To aid differentiation, questions extracted from the body of course material are presented in plain text, while questions raised in ‘Inquiry questions’ and ‘Discussion’ sections are italicised.
Overview
- How can I make school fairer for my students?
- Drawing upon the philospohy of education we consider the purpose/s of schooling in contemporary Australia, as they currently stand, are schools fit for purpose?
- What roles do schools play in the formation of society?
- Who benefits from schools?
- Why do we get reoccurring and persistent patterns of underachievement?
- How do some of the experiences of students in Bridgeport connect to the larger problems common to Australian schools?
- What social justice/equity issues can you find evidence of in Bridgeport?
- For what purpose/s were systems of mass schooling established?
- How has this changed? What is/are the purpose/s of mass schooling in the present age?
The School
- For what purpose/s were systems of mass schooling established?
- How has this changed? What is/are the purpose/s of mass schooling in the present age?
- What sort of education do Australian children need to thrive and compete in this global world?
- What was the job of the teacher, historically?
- Have the needs and purposes of the schooling system changed?
- Are we meeting the needs of our current students?
- When you pass a school how do you know that it is a school (besides the signage)?
- What are the common elements to schools, both in Australia and overseas?
- Are these common elements necessary for learning?
The Teacher
- What do I understand a “Teacher” to be?
- How do I develop my professional identity as a teacher?
- Consider popular cultural depictions of teachers, how are they depicted (Hopeless, sadistic, mean, angry, out-of-touch, inspiring, charismatic, heroic, etc…)?
- Are these characterisations true to life?
- Is the schooling system adequately represented by such portrayals? Why/Why not?
- Do you think teaching is a respected profession, on par with medicine or law, or do you think it is misunderstood?
- What judgements have you made about the case of the naked teachers? Were these judgements ethical or moral?
- How many laws are teachers currently goverened by?
- What role/responsiblity does each of these government departments (BOSTES, AITSL, ACARA, NSW DEC, My School, The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child) have regarding teaching in NSW?
- Are teachers professionals?
- How do you see the teaching profession?
- How do others see it?
- Do the professional standards help or hinder teachers in their quest to be considered professionals?
- What do you consider to be the factors that make up teachers’ professional identities?
- How do we ensure that the ethical dimension of teachers’ professionality is not neglected?
Let’s talk about Theory
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What is sociological theory?
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How can I use sociological theory to help me in my teaching practice?
- Do that schools operate as meritocracies?
- When we see persist patterns of underachievement in schools how can we use social (or sociological) theory to help us explain these patterns, and to change this?
Social Justice
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Within the Australian schooling context, what are the equity and social justice issues?
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How do these issues connect to Bridgeport?
- How does Chris Lilley use the characters of summer heights high to demonstrate the classed and gendered aspects of these characters?
- How do these issues play out in schools?
- In Australia, we like to consider ourselves prepared to give others a “fair go”. But is this really the case in the education system?
- What are the equity and social justice issues in the Australian school system?
- Should we “Give a Gonski” or should Gonski be Gone-ski?
- What evidence is there in the information regarding Bridgeport that some of the equity issues identified in Australia at large operate at this site?
School Change
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How does change occur in schools?
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How do I become a change agent? (In my school, or my KLA/department/faculty, or just in my classroom?)
- How will you know when change has occurred?
- What is your baseline?
- How do I collect baseline data and change data?
- What is best practice in the area that I want to change?
- What do you need to investigate (or research) to bring about the change that you are planning for?
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