AHISA SUBMISSION

Australian Institute of Teaching and School Leadership

25 November 2020

Indigenous cultural competency

On behalf of the Australian Government, AITSL is investigating Indigenous cultural competency in Australia’s teacher workforce and in 2020 conducted a consultation to gather insights into how teachers and leaders in schools can be supported to enhance their Indigenous cultural competency.

AHISA’s submission presents evidence from the successful Dare to Lead program, initiated in the early 2000s by four national principals’ associations – AHISA, APPA, ASPA and CaSPA. The program sought to improve outcomes for Indigenous students and foster cultural understanding and reconciliation through networked support for school leaders. The program had immense impact, with some 5,500 schools (more than half of Australian schools) participating in the program by 2014.

Using the Dare to Lead program as a case history, AHISA’s submission identifies a lack of generational transfer of knowledge of successful practice in Indigenous education and of cultural literacy in the teaching profession as a critical challenge in the development of cultural competency in Australian schools. AHISA make a number of recommendations to address this challenge.