Cultural Safety in Science Education: Yarning and Re/storytelling Science Through the Cultural Safety Continuum

Cultural safety is a noteworthy practice in education, particularly in classrooms where First Nations students can be at risk of being marginalised, forgotten or silenced. It is a concept that was originally introduced in 1988 by a Māori nurse, Irihapeti Ramsden and has since been widely adopted by the health education discipline (especially nursing). However, cultural safety as a concept and practice has not featured widely in educational research. In this article, we explore the concept and practice of cultural safety through the example of teaching and learning science education in the tertiary sector where the unit coordinator engaged in a process of including First Nations knowledges alongside traditional western science knowledge, skills and values. Adopting the First Nations methodology of storytelling (specifically, storying and storywork), we present our story of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people working together in preservice teacher science education to find out what cultural safety means in our practice, process and consider what it might mean for our students. Through the journey of storytelling, we discovered that cultural safety can be developed but requires everyone to participate in genuine and reciprocal relationships that acknowledge each other and Country, and practice deep inward reflection as a process of learning. Issues of consent are discussed when working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples to more deeply understand the complexities involved.