Testing Teachers - ATOM Study Guide

TESTING TEACHERS

© ATOM 2017

A STUDY GUIDE BY KATY MARRINER http://www.metromagazine.com.au ISBN: 978-1-76061-069-2

http://theeducationshop.com.au

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Six teachers, three schools, one aim. To make a difference in young people’s lives.

Testing Teachers is a three-part documentary series that charts the highs and lows of a group of first-time teachers as they confront Australia’s education gap head on – in what could be the most challenging year of their lives. With access to three public high schools in Victoria, Western Australia and Northern Territory, Testing Teachers provides an insight into the importance of quality teaching and learning.

Curriculum links

Key knowledge

Testing Teachers provides opportunities for students to discuss:

This knowledge includes an understanding of:

o their experiences of schooling; o the daily challenges of school for staff and students; o the importance of education; o how students learn; o student wellbeing; o equity in education; o the Australian education system; o social disadvantage / educational disadvantage This study guide to accompany Testing Teachers has been written for secondary students at all year levels. It provides information and suggestions for learning activities in English, Media, and curriculum projects discussing the issue of education. Testing Teachers can also be used as a resource to address the Australian Curriculum General Capability – Personal and Social Capability given the opportunities it provides for students to reflect on their experience of school, and manage their learning and wellbeing more effectively.

Teachers are advised to consult the Australian Curriculum online at http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/ and curriculum outlines relevant to their state or territory for further information.

Key skills These skills include the ability to:  identify, explain and analyse events, characters, settings, ideas, issues and themes presented in texts;  identify, explain and analyse how texts are created in and for different contexts, audiences and purposes, and the choices made by filmmakers to meet these;  research, organise and analyse information and evidence to identify key points, points of view, perceptions and interpretations;  present findings in appropriate forms for different audiences and purposes.

Teachers are advised to preview the series prior to classroom screenings. In managing discussions, teachers should remind students that the focus is the ideas and issues raised by Testing Teachers. While students are able to comment on their own educational experiences, they need to do so in constructive and respectful ways.

Each episode has a running time of 52 minutes.

Watch the Testing Teachers trailer online at https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=EZjdZ9jDU5I.

© ATOM 2017

The study guide is structured as a series of discussions about the ideas and issues raised in each episode.

Teachers may select from the information and activities to support students’ viewing and close analysis of the documentary series. Teachers are also able to determine whether student responses will be presented as written, spoken or multimedia texts.

 the text including events, characters, settings, ideas, issues and themes;  the ways filmmakers create meaning and build the world of the text;  the issue of education and the issues facing Australia’s education system;

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Professional learning Testing Teachers is a useful resource for professional learning. While school leaders and teachers are advised to view the episodes in their entirety, clips from episodes can be used in staff meetings and professional learning sessions.

School leadership teams and teaching staff are advised to use the series to generate discussions about: o o o o o

Learning and teaching Student wellbeing Student engagement Student disadvantage School improvement

The documentary series is also recommended viewing for students undertaking tertiary courses in Education and Teaching.

The Australian Professional Standards make explicit the elements of high quality teaching. Testing Teachers provides opportunities for teachers to develop their knowledge and understanding of the three domains of teaching: o Professional Knowledge o Professional Practice o Professional Engagement Recommended link: Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership http://www.aitsl.edu.au/home In particular, Testing Teachers can be used to meet Standard Focus Area 6. Engage in Professional Learning:

Questions and activities in the Testing Teachers study guide can be adapted for use with teachers and teacher education students.

Series synopsis There’s a harsh reality in Australia. The postcode that you are born in can determine the level of education you will achieve. On average, a child growing up in a disadvantaged area is almost three years behind their peers from wealthier suburbs.

6.1 Identify and plan professional learning needs 6.2 Engage in professional learning and improve practice

So, when some of Australia’s brightest minds enter the classroom as first time teachers, can they make a difference in schools that face the greatest challenges?

6.3 Engage with colleagues and improve practice 6.4 Apply professional learning and improve student learning

Testing Teachers follows six first-time teachers from Teach For Australia, an ambitious program that places Australia’s brightest minds in schools serving low socioeconomic communities, where many students are falling behind.

After a block of intensive training, these high-achievers are fast tracked into those classrooms where they are needed most, while they study for their Masters of Teaching on the job.

© ATOM 2017

With a massive decline in top school leavers choosing teaching, coupled with almost half of teachers leaving the profession in the first five years – the pressure is on this special breed of recruits to succeed. How will their ambitions unfold when faced with a classroom of disengaged teens where ‘respect’ is something that is earned? Will their youthful energy sustain them through the long hours and endless coursework? Can they make a meaningful impact on the lives of their students?

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Episode synopses

Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3

It is the first day of high school for a special group of new teachers, as they set foot in some of the country’s most challenging classrooms for the very first time.

With second term underway, the six first-time teachers are starting to make an impact in the classroom but the reality of the job ahead is setting in. Now that they are starting to get through to their students, they must come up with inventive ways to bring out the best in them.

The Teach For Australia associates are on the home stretch of a rollercoaster year, and with final exams looming, they will soon find out if they have made an impact on the lives of their students.

Former fly in fly out geologist Stephanie and Arts/Law graduate Sasha are teaching at Southern River College on the working-class fringe of Perth. Determined to get off to a good start, the defiant behaviour of their students is a rude awakening and it is not long before their classes unravel.

On the outskirts of Melbourne, former Rwandan refugee and honours graduate Emmanuel is teaching at Melton Secondary College. It is a baptism of fire for Emmanuel as his students’ unruly behaviour escalates. Across campus, former hydrogeologist Kitty is teaching drama, but despite her infectious enthusiasm she is faced with a group of students who refuse to take part.

In a remote Northern Territory town marked by disadvantage and transience, Oxford scholar Fiona faces a language and cultural barrier in the mostly Aboriginal Tennant Creek High School. With the students several years behind their grade level, Fiona is desperate to impart her knowledge and enthusiasm, if only they would turn up.

Trouble is brewing in Perth when a student is bullied and confides in Sasha with a plea for help. Meanwhile, Stephanie is struggling to connect with the most disruptive student in her class. Refusing to give up on him, Stephanie goes to great lengths to try to win him over.

In Melbourne, Kitty sets her students a challenge that requires them to step out of their comfort zone but it proves to be a hard sell. Has she set her expectations too high? Maths teacher Emmanuel is hoping to discuss his students’ progress at his very first parent-teacher evening but out of a class of twenty-five students, only four parents show up.

In Melbourne, Emmanuel receives some confronting news from a parent of a Year 11 student. When Kitty’s drama students baulk at their final assignment, she comes up with a brave way to put herself in their shoes.

In remote Tennant Creek, Fiona changes tack to help her most reliable student overcome a crippling problem, while second-year teacher Will faces a momentous decision about his future.

As the year draws to a close, this group of career-changers will finally find out if they have made a difference to the lives of the students they teach. It has been the toughest year they have ever experienced – but it may be their most rewarding one so far.

© ATOM 2017

Almost 3,000 kilometres north, twentysix-year-old Will from Tasmania is in his second year of the Teach For Australia program at a remote school in the Northern Territory. As Tennant Creek High’s first specialist history teacher in over fifteen years, Will introduces his Year 10 class to Indigenous history, which involves some confronting subject matter. Meanwhile, Fiona is devising a special strategy for her students who not only struggle with maths, but have English as a second language as well.

At Southern River College on the outskirts of Perth, Sasha is helping one struggling student to make a turnaround after a troubled start to the year. Stephanie shares a cherished possession with her disengaged Year 8 science class with surprising results.

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Teach For Australia Teach For Australia (TFA) is a non-profit organisation. Their vision is an Australia where all children, regardless of background, attain an excellent education. TFA aims to achieve this vision through providing programs that empower talented people to become great teachers and lead others to achieve their full potential.

Through driving change and innovation in the education system, TFA is working to confront educational disadvantage. TFA is dedicated to working in areas of need, helping break the cycle of educational disadvantage and ensuring Australia fulfils its aspiration to be a land of opportunity for all.

Teach For Australia website http://www.teachforaustralia.org/ Teach For Australia on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TeachForAustralia/ Teach For Australia on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/ teachforaustralia/?hl=en Teach For Australia on Twitter https://twitter.com/TeachForAU © ATOM 2017

TFA associates are high achievers from non-teaching fields who undergo a rigorous selection process, where they are assessed across eight key competencies. TFA places associates in schools serving low socioeconomic communities, where many students, according to Australian school standard averages, are falling behind. During their two-year TFA placement in schools in the ACT, Northern Territory, Tasmania, Victoria and WA, they complete their Masters of Teaching and receive leadership training.

Sixty-five percent of Teach For Australia’s Associates continue teaching. Many of those who leave the classroom work in education as social entrepreneurs, community leaders and policymakers.

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I I Recommended link: Dropping off the Edge 2015 - https:// dote.org.au/. Dropping off the Edge 2015 identifies areas of disadvantage in every state and territory of Australia.

Teachers are encouraged to download the Dropping off the Edge 2015 report – http://k46cs13u1432b9asz49wnhcx-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/0001_dote_2015. pdf – to further their knowledge and understanding of disadvantage in Australia Key questions: o What is educational disadvantage? o How does educational disadvantage impact on individuals? o How does educational disadvantage impact on society? o How can society address educational disadvantage?

Index of Community Socio-educational Advantage

Educational disadvantage in Australia Educational disadvantage describes the challenges that students experience as a result of their social or historical background.

In today’s Australia not every student is receiving the education that they need to reach their potential. Current research indicates that students from low socioeconomic households are almost three years behind their wealthier peers. Indigenous students, students living in rural and remote communities and students with a refugee or asylum seeker background are more likely to face additional barriers that affect their educational outcomes.

The Index of Community Socio-educational Advantage (ICSEA) was created by the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) to enable meaningful comparisons of National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) test achievement by students in schools across Australia.

Factors in students’ family backgrounds such as parents’ occupation and education have an influence on students’ educational outcomes at school. In addition, research indicates that school-level factors such as a school’s geographical location and the proportion of Indigenous students a school caters for need to be considered when summarising educational advantage or disadvantage at the school level.

ICSEA is constructed taking into account both studentand school-level factors and provides a scale that numerically represents the relative magnitude of these influences.

Indigenous students are six times more likely to be below national literacy and numeracy standards than other students across all year levels. Students from rural and remote communities are less likely to attend school and university than their metropolitan peers. Students from a refugee or asylum seeker background are often placed in a grade level based on their age rather than their education level, resulting in many leaving school without basic literacy skills. © ATOM 2017

Failing to address the barriers these students face diminishes their educational outcomes and their future opportunities.

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Meet the teachers

Emmanuel | Bachelor of Commerce & Bachelor of Science, Monash University

Kitty | Bachelor of Arts & Bachelor of Science Honours, Monash University

A former Rwandan refugee, Emmanuel grew up in camps in Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe before arriving in Australia at the age of 19. One of five children, his family settled in Tasmania. With minimal formal education prior to his arrival in Australia, Emmanuel excelled at school completing year 12 with an ATAR over 97 in his chosen subjects of Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Psychology, ESL, Mathematics Methods and Mathematics Specialists.

Emmanuel has a double degree from Monash University – a Bachelor of Science (Applied Mathematics) and Bachelor of Commerce (Actuarial Studies).

Having ranked in the top 2% of the country in her Year 12 certificate, Kitty went on to complete a double degree at Monash University - a Bachelor of Arts (Drama) and a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in hydrogeology and climate change. Working as a consultant hydrogeologist prior to becoming a Teach For Australia Associate, Kitty flew-inflew-out to a number of mine sites around Australia, working with teams on water management including conservation, supply, dewatering and groundwater monitoring. After a few years Kitty travelled to New York on a sabbatical of sorts, and became involved with an education technology start-up called Library For All, working to build digital libraries for the developing world. Now married and the mother of a two-year-old, Kitty will use her professional experience as a hydrogeologist to teach science whilst also getting to teach her passion – drama.

Fiona | MMath (Masters of Mathematics), University of Oxford MSc (Hydrology & Water Resources Management), Imperial College London

Sasha | Bachelor of Arts & Bachelor of Law FirstClass Honours, Monash University With a double degree in Arts/Law from Monash University, Sasha grew up in Ballarat, Victoria, where she was raised by her father in a low-income household. She was one of a handful from her high school to get an ATAR over 90 and go

© ATOM 2017

Born in Southampton in the UK, Fiona grew up in the English countryside and went to a school in a little village outside of Cambridge. A graduate of Oxford University in Mathematics, Fiona also gained a masters in Hydrology and Water Resources Management from Imperial College London. Fiona moved to Australia in 2012 and prior to becoming a Teach For Australia Associate was a PhD student, researching climate science (paleoclimate) at the University of Western Australia.

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Meet the teachers

on to a Go8 university. Sasha has volunteered at a youth prison teaching young offenders about the law.

Stephanie | Bachelor of Science (Geology) FirstClass Honours, University of Melbourne Born and raised in Melbourne, Stephanie went to a private school and ranked in the top 7% of school leavers. Her grandfather was a science teacher and inspired her love of science. With a Bachelor of Science in Geology from the University of Melbourne, prior to joining Teach For Australia Stephanie worked as a geologist on remote exploration projects as well as a fly in fly out in an underground mine.

Will | Bachelor of Arts (Development Studies) FirstClass Honours, Australian National University Growing up in regional Tasmania, the career of education runs in Will’s family as his mother is a teacher. With a passion for seeking outcomes through education, before commencing university, Will returned to his alma mater

– Ulverstone High School in Tasmania – as a Special Needs Teacher Assistant, helping students with Down Syndrome, Autism, Asperger’s and illiteracy. He also worked in Senegal assisting street kids and in Morocco at a special needs school. During his university studies, Will interned at the Ministry for Education researching pathways for students from low socioeconomic backgrounds.

He has also travelled to South Africa where he worked in a Human Rights office co-designing and delivering a program in a juvenile justice centre. Will graduated in 2013 with first class honours.

The schools Melton Secondary College Established in 1975, Melton Secondary College is a co-educational government school located in the outer west of

© ATOM 2017

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I I metropolitan Melbourne. The school aims to ensure that all students learn at the highest level possible within a community of learning that fosters the growth and development of the whole person. The school has just over 1000 students and 90 teaching staff. Enrolment has grown by over 30% in the last five years and this growth is expected to continue with enrolments projected to double by 2020.

The school has an ICSEA value of 930 and 57% of students in the bottom quartile. Seventy percent of students entering Year 7 are below the expected levels of achievement in literacy and numeracy. Thirty percent of the student cohort have a language background other than English and over 25 languages are spoken by students.

Four percent of students are Indigenous Australian.

Principal David Reynolds believes that positive wellbeing is the foundation of academic success, ‘Students bring not just the standard adolescent issues, but for many, they have been betrayed by adults. Not all the kids have received unconditional care and love and we need to understand what that means for their education journey. Teaching is the connection between relationships and content. We need to shape the content in a way that engages the kids, but this only works if relationships have been built between teacher and student.’

Melton Secondary College has been a Teach For Australia partner since 2012. http://www.meltonsc.vic.edu.au/

Southern River College Southern River College is located in the suburb of Gosnells in outer metropolitan Perth. The school has 950 students and 73 staff. Enrolment has doubled in the last five years.

With this growth, the diversity of the school’s student population is also increasing, as are their learning needs.

The school is committed to providing an environment

where everyone can learn and be inspired by one another.

To support the learning of all students, the school focuses on tailoring classroom content that can be accessed by all students, from those that are highly academic to those still learning to read and write.

The school has an ICSEA value of 937 and 52% of students in the bottom quartile. Each year, at least 40 per cent of all new students are reading at well below Year 7 level. Twenty percent of students have a language background other than English. Nine percent of students are Indigenous Australian.

Principal Everal Miocevich believes, ‘Highly effective schools have teachers who have a deep understanding of how students learn. We want all our students to be successful. Our curriculum targets the diversity of our students and our ability to inspire them to reach their potential. Meeting their needs supports them to engage with learning and develop long term aspirations.’

Southern River College has been a Teach For Australia partner since 2015. http://www.southernrivercollege.wa.edu.au/

Tennant Creek High School Tennant Creek High School is a remote school located 500 kilometres north of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory.

The school aims to provide inclusive education for students from very diverse backgrounds with a focus on attendance, participation, literacy and numeracy. The school has 250 students and 26 teaching staff. © ATOM 2017

With an ICSEA value of 730, 73% of students are in the

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bottom quartile. Over 85% of students are Indigenous Australians and 70% of students have a language background other than English. Student absenteeism is a significant barrier to learning at Tennant Creek High School.

Principal Maisie Floyd recognises that the most effective approach to improving student attendance rates comes from how students see their own potential, ‘It’s about people believing that they can do something if they choose to. The biggest issue is that some students don’t know they have choices.’

For early career teachers, working in remote communities like Tennant Creek requires a personal and professional adjustment. “Coming here is a whole new experience.

Each job generally has a personal and professional element, but here it’s a complete change and a potentially overwhelming experience. That’s why having supportive staff and being accessible is important,” says Floyd.

Tennant Creek High School has been a Teach For Australia partner since 2012.

 Why is teaching referred to by some as ‘the noblest of professions’?

Having watched Testing Teachers, provide students with an opportunity to express their opinion of an episode or the series, to ask questions and to comment on the ideas and issues raised in an episode or the series.

Teachers may choose to revisit the questions asked prior to viewing Testing Teachers and/or use the following question to initiate more specific discussion about the series:  Does Testing Teachers offer a realistic portrayal of secondary education in Australia?

Getting started Prior to viewing Testing Teachers, ask students to answer the following questions:

Testing Teachers documents the personal journey of the six first-time teachers. As you watch the series, make notes about the experiences of the Teach For Australia associates.

© ATOM 2017

 What do you think it takes to be a teacher?  Is teaching more than a job?  Is teaching easy?  Have you ever heard the saying ‘Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach.’? What does it mean?

Series viewing chart

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HIGHS

LOWS

REALISATIONS

ACHIEVEMENTS

Emmanuel

Fiona

Kitty

Sasha

Stephanie

Will

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Episode 1 To help close the gap in educational disadvantage, Teach For Australia is recruiting high achievers and training them to become teachers. Fresh out of a six week intensive, the Teach For Australia associates are fast tracked into schools, where they train on the job for the next two years while they earn a Master of Education.

Twenty-six-year-old Stephanie has left her career as a geologist in the mining industry to become a teacher.

Stephanie completed her education in Melbourne where she ranked in the top 7% of school leavers in the year she completed her secondary education. As her first day back at school begins, Stephanie acknowledges her nervousness, ‘I’m freaking out. Now I can hear the students, the butterflies are constant.’

Joining Stephanie at Southern River College is twentyfive-year-old Sasha. The teaching position is her first full time job since completing a double degree in Arts and Law. Sasha is hoping that her youth combined with her still familiar memories of being a secondary school student will serve her well in the classroom.

Fiona graduated from Oxford University with a Masters in Mathematics. She is also completing a PhD in Paleoclimatology. Tennant Creek High School is one of the most remote of all the Teach For Australia placements.

For Fiona who grew up in the village of Toft in the English countryside, feeling connected to a community motivated her decision to teach in Tennant Creek. As Fiona tours the school prior to her first day at work, she admits to feeling ‘incredibly excited’ and ‘genuinely terrified’. With Australia experiencing a massive shortage in science and maths teachers, experts like Fiona are exceptionally rare.

Born in Rwanda, Emmanuel’s family escaped the genocide, spending nine years in a refugee camp before gaining a humanitarian visa to Australia. He has a double degree in Science (Applied Mathematics) and Commerce. Emmanuel may have overslept on his first day but he is not daunted, ‘Luckily I packed my stuff last night all I need is my personal laptop, of course a charger. I got my diary. I cannot wait to see my students.’

Discussion point: Why become a teacher?

Stephanie: I want to be somewhere where I can make a difference and be an inspirational teacher for someone.

Hopefully.

Kitty: I want to be in front of a class and working with kids and learning with them. That’s the exciting bit, that’s the good stuff, that’s teaching.

Emmanuel: Growing up in a refugee camp I think it’s come clear to me that education was the only way out. It was the only way that we were going to change our situations and even improve our lives as well.  Have you ever contemplated becoming a teacher? Is anyone in your family a teacher?  Drawing on the statements of the Teach For Australia associates, explain their reasons for becoming teachers.  Interview a staff member about their decision to become a teacher. Write a profile that could be published in the school newsletter or on the school website.

© ATOM 2017

At Tennant Creek High School, she joins Will, a second year Teach For Australia associate, who we meet in Episode 2.

Married with a two-year-old, Kitty has a double honours degree in Arts and Science. She has been working as a hydrogeologist but believes that teaching is the job that she should have been doing a long time ago. Joining Kitty at Melton Secondary College is Emmanuel.

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I I Discussion point: Breaking the cycle of disadvantage  What is a disadvantaged school?

Recommended links: Mitchell Institute http://www.mitchellinstitute.org.au/ educational-opportunity/ My School https://www.myschool.edu.au/ To help break the cycle of disadvantage, the schools featured in Testing Teachers have partnered with Teach For Australia. Students can be given the information about Melton Secondary College, Southern River College and Tennant Creek High School provided in this study guide.

Alternatively, students can write their own descriptions of the schools based on their viewing of Episode 1. Students can edit the descriptions after they have viewed Episode 2 and 3.  Why are Melton Secondary College, Southern River College and Tennant Creek High School considered disadvantaged schools?

Teach For Australia selects high achievers like the teachers featured in Testing Teachers and provides them with a short cut into teaching. Teachers can give students the information about Teach For Australia provided in this study guide and/or ask students to access information about Teach For Australia online by using the links provided in this study guide.  Explain the reasons why Teach For Australia has selected the associates featured in Testing Teachers.

Discussion point: Day 1 Stephanie’s first class is Year 8 Science. While she is well prepared, when it comes time to let the class into the room, the practicalities of a lesson momentarily confound her. She wonders aloud, ‘Do I wait until they all arrive? Do they line up? I don’t know what people do?’

 Stephanie: So welcome to Year 8 Science. I don’t, I don’t know how much you guys like science or what you know about science but I love science.

Was Stephanie prepared for Year 8 Science?

Stephanie remains behind after the bell rings and the students leave. She reflects, ‘That was so much worse than I expected, absolute nightmare.’

Based on your classroom experience, what did Stephanie get right? What could Stephanie have done differently?

Stephanie shares her experience with her mentors, staff member Kirsten Dowd and Teach For Australia’s Felicity Stark. What does Kirsten mean when she claims that Stephanie ‘may have had some rose coloured glasses on’?

Fiona’s first class is Year 8 Maths. She is expecting 28 students. Only three students are present for class.

Like Stephanie, she begins by introducing herself to the students.  Does Fiona’s lesson go to plan? What does the footage of the class suggest about student engagement?

Emmanuel’s first task is to supervise his Year 7 Home Group at school assembly. He moves confidently along the row of students introducing himself and enquiring if they are nervous about starting secondary school.  Emmanuel: I think the next two years are going to be about learning quickly. They’re going to be about making mistakes and bouncing from those mistakes.

Emmanuel’s first class is Maths. The lesson goes to plan until the very end when there is physical and verbal conflict between two students.

Does Emmanuel know what to do when things go wrong?

Like Emmanuel, Kitty comes face to face with the reality of teaching in her first class. Kitty begins Year 8 Drama with an activity that asks students to introduce themselves with an action that they think represents who they are. She follows this with a freeze frame activity. Several students refuse to join in.  Does Kitty know how to deal with those students who don’t share her enthusiasm for Drama? Is Kitty pleased with her first lesson?

Sasha uses a getting to know you activity to introduce herself to her class and to find out something about them. She tells the students that is she was an animal she would be a whale because whales are family animals.  Does Sasha’s first lesson go to plan? What do her interactions with students suggest about the type of teacher she wants to be?

© ATOM 2017

Despite the misbehaviour of some students, Stephanie follows her lesson plan. She introduces herself to the class, communicating her passion for science and for reading, before asking the students to write their strengths on strips of coloured paper which Stephanie plans to make into paper chains to string up around the classroom. Stephanie is encouraging, making suggestions to individual students and then using her favourite quotes to inspire the class to play to

their strengths.

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I I Discussion point: Student attendance  Why is regular school attendance important? Ask this question of a student, a teacher and a parent. What do the answers have in common? How do the answers differ?  What is your school’s student attendance policy? Why does the policy exist?

Student attendance at Tennant Creek High School is well below the national average. Maisie Floyd, the Principal at Tennant Creek High School, explains why,

Describe what happens in Fiona’s maths lesson on ratios.

How does she promote student engagement? What does this footage suggest about the relationship between learning and behavioural management?

Kitty’s challenge is also to engage the disengaged in Year 8 Drama.  Mykala: Drama sucks, the teachers they suck, everyone here just sucks.

How does Kitty respond to those students who refuse to join in? Is Kitty fighting a losing battle?

‘Some of the barriers to students coming to school is home life. Sometime students are not living in home isn’t really conducive to a good night’s sleep, so a lot of students tend to stay at their friends’ houses and or, you know couch surf for a bit. Sometimes family don’t know where they are, and if they’re doing that, they’re not really school ready in the morning with sleep, number one. Two, they might not be really having one of those things we always have and that’s food in the evening.’

‘If more than 10% of students misbehave, teachers lose 25% of class time.’ – Testing Teachers

The school is striving to reach 80% attendance.

 What goes right? What goes wrong?

 What is the national average for school attendance?  How is the morning pick-up program supporting school attendance at Tennant Creek High School? What does the footage of Andrew on his morning round suggest about his understanding of the adolescents that the program supports?

Emmanuel wants to establish respectful relationships with the students he teaches but is struggling with the lack of respect that he is being shown by some students in his Year 8 Maths class. His classroom experience thus far has made him aware of his need to assert his legitimate authority,

Discussion point: Behavioural management

‘I’m not going to let kids control the class I have to be in control of the class, I have to show that I’m not afraid to confront and deal with a student that is challenging.’

Pauline Davenport is the Assistant Principal at Tennant Creek High School. She explains the challenges of teaching and learning in the Tennant Creek community,

Janelle Mace, Emmanuel’s In-School Mentor comments,

‘In the classes the kids will fall asleep. The trouble is it starts to become normal, and you think that is how it is in other places, but it isn’t and things seem to be getting tougher. You’re facing the results of trauma in the classroom, of things that have started way back in early childhood and it’s hard to undo all those things that have happened to them.’

The footage of Fiona’s Year 8 Maths class highlights the reality of her workload. One of the biggest challenges is keeping students in class. Fiona tells her teaching coach Philippa, ‘Behaviour management is huge, it’s huge. It’s all I do. It’s really all I do. I feel like I do zero teaching in that room. I just do behaviour management and I don’t do that very well.’

‘Kids aren’t stupid, kids are smart. The students here in his class will have six or seven different teachers and they know exactly what teacher they know they can get away with things and what teacher they’re not allowed to get away with things with.’  Spend time as a class discussing Mace’s comment.

Does your school have a behavioural management policy? Does this policy ensure that there are consistent expectations about student behaviour?

Year 8 Humanities is not as easy as Sasha thought it might be. She struggles to get the class’ attention as she explains an activity about drawing pictures of the ideal classroom. Like Emmanuel, Sasha needs to focus on her classroom persona and presence.  Sasha: Let’s talk real. This class hasn’t been great, and I take, and I take some of the responsibility for that.

Year 8s please. So tomorrow I’m going to do things differently cos obviously today hasn’t worked and I should have had some other plans. So I apologise

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 Fiona: When I’m in the room with the Year 8s it’s very overwhelming at times. I don’t know what to do.

Stephanie is finding behavioural management challenging.

She seeks support from Teach For Australia coach Felicity Stark. Having decided upon some realistic expectations in terms of student behaviour, Stephanie is ready to put these into practice in Year 8 Science. Felicity sits at the back of the class to observe what happens.

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I I classroom teacher, that’s not necessarily the teacher the classroom need me to be. So there’s a tension between the two of them between the teacher I want to be and the teacher they need.

Emmanuel: The plan that I had, the goals and ideals I wanted to use to build the classroom based on culture and respect that has not worked and that’s one thing that has been absolutely disappointing for me.

Sasha: I don’t want to be kicking kids out of my class and I don’t want to have to yell or be harsh but maybe I’m doing a disservice by not doing that.

Fiona: I don’t know, where I’m at in my teaching journey at the moment. I have simultaneously big plans and hopes but at the same time I’m, you know, still just trying to get through every day, and still not running lessons as well as I want to, or walking away from a lesson feeling like I didn’t really do the students justice so.

How has their first experience of classroom teaching challenged and changed the goals and expectations of the Teach For Australia associates?

Investigation: Teacher retention In Australia almost fifty percent of first-time teachers leave the profession within the first five years. In addition, research indicates that one in four new teachers suffer emotional exhaustion.

that’s partially my fault but there’s also some people in this classroom that will need to pick up their game.

Produce a segment that might appear on a current affairs program about this issue. You will need to research, storyboard, script, film and edit your segment. Work in a team of five, each team member should be in charge of one aspect of the production.

Key questions:

Were you surprised by Sasha’s apology? Is the class listening? Is she right to take responsibility for what ‘hasn’t worked’?

Discussion point: Reality check ‘The students that I’m teaching are other people’s babies.

They’re other people’s children. And I know that I want certain things for my daughter and I am 100% sure that the parents of the students that I’m going to be teaching want things for their children as well.’

Made at the start of Term 1, Kitty’s comment reveals her desire to make a difference in the lives of others. Her idealism, like that of the other Teach For Australia associates, has been challenged by the reality of classroom teaching.

What is teacher retention?

Why do first-time teachers leave teaching?

Why is it important to improve teacher retention rates?

Whose responsibility is it to ensure teachers do not leave the profession?

- How does Australia’s teacher retention rate compare to teacher retention rates in other countries?

- How can Australia improve teacher retention rates?

Interview teachers and school leaders at your school about teacher retention. Ask them to speak specifically about the longevity of their career and the reasons why they continue to work as a teacher.

Recommended reading: Spotlight August 2016: What do we know about early career teacher attrition rates in Australia? – http://www.aitsl.edu.au/docs/defaultsource/aitsl-research/spotlights/spotlight-on-attrition-august-2016.pdf?sfvrsn=6

© ATOM 2017

 Stephanie: I’ve realised now that the teacher I want to be, you know this nice Miss Honey version of a lovely

- - - -

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Episode 2 The Teach for Australia associates have spent Term 1 coming to terms with the reality of being a classroom teacher.

Much of their teaching time has been spent managing student behaviour. Beyond the classroom, they have reflected on their classroom practice and persona. With the support of their mentors and school leadership, the associates have kept returning to their classrooms better prepared to meet the needs of every student they teach.

All Australian schools should be safe, supportive and respectful teaching and learning communities that promote student wellbeing. Episode 2 provides opportunities to discuss this objective.

Recommended reading: The National Safe Schools Framework provides Australian schools with a vision and a set of guiding principles that assist school communities to develop positive and practical student safety and wellbeing policies. Access information about the Framework online at https://www.education.gov.au/ national-safe-schools-framework-0.

Discussion point: Student wellbeing At the beginning of Term 1 Sasha expressed her understanding of her role, ‘I think being a teacher anywhere in any classroom will definitely be challenging, trying to cater to twenty-five really different people, twenty-five really different personalities, twenty-five people who learn differently, and really support all of them and get them to their best.’

For Sasha the last day of Term 1 provides her with a further insight into the role she plays in student wellbeing.

One of Sasha’s Year 7 students, Jasmin, is being bullied.

Jasmin asks Sasha to help her make her way to class.

Sasha accompanies Jasmin to her maths class, reprimanding the students who are verbally abusing Jasmin as they go. For Sasha, the bold behaviour of the bullies is unsettling, she comments, • ‘I just worry if they’re willing to be that brazen in front of a teacher what would happen if a teacher wasn’t there…’  How does Sasha respond to Jasmin’s request for help?

Is her response appropriate?

While one in five Australian school students regularly experience bullying, only one in three students tell their teachers when bullying occurs.

What does Jasmin’s request for help from Sasha suggest about Sasha as a teacher?

Sasha seeks the support of Student Services Manager Kirsten Dowd. She admits to feeling uncertain about the way she should have responded to the situation. Kirsten reassures Sasha, telling her that she intervened in an appropriate way.

Kirsten counsels Jasmin and the students who have been bullying her.  Kirsten: When we get the students together, there’s an element of needing to take them on their word.

How does Kirsten intervene? What does her intervention reveal about her understanding of conflict resolution and the students that she supports? What is the outcome of the counselling?  Kirsten: The bullying that we see now on the social media is consistent, these kids aren’t getting a break from it. So that’s what I’m finding I deal with most of the time is that they’ve let it bubble away and there is a straw that breaks the camel’s back and then I’m dealing with the atomic bomb mess that’s been left behind rather than dealing with the really small thing right at the very start.

Kirsten claims that social media has only made bullying worse and all the more difficult to deal with. Do you agree? How does your school support students

© ATOM 2017

 Sasha: I think that for me I wasn’t just the teacher that she saw, I think the big one for me was at recess when she wanted to come back in my classroom, she felt safest with me. It was a moment where it kind of hits you, the kind of relationships you’re building with these kids.

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support of Teach For Australia mentor Felicity Stark, both Stephanie and Sasha continue to learn about behavioural management strategies.

who are being bullied? How does your school educate students about how to stay safe online?

Jayeisha, was one of the three girls involved in the bullying incident. With Sasha’s support, Jayeisha has joined Southern River College’s Deadly Sista Girlz program.

Recommended link: http://www.deadlysistagirlz.com.au/  What does the footage of the Deadly Sista Girlz program reveal to be the benefits of such a program?  Schools and teachers play a critical role in the wellbeing of young people.

What is wellbeing?

Many schools offer programs that help students to be optimistic and resilient.

Make a list of the student wellbeing initiatives that are implemented at your school. What do students think of these initiatives? Who do you think benefits from these initiatives?

Interview a student who has participated in one of these initiatives. Ask them to share their experience and to comment on what they learnt from the experience. Make a videotape of the interview. Edit the interview and then working as a class, compile the individual interviews to form a short film that investigates the consequences of student wellbeing initiatives.

For Stephanie and Sasha behavioural management has been a significant challenge during Term 1. With the

Despite frequently derailing the lessons, Zac, one of the most disruptive students in Stephanie’s Year 7 Science class scores in the top five of the class. A disruptive student shifts the focus away from other students and interrupts the learning of all. Tired of dealing with the misbehaviour of Zac and his friends on her own, Stephanie turns to Deputy Principal Mike Erith for support.  Stephanie: From what I understand, he was bullied in primary school and the kid that he is now is nothing like the kid he was. So I think he’s just trying on a new persona, seeing how it fits and I guess he’s sort of figuring out now that it does get him a degree of notoriety, so, he’s kind of capitalising on that.

How has Stephanie tried to improve Zac’s behaviour?

Were you surprised by Stephanie’s decision to seek the help of someone in leadership?

The decision is made to separate those who are causing the most disruption.

Why does Stephanie welcome this decision? How do Zac and his friends respond to the separation?

© ATOM 2017

Discussion point: Behavioural management

 Stephanie: The thing that really struck a chord with me about Teach For Australia was the idea that the right kind of teacher could really have a profound impact on their students in their class. I just really wanted to be that kind of teacher for somebody else.

Stephanie: Like, every time, every time a lesson goes badly, like, I’m kind of getting to a point where I can handle that but it’s not the end of the world if the kids are out of control, I don’t take that personally. But it is personal when they say I don’t like them. If nothing else gets through to them, like, the only thing that I really want them to know is I think they are really valuable.

And I do, like, I really like them. All of them. Even the ones that make my life miserable at times.

Compare Stephanie’s statements. Has Stephanie been able to be the kind of teacher that she refers to in the first statement? What does Stephanie’s second statement reveal about teacher resilience?  Felicity: You can’t just expect or demand authority cause you’re a teacher.

Felicity: It’s just, it’s not just about authority. It’s about being a leader in the room.

What does Felicity want Stephanie and Sasha to understand about their role in the classroom? Does Felicity’s advice make a difference in Stephanie and Sasha’s classrooms?  At Southern River College, the most disruptive students have a red book where teachers can comment on student behaviour.

How does your school monitor student behaviour? Do you think strategies like the red book improve student behaviour?

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I I Emmanuel is also finding it difficult to control disruptive students. Like Sasha and Stephanie, he re-evaluates his classroom practice and decides upon a different approach, ‘I’m at a point where I just need to re-evaluate what I’m doing. I think, I’ve made it, I’ve tried to get students to participate. This is a new beginning.’  Emmanuel: Probably the worst class I have ever had in my life. I think I’ve actually run out of ideas like at the moment. I just don’t know how this class is going, I don’t know where this is going to head. I’m not sure if I still want to teach this class.

Does Emmanuel’s ‘hands on’ approach to learning prove effective? What goes right? What goes wrong?

Principal David Reynolds intervenes. Initially he restores order in the classroom, ‘7G can we all listen please. Hands down, look up, eyes on me please at the front. It is honestly a bit disappointing to hear that not everybody is making an effort in science.

And something has happened in the class which may have distracted some of you that shouldn’t let you be distracted from what you have to do.’

Later on he advises Emmanuel about a way forward.  What advice does Principal Reynolds offer Emmanuel?

Is Emmanuel receptive to the principal’s advice?

Discussion point: Building resilience Episode 2 introduces second year Teach For Australia associate Will. Will teaches history at Tennant Creek High School. For Will, who grew up in a predominantly white neighbourhood in regional Tasmania moving to an Indigenous community has been life changing.

• Will: I saw these kids come into school who were visibly disadvantaged in a way. But I was so amazed at the resilience of these kids.  What is resilience?  What do Will’s comments indicate about his understanding of the type of teacher he wants to be?

What does the footage of Will teaching his students highlight about his understanding of his students’ needs?

How is Will building resilience in his classroom?

Discussion point: Safe classrooms

 Kitty: My job is to be calm and my job is to try to

Is Kitty’s sense of inadequacy understandable? Is she too hard on herself?

Kitty turns to the school’s leadership team for support.

Junior Sub School Coordinator, Robert Findlay addresses the class, ‘Some people are being hurt every single day they come to school. Being hurt mentally. Being hurt physically. If you don’t have anything nice to say, you do not say it. As simple as that. If somebody says something mean to you, and you don’t particularly like it, ok, it really gets you to the core, tell your teacher.’  Spend time as a class discussing Robert Findlay’s statement to Kitty’s drama class. Do you think his statement will change student behaviour?

Discussion point: Parental engagement Emmanuel is hopeful that meeting the parents of his Year 7 students will be an opportunity to discuss their achievements, as well as strategies for improvement, ‘My job is to call and invite them. If they come, that’s fantastic. Ah, if they do not come that, that’s their responsibility.’  Emmanuel: I’ve heard a lot of things about a kid’s family and kids living situations and you know, some tough situations. Some tough situations where the kids are coming from you know. Really, really sad stuff.

What does the footage of Emmanuel’s interviews with his Year 7 students James and Jacob suggest about the value of this type of feedback? How do the interviews shape Emmanuel’s understandings of the students he teaches?

Research shows that parental engagement throughout school is equivalent to an extra two to three years of a student’s education.  What is the purpose of a parent-teacher interview?  How do your parents support your learning?  How does your school engage parents and guardians in conversations about student learning and conversations about student welfare?

Discussion point: Inclusive curriculum Will is Tennant Creek High School’s first specialist history teacher in fifteen years. He is embarking on a unit about Indigenous rights and the Stolen Generations with trepidation. The content is confronting and Will is uncertain how

© ATOM 2017

In this episode, tensions between students in Kitty’s drama class escalate and the situation becomes physically violent. Unable to stop the students, Kitty sends a student to get the coordinator.

contain the situation and if I can’t do that and I can’t do my job then, like, what use am I to managing classroom situations like that?

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I I students will respond.  What is inclusive curriculum? Why is it important that curriculum is inclusive?  Why does Will begin his lesson by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land and paying respect to elders, past, present and future? Why do you think Will consulted the local Aboriginal elders before he started teaching the unit?  Will: I feel extremely privileged to be able to teach it, and have been learning with them as well, which I think has been a really great opportunity for me to grow as a teacher and as a person, in Australia, as a non-indigenous Australian.

Ruth: I actually knew about this stuff but I didn’t quite know how to put into words.

Georgia: To go back and how our people were treated back then and you look at now and they’re still being treated like that, a little bit, like you know racism I guess. But it’s changing, the bad time.

What do you know about Indigenous rights and the Stolen Generations? Why is it important that Indigenous, as well as non-Indigenous Australian students are taught about these aspects of Australian history?

Recommended link: http://closingthegap.pmc.gov.au/

Investigation: Closing the gap In Tennant Creek students are growing up in one of the most remote places in Australia. Current research indicates that in the most remote areas of the Northern Territory, only a quarter of Indigenous students will attend school beyond Year 10.

Ruth is a student at Tennant Creek High School. She understands the importance of education, ‘Dad hasn’t finished high school but he’s looking at me to finish high school; they don’t want me to be like how they was. They want me to make them proud and, you know, finish high school, go to uni, yeah, get educated properly.’

Recommended reading: Closing the Gap: Prime Minister’s Report 2017­, Chapter 3 pp.34 - 51 provides a comprehensive account of educational opportunities and outcomes for Indigenous Australians – http://closingthegap.pmc. gov.au/sites/default/files/ctg-report-2017.pdf  Fiona is passionate about maths, ‘I think that maths is a fantastic way of understanding our world. I take data from the real world and I believe that maths and the various tools within it can actually help us explain what is going on in that data.’

She is also committed to improving the numeracy skills of the students she teaches. In the Northern Territory, 50% of Indigenous students fall below the national minimum standard in numeracy. NAPLAN results suggest that Fiona’s Year 8 Maths students are five years behind their national peers.

 Take time to reflect on your expectations when it comes to school. What do you want to achieve from your education? How are you working to achieve these expectations? What do your parents expect you to achieve at school?

 How are we as a society working to close the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australian students?

Use online resources to research the issue of educational disadvantage in Indigenous communities. Hold a class forum to discuss your research findings. Are we doing enough as a society to close the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australian students? © ATOM 2017

Closing the Gap is a government strategy that aims to reduce disadvantage among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with respect to life expectancy, child mortality, access to early childhood education, educational achievement, and employment outcomes. It is a formal commitment made by all Australian governments to achieve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health equality by 2030.

What are the challenges that Fiona faces in improving the numeracy skills of the students that she teaches?

What insight does the footage of Fiona teaching and assessing her Year 8 Maths class suggest about her commitment to closing the gap?

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Episode 3 The Teach for Australia associates continue on their learning journey. Stephanie’s claim that the ‘small wins’ are making the emotional rollercoaster that is her first year of teaching bearable and allowing her to remain positive, rings true for all of the first year associates. For Will, his second year at Tennant Creek High School, reinforces the importance of his work as a teacher and in particular his commitment to improving educational opportunities for students experiencing disadvantage.

Discussion point: High expectations § What are expectations? What does it mean to have high expectations? Take time to reflect on your expectations when it comes to school. What do you want to achieve from your education? How are you working to achieve these expectations? What do your parents expect you to achieve at school? What do your teachers expect of you? Do your expectations and the expectations others have of you ever clash?

Sasha’s recollections of the struggles of growing up in a low income family explain her pursuit of academic excellence, ‘Growing up in a low income family I didn’t really want to live that way in the future. Having money run out by the end of the week is really stressful. Having to move houses a lot because you’re renting. For me education was always a way that I could go on to be able to get a job that would support myself.’

Sasha is keen to encourage the students she teaches to value education and aim high. She has had a positive influence on Year 7 student Jayeisha’s view of learning. For Sasha, Jayeisha’s commitment to learning is impressive, ‘To make those brave decisions to put your education above being cool. To make that kind of decision when you’re twelve and there’s so much social pressure on you to fit in with the cool kids is incredibly impressive and I think shows a huge wisdom beyond her years.’ § How has Jayeisha’s view of education changed since she started attending Sasha’s classes? What does she want to achieve in terms of education and why?

Identify the positive and negative factors affecting Jayeisha’s ability to achieve her learning goals.

Drawing on the footage of Jayeisha receiving her exam result, describe her response to her success.

Explain how her expectations of what she can achieve have changed. How does Sasha feel about Jayeisha’s success?

As a teacher at Melton Secondary College, he is conscious of the school’s expectation that he will lift student aspirations and improve results through his teaching. Emmanuel believes that ‘attitude is everything’. He encourages his students to adopt this philosophy. § Do you agree with Emmanuel that ‘attitude is everything’? § Emmanuel: This is a new term. If you didn’t do well last term, do well this term. Forget about it. Come here. Do your best. See how you go.’

Discussion point: Respectful relationships Stephanie is excited as well as daunted by the prospect of teaching a science unit about geology this term. She has brought her rock collection to school. The collection represents her life-long interest in geology, as well as her previous career as a geologist. While some staff members have suggested it is unwise for her to take the rock collection to class, Stephanie chooses to trust that her science class will treat it with respect. § Watch from 00:06:55 to 00:10:58.

Do you think Stephanie’s trust in her students is misplaced?

*Teachers may like to pause the footage at 00:08:24 in order to listen to students answer to this question.

Is Stephanie’s geology lesson a success?

Adam tells Stephanie, ‘Geology is fun.’ What does Adam gain from this lesson? How does his response impact on Stephanie?

© ATOM 2017

Emmanuel is a high achiever. In this episode, we watch him receive his double degree in Commerce and Science.

How does Emmanuel endeavour to bring out the best in his VCE maths students? What happens when a parent requests her daughter is moved from Emmanuel’s Year 11 class? How does the request impact on Emmanuel? How is the situation resolved?

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I I § What role do you think positive and respectful relationships between staff and students play in improving student outcomes?

Emmanuel’s Year 7 class have come a long way. So has Emmanuel. He has learnt a lot about respectful relationships and how they are forged. By adopting a more realistic perspective about the adolescents he teaches, Emmanuel has witnessed improvement in his students’ behaviour and engagement. § Write a comparison of Emmanuel teaching his Year 7 class in this episode with the footage of him teaching the same class in Episodes 1 and 2. How has Emmanuel’s teaching improved student outcomes?

What do the students’ letters to him reveal? Why does Emmanuel take his class dancing? What does the footage of the excursion suggest about respectful relationships?

Discussion point: Student wellbeing Schools and teachers play a critical role in the wellbeing of young people. Research indicates that student wellbeing has both direct and indirect effects on academic engagement and achievement by increasing: o student engagement with and participation in learning; o student motivation to participate and achieve; o student attendance and hence increasing school completion; o positive behaviour at school and hence decreasing levels of suspension and exclusion from school and learning opportunities. § Explain the significance of the footage of the Tennant Creek High School formal.

For many of the students at Tennant Creek High School, balancing the demands of family life with the demands of school is difficult. Teachers like Will need to know not just the curriculum, but also how best to approach each individual student because each one is going to require something different in order to not just learn, but to thrive.

Kitty’s junior drama classes are still providing her with many challenges. Getting the students on task and keeping them on task is still problematic, despite her unflagging enthusiasm. Her decision to set a final assessment task for her junior drama classes pushes many students beyond their comfort zones. Kitty reflects, ‘I think for any teacher in any subject figuring out how far to push a student, like how far can you support a student, that’s one of the biggest questions that I’m having at the moment.’ § Why do you think the students are reluctant and apathetic despite Kitty’s enthusiasm and reassurance?

How does Kitty react to their lack of cooperation? § Why does Kitty perform her slam poem about her first year of teaching at the staff meeting? § Kitty: I’d love all the students to be able to participate and challenge themselves and give it a go, and hopefully they do. That’s it.

How does Kitty respond when only two students in one of her junior drama classes arrive prepared to perform their monologues? Does her response to their behaviour make a difference? Is she pleased with her students’ results?

While many of Fiona’s students do not attend class on a regular basis, Marley is always present. Despite being highly motivated, he lacks confidence. Marley’s anxiety about making mistakes in maths often stops him from attempting tasks. § Fiona: Marley told the documentary people that my maths lessons are too easy, so from this point on maths lessons are going to be hard.

What does Marley want to achieve through education?

How does Fiona support Marley’s learning? What does Marley achieve with Fiona’s support? What has Fiona gained from teaching Marley?

Discussion point: Making a difference Will makes the difficult decision to leave Tennant Creek High School at the end of the school year. His connections to the Tennant Creek community only adds to the difficulty of leaving, ‘I still feel like I have a lot of unfinished business here. It does make it really hard to leave. There are a lot of kids that I’d love to see through to Year 12.’

Will wants to stay but he also wants to take the next step into his future. While retaining good teachers is an ongoing challenge for remote schools, Tennant Creek High School Maisie Floyd understands Will’s decision. She reflects,

© ATOM 2017

§ Watch from 00:11:42 to 00:15:17.

Will: At the core of being a teacher in Tennant Creek is understanding the background of the kids as much as you possibly can to, I guess, empathise with them but also to try to understand where they’re coming from.’

What do Will’s interactions with his students tell us about his understanding of student wellbeing? What lessons in life has Will learnt from his students? § Many schools offer programs that help students to be optimistic and resilient.

Make a list of the student wellbeing initiatives that are implemented at your school. Explain the ways that these initiatives support student wellbeing.

Discussion point: Taking risks

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Will: I want to be remembered as someone who cared about their kids and really invested in them and loved to see success. So it’s been a journey of like who I want to become rather than what I want to become.

Fiona: It’s been amazing. It’s definitely been the most rewarding year of my life, like by a long way but it’s always going to be hard.

Use the above statements to begin a discussion of the Teach for Australia associates commitment to their new career. Your discussion should refer to all of the Teach for Australia associates.

Investigation: Completion rates Current research indicates that one in four Australian children fail to complete Year 12.

‘It’ll be really tough to replace someone like Will. He’ll be great wherever he goes but big shoes to fill.’ § Why does Will want to tell his students his news rather than have them learn he is leaving from someone else?

Describe what happens when he does tell his students that he is leaving. § How has Will ‘value added’ at Tennant Creek High School? § What do the goodbye and thank you cards and letters from his students reveal about the difference he has made?

Episode 3 revisits the story of Zac, a student in Stephanie’s Year 7 Science class. Zac’s negativity and misbehaviour have tested Stephanie but her persistence has made a difference to his learning as the sherbet experiment and Zac’s final science results highlight. § Stephanie: He needs to be challenged and I just hope that one day he takes that challenge and run with it.

What does the footage of Zac in and out of class reveal about the difference Stephanie has made through her teaching? What does the example of Zac, as well as the students in her Year 8 Science class reveal about Stephanie’s strengths as a teacher?

Like their students, the Teach for Australia associates are assessed. Stephanie meets with her Teach for Australia mentor Felicity Stark to assess her performance. § What evidence does Stephanie show Felicity to prove her teaching has made a difference? § Sasha: There are so many rewarding moments that make it worth it and it’s just such a huge privilege to be able to be in the students’ lives in the way that you are.’

Stephanie: I think that changing careers is the best decision I’ve ever made. I love being a teacher.

Recommended link: http://www.mitchellinstitute.org. au/fact-sheets/senior-school-years-school-completion-uneven-across-australia/ § Make a timeline of your education past, present and future. Your timeline should note important milestones in your education journey and provide an insight into how your education is making a difference in your life. § Why is it important for students to finish secondary school?

Working as a class, discuss the reasons why students may choose to leave school before completing Year 12.

Make a list of the pros and cons of leaving school before completing Year 12. Which list is the longest?

Working with a partner, use print and electronic resources to research secondary school completion rates in Australia. Make an infograph to share your findings.

§ How can schools ensure that students complete their secondary education?

Postscript Teach for Australia has placed 549 teachers in 132 schools around Australia so far. Alongside thousands of teachers, they remain committed to improving student outcomes in disadvantaged communities.

If you had to write a school report for the Teach for Australia program, what grade would you give the program and what comment would you make about the program’s achievement?

© ATOM 2017

Episode 3 refers to the importance of completing secondary school and each school’s objective to increase the number of students completing Year 12 successfully and continuing on to further education.

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Making Testing Teachers Testing Teachers is an observational documentary series filmed over the course of a school year.  Testing Teachers is an observational documentary series.

What is an observational documentary?

Have you watched other observational documentaries that are similar to Testing Teachers? Spend time as a class, discussing other examples of this genre.

What are the features of an observational documentary?

Make a two-column chart. In the first column list the features you have named. In the second column use the content of Testing Teachers to provide an example of each feature.

 What strategies do the filmmakers use to allow us to connect with the Teach For Australia associates and the students they teach?  Working as a class, make a list of the likely challenges of making Testing Teachers.

Do you think the presence of the production team and the cameras influenced the behaviour of the Teach For Australia associates and their students? Were you surprised by their willingness to be filmed?

Explain the series’ use of diary cam.

Would you like your day at school filmed?

Suggested activity: Make a video diary about your day at school. Your video diary should only feature you and should provide an insight into your day at school.

Investigation: Australia’s education system  Why is education important? Working as a class, mind map your answer to this question. Drawing on your answers, devise a school-based campaign to educate the school community about education.  Why is it important for a country to have a quality education system?  Why should Australia value education?

Your task is to research and prepare a multimedia report on the state of Australian education.

Literacy standards Numeracy standards Equity and inclusion in education Quality education

B. Your report should provide facts and figures about Australia’s global education ranking.

C. Your report should provide an evaluation of whether or not Australia is a ‘clever country’.

D. Your report should offer three recommendations about how Australia can improve its global education ranking.

Production credits Screentime, a Banijay Group company, is a specialist television production company with an outstanding list of productions. Their award winning and celebrated dramas include six series of Underbelly, three seasons of Janet King, as well as Fat Tony & Co, ANZAC Girls, The Incredible Journey of Mary Bryant, Society Murders, Jessica, My Husband My Killer, A Model Daughter: The Killing of Caroline Byrne, Breakers, MDA, Crownies, Brothers In Arms and the critically acclaimed Tim Winton’s Cloudstreet. In 2016, the television series Wolf Creek premiered on Stan to critical acclaim, and The Secret Daughter was a rating success for Channel 7.

With a strong heritage in light entertainment and factual production, the company produces the factual entertainment show Anh’s Brush with Fame, the observational documentary series Outback Coroner for FOXTEL, two series of Village Vets for the Lifestyle Channel, RBT for the NINE Network, the observational documentary series Taking On The Chocolate Frog for STUDIO, Flying Miners, Outback ER, two series of Stop Laughing ... This Is Serious, How Not To Behave and Todd Sampson’s Life On The Line all for ABC TV - as well as the recent Undressed for SBS.

NARRATOR SUSIE PORTER EXECUTIVE PRODUCER JENNIFER COLLINS SERIES PRODUCER ANITA JORGENSEN WA EXECUTIVE PRODUCER BRENDAN HUTCHENS PRODUCER NIAMH LINNIE SHOOTER PRODUCERS BRENDAN HUTCHENS,

NAOMI ELKIN-JONES,

CHAD PEACOCK,

DYLAN RIVER, ALI SANDERSON,

SHANE MULCAHY & BEN PEDERICK EDITOR NEIL GUNNING INDIGENOUS CONSULTANT DENA CURTIS SBS HEAD OF DOCUMENTARIES JOSEPH

MAXWELL © ATOM 2017

A. Your report should provide information about the following aspects:

o o o o

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Appendix 1: Teach For Australia Associate Interviews

the human existential glitches by positioning human life (and humanity in general) in their proper perspective.

But you see you can’t develop that unless you start to appreciate science and mathematics from a young age.

Yes, there are utilitarian and economic reasons to study science and mathematics, but I think they are subordinate to the existential values.

An interview with Emmanuel 1. What inspired you to become a Teach For Australia Associate?

I was inspired by Teach For Australia’s focus on educational equity, which is something that I really care about. I am inherently attracted to opportunities which are different and challenging. I perceived this to be an opportunity to challenge myself in a non-typical graduate job where I could grow as a person and a leader.

Teach For Australia is an amalgamation of all the things that I care about and value: education, challenge and giving back. I am immeasurably grateful to have been made welcome to this amazing country and am therefore intrinsically attracted to opportunities to give back.

2. Why did you choose this route, as opposed to another way to tackle educational disadvantage?

5. What is one of the greatest challenges facing your students?

I think that at this stage of my life and with my current skills portfolio, teaching in the classroom is the best value that I can add to an already growing movement aimed at tackling educational disadvantage. In addition to that, having had a STEM background, I was aware that I would be placed within an already under-supplied teaching area thus adding genuine value to my placement school.

3. Tell us about the subject you are most interested in teaching.

6. What is one of the greatest challenges facing teachers in your context?

I equally love teaching mathematics and science.

These are the subjects that I found joy doing when I was in high school and university. I just wish that my students can experience the same joy, wonder, amazement and excitement that I felt when I was at their age. That is really my goal when I teach science and mathematics.

4. Why are your subjects important to the education of children?

I think teaching in general has become more complex and teachers in disadvantaged schools face formidable multi-factor challenges which ultimately affect their students’ performances. It is publicly acknowledged that disadvantaged schools continue to underperform relative to non-disadvantaged schools. This might pose a negative impact on teachers’ moral, optimism and passion for teaching. It is invigorating however, to see that numerous movements from the government sector, the private sector and social enterprise are teaming up together to address this educational achievement gap.

7. What is one of the greatest challenges facing the education system today?

The world continues to change dramatically in technology, lifestyle, economic activities and globalization but the education system is not always agile enough to change at the pace that other domains of human life are changing at. The system therefore finds itself relying on education models, teaching practices, teaching spaces, curriculum, technology that may not be up to date with the current socio-cultural and economic climate and sensitivities. Naturally, this will create tension typically expressed in pop culture in the form of ‘school didn’t

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I believe that children are naturally curious and have questions about the world. Science and mathematics provide powerful tools and frameworks to engage these curiosities and hopefully find answers to these questions. A proper grounding in science (and mathematics to a lesser extent) leads to an appreciation of the grandeur of the universe, the absurdities of the sub-atomic quantum world, the audacity and relentless continuity and flow of life through time, and space and the precise description of natural laws with mathematical equations. That is spiritual. I want my students to have an opportunity to appreciate this as they grow up.

I believe strongly that this appreciation of the natural world has the ability to work as an antidote to some of

The inability to perceive the transformative power of education. Education can literally liberate a person in all aspects: economically, spiritually, intellectually and morally. I know this having experienced genocide and war and their aftermath - which totally destroyed my humanity. Education has been the potent force that allowed me to rise above my victimhood and regain my voice and ultimately my humanity. This is a very deep concept yet so simple that many people simply miss it.

I cannot emphasise this enough but if students, (in particular those from the schools we are teaching at) can grasp (or be helped to grasp) even the tiniest potential that this freely available education can give them, then our schools would literally be revolutionised. It does not matter where you come from, who you are, the colour of your skin, gender, sexuality or your economic status - if you commit yourself to be truly educated you will be transformed, you will be empowered and nothing can de-humanize you anymore.

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I I teach me anything useful’, ‘school is not preparing young people for real life’, ‘why didn’t they teach these in school?” and the likes. But it doesn’t necessarily have to be like that. The challenge of the education system is finding ways to be agile and respond to the demands that continuous change brings (both negatively and positively) – whilst remaining loyal to its fundamental values of fostering equity, responsible citizenship, academic excellence, individual refinement, social and economic cohesion – otherwise it might lose its status as the ‘greatest leveler’. Maybe the system needs to learn how to be more proactive instead of reactive.

2. Why did you choose this route, as opposed to another way to tackle educational disadvantage?

8. What has been the best experience in participating in Testing Teachers?

The privilege to share some of my teaching philosophy and teaching journey with a wider audience. I also hope that the documentary will show my students’ growth and positive experiences in my classes. I also hope that the documentary will show how resilient, positive and beautiful our students are.

Knowing that my first year of teaching was captured on film and (that while trying my best) I would inevitably make mistakes, and that this would be seen by all of Australia, which is incredibly confronting!

10. What do you hope audiences and or wider Australia will gain from watching the show?

I hope that the audience will gain both a deeper understanding of the extent of educational disadvantage that abounds in Australia and also the incredible resilience and dedication of our teachers, and most importantly of the children too. Our children are absolutely beautiful and intelligent and deserve the very best that our education system has to offer.

Without the cameras in the classroom I want to focus on measuring and evaluating my teaching impact this year. I have VCE Year 12 students and I want them to do extremely well. I am also teaching Year 8 mathematics to a class of gifted students at our school and I hope that this will be a nice challenge to me. I am also continuing with my dance sessions this year and I look forward to participating in more dance performances.

An interview with Fiona

5. Why is it important to the education of children?

Numeracy skills play a huge role in many, many jobs, and so developing these skills makes students more equipped for any career they may wish to pursue. However, mathematics education is broader than numeracy alone, but I believe it’s important to the education of children to be exposed to ‘mathematics’, rather than simply ‘numeracy’.

The reason for this is somewhat akin to the reason for teaching art or music – it is a beautiful part of our world, and students should be given every opportunity to explore these things. It is a privilege to be able to learn mathematics and one every student should have.

6. What is one of the greatest challenges facing your students?

For some of my students, coming to school is an achievement. Sometimes school is just so irrelevant to their day-to-day lives where family commitments have to take priority. For some – they simply didn’t sleep the night before, so spending the day at school is very, very difficult.

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1. What inspired you to become a Teach For Australia Associate?

Tennant Creek High School is a fantastic place to work.

The students are amazing, and many of them overcome huge hurdles to come to school each day. My colleagues are all working hard to provide a great and relevant education for these students, and I’m very lucky to be part of that team.

4. Tell us about the subject you are most interested in teaching.

I teach mathematics and science, and I am committed to being able to open students’ eyes to the beauty of mathematics and its relevance in the world around us. Many of my students have very low numeracy skills, and so I am seeking to work with them on improving these skills while also allowing them to explore the world of mathematics independently of their ability to add or multiply.

11. What’s next for you?

I think that the Teach For Australia program – getting us into schools so quickly – allows for a rapid learning curve that is student-centred, based on the needs of the students in your class. It’s like an apprenticeship, and given that teaching is a very practical profession, this was appealing to me.

3. Tell us about your school, your students and your colleagues.

9. What was one of the greatest challenges in participating?

I wanted to step up and do something about inequity in this country, particularly in regards to the Indigenous people and the lack of respect that this country has for their history and culture, as well as the statistics regarding education, incarceration and health.

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I I in Australia is focused on groups of approximately 25 students all working together to a curriculum in a classroom, but as Melton Secondary has taught me, it is important to find value and collaboration and meaning in our learning. The combination of all those learning moments adds up to an education - so this is where I wanted to focus my energy. I wanted to learn how to work effectively as a teacher so to meet the needs of our students in our classrooms.

7. What is one of the greatest challenges facing teachers in your context?

Most of the teachers at Tennant Creek High School are non-Indigenous Australians; most of the students at Tennant Creek High School are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. Creating an education that is relevant and culturally responsive to our students is a continual and essential challenge.

8. What is one of the greatest challenges facing the education system today?

3. Tell us about your school, your students and your colleagues.

Funding. And funding where it matters.

9. What has been the best experience in participating in Testing Teachers?

Knowing that the country will get to meet the students of Tennant Creek High School.

10. What was one of the greatest challenges in participating?

Having my failures – and there were plenty – recorded.

11. What do you hope audiences and or wider Australia will gain from watching the show?

I hope they will gain a deeper understanding of the breadth of Australia’s students and schools, beyond that of their own experience. I also hope that there will be a recognition of what many students are having to overcome in order to get access to the same career pathways and lifestyles of the ‘average’ Australian.

4. Tell us about the subject you are most interested in teaching.

I love teaching both drama and science. To me, science is how we as humans have gone about exploring our physical world, and drama is how we as humans have gone about exploring our inner worlds. Through both these subjects I am most interested in teaching cross-subject skills in inquiry, presentation, questioning and building tools for creativity.

5. Why is it important to the education of children?

12. What’s next for you?

More teaching.

An interview with Kitty 1. What inspired you to become a Teach For Australia Associate?

Library for All had awoken in me a passion for education abroad which led into inquiry into education challenges here in Australia. After finding out more about Teach For Australia, I was impressed by the dedication and passion their team had and I wanted to learn more about it.

2. Why did you choose this route, as opposed to another way to tackle educational disadvantage?

Teaching was really the only way for me. Education is a human right, and working within a school to achieve this for students is the best place to be. Our learning

We don’t know what the future beyond school will look like for the students we teach. Different skills and technology will change what jobs will look like for our students. So it is in students’ best interests that we teach skills that will be useful in that future world. Research shows that, for example, presentation and communication skills are highly desirable (if not required) for many jobs now and into the future. Drama particularly is structured to build these skills in students.

6. What is one of the greatest challenges facing your students?

Challenges in the classroom vary on the group of students and the subject. An immediate challenge for my Year 8 drama students is the process of performance.

It requires students to take risks and put their creative voice out there, and the amount of time we have to build that foundation is short. Of a student’s entire year (and for some students’ entire secondary experience), they only have one working week of time in the Drama classroom – about 43 hours. More broadly, distance from the city poses challenges for students’ access to resources, such as arts experiences, which can provide

© ATOM 2017

Highly multicultural and diverse, Melton Secondary College students are full of energy and bring much to the classroom – often conversation in class naturally flows to the students’ different experiences. My colleagues and I are all committed to providing structured, effective and enjoyable classrooms for learning. Last year I was involved with student council, and it was marvellous watching students from all year levels stepping up to leadership and making Melton Secondary College the best school possible.

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I I inspiration and context for students’ work.

7. What is one of the greatest challenges facing teachers in your context?

Again, access to classroom space and learning support resources for our students. We have a growing population of students at MSC with large cohort growth over the next 5 years and classes are full! Next year we have an additional class added to junior and middle schools, so there are now nine classes per year level (A- I) and there are portables being added to the grounds. Also, as with many schools, there is a range of learning levels of students. MSC has a great team in learning support, but as a teacher you always want your students to have as much access to support as possible so more resources for this team would be wonderful.

8. What is one of the greatest challenges facing the education system today?

The greatest challenge for our education system today is the fact that it isn’t suitable for all student’s learning.

As a teacher you try your best to make it suitable for all students, but the reality is that our education system is not the right path for some. How can we as a country significantly diversify education opportunities to best support all students?

9. What has been the best experience in participating in Testing Teachers?

Having a witness to what my classroom, and what other classrooms are like. Teaching is both communal but solitary - you have lots of colleagues but you are the only teacher who really knows what is going on during your lessons. Having a team there to immediately say ‘Did you see that! How great was it when…’, or ‘Wow, that was a bit difficult’ was really enjoyable.

10. What was one of the greatest challenges in participating?

1. What inspired you to become a Teach For Australia Associate?

I think the children and young people in this country are excellent and it makes me so sad that they do not all get an equal start in life. I was really drawn to the mission of Teach For Australia which aimed to help all young people get a quality education that would open doors to whatever they wished to do.

2. Why did you choose this route, as opposed to another way to tackle educational disadvantage?

I really liked the idea that I would be tackling educational disadvantage with a group of like-minded people and that I would be supported by an organisation who had as its mission to address this problem.

3. Tell us about your school, your students and your colleagues.

Southern River College is a public school in the outer suburbs of Perth. My students are some of the best people I’ve ever known. Challenging at times, I’ve learned so much from them and they constantly push me to be the best teacher I can be. I’m very lucky to work in the department I do - my colleagues are incredibly positive and supportive.

4. Tell us about the subject you are most interested in teaching.

I most enjoy teaching Politics and Law (also known as Civics and Citizenship) which is what I studied at university. I think it’s really exciting to be able to give students a proper understanding of how our society and legal systems work in a way that makes them informed and empowered. Being able to understand society properly allows us to change the world for the better!

5. What is one of the greatest challenges facing your students?

Being able to overcome personal and social challenges so that they can focus on believing in themselves and putting their best effort into school.

6. What is one of the greatest challenges facing teachers in your context?

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That teaching is complex. It is a human, adaptive, technical, and forward thinking endeavour. Learning also looks different for every student, and schools do have challenges in facilitating education in complex classrooms. Also that audiences can see the WONDERFUL teachers at MSC (like my mentor Michelle) who are doing great and complex work.

Teaching! I am looking forward to working and learning with the students and building on the practice I started last year.

An interview with Sasha

Knowing that you’ll be judged for what is happening (both good and bad) by armchair critics. First year teaching is raw and wriggly, and you are finding your way. You can’t please everyone, you can only respond with what you think best at any moment in time.

11. What do you hope audiences and or wider Australia will gain from watching the show?

12. What’s next for you?

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College is a very multicultural school. My students are determined, funny, and resilient and each and every one is unique. I have connected with teachers from many departments at the school who are passionate about teaching and providing their students with the best possible experience at school. I have gained so much from their experience and wisdom in my first year.

Learning how to engage students in what you have to teach them.

7. What is one of the greatest challenges facing the education system today?

Properly funding public schools so that there is equity in the quality of education delivered and the outcomes achieved by students.

8. What has been the best experience in participating in Testing Teachers?

4. Tell us about the subject you are most interested in teaching.

Getting to know the filming team.

9. What do you hope audiences and or wider Australia will gain from watching the show?

5. Why is it important to the education of children?

I enjoy teaching science, and love sharing my love of geology with my students.

A better understanding that education in Australia is not a fair playing field. That all young people are excellent and should have the same opportunities to reach their potential. That we currently let down so many students by not adequately funding support services and their education.

Science is more than just a collection of facts, it also encompasses a broad skill set. In science, students are encouraged to think critically and creatively, to ask questions and find answers. These are skills that are beneficial no matter what pathway they choose to follow.

10. What’s next for you?

6. What is one of the greatest challenges facing your students?

Continuing to work in public schools and working out how to be a really good teacher. Eventually I would also like to work in the pastoral side of schools giving emotional support.

An interview with Stephanie 1. What inspired you to become a Teach For Australia Associate?

When I left my job in mining, I was planning on doing a Diploma of Education, but a friend of mine recommended that I look into the Teach For Australia pathway as it very much aligns with my values. I had always wanted to be a teacher, and was inspired by the excellent teachers that helped to shape me, including my grandad who was a science teacher. After I started to learn more about educational disadvantage, I couldn’t believe that I (as well as so many others) was so oblivious to this enormous injustice in our own backyard and I needed to get involved.

7. What is one of the greatest challenges facing teachers in your context?

One of the greatest challenges facing teachers is the lack of resources and facilities - and finding the motivation to keep coming back when students don’t seem to value education.

8. What is one of the greatest challenges facing the education system today?

Finding a way to ensure that every student gets an equal education.

9. What has been the best experience in participating in Testing Teachers?

2. Why did you choose this route, as opposed to another way to tackle educational disadvantage?

I think that I can make the most difference to students on the ground and in the classroom. Plus, I just like teaching kids!

One of the greatest challenges facing students is the development of confidence in their strengths and value.

This is a challenge for every child, but it’s particularly difficult for students to see the best in themselves when so many people assume the worst.

Seeing myself and my students through the eyes of the camera crew and being able to reflect on experiences and progress with them.

10. What was one of the greatest challenges in participating?

11. What do you hope audiences and or wider Australia will

In the southern suburbs of Perth, Southern River

The extra time commitment amongst an already crammed schedule.

© ATOM 2017

3. Tell us about your school, your students and your colleagues.

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I I my mentor, Pauline Davenport, is the heart beat of the school. She has taught me the meaning of hard work in education and I have learnt all I can from her. Over the course of my time at Tennant Creek High, I have learnt more from the students than I could have imagined and they have inspired me to become both a better educator and person.

gain from watching the show?

So many things. I want them to see how awesome my students are. I want them to get a glimpse of the disparity that exists within the education system in Australia. I want them to think about how the education system works for students like mine, especially Indigenous students and how it might be improved. I want them to consider the value of the work that teachers do. I want them to want to learn more.

12. What’s next for you?

4. Tell us about the subject you are most interested in teaching.

My second year of teaching.

An interview with Will 1. What inspired you to become a Teach For Australia Associate?

The opportunity to make a difference in the lives of others and I wanted to be able to see the inequities within Australia’s education system be questioned and challenged. I believe education is the clear solution to so many of the complex issues and problems communities face all around the world.

2. Why did you choose this route, as opposed to another way to tackle educational disadvantage?

I believe in the Teach For Australia vision and I want to see change happen at the grassroots level. I really wanted to understand best practice and be empowered with skills and a toolkit to become a fantastic teacher and felt that the heightened support in the classroom would be extremely beneficial.

Since commencing at Tennant Creek High I have become extremely passionate about teaching Australian and Indigenous Rights history. Indigenous Australians are the oldest living culture on our earth, yet regrettably, I grew up ignorant of the Indigenous narrative in our country. The unique, captivating and oppressed narratives were lost in my education. Conversations about race, oppression and reconciliation were not spoken of in the school environment that in retrospect, was dominated by Western thinking and viewpoints.

My knowledge and subjectivities were inscribed in this setting. Yet I was never conscious of this until it was questioned and challenged. I have progressively learnt that what drives me in this context is an opportunity to contribute to an emerging anti-racist praxis in Australia and destabilise and critique the systematic inequity that exists for Indigenous people and students in our country. In addition, I have come to realise that being an educator comes with a sense of responsibility that demands a clear comprehension and justification of your own beliefs and opinions, and without these I was ill equipped to be teaching in an Indigenous context.

Yet the journey to arrive at this conclusion took time, appreciation, learning and respect.

5. Why is it important to the education of children?

3. Tell us about your school, your students and your colleagues.

This type of history draws on personal narratives and experiences as a basis for learning. The special moments in my classroom are found in teacher-student connections and two-way learning, where by stories of self, place and culture become powerful for both students and the educator. These stories of self are shared and explored. As a non-Indigenous Australian, the facilitation and practicalities of this process are at times complex and difficult to navigate. Yet they are central to the personal development and identity of so many students at Tennant Creek.

6. What is one of the greatest challenges facing your students?

There are many issues that students face at Tennant Creek High and many of these compound to create complex difficulties at school. Challenges that some students face include relative poverty, a lack of adequate nutrition, domestic violence, low levels of literacy and numeracy, racism, trauma, drug and alcohol use, bad hearing, geographical remoteness, as well as

© ATOM 2017

Tennant Creek High is truly unique. It is a remote school in the NT and is around 85% Indigenous which makes it a complex and enriching workplace. The student body at Tennant Creek High School is extremely transient. Many students from communities in Central Australia come and go from the school which means enrolment fluctuates significantly throughout the year.

In addition, this school manages non-attendance, behaviour difficulties and other complex factors on a daily-basis. Despite many students living lives affected by trauma, poverty and a lack of opportunity as well as low literacy and numeracy, they are perhaps the most resilient and talented people I have met in my life. The school embraces innovation and new ideas in light of these challenges. Teachers work hard to help these students gain a quality education. My Principal, Maisie Floyd, is an inspiration and has students at the centre of all her decisions. She is inclusive and wants her teachers to be effective, to improve and to implement best practice. Equally the Assistant Principal and

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I I incidences of FASD. Despite these challenges, many students succeed and achieve beyond expectations.

Students rarely, if ever, use these challenges as an excuse but rather it is testament to their strong character and willingness to learn and become better people.

7. What is one of the greatest challenges facing teachers in your context?

The greatest challenge for me was being able to understand at what point the extent of your duty of care for your students stops. At times I became frustrated as I wanted to assist in ensuring that the wellbeing of the students at the school was paramount to their overall schooling success. But as a teacher there is at times only so much you can do.

8. What is one of the greatest challenges facing the education system today?

Many students from disadvantaged backgrounds are not succeeding within Australia’s current school system. Failing to fix this problem will only hurt Australia’s economic, social, environmental and cultural future.

Teach For Australia plays a really important and measurable part in addressing this issue through improving teacher quality.

12. What’s next for you?

This year I have been given a position as an English teacher at Granville Boys Public School in NSW. This school is around 97% EAL and is home to many Lebanese, Afghani, Iraqi and Pacific Islander students.

The challenges this school has will be very different to Tennant Creek High, yet equally as important.

Source: Testing Teachers Media Kit, 2016

Student activity Interview a teacher at your school about his or her memories of their first year of teaching. Draw on the questions used in the interviews with the Teach for Australia associates to help you frame the questions that you will use in your interview. Ask the teacher to provide a photograph for you to include in the published interview. Working as a class, decide on a publication platform for the formatted interviews.

9. What has been the best experience in participating in Testing Teachers?

It has given me a greater opportunity to reflect on, and be critical of, my teaching practice -what I wanted to achieve as a teacher and also my own identity. Overall, I think the experience has made me into a better teacher in some regards, as well as a better person and I am really thankful for that.

10. What was one of the greatest challenges in participating?

The greatest challenge for me during the documentary was just making time for it. With lesson planning, study, as well as trying to have a life outside of school I found it quite hard to balance.

11. What do you hope audiences and or wider Australia will gain from watching the show?

© ATOM 2017

My students in Tennant Creek are the reason I said yes to doing the documentary because their stories are so special and I truly think that their stories will be communicated and portrayed honestly and wholly in the documentary. I hope it gives reason to Teach For Australia’s work and the importance of education for all kids around Australia. I hope it will put a face to educational disadvantage in Australia and show how complex and challenging this area is. Ultimately I want it to incite hope, optimism and show that change is possible and that great things are being achieved in low socio-economic communities around Australia.

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This study guide was produced by ATOM. (© ATOM 2017) ISBN: 978-1-76061-069-2 editor@atom.org.au To download other study guides, plus thousands of articles on Film as Text, Screen Literacy, Multiliteracy and Media Studies, visit <http://theeducationshop.com.au>. © ATOM 2017

Join ATOM’s email broadcast list for invitations to free screenings, conferences, seminars, etc. Sign up now at <http://www.metromagazine.com.au/email_list/>.

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