Critical analysis of how and why controversial issues could be /has been included in your teaching, with specific reference made to curriculum req...

811 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Ethical issues in teaching

Teachers in every subject area face the challenge of teaching content that may be controversial in some way. The global origin of Language, for example, allows teachers to explore not only different cultures and traditions but also contentious issues as environment, sustainability and historical or current event such as immigration.
As a Lote teacher, I personally believe that such issues are a perfect vehicle for students to grapple with their faith and reach a deeper understanding of the economic and moral effects of these problems in the world and especially in Australia. They provide opportunities for involving both `head and hart` during the discussion and perceive different prospectives of the reality.
In the catholic environment in which I teach, the St. Mary's College in Hobart, there are policies in place to ensure that teachers have an understanding of what is appropriate for the students in both developmentally and culturally. The school's mission statement, also , stresses that " we provide strong role models who attempt to demonstrate leadership in applying Christian values to contemporary issues in education, care of the environment and social issues" (St. Mary's College Statement of Mission, 2014).
Educators are encouraged to use their facilitator skills to enable dynamic discussions with emphasis on Christian values in order to build the critical faculties of students in a physical and emotional safety environment. The purpose of the discussion, also, is to improve students' higher order thinking skills as required in the Australian National Curriculum.
When planning instruction for controversial topics, however, educators need to consider not only student's emotional age, school's values and policies, also mater...

... middle of paper ...

...gton, DC: George Washington University, School of Education and Human Development.
Downey, D. J. and R. S. Torrecilha. 1994. “Sociology of race and ethnicity: Strategies for comparative multicultural courses.” Teaching Sociology 22: 237-247.
Clough, N and Holden, C (2002) Education for Citizenship: Ideas into Action. London: Routledge Falmer.
Holden, C (2004) ‘Heaven help the teachers! Parents’ perspectives on the introduction of education for citizenship, Educational Review, 56 (3): 247-258.
Holden, 2014. Global Education Professional Learning Conference. 14-16 January 2014. Newham campus, Launceston Tasmania.

Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (2011). Cross-curriculum Priorities. Sydney: ACARA. Retrieved Aug 18, 2013, from http://www.acara.edu.au/curriculum/cross_curriculum_priorities.html.

St. Mary's College Statement of Mission, 2014

Show More
Related

  • Critique on Kingdom Education

    879 Words  | 2 Pages

    Schultz also stressed the importance of a biblical worldview in the teacher. As the leader in each classroom the students will adapt their teacher’s beliefs, values and finally actions. If they are taught by a teacher who holds a dualistic view of dividing the sacred and the secular, or a postmodern or modern worldview, it will adversely affect the ability of that child to develop Christ centered wisdom based upon the Word of God. Schultz, in referring to the education of children, stated “anything that hinders their moral and spiritual development is the epitome of child abuse.” (2006, p. 163). As such, our curriculum, teaching methods, and moral example, must all reflect a biblical worldview that will evangelize and discipline each student to know and love Jesus Christ.

    Read More

  • Microaggression in The United States

    1995 Words  | 4 Pages

    Winant, Howard. 2000 "Race and race theory." Annual review of sociology ():-. Retrieved from http://www.soc.ucsb.edu/faculty/winant/Race_and_Race_Theory.html on Mar 17, 1980

    Read More

  • Arguments from Democracy Left Behind: NCLB and Civic Education

    530 Words  | 2 Pages

    The speakers in the film believe that the purpose of education is to create a public where democracy can thrive. This means creating a new generation of young adults that are highly knowledgeable and are able to make informed decisions about political subjects and can make their votes count when they are able to vote. They have the knowledge about how the government works and what they can do as an individual to make a difference in their community. They have the knowle...

    Read More

  • The Uncostitutional Restrictive Covenants

    687 Words  | 2 Pages

    Schaefer, R. (Ed.). (2012). Racial and ethnic groups. (13th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

    Read More

  • Environmental Injustice Endured by the Native Americans

    2091 Words  | 5 Pages

    Schaefer, Richard, T. Racial and Ethnic Groups. 12th ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2010. Print.

    Read More

  • Australian Curriculum

    2504 Words  | 6 Pages

    The development of a national curriculum for Australia is not a new endeavour (Marsh, 2010). The ideal is that national curriculum across Australia would mean that students are provided with a quality education that helps to shape the lives of the nations citizens and continue developing the productivity and quality of life within Australia. The Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA] have the task of developing and implementing a nationwide curriculum. ACARA (n.d.-c) claims have addressed needs of young Australians while considering that changing ways in learning and challenges will continue to shape students education in the future. A look at what the Australian Curriculum is, its purpose, structure and scope, learning theories and teaching processes and whether the curriculum has the capacity to meet the needs of 21st century learners will show that the initial construction of a national curriculum appears to be successful. However, the effectiveness of the Australian Curriculum will only be able to be evaluated in the future after implementation across the country.

    Read More

  • Solomon Asch Conformity Experiments (1951)

    1532 Words  | 4 Pages

    Anderson, M, L, Taylor, H, F. (2008). Sociology. Understanding a Diversity Society. Thomson Higher Education. Belmont. (USA). Fourth Edition.

    Read More

  • Other People's Children: Cultural Conflict in the Classroom

    1282 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...'s Children, is an important tool in the education of teachers to help them to see teaching is not a politic-free practice that has little to do with social justice. Through reading multicultural theorists like Delpit, teachers are better prepared to deal with the issues like injustice and "remove the blinders built of stereotypes, mono-cultural instructional methodologies, ignorance, social distance biased research and racism" in the classrooms (Delpit, 1995, pg.69).

    Read More

  • Ww1 Week 1 Reflection

    509 Words  | 2 Pages

    The learning target for this project was identifying societal problems. Students would be able to identify the problem that is affecting our community. Students will be able to provide supporting evidence by using multiples sources to prove that the problem is relevant/important to my community. They can evaluate why the problem exists or the cause. Students will propose possible solutions that address the targeted issue in our community. In addition, students were required to using key terms throughout the unit. Some of the possible structure students presented their legislation through series of Instagram posts, front cover of a newspaper article, pamphlet, commercial or visual campaign, documentary, research paper, poem, song and/or music video.

    Read More

  • Censorship in the Classroom

    2776 Words  | 6 Pages

    Sex. Politics. Religion. The big three: a work of literature is often considered controversial because of its statement about or use of these topics. What makes these and other areas so touchy in the classroom? Why do some parents and concerned community members want controversial materials out of the classroom?

    Read More

  • Authoritarianism In Education

    2036 Words  | 5 Pages

    Reading the Bible was the initial reason for teaching students to read in America’s colonial days. Since that time, the mission emphasizes education going beyond reading and writing to develop citizenship. As the number of democratic countries have risen over the years from about one-fourth of the world’s nations in 1973 to over two-thirds in the early1990s (Leftwich, 1996), maintaining and keeping democracies has become an emphasis of the educational process. Butts asserted “the goal of schooling is to empower the whole population to exercise the rights and cope with the ...

    Read More

  • Social Justice In Australia

    2265 Words  | 5 Pages

    this power to help form and solidify social norms also “offers the opportunity for particular notions of difference to be challenged and de-legitimised” (Burnett, Meadmore and Tait, 2010). With a heightened awareness of the influence discrimination can have on the classroom environment, teachers have the ability to not only change an individual’s learning experience, but shape and change the opinions of their class as a whole. It is critically important that “as teachers we must be aware that discriminatory practices fluctuate considerably with contemporary culturally aware forms, now using culture as their primary discursive weapon” (Burnett, Meadmore and Tait,

    Read More

  • Australian Curriculum Essay

    460 Words  | 1 Pages

    Educational experiences require learning to be purposeful. The curriculum enables teachers to engage students through relatable experiences as it is a guide that offers teachers outlines of appropriate learning stages for students (Webster & Ryan, 2014). By having the curriculum as a guide enables teachers to have the ability to build sstronger relationships with students by moving away from old school text books and creating their own quality pedagogy (LeFevre, 2014). The Australian Curriculum also provides teachers with seven general capabilities which allows them to create successful, confident, creative and active individuals (Australian Curriculum, 2017). This knowledge of the curriculum is imperative to quality pedagogy as it gives educators a guide, which if they follow, will equip students to live and work succesfully in the 21st century, which I believe is one of the main goals of educators. The curriculum also provides teachers with oppurtunities in relation to professionalisim which is key to the development of quality pedagogy (Gerrard et al.,

    Read More

  • Melting Pot Essay

    1009 Words  | 3 Pages

    Most elementary schools are not prepared to implement cultural awareness in their classroom curriculums. A diverse staff that is also extremely culturally content is a necessity. Teachers must have the ability in expressing diverse beliefs and implicating those beliefs in personal experiences with the students; willingness to discussing controversial issues is a virtue as well. “According to a 2008 survey by the Public Agenda Foundation, a 76 percent of new teachers reported that their training covered teaching diverse students, but only 39 percent called this training helpful” (Walker). It is also believed that implementing such broad topic like culture into the curriculum can cause difficulty towards the teachers stability in teaching, “learning about students’ cultural backgrounds is an ongoing process that lasts a teachers’ entire career, beginning all over again each year with a new set of students” (Quinton). Also traditional curriculums, heavily apply to regions such as North America and Europe like South America or Africa. Students are the ones who experience this the most since certain textbooks do not provide accurate facts instead creating a bias from historical and modern times. For example, Christopher Columbus is celebrated as an American hero who discovered America

    Read More

  • The Political Process

    890 Words  | 2 Pages

    In conclusion, I have showed what concerns are not addressed by the political process and why. Many things could be drastically changed on both sides to help these matters. I feel that the answer to this lies in political socialization. If parents stressed the importance of these topics along with the schools cooperation, concerns would be addressed and everyone would be heard alike.

    Read More

More about Critical analysis of how and why controversial issues could be /has been included in your teaching, with specific reference made to curriculum req...

Open Document