Journal for Jasmine Breeze

An Introduction to Stronger Smarter

12 Dec 2017 End of Part 3

In reflection of my learnings throughout the course I have discovered through
self-reflection and reference to my personal learning experiences the importance
and significance of the Stronger Smarter approach. I started this module with
minimal knowledge of the program and the state of Indigenous education. Since
then I have been able to interact with multiple resources. I understand that the
Stronger Smarter approach is about high expectations for and from our students
and ourselves as educators. I acknowledge that positive high-expectation
relationships are important for promoting positive learning environments and
leadership within Indigenous and non-Indigenous education. I also recognise the
importance of a positive sense of identity through acknowledgement,
development and embracing of student identity within the school culture. As an
educator, I have witness and contributed to the continuance of deficit
conversations but now that I am aware of the impact these conversations have
had in disabling practices. I aim to participate in positive conversations that
create enabling opportunities for challenging ‘deficit’ discussions. By creating the
change as an educator, I will be contributing to the school’s culture and the
impact of intercultural understanding among students within the classroom and
school environment. I hope to incorporate the five strategies for change in my
teaching practice to improve the outcomes for Indigenous and non-Indigenous
students. I understand that It is important to address the challenging issues at
hand when working with Indigenous students, and therefore will aim to lead by
example by collaborating with students, parents and the community to develop
the implementation of high-expectation leadership and relationships within the
classroom. As part of the staffing team of the future school that I will teach at. I
will aim to familiarise myself with the existing Indigenous school culture and
improve the status of Indigenous students within the school by using staffing
models and school models to assist the challenge of working beside and with the
Indigenous community, school, the student and their family. My next step to enact
change within a school or workplace depends on the situation that I am faced
with but I hope that I can partake as an educator who helps to close the gap
between Indigenous and non-Indigenous education. I feel strongly about the
deficit conversations that are taking place within the school and could focus my
attention to challenging these conversations when they arise. I believe in making
meaningful connections with the Indigenous community because there is a lot we
can provide together for these Indigenous students. In my opinion making
contact with an elder or leader within the Indigenous community is the first step to
implementing a further method of staffing approaches that address the
challenges that Indigenous students may face. By having the support of the
 community we are essentially receiving an insight to the cultural and social
influences that are affecting the student’s ability to engage within their education
and providing the opportunity for cultural awareness of the Indigenous society. I
believe that there is still a lot I could learn from the Indigenous culture, history
and society, and will seek further into other teaching strategies in place for
Indigenous students. As for the next step in my personal learning journey I hope
to use and implement my knowledge of the Smarter Stronger approach through
high-expectations for all students within my classroom. I aim to promote positive
student identity within the students I teach, and embrace positive Indigenous
leadership by providing opportunities for Indigenous students to thrive and
succeed within their education. My intention is to engage with students and their
parents to create awareness of the students’ progress and the high expectations
that I believe the students have the potential to achieve. I hope that one day I will
be able to work alongside a Indigenous teacher aid in which I would co-educate
the students within our class. A major key to my improvement is to set goals and I
hope to do so by looking into the school’s data of Indigenous education and set
out to create strategies from this data to meet particular goals set out by the co-
operation of the Indigenous community, other educators, the school, parents and
students.

12 Dec 2017 Compare results

Once I learnt about enabling and disabling practices at my school. I realised that
although I was not a part of the disabling behaviours. I was still contributing to
this behaviour by recognising this issue as somewhat challenging and not
engaging myself in that environment because it was too confronting. I think
personally I am surprised from this knowledge that I hope to disable these
practices in further situations as I feel more confident in talking about Indigenous
education and deficit conversations. I feel as though I know how to challenge the
ideology of disabling practices.

As I always like to put the students first for it is their education that we are
providing. I have come to realise that I do let the differentiation of learning affect
the constant high expectations that I try to implement within my teaching. This is
my challenge that I now have to face to improve my teaching practice to provide
high expectations for and from my students to achieve the high outcomes I set
for success.

I feel as if I am having different conversations and talking differently because I

know more about the gap of Indigenous and non-Indigenous education. Although
I feel like I will need to do a lot more research into the findings and strategies in
place for closing the gap. I know my understanding of Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander people has been widened and my perspective of their culture,
history and society has been further developed.

12 Dec 2017 Self assessment

Self assessment
 How much do I currently understand about the philosophy and beliefs of the Stronger
Smarter philosophy and approach?

Rating - Four/Five

How much do I understand and use the common language of Stronger Smarter?

Rating - Four/Five

How aware am I of my own assumptions about Indigenous students, their families and
their education?

Rating - Four/Five

How well do I understand myself as a cultural and unique being?

Rating - Four/Five

How aware am I of enabling and disabling practices at my school?

Rating - Five/Five

How aware am I of my own engagement with enabling or disabling practices?

Rating - Four/Five

How much effort am I putting into changing my own disabling practices?

Rating - Four/Five

How much effort am I putting into changing the disabling practices in my school?

Rating - Four/Five

To what extent do I explicitly engage with data to track Indigenous student performance?

Rating - Three/Five

12 Dec 2017 Part 3 Summary - Strategies for change

Facing the challenges of Indigenous education within the practicum school that I
attended includes the recognition of the school’s participation in acknowledging,
developing and embracing Indigenous Australians. Although there are a lot of
challenges still ahead for this school. They still face discrimination among
students which I would refer back to the inadequate knowledge on the
Indigenous culture across the school entity. There is little awareness of
Indigenous students within the school as focus of these students is drawn to their
mental wellbeing. This is beneficial in supporting the Indigenous self-identity of
the individual but detrimental in supporting the full capability of the students
learning needs. I believe that there are many challenges to meet within this
school that refer to the cultural knowledge of Indigenous culture, history and
society for not only Indigenous students but the non-Indigenous students as well.

In perspective of addressing the issues of Indigenous education within the

staffroom. I would argue that more development of cultural awareness and hands
on research and experience in this area is needed from these educators to
widen their perspective and judgement to ensure more positive relationships
between teachers and Indigenous students. Widening an educators’
perspectives would also be challenging the deficit conversations of many
cultures and widening the perspective of teacher influence on students. This
could improve the school culture for Indigenous students with teachers acting as
 leaders in this movement of eliminating cultural stereotypes.

As a school, there is always need for improvement and as stated in the previous
journal entry. There are multiple school models that can be implemented within
this school to promote positive Indigenous leadership within students, teachers,
the school and the wider community. Though there is little action being done in
this present time. In particular, I feel the school should focus on the staffing
approach to Indigenous education and converse with the Indigenous community
to create a positive relationship that will enhance over time by developing on the
areas that need attention. Teachers should be considering factors of promoting
a positive sense of identity within students while enforcing high expectations
within the classroom that both parents and students should be aware of. The
school model should involve teachers’ implementation of programs and effective
teaching pedagogies through high-expectations. Whilst focusing on creating
relationships through communication with the parents and Indigenous
community. Participation in promoting positive Indigenous leadership should
result in better outcomes for Indigenous students and the school culture.

12 Dec 2017 School models

As covered within this module there were three school models; Meaningful
connections with community, staffing approaches and schooling starts at birth. In
my context, I believe that meaningful connections with the community would
support Indigenous leadership by the connection to an elder member or a strong
leader of the Indigenous community. These members of the indigenous
community stipulate the connection of a role model or imply leadership that can
support the high expectations of relationships between teacher-student, the
school and the community. These meaningful connections with the Indigenous
community allows school’s guidance in Indigenous programs and can support the
idea of quality schools, classrooms and relationships. In creating deep and
meaningful connections the example within the reading ‘What is at the end of that
dirt road?’ creates a program of night classes that engages the parents within
the students learning and is not only a great idea for community involvement but
its beneficial for the relationship between the students’ home life and family.
Although the environmental context is different, I believe the incorporation of
Indigenous families within the students’ learning and development is significant in
the growth of the Indigenous community but also for the students’ self-identity.
The second school model of staffing approaches is present within my context
with Aboriginal workers already within the practicum school. These educators are
respected and treated as co-educators working beside and together to
implement positive learning environments within the classroom. Both educators
implement high expectations and high outcomes as supported by the community.
These educators listen and converse together for better implementation of
Indigenous leadership as a ‘two-way team’ within the classroom environment.
The third model of schooling starts at birth and would rely on the relationship of
education sectors starting from Foundation to Year 12. The consistent effort of
respect, engagement and high expectations relationships with the Indigenous
community should be available throughout the student’s schooling career. It is
 important to cater for Indigenous students throughout their learning to uphold the
learning needs of the student by supporting their need to understanding their
cultural identity, and support the formation of their own self-identity. Therefore, in
implementing this model we would need to ensure that positive learning
environments are witnessed and implemented across all areas of education; and
that parent and community involvement starts at the fundamental early stages to
further develop the success of Indigenous students within their educational
career. Lastly, school models should represent the relationship between teacher-
student, the school and the community by creating the opportunity for Indigenous
people to learn about their own culture within the education system. School
models should not only be subjective of meaningful connections with the
community or staffing approaches but should ensure that educator’s reflexivity is
assertive to creating positive learning environments for all students through
teaching pedagogy. Educators must be mindful that challenges surrounding
Indigenous students need to be addressed to provide the opportunity for
innovative school models to be successful.

12 Dec 2017 Summary: High-expectations leadership

The school in which I attended my first practicum has high expectations set for
disciplinary actions but not so much for classroom settings. I found in the multiple
classes that I observe that high expectations relied on the teachers’ relationship
that they had with their students. In majority of the classes I observed the high
expectation from students was shown through the equal power between teacher
and student, and the relevance of completing the outcomes of each lesson and
how the work set for the lesson is relevant to the overall topic. Although, some
classes that I witnessed had low expectations and minimal interaction with the
students. The class become more of a process of copy after me then you can do
what you want. This wasn’t engaging and an understanding of why students get
bored could be gaged. I think this school would benefit from a shared
understanding of high expectations within the school and classroom setting. In
effort of creating mutual understanding of high expectations, staff meetings could
be used as a gathering to challenge the situation of low expectations and
increasing these expectations for all students: Indigenous and non-Indigenous to
create better engagement and leadership within the classroom. Personally, I
would ensure the high-expectation relationships between my students by
ensuring that the content is known, there is relevance to cultural background and
that the lessons are realistic and cater for differentiation while accommodating
high expectations of my students. My perception of high expectations is a high
standard of learning, a student can be a high achiever but the constant worker
who is dedicated to their learning and shows consistent effort to contribute and
better themselves would meet my high outcomes as an educator. I think it’s
important for students to know and understand the high expectations that you
hope to receive from them and in turn the expectations that they expect from
you. These being that an educator provides an engaging and content relevant
lesson that students can relate to and understanding through a fun and
challenging learning experience. This mutual understanding can help to make a
class more engaging by working on areas of development within the teacher-
 student relationships and classroom efficacy. In creating high expectation
relationships with staff, I would elaborate on my findings within the classroom,
and refer to my fellow educators for advice on how I could improve or adjust my
teaching strategies to better cater for higher engagement and participation within
my classes. Staff meetings could be a great place to share my knowledge and
engage with other teachers with greater expertise. It could also be a great time to
introduce the community to our teaching practices and aims of reaching an
overall high-expectation leadership within the school. Involving the community
within the school procedures allows parents, caregivers and the Indigenous
community to come together to look at areas that are strong and develop on
what makes these areas strong. What concepts do we need to implement to
make other parts of the school strong and how can we create a positive learning
environment that caters for the students’ intellect and wellbeing by looking at the
multiple influences that assist the learning journey of our students’ like cultural
knowledge and understanding of self-identity. These meta-strategies within the
Smarter Stronger approach are useful not only for improving the learning of
Indigenous students and education. But play a vital role in the advancement of
catering to all students needs, and making our education a better well-rounded
learning experience that promotes the success of future communities from
Indigenous and non-Indigenous cultures.

11 Dec 2017 Summary: Embracing positive Indigenous leadership

In the practicum school that I was at they acknowledged and embrace Indigenous
leadership through the process of student-identity. The way that students
presented and represented the school within the outer school community was
through cultural excursions that involved students interacting with the culture and
history of the Indigenous people. Overall, the involvement of the community and
parents/caretakers of the Indigenous students was not clearly apparent and
therefore it is uncertain to whether there was or wasn’t any community
involvement between the school and Indigenous community. So to enhance
leadership from the Indigenous community within the school. This school would
benefit from interaction and communication with elders, Indigenous leaders and
the local community. Gaining the support from these communities will help in
providing a better education for Indigenous students if there is a program or
implementation of promoting Indigenous leadership. Personally, I have found
from my personal coaching reference that the players I coach aspire to be
people who convey leadership skills and are publicly known for the things they
have done to help the sporting community. In relation to Indigenous education, I
believe the same concept could be incorporated where elders, aunties or a well-
known Indigenous leader is a person who Indigenous students can look up to
and value themselves towards the concept of create Indigenous leaders within
the local community. As an educator with an idea, I must be respectful of the
Indigenous community and pass my ideas through the school firstly before
approaching an Indigenous community with my ideas. I will have to be mindful
and respectful of the traditions and custodians of the Indigenous to ensure that
the program or incentive is one that equates the proceedings of equal ownership
and allows for appropriate acknowledgements to be made. For assistance in
 creating a program, I think it’s important to incorporate both the Indigenous
Community within and around the school. Therefore, including the Indigenous
Education Worker within the school and parents of Indigenous students, to
ensure that everyone is including in further developing a way to embrace
leadership. Embracing Indigenous leadership within your school relies on the
ability of the staff, school, parents, wider community and Indigenous community
including both students and parents to come together in creating positive
opportunities for Indigenous students to be stronger, and able to strive and
succeed in future leading careers. By introducing and embracing positive
Indigenous leadership, we are supporting a better learning environment for
Indigenous education and creating positive relationships to help our children
achieve their learning needs.

11 Dec 2017 Summary: Positive student identity

These example schools are encouraging the existing cultural identity within these
students by creating awareness of historical and cultural events within the local
Indigenous community. Through self-acceptance these schools are creating
stronger Indigenous students by giving these students more opportunities, and
providing these students deeper cultural understanding and learning
experiences by incorporating the “ancient, traditional and contemporary aspects
of Aboriginal cultures and societies.” I believe that it is important to create
learning environments that encourage students to be who they are and relate to
what they know, how they are and who they are. To gain better knowledge of
themselves and the culture, history and society that helped them developed their
own self-identity among our multicultural country. In reflection of the practicum
school that I attended. This school showed a school community effort in creating
a positive sense of Indigenous student identity through the following areas of
Acknowledgement, Developing and embracing your own identity. These areas
are expanded below with supporting events and factors that I believe encourage
a positive sense of Indigenous Identity. Acknowledge - Aboriginal Flag flown next
to the Australian Flag - Aboriginal names of animals: represent school sporting
teams. - Acknowledgement within every formal assembly - Indigenous Education
Worker who has their own space for Indigenous students within the school. -
Aboriginal artworks among the school. Develop - School Classroom for all
curriculum areas to undertake classroom setting in an outdoor space. - Use of
cultural reference within curriculum teaching areas for cultural background
lessons. - Personal Learning Plans for Indigenous Students - Multiple student
workers available - Opportunity for homework and assessment help. Embrace -
Recreational days for Indigenous to embrace their cultural identity. (Site visits,
cultural excursions) - Workshops: Dance, Art and Storytelling Although the
school has a positive sense of Indigenous student identity already. I believe that
the school could improve on the development of cultural reference to the
Indigenous culture and history, by focusing on the significance and other areas
like deeper understanding and connectedness as a focus aspect of preparing a
lesson for cross curriculum teaching areas. I also think it’s important to offer the
opportunity for non-Indigenous students to understand the Indigenous history
and culture as it can widen the cultural understanding within the school
 community. In creating significance of combining knowledge, I think the school
could have also combined with respected elders and Indigenous communities in
their local area to converse in ideological stories and also to increase the
Indigenous understanding of cultural language. Holistically for improvement, I
would aim for a connected environment that represents the QT model aspects of
“Connectedness, Significance, Background Knowledge, Cultural Knowledge and
narrative” in all areas of teaching including environmental aspects of classroom
setting and whole-school approach. I would instate that the practicum school did
adequately represent a positive sense of student identity but have a lot of areas
to develop among and improve. They showed a starting platform that is enough
to say there is a sense of cultural identity within this school that represents those
Indigenous students. Although the student’s self-identity needs to be further
embraced to a deeper understanding of one-self. While I am unsure of the
communities’ knowledge of Indigenous students within this school. I believe that
the community would have a lot to offer and would be helpful and understanding
to supporting the cause of creating a better learning environment for Indigenous
students and allowing these students the opportunity to have a better education
that is more fulfilled with deeper understanding of themselves. In conclusion, the
importance of creating and embracing a positive sense of Indigenous student
identity is to create cultural awareness and understanding for Indigenous
students and acceptance of diverse cultures from non-Indigenous students.
Although as we highlight ‘Indigenous student identity’, I would concentrate on
embracing the qualities that Indigenous cultures have to share, in terms of
education. Their intellect, stories, art, history and morals provide the opportunity
for Indigenous and non-Indigenous students to gain a different perspective of
education through cultural understanding. This is significant to understanding
who you are, by having a deep understanding and well-rounded awareness of
what cultures, histories and societal events that may contribute to who you are
as a person.

8 Dec 2017 Part 3: Strategies for Change

The areas in which I personally am seeking strategies to help implement change
focus towards the student and my own personal ability to provide and be a part
of something greater than myself. I aim to conceptualise strategies from the
following meta-strategy areas: 1. Positive student Identity Acknowledging and
embracing a positive sense of Indigenous student identity is not only vital for
schools to boost culture, attendance and student belonging. But is beneficial for
the Indigenous students who may have trouble in discovering who they are,
admitting their identity due to discrimination and the mistreatment that has
become from historical moments within Australian history. Acceptance of who you
are and everything that contributes to the person you are. Is important for our
mental and holistic wellbeing. Therefore, I value this strategy highly as positive
student identity will assist across all strategies. 3. High Expectations As an
educator, I hope to be able to convey high expectations throughout my role of
leadership. I have not thought of high expectations between teacher-student
relationships as this is a new perspective for me to explore. I try my best as it is
to convey high expectations within the classroom, in which I believe I achieve due
 to the respond from the students understanding and engagement among
activities. I understand as an educator that there is always room for more
learning and experience in new innovative ideology and find the use of high
expectation within relationships a challenge within my learning. 4.Staffing Models
I hope to motivate other staff to think of innovative and dynamic ways of
modelling the complex challenges of discourse within Indigenous and non-
Indigenous Education. I seek for change in this area as I accept that I need
improvement and more assistance in providing as much as I can for Indigenous
Education and therefore aim to be part of the educators that close the gap
between Australian Education. 5. School Models A strategy for change within the
school context is a skill that I could obtain and execute within a school to help
improve the environment and school culture by conveying values of self-worth,
acceptance and cultural diversity. It’s important to understand the social and
cultural contexts of the school environment and how easily it is for a student to
lose their bearings of belonging and self-identity. Therefore, I hope to find useful
strategies that I could implement with fellow educators and the school approval to
create a positive learning environment that supports student’s education.

8 Dec 2017 End of Part 2

The culture within the school of my first practicum was sufficient in catering the
needs of Indigenous students within the school community. Although, arguably I
would hint that educator’s connection with Indigenous students lack clarity to
where the teachers stood in terms of student-teacher relationship and whether
these Indigenous students were actually receiving the education they need. In
terms of making the school more enabling towards changing deficit
conversations. I believe that a cultural awareness whole staff meeting could
address the multiple opinions, perspectives and attitudes of the staff and from
there an intervention strategy could be undertaken on better cultural
understanding and awareness, promoting positive attitudes within student-
teacher relationships and highlighting particular personal development plans of
Indigenous Students within the school as examples could provide teachers with
more idea to what high expectations are required from teachers yet alone their
students.

8 Dec 2017 Summary - Understanding school cultures

In reflection on the behaviours of school cultures and deficit conversations, I
would like to change multiple aspects within my ideal classroom, the school
setting and myself.
For future references within my teaching and in particular my ideal classroom, I
would like to encourage students to take all educational opportunities available
and provide students the chance to have these opportunities. I would close down
on deficit conversations within the classroom by creating an understanding of a
different perspective and making a realistic and relevant example for students to
understand the importance of acceptance and change.
If we are to start somewhere with making our world a better place for all cultures.
We need to start with the educators that are assisting in allowing deficit
 conversations to continue within the education industry and wider channels of
society.
Educators should need to undertake Indigenous courses to culturally understand
the background to how our students could be affected and how change is being
implemented. Educators need to stay informed and aware of multiple concerns.
Reflectively one of these concerns should be our own cultural knowledge and
perception, and if this perception is one that is negative. We must think of ways
to widen our own understanding and explore past the issues, to accept the
cultural indifferences as a positive representation of many culture uniting as one.
This can give multiple opportunities for students to decide their own opinion
based on facts, research and the knowledge of cultures that are subjected from
‘mainstream’ rights.
School culture and setting is important in making an open and warm environment
for students which creates a positive welcoming vibe. Creating a positive learning
environment will assist in creating the relevance to students conceptualise the
idea of ‘belonging’, within education and schooling whether this be in the past,
present or of future setting. A positive school culture will help to increase a better
learning environment for students that should in term provide better outcomes of
engagement and attendance from students.
Personally, I need to conquer my understanding of the Indigenous culture,
history and race. Before I can feel confident that I will have adequate knowledge
of cultural background that may assist my teaching pedagogy for maintaining
high expectations through positive and strong student-teacher relationships for
both Indigenous and non-Indigenous students.

8 Dec 2017 Changing deficit conversations

In my situation at my practicum school, I felt obligated to stay silent among these
deficit conversations as these teachers have more expertise than myself. I often
found myself physically excluded from these conversations as I chose to continue
with my work at the desk allocated for me rather than state my opinion. As these
educators were more experience and were elders I had to treat them with respect
as its the courteous thing to do. My personal morals felt out of place in this
perspective. I would state that respecting my elder educators meant giving a
sense of approval to the notion of their deficit statements of cultural significance
and background of these students. They showed a lack of consideration and
care for those students and didn’t present a professional manner in my opinion
nor meet the ethical standards of the workplace. Now when I reflect on these
moments, I know I should have taken a stance against it by positively suggesting
that maybe there is something more than the deficit comments and statements
made. I think as teachers we need to implement deep knowledge and thinking
within our teaching but also to our approach on how we view the surrounding
events around us. When we say nothing we are allowing further judgement and
behaviour to continue whether it is ‘out of awareness’ or not.

As a leader, I could create awareness on the impact of deficit conversations by

integrating a different view within discussion of the classroom and staff room. It’s
important that we are aware of the impact of our words and therefore I would
 remind other students, teachers and our community of the saying, ‘our words
speak louder than our thoughts’. In creating awareness of our words, I aim to
reintegrate the idea of ‘out of awareness and being aware’ of what we say and
that our words can mean more to another person than what we might perceive. I
think it’s also imperative to highlight the importance of acting in a professional
manner. As educators we are leaders and role models to our surrounding
communities and cultures. The actions we make reflect through the students we
teach, and the teachers and families that we associate with. Therefore, we
essentially as educators are the people that have direct access in implementing
change within our youth and society.

To start changing the patterns of conversation, I would ensure staff opinions are
not shut down within discussion but rather challenged with a different
perspective. Looking at the opposite of what is opposed, is often a quick option
in creating judgement in a debatable way. By looking at both sides the ‘pros and
the cons’. We can reflect our thinking and perception to respond in a way that
looks at our behaviours and how we may be affecting the feelings and
judgements of other educators, students, and holistic what role we play within our
school culture.

8 Dec 2017 Deficit conversations

When I was on my first practicum there were multiple conversations that were
deficit. The beliefs of other educators and students were subjective and
stereotyped to the culture expectations set by society. Often I heard of stories
based around students of a particular culture that was the minority within the
school. They became the ‘talk’ or focus among staffroom discussions. Many of
the accusations placed on these students were guided from their ability and drive
like ‘inadequate achievement in fulfilling tasks: due to attendance, family issues,
complex situations and the culture that these students ‘represented’.” These
‘talks’ among the staffrooms often sounded like an ignorance to the students
need for help. There seemed to be little alarm in assisting these students to
ensure that these people still have the opportunity to receive a high-end
education. Some teachers that I observed ensured that all work required from
the student was met by providing the work for the student to complete. But there
was no follow up and if the student did not complete the work. They were marked
according to participation.
As a learning educator, it’s a concern that the reflective process of our
pedagogies are not entirely following up and creating opportunities for not just
Indigenous students but non-Indigenous students’ education. Fellow educators
within the staffroom state that ‘it’s always an endless battle’ for “behavioural”
students to complete tasks. These deficit statements of ‘they are incapable’, ‘he
shouldn’t because he is of a particular race’, ‘they get away with not completing
regular task because they are indifferent from us’ should not justify a child’s right
to education regardless of what cultural significance represents their backstory.
Justifying a students’ pass and background is discriminative to their right of an
equal education. They can’t help that they are identified under a race or
ethnicity. They can only accept who they are and hope that the world around
 them becomes accepting of their rights and provides the privilege for these
students to live a regular life like the regular people that they are.

6 Dec 2017 Intercultural understanding

My own perspective, beliefs and behaviour contributes to the culture of my
classroom environment by trying to create an effective space that is welcoming
and engaging for students. I aim throughout all my lessons to create relevance,
relation to background knowledge and to keep it real for the students to engage
with. Student understanding of the meaning and relevance of the learning
content is important for effective engagement and is incorporated through the
principles of the QT model. As a leader within the classroom I would use student
teacher relationships to gain awareness from my students in relation to the
school’s culture. I believe by starting to create a positive learning environment of
high expectations in the classroom, that I am contributing to the school culture by
leading by example. Of course planning for change must be implemented
through a school-based approach and I would be willing to change my teaching
approaches to suit the learning needs of the students and whole-school strategy.
Although in planning for change, my influence would be to consider engagement
with the students and strengthening the students’ awareness of the cultural
groups as valuable starting points for development among a positive school
culture.
Within the practicum school that I taught at. I would use the knowledge that I
have obtain to build on the existing strengths within the school culture.
Indigenous students are already given opportunities in line with learning of self-
identity, cultural knowledge and understanding, as well as the push to close the
gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students’ education in terms of
literacy and numeracy. As a teacher I would assist the school culture by
contributing my cultural knowledge to the integration of Indigenous Education
within my teaching of the subject music and the lesson planning of the specific
unit “Australian Music”. I think that the incorporation of Indigenous music not only
provides cross-curricular reference but also gives an opportunity for both
Indigenous and non-Indigenous students to understand the culture and the story
and narrative behind the meaning of these songs. I believe that the strength is
within the Indigenous history and culture, and as educators we need to create
opportunities to explore the cultural relevance and background knowledge within
the Indigenous culture to provide opportunities for our Indigenous students to
relate to their own culture and for non-Indigenous students to wider their
understanding of the multiple cultures that surround us. The school culture
should improve from the actions of the educators making the move to show what
is acceptable and what isn’t, and an equal education, a right to understanding
the cultural background of our country from the traditional owners of the land. Is
a way to implement and create change within the school culture by promoting
cultural knowledge and understanding of the Indigenous cultures.
By acknowledging and understanding the multiple cultures that make Australia
unique we will eventually close the gap of cultural indifference within education
by identifying the students right for a sense of belonging and identity within
Australian education.
6 Dec 2017 School culture
The school in which I did my practicum had both enabling and disabling factors
for the students of the school. Although the school had multiple cultures
represented by the students of many ethnicities, religions, socioeconomic status
and genders.
The school had multiple murals. It was interesting to see that majority of these
murals were in support of awareness for mental health and domestic abuse.
Whether this was due to the community influence or history was unknown. These
murals simply classified a definition of each area and created a space for
students to sit if need or reflect from. It didn’t really connect with me for being a
welcoming feeling but more of an understanding and awareness of these issues
and that they are real and they exist. For students it may be a different
perspective but the feeling of being welcomed was conveyed through the
activities the school undertook. There were always activities going on that
highlighted these mental health issues or challenges that these students may
face outside of school. This was great to see but the focus seemed to be drawn
to what seemed to be their biggest issue at that school. There were some
cultural murals in the one area of the school that was only seen on the way to
class. It was more subjective and would be appealing for students who are
unconsciously seen on the outer circle of the school cultures ecosystem.
It could be argued that this school showed a welcomed feeling towards
Indigenous students by the space for Indigenous students to communicate with
other students and participate in cultural events through in-and-outer school
experiences. But as great as this seemed it still felt as though the Indigenous
community within the school was hidden due to the space for the Indigenous
students being in a classroom rather than outside with the other social spaces.
For the limited time that I was there. I know that there was some value to the
education of Indigenous students as multiple Personal Development Plans were
shown to me. These plans conveyed strategies for dealing with poor behaviour
of these students and what the strategies are for fixing this behaviour by
providing cool down periods and referrals to Sentral. Although, there wasn’t any
integration to the way behaviour could be solved through differentiation of
learning or even engagement within their learning for effective strategies that
could be implemented.
The school culture did enable students to participate among a culture of their
own by creating an Indigenous space within the school. This space allowed
students to get extra help with their academic studies like homework and
assessment tasks. The school also introduced an ‘outdoor classroom’ as a
means of highlighting the effect of cultural understanding for Indigenous culture,
knowledge, history and teaching strategies. This ‘outdoor classroom’ introduce
the idea of circles, grounded experience and a different perspective for
educators to use within their implementation of fulfilling cross-curriculum
requirements.
Another aspect that allowed Indigenous students to ‘thrive and survive’ was the
outer school experiences that enabled Indigenous students to go on excursions
to ‘sites’ that assisted students in identifying the history of their culture by
 listening to stories and narratives of particular lessons in life.
I think the exclusion of the Indigenous and non-Indigenous students was one of
the most disabling factors. In reference to the ‘closing the gap’ report the idea of
inclusion of Indigenous students was by incorporating cultural understanding and
awareness into the curriculum and making an appreciation to understanding and
gaining knowledge of the Indigenous culture, knowledge and ways of living. The
perspective of this report was to include the Indigenous community within
education to create equal parts in closing the gap of differences in education
between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students. Therefore, I do commend the
efforts of the school in supporting the Indigenous community within the school
but I felt that the non-Indigenous community within the school needed to gain
more knowledge of Indigenous Australians. There is a lot to learn from the
multiple cultures that unite Australia as one community but we must acknowledge
each difference and accept these in order of moving forward to make Australia a
better place for all cultures. Cultural diversity is important and it must start from
somewhere that has an influential take on the youth of Australia like our
Educational sector.
Society has a massive impact on the subconscious judge-mental thoughts that
subdivide the community as one. This reflects within the school culture as many
cultures are divide on their ability to understand the content and knowledge.
There will be division and differences because of cultural boundaries but this
shouldn’t stop a student from having the opportunity to learn and have the same
respect and education as someone who is of the majority race or ethnicity. Our
curriculum is created from a Westernised approach and due to this and Australia
growing everyday as a multicultural country we are creating limitations for
students to have cultural understanding and acceptance within their education.

6 Dec 2017 End of part 1

The Stronger Smarter Approach has made me think about the way I interact with
students and get to know my students in a more open way. To better elaborate I
have always tried to create an equal opportunity for all students that I teach.
Everyone has the right to reach their full potential and not be tied down for
cultural differences. Personally I have witnessed the educational discourse of
culturally being disadvantaged due to barriers that shouldn’t exist. Knowing that
this is an issue within Indigenous education makes me disheartened to know that
students are still suffering from cultural diversity within their schooling. Gaining
the knowledge that I did not have before of the implications between Indigenous
and non-Indigenous education. I feel somewhat inclined to ensure that I
implement cultural awareness of the Indigenous community by reflecting cultural
awareness and understanding of the Indigenous communities, cultures, history
and develop my personal experience within these areas. So I can implement
cultural relevance and understanding in order of creating deeper knowledge and
understanding for students of Indigenous and non-Indigenous background.

6 Dec 2017 Part 1 Summary - The Stronger Smarter approach

What might the Stronger Smarter approach look like in practice? I would imagine
 this approach as one that is unified through positive relationships, cultural
awareness and understanding and the idea that the class are equal in their right
of an opinion and opportunity. A teacher is a leader that guides students to
reach certain aspirations, goals and academic achievements. They provide an
open experience to the classroom by highlight the importance of self-identity and
belonging; and therefore, provide students with a safe and positive learning
environment that enables students to express freely and engage fully towards
their learning.
If this was implemented at the school in which I attended my first practicum, I
would suggest that the school would see an increase in student participation of
not only Indigenous students but also the non-Indigenous community.
Attendance would see an increase as disengagement would be met through
engagement of teacher-student relationships. The school environment will
improve from the implementation of the Smarter Stronger approach by opening
new opportunities for Indigenous students and by creating cultural awareness for
the non-Indigenous community. It would be a positive start in providing equity for
all students and would encourage safe and welcoming classroom only if the
educator is part of movement in closing the gap.
I believe that my own beliefs and assumptions are shown through the Stronger
Smarter approach as I aim to be a leader within the classroom setting that knows
the students and encourages the best opportunities for the students to achieve
and succeed amongst. I aim to continually create high expectations for and from
my students as I hope for the students to aim higher than the standards and
stereotypes placed on them for being part of a culture. Individuals can’t change
what they are labelled under but can change the way of the future by accepting
who they are and tackling the classifications of society to create a better world to
live in.

6 Dec 2017 Changing the tide of low expectations

As an Educator, being Strong and Smart about my teaching pedagogies allows a
different perspective more so a different technique that I could counter into my
teaching ability.
Some messages that I take from this strategy is that positive learning is equipped
through positive relationships not only with the students but with the wider
schooling community. I do value this as important as we need to understand not
only the student’s ability, but what makes them who they are. That could be
shown through a self-reflected depiction of a students’ identity, and the
realization and understanding of what they want in life. Exploration and
understanding of the student’s mindset will allows us to better our teaching
strategies to create opportunities that supports student’s needs.
I believe through the knowledge of our students’ intentions and beliefs we can
help to shape and identify the younger generations by implementing strategies
that are better suited to their needs. In perspective of positive relationships,
gaining the respect of the student and showing care and consideration for the
students wellbeing, would place ourselves as educational leaders in providing
future students’ with the quality education that they deserve. Through guidance,
deeper knowledge and understanding we can achieve success and self-
 determination within students to reach those high-expected academic goals.
I would argue from personal experience from my practicum that not all educators
are highlighting the importance of catering for Indigenous Students and that
more attention needs to be focused on the teaching of cross-curriculum and
teaching standards. It is important that we get to know our students and create
effective lessons that shows relation to cultural background by implementing
cultural awareness. Students deserve to have an opportunity to learn and
understand about the traditional owners of this land and the cultural knowledge
that they have to offer our society.
In my opinion, Indigenous students are still inadequately treated within the
schooling system. Although, institutions may instate that their policies are aiming
for achievement in closing the gap. The gap is still present and many students
are unfortunately losing opportunities and their right for education due to factors
like disengagement and interest that lead to irregular attendance, retention and
the low expectations of Indigenous students. I believe that not all educators are
considering the Indigenous community and may support the notion of closing the
gap but are not contributing physically to the divide of equity and equality of
these Indigenous Students, and in some cases non-Indigenous students who are
culturally discriminated against by societal stereotypes and expectations.
The impact of the teachers’ perception on ‘high expectations’ for all students is
reliant on the difference between ‘a teacher’ and ‘a leader’. A teacher will fulfill
the requirements of the multiple institutions that supply the educator with a job.
Whilst the leader will take the students’ academic intention onboard to ensure
that students’ are getting the best they can of their education for further life
goals. It comes down to the personal reflection of educators in making the
change.

30 Nov 2017 The Stronger Smarter philosophy

A students’ cultural identity is important and we must acknowledge all cultures
within our multicultural country. No student should be disadvantaged for who they
are. In the video “Yes We Can” I strongly agree with Chris Sarra’s opening
statement “creating a positive sense of identity plays a part in transforming the
community”. Community involvement in cultural acceptance and understanding
promotes a positive leadership role within the students’ surrounding
environment. It’s important for students to know their self-worth and feel a sense
of belonging in the places they may visit to create a safe and supporting
ecosystem environment.
A school should be a place where students feel safe and welcomed, and a
student should feel a sense of belonging and purpose to being at school. So far
from the video, I can see the ideology of the Smarter Stronger approach
exercises the beliefs of positive cultural identity through the schools’
encouragement and high expectations of both Indigenous and non-Indigenous
students.
The SS approach is also indicative to showing school and community
involvement by the support of the Principal’s choice of the school motto being
“Danger and Smart”. to highlight and encourage support for Indigenous students
within the school to be strong and smart about their education.
 Whereas the community member Lisa O’Malley highlighted the high expectations
that are unequally conveyed. As mentioned about the high expectations of
Indigenous students, “It’s not about success. It’s about making a standard that
should of always existed”. Every student has a right and deserves an opportunity
to education and through high-expectation relationships, I believe that it is
possible to enable positive and greater approaches that will assist in closing the
gap between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous education.

Another statement from Lisa that I fully support is, “when students are given
opportunity and given belief in themselves. They enjoy the education and they
want to be there. Everyone likes to succeed and everyone likes to feel like they
have achieved something.” This supports the Stronger Smarter Philosophy of
acknowledging strengths and embracing a positive learning community.
I want to make a change as a teacher to embrace all cultures. Reflecting on my
own experience I aim to ensure positivity throughout my teaching and encourage
students to be aware of their self-goals and achieve to have success in meeting
these goals. Self-awareness and acceptance in who you are is important to
yourself as it makes you a stronger and smarter individual.

To be part of a stronger and smarter approach. I would take on the goal of

acknowledging myself and others for who they are and seeing the strengths in
every student I teach. I aim to be a role model that encourages a positive
approach by using positive engagement and reinforcement that supports and
promotes the Indigenous and Non-Indigenous students that I’ll teach.

I strongly support the notion of cultural awareness because it is time that our
cultures are equally acknowledge within our multicultural country. We may all be
Australians but we all share many differences that should be embraced. I agree
with Sarra, that “when we all understand... it’s going to be a fantastic country to
live in.”

30 Nov 2017 End of Introduction

Through undertaking a self-assessment, I have realise that my current
knowledge and understanding of the Stronger Smarter Philosophy is minimal. I
acknowledge the lack of my participation and personal ability to improve
outcomes for Indigenous Students and personally will be working towards a goal
that will improve this issue through the greater understanding of the Stronger
Smarter philosophy. My personal outcome that I hope to achieve from these
modules is to be able to understand and convey a positive leadership role within
the classroom. A leadership role that embraces all cultural identities and creates
high expectations alongside the community in delivering the promise of a
Stronger and Smarter future for every Australian child and student.

30 Nov 2017 Self assessment

Self assessment

How much do I currently understand about the philosophy and beliefs of the Stronger
 Smarter philosophy and approach?

Rating - One/Five

How much do I understand and use the common language of Stronger Smarter?

Rating - One/Five

How aware am I of my own assumptions about Indigenous students, their families and
their education?

Rating - One/Five

How well do I understand myself as a cultural and unique being?

Rating - Two/Five

How aware am I of enabling and disabling practices at my school?

Rating - One/Five

How aware am I of my own engagement with enabling or disabling practices?

Rating - Two/Five

How much effort am I putting into changing my own disabling practices?

Rating - Two/Five

How much effort am I putting into changing the disabling practices in my school?

Rating - One/Five

To what extent do I explicitly engage with data to track Indigenous student performance?

Rating - One/Five

© Stronger Smarter Institute and AITSL