Introduction: The Australian School Curriculum reinforces a need for all educators to value the cultures and perspectives of Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander students. The Australian Professional Standard for Teachers (APST) includes two specific standards for Aboriginal Torres Strait Islanders. Initial Teacher Education students (ITE) are provided with limited exposure and experience of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island culture and can often lack confidence to teach relevant culture and content to students.
Methods: The Aboriginal Numeracy Gala Day was developed and embedded within an undergraduate ITE course. ITE students delivered the day as part of their coursework to Aboriginal school children (n=144) through teaching 12 applied mathematics stations using the sport of Rugby league as the “hook”. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of both the course and Gala Day using a pre-post self-review against standards 1.4 and 2.4 and specifically confidence to teach Aboriginal cultures, content and students.
Results: Paired sample T tests indicated statistically significant improvements in ITE students self-review against standard 1.4 and 2.4 and their confidence to teach Aboriginal cultures, content and students. Additionally, key themes emerged from qualitative data analysis reflecting the overall positive impact of the program on students’ learning experiences and highlighted areas of success and potential improvement.
Conclusion: The Aboriginal Numeracy Gala Day and its embedding within ITE is a novel approach to improve students self-rated confidence against the APST. The initiative offers a unique opportunity to develop a culturally responsive curriculum as part of an undergraduate ITE program.

Authors:
Nick Riley, University of Newcastle, Australia

About the Presenter(s)
Associate Professor Nick Riley is the Program Convenor for Primary Education at the University of Newcastle, Australia.

Additional website of interest
https://www.newcastle.edu.au/profile/nicholas-riley#highlights

See this presentation on the full schedule – Sunday Schedule

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