Yorubá and matauranga maori epistemologies in practice, decolonising teacher education in Brazilian And Aotearoa New Zealand Universities: decolonising teacher education in Brazilian and Aotearoa New Zealand universities.

This chapter discusses decolonising initiatives in teacher education programmes in Brazil and Aotearoa New Zealand. Specifically, it compares initiatives in decolonising curriculum and pedagogy courses in two public universities in both countries. The case studies are based on the authors' own experiences of implementing teacher education courses following two major changes in education policy: the 10.639/03 Law, which prescribed the teaching of African and Afro-Brazilian histories and cultures in Brazilian public schools, and the ongoing national curriculum review that made Aotearoa New Zealand's history a compulsory subject for primary and secondary students. Attempts to decolonise teacher education are not new topics in Brazilian or New Zealand education. However, recent shifts in academic and political power resulting from decades of Afro-descendant and indigenous movements have meant that many teacher education programmes are now committed to disrupting entrenched, taken-for-granted Western approaches. They are achieving this by redesigning courses premised on indigenous and diasporic African epistemologies. The chapter begins with an overview of the historical-political background that led to recent policy changes in Brazil and New Zealand. The second part discusses the redevelopment of Massey University's teacher education programme in Aotearoa New Zealand, intended to honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi (The Treaty of Waitangi). This is particularly focused on the "mana orite mo te Matauranga" principle, which emphasises Western and Maori epistemological parity and is inspiring ongoing curricular changes and practices. The third part discusses how Afro-Brazilian knowledge, specifically the Yorubá "terreiro pedagogy" (learning in and from candomblé temples), is informing theories and practices of student teachers in the city of Salvador. The chapter concludes with the authors' reflections on this South-to-South comparison between decolonising teacher education practices in both contexts.