Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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The foundation of teaching and learning is a conceptual framework that aims to holistically
embody the key scopes for the foundation of teaching and learning. Notions such as teacher
professionalism, curriculum, pedagogy and assessment all contribute to the necessary daily
routine work of teachers. These ideas combine to influence and improve the capabilities and
accommodate the learning capabilities of special needs students such as the Indigenous
processing knowledge and skills for research, education and training at a higher level. The
individuals should also be prepared to apply such skills in the interest of others. A teacher's
working condition is widely misunderstood. There is a belief that teaching must be an easy
job since the working hours are shorter and holidays are lengthened (Connell, 2013). Most do
not know that there is a lot of preparation done after working hours so that all materials are
prepared for the next school day. The capacity to provide these experiences for students
requires a foundation of knowledge and skills so that their learning environment in enriched.
The Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (APST) provides the framework for the
teachers to lead a quality teaching and professional development (AITSL, 2014). Teachers
share a responsibility to help prepare the young people of our society to lead a successful life.
Students often look up to their teacher for a source of inspiration when they start to make
choices about further studies and work. It is vital that a teacher should present themselves to
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be more dependable and consistent with the students whilst maintaining an integrity of
professionalism.
There has always been a discussion on the issue of what the students should actually learn at
school. The Australian curriculum provides teachers with a clear outline for the
understanding of what needs to be covered in school from year one to year ten. The
curriculum provides the content that all students should be taught, achievement standards that
students should meet and clear understanding of what should be covered in each subject for
every year level (Department of Education and Training, 2016). The curriculum has only
been in the works in recent years and finally progressed towards putting forward a national
curriculum so that all Australian students receive fair and quality learning (Department of
Education, 2014). States and territories are responsible for implementing the Australian
curriculum in their schools. The Australian curriculum can be altered from state to state,
depending on the educational needs of the students. It is also based on the professional
knowledge of the teachers, the cultural background of the students and available resources
(ACARA, 2014). This strand of development has always needed more of the what to teach
and the ability to be able to focus on the individual learner (Egan, 1978). What to include and
what to exclude from a curriculum can be problematic. It can lead to overcrowding the
students with too much information or underwhelm them with not much to go on (Clark,
2006). The teacher must use their professional practice to incorporate the curriculum into
their classes, whilst catering for individual students. The Australian Professional Standards
(APST) provides the guidelines for the easy integration and the Assessment component will
provide the teacher with the knowledge of where the individual students are in terms of their
learning abilities.
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Assessments have always contributed to further a students' learning ability. An evaluation of
student achievement is a required part of the Australian curriculum. The results can help
improve the learning environment for students and provide the teachers with a
comprehensive knowledge of where the students are at in terms of understanding the content
(Boud, 1995). Assessment always lead to learning. The starting point of this, however, is
what do the students learn from assessments. Assessments are done with the goal of
determining where students need to improve and where the teachers need to focus more on
(Kirylo, 2014). The only Nationalized test conducted in Australia is the NAPLAN (National
Assessment Program- Literacy and Numeracy), which is assessed for students in years five,
seven and nine. The NAPLAN provides data that can be used to compare the quality of
education and learning at a global scale. The data is also collected for each individual student
to see their own grade against the national average (Belsito, 2016). The HSC (Higher School
Certificate) is conducted in NSW but similar tests are conducted across all states with
different names. This is to test the culmination of a students' past studies resulting in their
capabilities to be employed or to further their education. The teaching practice can be altered
to cater for students preparing for the nationalized test (NAPLAN) and this is an issue that
Classrooms differentiate from one another based on their teacher and their teaching styles.
The core of the teaching profession is pedagogy. It is important assessing the quality of
teaching and tasks set out to guide and support the students (NSW Department of Education
and Training, 2003). The Quality teaching model puts focus on intellectual quality, quality
pedagogical practice. The Pedagogy of teacher education is built on the need to help students
with their content. The essence of being a teacher is primarily built on the skills and ability to
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be able to teach the content whilst maintaining the value and meaningful nature behind it
(AITSL, 2008). An efficient pedagogy includes classroom instruction, interaction, tasks and
assignments. These features are important in the preparation of a teacher as they set out a
rather than a planned practice, Munns (2007) further explains that schools, through their
curriculum, pedagogy and assessments, shape the student's learning environment. This
outline can assist in determining the capabilities of students of all background in the
classroom, i.e. Indigenous students. NSW Quality Learning Model describes Pedagogy as a
tool that provides self-reflection to the teachers and can be used as a model to improve
The Australian government has always supported the educational needs of Indigenous
Students and it has held a status on delivering high-quality education (Lewthwaite, 2015).
Giving consideration to the cultural backgrounds of students will help address the educational
needs of those students. For a number of years, there have been several cases of
(Ford, 2012).
A recent research project conducted by the Indigenous Education Team at the Australian
Council for Educational Research (ACER), identified that culturally responsive teaching
(Krakouer, 2016). It is an accepted fact that the indigenous students have distinctive histories,
varied languages and cultural practices that play a significant role in their classroom
engagement. Krakouer (2016) suggests that a teacher should always be culturally aware
because their experience and beliefs will be challenged when they try to impart their
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knowledge to the class about a specific topic. Teachers must be aware of indigenous students
that live in the urban area and ones who live regionally. Each individual students' needs vary
from their indigenous peers. As per her personal experience, being an aboriginal woman
herself, Krakouer (2016), states that her teachers were aware of her cultural background but
also did not make her feel any different from her peers because of her background.
The current education system has undoubtedly been influenced by the growing western world
and its values (Krakouer, 2015). When a teacher is culturally responsive, the students feel
acknowledged and respected. This is explained as the most important factor in designing
curriculum, pedagogy and assessment that caters for indigenous students (Krakouer, 2015).
The Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (APST) clearly underlines that one of the
key elements in improving quality education is professional engagement with the students
(Board of Studies Teaching and Educational Standards, 2017). The Aboriginal Perspectives
Across the Curriculum (APAC) is a project that aims to deepen the understanding of the
curriculum will help to broaden the minds of the students in appreciating the importance of
social justice, reconciliation and equality. This was developed for teachers so that they are
able to use a large variety of resources to help improve the learning and performance abilities
Aboriginal people have always been denied access to the same educational opportunities
afforded to non-indigenous people prior to the 1960's (Burridge, Whalan & Vaughan, 2012).
When the teacher is aware of the indigenous background of the student, they are inclined to
prepare effective and efficient practices for their classroom. This means that lesson plans can
be taught accordingly and the classroom will run much smoother. "Learning only happens
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when student stress levels are low and when affect is positive" (Mullin & Oliver, 2010).
Improving education within indigenous students can only occur when there are reconciliation
and experience each other's perceptions. Enriching all students with the culture and
background of Australia can impart real acknowledgement by the rest of the cohort (Shipp,
2013). Engaging with Aboriginal people through websites and galleries can further your
knowledge on Aboriginal history. No one can say that they do not know about Aboriginal
culture because they haven't met an Aboriginal before. Teachers are life-long learners and
active citizens of the society. Research should come naturally and this makes their jobs easier
in the classroom.
In conclusion, the acknowledgement and recognition of the indigenous students at schools are
vital in creating an effective learning environment for suitable for them as well as the others.
The knowledge of the history of our country and its people is important to teach to non-
indigenous people, and the starting point for that is in the classroom. As mentioned before,
any student will be uncomfortable when they feel as if they are different from anyone else.
This will impact heavily on their learning capabilities. As teachers, it is a responsibility that
falls upon us to appreciate all cultures and treat every student equally. It can be argued that
Indigenous students do not need extra care in classrooms just based on their culture, however,
there needs to be an understanding that equality cannot be reached if equity is not shown to
References
http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/overview/implementation-of-the-australian-
curriculum
Belsito, C. (2016). The importance of teacher quality and quality teaching on academic
from http://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1044&context=jseem
policies-resources/publications/australian-professional-standards-for-teachers/
Burridge, N., Whalan, F., & K. Vaughan, K. (2012). Indigenous Education: A Learning
Journey for Teachers, Schools and Communities. Rotterdam, The Netherlands: Sense
Publishers.
Clark, J. (2006). Curriculum studies in initial teacher education: the importance of holism and
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09585170500384636?scroll=top&needAccess=
true
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Connell, R. (2013). Education, Change and Society. Melbourne: Oxford University Press.
http://www.det.wa.edu.au/aboriginaleducation/apac/detcms/navigation/apac/
10.2307/1179791
Ford, M. (2012). Achievement gaps in Australia: what NAPLAN reveals about education
10.1080/13613324.2011.645570
Cochran-Smith, M., Zeichner, K., (Ed.), Studying Teacher Education (425-452). Routledge.
Kanu, Y. (2006). Integrating Aboriginal Perspectives into the School Curriculum. Canada:
Krakouer, J. (2015). Literature review relating to the current context and discourse on
Indigenous cultural awareness in the teaching space: Critical pedagogies and improving
http://research.acer.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1043&context=indigenous_education
Krakouer, J. (2016). Meeting the needs of Indigenous students, ACER. Retrieved from
https://www.teachermagazine.com.au/article/meeting-the-needs-of-indigenous-students
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Mullin, K., & Oliver, R. (2010). A second language/dialect acquisition perspective on the
Accelerated Literacy Teaching sequence. Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, 33(2),
151-163.
Munns, G. (2009). A sense of Wonder: pedagogies to engage students who live in poverty,
10.1080/13603110701237571
Shipp, C. (2013). Bringing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives into the
classroom: Why and How, Literacy Learning: The middle years, 21(3). Retrieved from
https://www.alea.edu.au/documents/item/775