Teacher professionalism and cultural diversity: Skills, knowledge and values for a changing Australia

In this paper I critically examine the changing nature of teacher professionalism in relation to educational policy-making, specifically, the new national policy for values education in Australian schools, and a newly endorsedCultural Understandings syllabus for teaching in New South Wales' secondary schools. I argue that these policy changes connect teachers' work to a broad citizenship agenda, where values formation is increasingly seen as a core responsibility of teachers, and intercultural education is proposed as a domestic strategy for social cohesion.