Tips for creating safe classrooms when teaching for Indigenous Graduate Attributes

Teaching Indigenous content in curriculum can be challenging for academic staff. One key issue that commonly arises is managing resistant, and occasionally racist, responses from students. How do we create safe spaces – for students and staff – where students can ask questions, make mistakes and ultimately embark on transformative learning journeys? Almost every long-time teacher of Indigenous Studies has a story of a ‘difficult’ student who spent a semester disagreeing, challenging, and reinforcing age-old stereotypes, only to drop in at the end of semester to explain what an amazing new way they now see the world.

This short workshop will draw on a range of research to make practical suggestions for creating safe classrooms for all. Using student-focused research it will also illustrate some ways students experience learning Indigenous curriculum.

Feature image credit: Tom Plouff

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Your video, audio and the meeting chat transcript may be recorded or photographed. Please advise the facilitator if you do not wish to be recorded or photographed.