Presentation4

Editor's Notes

• #2: Teachers have been an integral part of Australian education for over 200 years, (History of Australian Education, 2010). Although the role of the teacher has changed significantly over the 200 year history, along with the training and educating of the teaching profession, there are many things that to this day remain the same. The most common is the desire to impart knowledge to students to encourage learning for the future. As we as a society look towards the future it is apparent that there will be some changes needed to accommodate the ever changing society in which we live.
• #3: Teaching will always need to be professional, even more so into the 21st Century. To enable teachers to demonstrate this they need to be ethical. Ethics or “the right thing to do” is based upon ensuring teachers have the knowledge and understandings of the law, policies rules and guidelines that govern teaching, (Whitton, Sinclair, Barker, Nanlohy, & Nosworthy, 2005). Coupled with the socially and culturally responsible understandings of key values, respect, dignity, caring, and integrity. Ensuring that open communication, with colleagues, parents and students is equal, regardless of race, gender, religion or disability, respect the privacy of individuals and ensure that guidelines and policies are followed, (Whitton, Sinclair, Barker, Nanlohy, & Nosworthy, 2005). The legal requirements of a teacher is best described as what a teacher need to do according to the law. To become a teacher in Australia you need to complete an undergraduate and/or post graduate course from a recognized institution as well as any mandatory training required. The Law Handbook states “The law imposes a legal duty on teachers and schools to take care of the safety and wellbeing of pupils in their care. This duty of care arises where a teacher-pupil relationship exists” (The law handbook, 2009). This duty of care is more than just the teacher acting as a parent while the child is at school as a higher standard of care is expected from a teacher than is expected from a good careful parent.
• #4: To demonstrate quality teaching teachers of today need to be many things, knowledgeable, and understanding of what is being taught, how to teach it and how learners learn it, (Quality Teaching, n.d.). They need to show enthusiasm about teaching as it is this enthusiasm that rubs off on to the students and creates a better more productive learning environment. Educators need to have confidence and commitment, not only about how they teach and what they teach but also their ability to help students learn. They need to be curious, question (McKenzie, 2004), and seek to gather more information, ask why does this happen, and how does this work therefore inspiring their students to learn and to become inquirers. An inventive organized and resourceful teachers will be willing use different ways and methods of teaching, and to look, for new ideas, using whatever is available to help teach and make lessons interesting and varied. This will accommodate the learners that come from different cultural and social backgrounds bringing with them different experiences and understandings. (Eggan & Kauchak, 2010) Teachers should also give students time to absorb and learn new concepts and tasks by being patient and persistent, whilst being optimistic, and believe that there is always a way for students to learn. Finally teachers need to change how they do things if it isn’t working, be willing to share and collaborate with colleagues, be ethical, understand the laws and policies that govern their position inside an outside school, and ensure that they behave professionally at all times.
• #5: It is important to ensure that the learning is delivered using a variety of teaching and instruction methods that relate to the (Reif & Heimburge 2006); (Brady & Kennedy 2007) argue that students learn best when they can make a connection between the curriculum, their interests and their life experiences and that they are less likely to disengage from learning if the curriculum is meaningful and relevant to their everyday lives. In other words, all learning is filtered through the learner’s current frame of reference (context) and as such all learning should be based upon what the learners already knows and understands.