Introduction...
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Welcome to 'Supportive Learning Environments'; a professional development resource designed to assist you with differenciating your teaching practices to meet the specific learning needs of all students within your classroom. This website combines relevant research, legislative and policy requirements, an example of good practice, resources to use within your classroom and practical strategies; to help you better support learners across the full range of abilities.
First of all, please realise that you are not alone! Catering to the diverse needs of unique individuals within your classroom is a challenging task. As I am sure you already know, within any one class their can be a vast spectrum of gender, racial, physical, emotional, behavioural and intellectual needs to consider.
Pause for a moment and reflect upon the various needs of your students...
I'm sure some images of 'poorly behaved' children immediately sprung to mind, as well as perhaps some students with physical disabilities or recognised disorders such as autism and ADHD. However did you also consider 'Annie' in the in the back row, who always appears to be on task but never actively contributes to group discussions? What about 'Jun', an EAL/D (English as an Additional Language orDialect) learner, who has been living in Australia for the past 5 years and speaks with apparent fluency but does not necessarily have the level of language proficiency required for academic achievement? What about 'Charlize', an extremely bright student who completes tasks quickly and accurately, but is often left bored?
Now consider your legislative and policy requirements as an educator...
1. Over the past 30 years the Commonwealth Government and the state and territory governments have introduced anti-discrimination law to help protect people from discrimination and harassment.
The following laws operate at a federal level and the Australian Human Rights Commission has statutory responsibilities under them:
2. The Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals was created to improve the educational outcomes for all young Australians, thus positioning them to live fulfilling, productive and responsible lives. These goals are:
Goal 1: Australian schooling promotes equity and excellence
Goal 2: All young Australians become:
– successful learners
– confident and creative individuals
– active and informed citizens
"Achieving these educational goals is the collective responsibility of governments, school sectors and individual schools as well as parents and carers, young Australians, families, other education and training providers, business and the broader community" (MCEETYA, 2008, p.7).
3. The Australian Government supports the right of children with disability to have the same educational opportunities as other children. This concept is reflected in the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA). All state and territory education providers, including government and non-government schools, must comply with the DDA and the relevant disability discrimination legislation of their state or territory. All education providers must also comply with the Disability Standards for Education 2005.
3. The QCAA is committed to providing services and materials that contribute to Queensland students receiving a socially just education, and that challenge inequities by:
Pause and consider whether your current teaching practices meet these requirements?
Do you have an Annie, Jun or Charlize or pehaps some other non-disruptive but disengaged students in your class? Are you providing all of your students with opportunies to learn in ways that are both effective and engaging?
As you continue to navigate through this website continually reflect upon your personal practice as an educator. Also, please make use of the provided discussion forum to raise concerns or to pose questions that may arrise along the way.
Good luck and enjoy!
First of all, please realise that you are not alone! Catering to the diverse needs of unique individuals within your classroom is a challenging task. As I am sure you already know, within any one class their can be a vast spectrum of gender, racial, physical, emotional, behavioural and intellectual needs to consider.
Pause for a moment and reflect upon the various needs of your students...
I'm sure some images of 'poorly behaved' children immediately sprung to mind, as well as perhaps some students with physical disabilities or recognised disorders such as autism and ADHD. However did you also consider 'Annie' in the in the back row, who always appears to be on task but never actively contributes to group discussions? What about 'Jun', an EAL/D (English as an Additional Language orDialect) learner, who has been living in Australia for the past 5 years and speaks with apparent fluency but does not necessarily have the level of language proficiency required for academic achievement? What about 'Charlize', an extremely bright student who completes tasks quickly and accurately, but is often left bored?
Now consider your legislative and policy requirements as an educator...
1. Over the past 30 years the Commonwealth Government and the state and territory governments have introduced anti-discrimination law to help protect people from discrimination and harassment.
The following laws operate at a federal level and the Australian Human Rights Commission has statutory responsibilities under them:
- Age Discrimination Act 2004
- Australian Human Rights Commission Act 1986
- Disability Discrimination Act 1992
- Racial Discrimination Act 1975
- Sex Discrimination Act 1984
2. The Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals was created to improve the educational outcomes for all young Australians, thus positioning them to live fulfilling, productive and responsible lives. These goals are:
Goal 1: Australian schooling promotes equity and excellence
Goal 2: All young Australians become:
– successful learners
– confident and creative individuals
– active and informed citizens
"Achieving these educational goals is the collective responsibility of governments, school sectors and individual schools as well as parents and carers, young Australians, families, other education and training providers, business and the broader community" (MCEETYA, 2008, p.7).
3. The Australian Government supports the right of children with disability to have the same educational opportunities as other children. This concept is reflected in the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA). All state and territory education providers, including government and non-government schools, must comply with the DDA and the relevant disability discrimination legislation of their state or territory. All education providers must also comply with the Disability Standards for Education 2005.
3. The QCAA is committed to providing services and materials that contribute to Queensland students receiving a socially just education, and that challenge inequities by:
- recognising that teaching and learning should be socially and culturally responsive and inclusive
- developing an understanding of diversity within and among groups
- identifying and minimising structural barriers to access and participation
- acknowledging the diversity of students and their life circumstances, and the need for particular strategies which can enhance engagement and equitable outcomes among all students
- recognising and acknowledging the diverse bodies of knowledge and backgrounds of all students, including marginalised groups
- acknowledging the relationship between valued knowledge and the participation of students in society (QCAA, 2011, p.1).
Pause and consider whether your current teaching practices meet these requirements?
Do you have an Annie, Jun or Charlize or pehaps some other non-disruptive but disengaged students in your class? Are you providing all of your students with opportunies to learn in ways that are both effective and engaging?
As you continue to navigate through this website continually reflect upon your personal practice as an educator. Also, please make use of the provided discussion forum to raise concerns or to pose questions that may arrise along the way.
Good luck and enjoy!