Over a five-year period, we were involved in co-teaching a core intercultural subject to first year undergraduate students. The unit had a focus on the Indigenous experience in Australia, with a key feature being the co-teaching arrangement between an Indigenous and non-Indigenous teacher. Although there is strong research that fosters positive support for co-teaching, Lock et al., (2017) propose that co-teaching relationships cannot be assumed to occur naturally or simply. For us, there was a dedicated focus on developing a relationship of trust which allowed us to react and respond to each other, and the students, with consideration and care in the dynamic environment of the classroom. This was extremely important in the subject we taught, which dealt with challenging and distressing topics related to Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australian society and involved teaching teams from different cultural backgrounds historically affected by stereotyping and distrust. In this context, we were able to develop a successful co-teaching relationship which enriched both the student experience and our own. In this presentation, we reflect on and share our key insights into what worked for us in intercultural co-teaching. Our experience is characterised by openness, mutual respect, and a shared understanding of the need for flexibility in the teaching relationship, to maximise teaching and learning outcomes through the identified individual strengths that we each brought to the classroom.

Authors:
Andrea Dodo-Balu, University of Melbourne, Australia
Barbara Bynder, Curtin University, Australia

About the Presenter(s)
Dr Andrea Dodo-Balu is a University Assistant Professor/Lecturer at Curtin University in Australia

See this presentation on the full schedule – Thursday Schedule

Bookmark

---

A Note to Presenters

To enhance academic profiles and showcase research, we encourage all presenters and co-presenters to include links to their public LinkedIn, ResearchGate profile, and research websites. Presenters may update their bio for their presentation by completing the form linked below by October 22, 2024.
- Presenter Information Update Form
Submitted changes will be reflected on November 01, 2024

Additionally, presenters should also update their IAFOR account details if there have been any changes to affiliations or biographies.
- https://submit.iafor.org/my-account/edit-account