Synthesis and Narrative on Influences in Formal Education EDU2035

Task 1.

Assessment 2 Case Study.

Modules 2 and 3 explore critical ways of thinking about how formal education and therefore the experiences of learners are shaped by influences within and beyond formal education. This task aims for you to demonstrate your understanding of some of the ideas explored in Modules 2 & 3. To complete this task successfully, read the required readings with this assessment in mind. The word count is 2500-2800.

OPTION 2

PART 1: Synthesis

Write a response to the following:What are significant ideas raised in Modules 2 & 3 of the unit?Rather than summarise, your synthesise must combine key ideas from across the unit readings. Your synthesis should demonstrate a depth of understanding of the readings and the influences from within and outside of education that impact on things like the lives of learners, their experiences of learning, education systems and educators. You must use any8 (eight) essentialunit readings from Modules 2 and 3 (from at least 4 topics) towrite your synthesis, using in-text referencing.

DON'T FORGET MODULE 3 (Topic 9) and its ONE reading!

SP 4 Program_Calendar 2024.docxSP 4 Program_Calendar 2024.docx - Alternative Formats

PART 2: Story

Next, use one or more of the ideas and concepts described in your Part 1 summary to write a interesting and creative biographical narrative/story of one or more related experiences of schooling, of a learner at preschool and/or primary school and/or secondary school. To do this you will need to interview or speak to somebody about their experiences of schooling. Your narrative/story should demonstrate a sophisticated understanding of the wider social influences on the experiences of schooling. You may use images/visuals to enhance your written story.

PART 3: Connection

Following the narrative, write a statement that explains the connection between your synthesis and your narrative. You must use in-text references for Part 3. You can use the following sentence starter to assist:

- My narrative has been informed by my reading/s of:

- The units big ideas I am showing in this narrative are:

Notes

• Word count: 2500-2800 words. This includes all text (headings, in-text citations, captions and direct quotes). It excludes the Reference List. No 10% +/-.


• Reference using APA 7th edition. You must include page numbers in all of your in-text references.


• AI is not allowed in this unit.


• Not using 8 essential unit readings (essential and recommended) from Modules 2 & 3, from at least 4 topics, in this assessment may result in a fail for the assessment.


• How are you being marked?
  EDUC1025 EDUC1026 EDC140 Exploring and Contesting Curriculum rubric 2.pdfEDUC1025 EDUC1026 EDC140 Exploring and Contesting Curriculum rubric 2.pdf - Alternative Formats

include TOPIC 9/ Module 3 and its one reading - check the program calendar and collaborates for more details

Modules 2:

Learner diversity

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• Topic 5

Topic 5

Exploring and Contesting Curriculum

Topic 5: Introducing learner diversity

• Topic Introduction

Topic Introduction

Introducing learner diversity

Welcome to Module 2. You should now have completed Assessment 1, and should now begin to prepare Assessment 2.

Not all children and students share your social background and experiences.

This topic explores some of the differences that make up children and young people, and how the practices of schools and educators can exclude, normalise and disadvantage some students.

We aim to get you thinking deeply about how this impacts on your role as an educator.

View at source

• Engage and Explore

Engage and Explore

Essential Readings

Read the following to better understand the diversities that make up learners in our society and how educators can do a better job of recognising and responding to these diversities.

Gowlett, C. & Niesche, R. (2022). Exploring and embracing learner diversity though a sociological lens. In B. Gobby & R. Walker. (Eds.),Powers of Curriculum: Sociological aspects of education(2nd ed., pp. 62-81). Oxford University Press. (Chapter 4: SET TEXT)

Hayes, D. (2013). Young people and schools. In R. Connell, A. Welch, M. Vickers, et al. (Eds.),Education, Change and Society. Oxford University Press. (Chapter 1).Access hereor use Reading List on left.

• Explain and Elaborate

Explain and Elaborate

Learning about diversity

Over the next few topics, we will be exploring in some depth the different ways our culture marks out people as different. We want you to think about how our societyperceives and understandsdifference, and how pre-schools and schools, understand and respond to these differences.

Watch the videos below to explore diversity in society and education.

Questions for reflection and applying learning.

Socio-economics and the virtual schoolbag

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• Topic 6

Topic 6

Exploring and Contesting Curriculum

Topic 6: Socio-economic disadvantage & the virtual schoolbag

• Topic Introduction

Topic Introduction

Socio-economic disadvantage and the virtual schoolbag

This topic introduces you to the history of school education in Australia and its link to socio-economic and educational inequality.

Students from low socio-economic areas, or areas of poverty, have struggled to reap the rewards of education like students from mid to higher socio-economic backgrounds.

This topic aims to shed light on this issue, to think about the cultural and social factors that contribute to continued disadvantage, and how schools could do things differently to support students put at disadvantage.

View at source

• Engage and Explore

Engage and Explore

Essential Readings

Read the following to learn about the history of Australia's education systems and how these can produce and challenge socio-economic and educational inequalities.

McGregor, G. & Mills, M. (2022). The virtual schoolbag and pedagogies of engagement. In B. Gobby & R. Walker. (Eds.),Powers of curriculum: Sociological aspects of education(2nd ed., pp. 286-303). Oxford University Press. (Chapter 14: SET TEXT)

Windle, J. (2022). The education system and class: A shifting relationship. In B. Gobby & R. Walker. (Eds.),Powers of curriculum: Sociological aspecs of education(2nd ed., pp. 135-155). Oxford University Press. (Chapter 7: SET TEXT)

• Explain and Elaborate

Explain and Elaborate

The virtual schoolbag and challenging 'disadvantage'

Social and economic inequality is aglobal and national issue. It is a problem closely related to government policies and it impacts on all of us. It is also a significant issue for education.

Thecontext of a child's lifeis a powerful influence on their educational attainment, up to 70% in some in some studies. Raewyn Connell suggested: Statistically speaking, the best advice we can give to a poor child, keen to get ahead through education, is to choose richer parents (Connell 1995). Of course, children can't choose richer parents, and that's the point - children's educational outcomes are influenced by factors linked to their parents and out of their control. Statistics show there are patterns that link educational outcomes with your social position, including your wealth, parent's occupation and where you live, such as in the city or regional areas. ThisGonski Data Labinteractive graph shows the link between NAPLAN (test) performance and socio-economic background, and other variables.

This topic and its readings encourage you to think about how Australia's education system has developed, how it is organised, and what education systems and educators do to disadvantage groups of students. It also explores the need for schools not to find fault in children, their families and communities, but to recognise and use each child's 'virtual schoolbag' - the positive things (skills, knowledge, experiences, expertise) a child brings with them to school from their home and community background and their previous experience.

Listen to the unit designer talking about cultural capital which helps explain educational disadvantage.

Watch the following videos to explore the bigger picture of inequality.

Quiz and questions to apply your learning.

• Evaluate and Extend

Evaluate and Extend

What next?

Assessment preparation

Read the Assessment 2 task description. What do you need to do to get started preparing for it? Start thinking about how the issues raised around socio-economic background, gender, sexuality, ethnicity and culture have influenced your life, your life at school, the actions of teachers and the lives of others. What kind of story could you tell about your life at school or the life of somebody youknow?

Gender, sexuality & pop culture

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• Topic 7

Topic 7

Exploring and Contesting Curriculum

Topic 7: Gender, sexuality & pop culture

• Topic Introduction

Topic Introduction

Gender,sexuality,childhood &popular culture

We have merged two topics into one. You have two weeks to complete this topic. This topic and its readings introduce you to explore the notion of 'binary thinking', specifically in relation to gender-sex and class. It aims to challenge common-sense thinking about gender, sex and socio-economic disadvantage.

You are encouraged to reflect on how educators' views of children as 'in-deficit' influences their practice in the classroom or early childhood setting, and how such practices may be based on stereotypes and disadvantage learners.

We also introduce you to the influence of popular andconsumer culture on children. Consumerism, or the promotion of the consumption of goods as a value and way of life, and marketing have a large influence on how we see the world andourselves, and what we do and say.

Consumerism and marketing actively shape who we are as people, as individuals, and these also frame who we become and who we see ourselves as becoming. This topic supports your understanding of these factors influence curriculum experiences.

View at Source

• Engage and Explore

Engage and Explore

Essential Readings

Read the following to understand how binary thinking limits perceptions of gender and how popular culture shapes children's identities.

Pearce, J. (2022). The trap of binary thinking: Problematising gender and social disadvantage. In B. Gobby & R. Walker. (Eds.),Powers of Curriculum: Sociological aspects of education(2nd ed., pp. 156-175). Oxford University Press. (Chapter 8: SET TEXT)

Taylor, A. (2007). Innocent children, dangerous families and homophobic panic. In S. Poynting (Ed.),Outrageous!: moral panics in Australia(pp. 210-222). ACYS Publishing. -
Outrageous! Moral panics in Australia.pdfOutrageous! Moral panics in Australia.pdf - Alternative Formats

McGraw, K. (2022). Identity formation: Consumerism and popular culture. In B. Gobby & R. Walker (Eds.),Powers of Curriculum: Sociological aspects of education(2nd ed., pp. 246-264). Oxford University Press. (Chapter 12: SET TEXT)

• Explain and Elaborate

Explain and Elaborate

Sex, gender & education

As we learned earlier in the unit, the official curriculum is never neutral because the knowledge underpinning the official curriculum always comes from a particular (someone's) perspective.The curriculum is not neutral in another sense too. The choices educators make about how to organise their learning settings, what to teach, how to teach, what curriculum resources to use, what and who they choose to reward, how they interact with children and what they say, and the learning outcomes they aim to create, always come from a particular perspective or point of view.

The choices reveal the educator's philosophy, their values, beliefs and ideas about the world. This is especially the case when it comes to educator's beliefs and ideas about sex, gender and sexuality. For example, the stories, like fairy tales, that educators choose to read to children and the kinds of gender representations in those stories. Educators can encourage children to live the full breadth of human experience rather than constrain them to only some 'appropriate' human experiences determined by perceptions of their sex. This is especially important giventhe peer pressure and culturesthatpolice and constrain children'sgender and sexual performances and identities.

Watch the following to explore how cultural notions of gender, sex and sexualities control children.

What can educators do?

With knowledge about gender and sexuality norms and stereotypes, you may be in a better position to identify:

• the hidden curriculum around gender and sexuality;


• how curriculum documents, resources and activities may reinforce or challenge gender and sexual norms;


• how your practices and choices might reinforce or challenge stereotypes and assumptions; and


• be aware of how curriculum resources and choices are based upon particular perspectives, values and beliefs about the world, and about sex and gender.

Many schools, however, can have cultures that teach students misogyny and homophobia, which James Robinson (a student of an elite private school) responded to byburning his school uniform. The school isSt Kevin's Collegeand has a notorious history.Educators, like those at Sydney Boys High School, are often in the position to help children and young people question and reject gender and sexual inequalities and the constraining and stereotypical representations of gender and sexuality that are damaging to the identities, relationships and development of young people.

Watch to learn about the Sydney Boys High Gender Equality Project and how they approach equality.

Consumer culture

Below are two videos.The first is an experiment that highlight how parents' choice of toys are tied to our culture's binary notions of sex and gender.The second explores how popular culture, consumer culture and profit-making corporations are targeting young children and changing their identities - changing who we are and who we think we are as people.You are invited to think about how this might be changing children and education, and why and how educators might respond to this trend.

Watch the following to explore how assumptions and consumer culture (toys) impact on children.

Question to answer from the textbook.

Australia's history & cultural diversity

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• Topic 8

Topic 8

Exploring and Contesting Curriculum

Topic 8: History & cultural diversity

• Topic Introduction

Topic Introduction

Cultural diversity, Australia's history and Indigenous educational justice

We cover two main topics here: cultural diversity and Indigenous educational justice. You have two weeks to complete these topics.

Through the readings, we want you to explore Australia's long and complex history and its cultures and the need for educators to understand the cultural diversity that exists in the learning setting, and to develop cultural competence.

In this topic, we focus on issues of Australian Indigenous Education and the importance of engaging with the history of colonialism and how we can work towards educational justice for Indigenous peoples.

A conversation with ProfessorCherylKickett-Tucker | Download & enlarge

• ppt for topic 8

ppt for topic 8

to upload EDC140 Topic 8.pptxto upload EDC140 Topic 8.pptx - Alternative Formats

• Engage and Explore

Engage and Explore

Essential Readings

Read the following to learn about how the educational experiences of Indigenous peoples are shaped by settler colonialism and how we can make a positive difference by thinking with diversity.

Rudolph, S. & Brown, L. (2022). Understanding the techniques of colonialism: Indigenous educational justice. In B. Gobby & R. Walker (Eds),Powers of curriculum: Sociological aspects of education(2nd ed., pp. 176-205.). Oxford University Press. (SET TEXT: Chapter 9).

Grant, S. [The Ethics Centre]. (2016, January 19).IQ2 Racism debate: Stan Grant[Video]. YouTube.https://youtu.be/uEOssW1rw0I

Ballantyne, G. & Malhi, A. (2017).Interculturalism: how diverse societies can do better that passive tolerance.The Conversation.https://theconversation.com/interculturalism-how-diverse-societies-can-do-better-than-passive-tolerance-72874

Adam, H.J. (2019).Five tips to make school bookshelves more diverse and five books to get you started.The Conversation.https://theconversation.com/five-tips-to-make-school-bookshelves-more-diverse-and-five-books-to-get-you-started-110718

Extended reading

Hirst, J. (2014).Australia's post-war migration was a success, let's admit it.The Conversation.https://theconversation.com/australias-post-war-migration-was-a-success-lets-admit-it-28390(Full version available in Australian History in 7 Questions - see Reading List)

• Explain and Elaborate

Explain and Elaborate

Cultural diversity in the classroom

In this unit,culturerefers to "the languages, customs, beliefs, rules, arts, knowledge, and collective identities and memories developed by members of all social groups that make their social environments meaningful." As our learning settings become more culturally diverse, we need to understand how our education systems and educators need to be change to meet the needs of this diversity. In thispodcast, Professor Rhonda Oliver and Dr Michael Wright to discuss how changes in our health and education systems could improve the health and education outcomes of Australias Indigenous youth.

Challenging assumptions

One approach to addressing issues of cultural diversity, is to address the assumptions and stereotypes that exist about ethnic and cultural groups. Educators need to develop their knowledge of different cultural groups, including the history and lived experiences, and learning to bring the language and cultures of their learners into their learning and learning settings.

Watch Dr Rae Siilata talking about cultural diversity in the classroom.

In the ground-breaking television show,You Can't Ask That, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people answer questions posed by non-Indigenous people.Educators need to become more informed about the lives and experiences of Indigenous Australians. This means listening to the stories of others,such as the young people inthis BtN Specialin which some Indigenous young people tell us about their lives. Audrey shares the excitement of travelling to Canberra from her remote community near Alice Springs for the Indigenous Youth Parliament. Then there's Tanay, an Australian Taekwondo Champion who proudly uses her status to fight racism. And kids from the Yirrkala Community School in Arnhem Land tell us about their beautiful home.

TheStolen Generation Testimonieswebsite is another useful resource for hearing about the experiences of Aboriginal people and the legacy of colonisation and government policy.You will see connections between that website and the Indigenous Educational Justice chapter of the textbook.As educators, we need to think about these complex histories and how they shape the lives of Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.This requires that educators continue to develop 'cultural competence'.

Watch the videos below about cultural competence.

Different ways of knowing and being

The official curriculum and the hidden curriculum may disadvantage some groups of students. In other words, the same curriculum will be experienced differently by different groups of students. Having learned that, what can you do about it?

You can begin thinking about how you can include a range of perspectives into children's learning. Consider drawing upon your students' backgrounds. For example, the educators in this video onteaching fire-stick farmingdescribe an example of including Indigenous perspectives into the curriculum.As you watch the video, ask yourself:

• What does the inclusion of fire stick farming in the teacher's curriculum tell students about Aboriginal culture and perspectives?


• What does it tell the students about the education system?


• Could the inclusion of this Aboriginal perspectives be a transformative experience for some students? Who and why?


• More information here:http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/our-publications/every-child-magazine/every-child-index/every-child-vol-17-2-2011/cultural-competence-ethical-perspective-free-article/

A word of caution though.Some educators have adopted what is termed the 'tourist curriculum'. This teaches children about cultures through celebrations and artefacts such as food and clothing.This approach to teaching about multi-culturalism has the risk of reinforcing stereotypes, viewing cultures as homogeneous and encourages children to see 'other' cultures as different and sometimes exotic.Instead of a tourist curriculum, teachers need to encourage substantive discussion and critical learning around cultural diversity, the representations of cultural groups, and attention to the norms and practices of Anglo Australian/white ethnicity.

Questions to answer to develop your understanding of cultural diversity.

Official curricula, planning & assessment

Module 3: MUST USE READING FROM TOPIC 9 IN TASK.

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• Topic 9

Topic 9

Exploring and Contesting Curriculum

Topic 9: The official curricula, planning and assessment

• ppt

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• Topic Introduction

Topic Introduction

Curriculum, planning and assessment

This topic introduces you to curriculum planning and assessment, and key official curriculum documents. Planning and assessment are important aspects of curriculum because the educator's views of planning and assessment inform their practice and perspectives on learning. In this unit we encourage you to create creative and engaging experiences for children and students. These can begin with children's experiences, interests and curiosities, and then linked to curricula documents. Learners should be encouraged to inquiry, explore and create. The experiences should be child-centred, not teacher-centred or curriculum-centred. Read the Required readings, and then complete the online lesson (link below).

• Engage and Explore

Engage and Explore

Essential Readings

Read the following to understand how you can connect the ideas raised in the unit with the official curriculum through planning.

Walker, R. & Dobson, M. (2022). Planning the curriculum. In Gobby & R. Walker (Eds.),Powers of curriculum: Sociological perspectives on education(2nd ed., pp. 364-381). Oxford University Press. (Chapter 18: SET TEXT)

Extended Reading

ACARA. (2014).Australian Curriculum. Retrieved from:Home | V9 Australian Curriculum

DEEWR. (2009).Belonging, being, becoming: Early Years Learning Framework:Our Philosophy.Canberra: Australian Government(see below)

EYLF-2022-V2.0 (1).pdfEYLF-2022-V2.0 (1).pdf - Alternative Formats

Education Council (2019).Alice Springs (Mparntwe) EducationDeclaration.The Alice Springs (Mparntwe) Education Declaration - Department of Education, Australian Government

• Curriculum and its planning lesson (click this link to enter)

Curriculum and its planning lesson (click this link to enter)

Curriculum documents

This online lesson takes you through a number of slides about:(1) theAlice Springs (Mparntwe) Declaration, (2) theEarly Years Learning Frameworkand (3) theAustralian Curriculum.

The purpose of this lesson is to introduce you tothese documents and to get you thinking about planning using curriculum documents and frameworks. Self-quizzes are embedded within the lessonfor youto test yourself.

• Explain and Elaborate

Explain and Elaborate

What next?

Assessment preparation

Prepare your Assessment 2.What kind of story could you tell about your life at school or the life of somebody you know?

Reach out to your tutor if you need assistance or have a query.