Evolving discourses in Australia have resulted in an increasing focus on teachers' abilities to engage with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. Political concerns with achievement gaps and national education policy that require teachers to engage with curriculum priorities and professional standards that focus on strategies for teaching and understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students have contributed to this move. This paper reports on efforts to develop preservice teachers' engagement with the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers during professional experience in an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander school community. These findings highlight the complexity of challenging pre-existing social practices and the development of critical dispositions in preservice teachers, and the importance of purposeful professional experience as an opportunity for preservice teachers to construct and refine their professional knowledge through application and experience.