Global skills in Religion and Ethics

We also flipped the classroom and shifted from teacher-led to student-centred learning, whereby students worked collaboratively to explore source material relating to Indigenous history, culture and spirituality. Following this, and in order for students to receive an authentic learning experience and truly understand Aboriginal culture, people and spirit, we invited our Year 9 Indigenous students to share their expert knowledge with Year 7 by documenting their knowledge on film. Through sharing their stories with Year 7, they provided our younger students with the opportunity to learn from authentic sources and gain a deeper understanding of Indigenous culture, Aboriginal spirituality and its significance today.

Below are some reflections from our Year 7 students about why the experience was valuable:

“It was valuable to learn about Aboriginal Spirituality directly from Indigenous students.”

“It was a valuable film to watch in Religion classes, as it taught me about a unique belief system. I discovered that there are Indigenous countries located all across Australia, and how the girls have their own totems, that are symbolic to their own identity.”

“I think that it was a valuable film to watch in our lesson as the Year 9 girls all explained to us openly about their Indigenous cultures and how in different areas they have different Dreaming stories. I learned about what animals represent their areas and how it shapes their responsibilities.”

“I think that it was very important to listen to the film that the Year 9 girls created because they are sharing some of their culture and background. I found it very interesting to learn about their Aboriginal spirits and it was very engaging to learn it from students in our school, who are around our age.”

Students also reflected on new information they acquired:

Student feedback gave us valuable insight into the benefit and effectiveness of incorporating global skills into the unit and, in particular, through creating authentic learning experiences. This unit on Aboriginal Spirituality and Belief Systems aligns to Oxford University’s global skills of Intercultural Competence and Citizenship and Emotional SelfRegulation and Wellbeing, as well as to Pymble’s Social Intelligence pillar in which the focus is on ‘diversity as a path to unity’. We are exploring this important area through embedding Indigenous Australian perspectives into the curriculum and classroom practices to enable a richer understanding of Australia’s history and culture. Through offering choice and authenticity, we engaged students in a learning experience that engaged their thinking brain and emotional brain.

A future focused curriculum for the 21st century must, therefore, focus on concept-based, inquiry-led, studentcentred learning that promotes social and intellectual wellbeing. Despite the 21st century ushering an age of technological transformation, soft skills remain essential as they cannot be automated. A global skills-embedded curriculum such as Religion and Ethics is positioned to create a blueprint to prepare today’s students for the world of tomorrow, empowering learners to become informed and empathetic global citizens who are well equipped for success in a rapidly changing environment.

“Offering choice and authenticity, we engaged students in a learning experience that engaged their thinking and emotional brain.”

References

International Baccalaureate Organisation. (2017). What is an IB Education? Cardiff, Wales: IBO. Retrieved from https://www.ibo. org/globalassets/what-is-an-ib-education2017-en.pdf. OECD. (2018). PISA 2018 Assessment and Analytical Framework. Paris, France: OECD Publishing. Retrieved from https://doi. org/10.1787/b25efab8-en. Oxford University Press. (2020). Global Skills: Creating empowered 21st century citizens. Oxford, England: OUP.

A (research) hero’s journey…

BY VICTORIA ADAMOVICH

Once upon a time, in a school not so far away, a teacher looked at her notes on the English as an Additional Language and Dialect (EALD) students in the Junior School…and asked a question.

EXPOSITION RISING ACTION

Reading together with students was a precious time, as the girls often did not have an English speaker to read aloud with at home. Since our reading time was quiet, one-to-one time, it also allowed me to talk to the students about their lives and families.

INCITING INCIDENT

My notes showed many EALD students were the only child at home; some had not seen their father for many months, some had grandparents caring for them. For some girls, I felt school and sometimes I were the only constants in the girls’ lives with the revolving door of mum, dad, grandma or grandpa coming and going throughout the year. I wondered, “How do these family structures impact the girls’ wellbeing?” For some time, I had been interested in doing a Masters in Research, but I waited for the right question to come up: a topic that would be relevant to my teaching practice and interesting enough to devote my waking hours to answering. Now I had a question, how do I go about answering it?

I jumped at the opportunity to join the Pymble Reflect-Review-Renew (RRRPL) Professional Learning Research group in 2019. I listened to other teachers doing action research or pursuing more formalised Masters or PhDs. It wasn’t as bad as some horror stories I’d heard about pursuing post-graduate research and the group’s real-life experiences gave me the confidence to apply for a Masters at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). With some help, I found a supervisor in my field. Hooray! Armed with my metaphorical sword I was away to slay the research dragon!

The meadows of research literature are laden with acronyms, theoretical frameworks written by people with lots of titles. Staying humble and asking (seemingly dumb) questions, I learned from colleagues and other UTS students about their research process and methodologies. It was so invigorating discussing my research question with my supervisor, Dr Christina Ho from the University of Technology Sydney, who has written a book about students and families from selective schools in Sydney, Aspiration and Anxiety Asian Migrants and Australian Schooling. The best part of my Masters has been the reading - what is formally termed the literature review. With my access to the UTS library, the world of research was at my fingertips. One could go down rabbit holes quite quickly: The single child policy of China; migrant experiences in Australia; EALD student transition programs in schools in Melbourne; the astronaut parent and parachute children phenomena of Hong Kong migrants in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the USA; the stress of acculturation or how migrants cope with moving countries; transnational grandparenting… It was all endlessly fascinating, but I had to be more discerning with the reading to avoid burying myself in the literature snowstorm.