Why is it important to implement social justice perspectives in your teaching practice?

Integrating social justice perspectives into my teaching practice stands paramount as a way to

recognise, analyse and deconstruct the impact of power upon learning communities and

provide equitable learning environments. Implementing a social justice perspective such as

linguistic diversity creates an awareness of the inextricable link between language and

“students’ identities, experiences and, most importantly, opportunities to learn” and begins

critical consciousness and the process of deconstruction of essentialist dominant discourse

(D’Warte, 2014, p. 22). It is important to recognise and challenge the hierarchy of “one

dominant language and/or standard form of language [as] legitimised and privileged” with

certain ways of speaking outside the dominant language not providing the “capital that offers

access to power” (D’Warte, 2016, p. 201). As such, I believe it is paramount to dismantle

systematic essentialism and structural invisibility faced by linguistically diverse/EALD

students and challenge the concept of diverse languages as inferior to dominant school

language practices. Even on a policy level, the Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals

for Young Australians (MCEETYA, 2008) aims to provide the framework “promoting equity

and excellence” for the nationalised Australian Curriculum, however I believe it fails to

command its intrinsic worth due to its “optional nature and … inclusion at the discretion of

teachers” (MCEETYA, 2008, p. 13; Salter & Maxwell, 2016, p. 309). It is therefore within

my pedagogical practice that it is necessary to employ active critical consciousness of student

identity, agency and power to provide equitable learning. Furthermore, in analysing the social

justice perspective of gender diverse, the concept of power imbalances is predominant, with

normalised societal discourses regarding gender favouring gender essentialism and

heteronormativity, of which perpetuate the dominant discourse and cisgender-privilege power

imbalances. In my teaching practice, I believe it is paramount to dismantle these power

imbalances and “deconstruct the model of traditional gender segregation and norm

1
18025558
enforcement” to provide a safe and supportive environment for full participation of gender

diverse students (Jones et al., 2016, p. 168). Further than this, positive and supportive

dispositions of teachers correlate to a “higher academic self-concept and being more

confident and motivated learners” within gender diverse students (Ullman, 2016, p. 10).

LGBTQ and GQ students note that positive teacher support stands paramount to perceived

acceptance and agency as well as protection from gender and sexuality-based harassment

(Ullman, 2014, p. 441). In turn, I believe integrating a gender diverse social justice

perspective in my teaching practice allows for a delineation of boundaries between ‘normal’

and ‘different’, and deconstructs dominant essentialist and repressive discourses.

What pedagogical theories would influence and enhance learning and teaching and/or the

student experience?

Pedagogical theories that would influence and enhance student learning experience centralise

around student-centred learning and differentiation. Differentiated instruction particularly

addresses equity issues involved in linguistic, cultural and race diversity, as “a way of

recognizing and teaching according to different student talents and learning styles” and more

importantly, involves “modifying instruction so that all pupils can be successful” (Morgan,

2014, p. 34). Based on Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences, incorporating

differentiated instruction into pedagogical practices allows students to learn through various

intelligences, to enable the “solving of problems using [their] preferred intelligence” and

providing “scaffolding [to] create more opportunities for their students to be successful”

(Morgan, 2014, p. 35). Thus, utilising pedagogic tools in a meaningful and useful way helps

better address the needs of diverse cultures, races and linguistic capabilities, but instead

enables customisation of goals and values appropriate to student needs. In terms of student-

centred learning, utilising Vygotsky’s theory of the Zone of Proximal Development as

2
18025558
theoretical underpinnings for enhanced student experience addresses “the distance between

the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level

of potential development as determined through problem solving under adult guidance or in

collaboration with more capable peers” (Chaiklin, 2003, p. 40). Student-centred learning

enables a shift in power dynamic, “encouraging power to be moved from the teacher to the

student” (O’ Neill & McMahon, 2005, p. 27). However, further than this, student-centred

learning lends the learner full responsibility for their learning, places involvement and

participation as essential, enables the relationship between learners to be more equal, thus

promoting growth and development, and places the teacher as a more of a facilitator and

resource person (O’ Neill & McMahon, 2005, p. 28). As such, enabling a high level of

student autonomy, engaging students as active learners through differentiation, as well as

placing power within the student enables for a pedagogical practice that enhances the student

experience.

How does/will your teaching practice address issues of equity and diversity?

My teaching practice will address the issues of equity and diversity through an incorporation

equitable pedagogical practices, with relevant sociological theories to inspire and enable

critical consciousness of power relations in society. Within this, utilising post-structuralist

perspectives enables me to build a practice around a deconstruction of power hierarchies that

disadvantage linguistically, gender, sexuality and culturally diverse students. In my teaching

practice, I will address this issue of equity and diversity through providing content that is

representational of a diverse array of identities including gender, sexuality, language, culture,

ethnicity, religion, or socioeconomic background. Within providing equity for gender diverse

students, a reconceptualization of the way gender and sexuality is discussed within my

3
18025558
classroom could offer greater potential outcomes with the inclusion of “material on same-sex

attraction … but also content specific to the study of gender as a social phenomenon,

incorporating theories of social learning and social construction”, thus enabling an

understanding of structural and systematic inequity and inequality within dominant gender

norms (Ullman, 2014, p. 441). In a similar fashion, this is extendable to providing content

that is inclusive and representational of a variety of cultural and racial backgrounds. This may

manifest itself in terms of setting texts with authors outside of the dominant culture or

providing texts with visual aids or providing texts with translations for ease of understanding.

As such, providing diverse content allows for a deconstruction of the dominant cultural

discourses and power hierarchies. In a focus on Indigenous education, this may dismantle the

“historical disregard for Indigenous traditions, cultures and languages within mainstream (i.e.

western) education systems that have been chiefly focused on assimilating Indigenous

peoples into non-Indigenous cultures and societies” and rather promote an integration of

student practices, skills and understandings (Keddie, 2013, p. 56). As such, I would adjust my

practice to respect traditional Aboriginal forms of knowledge transmission, such as narrative

and story-telling as foundational components of a lesson to break down dominant Western

values within school culture. Furthermore, my teaching practice will utilise co-operative

learning approaches to instruction to address issues of equity and diversity. This approach

will be evident through creating small teams, each with different levels of ability to improve

their understanding of a subject (McGrath & Noble, 2008, p. 124). Introducing co-operative

learning enables diversity to be appreciated and individual student contributions to be valued

as members are encouraged to draw upon their past experience and knowledge, allowing

“meaningful involvement and nurturing empathy among students for peer support in

inclusion” (Kaur, Noman & Nordin, 2016, p. 13). Furthermore, my teaching practice will

commit to ongoing professional development and the process of becoming reflexive to

4
18025558
maintain an inclusive and supportive disposition within pedagogy, thus enabling more

confident and motivated learners and a promotion of positive wellbeing within my students.

5
18025558
 References

Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (2008).

Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians. Retrieved from:

http://www.curriculum.edu.au/verve/_resources/National_Declaration_on_the_Educat

ional_Goals_for_Young_Australians.pdf

Chaiklin, S. (2003). The zone of proximal development in Vygotsky’s analysis of learning

and instruction. Vygotsky’s educational theory in cultural context 1, 39-64.

D’Warte, J. (2014). Exploring linguistic repertoires: Multiple language use and multimodal

literacy activity in five classrooms. Australian Journal of Language and Literacy,

37(1), 21-30. Retrieved from:

http://web.b.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.uws.edu.au/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=57d4

75cc-83f3-469f-84e5-d8cbf40a09b6%40sessionmgr103&vid=1&hid=101

D’Warte, J. (2016). Reflections on language and literacy. In Ferfolja, T., Jones-Diaz, C., &

Ullman, J (Eds.), Understanding sociological theory for educational practices. (pp.

196-211). Melbourne, Australia: Cambridge University Press.

Jones, T., Smith, E., Ward, R., Dixton, J., Hillier, L., & Mitchell, A. (2016). School

experiences of transgender and gender diverse students in Australia. Sex Education,

16(2), 156-171. doi: 10.1080/14681811.2015.1080678

Kaur, A., Noman, M., & Nordin, H. (2016). Inclusive assessment for linguistically diverse

learners in higher education, Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education 1-16. doi:

0.1080/02602938.2016.1187250

Keddie, A. (2014). Indigenous representation and alternative schooling: prioritising an

epistemology of relationality, International Journal of Inclusive Education, 18(1), 55-

71, doi: 10.1080/13603116.2012.756949

6
18025558
McGrath, H., & Noble, T. (2008). The positive educational practices framework: A tool for

facilitating the work of educational psychologists in promoting pupil wellbeing.

Educational & Child Psychology 25(2), 119-134. Retrieved from:

http://www.bounceback.com.au/sites/default/files/McGrath%20Noble_Supporting%2

0positive%20pupil%20relationships.pdf

Morgan, H. (2014). Maximizing student success with differentiated learning, The Clearing

House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas, 87(1), 34-38. doi:

10.1080/00098655.2013.832130

O’ Neill, G., & McMahon, T. (2005). Student-centred learning: What does it mean for students

and lecturers? Emerging Issues in the Practice of University Learning and Teaching.

O’Neill, G., Moore, S., McMullin, B. (Eds). Dublin, Ireland: AISHE. Retrieved from:

http://eprints.teachingandlearning.ie/3345/1/O'Neill%20and%20McMahon%202005.d

Salter, P., & Maxwell, J. (2016) The inherent vulnerability of the Australian Curriculum’s

cross-curriculum priorities, Critical Studies in Education, 57(3), 296-312, doi:

10.1080/17508487.2015.1070363

Ullman, J. (2014). Ladylike/butch, sporty/dapper: exploring ‘gender climate’ with Australian

LGBTQ students using stage–environment fit theory. Sex Education, (14)4, 430-443.

doi: 10.1080/14681811.2014.919912

Ullman, J. (2016). Teacher positivity towards gender diversity: exploring relationships and

school outcomes for transgender and gender-diverse students. Sex Education, 1-15.

doi: 10.1080/14681811.2016.1273104

7
18025558