Listening Together: Non-Indigenous educators developing praxis towards critical allyship

Introduction/Background:
Health professions accreditation standards require the inclusion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural safety curriculum which addresses topics such as racism, privilege and settler colonisation. However, evidence indicates that educators often feel ill-equipped to teach these challenging topics. Two non-
Indigenous health professional educators with settler standpoints have recently been undertaking doctoral research in this area. Findings suggest that non-Indigenous educators need to share the workload of implementing effective curriculum that contributes to healthcare without racism but require support to implement evidence-informed pedagogy.

Aims/Objectives:
The aim of this presentation is to describe a pilot community of practice and shared learning model designed to support ongoing educator critically reflexive praxis. This model specifically targets non-Indigenous health professional educators and involves challenging conversations about their contested position in delivering culturally safe health professional education.

Discussion:
Since 2020, 15 lunchtime sessions have been held, reaching 30 active participants within nine different professions across the Faculties of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Education and Science. The usual format of a session is as follows: revising a shared statement of intent, introducing the theme, activities (e.g. a reading, video, or news article), breakout group activities, and group feedback. During each session we foreground Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ perspectives and scholarship. Topics have included NAIDOC and National Reconciliation Week themes, The Voice, and concepts such as critical allyship, challenging settler colonialism in the academy, being an anti-racist educator, and truth-telling.

Ideas for further discussion:
This process has revealed pros, cons and tensions arising when non-Indigenous health professional educators critically reflect on their positionality and how it intersects with higher education. Doing this ethically and responsibility requires critique and de-centring of non-Indigenous epistemologies. We continue to grapple in this contested space where unresolved tensions remain.