The Story of Indigenous Teacher Education in Western Australia

Since colonisation, the history of Indigenous education and related teacher education in Western Australia (WA) has been fraught. It has involved a mixture of inherent prejudice, blatant racism, ignorance, valiant attempts to redress the balance, optimism, and fluctuating success. There remains a need for more Indigenous and especially local teachers who understand their students’ cultural and linguistic needs and who can best serve as the link between addressing these needs, their community’s desires and the reality of the students' schooling. The employment of non-Indigenous and non-local teachers is problematic at several levels and, as a result, over the past 50 years there have been various attempts to address these issues in two main ways: Firstly, by increasing the number of teachers who are Indigenous and, secondly, by training culturally competent non-Indigenous teachers. This article discusses the major initiatives related to these themes within Indigenous Teacher Education in Western Australia.