ABSTRACT
This opening chapter introduces some critical ideas for (re)examining the foundations of teacher knowledge and the implications for classroom practice. All teachers, regardless of background, are governed by contexts that assume cultural and historical neutrality of schools and schooling which means in many respects, teachers often reinforce dominant social and cultural norms unwittingly. This serves to authorise Western knowledge frameworks and in turn choices on how Indigenous knowledges are interpreted and included. Implications for teachers are outlined, with an invitation for practitioners to identify assumptions and discourses that guide approaches to embedding Indigenous knowledges and perspectives into the curriculum and their professional practice. An Indigenous Standpoint Pedagogical Framework is provided as a powerful and constructive way of addressing pervasive norms in order to re-set existing foundations for practice in Indigenous education.
