Teachers’ professional standards and Indigenous Education in Australia and Chile

Abstract

This paper explores the strengths and limitations of mandatory professional standards for teachers in Australia and Chile, two countries containing colonized societies. First, the paper compares the reality of the countries with a focus on the structure and principles of mandatory professional standards for the professional development of teachers. In Australia, professional standards for teachers includes strategies to teach in Indigenous contexts, highlighting the importance of understanding and respecting the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and their traditional culture. However, in Chile, the Indigenous education debate is limited. Second, the paper discusses the strengths of approaches used to frame standards within the professional development of teachers. Strengths consider how teacher’s expectations are impacted by an improvement in their knowledge of Indigenous. Finally, the paper explores the limitations of the mandatory standards in both. These reveal how diversity encountered among Indigenous cultures in Chile and Australia proves challenging when preparing teachers to perform in a particular Indigenous context. In Chile, teachers need specialized training to develop the necessary skills to work in Indigenous contexts. However, the Chilean standards of teacher professional development present limited guidelines for teaching in these contexts, which impact local language retention and culture. Recognizing the importance of Indigenous Education and inclusion in national policies is crucial. The new challenge for Chilean universities is to improve their teacher education programs for success in Indigenous Education.