CFS research on Indigenous education at ACER

Alphacrucis Dr Jennie Bickmore Brand at the August ACER conference, with Dr Sue Starling from Australian’s Together

Dr Jennie Bickmore-Brand has been sending shockwaves through Australian Initial Teacher Education faculties by presenting some uncomfortable findings in her recent study of indigenous content in teacher education degrees, launched at the August Australian Council for Education Research (ACER) conference. Commissioned by the charity Australian’s Together, she found that at least 17% of universities do not even comply with the minimum AITSL standards relating to indigenous perspectives, and few are achieving what could be described as a proficient standard. Her study, that examined every single unit, of every single Australian teaching degree, has revealed systemic disengagement with indigenous perspectives in teacher training. There is a long way to go in meeting satisfactory standards relating to education about, and for, indigenous Australians.