Dispositions towards diversity: two pre-service teachers’ experiences of living and teaching in a remote indigenous community

ABSTRACT

Teacher education programmes are often tasked with preparing predominantly White, middle class, pre-service teachers to be effective in diverse contexts. Many teacher educators consider practicum experiences critical to forming values and dispositions necessary for the teaching profession. This article focuses on the work of two White, middle-class, pre-service teachers, Charlotte and Seraphina, who volunteered to do their practicum in a remote indigenous community in Australia on the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands. At the beginning of the practicum, both pre-service teachers’ attitudes about the experience were similar; yet, over time they began to develop divergant dispositions or ‘positionality towards diversity’ relative to their unique backgrounds and APY Lands experiences, highlighting certain sensitivities and biases regarding racial, cultural and linguistic diversity. We focus on how Charlotte and Seraphina interpret their experiences, what this can tell us about their professional development, and the possible implications for teacher educators teaching in post-colonial contexts.

KEYWORDS:

• Teacher education
• pre-service teachers
• remote education
• positionality
• dissonance

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. This behaviour may have been trauma-related.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the University of South Australia [DRPF].