The most powerful influence upon a child’s educational outcomes and attainment is the social context in which they live. As children enter through those school doors they bring with them the things they have learnt from their homes, from their friends and the things they have learnt from the world they live in (Thomson, 2002, p. 1). Each of these things makes up what Pat Thomson refers to as a virtual schoolbag. This essay will explore how the virtual schoolbag enables schooling experiences, through the use of the enacted curriculum, to be connected with children’s communities and backgrounds providing children with a sense of belonging, creating educational equality and reducing the impacts of social disadvantage (Low SES Schools and Equity, …show more content…
The virtual schoolbag enables children to grasp a better concept of their identity, who they are, where they came from and be proud of the positive abilities they possess such as their current skills, knowledge and interests. Through the intergraded use of the intended, enacted and hidden curriculum and frameworks children are able to gain the confidence they need in order to succeed. Research suggests that positive self-esteem depends on whether or not children feel that others accept them as competent and worthwhile (Siraj-Blatchford & Clark, 2004, p. 23). This research also suggests self-esteem is also connected to academic achievements (Siraj-Blatchford & Clark, 2004, p. 23). Exploring the Early Years Learning Framework, outcome one point four, children have a strong sense of identity: children develop knowledgeable and confident self-identities (EYLF, 2009, p. 21). The implementation of the curriculum is a dynamic process and in order for outcome one to be achieved, reference to the social, cultural and community context in which the curriculum is created is required (MacLauchlan, Fleer & Edwards, 2010, p. 65). In the early years children are vulnerable and the various adults in a child’s life can impact on their beliefs, views and actions (Siraj-Blatchford & Clark, 2004, p. 22). As teachers are highly influential beings within a child’s life, it is important …show more content…
Not only that the virtual schoolbag enables schooling experience to be connected to children’s community and background, it boosts children’s self-esteem thus increasing their academic achievements and allows children to feel a sense of belonging. This can be achieved through use of the intended curriculum as well as through identifying aspects of the hidden curriculum that create these disadvantages and inequalities. As Thomson explains “it is not the children who are disadvantaged but rather it is the school that does the disadvantaging” (Thomson, 2002, p. 4). One of the aims of the Australian Curriculum is that all young Australians become successful learners (ACARA, 2013). This can be achieved by enabling all children to open up their virtual schoolbags and by incorporating and implementing this through the curriculum and frameworks in order to create educational
The fourth chapter in Putnam’s Our Kids is titled “Schooling”, and it focuses on how education plays into class inequality. The argument is that while schools do not cause the opportunity gap between poor kids and rich kids, the schools allow it to grow. Putnam claims, “schools as sites probably widen the class gap,” (182). How the schools act as these sites, is based strongly on the physical segregation of rich people from poor people.
Hardman, M. L., Drew, C. J., & Egan, M. W. (2011). Human exceptionality: school, community, family (10th ed.). Australia: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
Conversely, Albanese (2010) and Bergsma (2014) stepped into the same thought of how poverty affects student learning and participation in school activities For example; Children are at the most vulnerable stage of upbringing. Mainly this stage of vulnerability occurs outside of the home and possible in school. Many children face the problems of being teased because they are poor and secluded from the main stream children at schools. Children begin to believe what others constantly tell them and live under the pressure of conforming to the other school kids. Simple items such as clothing and accessories are the greatest status symbols in school. Often the penniless children feel embarrassed because they do not have the clothing and t...
Your identity as a learner is influenced by a range of different factors; socially, culturally, emotionally and physically and it also differs from other individuals. Hammond (2012) explains how associations and understandings are based on what is valued or experienced at home, in the community and in the classroom learning environment. “Teachers can organize information in the environment by taking into account how people process information and by linking learning to prior experience or prior knowledge” (Hammond, 2001). Teachers play a huge role in discovering our identities as learners; personally, the motivation that they provided and the group work that they encouraged us to be involved with have influenced me into becoming the individual that I am today. Not only ensuring that I have confidence, but also the social communication skills needed for everyday life.
In this essay, I am going to reflect on my learning and the way it has informed my practice in developing a positive learning environment. I am going to demonstrate my understanding of the need of promoting enabling environment in early years and the changes in my practice since attending university. I will critically evaluate on my own reflective and evaluative skills and I will offer examples of implementing these skills into my practice. I will explain why I decided to nurture the areas from the action plan and how I can achieve the recommended proposals. I am going to evaluate other modules and I will identify the areas I found interesting and would like to study in more depth. At the end of this essay, I will reflect on the learning journey and the way it helped to shape my personal and professional life. I will include references, which review related issues, where eligible.
...ple teachers and school personnel. “Like all of us, these students need to believe in themselves and to feel successful in their daily lives” (Albert, 2003).
Therefore, we as educators are dealt the problem of rectifying the situation as best as we can. To address this issue, a new philosophy was developed by Jane Roland Martin. I will term this the “schoolhome” philosophy. Whereas, Martin proposes
The importance of self awareness and esteem are necessary components in considering the whole child. The elementary level is the prime time to focus on building up a child 's self concept. The role of the teacher is to provide opportunities for young children to develop self concepts through age appropriate experiences that foster exploration and discovery which lends to self awareness. Two major components of self-concepts that every educator needs to keep in mind are (1) understanding their students, and (2) aiding their students in understanding and accepting themselves. In order to support the development of healthy self-concepts educators must be mindful of fostering experiences that encourage positive
In the search for quality and values there’s a fundamental increase in parents rejecting the Institutional Educational Systems in the twenty 21th Century, “Parents preferring Home Schooling”.
More troubling is that it disproportionately affects low-income students: they lose two months of reading skills, while their higher-income peers – whose parents can send them to enriching camps, take them on educational vacations and surround them with books during the summer – make slight gains.” This confirms the idea that a student’s environment can have a significant impact on their capabilities. Students in poverty surely cannot have the same tools provided by higher-income youth, they are held back by being a product of their own environment. Yet increasing time in school overall would probably not do much in closing the gap that lower and higher income student’s face. A student cannot do all their learning in mandatory schooling, part of the developed mind comes from personal experiences and ventures. If some were given the tools to learn more and perhaps become more immersed in an academic field, not everything can be purely instructed in a classroom, unless one wishes to live in a world of lacking innovation and
...of children from different economic classes (Frankema). Efforts targeted at poor and indigenous are also not showing to make huge changes in primary enrollment and achievement rates (Mier et al 2003). The funding and quality of the school, including classes, teachers, materials, and the involvement of family in the students’ academic efforts are other factors to consider. As mentioned earlier, society believes the first step to success is giving the opportunity. Society needs to reform this idea by including both opportunity and quality in the same step. Many programs have done these in separate steps, but including both in the same step will produce more efficient and positive change in the educational outcomes of students. This will take lots of commitment, investment, and collaboration with governments, organizations, schools, communities, families, and students.
Differences in appearance, social skills, personality, social class and academic abilities are all factors that students differ and make a truly diverse classroom. This diversity however, requires the role of an intellectual worker to build a depth of knowledge of a student’s social context. One that can help build relationships in and outside the classroom to understand and implement a more rounded curriculum. Down (2017, p. 122) explains the notion of ‘deficit thinking’ as, individuals, students, teachers and parents are to blame for school failure and individual under achievement and ignores the wider social context, therefore failing to question the institution of schooling. This line of thinking removes itself from the root cause of educational failure which is attributed to poverty, employment, housing and health (Down, 2017, p. 122). This is where connectedness comes in, linking students background knowledge and the curriculum to make the curriculum relevant to the student’s life external to the classroom (McGregor & Mills, 2017, p. 378). McGregor and Mills (2017, p. 373) explain, that students enter educational settings with a diverse range of skills and knowledge, however, they also enter from different backgrounds, environments, and levels of readiness for formal schooling. The importance of a teacher and student relationship is heightened in the socially disadvantaged and as McGregor and Mills (2017, p. 373) argue, lacking these relationships can result in disengagement and failure. However, by encouraging students to see the purpose of their learning and how it relates to their life, opens up a world of meaning for their learning (McGregor and Mills, 2017, p. 378). This meaningful learning for students allows for self exploration in a social context to help overcome social and economic disadvantages that contribute to school disengagement (McGregor, Mills te Riele & Hayes, as
Their success or failure in the development of new skills informs the child’s self-concept. Self-concept is the ideas that one holds about themselves. How they feel about their intelligence, personality, ethnicity, gender, and more are all a part of the child’s self-concept (Berger K. S., 2010, p. 285). In early childhood a person’s self-concept is optimistic and strong. In middle childhood, the child’s self-concept becomes more pessimistic and logical. They become more aware of what other’s think of them, and so they become aware of, and internalize, the stereotypes that follow minority groups (Berger K. S., 2010, p.285-286)
Social and emotional learning is defined by Zins, Bloodworth, Weissberg and Walberg (2004, p. 4) as ‘the process through which we learn to recognize and manage emotions, care about others, make good decisions, behave ethically and responsibly, develop positive relationships, and avoid negative behaviours.’ Schools need to reflect and help in the social and emotional development of children to meet the expectations within their community. By integrating thinking, feeling and behaving it is possible to achieve these important life tasks.
To conclude. Schools that are seen as privileged also have to overcome a lot of barriers that effects their learning. They are not the same as the schools in rural area’s, but they also need extra attention. If the students, teachers and parents work together, they can overcome these barriers to make a school a safe and effective learning environment.