School choices

Newspaper article by the Sydney Morning Herald, February 2013

This article talks about how whilst a significant number of people in Australia are not affiliated with a religion, the rate of enrollments into religious schools are increasing. According to the article, this is because parents are dissatisfied with public schooling; the religious schools as stated by the parents offer the benefits of private schooling (better results, better facilities and new buildings).
The benefits for the parents outweigh the 'negative' or cost of the school being slightly religious.

I believe this is a very interesting topic to look at, as it ties in with the idea of 'identity' within the school but also the outside identity that the school portrays.
People seem to believe that the type of school their kids attend will directly reflect on the children's  self identity. When looking at the above article, it can be fair to say that the image of religious schools, are not simply defined by the religion they are affiliated to.
My parents for example, enrolled my brother and i to a catholic private school, even though we weren't catholic ourselves.

Giroux talks  about identity politics, and the categorizing identity systems that are in place. One of them is the link between yourself and that of the community. An example of this is the collective identities of the students of a religious affiliated school.



References:

• http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/school-choice-is-not-just-keeping-the-faith-20130217-2el4a.html

• Henry A. Giroux (1993) Living dangerously: Identity politics and the new cultural

racism: Towards a critical pedagogy of representation, Cultural Studies,
7:1,1-27

Multicultural Education

Multicultural Education 

The article begins by glossing over what multiculturalism has come to mean in the Western world, where it is seen as the more equal representation of all denominations and cultures. Wherein there is a tolerance or mutual recognition of the the multiple cultures. It then presents the opinion of an American politician, Newt Gingrich, in that this multiculturalism is eroding the idea of the American nation. As the article states, this statement does seem blatantly fascist, it is to some degree true. From the perspective of the Nation-State, multiculturalism erodes the idea of belonging to the homogeneous identity of being, in this case, 'American'. And with the recognition of the multiple cultures within the society, individuals are no longer identified as being simply 'American' but rather a sub-denomination of an American. This alters the traditional monocultural view of the Nation-State in that all its citizens are 'American' but rather things like an 'Asian-American', or 'African-American' and so forth. This presents the clash between different definitions of multiculturalism. Under the Nation-State view, it seen as everyone merging into on unified culture, but the contrasting view sees it as the coexistance of different cultures within a society with clear differentiation.


The article then continues in saying that “multi-cultural education is about transcending the text of nationalism and creating a new type of globalism”. This continues on in the presented globalised view of multiculturalism in saying that a national identity is a restriction on a multicultural society by acting as a forced identity or homogeneity, which is a contradiction to the previously mentioned meaning of this as equal representation of all denominations and cultures. A nationalist identity, in the provided case, of being 'American' is hardly an equal representation of all contained cultures when there is an inherent majority of a certain culture or denomination and thus, covert stereotypical association of a certain culture with the 'American' identity.


The article then moves on to defining 'Multi-cultural education' specifically in saying that it is not just about the material itself, but rather “Multi-cultural education is about creating structures and processes that allow for the expression of the many civilizations, communities and individuals that we are”. The specific emphasis on having appropriate structures and processes for expression can be related to the aforementioned library analogy. Simply having the 'books' on the metaphorical shelf is not enough, the 'books' must be presented equally and be as accessible as the other 'books' in the library. Those 'books' might not even be books, but rather resources of another nature such as a support staff in a school dedicated to servicing the education of a certain cultural group.



The article from the Renaissance Universal website can be found here:
http://www.ru.org/education/the-multi-cultural-challenge-to-the-future-of-education.html 

Queensland Education Reforms

Queensland Education Reforms

A recently proposed bill by the Queensland State Government, The Education Legislation
Amendment Bill 2013, seeks to provide more power for the principal of a school for “...managing discipline in schools, widen the grounds for expulsion, makes provision for community service and Saturday detention and allows for students who have been charged with a criminal offence to be excluded before their case is heard by the courts. “


There is an implied unrealistic view that the Bill takes of the students' circumstances. The writer of the article briefly mentions this by suggesting that schools should adopt alternative behaviour management programs rather than 'sweeping the problem under the rug' by simply suspending students. Ignoring the underlying issue causing the students' behaviour that warranted the suspension is hardly addressing the problem correctly and shows an irresponsible attitude of 'It's not my problem'.


Gewirtz' summary of Distributive Justice as among being an Equality of Opportunity and Equality of Condition/Circumstances can be applied to the philosophy behind the proposed Education Reforms. The Bill does not take into account that the students' in a school have vastly varying Circumstances, with an obvious potential for varying inequality. The subtle problem that then arises is that this Bill does not encourage addressing the inequal circumstances of the students. With students being given harsher and lengthier punishments for infractions this then translates into an inequal opportunity at an education for those students. Thus, by not recognising the existence of an inequal population of students the system then denies equal opportunities in education to the students.


A Bill like this tends to strengthen peoples' view of the government as completely disconnected from the problem at hand and appearing to make uninformed decisions on the matter. The question to then be asked is; Why is this change necessary? And, What warranted this change?



Story from the Queensland Times:
http://www.qt.com.au/news/fears-student-rights-education-bill-reforms/2027153/


A copy of the Bill can be found at:
https://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/Bills/54PDF/2013/EducationLegAB13.pdf



Gewirtz, S. (1998). Conceptualizing social justice in education: Mapping the territory. Journal of Education Policy, 13(4), 469-484.

A place for pop culture in the classroom?

“While the teaching resources include some print texts, notably poetry and short articles, the units predominantly suggest using digital and visual texts such as websites, blogs and wikis, TV shows and advertisements, films, Facebook and Twitter”. Extracted from a recent article by Justine Ferrari and published in ‘The Australian’, being addressed is essentially the acceptance and incorporation of popular culture into not only the classroom but also the whole high-school curriculum. Is it correct to assume this is due to the importance and reliance that adolescents place on pop-culture? Is it a smarter way to appeal to them, and essentially teach?

Well, the Australian Association for the Teaching of English and the Primary English Teachers Association think so. Their intention is to “produce a series of resources that would be engaging to students, based on themes that fit the English syllabus as well as the general capabilities and cross-curriculum priorities in the national curriculum” (Ferrari, 2013).  Simon and Giroux (1998) raise the idea that it is vital to ask questions such as “What relationship to my students see between the work we do in class and the lives they live outside of class?”, and most interestingly “Can this be done without singling out particular groups of students as marginal, exotic, an “other” within a hegemonic culture”? They then seek to answer these questions by beginning to consider popular culture as a “terrain of images, knowledge forms, and affective investments which define the ground on which one’s “voice” becomes possible” (Simon & Giroux, 1998). There exists an understanding of popular culture as something that cannot be avoided; you will always be exposed to some form of pop culture. Specifically, there is adolescent interest in popular culture so is it fundamental that teachers somewhat incorporate elements of popular culture to create a strong link between schooling and everyday life.

Simon and Giroux do however also note the fact that “popular culture can always be a threat”. They acknowledge pop culture as not always relevant in the classroom; most times the novel and the poem it self are enough to stimulate responses and allow for critical analyses. A more common perception is the fact that excessive use of pop culture in the classroom may essentially undermine what is being studied. For example, it would not be appropriate to study Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet through the analysis of just Baz Lurhman’s extravagant modern interpretation of it. We must read the play and watch a production that is an adaptation of the play, not simply a modern day transformational piece. As a future English teacher, it is perceived that in the study of literature, one is not simply confined to the study of the words on the page, but the context, the author and literary culture.

There is a place for popular culture in our curriculums and classrooms. It is almost essential; sometimes playing and analyzing an Eminem song is more effective in the study of literary techniques than simply going through a list of them. The study of spoken-word poetry may be more effective in enlightening students on the culture of poetry than a standard, conventional poem. These are some things I have experienced as a student and believe as a teacher are important to consider and incorporate to a certain degree. No pop culture in the classroom may be highly ineffective in a pop-culture driven society. Too much may be ineffective, irrelevant and weakening. Just the right amount could be a stroke of teaching genius!

Ferrari, J. (2013). High-school classes go for pop culture. Retrieved October 2013, http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/policy/high-school-classes-go-for-pop-culture/story-fn59nlz9-1226719602415

Simon,R, Giroux. H. (1998). ‪Popular culture, schooling, and everyday life. Retrieved from: http://www.iresist.org/media/pdf_files/giroux.pdf

A reflection of the experiences of culture and identity in relation to education

Education, all in all, takes on more than one role, however most relevant to this discussion is its assistance in shaping ones identity and culture, while also allowing for the production of a “classification system through which we learn to interpret the world in particular ways” (Wadham, Pudsy & Boyd, 2007). In understanding the concepts of culture, identity and education, I can confidently say that my own educational experience has been one that reflects their complex relationship.

Let’s trace back to myself a four-year-old attending a local pre-school in a small suburb of South Sydney. As toddlers, we begin to assess our surroundings and find ways to interpret our world. Being exposed to other children from so many different backgrounds was a first step in shaping my own identity, as well as my perceptions of culture. When I look back, its truly amazing how things like what we looked like, what language we spoke at home, what kinds of food we ate and the way we prayed, or didn’t, wasn’t important. Our identity based on our culture was not familiar. It was pretty much not a big deal what our cultural background was.I began to form my identity on the basis of elements that had more to do wirth things like personality, likes and dislikes. I was Mariam; a little bit shy, a little bit bossy, I always shared my food and toys, and I’d discovered my love for school. My educational experience began taking its effect on my sense of culture and identity by allowing me to create my own norms that I transmit till today.

Attending a private Islamic primary school, located in Sydney’s southern suburb of Kingsgrove, a more defined sense of identity and culture was understood. My primary school education allowed me to comprehend a different side to myself. I began to see myself and be seen as a Muslim… a Lebanese-Muslim… an Australian-Lebanese Muslim… an Australian-Lebanese Muslim whose father was born in Lebanon and whose mother was born in Argentina. All these things, through exposure to the fact that they were social identifiers, began to define me.

I was surrounded by students who were also Muslim, however came from different and diverse cultural backgrounds. I understood things like the differences between being Lebanese and Egyptian, the fact that ‘Muslim’ did not mean one was ‘Arab’; it in essence had nothing to do with cultural heritage, even understanding the similarities between my religion and others. My education on culture and identity itself was also developed; and was somewhat more advanced than most my age. Specifically, the fact that I was taught to read and write Arabic at this time, and the fact that it was a mandatory part of my education, may be perceived by an outsider as a representation of the complexity of the relationship between my education, identity and my culture; that each one had some influence on the other.

High school was definitely the most vital time of my schooling experience when my education was shaping my identity, and exposing me to the notion of culture, inclusive of its complexity. Being at a public all girls high-school in Beverly Hills introduced to me not only a deep understanding of multiculturalism, as my school was mostly made up of girls from non-English speaking backgrounds, but it also introduced the notions of gender and class structure to the picture. Jason Yat-Sen Li’S article “Being Australian is not about the colour of your skin” (2013) resonates the strong correlation between the three vital concepts. Li (2013) speaks of his experiences as an Australian adolescent, surrounded by many ethnic minorities in his schooling, but also understanding that they were indeed minorities that were commonly subject to racism and told to “go home”. This was something he found baffling. This is something I also found baffling, having gone through the same thing. Although my micro world was multicultural, I knew that most of the girls in school were of a minority group. We were different, but we had a shared identity. We were Australian, but we were also something else. Within the school gates, we all understood each other and there was hardly a trace of racism, but it was a different story outside of school. In essence, our identities and cultures were complex.

Basically, to sum up, I agree with Sen Li’s statement that “to be Australian has nothing to do with where you come from, or the colour of your skin; but has everything to do with your contribution and commitment to Australia”. To me, this reflects the conclusion I’ve made of my own identity and culture through my educational experiences.

Sen Le. J.Y. (2013). Being Australian is not about the colour of your skin. Retrieved on September 2013, http://www.smh.com.au/comment/jason-yatsen-li-being-australian-is-not-about-the-colour-of-your-skin-20130830-2sv06.html

Wadham, B. Pudsey, J. & Boyd, R. (2007). Culture and education. Sydney: Pearson Education. Chapter 1: What is culture?

Reflection of education

A reflection of your own experience of culture and identity in relation to education:

When I reflect on my own education and how my own culture and identity had shaped my educational outcomes and experiences, I do believe there were many different aspects that contributed to the way in which I view the impact of culture and identity in education. I believe it is so important to not only focus on the impact of culture and identity in a person's education, but also social aspects as well as religious, emotional, and economical- because I believe, there are more than one factor that can contribute to someone's experiences of education, but in the end it is their own choices and motivation to want  to learn and to want to achieve good marks, that will allow them to create a positive experience of their education in relation to their own culture and identity. 

 My own personal educational experiences were and are in fact influenced, both positively and negatively (in a way) by my culture and identity. I see my identity as something that has been shaped not only through my external attributes, like how I dress for example, but also the way in which I see the world through the things I like, the things I don't like, and what I'm passionate about, “The body itself carries meaning and participants in particular subcultures manipulate it in various ways to express various sorts of meaning.” (Sanders, 1988) Growing up in a Greek family, and being influenced heavily by my family's customs and religion I believe has shaped my identity throughout my life. From an early age, I was always surrounded by my family and the Greek language, and as I grew up I became more accustom and apart of it; this however became both a negative and positive factor to my education and identity as a student. On one side, I had the cultural and social interactions with other Greek students when I was at Greek school on a Tuesday afternoon for 3 hours every week, where I could freely learn and identify with my culture. On the other hand however, being a student at a public primary school, sometimes bringing food from home and being the only child out of my group of friends to attend Greek Orthodox scripture, alone, made it a lot harder for me, as a child, to appreciate my culture in that sense. 

Although at the time I had not really appreciated the initiative of schools introducing multicultural scripture classes every week, I now believe it is such a vital and important aspect within schools:  “Most religious groups are able to use this access privilege to enter public schools and spend an hour each week delivering content that is important to them... that children might learn about Buddhist philosophy and how to meditate or that Greek Orthodox culture and practices might be passed to the next generation with state support is a God send to many Australian communities....” As well as this,  looking back now on my previous educational experiences, my culture has made a mostly positive influence on my ability to learn. This had mainly come into light when I progressed into high school, and there was a more multicultural aspect within the school which allowed me to identify with more students from different backgrounds and engage in different learning experiences. As well as this, it became easy in some subjects such as Ancient history, maths and English to identify with the Greek-influence on Education, as I was able to draw on my own previous knowledge of historical and cultural facts and information which helped a lot with my learning and understanding of these subjects. 

 Byrne. C, ABC- Religion and Ethics, Special Religious Education: the good, the bad and the ugly,

http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2010/11/01/3054122.htm

Racism? No way!

A reflection on a current educational issue in Sydney relating to culture and identity. 

When evaluating the influence of culture and identity in relation to education, the issue of racism within Sydney's schools becomes a major factor in understanding  how these two factors play a part in the existence of racism within schools, and other forms of society. 

Racism within schools across Sydney can be categorised as not only discrimination against a person or person's culture, and religious views, but also their identity which factors in racism against a person's sexuality and even gender. When viewing the current education crisis of racism however, one of the major problems revolves around the discrimination against students of other cultural backgrounds, such as Aboriginals, Indian, Chinese, and refugees. The culture and identity of a refugee student will have an impact on their ability to integrate into the norms of Australian educational systems, not to mention the fact that many of them, and their parents do not speak English when they first arrive here. “If schools are to play a key role in the refugee settlement process, positive and welcoming attitudes to refugee students would appear to be essential. Such school-based change requires leadership and ideally will be facilitated and supported by education authorities.” (. S & Sidhu R. K 2012, 45) The racism felt by refugee students within schools across Sydney comes from a variety of factors, majority due to that fact that they cannot speak English and have different cultural backgrounds which will make them stand out within school communities as well as impact on their ability to learn. strategy that can be implemented by schools to help refugee children with the experience of going to school would be to “adopt an inclusive approach to teaching and learning, first by providing intensive language and learning support and then by incorporating refugee children into mainstream classrooms as soon as they had acquired literacy skills..” (Taylor. S & Sidhu R. K 2012 pg 50) 

Over the last few years, there has been an increase in the number of Muslim and other Islamic students enrolling in public schools, which to some degree has had major negative effects. The discrimination associated with Muslim students within schools is not only based upon their culture and religion or even their identity being influenced by their culture, but also by the negative image that has been portrayed of a whole nationality, rather than on the wrongs of some individuals. This is turn has affected the students of Muslim backgrounds to be accepted into 'non-Muslim' schools, and so there becomes a significant impact on their education. The government decision to establish more Islamic schools within Sydney is in an attempt to stop  “...discrimination and racism experienced by Muslim parents in Australian public schools create desires for more accepting environments for their children.” (Clyne 2001, Gurr 2010, Yasmeen 2008) – Pg 700 Kalervo N. Gulson & P. Taylor Webb (2012)

The project “Racism. No way!” aims to decrease this presence of racism within schools, as well as to “recognise and address racism in the learning environment.” It began as an initiative in 1998 by the Conference of Education Systems Chief Executive Officers (CESCEO) and has now become a project that was launched in October 2000 by the Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia, Sir William Deane. The project is still active today in 2013 and has aided the fight for equality within Australian schools with regards to racism toward particular groups of students. 

With the help of such project initiated by the Government, as well as strategies implemented by schools and their wider community, the affect and presence of racism within Australian schools will hopefully see a decline. There should not be a division of education quality or opportunity to students of different cultural backgrounds, nor should it be affected by their individual identity. There is not room in Australian schools for such racism, all children and students deserve the same opportunity for education as those born in Australia.

Reference list:

 Kalervo N. Gulson & P. Taylor Webb (2012) Education policy racialisations:

Afrocentric schools, Islamic schools, and the new enunciations of equity, Journal of Education

 Policy, 27:6, 697-709, DOI: 10.1080/02680939.2012.672655

 NSW Government, Education and Communities, 2013, Anti-racism education for Australian schools, http://www.racismnoway.com.au/

Taylor. S & Sidhu R. K (2012) Supporting refugee students in

schools: what constitutes inclusive education?, International Journal of Inclusive Education, 16:1,

39-56, DOI: 10.1080/13603110903560085,  

Why the word gap?

Why the word gap?

Morton, R. (16/9/2013). Kids find how far words can take them, The Australian, pp.3.

I chose this article as the subject is of particular interest to me. The article discusses the gap in literacy standards between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and other Australian children. The fact that Aboriginal children will often have their native language and will learn English as their second language cannot in my view, answer why there is such a gap. Australia is a multicultural society and Australian schools reflect this with students from different nationalities and LBOTE students, why don’t these students have results like our indigenous students?

Indigenous children experience lower literacy rates in their communities; in remote communities only one in five students meet the minimum reading benchmarks in English. These children are not illiterate, they speak their own languages. The author emphasises the importance of teaching these students English literacy to give them more options in the future, but not to the detriment of their first language. The story was written as students from a remote Kimberly school have published books on their own lives, which their Elders have translated into the first language of Walmajarri. Having the same book in both languages to read side by side is helpful to these students literacy development.

There is an obvious inequality in Australia between the indigenous population and what seems to be the rest of Australian society including the people from non British backgrounds. This white privilege needs to be fully recognised and society needs to address the underlying issues of inequalities faced by indigenous people. Indigenous people and their culture need to be recognised and remote schools require extra funding.  The way students are examined and presented information is disadvantaging these students (Ford, 2013). The article raises an important point; we should not replace native languages of indigenous children with English. I believe it is extremely important to encourage students to learn English and retain their native language but also encourage cultural pride and knowledge. Australia has changed and will continue to change; it is imperative we do not leave indigenous communities behind. It is time we took a good look at the education system and make indigenous culture recognised and revered!

Margot Ford (2013). Achievement gaps in Australia: what NAPLAN reveals about education inequality in Australia, Race Ethnicity and Education, 16:1, 80-102, DOI: 10.1080/13613324.2011.645570

McIntosh, P. (1992) White Privilege and Male Privilege: A personal account of coming to see correspondences through work in women’s studies, In M. Anderson & P.H Collins (eds), Race, Class, and Gender: An anthology. Belmont, CA, Wadsworth Publishing.

Child abuse, a cycle?

Child abuse, a cycle? 

Whittaker,M. (31/8/2013). Duty of Care, The Sydney Morning Herald, Good Weekend. P.10-16.

This article is a journalistic piece on the well known tragic death of Kiesha Abrahams. The article focuses on Kiesha’s family, mainly her mother Kristi Abrahams and highlights her childhood and discusses if the childcare authorities let Kiesha down. The author describes the case as intergenerational neglect, a cycle of violence and abuse. Kristi was part of the welfare subculture and this is also an example of an intergenerational cycle. Kristi lived in housing commission and off dole money in a low SES area of Sydney. Her father had problems with the law and alcohol abuse and would often physically abuse Kristi and her mother. Kristi did not have much success in schooling as she was constantly moving around with her mother to get away from her father ultimately one day finding her mother covered in blood, deceased. Kristi believed her father to be responsible and was rejected by him as a carer, leaving her to totally denounce her Aboriginal culture. A psychologist announced she had an IQ of sixty six, bordering on intellectual disability and because of her past with her father, it recommended she not be placed in Aboriginal foster care. Kristi was put in an Aboriginal group home foster and was seen as she matured to be very childlike still she met and started dating Chris Weippeart when she moved into her own housing commission flat where she fell pregnant with her first child Ayden. Ayden was once removed by DOCS but was given back to Kristi with whom he died (a suspected SIDS death). Kristi was known to self harm, use drugs and was convicted of assult; however she fell pregnant with Kiesha and appeared to be a doting mother when the little girl was born. Kiesha was removed by DOCS after an incident where her mother had violently bitten her but was again returned. Kristi attended anger management classes but teachers noticed bruises and injuries on Kiesha who was hardly at school (possibly to hide bruising); truant officers would often come to investigate but find the doors locked.

Kiesha met a tragic end as a result of an intergenerational neglect often seen in low SES subcultures (but not exclusively!) Social justice was not met in this situation. (Gewirtz, 1998)
I decided to use this article as Kristi Abrahams background is unfortunately not uncommon, teachers all around Australia will have students with this sort of home life in their class. I am left with a few questions, would Kristi’s father have been violent if his culture had not been marginalised and exploited for centuries by white oppressors? If he had not been violent would Kristi still have become violent? If Kiesha was from a higher SES family would DOCS have taken signs of abuse more seriously? Would Kiesha still be alive today?

Gewirtz, S. (1998). Conceptualizing social justice in education: Mapping the territory. Journal of Education Policy, 13(4), 469-484.

Keeping Up With the Kids

With this generation of students becoming more and more reliant on technology and social media, communicating to them in the same way that teachers used to address students is no longer as effective as it once was. Contemporary students are simply not used to the same face-to-face, human interaction anymore, nor are they used to the skill of audio-processing, due to their comfortability with the visual field. What can be read, viewed, or seen on a screen has a much higher chance of being processed by a student than that which is spoken at them.

Melissa Dillard realised this barrier in teaching modern students through out-dated techniques and decided to employ social media as a means by which to transform her classroom. Teachers who have introduced social media to their classrooms have been widely criticised by traditionalists however, as if to combat such criticism, Wadham, Pudsey and Boyd remind us that, ”simply put, culture shapes education and education shapes culture.” The relevance of this is clear immediately; there is no traditional way to teach a class and in order to keep students’ education ‘up-to-date,’ teachers must ensure that their educating techniques are relevant to their students. Zach Galvin, vice principal of Natick High School in the USA details his teaching staffs’ usage of blogs and twitter to keep connected with their class. He says, “we’re trying to help prepare students for the world and we have to show them how to use technology positively.”

This idea of instructing appropriate internet and social media usage has received wide-spread support from teaching staff, parents and even students. With so much inappropriate content, so easily accessible to students, it is a great reflection on the education system that it is so ‘in-touch-with-the-times’ and so ready to combat any negative learning that could arise from internet usage, with positivity.


Phillips reminds us that "culture is not just transmitted, but debated and amended in ways that express the creativity of the human mind...culture is both ubiquitous and in a continual process of change." This sentiment lends itself perfectly to the introduction of social media into classrooms as educators are reminded of the importance of ensuring modernity and cultural relevance to their students' education. Furthermore, if we are to continue stressing the importance of the role of the educator in teaching appropriate internet usage and social media etiquette, it is evident that through such lessons (whereby teachers may question their students on what they believe to be appropriate, what language they feel is relevant to the media device, etc) we are breading a new generation of communication. By this I imply that if we are to encourage students to "debate" what is to be considered acceptable in the cyber world of social media, we are not dictating or "transmitting" culture, but rather aiding students in achieving their own definition of that which is to be considered decent and fitting for social media. One should never try and force culture, rather through education, one should teach with the aim of assisting students in acquiring the knowledge and freedom to create their own, respectable culture. This is one of the greatest challenges to the modern teacher. 

However, whilst some teachers are finding social media as a method of positively transforming their classrooms, others are noting that they have experienced mixed results to this newer method of teaching. Today’s reporter, Jacoba Urist, comments in her August 22^nd, 2013 article, ‘social media helps teachers transform classroom culture,’

“But some teachers say they’ve “dabbled in using social media to very mixed results.” For the past two years, Samantha Hines…created Facebook pages for both her AP English and English 11 classes. She posted assignments, links to academic articles, and occasional film clips of the novel they were reading…”To like a Facebook page you have to share your profile picture,” she explains. While some students seemed to really enjoy the interaction, other’s not so much. “You can sense it as a teacher” says Hines.”

So if social media can improve the culture of modern classrooms, perhaps criticism needs to cease to allow progress to be achieved.

To read more on this article:

http://www.today.com/moms/social-media-helps-teachers-transform-classroom-culture-6C10962823

By: Carly Fisher

References:

Urist, J. 'Social Media Helps Teachers Transform Classroom Culture' - Today - 2013 (link as above)

Wadham, B, Pudsey, J & Boyd, R. 'Culture and Education' - Pearson, Education Australia

Phillips, A. 'What is Culture' - Routledge - 2006

 - Original Citation:

Originally Published in Arneil, Barbara and Deveaux, Monique and Shamoon, Rita and Eisenberg, Avigail, (eds.) Sexual Justice/Cultural Justice. London, UK: Routledge, 2006, pp.15-29

The Best Way to Teach a Culture is through Learning a Culture

Alaska has long been the desired destination of many graduate teachers, eager to teach in some of the most remote schools and villages. Such excitement often dwindled quickly for the teachers once they realised just how challenging life in remote Alaska could be. In some Alaskan villages, the ‘teacher turnover rate’ was as high as 30-50 percent between each school year and so the ten-day Cultural Immersion program was introduced by the Alaska Humanities Forum, tribal groups and school districts, in an effort to improve this statistic and provide insight into the culture and ‘home-lives’ of many of their students.

Nina Kemppel, CEO of the Alaska Humanities Forum, noted “the rationale behind this program is that if we can keep teachers in schools longer, especially new teachers, new to Alaska, in schools longer, teaching for 3 to 4 years, we actually increase student achievement through that.” (Eaton) So far, the program has already achieved its goals, with 90% of the teachers who participated in the 2012 program, returning to teach in Alaska a second year.

The graduate teachers have also commented on the benefit of understanding the cultural heritage of their students, “this is what they do for their summer, they go fishing and get fish and they save it up for the year. Like, just talking about this experience, like ‘What’d you do for the summer? Oh yeah, I did that too?’”

With this program attaining such success in Alaska, one has to question why other areas with tribal natives or Indigenous peoples are not following suit. Such a program could be of significant benefit in beginning to close the large achievement gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians through reaching a level of understanding between all Australian teachers and students. Many have noted the difficulties in teaching Indigenous Australians, however, perhaps it is due to white Australia’s ignorance on the cultural heritage of Indigenous students that prohibits successful learning, as well as the cultural irrelevance of the national curriculum to Indigenous students.

Lentin and Titley suggest,

“Racism persists because there has been no serious effort made to challenge the interconnections between the idea of race and the institutions and structures of the modern nation-state. Race has been semantically conquered, but it remains deeply ingrained in the political imaginaries, structures and practices of ‘the West.’

Perhaps Australian teachers have been approaching the issue of the achievement gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students the wrong way. Rather than consistently expecting minority and Indigenous communities to adapt to the ‘regular white’ school system, graduate teachers should instead focus on improving their understanding and involvement in Aboriginal cultural practices and heritage. Perhaps a cultural immersion program, much like the one conducted in Alaska, is exactly what Australian graduate teachers need in order to improve the education of Indigenous students without ignoring their cultural background.”

For more information on the Alaskan Cultural Immersion Program, please click on the link below
http://www.alaskapublic.org/2013/08/12/new-teachers-learn-about-native-culture-before-school-starts/

By: Carly Fisher

References:

Eaton, D. 'New Teachers Learn about Native Culture Before School Starts' - Alaska Public Media - 2013

Lentin, A & Titley, G. 'The Crisis of Multiculturalism - Racism in a Neoliberal Age' - Zed Books - 2011

Consulted:

Harrison, N. 'Teaching and Learning in Aboriginal Education' - Second Edition - Oxford – 2011