Abstract:
Rich cultural diversity in Australian schools offers teachers the opportunity to embrace diversity in their classroom practice. Yet, recent research suggests a significant proportion of Australian teachers are not coping with the challenges of culturally diverse classrooms and require professional learning support in this area and that graduate teachers feel unprepared for increasing cultural diversity in their classrooms. Participatory action research for teachers offers an opportunity to examine changes to practice and learn from the consequences of those changes. Modelled on the South Australian research, ‘Towards an Australian Culturally Responsive Pedagogy’ https://culturallyresponsivepedagogy.com.au/key-concepts/, this project involves professional learning and mentoring support in culturally responsive pedagogy with 10 primary school teachers in the ACT. The aims are to explore any transforms in the teachers’ worldviews and learning frames and any pedagogical shifts in their practice. This paper outlines the processes of the project and explores some initial findings. At the time of writing this abstract, the teacher educators in the project have responded positively to the chance to be creative, self-reflective and collect data that pertains to student needs. Feelings of trust and respect for teachers’ professionalism are being engendered with the research team of university academics and teachers.