DOING IT RESILIENTLY

MODULE 5: RESILIENT ETHICAL PRACTICE

5.2 SENSITIVE ISSUES AND DIVERSITYKEY LEARNINGS Understand the various diverse groups of students in schools Recognise the resources that each student brings with them to school Identify the resources available from diverse community groups Understand the various sensitive issues in schools and how to navigate these

ENGAGING

How do you create a safe and inclusive classroom that celebrates as well as manages diversity?

What does each of these cartoons suggest about the approaches and issues involved?

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EXPLORINGHow Diverse will your Class be?

Using a post it note to record one sensitive issue or aspect of diversity per post it.

You teach Reception? The students are about 5 years old? How many do you have, 30? Well, that’s 150 years of life experience just in your Reception Class….

Consider the following Diagram in relation to the thought above and the topics you have recorded on the post it notes.

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What particular challenges might students and families from CALD backgrounds face?

Virtual Schoolbags and Funds of Knowledge

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The concept of the ‘Virtual Schoolbag’ was developed by Professor Pat Thompson to introduce the concept of “Funds of Knowledge” in her work on “Schooling the Rustbelt Kids”. Simply put, this concept moves away from what some call the “tourist approach” (only concerned with the ‘artefacts’ of a culture) to connecting to diverse cultural backgrounds by unpacking their knowledges, skills, understandings, and experiences from family, home, school and community and how these are brought to school and utilised.

According to the metaphor of ‘funds of knowledge’, all communities have resources that often remain invisible and under-valued in the school context, e.g. knowledge of mechanics, building, gardening, natural medicines, animal husbandry.

Communities often have networks of practice that allow them to manage and solve such matters as care for the young and the old, financial assistance, transport, management of everyday life with meagre income and assets, organising and running large scale events (e.g. netball carnivals).

‘if teachers knew more about communities’ funds of knowledge, this might inform teachers’ curriculum designs, build their respect for the

community and thereby enhance children’s educational experience…an important first step [is] teachers learning to be ethnographers of

communities in order to learn about the specific cultural resources of communities and how they functioned.’ (Comber and Kamler)

With the idea of a Virtual Schoolbag and Funds of Knowledge, revisit your topic ideas to draw out the particular knowledge, skills and understandings each of these topics could bring to your class.

Topic Knowledge Skills

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Are there any that would be in conflict with your ideas about teaching, learning and schooling?

Implementing Culturally Responsive Pedagogy

What are your experiences with culturally responsive pedagogy?

What resources are required to implement culturally responsive pedagogy?

Take two minutes now to write down everything positive about the local community in which you teach. Include such things as:

Networks of Practice Resource: Human Resource: Knowledge Resource: Material

How did you go? What use could you make of the resources and practices that you’ve identified? What do you need to do and/or find out?

Sensitive Issues ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISANDER STUDENTSRURAL AND REMOTE STUDENTSSTUDENTS WITH DISABILITIESSAME SEX ATTRACTED, TRANSGENDER STUDENTSCULTURALLY AND LINGUISTICALLY DIVERSE STUDENTS

Using the A3 Sheets, you have 1 minute to add as many ideas to the sheet before passing it to the next person

Which of the following sensitive issues reflect each disadvantaged group of individuals?

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A CASE STORY

YOUR STORY: USING TEXT AND/OR ART

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Use any form or art-based practices experienced over the semester to create a representation of

your own community that includes representations of knowledge, skills, and resources and practices

so that another teacher can better understand YOUR funds of knowledge and virtual schoolbag.

STRATEGIESStrategies

Things to Avoid

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Maintaining motivation Research has shown that teachers choose teaching for many reasons. Motivation is about more than the initial decision to become a teacher. Just like being a student, it requires ongoing commitment – turning up each day – as well as persistence when the going gets tough.

Intrinsic motivations such as enjoying working with children, loving a subject area or wanting to make a difference are more common in Australia and in committed, experienced teachers elsewhere. Extrinsic motivations such as seeing teaching as a good job or career path are not seen much in Australian pre-service

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teachers or in experienced, successful teachers in other countries. Not everyone plans to stay in teaching for life. Perhaps a change in societal attitudes means that after working hard to make a difference, some people plan right from the start to travel, develop a business or work at something else. Others come to teaching as a conscious decision after working in another area or having children of their own or seeing the enjoyment teachers gain from their work.

Whatever your reasons for wanting to become a teacher, thinking about these, articulating them and re-evaluating them can help you when times are tough or when your enthusiasm wanes.

Remind yourself about why you chose to become a teacher. Find the everyday experiences that will remind you of this and help keep you motivated.

Find a photo, drawing, favourite quote or affirmation from a colleague, student or parent. Keep this visible to remind you of why you chose teaching.

Teachers often find that positive experiences with students help maintain their motivation – be proactive in seeking such experiences.

As you progress into your teaching career you will find more aspects of your work that are sustaining. Sometimes new experiences and challenges can provide a good opportunity for reinvigoration and renewal. Be aware of what sustains your motivation for teaching and make these experiences part of your work into the future.

WHAT THE RESEARCH SAYSMotivation There are three main types of motivations that bring teachers to the profession, namely intrinsic (e.g., perceived teaching ability, perception of intrinsic value of teaching), extrinsic (e.g., job security, career status) and altruistic reasons (e.g., service-oriented goals, desire to make a social contribution) (Richardson & Watt, 2006; Watt & Richardson, 2008). In other words, some teachers are aspired by their inner calling, but for some others this career choice is triggered by convenience factors (Coetzee, Ebersöhn, & Ferreira, 2013; Mackenzie, 2012). However, teachers who love, believe in, and respect the students they work with, and take pride in making a difference to their lives are more likely to stay through the span of their career than those who do not (Cochran-Smith, 2004; Cohen, 2009). Within the context of Australia, Watt and Richardson (2008) found that pre-service teachers who saw intrinsic rewards in teaching had a high level of planned effort and planned persistence. In contrast, those who were concerned with extrinsic rewards demonstrated a low level of professional engagement and perseverance. Indeed, having a clear sense of purpose is an important coping strategy that assists early career teachers to overcome multiple work-related stressors (Doney, 2013). Nevertheless, extreme attitudes such as “saving the world” should be avoided as unrealistic ambition can inevitably lead to burnout (Prilik, 2007, p. 317).

Persistence Persistence is believed to be a product of individual teachers’ efforts and their willingness to strive to survive (Green, Oswald, & Spears, 2007; Gu & Li, 2013). Mackenzie (2012) found that teachers of children with special educational needs (SEN) found it challenging but despite occasionally thinking of leaving the job, all the teachers persisted and stayed for 15 years or more. Most reported a profound commitment to working with SEN children and said that the rewards of the job were so great they would not want to do anything else. Similarly, in the context of urban American communities where challenges such as poverty, diversity, and violence dominate, Peterman (2005) found that graduates were able to persist by using strategies such as getting to know their students, parents, and colleagues, as well as coming to know themselves better in order to cope and thrive.

Self-Efficacy Self-efficacy has been reported to be a major component that predicts teacher resilience (Beltman, Mansfield, & Price, 2011; Day, 2007; Day & Gu, 2014; Ee & Chang, 2010). In a study in a Midwest urban school district in the United States where teachers face challenging working conditions (e.g. overwhelming workloads, challenging

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students, poor student motivation, lack of administrative support, and low salaries), it was reported that teachers’ confidence in themselves as teachers enabled them to overcome obstacles successfully (Waddell, 2007). Gu and Day (2007, p.1312) explained that in order to rebound from setbacks, teachers need strong self-efficacy beliefs – i.e. self-confidence in their abilities as a teacher. Their sustained effort and perseverance when faced with difficulties then actually strengthens their self-efficacy. “In other words, the development of teachers’ self-efficacy consistently interacts with the growth of their resilient qualities. It is by nature a dynamic, developmental process—the key characteristic of resilience." (p. 1312)

Optimistic Thinking To be emotionally resilient, perfectionism and self-blaming should be reduced and negative mindsets such as “I can’t do it” or “I can’t be bothered” should be avoided (Bernard, n.d.). Positive self-talk, together with humour, have been used by new teachers in remote and rural Western Australian schools use to reduce stress and enhance their coping capacity (Sharplin, O’Neill, & Chapman, 2011). In a large-scale study of teacher resilience in the United States, Richards (2012) found that a number of teachers were able to sustain themselves in the face of adversity by holding positive attitudes and letting go of things that were out of their control. Likewise, Cohen (2009) reported that teachers who held positive assumptions about their students and were able to forget unhappy moments and move forward were more likely to persist and survive in unfavourable teaching environments.

SCENARIO

You are half way through your first term of teaching. Some things have gone well but there is still so much to do and learn about the students in your class. You wonder how you are going to keep up your enthusiasm to the end of term when you will have your first reports to write and so many other things to do.

What strategies can you use to help in this situation?

Consider the following when discussing your strategies:

TAKE HOME MESSAGE

What is the one most significant thing you’ve come across in the session today?

Additional Resources and Websites

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USEFUL RESOURCES

HTTPS://WWW.KIDSMATTER.EDU.AU/SITES/DEFAULT/FILES/PUBLIC/KMP_C1_CDCW_CULTURALDIVERSITY_SUGGESTIONSFORSCHOOLSTAFF.PDF

HTTP://WWW.KIDSMATTER.EDU.AU/SITES/DEFAULT/FILES/PUBLIC/KMP_C1_CDCW_CULTURALDIVERSITYANDCHILDRENSWELLBEING.PDF

USEFUL WEBSITES

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Appendix 1: Think about your engagement with these modules over the course of this semester. How do you reconcile all of these topics in relation to your teaching practice? What are your reactions to the diagram in Appendix 1?

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