Transforming practices in Aboriginal education through teacher professional learning conversations

Professional learning conversations (PLCs) as a professional learning strategy for teachers can play a role in transforming schooling practices. PLCs are one strategy of Culturally Nourishing Schooling (CNS), a whole school reform project aimed at changing schooling practices to improve outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. We report on four PLCs facilitated by researchers (in-person and online) with one cultural mentor and 12 educators (primary and secondary) over one school year. Analysis of the conversations using the theory of practice architectures demonstrates that PLCs can be both a mechanism for, and an expression of, transforming practices within schools. • Professional learning conversations are a powerful professional learning strategy for changing practices in ways that support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. • Professional learning conversations provide a rich window into the conditions that enable and constrain teachers to shape schooling practices within school systems. • Teachers experience the frustration and challenge of entrenched practice structures which are resistant to change. • The theory of practice architectures is a useful analytical tool for considering the practice arrangements that shape schooling for Aboriginal students.