Since I started taking my courses in education, I have realized that my philosophy on education has changed a lot as I take on more classes. Every time I think I have a final philosophy of education, something else comes up, thus making my initial philosophy change. In this essay, I will share what I believe about teaching and the knowledge I have gained. The Australian government has been striving to make sure both the indigenous and non-indigenous communities have access to education. This essay looks at how my dynamic philosophy of education interplays with Australian educational policy initiatives over the last ten years.
My philosophy of education is that every child should have the right to access education and get quality education from qualified teachers. Since I started learning, I have seen different teachers with different teaching capabilities. I believe there are teachers who struggle to deliver content to students. However, other teachers can deliver content the first time, and learners are able to grasp it. The latter, to me, is an exceptional teacher, while the former is not. By distinguishing these traits of former teachers in life, my strengths, and my beliefs in teaching, I have learned what it means to be an exceptional teacher. I believe that as human beings, things do not come easy; we have to work for them. A teacher who wants to become exceptional must work hard to accomplish that.
Australia is developing several policies to ensure students have access to quality education and quality teachers. The government introduced a national approach to the Accreditation of Initial Teacher Education Programs in 2013 to ensure the program’s quality in Australia (Teaching Australia-Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership, 2011). These programs are accredited nationally to ensure all teachers are qualified to a high standard and have the knowledge, skills, and experiences needed to impact student acquisition of knowledge positively. This policy interplays with my philosophy on education because, as mentioned earlier, I believe all students should have access to quality education from qualified teachers.
The standards and procedures state that for a teacher to be allowed to teach, they must be accredited nationally. The programs ensure the vision of different stakeholders in the education sector, such as trainers, teachers, and the broader community, is considered. The standards and procedures entail the high expectations needed for an initial teacher quality required by the Australian government. The Australian government aims to increase collective investment in developing pre-service and graduate teachers.
Additionally, my philosophy of education is student-centered. I believe that not all students are similar; they have different ways of learning and different learning needs and gifts. As a teacher, I must expound on the students’ gifts and make sure every student’s learning needs are satisfied. Every student is unique and learns differently; some students are fast learners while others are not; some students learn better through corporative learning, while others learn better through collaboration learning. Therefore, as a teacher, I should use several teaching strategies to teach.
In 2014, Australia formulated a program known as Student First. This program aims at uplifting and enhances the student experience (The Coalition, 2013). The Coalition ensures Commonwealth schools funding meant for Labor for the school year flows to all states and territories regardless of whether or not they have signed a deal with the Rudd-Gillard government (The Coalition, 2013). The Coalition amended the Australian Education Act to ensure the states, territories, and non-government sectors take control of their schools. In addition to that, this program also protects schools in areas most likely to face attacks, harassment, or violence caused by racial or religious intolerance. Students need to feel safe; therefore, a school should be in an environment where students feel safe. This program aims to improve how teachers interact with and deliver services to students.
Teachers have a lot of responsibility for teaching students. For example, teachers should encourage students to have a positive attitude towards education. As mentioned earlier, I have had teachers who have impacted my life negatively and positively. When I started school, I used to have a negative attitude toward learning because my teachers then would use physical punishment. However, when I changed school, everything changed. I started liking school because the teachers motivated me, which enabled me to push myself to learn more. As mentioned earlier, every student has a different way of learning; therefore, this should be considered.
I look forward to becoming a teacher who makes students look forward to going to school and makes them learn in a better way. Students should be motivated to help determine the curriculum and learn by doing. Therefore, students should be allowed to learn in a community by participating in authentic and valuable learning projects. A good learning environment would be where students are encouraged to interact and collaborate. There are several procedures to ensure academic success that teachers ought to create a foundation for their classrooms.
To ensure both indigenous and non-indigenous communities have access to quality education, the government formulated The National Agreement on Closing the Gap in 2020. The First Closing the Gap framework aims to reduce inequality in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals’ education.
There has been an educational gap between indigenous and non-indigenous communities in Australia. Some factors have contributed to this, including culture, cultural identity, and linguistic background. Indigenous communities still face negative social attitudes from non-indigenous communities. Negative attitudes regard indigenous individuals as non-teachable and non-performers in school. Unfortunately, this has continued up to date. Teachers do not accord indigenous students the required attention and engagement because they believe it is a “waste” of time and energy since they are regarded as “non-teachable”.
The linguistic background culture is propelled by indigenous schools being located in remote areas since indigenous people moved to reserves for protection from mass killings and violence. Since indigenous schools are located in remote areas, most students in such schools are indigenous students. The students speak an indigenous language for the most part of their lives. Most of the teachers are not indigenous; they have to use English to teach. The teachers must use bilingualism to communicate with the students (Malcolm et al., 2006). The traditional spoken language is essential in cognitive development and impacts effective learning. Therefore, when this is compromised, the learning process automatically crumbles, thus making indigenous students drop out of school before attaining Year 12. Moreover, most indigenous parents do not care whether or not their children go to school (Nakata, 2002). This is because their family relations do not need a parent to be involved in such activities, which, according to the parents, are “not important in the building of society”.
The National Agreement on Closing the Gap has made remarkable progress in early childhood education. The goal to ensure indigenous children below the age of five are registered in early childhood education by 2025 is on the right path; by 2018, 86.4 percent had been registered (Australian Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, 2020). This means that more indigenous children can access learning opportunities to ensure a better future. Early childhood education is essential for cognitive and social growth. The Closing Gap initiative to halve the gap in Year 12 attainment for indigenous Australians by 2020 is also on the right track (Australian Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, 2020). The achievement of Year 12 is significant because it is a stepping stone to higher education and employment.
An example of the Closing the Gap program is Connected Beginnings. This program has made a significant contribution to making sure indigenous children are enrolled in early childhood education. As mentioned earlier, early childhood is very essential for children’s social and cognitive growth; therefore, this program enables children to achieve their social and growth milestones, thus having a positive transition into school.
Moreover, Regional University Centers like the Wuyagiba Bush Hub Aboriginal Corporation emphasizes empowering young people to pursue higher education. The university offers a curriculum comprising cultural content linked to academic skills. For instance, in 2019, there are students who did the preparation course at the university. The students passed the course and were placed in different institutions of higher learning. They were placed at Macquarie University and the Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education.
To sum up, in this essay, I will share what I believe about teaching and the knowledge I have gained. The Australian government has been striving to make sure both the indigenous and non-indigenous communities have access to education. This essay looks at how my dynamic philosophy of education interplays with Australian educational policy initiatives over the last ten years. Teaching is not only my career but also my life. I want to be able to teach students from all walks of life regardless of whether or not they come from indigenous comminutes. All students have a right to the quality education provided by quality teachers. I want to be a quality teacher who offers quality knowledge to students. I thrive off of, live for, and love teaching.
References
Australian Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. (2020). Closing the Gap Report 2020.
Malcolm, I. G., Konigsberg, P., Leitner, G., & Malcolm, I. (2006). Bridging the language gap in education. TRENDS IN LINGUISTICS STUDIES AND MONOGRAPHS, 179, 267.
Nakata, M. (2002). Indigenous knowledge and the cultural interface: Underlying issues at the intersection of knowledge and information systems. IFLA Journal, 28(5-6), 281-291.
Teaching Australia-Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership. (2011). Accreditation of initial teacher education programs in Australia: Standards and procedures. Education Services Australia.
The Coalition, F. (2013). The Coalition’s policy for schools: Students first.
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