Bush School Experience - the Best Practice for Aborigine Classrooms - Assignment Example

Best Practice for Aborigine Classrooms Your name Institution Part A The Bush School experience has very important lessons which may be beneficial in the understanding and improvement of Aboriginal education in Australia. Most important of all the documentary seeks to give perspectives on how contexts both cultural and socioeconomic impact educational outcomes and also objective setting. The Bush experience is very relevant to the general education outcomes studied in this unit. The documentary deals with aspects of aboriginal communities, culture, education, finance, how the choice of subject impacts attendance, school community relationships and how these underlie succe3ssful educational programs in Aboriginal communities. The conversion of the Warrego School into an indigenous school offering horse education is an important aspect which the school focused on and was successful in. The documentary seeks an explanation on why the Warrego School has been successful in attracting Aboriginal children to the school and in the process achieving the objectives of the curriculum for the Northern Territory. The theme of the relationships between the community and the school which is emphasises is an important aspect of the general Australian curriculum as set out in the national curriculum (Harrison, 2011). The Australian curriculum seeks to find a means of bridging the gaps of inequality and promoting inclusion which is seen in the author’s activities in building a relationship between Warrego School and Mungalawurru community. It also seeks to explain how the school may have to reconcile the socioeconomic contexts in order to ensure the attainment of educational outcomes through bringing up issues facing the Mungalawurru community with the closure of the mine. An aspect of curriculum important in the context is the setting of realistic objectives which may be met progressively as was seen in the achievement of literacy and numeracy in documentary (Partington, 1998). The instance of funding of the Warrego School by community and the government is an important theme which is espoused in the documentary. Part B The student’s physical needs are an important part of the Australian curriculum and hence all schools are expected to adhere to implement physical exercise as part of the teaching and learning process. The Bush School documentary involves the aspects of physical exercise which the founders of the Warrego School use as one of the planks through which they promote school attendance. They make use of swimming and horse riding as physical exercise in order to attain the physical aspects of the curriculum as set out in the Melbourne declaration. The Bush School experience also promotes the emotional aspect of the attainment of curriculum objectives. Through the use of cultural aspects of Aboriginal culture the school teaching and learning draws important cultural lessons that are important in emotional conditioning (Craven, 2011). Through the school activities as portrayed in the Bush School experience the emotional well being of the learners are portrayed as being important towards the achievement of curriculum objectives. The Bush School experience offers important insights into the social and academic well being of learners. The founders of the School start the school project not intending to delve into the social issues of the Warrago Society but soon find that they make no headway due to the socio economic issues underlying performance. It is established that the social economic and cultural issues are very much a determinant of the successful attainment of the academic objectives set out (Overcoming Indigenous Advantage, 2011). The Bakers involve themselves in improving the socioeconomic conditions of the community and also improving the relationships between the society and the school. In catering for the socio-economic needs and promoting community school initiatives and cooperation the Warrago School soon has the best attendance among Aboriginal schools in the Northern Territory as well as the best academic performance. Part C The Bush School experience is very relevant in an analysis of my recent educational experiences with indigenous learners. Indigenous learners are different from other learners I have been dealing with since they have very specific and particular needs as distinguished from the majority non indigenous learners. The Bush School experiences have offered me insights which have made me understand the learners in my classroom practice. It has made me more aware of the stereotypes held against the indigenous populations. It has opened my eyes to how I failed in my teaching of an indigenous class through lack of knowledge on what underlies academic achievement among the indigenous population. In my most recent classroom experience I was dealing with a classroom which had experienced very similar situations which are portrayed in the Bush School documentary. In my interaction with the Bush School documentary I came to the realization that there are certain specific aspects which are fundamental in the achievement of education outcomes; early child development, governance and leadership, education and training, safe and supportive communities, healthy lives, home environments, and economic participation (Lamb & Helme, 2011). I came to the realization that in my teaching practice with the indigenous learners I had not taken these aspects into consideration and this was resulting in poor educational outcomes and non achievement of curriculum objectives. Best practice calls for the incorporation of the seven aspects in enhancing educational outcomes for the indigenous learners. In my class it was clear that the learners had not received sufficient early childhood development and as such the learners lacked basic skills for learning and as such had difficulties in grasping concepts for literacy and numeracy. There were also instances of hearing impairment which I believe was a result of genetic conditions which could have been prevented through programs such as the Bush School swimming programs (Overcoming Indigenous Advantage, 2011). The instance of school enrolment and attendance was not very positive for my teaching experience. Many of the learners were irregular in their attendance while many of those that attended tended to drop out due to socioeconomic issues which made such learners a minority in the teaching environment thus making them uncomfortable (Harris & Malin, 1994). Comparing the Bush School experience to my experience I found similarities in terms of health outcomes. Many of the learners in my class tended to be relatively unhealthy due to unhealthy lifestyles such as tobacco smoking and most importantly lack of access to proper health care. I also came to k now that disadvantaged communities tend to have higher dropout rates not necessarily through discrimination but through other aspects such as not having safe communities and home environments. As shown in the Bush Schools documentary indigenous people that are not safe due to issues of drug and alcohol use, diseases related to issues of overcrowding in the home and lack of access to clean water tend to have lower rates of academic achievement. Lack of participation in the economic activities through loss of land usually results in negative developments such as higher rates of juvenile offending which negatively impacts education (Harris & Malin, 1994). Most important of all I observed that the instance of these aspects which underlie Aboriginal education serve to perpetuate the lack of education achievement and results in a cycle in which the indigenous population will never get out of unless remedial action is undertaken. In my teaching I came to realize that these very same issues afflicted my learners and that knowledge of these aspects was lacking. As such I felt that education and cooperation among the community and the school is an important aspect if remedial action is to be undertaken. Given the willingness of the indigenous people of Mungalawurru to cooperate in education of their children, I do believe such programs of cooperation would have served me well in my practice. Practice D Watching the documentary the Bush Schools has been very beneficial since it offers important insight which I do believe would be helpful in enriching classroom practice. The documentary presents several fundamental themes and issues which underlie the effectiveness of indigenous education. Through the example of the Mungalawurru community and the Warrego School run by the Bakers, I have learnt a lot about classroom set up, community involvement, teaching strategies, inter-agency support, and resources towards enhancing my teaching practice. Classroom set up is a fundamental set up that determines the effectiveness of the learning and teaching. As previously constituted I had not deemed classroom set up to be an important aspect since I only concentrated on the curriculum. My classroom set up has been very rigid since I only believed in classroom teaching and never took advantage of the environment and the different set ups which could enrich the learning activity. I do believe the set up of the Bush School classroom offers me a different perspective on how a classroom ought to be set up. I believe that setting up a classroom in the outdoors as is done in the documentary would enrich my teaching. The teaching strategies as espoused by the Australian curriculum call for making use of different strategies that will make maximum use of contexts in order to enrich the teaching and learning process. The teaching strategies which make use of the learners’ cultural contexts are of great value. Aspects of the Bush schools which incorporate all the physical aspects of the curriculum such as swimming and horse riding are important and will make the lessons more interesting and appealing to the indigenous learners thereby enhancing attendance. I will apply such strategies in encouraging attendance through making the teaching and learning less formal and more spontaneous. The Bush School documentary portrays a school that makes use of the various available resources in the environment in enriching the learning experience. It also portrays a school that shows a school committed to ensuring the greatest cooperation between the community and the school. The instance of the cooperation between the Mungalawurru community and the school could be incorporated into my teaching practice. The indigenous communities are very cooperative as has been seen through the leaders in the Bush School documentary who cooperated with the Bakers and asserted that they enjoyed the cooperation. I would seek to enrich my practice by engaging with the local indigenous communities (Lamb & Helme, 2011). Through such engagement, I would also get to know the activities and cultural aspects of the community that would be palatable to the indigenous learner and hence this would enrich the practice and enhance attendance and academic achievement (Mulford, 2011). The Bush School use of resources in the community such as obtaining funding for the school from the ASSP could be replicated in my practice which has similar organizations that would be willing to fund such indigenous community education programs. On another level the inter agency support that has been exhibited by the Bush Schools documentary is inspiring as a means for pursuing more effective indigenous education. The Bakers seek the support of inter agencies such as ASSP and the government ministry of education in the provision of funding. It is also important for the teaching practice to seek the support of the governmental agencies since issue of curriculum objective attainment are a fundamental aspect that influence funding and support. If I can convince the inter agencies that adoption of the new teaching strategies is more effective in achieving of curriculum objectives and enhancement of academic achievement and attendance, then funding may be more forthcoming from such agencies (Lamb & Helme, 2011). References Craven, R. 2011. Teaching Aboriginal Studies. NSW: Allen and Unwin: 2nd ed. St Lenards(1999 edition is on eReserve) Harris, S & Malin, M.1994. Aboriginal Kids in Urban Classrooms. Wentworth Falls, NSW Social Science Press Harrison, N. 2011, Teaching and Learning in Aboriginal Education. 2nd ed. Victoria: Oxford University Press. Lamb, S. & Helme, S. 2011. Closing the School Completion Gap for Indigenous Students. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare: Canberra. Retrieved from http://www.aihw.gov.au/uploadedFiles/ClosingTheGap/Content/Publications/2011/ctgc-rs06.pdf Mulford, B. 2011. Teacher and School Leader Quality and Sustainability. Australia Institute of Health and Welfare: Canberra. Retrieved from http://www.aihw.gov.au/uploadedFiles/ClosingTheGap/Content/Publications/2011/ctgc-rs05.pdf Overcoming Indigenous Advantage: Key Indicators 2011. Retrieved from http://www.pc.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/111610/key-indicators-2011-overview-booklet.pdf Partington, G., ed 1998. Perspectives on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education. Wentworth Falls: NSW. Social Science Press Read More