Reconciliation Australia

Submitter information

Name

Reconciliation Australia

Where are you located?

Australian Capital Territory

What type of area do you live in?

Metropolitan

Are you an education professional?
(e.g. teacher, school leader, learning support assistant, teacher’s aide)

Yes

Which sector do you work in?

Early childhood education and care,Primary,Secondary,Other

What is your occupation?

Other

Elevating the profession

The actions proposed recognise the value teachers bring to students, communities and the economy.

Would you like to provide feedback about these actions?

Improving teacher supply

The actions proposed will be effective in increasing the number of students entering ITE, number of students completing ITE and the number of teachers staying in and/or returning to the profession.

Would you like to provide feedback about these actions?

Strengthening Initial Teacher Education (ITE)

The actions proposed will ensure initial teacher education supports teacher supply and quality.

Somewhat agree

Would you like to provide feedback about these actions?

Reconciliation Australia particularly supports action 12: Co-design actions to attract and retain more First Nations teachers. Additionally, ITE must be strengthened to better equip all teachers to enter their future classrooms and school communities with the confidence and competence to embed, in a culturally safe and responsive way, a focus on reconciliation, and the importance of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander content and perspectives. This needs to happen in the context of truthful teaching of the histories of Australia, including its colonisation. The biennial Australian Reconciliation Barometer continues to show strong support for teaching/learning about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures in Australian schools (reconciliation.org.au/reconciliation/australian-reconciliation-barometer/). There are risks in in effectively preparing teachers for their future classrooms and school communities if a focus on reconciliation, and on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander content and perspectives, is not embedded across ITE programs of study and is instead relegated to once-off or standalone units of study (https://csrm.cass.anu.edu.au/research/projects/evaluation-narragunnawali-reconciliation-schools-and-early-learning). If reconciliation is not prioritised and modelled in ITE, teachers will be inadequately prepared to meet the curriculum and professional teaching requirements expected. First Nations teachers may also continue to be unfairly expected to shoulder the load of reconciliation, with implications on recruitment and retention of First Nations teachers. The need for ITE programs to prepare all teachers to foster culturally safe environments for First Nations staff and students, is further reiterated in the final report of AITSL’s Creating a Culturally Responsive Australian Teaching Workforce project (www.aitsl.edu.au/docs/default-source/comms/cultural-competency/aitsl_indigenous-cultural-competency_final-report.pdf). Reconciliation Australia’s submission in response to the Quality ITE Review is also relevant to this priority area: www.education.gov.au/quality-initial-teacher-education-review-submissions-submission/12998

Maximising the time to teach

The actions proposed will improve retention and free up teachers to focus on teaching and collaboration.

Somewhat agree

Would you like to provide feedback about these actions?

Reconciliation Australia recommends that the objective of the maximising the time to teach priority area be expanded to include an explicit focus on reconciliation, within the broader focus on teaching and collaboration.

Correspondingly, with regard to proposed action 16: Examine how to support implementation of the national curriculum and literacy and numeracy progressions, there must be a focus on the implementation of the national curriculum’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures cross-curriculum priority.

The external Evaluation of Reconciliation Australia’s Narragunnawali program (https://csrm.cass.anu.edu.au/research/projects/evaluation-narragunnawali-reconciliation-schools-and-early-learning) has highlighted how, although the importance and benefits of reconciliation in education is clear, some of the key challenges for schools and early learning services in their Reconciliation Action Planning (RAP) journeys include:

*Time and funding (or resource availability)
*Staffing changes or turnover
*The level of priority a RAP is afforded within individual schools or early learning services, among other simultaneous or perceived conflicting priorities

As such, and as articulated in Reconciliation Australia’s submission in response to the current Review of the National School Reform Agreement (https://www.pc.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/349082/subdr122-school-agreement.pdf), the Education sector should more strongly advocate for reconciliation initiatives (including the development and implementation of RAPs), by allocating resource commitments (e.g. budgetary and dedicated teacher relief time) to support teachers and schools leaders to administer and advance these activities, as part and parcel of teaching and collaborative practice.

Better understanding future teacher workforce needs

How effective are the proposed actions in better understanding future teacher workforce needs, including the number of teachers required?

Very effective

Would you like to provide feedback about these actions?

In alignment with Reconciliation Australia’s feedback in response to the ‘Maximising the time to teach’ priority area, Reconciliation Australia recommends an aligned focus on better understanding and responding to future teacher workforce needs (and opportunities) with regard to reconciliation in education more specifically. This recommendation aligns with the assertion within wider Education sector research around the imperative for sector stakeholders to “co-design stronger metrics and data collection/reporting processes to capture and assess good practice pertaining to ‘Cultural Responsiveness,’ ‘Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education’ and related foci such as ‘Reconciliation in Education’” (see: https://www.aitsl.edu.au/docs/default-source/comms/cultural-competency/aitsl_indigenous-cultural-competency_final-report.pdf, recommendation 10).

Reconciliation Australia welcomes a conversation around how its current and prospective research and evaluation efforts can meaningfully contribute to this priority area. We also welcome a conversation around the wider feedback raised in this submission, and next steps.

Better career pathways to support and retain teachers in the profession

The proposed actions will improve career pathways, including through streamlining the process for Highly Accomplished and Lead Teacher (HALT) accreditation, and providing better professional support for teachers to retain them in the profession.

Somewhat agree

Would you like to provide feedback about these actions?

Reconciliation Australia particularly supports action 26: improve access to high-quality First Nations’ cultural competency resources to ensure teachers are better prepared to teach about First Nations peoples in culturally safe ways. Cultural competency should not be viewed as a standalone imperative but, rather, part of a whole-of-school approach to fostering wellbeing and driving reconciliation in education. For example, ‘Cultural Competence for Staff’ is one among many other Actions suggested within the Narragunnawali RAP framework for schools and early learning services. AITSL’s Building a Culturally Responsive Australian Teaching Workforce report asserts, “developing a RAP provided a whole-school approach to building strong community relationships and an increased awareness and understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages, histories and cultures. It was identified that, as a framework for action and accountability, a RAP is a useful starting point and continuing reference, reflection and guidance point if embedded alongside other culturally safe processes, frameworks and policies” (www.aitsl.edu.au/docs/default-source/comms/cultural-competency/aitsl_indigenous-cultural-competency_final-report.pdf). All teachers, and whole-school communities, must be equipped to foster a culturally safe and supportive working environment that does not expect First Nations teachers to unfairly shoulder the load of education/reconciliation in their school communities. The Review of the National School Reform Agreement Interim report (www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/current/school-agreement/interim/school-agreement-interim.pdf) evidences how “teachers’ workload is high and increasing...and even higher for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teachers,” so this needs to be actively and respectfully recognised and addressed from a cultural safety perspective, and more broadly. Thank you for considering our feedback. The education system has a critical role to play in our nation’s reconciliation journey, and the National Teacher Workforce Action Plan is an opportunity to strengthen the sector's active understanding of, and commitment to, reconciliation in education.