Should Teachers Become More Educated And For Aid Them With The Most Effective?

83). Consider: 44 per cent of Australians were born in another country or are born of foreign parents (Lawrence et al., 2012, p. 75). In 2012, one child in every six was living below the poverty line (Ewing, 2013, p. 79). In a 2014 news article the Guardian reported that children of fathers with poor education levels were seven and a half times less likely to achieve at school than those with well-educated fathers (Adams, 2014). In 2011, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) reported that nearly 20 per cent of Australians over the age of five years old spoke a language other than English at home (ABS, 2011). The expanse of Australia’s diversity, and the range of influences, experiences and unique resources filling each virtual schoolbag, is

One of the most stimulating aspects of early education is observing and supporting young children as they develop their individual identities. This development takes place within different social contexts where issues relating to human diversity and difference impact significantly on children’s understandings and ways of being in the world. Arguably, our education begins when we are first able to detect causes and consequences, and continue to form the basis of our identity, behaviours and knowledge of the world around us. Glover (1991) in the early 1990s found that as 2-3 year old children became aware of difference they simultaneously develop positive and negative feelings about the differences they observe. For example, racial awareness impacts on their perceptions of skin colour and on their preferences in the social relationships they initiate and foster with other children. An Australian study conducted by Palmer (1990) exemplifies how preschool children were able to make negative judgements based on racial characteristics of young Aboriginal children. Children were reportedly saying ‘You’re the colour of poo… Did your mum drop you in the poo?’ This observation suggests that children as young as 2 years old are becoming aware of diversity and differences of others, and these judgements children are making are often affecting their ability to make sound judgements of others

Migrants and immigrants are from a whole different world, although many authors in Growing up Asian in Australia were born in Australia and while their customs and traditions are seen as the norm to them they are seen as different by many Australians. These cultural traditions and practices are far from what the majority are used to and so are neither known nor understood. This result usually in people misunderstanding migrant’s individuality and can cause unfair exclusion. Governed was horrified when the school bully accused her of wiping her “butt with her hands” on the terms of her Indian background and as a result had to deal with constant teasing and taunts

The teaching resource selected to support diverse literacy and language learning in a grade one classroom is a children’s book ‘I’m Australian Too’ written by Mem Fox and illustrated by Ronojoy Ghosh (Fox, M. (2017) ‘I’m Australian Too’ Australia; Scholastic Australia). The book is available for purchase both online and at ‘Readings’ stores in Hawthorn, Carlton, Malvern and St Kilda for $19.99. It can also be accessed as an audio copy from http://memfox.com/books/im-australian-too/. The book details all the multiple cultural identities that can be found across Australia. It poetically details that no matter where our families come from, or the hardships that may have faced, we can all find a home in Australia. The resource is useful in

In Australia, we have a diverse society, consisting of many different groups. The people in these groups are all economically and socially different in terms of their backgrounds, as well as having different cultural traditions. The behaviours, attitudes and values of individuals affects the treatment of people in different groups.

Through my life, I have seen several different approaches to Indigenous people’s rights and importance in Australia. I have been fortunate enough to visit Ayers Rock and undertake a tour which allowed me to see Aboriginal culture in art and drawings as well as hearing Dreamtime stories from guides. I have also witnessed family friends who have been severely racist and disrespectful of Indigenous heritage and history. I also was lucky to work with some Indigenous students who were in Reception during my Professional Experience 1, and I was able to see first-hand how a culture clash can affect a student’s behaviour. I feel that even before entering this course, I have had the privilege of being able to observe both positives and negatives

Reports from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (2003a, 2003b, as cited in Ashman & Elkins, 2009, p. 7) show 25% of the Australian population is currently made up of migrants from around 200 countries. This fact demonstrates Australia, on the whole, has a tolerant and inclusive society. A society can be identified as a collection of people who live together in a relatively ordered community (Ashman & Elkins, 2009, p. 7). It could be said, Australia has one of the most inclusive societies on the planet; however, this was not always the case.

To further this argument, research conducted by Dr Kevin Dunn (Christopher & Deresky 2008) exemplified how ‘marginalised’ the minority of Australian Muslims and people of Middle Eastern origin are in the Australian society. Australians are thought to be of the opinion that people with these cultural and religious backgrounds are the least likely to be able to fit into the culture of Australians (Christopher & Deresky, 2008).

When delivering school curriculum, educators must meet the needs and strengths of all students. The Australian Curriculum allows educators to personalize their teaching and learning programs by selecting content that is stimulating, challenging and meets the individual needs and strengths of all students in a classroom (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA], 2015). The Early Years Learning Framework (2010) explains how a student’s culture is central to who they are as a human being and gives them a sense of belonging (pp. 21-22). Using these two documents, educators can carry out learning programs that caters for all needs,

These influences have significant impact on the education sector and a student’s educational success. When children are young they are not influenced by worldviews and other’s opinions on culture, they see others as their equal. It is only as children become older they are exposed to influences and perspectives of others, and mimic what others do (Theodorou, 2011). Adults become much more restrained, conservative and aware of other cultures and beliefs, due to the many influences that adults are exposed to within society (Milne, 2013). These worldviews have significant impact on normalisation, culture, power and language, which effect how the educational system works, and students from the different groups

When I was eight my family and I migrated from Derby, a town in the centre of England, to Australia. This was a big shock for us as we had never left the country before, never been in a aeroplane, and never visited Australia. So, we had no idea what to expect. As I was still very young I didn’t really pay much attention to when we crossed borders, all I knew was that i had to behave. Like Shahram Khosravi said in our week five reading, border crossing is all about performance, its a cultural production that convinces people you are who you are. My parents definitely believed this as they kept my siblings and close, and behaved at all times. The most vivid memory I have of the vast cultural differences of England from Australia was when I first started school here. Now, my parents thought that it would be best to get straight into the schooling system here, instead of waiting for a few weeks after the move. So, it had probably only been two weeks maximum since I was last at school in England. The first thing I remember was being shocked at the size of the school, as it went from pre-school all the way through to year twelve. That’s not how it was in England; the schools I remember there was separated into primary, middle and senior. The second thing was that everybody was super friendly, they were all wearing smiles, introduced themselves, and the teachers were very supportive. My first class was physical education, and everybody was playing red rover. After being introduced

That many classrooms in Australia are culturally and demographically diverse is simply a reflection of Australia’s multi-cultural society. This diversity is not reflected in school staffrooms (Reid et al., 2004, p. 306) and indicates a teaching profession based on the dominant white Anglo Celtic culture. This dominant culture has informed much of our educational discourse and it has marginalised students by creating deficit discourses not only for Indigenous Australians and students of different ethnic backgrounds but also those of different socio-economic backgrounds, disabilities, genders and religions (Duchesne, McMaugh, Bochner, & Krause, 2013, p. 381).

Because of racism, the retention of culture is often brushed off and people prefer to integrate into the culture of the environment they are surrounded in rather than making themselves seem ‘different’. There are many cases of children who are born overseas and find that retaining their culture such as their mother tongue makes them more prone to being bullied. The Independent recently covered a story of parent raising bilingual. Featured on this story was an Ethiopian child who said that she was often embarrassed when seeing people wearing traditional Ethiopian clothing and when out with friends, would act all ‘gangsta’ which was opposite to the Ethiopian way of being respectfu. She also points out that this was because of people treating her differently because of her race and culture. As a diverse country, New Zealand must be aware of the cultures that it is made up of and every individual must learn to accept one another no matter what colour skin have and no matter how culturally different they are from what you would call the ‘typical Kiwi’. Recently, there was a specific case in Australia about a young Aboriginal girl named Samara Muir who tried to ‘scrub’ her skin white. This stemmed from verbal abuse she received from a mother and child at a shopping centre saying that she was black and ‘black is ugly’. From a young age, children in many Western/ European countries are exposed to teachings both at home and schools that claim others are ‘different’ due to their raise and that there is superiority and inferiority regarding race. However this is very degrading to people of minor ethnic groups within a country as cultural retention requires acceptance from both parties and with what is being taught, people such as young children are unwilling to accept their culture passed on from older generations; the hurt and abuse they receive when they retain their culture

Children are not born disrespectful to other cultures, they learn it through their home environments, family life and life experiences. As Siraj-Blatchford and Clarke (2000) point out ‘young children’s attitudes are forming from a very young age and there is a need for them to be exposed to positive images of diversity in the early years setting” (Siraj-Blatchford and Clarke,2000 p.18). English schools use many different ways to create positive images and keep children understand about different cultures and respecting them and preventing this disrespect from seeping in to school life. Schools often ask parents to bring in photos of themselves and their children to show other children different types of families and cultures there are from

The reading addresses major educational and social problems that refuge students face in their effort to assimilate in the Australian educational system and proposes steps to facilitate their integration in the school environment of their new country. The author argues that refugee education should take into consideration post-settlement conditions and situations refugees nowadays face, relating to social and cultural matters. Australian education puts emphasis on the pre-settlement reasons of forced migration and the harsh conditions of the journey to the new place of settlement. However, little is known about the issues these people have to face in an individual level after they settle in Australia, regarding their interrupted schooling, their unfamiliarity with English and the trauma they might bring with them. By using terms like refugees or country of origin, we tend to group not only individuals but also their diverse needs, skills, experiences and aspirations. Although some characteristics might be shared by people from the race or ethnicity, the experiences, abilities and needs of people differ, hence education should be individualised to address one’s needs and lacks.