Inclusion of Indigenous in the AUSvels and Victorian Classrooms - Literature review Example

Inclusion of Indigenous in the AUSvels and Victorian Classrooms Name: Institution: Historical Perspectives The two main groups of indigenous people in Australia are the Aboriginal Peoples and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. The two groups have historically maintained a special connection between themselves and the responsibility for the country. They have also had a historical belief system that spiritually connects them the elements of the environment like the sea, land, sky and waterways. The Shape of the Australian education policies and curriculum, as outlined by ACARA, has two reasons for Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander perspectives in the classrooms as cross curriculum priorities. First, the indigenous children have the right to be educated in their own languages, cultures and histories. This is to ensure that the indigenous children mature psychologically, physically and socially for certain types of learning and after a time, which is taken to tell of the maturity (Prakash, 2012). Education policies are intentional with a purpose of achieving an understood purpose for the schooling fraternity (Scott, 2000). The culture of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people Considering the Behaviorist Learning Theory of learning which has cultured the Australian education system, it comes first under critical analysis given that its nature can be scientifically defined by the effects of the external environmental factors. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ ways of life are uniquely expressed through ways of being, knowing, thinking and doing. According to Lynch (2007), these are components of learning environments which directly affect learning and influence the students’ behavior. Cultural inclusion of indigenous perspectives in learning is important for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People because of life experiences which can be viewed through historical, social and political lenses. Thus, the policy gives the teacher a clearer comprehension of the external factors that affect the students. Equipped with such information, the teacher can then design the most appropriate approaches to enhance the performance of the students. This implies that an inclusion of indigenous perspectives complements the teachers' understanding of this theory, in the observation of the behavior of the students (Bishop, 2010). The Australian culture depicts the learning exercise as one that considers the tenets of the indigenous culture as very important to the students. These background tenets include indigenous knowledge, memorialize, heroes and heroines. Resultantly, the whole teaching and learning exercise becomes characterized of methodologies, pedagogies and assessment techniques that privilege various relevant versions realities. The teacher is therefore facilitated to familiarise with all Australian Curriculum and state factors, followed by ensuring that topics taught include an indigenous perspective as required. For this to work, the teacher has to do a comprehensive research (Waitoller & Kozleski, 2013) for key resources that enhance an inclusive education and culturally sensitive. It also engulfs a research and evaluation of existing teaching pedagogies and methods while developing relevantly engaging and implementable content. However, Groome (2010) warns that indigenous perspective should not be forcefully included in the learning process and especially the AusVEL and Victorian classrooms as it can turn out to be just an effort made in order to meet the minimum requirements of the law. The AusVEL and Victorian classrooms are comprised of both native and foreign students. There is evidence of cultural differences amongst the students or even with the teacher as well. The natives are, probably, the most in number in the Australian classrooms and schools. Therefore, an introduction of indigenous perspectives into the learning activities in AusVEL and Victorian classrooms approaches the feature of cultural difference in a different way (Worby & Rigney, 2006) but bias to the Australian culture. Australia has two distinct Indigenous groups which are the Aboriginal Peoples and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. Commonly, the two groups have strong, rich and diverse communities. Their identity is central to this community priority and is inherently tied to living, learning their communities, deep knowledge traditions and holistic view of the world. Contemporary Australian Aboriginal Issues According to his Learning Theory, Gagne (2013) presents two types of learning conditions as internal and external conditions. Learning conditions may be psychological, physical or sociological. Policies of education are changing strongly in this post-industrial society as related to the growth and development of the economy and the transformation of the universal society. This changing nature requires that students acquire an informed perspective of the policies engulfing the education system. With regards to education, the issues of policy discussed herein must, obviously, be of a public nature. The learning sequence in Australia, especially of the English language, has a structure that revolves around three interrelated strands, that is, Language, Literature and Literacy. These three develop the students’ viewing, listening, speaking, reading, writing and creating skills and comprehension powers. Although the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) suggests that native perspectives are embedded in the curriculum, according to Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) (2012) the teaching and learning sequence in AusVEL reveals no specific unequivocal consideration of indigenous perspectives throughout. Nonetheless, the policies implemented to effectively include indigenous perspectives to feature in English and other classrooms draws from the probable benefits of the same. Worthy to mention is that this majorly is because almost all learning points and sequences in the AusVEL and Victorian classrooms can be interpreted or adapted to have indigenous-related content as a feature.  Racism The inclusion of indigenous perspectives in the classroom the exact opposite of the Australian assimilation policy which made the natives feel like the government lacked recognition for them as citizens. The sense of racism is one of the aspects that led to the dismantling of the assimilation policy. Therefore, the inclusion of indigenous perspectives policy responds (Paradies & Cunningham, 2009) this view of racism. It addresses the elements of racism and discrimination on cultural grounds which were evident in the cities and places of work before the policy. Government Policy Just to set perspective, a policy is a description of issues that which is implemented by a governing body so as to, generally, regulate certain activities (Cox, 2011). An analysis or review of the policies that impact international education and students in Australia is essential to give insight into the scope and complexities of these policies. The relevance of a policy is relative to the perspective of an individual. The view depends on the interpretation of the expectations that one has on it. A policy can be perceived as a factor of its instrumental outcomes or as a catalyzing agent for human liberation. According to Cox (2011), this alone is enough to evidence the possibility of political struggles engulfing policy issues. Policy making is a process that involves sharing and exchanging of ideas between groups of people in the environment that the policy would impact if implemented. It is a continuous process with repeated modification of ideas or decision. All these are evidence of the appreciation of policies and care for those that they are designed and implemented for. Incorporation of the Indigenous Perspectives Policy into the Australian education helps in the revelation of the concepts that could have been used in developing these policies. Application of a theoretical framework makes this more conspicuous by taking into consideration the, not very radical, but often changing education system (Kellner, 2003). The design and implementation of these policies, as expected, must factor in the idea of international students living and studying in Australia. Apart from making operation fair for all the stakeholders in an industry, definition of respective policies is meant to improve current situations. In the education sector, particularly, policies lay out the required specifications or qualifications that a governing body requires of the participants, the learning institutions and their managers, to meet. As a projection of the foreseeable future, meeting these definite standards and adhering to set policies has the goal of improving the performance of these institutions. Additionally, implementation of the policies is aimed at creating a positive picture of the education system as the system of choice for every willing student across the world. The Implementation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Perspectives of AUSVELS in Schools This basic concept of education of all-round personality development implies that the subject should be availed to all in the same way in a fair environment. The objective of education reveals that the fairness is not meant to be adhered to in the learning institutions only but also to that which makes up their lives after studies. One of the features that education to this level, according to Kraayenoord (2007), is ensuring that the terminologies used in teaching are appropriate, accurate, respectful and acceptable to the local native community that surrounds the school. Acceptance of the terminology will be more than often graded on the scale of social morality and cultural reverence. Relating to the native culture, appropriateness of materials for teaching Indigenous perspectives is fundamental. After the implementation of the Indigenous Perspective inclusion policy, it is important to evaluate the effectiveness of the policy. Research and analysis are strategies that are useful in evaluating whether the policy meets its original intents and if there are any unintended outcomes. Therefore, evaluation of findings can be used during amendments are in a new phase of problem definition to counter the mentioned critical points. The policy life cycle begins again and continues until an effective policy is created and successfully implemented (Birkland, 2010). As theorized by O’Neill et al. (2004), the changes that occur in the content of a policy do not happen in the hidden; rather, they are the result of activities in each stage of the policy Lifecycle. Each phase can take weeks or years, depending on the depth of the issue, the people involved, and the intricacy of the policy itself. /This life cycle is only a framework, not all policies are formed according to this linear model. However, all policy creation is incremental and builds upon prior developments and activities. A number of different strategies are often required to create one policy change (Althaus et al. 2008). As recognized by ACARA, a comprehensive and effective learning entails observation of behavioral change, relative stability in this change as influenced by the learning process that this change must result from experience, are all vital to the learning process, without which learning will be less comprehensive. Analysis of the inclusion of indigenous perspectives in AusVEL and Victorian classrooms reveals that the main aim was to achieve an aboriginal inclusion to complement education of the natives. The paper also finds that the Australian curriculum values the importance of young Australians learning about their histories and cultures of two major groups as well as their contribution to Australia. Finally, the policy and its implementation should be reviewed regularly defined number of years. Appraisals at short intervals are also recommended so as to ascertain the progress of implementation and the trends emerging from time-to-time. References Althaus, C. Bridgman, P. and Davis, G. (2008). The Australian policy handbook, Canberra: Allen & Unwin. Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. (2010). The Shape of the Australian Curriculum. Version 2.0. Sydney, NSW. Retrieved 17 April 2011 from Birkland, T. A. (2010). An introduction to the policy process: theories, concepts, and models of public policy making, M.E. Sharpe, New York. Bishop, R. (2010). Effective teaching for indigenous and minoritized students. Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences, 7(C), 57–62. Cox, E. (2011). What is policy? Centre for Policy Development democracy, SAGE, New York. Gagne, R.(2013). Conditions of Learning. Instructional Design. Retrieved from http://www.instructionaldesign.org/theories/conditions-learning.html Groome, H. (2010). Working purposefully with Aboriginal students. Wentworth Falls, NSW: Social Science Press. Kellner, D. (2003). Towards a critical theory of education. Democracy & Nature, 9(1). Kraayenoord, C. E. (2007). School and Classroom Practices in Inclusive Education in Australia. Childhood Education, 83(6), 390-394. DOI: 10.1080/00094056.2007.10522957 Lynch, R. (2007). Behavioralist Learning Theory. Southampton: University of Southampton. O'Neill, AM Codd, JA & Olssen, M 2004, Education policy: globalization, citizenship and Paradies, Y. and Cunningham, J. (2009). Experiences of racism among urban indigenous Australians: findings from the DRUID study. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 32(3). 548-573, DOI: 10.1080/01419870802065234 Prakash, J. (2012). What are the essential conditions required for Learning? Retrieved from http://www.preservearticles.com/201105206848/conditions-of-learning.html Scott, D. (2000). Reading policy texts’ in Reading educational research and policy. London: Routledge Falmer, Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority. (2012, February). 2012 Administrative advice for school-based assessment. Retrieved October 4, 2013 from http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au Waitoller, R. and Kozleski, E. B. (2013). Working in boundary practices: Identity development and learning in partnerships for inclusive education. Teaching and Teacher Education, 31, 35-45. Worby, G. and Rigney, L. (2006). Sharing spaces: Indigenous and non-Indigenous responses to story, country and rights. Perth, WA: API Network, Australian Research Institute, Curtin University of Technology. Read More