Education ePortfolio

When incorporating the GCs and CCPs, my school made their inclusion of the latter far more obvious. Development of the GCs was subtle, and it was rarely explicitly stated when they were incorporated, whereas I remember most of my subjects dedicating at least one unit to one or more of the CCPs. 

For example, in my senior years, my school implemented ‘committees’. Each form class would choose a focus from a list of approved topics to help them develop a goal to work towards throughout their senior years. My form class chose environmentalism as our focus, and we spent the first few weeks of year 11 in small groups where we would devise a pitch of how we would improve the sustainability of our school grounds which we then worked together to implement. 

I think this was a creative way to promote student autonomy and create a goal to work towards that would allow them to leave a tangible, positive impact on their school. However, it encounters the same issue as many other implementations of the GCs and CCPs within my school, which is that it confines itself to school grounds. Students need to know the relevant, practical applications of the skills they are developing because when facing worldwide issues students need to know they can make a worldwide impact (Scott, 2015). Considering this, I think the committee system could have been improved by having students implement something for the wider community to see how change can be implemented in real-world environments. 

The topic of 21^st century learning centres on a belief that our rapidly changing economic and social climate necessitates the development of certain skills to help students adapt and navigate the VUCA landscape – a world of Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity (Systems Innovation, 2019). The 21^st century job market changes rapidly – sometimes a job becomes obsolete before one can finish the degree required for it. This paired with artificial intelligence’s rise in popularity makes me worry that not only will my students not have the practical skills they need for the real world, but that they will also not be emotionally ready to handle the hopelessness and dejection they will no doubt encounter. As a teacher, I need to be able to prepare my students for this world by developing not only practical GCs such as literacy, numeracy, and digital literacy, but also the GCs that develop their problem solving, communication, and social and emotional wellbeing (ACARA, 2024).

Reference List:

Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA]. (2024). General capabilities downloads.Australian Curriculum Version 9. https://v9.australiancurriculum.edu.au/downloads/general-capabilities

Scott, C. L. (2015). THE FUTURES of LEARNING  3: What kind of pedagogies for the 21^st century? Education Research and Foresight Working Papers [15]. UNESCO. 

Systems Innovation. (2019, August 15). What is VUCA? [Video]. YouTube. Retrieved July 22, 2024, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqQh9t-VLIY

The journey to a world free from the constraints of colonisation and prejudice rests on the shoulders of everyone (O’Dowd & Heckenberg, 2020). Teachers are uniquely positioned to inform future generations about the effects of colonisation and the attitude one can apply to their life so these effects can be lessened. 

In my own schooling experience, I found that First Nations education and cultural responsiveness were tackled in early primary school and unfortunately pushed aside in secondary school. I believe this is primarily due to the more intense, less practical-based workload introduced in secondary school. In primary school, my class would go to the community garden in the afternoon to learn about the native flora from the local elders, which would then be linked to classroom content. Secondary schooling transitioned students from this practical work and experience-based learning to an emphasis on more theory-based content. This makes it difficult for teachers to find the time to integrate place-based learning into the unit work.

When reflecting on examples of First Nations history being taught in classes, the approach always appeared very academic and logical in nature – unconsciously emotionally distancing students from the topic. Despite my teachers trying to integrate First Nations poems into English units or stories into History units, I found that there was always a clear line between me and the work. When positioned in an analytical role, it became hard for me to differentiate First Nations history and culture from other topics, making it hard for me to realise the relevance of what I was learning. In their efforts to include First Nations culture in classwork, my teachers unintentionally portrayed their stories and traditions as relics of the past to be studied, rather than current practises to be respected.

When approaching culturally diverse topics such as the CCP Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures, it is imperative that the delivered content is relevant and accurate (Buckskin, 2015). Most schools will have a staff member who oversees cultural responsiveness within the classroom and school environment and can assist teachers when they approach these topics. Teachers should also try to reach out to local First Nations elders and leaders to further inform their approach and the content they might teach. Introducing these experts into the classroom encourages student engagement and participation, particularly from First Nations students, as teachers model a willingness to increase their knowledge and their respect for cultural leaders (Buckskin, 2015).

Reference List:

Buckskin, P. (2015). Engaging Indigenous students: The important relationship between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and their teachers. In S. Groundwater-Smith & N. Mockler (Eds.), Big fish, little fish: teaching and learning in the middle years (pp. 155-174). Cambridge University Press. https://usq.leganto.exlibrisgroup.com/view/delivery/61UOSQ_INST/1286299540004691

O’Dowd, M. F. & Heckenberg, R. (2020, June 23). Explainer: what is decolonisation? The Conversation. Retrieved July 22, 2024, from https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-decolonisation-131455

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Including Sustainability within my specialisations of Visual Art and Film, Television and New Media is a unique challenge as both subjects centre on student-driven activities and assessment items. Often a unit will have an overarching theme such as a specific art movement or genre of film that serves as a template for students to use to explore and experiment with their interests. So, for this topic, I decided to turn to a subject where I could plan an activity that provides students with a more in-depth analysis of a specific area within the Sustainability CCP.

In grade 7 science, students learn to “use models, including food webs…to predict the impact of changing abiotic and biotic factors on populations” (ACARA, 2024a). This links to the sub-genre of Sustainability where students learn the importance of preservation through examining the fragility of natural processes such as food webs (ACARA, 2024b). 

For this activity, students will be divided into groups and assigned a unique food web and an abiotic or biotic factor that will affect their ecosystem. First, they must determine whether the factor is biotic or abiotic in nature, then modify their food web to reflect the expected effects. An example scenario would be:

Below each scenario, there would be a diagram of the local food web – this example includes coral, seaweed, prey fish, and predator fish. Students should consider how every individual within the food web is affected by the introduced factor by writing notes beside each.

Groups will then pass their paper to another group, whose job is then to figure out how they could combat these effects from happening. For the above example, students might suggest rotating fishing locations, or a specific number of fish allowed to be caught each day. To develop critical and creative thinking skills, this second half of the activity encourages students to think about sustainable patterns of living that could negate, fight or prevent these effects on their ecosystem (ACARA, 2024c). 

In accordance with their expected working level of the GC of Critical and Creative thinking, level 5, this activity requires students to utilise the knowledge they have accrued within class to draw conclusions about the ramifications of abiotic and biotic factors on their food web (ACARA, 2024a). Students then justify these conclusions about the effects on their food webs and discuss in groups the development of action strategies to combat these conclusions (ACARA, 2024b).

Reference List:

Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA]. (2024a). Science – Years 7 and 8. Australian Curriculum Version 9. https://v9.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/learning-areas/science/year-7_year-8?view=quick&detailed-content-descriptions=0&hide-ccp=0&hide-gc=0&side-by-side=1&strands-start-index=0&subjects-start-index=0

Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA]. (2024b). Sustainability. Australian Curriculum Version 9. https://v9.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/cross-curriculum-priorities/sustainability?organising-idea=0

Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA]. (2024c). Critical and Creative Thinking.Australian Curriculum Version 9. https://v9.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/general-capabilities/critical-and-creative-thinking?element=0&sub-element=0

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