102086 Designing Teaching and Learning

Assignment 1 Essay on the Foundations of Teaching &

Learning.
Total word count 2196 words in part A and part B combined.

Part A Comprehension of Foundation Concepts.

Education in Australia is undergoing its biggest reform since its formal inception. A
new age of professionalism has seen drastic changes from the classroom to the
governmental policy level. As part of this move towards professionalism, changes to
the curriculum, pedagogy and assessment have taken place, each being driven
towards becoming an evidence-based profession, with the goal to create a world's
best education system. Such reform takes time, however, its effects on the quality of
teaching and results for the students are being observed every day in the classroom.

The move towards professionalism for Australian teachers is central to educational

reform within Australia. The call for more support for teachers (Manning, 2016) in the
wake of poor results (Browne & Cook, 2016) in the National Assessment Program
Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) highlights the need to improve teacher quality and
student outcomes. The Melbourne declaration (MCEETYA, 2008) recognises the

importance of "supporting quality teaching" in achieving its goals and emphasises

the need for teacher professionalism. Connell (2013) talks about the upskilling of
teachers through enhanced training and upgraded university qualifications as
imposed by the registration bodies. The pathway to teaching has been set out at a
national level and makes explicit demands (Omeara, 2011) of new and long-term
teachers, and the institutions that are responsible for training teachers. This move
has seen the establishment of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers
(AITSL, 2016) with a focus on evidence-based professional learning, teacher
development and expectations based on professional experience levels. It is clear
there has been a concerted effort to move teaching within Australia towards an
evidence-based profession.

Curriculum can be thought of as the what of education (Marsh, Clarke, & Pittaway,
2014) and has been structured by the State Governments in Australia. As part of the
Melbourne declaration (MCEETYA, 2008), moves towards a national curriculum were
made and the Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) was established. The
national curriculum has seven general capabilities (ACARA, 2016a) aimed at building
(Savage & Oconnor, 2015) competitiveness within a world economy and three crosscurricular priorities (ACARA, 2016a) that are not explicitly within subject areas, but
are aimed at helping students better understand the world and their place in it

(Savage & Oconnor, 2015). Priorities in Indigenous history and culture, the
economic, political and social links Australia has to Asia and the importance of acting
for a sustainable future are all commendable parts of the national curriculum.

Despite almost unanimous political and public support for the national curriculum,
there are some dissenting voices. Ditchburn (2012) argues that the national
curriculum has been enacted to improve Australian student's overall rankings on
global educational scales and that issues around equity for disadvantaged students
are secondary to being "world class". Teaching in an equitable manner will require
great flexibility (Marsh et al., 2014), considering the amount of diversity in
backgrounds and abilities of Australian students. The benefits of the national
curriculum are economically based, allowing for economies of scale through shared
resources nationally and to allow for economic mobility for Australian families
(ACARA, 2016a). It is hoped that building a world-class national curriculum will
elevate Australia's education system to world's best.

Pedagogy can be considered the how to the curriculums what in terms of

education. The many styles of pedagogical practice aim to create positive learning
outcomes for students developed by the teacher's abilities, strategies and
professional knowledge (Marsh et al., 2014). The NSW Quality Teaching model

(Ludwig & Gore, 2003) provides a thorough evidence-based guide to pedagogical

practice. Gore (2007) argues that teachers need practical guidance and a clear set of
concepts on what constitutes good practice in order to become better teachers. Gore
breaks down pedagogy into three dimensions with six elements. The first of these
dimensions is intellectual quality (Ludwig & Gore, 2003) which refers to engaging
students in higher order thinking and deep understanding of important ideas and
concepts. The second dimension is quality learning environment where explicit
expectations aim to foster a safe and productive learning environment. The third
dimension is significance which marries students prior knowledge with context
outside the classroom and cultural perspectives to make the learning more
meaningful for the student.

A key feature of pedagogy is differentiation which is a holistic approach to learning,

planning and teaching (Jarvis, Bell, & Sharp, 2016) where the goal is for all students
to meet curriculum outcomes through any means of support needed for them to
achieve that goal (M. Mills et al., 2014). It is not about setting lower expectations for
students, which has been shown to detrimentally affect the outcome for students
(Fenwick & Cooper, 2012; Keddie, Gowlett, Mills, Monk, & Renshaw, 2013) from
minority groups. Some areas of educational differentiation are resistant to change, as
observed by the persistence of streamed classes (Ansalone, 2010), despite evidence

of little benefit to high achievers and disadvantages for lower achieving students
(Castejn & Zancajo, 2015; Johnston & Wildy, 2016). Differentiation based on
cultural needs (Sarra, 2007; Shipp, 2012) has been successful in creating equity for
disadvantaged and minority students.

Assessment is the why of education and is a complex, yet crucial part of the
education system. Australia's performance in standardised tests, relative to other
OECD nations, has initiated many of the current reforms. NAPLAN is the
standardised test for Australian students and although supported by the government,
there are concerns about its application within education. Ford (2013) argues that
such tests highlight and create a disadvantage for the Indigenous community as it
assesses standard Australian English, which fails to reflect on the students overall
abilities (Shipp, 2012). There is also concern that NAPLAN encourages teaching to
the test (Fehring & Nyland, 2012; Marsh et al., 2014; Queensland Studies Authority,
2009) which runs counter to the deeper understanding encouraged by the quality
teacher model. Publishing the results of the NAPLAN tests on the myschool
website (ACARA, 2016c) can further alienate minority and disadvantaged students
by highlighting perceived deficiencies in their ability (Wigglesworth, Simpson, &
Loakes, 2011). Differentiation within assessment should aim for evaluation of an
individual students ability that promotes their self-esteem and sense of achievement.

Curriculum, pedagogy and assessment are intrinsically linked within the context of
the education system. It is through these principles that teachers are able to best
serve their students and help them to achieve academically. To keep pace with a
growing global economy it is necessary for teachers to become professionalised to
ensure educational standards are set and met for the betterment of students.
Australias focus on a national curriculum and quality teacher standards has the
country well placed to prepare next generation for the global economy. Standardised
testing does run the risk of marginalising disadvantaged students, but can be
overcome with a differentiated approach for individual students.

Part B Integration and Application of Foundation Concepts

Indigenous Students

There is no more disadvantaged minority within Australia than our Indigenous

population. NAPLAN results have highlighted the widening gap in academic
performance between Indigenous Australians and the rest of the population. Despite
this widening gap, there has been some success with differentiated pedagogy and
assessment for Indigenous students under the guidance of a national curriculum that
has a cross-curriculum priority of integrating and understanding Indigenous histories
and culture.

The Melbourne declaration (MCEETYA, 2008) emphasised the importance of

improving education standards for Indigenous students and recognising the role that
cultural learning plays in achieving these goals. Indigenous students tend to leave
school early (Gray & Beresford, 2008) which results in a significant welfare and
social cost (Schwab, 2012). The national curriculum, as one of its cross-curriculum
priorities, has a focus on allowing Indigenous students to see themselves, their
identities and their cultures reflected in the curriculum (ACARA, 2016b). This priority
allows for focus on reconciliation, respect and recognition for Indigenous students
from the entire educational system.

Despite efforts to improve Indigenous learning through the national curriculum, there

has been some concern about a lack of depth to the curriculum, especially within
high school history. Foley and Muldoon (2014) argue that there is a white bias in the
way that the curriculum represents Indigenous history, commenting on the lack of
density of Indigenous history and the superficial treatment of land rights and civil
rights as taught within the history curriculum. Lowe and Yunkaporta (2013) were
scathing in their assessment of ACARAs curriculum efforts, commenting "the
opportunity is fast evaporating to develop a quality curriculum that would advance a
deep understanding of the histories and cultures of Indigenous Australia". It is
important that the curriculum adequately reflects Indigenous culture if it is to play a
role in improving the learning outcomes for Indigenous Australians.

Despite the focus on improving Indigenous outcomes in education, without a

differentiated pedagogy (Geelan et al., 2015) for Indigenous students, it is unlikely
that the goals of the Melbourne declaration will be met. Teachers must avoid setting
expectations too low for Indigenous students (Sarra, 2007), rather, teachers should
promote strong academic performance as normal for Indigenous students (Keddie et
al., 2013). High expectations are vital (C. Mills & Keddie, 2012) for high academic
achievement and form part of the quality learning environment (Gore, 2007) in the
quality teaching model (Ludwig & Gore, 2003). Having class of mixed ability students
(Ansalone, 2010), can help raise the achievement level of low ability students by

helping them meet the expectations set for higher ability students (Castejn &
Zancajo, 2015).

Culturally responsive pedagogy helps engage Indigenous students and improve their
educational outcomes by highlighting the significance (Ludwig & Gore, 2003) of the
subject matter. Maths and science are very much seen, from an Aboriginal point of
view, as a white fella thing (Salleh, 2016). Making links between science and
Indigenous culture by connecting the classroom with culturally relevant field work can
help students engage in an otherwise difficult subject (Wilson & Alloway, 2013) by
helping students to understand what it means to be Indigenous (Aldous, Barnes, &
Clark, 2008). Differentiated approaches to maths help Indigenous kids to be
successful (ATSIMA, 2016) in a field where they have traditionally struggled, by
telling stories, being physical (Salleh, 2016) and making maths culturally relevant
("Deadly addition to maths resources (online)," 2012).

Bringing Indigenous culture into the classroom and providing positive Indigenous role
models (Aldous et al., 2008; Sarra, 2007) to share stories as part of their experience
encourages engagement and performance at school by providing a quality learning
environment (Ludwig & Gore, 2003). This can take some effort on the part of the
school, but can counteract non-Indigenous teachers teaching their interpretation

(Harrison & Greenfield, 2011) of Indigenous culture. Another resource for Indigenous
pedagogy is the 8ways website (8ways, 2016), which identifies eight interconnected
pedagogies that are useful for Aboriginal learning. 8ways identifies interconnections
between Aboriginal learning and the quality teaching model and aims to bring out the
subject matter within Indigenous culture, as opposed to trying to link culture to the
subject matter. 8ways emphasises relational responsive pedagogy, which enables
teachers and students to learn from each other.

Assessment is a necessary aspect of understanding and reporting on a student's

academic achievement and level of understanding (Marsh et al., 2014), yet it has not
always been an accurate reflection of Indigenous students Intellectual quality
(Ludwig & Gore, 2003). Indigenous students fail the year 9 NAPLAN reading
assessment at a rate three times that of their peers. Much of this discrepancy is
rooted in the many social disadvantages (Ford, 2013) that Indigenous students face
in Australia. Aboriginal language has been removed from classrooms and the
NAPLAN focus on standardised Australian English (SAE) can disadvantage
Indigenous students (Wigglesworth et al., 2011). Even though through appropriate
pedagogy, Indigenous students can attain a level of understanding of SAE, they will
often revert to their native Aboriginal English (AE) (Shipp, 2012) under assessment

situations and NAPLAN does not account for this.

Differentiation is not about setting lower expectations for students (Fenwick &
Cooper, 2012; M. Mills et al., 2014), but rather doing what is necessary (Geelan et
al., 2015) to allow students to achieve at their best level and to avoid aspiring
downwards (Sarra, 2007). Although AE is not assessed in standardised tests,
Indigenous students still use AE to express themselves (Shipp, 2012) and this can
lead to differentiation in assessing Indigenous students understanding and
intellectual quality (Ludwig & Gore, 2003). Assessment that allows for differentiation
by using Indigenous texts (Shipp, 2012), storytelling (8ways, 2016) project based
assessment (Aldous et al., 2008) or flexible timelines for work completion (M. Mills et
al., 2014) are a more accurate representation of Indigenous performance than a
standardized testing regime and can help to build self-esteem (Queensland Studies
Authority, 2009) and pride in themselves and their culture.

Although the national curriculum has the aim of improving Indigenous engagement
and performance in education, it is debatable if this will be achieved. Much of the
standardised assessment of Indigenous students seems to set them up to fail within
the educational system. The impact of individual teachers, through a culturally
responsive pedagogy, should not be discounted in its power to engage Indigenous
students in their learning and set them up for achievement within the boundaries of

the educational system. Through differentiated practices, teachers can make an

impact on the lives and futures of Indigenous students, despite the confines of the
curriculum and standardised assessments.

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