Search

Globalisation and human mobility have contributed to increased student diversity in Australian schools and globally. Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programmes are under pressure to prepare pre-service teachers (PST) who can respond to the educational and cultural needs of diverse student cohorts. International study tours and service-learning programs are conceived as means for developing interculturally competent “classroom-ready” teachers. This paper reports on a New Colombo Plan water safety/swimming programme designed and delivered by pre-service teachers in a rural Fijian community. Findings indicate that immersion as “other” was important for building empathy and appreciation of the lived realties of linguistically and culturally diverse Indigenous Fijian and Indo-Fijian children. Additionally, findings reveal various ways by which PST enacted cultural competence in teaching the water safety/swimming program. Where international service learning is not always be an option, we argue for multiple opportunities for PST to work with children within diverse communities and cultural life-worlds. At stake is the potential of ITE programs to enable the development of pedagogical practices for meeting the cultural and educational needs of all children We believe these calls have relevance for ITE educators and their programs in Australia and the broader Asia-Indo-Pacific region. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

The body is a powerful symbolic form and all bodily activities are expressions of culture. The look, size, shape and physicality of bodies are perceived by all and compared to particular cultural standards. In this way the body is inscribed with culture and can serve as a site for social control. Various discourses of the body, including those around appearance, health and fitness, circulate within societal institutions and through relations of power these impact on the way in which we come to understand bodies. In times marked by individualised responsibility for all aspects of life, the body and technologies of self around bodywork are also significant in relation to self-formation and self-government. This research investigates the impact of various cultures of the body, on pre-service physical education teachers' understandings and meaning making about bodies, fitness, health and personal engagement in bodywork. Implications for future practices in teaching, relationships with school students and messages for teacher educators are also considered. Refereed/Peer-reviewed