Case Study 2: Exploring Preservice Teachers’ Experiences of Learning from Country in the City
摘要
ThisLearning from Country in the City chapter demonstrates the importance of Aboriginal community-led Country-centredCountry-centred experiences in developing preservice teachersPreservice teachers’ critical consciousnessCritical consciousness. We argue that this is essential for acquiring the knowledges and skills for culturally responsive, relationships-focused teaching and learning. Specifically, we draw on the series of group yarnsYarns, individual yarnsYarns, and surveys with preservice teachers who participated in local Learning From Country (LFC) experiences as part of their Aboriginal education electives. Based on these findings, and utilising key elements of the LFC FrameworkLearning from Country Framework, we highlight the importance of experiential “hands on” learning and explore the relationship between these types of embodied learningLearningembodied and the role played by local Aboriginal community-based educatorsAboriginal community-based educators in making visible to the preservice teachersPreservice teachers their local ecologies, histories, cultures, and communities. We explore the significance for preservice teachers in grasping the diversity, complexity, and resilienceResilience of Aboriginal cultures, communities, and peoples and the profound emotional and cognitive shifts they experience when exposed to first-hand accounts of the ongoing effects and practices of colonisationColonisation on the daily lives of Aboriginal peoples and communities. We draw attention to the preservice teachersPreservice teachers’ reflections on the effects of their experiences that increased their confidenceConfidence in and capacity to connect with local Aboriginal communities and develop relationships with Aboriginal students and their families. The chapter ends with insights into the “first steps” some preservice teachersPreservice teachers were able to take in putting their learnings into practice during their school-based practicums.