Australian Teacher Magazine - No.1 national education sector publication

Teachers struggling to anticipate the cultural and religious needs of Muslim students can now turn to a new professional development resource that targets the issue.

The Australian Curriculum Studies Association (ACSA) has written a book on the topic and is staging nationwide workshops, in partnership with the University of Melbourne’s National Centre for Excellence in Islamic Studies.

ACSA’s director of curriculum services, Jennet Cole-Adams, says the aim of resources is to raise awareness for teachers about meeting Muslim students’ needs and to enhance interfaith and intercultural relationships between students.

“It’s not that we could tell [teachers] what to do about the requirements of prayer or washing the feet or girls wearing hijab and PE or sex education and issues Muslims might have around that,” Cole-Adams tells Australian Teacher Magazine. “We couldn’t necessarily provide solutions, but we could give teachers hints on what issues might arise and why those issues might arise...”

Cole-Adams says the help available may empower teachers to deal with issues and “negotiate with Muslim students and their parents with a bit more confidence” to try and reach outcomes where the curriculum is being delivered as it is needed to.

The book encourages teachers to introduce content about Islam across the curriculum to try and familiarise students with historical and cultural aspects of both the religion and its devotees. They hope increased understanding on all sides will address some of the misinformation and stereotypes prevalent in Australia and the fear these views can create. “It’s quite hard being a young Muslim in Australia at the moment because there is a lot of stereotypes and media coverage that presents Muslims in a particular light.

“We often ask young Muslim kids about their allegiance, are they Muslim first or are they Australian first, and define them in those terms, whereas we don’t require that of children of other faiths, there’s not that expectation and pressure,” Cole-Adams reflects.

Workshops already staged this year have been well-attended, particularly in states with a greater number of Muslim students such as New South Wales and Victoria, and in many states where the education department has assisted with program delivery.

The final workshop for the year will be in Canberra on September 6. The project is still very much in its early stages and ACSA hopes to be able to offer more professional development events next year. Visit the ACSA website www.acsa.edu.au  for more information on events and available resources for educators.

Earlier this year, Australian Primary Principals Association President (APPA) Leonie Trimper urged members to turn out in force for the 2010 conference, noting “what a statement we could make if 1,000 of us gathered together.”

Although organisers expect closer to 800 attendees at the Perth event in October, there is still a drive for principals to attend and take a stand about their profession.

“Hopefully what [attendees] get out of this is that we are a profession, we should stand up for our profession, we are the experts in the profession, and we need to network within our profession... because we have been pushed around a bit by state governments and by a number of people who have the very best intentions, but we need to say what’s best for the profession,” joint conference organiser and West Australian branch president Stephen Breen, says.

APPA, which caters for principals of government, Catholic and independent schools, first started holding annual conferences in 1974. The theme of this year’s event is Balancing Primary Leadership. “What we have to do is look at balancing schools,” Breen comments.

“Schools are accountable for teaching literacy and numeracy, there’s no two ways about that, and the eight learning areas. However there are wider issues and some of those issues are that a school is not an island – we live in a community.

“We have to engage with the wider community and the wider community have to engage with us, so one of the speakers that we’ve got is Bernard Salt (a demographer) who’s talking about ... how is the community changing, how are our clients or our students changing, how are our teachers changing, and how should principals modify their practices?...” he adds.

Keynote speakers include professor Neil Dempster, who will talk about principals as literacy leaders, noted American researcher Spencer Kagan on instructional leadership, Wendy McCarthy on leadership and Dr Suzy Green on positive psychology. Other sessions will discuss building children’s resilience and self-esteem and understanding the new national curriculum.

“We are looking at obviously the very big areas of the My School website and those administrative accountability areas, but probably more so with this [conference] we are getting back to the roots of our profession, that is the pedagogical practices within schools, within classrooms” Breen says.

Attendees are in for a treat on their final day as comedian Ahn Do will speak before the closing address. The APPA national conference runs from the October 21-24 at the Burswood Entertainment Complex in Perth.

The Association (AISNSW) represents around 440 independent schools across the state, enrolling more than 173,000 students. The Association provides a wide range of services to schools, including advice and assistance on industrial relations and government regulations, as well as administering government program funding for capital works, literacy and numeracy, students with disabilities and other special needs.

A significant focus for the Association is its longstanding professional development program, which is delivered by an experienced team of educational consultants and provides in-depth courses spanning the curriculum, as well as tailored programs for individual schools upon request.

Course offerings change each year to suit emerging curriculum needs while also taking account of non-curricular areas such as classroom practice, pastoral care, the use of information technology in the classroom and the delivery of government-funded road safety, drug education and values education programs.

In recent years, the establishment of the Independent Schools Leadership Centre has ensured that future and developing principals, school leaders and managers can also access high level and practical, rather than theoretical, professional development that focuses specifically on the independent school environment.

Most courses are open to member and non-member schools. Visit www.aisnsw.edu.au for more information.

Dr Geoff Newcombe
Executive Director, AISNSW

STAT has a wide range of members with an interest in K-12 science education. Every year we offer a state conference and a program of professional learning to support teachers. This year we linked the first workshops to the theme ‘Australian biodiversity’.

We also run an annual student competition called the Tasmanian Science Talent Search, which includes sections for posters, photographic essays, creative writing, computer presentations, technology challenges, science games and research investigations.

It is the only competition in Tasmania open to students of all school ages, abilities and learning styles. The presentation ceremony each year is a celebration of student work.

STAT plays a role in the selection of teachers for a variety of awards. For the first time this year, we are providing a scholarship for a new teacher to attend the Australian Science Teachers Association (ASTA) national conference. We also present the Winifred Curtis award, sponsored by the University of Tasmania, to an outstanding science educator.

Members receive STAT’s quarterly newsletter, STATIC as well as the journal Teaching Science, produced by ASTA. Visit www.key.org.au/stat/ to find out more about our association.