Ed Foundations first blog post: JANE

Jane’s first year teaching has been difficult and not as effective as she hoped. As a result, she’s tired, stressed, badly discouraged, and needs to cultivate a sustainable and “transformative teaching practice” (Churchill, 34) to be able to continue. She should ask herself the provocation TO WHOM AM I ACCOUNTABLE? Clearly, she has obligations here to herself, who is burning out, to her students, who aren’t learning as well as they could, their families, who are sometimes hostile, and of course to the school, the government, and all the usual stakeholders.

She will have to clarify some of the compelling factors within and outside her classroom that could be affecting her students’ learning. According the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission’s National Inquiry into Rural and Remote Education (2000),

Access to education is compromised by ill-health, disability, poverty, isolation, high mobility and transience, natural events such as floods and even heavy rain. It is denied by remoteness coupled with the language and cultural inappropriateness of the instruction on

offer for hundreds of Indigenous children. (2)

In the sense that “accessibility” encompasses ability to physically get into the classroom, affordability and a reasonable degree of appropriateness, Jane must be accountable for improving her remote students’ access to learning.

Because of her personal background in a “nice suburb” with two professional parents, Jane’s school experience was probably substantially different from that of her current students. She probably had all of her basic needs met, didn’t have to travel a great distance to get to school, and it’s likely that her professional parents placed a high value on her education and were generally supportive of her studies. Examining some of the research into rural schools in her area would illuminate for Jane some of the issues that might be affecting her students and their families—what are the road conditions and costs of travel for her students? How far do they have to travel to get to school?

The form of transport, the amount of time taken for travel and the cost involved can all have a significant impact on school education. Many children in rural and remote parts of Australia travel to and from school in extreme conditions due to distance, road quality and climate.  (HREOC, 5)

Along with transport, other difficulties remote students may face include extreme climate, lack of internet access or even reliable electricity at home (HREOC). These could be powerful influences on a student’s wellbeing, energy levels and preparedness, and on the family’s ability to support the student.

In addition to studying the research, Jane is in a position to “negotiate a path” (Churchill, 35) between the school and the parents. Perhaps if she pursued a substantive conversation with some of the parents in her new school, she might identify some causes of the hostility she observes, and perhaps even see it soften if the families feel their needs are being heard and met. Can families be invited to participate more in the school? Perhaps greater transparency would improve relations.

Another inevitable question for Jane is, how relevant is the curriculum to the students in that rural school? Are there Indigenous students in her class? Are there language and cultural barriers between them and the curriculum? How does she perceive the general wellbeing of her students? Jane might find creative ways to make her teaching more fundamentally student-centered, adjusting the content and generally focusing on students learning rather than the teacher teaching (which must be very challenging to new, self-conscious teachers, getting easier with experience). Then perhaps her wish to “control” the students would lose some of its imperative; she will actually begin answering the provocation, HOW WILL I CONTROL MY STUDENTS? in ways that develop her students’ learning better.

Put simply, if teachers meet the basic needs of children (from material needs for food and shelter to less tangible needs such as respect and being valued), their behaviour is unlikely to be problematic (Lawson & Petersen 1972, as quoted in Churchill, 56).

By pursuing a greater, more holistic understanding of her students’ lives beyond the classroom, she will be doing more to make them feel respected and valued, taking important steps toward meeting some their basic needs, reducing problematic behavior in class, and helping them learn.