Strategies for Facilitating Culturally-Safer Learning Environments for First Nations Children in Australian Early Childhood Education

This chapter addresses the unequal power relations of fostering culturally responsive learning spaces in western settler-colonial education contexts. It examines the pivotal role that educators play in facilitating culturally-safer spaces for First Nations children and their families. The provocation put forward is that Australian government-devised plans, targets, strategies, and schooling mandates have failed to consider the diverse cultural and linguistic needs of First Nations children, families, and communities. This has resulted in the sustained disparity of attendance rates compared to non-Indigenous peers in formal Early Childhood education settings. In this chapter, we explore the apparent disconnect between theoretical understandings developed during pre-service teacher (PST) education and practical applications of in-service pedagogies in such socio-political environments. In doing so, we aim to offer practical strategies that can be taken up during in-service practice in ways that address current inequalities and pivot teaching practices towards facilitating more culturally responsive and safer early childhood learning spaces.