“Come with an open mind and remain that way. Preconceived notions of community life, or thinking you know how things are because of what you’ve read or heard can limit your ability to listen to what people are saying, or understand the context of situations.” (Remote educator, NT).
Cultural competence grows through listening, self-awareness, experience, respect, non-judgmental attitude, empathy, quiet observations, acceptance of confusion, and taking time to understand difference. An important way to develop cultural awareness is learning about kinship and skin names to understand how the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander educator, your students and community members are connected to each other and country.
In cross-cultural situations, it is important to make time for learning together to build relationships, improve communication and create shared understandings.
Teacher Professional standards (Graduate)
2.4 Understand and respect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to promote reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians
3.3 Use a range of teacher strategies
3.5 Use effective classroom communication
6.2 Engage in professional learning and improve practice