Janet Phuong

17739030
Assessment one

Schooling

system

requires

teachers

to

undertake

many

responsibilities to facilitate a positive learning environment. To

approach this teachers are faced with external and internal forces,
which demonstrates the complexity of the daily work of Australian
teachers. They are faced with criticisms, reforms, and standards to
achieve while holding an interest and responsibility of meeting
teaching criteria for their students. This essay aims to demonstrate
the importance of teacher professionalism, curriculum, pedagogical
approaches, and the positive and negative of assessments. Also, it
will evaluate the learning needs of Indigenous students and the
impact of these needs if left unaddressed.

A holistic approach is

required to teach literacy to Aboriginal students. Aboriginal students

are in the midst of two cultures, their own and Western culture and
as a result there is a gap in literacy outcomes. This requires
teachers to focus on quality teaching, reflect on their pedagogical
approach, understand the curriculum and evaluate assessment.

Since early 1990s there have been a variety of school reforms and
teacher

professionalism

activities

to

enhance

the

teaching

standards. They faced pressure from education stakeholders,

increased political input to direct the processes and provision of
school education, efficient education and the preparation of

Janet Phuong
17739030
students who are numerate, literate and able to take civic and social
responsibility (Sachs, 1997). In the wake of these responsibilities
there are issues from politicians and bureaucrats. In Australia, what
constitutes a teachers professional standards is encapsulated in
Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (APST) (Australian
Institute of Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL), 2014). Hilferty
(2007) propose professionalism can be used either descriptively or
ideological to change, manage, or control nature of teachers work.
Descriptively, professionality includes the quality of work and
conducts that guide the action while, professionalism epidermises a
form of ideology that can be utilised by the state to control, or by
the

teachers

to

protect

against

marginalization

and

deprofessionalising reforms (Hilferty, 2007). In order to meet the

standards of professionalism AITSL (2014) indicates four levels of
proficiency; Graduate, Proficient, Highly Accomplished and Lead. To
maintain a sense of professionalism throughout a career, there is a
need for deepening knowledge, skill judgment, keeping up with new
developments and utlilising innovative approaches. On the hand,
teachers autonomy is challenged through onset of national
curriculum and national testing such as NAPLAN. Here, the decisions
to determine what to teach to meet the educational need has been
reduce and in a sense forces teacher to narrow what and how to
teach, further de professionalising teachers. Convincingly, Darling
Hammond contends that Teaching standards are not magic bullets.
By themselves, they cannot solve the problems of dysfunctional

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school organization, outmoded curricula, inequitable allocation of
resources, or lack of social supports of children and youth (Clark and
Pittaway, 2014). Thus, the constant debates as to what a teaching
profession is and the standards that are prescribed to these
individuals from internal and external factors have become a
detrimental impact towards teaching careers.

The twenty first century eventuate the idea of a national curriculum

whereas in the past, the idea was toyed with. Political challenges
and

commonwealth

authority

over education

interrupted the

fulfillment of a national curriculum. Interestingly, 1989 National

Statements and Profiles denotes reasons for a national curriculum
are very similar to 2008:

The disparity of educational attainments between states and

territories
The need for mobility for children of families who move across

state and territory borders

To remove unnecessary differences in curriculum between

systems
To enable economies of scale and efficiencies.
(Clark and Pittaway, 2014)

Here, ACARA devised four stages to develop the implementation of

the

Australian

curriculum.

This

involves

shaping,

writing,

implementation and evaluation and review (Ditchburn, 2012). This

emphasis a practical term where one - size - fits - all curriculum to

Janet Phuong
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address economic and pragmatic concerns (Dithcburn, 2012). On
the other hand, some have debated about the cooperation of
education between states and territories. Speculations such as the
concern for cost of resources or perhaps it was the push to have
greater control over education by the Commonwealth. According to
Ditchburn (2012) there has been subdued, little vehement and an
accepting attitude to a national curriculum. For example, the
Australian Education Union (AEU) did not raise concerns about the
idea of a national curriculum. The Australian Secondary Principals
Association (ASPA) welcomed a consistent approach to curriculum
across Australia (Ditchburn, 2012). Therefore, understanding what a
curriculum comprises becomes a significant part to teaching. This
helps guide teachers to expel and prep for a lesson. Curriculum
generally prescribes the How and What is to be taught.
Curriculum defined as content epidermises the syllabus, meaning, a
summary statement about the content to be taught. It also contains
details about the goals, objectives, contents, teaching techniques,
outcomes, evaluation, assessment and resources (Clarke and
Pittaway,

2014).

Thus,

curriculum

interconnects

the

content,

knowledge and teachers profession in a schooling system.

To demonstrate a teachers professionalism by expelling content

based on the curriculum, pedagogy comes into play. Pedagogy is
defined as the art and science of educating children, by focusing on
the

relationship

between

learning

and

teaching,

deeper

Janet Phuong
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understanding (AITSL, 2008). It is the use of teacher professionalism
knowledge to enhance good learning outcomes. There has been
many meanings and perspective, which relates to practices of
teaching and learning. Shulman (1989) contends that pedagogy
consist of three elements:

Subject matter knowledge deep knowledge of the subject

Pedagogical knowledge special knowledge to transfer

knowledge to others
Knowledge of context understanding learners need and
local school environment.
(Clark and Pittaway, 2014)

Following this, it is important to approach teaching and learning

through numerous strategies in order to enhance a positive learning
outcome. This relays the crucial aspect to understanding ones
teaching styles needs to match a students learning style. A way to
achieve this is reflective teaching. Navaneedhan (2011) argues that
reflective teaching explores individuals background, experiences,
belief, knowledge and attitude with the intention of understanding
and improving teaching practices. Different strategies to ensure a
diverse and positive learning space utililise usage of technologies,
software, Internet, apps and programs to create interest and diverse
pedagogical approaches. Thus, this will lead to changes and
improvements in teaching environment.

Janet Phuong
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Issue of assessment is constantly rising though, school are
continuing to adopt this form of assessing. What constitute
assessment are the activities undertaken by teacher to obtain
information about students knowledge, skills, and attitudes (Clarke
and Pittaway, 2014). A form of collecting this data can range from
formal to informal approaches. Generally, informal data comprises of
observations, records and anecdotal reports whereas, formal data is
planned such as tests and assignments. Forms of assessment have
been criticised as it does not measure the standards of where
students abilities are. AEU is an example that argues against
assessment and its competitive nature (Donnelly, 2004). On a
positive note, assessment does not just measure a students mark,
it demonstrates why some lesson fails. It helps teacher identify what
concepts did the students not understand and what constitute an
easy or difficult subject. Further, issues of assessing arose as the
Commonwealth

devises

legislation

to

improve

literacy

and

numeracy. New policy such as NAPLAN and My School Website set

the benchmark for schools and students to achieve. Donnelly (2004)
proposes that it is wrong to rank schools publicly because significant
factors such as a students socioeconomic background will affect
results. Whereas, ACARA (2015) contends NAPLAN tests broadly
reflect aspects of literacy and numeracy common to curricula in all
states and territories. Following this, NAPLAN takes the focus away
from teaching what is in the curricula and instead time and effort is
spent on literacy and numeracy. Thus, debates whether assessment

Janet Phuong
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is a negative or positive impact to a schooling system will continue
to arise without a definite answer.

Specifically to Aboriginal students, learning needs such as literacy

reflects the complexity they face. In Australia, everyday social
practices such as reading directions and signs, taking medication
and

other

practices

requires

literacy

competency.

Aboriginal

Australians are the most educationally disadvantaged group, and if

children are not exposed to Western literacy they fall into the lower
bands of national literacy test once they reached year 3 (Hanlen,
2010). On one hand, Australian school teaches Standard Australian
English (SAE) while Aboriginal students bring to school their own
culture and dialect Aboriginal English (AE). Already, there are
teaching and learning issues for teachers and Aboriginal students.
Aboriginal families do not acquire the literacy competency to
address linguistic, cultural, social and demographic needs due to
past failure of the education system. As an implication of linguistic
differences, Aboriginal students are not familiar with the direct
questions such as where, how, when, does and as a result
questions are formed as statements followed by the tag eh. An
example, The fish are biting, eh? instead of Are the fish biting?
(Hanlen,

2010).

Another

implication

includes

teacherasking

questions such as, how many children were at Nikkis birthday

party? Aboriginal students may answer Natasha, Billy, Sam, Greg

Janet Phuong
17739030
and Susie. Instead of answering how many in number form, the
answer is considered incorrect (Hanlen, 2010).

According to APST, point 1.4 requires teachers to understand and

devise strategies that are responsive to local community and
cultural setting, linguistic background and histories (AITSL, 2014). To
facilitate this, a cultural responsive pedagogy is required. It expels
using cultural characteristics, experiences, and perspectives of
ethnically diverse students as conduits for teaching them more
effectively

(Hindle,

Savage,

Penetito,

Sleeter,

2016).

Hence,

academic knowledge and skills interconnects with students lived

experiences, which becomes more meaningful, and increase higher
interest appeal. For Aboriginal students this should epidermises
connection to languages of indigenous community. A useful strategy
to develop teachers understanding and pedagogical approach is
utilizing a contrast analysis of work samples, conversation and
interaction between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students. From
this, teachers can note if any patterns emerge between AE and SAE
(Hanlen, 2010). Hence, a shift in pedagogical approach from
traditional chalk and talk to an interactive teaching enhances new
interests and teachers as learners prescribe to APST.

In order to marshal assessment, curriculum and reporting, point 2.2

from APST requires teacher to implement learning and teaching
programs using knowledge of curriculum. The curriculum states the

Janet Phuong
17739030
need to priorities Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander to facilitate a
deeper knowledge of Australia worlds oldest living culture (Peacock,
Lingard, Sellar, 2015). On one hand, this sounds encompassing and
encouraging. Though, Peacock, Lingard and Sellar (2015) argues
Aboriginal people are presented as actors in the past and present
and their agency is the nation state Australia. Here, Indigenous
people are subsumed within the wider diversity of the Australian
population. Also, the curriculum and its cross curriculum priorities
have been designed to close the gap between educational
outcomes for Indigenous and non Indigenous people (Peacock,
Lingard, Sellar, 2015). Therefore, teachers will face difficulties by
following the curriculum as Indigenous peoples history and culture
within the curriculum is utilise to reconcile the nation instead of
contributing to a global future.

Assessing Indigenous students low benchmark in national numeracy

and literacy test demonstrates what Australia is described as being
a high quality low equity country (Klenowski, 2009). A teachers
position is to identify what students have learnt, what they have not
and where they are having difficulty (APST, 2014). Teachers are
acquired to assemble assessment questions that can give students
advantages or higher status in society. It is also important to pay
attention to students accessibility, how curriculum and standards
are taught and how achievement in the curriculum is interpreted.
Therefore, content for assessment needs to offer opportunities for

Janet Phuong
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all the different groups of students who will be taking the test
(Klenowski, 2009). There is a call for educators and institution to
connect the Indigenous and Western knowledge system for a better
and meaningful outcome for Indigenous students. Thus, role of
partnership between students, teachers, parents and schools
contributes to cultural awareness and positive learning outcome.

To conclude, it is evident teachers face the impact of internal and

external factors, which influence the way they teach. There have
been many debates questioning whether teachers have autonomy
in their own classroom. Teacher professionalism consist them to
follow a sequence of levels. While achieving their credential,
teaching is also questioned, whether it is a profession or not?
Debates of a national curriculum have been implemented which
raised more controversial. Noteworthy, there has been a subdued
attitude to a national curriculum. On the other hand, pedagogy
relays the practices teacher utilise to facilitate a positive learning
outcome and assessing students. Through the interrelationship of
curriculum, pedagogy and assessment in addressing Aboriginal
students, it has demonstrated an insight into the educational
system for a minority group. The impact of Aboriginal students
results boils down to the conflict of a Western educational system
against the traditional Indigenous culture and language.

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Janet Phuong
17739030

Reference lists
Clarke, M., & Pittaway, S. (2014). Marshs Becoming a Teacher(6 th
ed.). Australia, Pearson.
Ditchburn, G. (2012). A national Australia curriculum: in whose
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10.1080/02188791.2012.711243
Donnelly, K. (2004). Education Agenda. Institute of Public Affairs,
56(2), 28 29. Retrieved from
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Hanlen, W. (2010). Aboriginal students: Cultural insights for teaching
literacy.
Retrieved
from
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Klenowski, V. (2009). Australian Indigenous students: addressing
equity
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10.1080/10476210802681741

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