Power and authority in school and community : interactions between non-Indigenous teachers and Indigenous teacher assistants in remote Australian schools

Abstract

Traditionally, education for Indigenous peoples within the Australian context has had a highly Eurocentric flavour (Matthews, Watego, Cooper & Baturo, 2005; Rothbaum, Weisz, Pott, Miyake & Morelli, 2000). As such, many Indigenous people who form part of this education system have found themselves in positions where communication has lacked cultural understandings and clarity, leaving them with undefined roles of minimal cultural significance. This has contributed to a sense of disempowerment for those indigenous people who otherwise hold positions of power, respect and value within their own communities.
In this paper, we discuss the relationships between non-Indigenous teachers and Indigenous teacher assistants (ITA's), (community members employed to support the teachers in their classrooms) and how these relationships can enhance socially-just school outcomes for Indigenous students. We examine the present situation in remote schools, apply Weber's authority types to teachers and ITAs within school and community, outline a professional learning (PL) project that operated in three schools, provide findings with regard teachers' and ITAs’ perceptions of school and classroom, and
finally draw implications for socially-just outcomes. Some remote schools employ non-Indigenous teacher assistants as well as ITAs; therefore, within this chapter, we will use the term assistant when description and discussion covers both non-Indigenous and Indigenous assistants and ITA when referring only to Indigenous teacher assistants.