of the Improving Teaching in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education project. This project is funded by the Australian Government, aiming to contribute to the achievement of the goals of the Ministerial Council for Education, Early Childhood  Development and Youth Affairs’ (MCEECDYA) Aboriginal and  Torres Strait Islander Education Action Plan.

This research examined the current and future provision of teacher professional development in the field of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education in consideration of the National Professional Standards for Teachers.

The report began with the following quote:

Our job as educators is to convince the people who control mainstream education that we wish to  be included. Until this happens, reconciliation is an  empty word and an intellectual terra nullius.

(Dr Marika, 1999)

It asked the research question:  What are the strengths and limitations of provisions for the professional development of teachers in the field of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education in Australia with respect to the teaching of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and the development of teachers’ knowledge and understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories, languages and cultures?

The Honey Ant Readers were listed as resources available at the systemic level to support teachers to develop their professional skills in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education.

Overall the report concluded that there are “significant workforce development issues to address if the aspirations contained in the National Professional Standards for Teachers Focus Areas 1.4 and 2.4 are to be met by teachers (….) Many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander colleagues asked who would be responsible for establishing and ensuring a minimum standard with respect to these Focus Areas, knowing the levels of concern that have been expressed about how teachers might meet them” (p63).