Assessment 2 - Research Report Task - School Profile PDF

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Assessment for report task done on Strathfield Boys High School. Discusses SES, gender and cultural perspectives and the effects on learning....

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EDST1104: Assessment Task 2 – Research Report

INTRODUCTION The two key concerns facing modern day educators in Australian secondary schooling are inclusion and equity. Teachers must navigate issues such as socio-educational advantage and language barriers and adjust their pedagogy to minimise the gap for those who are disadvantaged in order to achieve equity. This report aims to analyse the social dynamics present at Strathfield South High School. Through referring to academic resources, and reflecting on my own personal history, this report will explore the effects of these social dynamics, and how educators can approach such issues so as to support students to achieve educational outcomes and maximise their learning.

PART A – Strathfield South High School Strathfield South High School is a New South Wales public school located in the western suburbs of Sydney. It is a comprehensive school, enrolling approximately 650 students, 62% of which are boys and 38% of which are girls (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, 2020c). The catchment areas of Strathfield South Sigh School include the suburb of South Strathfield, NSW and surrounding areas such as Greenacre, NSW and Chullora, NSW. These areas have predominately mid to low tier income earners, with a high population of residents from a language background other than English. Within this school, 89% of the student population have been identified as having a Language Background Other Than English. This is consistent with the Australian Bureau of Statistics census data (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2016), where in these areas 67.3% of people have both parents born overseas, and 66.8% of people spoke a language other than English at home. Strathfield South High School deploys a number of different support programs to assist their students with difficulties in English, such as an “extensive literacy program”

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EDST1104: Assessment Task 2 – Research Report

(Strathfield South High School, n.d.b) to assist local and international students in developing their English language skills. They also house a special education support unit, with 6 separate special education classes assisting students with disabilities and learning difficulties, and employ a high number of Student Learning Support Officers to assist teachers catering for individual student needs, both in the special education classes and in mainstream classrooms. Strathfield South High Schools Index of Community Socio-Educational Advantage is 930, where the mean measurement is 1000. The Australian Bureau of Statistics census data (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2016) showed that of these surrounding areas, the median income was approximately $430, well below the Australian median at $660. It also showed 17.8% of the population from single parent households, and households which were coupled with children had 27.9% of parents were listed as not working. According to Family and Community Services (2020), the catchment areas within this school are also public housing areas. This data is consistent when compared with the student population at Strathfield South High School, which is comprised of 62% of students from the bottom quarter in the Distribution of Socio-Educational Advantage. The school offers financial assistance to families suffering from financial hardship, ensuring that students are not disadvantaged due to the economic status of their family (Strathfield South High School, n.d.a).

PART B – Gender Identities Within a School Setting. Gender is a societal construction that is viewed as particularly masculine or feminine and often dictates behaviour. It is a construction that is learned in early childhood often through interactions with toys and can extend to cultural representations of gender roles (Sriprakash & Proctor, 2018). The formation of identity is a key aspect of adolescence. Gender identities

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EDST1104: Assessment Task 2 – Research Report

and stereotypes are a focal point for school students, and oftentimes the desire to live up to those stereotypes can affect behaviour (Becht et al., 2016). Societal and cultural views on gender roles in men are often categorised as ‘strong’ and ‘the protector’. Such views often present themselves as homogenic masculinity displays in classroom settings, through behavioural issues and disruptions. Van de gaer et al. (2009) suggesting that behavioural challenges within classroom settings in boys may result from a lack of engagement in school curriculum and tasks, seeing them as focused on girls and irrelevant. Girls’ behaviour in classrooms is often impacted by this, and research has suggested that girls in single-sex classrooms are more likely to achieve educational outcomes than those in co-ed schools (Dustmann et al., 2018). It can be concluded then that factors contributing to this contrast could be associated with the distractions caused by mixed genders in classrooms. Strathfield South High School shows a significant gender imbalance, where 62% are boys and 38% are girls. This gender imbalance would create classroom environments in which both girls and boys need to be challenged to reach their full academic potential. In order to counteract the gender imbalance and potential disruptions, institutions and teachers must adjust their pedagogical methods in order to create equitable learning environments for both boys and girls Cooper & Iles (2010). Teachers need to recognise the impact that gender roles have on students learning and ensure that they are supported through curriculum which is engaging and relevant.

PART B – Language Background Other Than English There is an expectation that migrants and indigenous Australians assimilate and adjust to colonial Australia and its societal values (Ramsay, 2017). Success within the community is determined by the completion of Australian schooling, however migrant students, and other

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EDST1104: Assessment Task 2 – Research Report

students with a language backgrounds other than English, are often disadvantaged due to a lack of skills needed to achieve educational outcomes (Adera & Manning, 2013). Schools are required to provide support for children in order to improve their English speaking, reading and writing skills, and this is something that Strathfield South High School provides through their extensive English as an additional language program. However, the positioning of students from different cultural backgrounds within the community, and the way this affects teachers’ views can often result in unfair treatment and incorrect groupings (Riley, 2014). Despite the fact that Australia is viewed as a multicultural and accepting society, passive bias and racism is still evident. Racist stereotypes caused by societal views segregate children with different cultural and language backgrounds, causing them to withdraw in classroom settings and negatively impacts their educational success (Forrest et al., 2015). Children are viewed as the ‘other’ which causes feelings of exclusion. The NSW Department of Education has addressed several key issues concerning racism and support for students from different cultural backgrounds through the implementation of policy. NSW Department of Education’s Multicultural Education Policy 1.3 states that teachers should alter their pedagogy to allow for inclusivity, and to support a “tolerant attitude towards cultural diversity” (NSW Department of Education, 2021). The supportive classroom that teachers aspire to promote is difficult when a lack of knowledge and personal bias exists. Casinader & Walsh (2015) suggest that in order to create culturally inclusive environments within the classroom, we must first have an understanding of why these issues arise, and how these issues impact individuals in classrooms. For change to happen, educators must first confront their own bias towards different cultures. They argue that teachers must first be educated on cultural diversity, and trained to be culturally sensitive and aware. Only then can teachers support inclusive attitudes that encourage cultural acceptance and inclusion.

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EDST1104: Assessment Task 2 – Research Report

PART B – Socio-Economic Status Success and progression in society is believed to be the result of hard work and capability rather than an influence of ones social class, through inherited means or privileges (Sriprakash & Proctor, 2018). Through the study of social class in the school’s community, we are able to see the disadvantages faced by children from a low socio-economic background and how this impacts their educational outcomes in the school environment. The catchment areas for Strathfield South High School according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows a significant percentage of the population within the community in the lowsocioeconomic demographic (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2016). Single parent families make up 17.8% of the community. Of the coupled households 27.9% are recorded as both parents not working and 45.2% recorded only one parent working. One of the impacts of financial hardship is that many households have limited access to technology resources, and this is reflected in the Australian Bureau of Statistics, recording 12.8% of households within the community with no access to the internet. Calcaro (2018) suggests that because middle-class children are more confident and selfassured, they demand more attention from teachers, leaving children of low-socioeconomic status further disadvantaged. This stress can often manifest itself in the children of lowsocioeconomic households to become less engaged in schoolwork, causing their level of academic success to fall (Tomaszewski et al., 2020). As a result of this, many children do not complete high school, and this is shown within the school’s community with 29.8% of the population not completing year 12 (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2016). We can see the effects of this in the 2020 HSC results for Strathfield South High School, with a success rate of 2.29%, where the median for all NSW schools was 5.47% (The Sydney Morning Herald, 2020).

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EDST1104: Assessment Task 2 – Research Report

PART C – PERSONAL HISTORY AND POSTITIONING Strathfield Girls High School is a school within the same area, however the catchment areas of Strathfield Girls High School include suburbs where majority of households are in the upper-middle to high-tier income earners. As a result, my experience while attending this school in 2011 did not involve the same dynamics as those at Strathfield South High School. Strathfield Girls High School has a higher rate of students with a language background other than English at 91% (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, 2020b). They provided their students with extensive English speaking and literacy classes to assist in their transition, however these students’ engagement levels were high and behavioural issues weren’t present. This however was quite a long time ago, however recent HSC results suggest that this has not changed much. Strathfield Girls High School ranked 108th in the 2020 HSC, achieving a success rate of 14.76% (The Sydney Morning Herald, 2020). This is substantially higher than Strathfield South High School. This contrast in environments places me in a privileged position when examining the dynamics at Strathfield South High School, and may impact the approach I will take if I was to work there. The expectations of the teachers at my high school were always high, however they were aware of our capabilities so there was complacency in the way they structured their lessons. From my own experience in this high school, the small number of students who did not have high educational aspirations and were not performing to the high school standards were not provided additional support and mentoring to re-engage them. This often resulted in them leaving prior to HSC completion. In compiling this report, I am now able to recognise the importance of adjusting ones pedagogy in order to adapt to your students to supportive provide quality learning environments.

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EDST1104: Assessment Task 2 – Research Report

PART C – APPROACH TO WORK AT STRATHFIELD SOUTH HIGH SCHOOL Drawing on my experience working at Punchbowl Boys High School, I am able to reflect on the teaching methods and strategies employed at this school in order to engage and assist the students. Punchbowl Boys High School is a very similar school to Strathfield South High School in terms of the sociological dynamics present. The school has a language background other than English percentage of 99%, and a socio-advantage distribution with 69% of students in the bottom quarter (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, 2020a). The HSC results for Punchbowl Boys High School are not available, as the cohort for 2020 was below reporting numbers. This signifies the importance of establishing pedagogical practices that are relevant to the students you are teaching, in order to improve retention of students. The school excellence framework states that it is crucial for every student to feel “known, valued and cared for” (NSW Department of Education, 2017, p.1). Teaching at Strathfield South High School would require firstly for me to know the student and understand their circumstances, interests and learning style. In any school setting, regardless of the circumstances, it is important for teachers to develop a relationship with their students. The challenges that Strathfield South High School would present, understanding the children and the sociological dynamics at play would allow me to adjust my pedagogical practice in order to meet the individual needs of the students I would teach. A crucial element to working in schools with high percentages of low-socioeconomic students is to ensure that what you are teaching has relevance to life outside of school. The negative impact low socio-economic status can have on student engagement engaged in schoolwork has already been explored (Tomaszewski et al., 2020). Of the lessons I had witnessed at Punchbowl Boys High School, I recall a heavy emphasis on practical teaching

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methods in order to enhance student engagement. I am majoring in chemistry, which has powerful relevance to the world we live in. Practical teaching methods can be adapted to meet syllabus outcomes, however they can also create an engaging environment for the students. For example, a simple experiment with dry ice (solid carbon dioxide) and water, would turn fresh water acidic. This could then be related back to environmental issues such as ocean acidification. Although Punchbowl Boys High School had a higher percentage of students from a language background other than English, majority of these students are Australian born. Groups categorized within the language background other than English category can consist of a range of students (Lingard et al., 2012). In the case of Punchbowl Boys High School, many of these students had parents from other countries that spoke another language at home, however they themselves spoke English. However, from my time at this school I can see that although a student speaks English, this does not mean that they are of the same English literacy as their peers. The NSW Department of Education (2020) Assisting Students with Learning Difficulty Policy number 1.4 states that it is the teachers responsibility to assist students with learning difficulties. At Strathfield South High School, close communication with learning support staff would be essential to supporting the students. Student needs need to be identified through individualised learning plans, which need to be accessed by all teachers to ensure that individual student needs are met. Teachers in environments like Strathfield South High School much teach explicitly and differentiate their lesson sequences so that the needs of the diverse range of students are met. This pedagogy must include supportive strategies which continue to develop student literacy, particularly reading and writing skills.

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REFERENCES Adera, B., & Manning, M. L. (2013). Promoting Social and Cultural Competence for Students from Diverse Backgrounds with Disabilities. Multicultural Learning and Teaching, 9(1). https://doi.org/10.1515/mlt-2013-0025 Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2016). 2016 Census QuickStats: Greenacre. https://quickstats.censusdata.abs.gov.au/census_services/getproduct/census/2016/quic kstat/SSC11757?opendocument Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. (2020a). Punchbowl Boys High School, Punchbowl, NSW. https://www.myschool.edu.au/school/41559 Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. (2020b). Strathfield Girls High School, Strathfield, NSW. https://www.myschool.edu.au/school/41556 Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. (2020c). Strathfield South High School, Enfield, NSW. https://www.myschool.edu.au/school/41570 Becht, A. I., Nelemans, S. A., Branje, S. J. T., Vollebergh, W. A. M., Koot, H. M., Denissen, J. J. A., & Meeus, W. H. J. (2016). The quest for identity in adolescence: Heterogeneity in daily identity formation and psychosocial adjustment across 5 years. Developmental Psychology, 52(12), 2010–2021. https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0000245 Calarco, J. (2018). Negotiating Opportunities : How the Middle Class Secures Advantages in School. Oxford University Press. Casinader, N., & Walsh, L. (2015). Teacher transculturalism and cultural difference: Addressing racism in Australian schools. The International Education Journal: Comparative Perspectives, 14(2), 51–62. Cooper, M., & Iles, L. (2010). Gender and diversity in the classroom. In L. Carpenter, M. Hyde, & R. N. F. Conway (Eds.), Diversity and inclusion in Australian schools (pp. 88–115). Oxford University Press.

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Dustmann, C., Ku, H., & Kwak, D. W. (2018). Why Are Single-Sex Schools Successful? Labour Economics, 54, 79–99. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.labeco.2018.06.005 Family and Community Services. (2020, March 2). Allocation zone locator. https://www.facs.nsw.gov.au/housing/help/applying-assistance/choosewhere/chapters/allocation-zone-locator Forrest, J., Lean, G., & Dunn, K. (2015). Challenging racism through schools: teacher attitudes to cultural diversity and multicultural education in Sydney, Australia. Race Ethnicity and Education, 19(3), 618–638. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2015.1095170 NSW Department of Education. (2021, March 17). Multicultural Education Policy | Policy library. https://policies.education.nsw.gov.au/policy-library/policies/multiculturaleducation-policy Ramsay, G. (2017). Central African Refugee Women Resettled in Australia: Colonial Legacies and the Civilising Process. Journal of Intercultural Studies, 38(2), 170–188. https://doi.org/10.1080/07256868.2017.1289904 Riley, T. (2014). “I Know I’m Generalizing but…”: How Teachers’ Perceptions Influence ESL Learner Placement. TESOL Quarterly, 49(4), 659–680. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.191 Sriprakash, A., & Proctor, H. (2018). Social class and inequality. In A. Welch, R. Connell, N. Mockler, A. Sriprakash, H. Proctor, D. Hayes, D. Foley, M. Vickers, N. Bagnall, K. Burns, R. Low, & S. Groundwater-Smith (Eds.), Education, change and society (4th ed., pp. 112–138). Oxford University Press. Strathfield South High School. (n.d.-a). Financial contributions and assistance - Strathfield South High School. Retrieved March 20, 2021, from https://strathfiesh.schools.nsw.gov.au/about-our-school/financial-contributions-and-assistance.html

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Strathfield South High School. (n.d.-b). Learning support - Strathfield South High School. Retrieved March 19, 2021, from https://strathfies-h.schools.nsw.gov.au/supportingour-students/learning-support.html The Sydney Morning Herald. (2020, Decem...