Emma Issac Student Number: 18003707

Foundations of Teaching & Learning

In the teaching profession, it is essential to understand the importance of foundation concepts of

teaching to achieve best-practice in their careers. The foundation concepts are upholding teaching

professional standards, the national curriculum, teaching pedagogy and assessment programs. It is

vital for teachers to achieve best-practice by integrating foundation concepts of teaching into their

classrooms to meet the needs of all students, parents and caregivers and the broader community

regardless of communicative barriers.

Teacher professionalism is an educator's ability to uphold standards and expectations set by

government agencies to allow students to have higher levels of opportunities in their schooling

career. The golden standard of Teacher Professional standards is the Australian Professional

Standards for Teachers (APST) set by The Australian Institute of Teaching and School Leadership

(AITSL) an organisation established by the federal government in 2010.

APST has seven standards put in place they are:

- Getting to know students and how they learn

- Know the content and how to teach it

- Plan for and implement effective teaching and learning

- Create and maintain supportive and safe learning environments

- Assess and provide feedback and report on student learning

- Engage in professional learning

- Engage professionally with colleagues, parents/carers and the community.

1
Emma Issac Student Number: 18003707

(Board of Studies, Teaching and Educational Standards NSW, 2014).

Following the seven standards will allow the growth for a holistic approach to educating students

efficiently and effectively to have higher opportunities for success in school. The APST also

impacts the contemporary learning landscape through teachers self-assessing and self-reflecting

on their practice using the APST as a guide to ensure they are upholding professionalism and

efficiency.

Self- assessment and reflection amongst current and pre-service educators due to APST is

beneficial to many schooling communities as it creates mutual grounds in where and how their

practice can create opportunities for students is highlighted for all. Self-assessment and reflection

are also portrayed as an efficient method with teachers as it informs them of the positive and

negative aspects of their practice. As such, it allows teachers to generate their perceptions of their

ownership in partaking in professional standards and it creates an environment where colleagues,

parent or caregivers and the broader community to contribute to it by giving feedback to confirm

or dismiss their assessment and reflection (Van Diggelen, Den Brok, & Beijaard, 2013).

Constructive feedback from peer-teachers also allows self-assessment and reflection as it enhances

the personal perception of the assessor to gain professional development. A study by Shin, Wilkins,

& Ainsworth (2007) showed that the act of self-assessment and reflection with peer-teacher

feedback encouraged a reflective practice of teachers which had created effective teacher

education programs to develop successful teaching as it provided a framework by indicating

problematic issues in classrooms and generating interventions. The teachers involved in the study

found that they became aware of the importance self- assessment and reflection with feedback in

2
Emma Issac Student Number: 18003707

their professional teaching practice as it had allowed them to adjust their practice to meet the needs

of their students. The use of the seven APST allows for self-assessment and reflection practices

amongst teachers to create compelling and efficient learning environments for students, parents or

caregivers and the broader community to establish better learning experiences for all.

The national set curriculum is another vital foundation concept that teachers need to grasp to have

best teaching practice. The curriculum is the course of study of any educational experiences (Egan,

1978) the importance of teachers understanding the nationally set curriculum developed by the

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) in 2014. The national set

curriculum aims to create prosperous students who are creative, active and informed learners

regardless of geographic location and ethnicity (ACARA, 2017). The understanding and use of a

national set curriculum allow teachers to generate lesson plans that ensure outcomes established

by ACARA are taught and to allow for the integration of cross-curriculum priorities in the

classroom to create an inclusive environment for Aboriginal and Torres-Strait Islander (ATSI)

peoples.

In Australia, the state and federal governments' aim in education is to encourage quality education

through ensuring current and prospective teachers to be trained and accredited effectively to

educate future generations of successful learners. The national curriculum plays a significant part

in creating successful students as teachers are regulated by the APST to teach all outcomes set by

the curriculum to educate for a sustainable future. Teachers are trained to integrate the curriculum

into lesson plans to ensure all students are meeting their individual learning goals by achieving

3
Emma Issac Student Number: 18003707

high levels of knowledge, skills and values essential to becoming positive contributors to

Australian society (Kennelly, Taylor, & Serow, 2011).

Also, the integration of cross-curriculum priorities to include ASTI peoples as well as achieving

outcomes is a vital part of teacher training. The Power & Bradley (2011) study integrated

Indigenous music in music classes in a Western Sydney school and found that the teachers and

students had explored ASTI traditions as well as gain a relationship with Aboriginal Elders. Most

teachers need to source ASTI Elders to integrate the cross-curriculum content; this is due to many

teachers are not confident in showcasing ATSI peoples' history and culture effectively. Once the

adequate preparation of lesson is completed, the partaking of lesson initiates a change in perception

of unfamiliar cultural beliefs to create inclusivity and acceptance in the schooling community for

all students.

Pedagogy is the study of education and instruction it is influenced by the psycho-sociology of

students in classrooms to construct pedagogies or procedures of teaching practice to give students

the opportunity to obtain social and educational development (Best, 1988). Teaching pedagogy is

a fundamental concept teachers need to integrate into their classrooms to educate according to

individual student capabilities and classroom engagement.

In New South Wales (NSW), the NSW Quality Teaching Model (NQTM) is used to measure all

aspects of teaching pedagogy in classrooms. The NQTM explained by Gore (2007) is a systematic

model to improve teaching practice to achieve curriculum outcomes in a holistic classroom

environment. The model is compiled with three dimensions and six elements that collectively

4
Emma Issac Student Number: 18003707

allow teachers to incorporate the development of valuable educational skills and environments for

students. The NQTM allows teachers to create student engagement with content, a supportive and

engaging learning environment and structuring of lessons to highlight the significance of content

to allow for inclusivity, interpretation and understanding of content. By following the NQTM

teachers can meet the demands of the curriculum through effective teaching pedagogy by using

NQTM dimensions and elements to gather evidence of positive and negative classroom practice

for teachers to obtain professional development. Many educators have responded to the

effectiveness of the NQTM in their classrooms, and many had the view that model held vital

elements in being a ‘good teacher'. Another response was another aspect of assessing their

pedagogy can be through assessment results and using student feedback to equip the abilities better

to teach misunderstood vital learning areas (Ladwig, 2005).

The last foundation concept educators need to be aware of is the Assessment programs set by the

Federal Government. Assessment programs are vital as they used by educators to indicate what

outcomes every individual student understand and what interventions need to put in place for

students who have not meet outcome requirements. In Australia, the governing body that regulates

and sets national testing is ACARA through the National Assessment Program (NAP). The

dominant state test in Australia is the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy

(NAPLAN) it is run yearly for specifically for students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 to assess their literacy

and numeracy skills (NAP, 2017).

NAPLAN testing has both negative and positive connotations in the education industry in

Australia. Adverse aspects of the NAPLAN testing are highlighted as teachers are put into the

5
Emma Issac Student Number: 18003707

position of the stakeholders of assessment results, school reputation and funding due to results

documented on the MySchool website. As such generates stress amongst teachers and may lead

teachers teaching to test when throws out the NQTM as they are teaching students superficial

knowledge to obtain higher levels of results. A study by Rogers, Barblett, & Robinson, (2016)

interviewed NAPLAN teachers and found some compelling results; teachers felt their teaching

practice is being assessed in student ability and negative results will impact their reputation and

parental perception of the school as well as following year enrolment rates. The elevated level of

stress put upon educators and students may lead to diminished morale in the school community

and a lack of motivation to educate and learn for further success for both teachers and students.

However, the positive aspects of the NAPLAN include teacher, and the Department of Education

have a single test to identify quality education is occurring across all schools. The test also allows

for accountability for teaching for the best interest of the student demographics, the use of the data

collected by the results of the test allows schools and teachers create strategies to intervene in weak

results amongst groups of students. The strategies are then put in place to ensure students have

higher opportunities for success in their schooling years (Cumming, & Mawdesley, 2013).

The integration and application of the four foundation concepts in a school setting for students

who have special learning requirements can be overwhelming. Individually, students who are from

a non- English speaking background (NESB) as they have a higher demand for support and

differentiated teaching due to communicative barriers as English is not their native tongue and

learning pace as it does take longer to teach central key learning areas to them due to translation

and context understanding.

6
Emma Issac Student Number: 18003707

In 2016, Australia has welcomed 17,555 refugees with a NESB (Lawrence, 2017) which includes

many NESB students now it is more vital than ever for educators in Australia to uphold APST.

Teachers need to get to know students and identify barriers to learning, know the content required

to be taught and how to teach it effectively according to student needs and circumstances, maintain

a supportive and safe environment, assess and give feedback to students and speak to parents

through interpreters to understand their expectations are of their children in school. When these

needs are not met, they can leave detrimental effects on the livelihood of many NESB students

they can be left behind academically as well as deemed illiterate and unemployable. Another

impact is the creation of little access to quality teaching for NESB students causing issues of

discrimination and marginalisation in the Australian society to arise and therefore affect economic,

political and social agendas of this country (McCarthy, & Vickers, 2008).

Therefore, educators need to uphold the APST when working with NESB students while using the

national curriculum, teaching pedagogy and assessment programs to ensure outcomes are met.

With the high influx of enrollments of NESB students in Australian schools, this causes teachers

to have a more significant workload to create modifications the "regular" pedagogy used to teach

curriculum outcomes. The integration and application of language and content is a significant

challenge as it requires extensive research for teachers partake in effectively to find a way to

communicate teaching objectives to their students. The use of the seven APST is a successful guide

to ensure all aspects of teaching practices are covered. It is essential that the first thing that a

teacher needs to do when designing a lesson a plan is getting to know their students and learn their

academic capabilities and then create programs to best suit their educational level. Due to the

possibility that there will be varying levels within the classroom an easy way to work around this

7
Emma Issac Student Number: 18003707

is through using group work, grouping students with similar academic ability will allow the teacher

to create knowledge specific activities to teach curriculum outcomes (Miller, Austin Windle, &

Yazdanpanah, 2014).

To ensure NESB students are meeting curriculum standards teachers need to assess and report their

progress. Unfortunately, NAPLAN is not an adequate program to assess NESB students as they

do not have the same ability to understand context with questions as somebody who speaks English

as their first language. However, teachers can compensate by modifying in-class testing to create

a higher understanding and success rate for example in tests allowing bilingual dictionaries and

include real-life scenarios in questions that the students are answering to enable them to understand

the context of the question being asked (Creagh, 2013).

As an Australian professional educator, it is vital to articulate and apply foundation concepts of

teaching to ensure best-practice. The only effective way of using foundation concepts is by

upholding APST and implementing effective curriculum, teaching pedagogy and assessment

program practices. As such, it creates and maintains supportive learning environments is integral

skill teachers need as it gives students an opportunity of success in their schooling regardless of

barriers that can obstruct them in any form.

8
Emma Issac Student Number: 18003707

References

ACARA,. (2017). Curriculum. Acara.edu.au. Retrieved 13 March 2017, from

http://www.acara.edu.au/curriculum

Best, F. (1988). Social learning and social cognition: The case for pedagogy. Prospects, 18(2),

157-168.

Board of Studies, Teaching and Educational Standards NSW,. (2014). The Australian

Professional Standards for Teachers (pp. 4-18). Sydney: Board of Studies, Teaching and

Educational Standards NSW.

Bodycott, P., Mak, A., & Ramburuth, P. (2013). Utilising an Internationalised Curriculum to

Enhance Students’ Intercultural Interaction, Engagement and Adaptation. The Asia-

Pacific Education Researcher, 23(3), 635-643. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s40299-013-

0136-3

Creagh, S. (2013). ‘Language Background Other Than English’: a problem NAPLAN test

category for Australian students of refugee background. Race Ethnicity And Education,

19(2), 252-273. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2013.843521

Cumming, J., & Mawdesley, R. (2013). Australia, quality education and the ‘best interests of the

child’. Australian Journal Of Education, 57(3), 292-309.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0004944113497892

9
Emma Issac Student Number: 18003707

Egan, K. (1978). What Is Curriculum?. Curriculum Inquiry, 8(1).

http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1179791

Gore, J. (2007). Improving pedagogy: challenges of moving teachers toward higher levels of

Quality Teaching. In J. Butcher & L. McDonald, Making a Difference: Challenges for

Teachers, Teaching and Teacher Education (1st ed., pp. 16-21). Rotterdam: Sense

Publishers.

Kennelly, J., Taylor, N., & Serow, P. (2011). Education for Sustainability and the Australian

Curriculum. Australian Journal Of Environmental Education, 27(2), 208-218.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1375/ajee.27.2.209

Ladwig, J. (2005). Monitoring the quality of pedagogy. Leading & Managing, 11(2), 70-83.

Lawrence, C. (2017). How many refugees does Australia settle each year? - Settlement Services

International. Ssi.org.au. Retrieved 24 March 2017, from

http://www.ssi.org.au/faqs/refugee-faqs/141-how-many-refugees-does-australia-settle-

each-year

McCarthy, F., & Vickers, M. (2008). Digital natives, dropouts and refugees: Educational

challenges for innovative cities. Innovation, 10(2-3), 257-268.

http://dx.doi.org/10.5172/impp.453.10.2-3.257

10
Emma Issac Student Number: 18003707

Miller, J., Austin Windle, J., & Yazdanpanah, L. (2014). Planning lessons for refugee-

background students: Challenges and strategies. International Journal Of Pedagogies

And Learning, 9(1), 38-48. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/18334105.2014.11082018

NAP,. (2017). Naplan. Nap.edu.au. Retrieved 24 March 2017, from

https://www.nap.edu.au/naplan

Power, A., & Bradley, M. (2011). Teachers make a difference to the study of Aboriginal music

in NSW. Australian Journal Of Music Education, (2), 22-29.

Rogers, S., Barblett, L., & Robinson, K. (2016). Investigating the impact of NAPLAN on

student, parent and teacher emotional distress in independent schools. The Australian

Educational Researcher, 43(3), 327-343. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s13384-016-0203-x

Van Diggelen, M., den Brok, P., & Beijaard, D. (2013). Teachers’ use of a self-assessment

procedure: the role of criteria, standards, feedback and reflection. Teachers And

Teaching, 19(2), 115-134. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2013.741834

Wilkins, E., Shin, E., & Ainsworth, J. (2009). The Effects of Peer Feedback Practices with

Elementary Education Teacher Candidates. Teacher Education Quarterly, 36(2), 1-6.

11