ABSTRACT
Increasing levels of student diversity and concomitant student/teacher diversity gap frame the conditions of schooling in the contemporary moment. This diversity heightens the demand for education practices and structures that are democratic. In this chapter, we are making the case that culturally responsive pedagogies provide strong cultural and social foundations for democratic education. Our specific focus is the implementation of a range of strategies in a fourth year Primary/Middle (years 3–9) curriculum course within a Bachelor of Education. We first provide a contextual overview and examine furthering an understanding of settler/colonialism in initial teacher education. In the remaining sections of this chapter, we report on practices specific to English, Health and Physical Education (HPE), and Mathematics/Science. Our critical reflections focus on strategies designed to build cultural confidence, competence, and respect as integral components of democratic educational practice. We conclude in arguing that if pre-service teachers (PST)s are to develop deep and generative pedagogical practices that are democratic and hence, responsive to the diverse cultural, linguistic, and embodied practices of all students, we too, as teacher educators, need to confront our own assumptions about valued knowledge and practices.
