The increasing visibility of different forms of diversity has given voice to racism as a global phenomenon affecting many of the world’s peoples across all continents including Europe and the country now known as Australia, with experiences such as prejudice and discrimination well-documented (European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), 2018; World Health Organisation (WHO), 2023). Immigrants to Australia and Europe experience racisms through the systems of the dominant, neo-liberal, white, patriarchal, capitalist culture. These systems of Whiteness are invisible and ubiquitous, normative and performative (Ball et al., 2022; Moreton-Robinson, 2015) and result in similar experiences of racisms for many individuals identified as not belonging to the white social group. Although the targeted groups may differ, “race…as a technology of power” (Lentin, 2020, p. 82) and the “hierarchy of different races with White people (men) at the top” (Ball et al., 2022, p. 3) sanctions racisms in both the European Union and Australia.

The 2021 report from the European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) provides an example of the similarity between experiences of racisms on the European and Australian continents. The experiences of racism in interactions with policing in Europe harms many non-white people, including Roma and people of African descent (Ball et al., 2022), with “discriminatory profiling by the police…a common reality” (FRA, 2018, p. 1). Racial profiling and targeted incarceration (in both adult and juvenile systems) are common experiences for Aboriginal Australian Peoples also. Changes to policy and systems at government levels have failed to demolish institutional/systemic racisms, address white privilege, or deliver substantive improvement to disparities in the wellbeing, life expectancy, and social opportunities for non-white peoples globally (WHO, 2023).

Experiences of racisms in pedagogies, curricula and policy continue to impact educational outcomes for many non-white students around the world, including Aboriginal Australian students, Roma students and students of African descent (Ball et al., 2022; Moodie et al., 2019). The research presented here aims to contribute to understanding racisms as perpetuated through the unacknowledged Whiteness of Australian education. This institutionalised racism (Vass, 2016) re/creates white supremacy through the control of knowledge and the passing on of values, based on what Mills (2007) and others refer to as white ignorance. The right to a culturally relevant education is rarely fulfilled, and the consequent “critical education gap” between Aboriginal Peoples and other Australians is mirrored globally.

This study explored attitudes and actions of white Australian in-service teachers regarding racisms in education. Using the conceptual lens of Critical Race Theory (CRT) (Crenshaw et al., 1995), the critical gaze was shifted from non-white social groups toward the dominant, white social group (racialising whiteness). This move was taken upon Watson’s (2007, p. 31) urging to stop “blaming the ‘other’” and “instead… [to interrogate] the role of the white privileged self” to better understand racisms, power and racialised practice, and the structural, systemic racisms of institutions and knowledge production.

The objective of this research was to explore the current attitudes and actions of teachers regarding experiences of racism in education. Building on previous international research, this study questioned how teachers feel about the knowledge and experiences of students, how effective they judge their own learning, and how comfortable they are with their pedagogical approaches.

The design and methodology of the study pursued a mixed methods approach to create space for Indigenous research methodologies (IRM) to be active in the collection of qualitative data. Privileging IRM sought to demonstrate engagement with and respect for the knowledge systems, experiences, and values of Aboriginal Peoples. This aligns with the tenet of CRT to centre counter-narratives (Delgado & Stefancic, 2001) and further strengthen the methodological framework The mixed methods approach allows that a combination of quantitative and qualitative data collection mechanisms is perhaps more effective when research endeavours to “explore complex phenomena” (Hickman, 2015, p. 41) such as racism. Quantitative data were collected from eighteen respondents to an online survey. Three open-ended questions also contributed to the qualitative data collection. The bulk of the qualitative data however were gathered from seven participants via in-depth dialogues known as Storywork, “a respectful set of processes for sharing experiences, meaning making and learning” (Archibald, as cited in Martin, 2008, p. 95). Storywork is an Indigenist research method of teaching and learning that acknowledges all as equal participants in the learning processes. Storywork allows for an exchange of information through sharing observations and reflecting deeply upon what was shared. Importantly, it meant that CRT could be realised in action. The researcher and the researched could trouble taken-for-granted assumptions within education. Grounded theory (Urquhart, 2013) analysis supported interaction with data in relatedness, allowing theory to be generated by the data. As such, it allowed free exploration of the data, to discover what the data was illuminating unencumbered by pre-conceived notions of what might be found. Importantly, this allowed for relationships between data and concepts to be honoured, making grounded theory an outstanding analytical approach for data collected through the Indigenous research method outlined above. Grounded theory supported analysis and coding of narrative and allowed space to release the insights that came from being “so close to the data” (Urquhart, 2013, p. 4).

This research employed Critical Race Theory (Crenshaw et al., 1995) as a framework to examine the Australian education landscape, and the influence it has upon teachers’ professional roles. The findings illustrate a limited understanding of racisms among teachers and the effect of this on their teaching praxes. The research data spoke of a narrow anti-racism praxis, and many teachers discussed difficulties in responding to racisms within education sites. Additionally, over half the teachers in the study identified a shortfall in knowledge of both colonisation and reconciliation among students, suggesting that teachers are not consistently teaching these topics. The key findings outline that only one of the respondents found their pre-service education very effective in preparing them to respond to racisms and the delivery of anti-racism education. Overwhelmingly, seven teachers found pre-service education was not at all effective. Given the long-term impacts of racisms on health, wellbeing, and identity, these findings highlight a very significant issue. This study argues that these findings are a result of limited “racial literacy” (Guinier, 2004; Twine, 2004) due to silences and absences in teacher training and professional learning. These silences have contributed to teachers who, in this study, define racism as being limited to individual beliefs and actions. Consequently, their responses to racism were limited to behaviour management strategies and placed an emphasis on interpersonal relations in contrast with the significant issue of institutional and structural racisms that fundamentally contribute to educational outcomes. The findings offer a contribution to the global literature regarding the role of racial literacy for teachers to unpack challenges that are brought about by the increasing diversity of education sites. Strengthening white teachers’ knowledges of ‘race’ and racisms may support teachers to enact Education’s inclusive policies through active anti-racism praxes.

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