Effective Teaching Practices for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Students: A Review of the Literature

This paper presents a review of the literature pertaining to the teacher actions that influence Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander student learning outcomes. This review investigates two foci: the identification of teacher actions influencing learning outcomes for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander students and the methodological approach to how the influence of teacher behaviours on student learning has been determined. The literature review identifies that published literature in the effective teaching area is predominantly in the ‘good ideas’ category; that is assertions are made by authors with no research-based evidence for supporting such claims, especially through quantitative research which seeks to test the influence of specific facets of quality teaching, especially those facets identified by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander students as the qualities of effective teachers. Where there is evidence supporting best practices, the evidence is primarily qualitative in nature. The review affirms the need for empirical evidence to “tease out facets of quality teaching that are salient to Aboriginal students; elucidate their perspectives of teacher quality; and test the influence of specific facets of quality teaching on academic outcomes and the consequences of the findings for developing interventions for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.” Craven, Bodkin-Andrews and Yeung's (2007, p4)