The Australian Curriculum is futures oriented. The overarching objective is to equip students with 21st century skills and a quest for lifelong learning (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, 2012, pp. 4, 5, 28).
The challenge for teachers working at the crossroads of these varying discourses in the classroom is to translate the curriculum in a manner that places each student at the centre of teaching and learning in a encouraging and intellectually challenging manner.
This paper will compare and contrast these various discourses within the Middle Years (Years 7 – 9) and Senior Years (Years 10 – 12) contexts.
A common element in teaching both Middle Years and Senior Years students is the classroom cultural diversity.
The Melbourne Declaration espouses Morris’ (1996, p. 14) discourse of social …show more content…
adopting appropriate educational discourses to foster appreciation, respect for, and inclusion of, diverse learners) to lead to reforms in society. The social reconstructionist goals of the Melbourne Declaration are reflected in the Australian Curriculum in both the general capabilities (e.g. intercultural understanding) and, in respect of Indigenous Australians, the cross-curriculum priority of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, 2013a, p. 5). In the Queensland context this discourse and these social reconstructionist goals are also clearly evident in The Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority Equity Statement (Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority, 2011). The social reconstructionism discourse presumes that schools can influence the reform of society as agents of change. As Hack (2008, p. 196) notes schools are considered one of the few institutions in society that pass on and uphold community values and
The challenge for teachers working at the crossroads of these varying discourses in the classroom is to translate the curriculum in a manner that places each student at the centre of teaching and learning in a encouraging and intellectually challenging manner.
This paper will compare and contrast these various discourses within the Middle Years (Years 7 – 9) and Senior Years (Years 10 – 12) contexts.
A common element in teaching both Middle Years and Senior Years students is the classroom cultural diversity.
The Melbourne Declaration espouses Morris’ (1996, p. 14) discourse of social …show more content…
adopting appropriate educational discourses to foster appreciation, respect for, and inclusion of, diverse learners) to lead to reforms in society. The social reconstructionist goals of the Melbourne Declaration are reflected in the Australian Curriculum in both the general capabilities (e.g. intercultural understanding) and, in respect of Indigenous Australians, the cross-curriculum priority of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, 2013a, p. 5). In the Queensland context this discourse and these social reconstructionist goals are also clearly evident in The Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority Equity Statement (Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority, 2011). The social reconstructionism discourse presumes that schools can influence the reform of society as agents of change. As Hack (2008, p. 196) notes schools are considered one of the few institutions in society that pass on and uphold community values and