Practicing what we preach: Reflecting on culturally competent practice in the teaching of Indigenous Australian content

Over the last few decades, teaching the skills required for providing culturally
competent practice has become the mainstay across many disciplines.This means that for those responsible for teaching these skills, critical reflection on our own competencies is paramount. Critical reflection asks us to think about our teaching practice and the ideas we have about it. It then challenges us to take a step back and consider our thinking through a series of questions related to the reflective act. This means not only looking at the past and the present, but considering the future and acting accordingly. The complexities of this are increased when teaching outside of a culture that is not our own. In this chapter, we critically reflect on our own positions as non-Indigenous women teaching Indigenous content to students from a variety of disciplines. We also consider what this means from our own perspectives of becoming culturally competent and maintaining culturally competent practice.