Culturally Responsive Teaching with pre-service teachers and the challenges to action Culturally Responsive Pedagogies in an Australian education context

With social and cultural changes Education systems globally and within Australia find challenges to action change of ‘institutionalised’ practices in effectively supporting cultural responsiveness and ‘diversity.’ Focusing on Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programs, as a teacher educator, I use an autoethnographic lens to reflect on the use of Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT) with preservice teachers (PSTs) in a Creative Arts unit in an Australian university. PSTs' engagement with an activity and their responses to Culturally Responsive Pedagogies (CRP) are documented and discussed. PST’s experiences found a ‘voice’ and developed their professional learning towards ‘cultural responsiveness’ in their future teaching. Concluding on the barriers in actioning CRT and CRP, these pedagogies and practices are often subdued with resistance to change in attitude and reforms by different stakeholders. ITE training can support and action such pedagogies to focus on cultural responsiveness and ‘diversity’ as a more enacted part of PSTs professional learning.