Equity... or lack of?

Our week six reading about Equity in Education has left me lost for words. The statistics in this article seem ridiculous. I can't believe that we are living in 2012 and still struggling to close, or narrow, the gap between low socio-economic and high socio-economic as well as the indigenous and non-indigenous Australians. I have to admit that I feel mostly embarrassed that I am staring right at this reading and I haven't done anything about it.

I am studying a primary education degree that is combined with international studies, and at the moment I am focusing one of my international studies assignments on 'Indigenous education in Australia'. In the midst of research for this task, I have come across numerous videos, readings, articles about Indigenous education. 

I'd like to share this video with my viewers...

At 0:12 seconds this video has referenced Mallin (1990); "The skills which Aboriginal children bring to the classroom often remain invisible and unacknowledged." I think this is interesting because throughout most aspects of both of my courses I have been lectured about terms such as diversity, equality, multiculturalism and globalisation and yet I feel as if we aren't embracing the true Australian history and inheritors of this land. For those of you that don't know, Australian Aborigines have a history of oral communication and do not have written culture... While researching I did take notice that most scholars describe that this is one of the reasons why so many indigenous children do not succeed at school. This is only a generalisation, but due to their culture and upbringing many indigenous children are oral learners. There are numerous readings about the low success in education and how it is effected by the history of 'White Australia.' Centuries of being made to feel 'ashamed' has led generations of indigenous Australians to feel as if they do not belong in establishments like schools, and hence have low self esteem.

I believe in equal education and opportunity for all, and catering to a diversity of children, not matter their learning type, ability or disability, socio-economic status and culture.


Reference List:

A Vision for 2020: Achieve Equity in Education. A Contribution to Public Discussion of the 2020 Summit Idea by Save our Schools – the national independent advocacy group. April 2008. Retrieved from www.valuesineducation.org.au/pdf/sos0804.pdf.

Discourse of change

We all have a different perception and value of the change that has occurred in our world. One might see great value in the iPad, while others might see it as another couch potato technology... but why do we all have such a different perception of the evolution of technology? I am going to infer that it is due to our own experiences and interactions with the many softwares and hardwares that have been available.
For the purpose of teaching, pedagogy and child development, we can embrace this change and form our own value of these learning technologies. My lecturer, Annie Agnew, made an interesting point in her blog titled 'Making good choices'. She writes about the best apps to choose for children and describes these as apps that allow for teacher or parent intervention and engagement and also increase their cognitive ability through a mixture of play and discovery. She concluded that, 'The touch screen of a tablet or iPad is a significant change in technology access for young people – the real benefits come from choosing apps that are created with a visible understanding of cognitive development and are both engaging and focused on learning.'


Reference List:
Making Good Choices for Little people by Annie Agnew

It's not what the software does...

IT IS WHAT THE USER DOES!

Image From Northwest Resource Centre

Can you say, 'relevance!'? This is so true! You can have a mediocre teacher hiding behind their toys (technology) or you can have a great teacher that is at the forefront of their classroom using their learning technologies in an engaging and explorative manner! Which would you rather? 

A reaction to Jennifer Vo's blog.

I have just stumbled across a great blog written by a fellow student-teacher! Jennifer Vo cites the journal article: The importance of establishing relevance in motivating student learning (Kember, Ho & Hong, 2008). In summary, Jennifer states that although we have a syllabus and curriculum to follow, this doesn't mean we neglect the variety of needs that our diversity of students have. If we do this, the purpose of teaching is defeated. Most importantly, Vo states that we, teachers, are here to stimulate learning through providing exciting experiences that will motivate exploration.

The themes within this blog seem to flow from my last two blogs. Yes, learning technologies are great motivators for learning and therefore can be seen as a behavioural management tool. However, it is most important that we use these tools in a pedagogical manner that enhances the learning and provides opportunity for exploration.


Reference List:
http://alh.sagepub.com/content/9/3/249.abstract