Re: Understanding the Schooling Context

Dear Amy,


                Congratulations on securing a full time teaching position at Park Hill Public School. It seems that all your hard work over the past few years has paid off and you are well on your way to becoming an accredited teacher with the NSW Institute of Teachers and Department of Education. Starting a new job in any profession can be daunting and exciting as it can stir up a range of emotions before you even start. It will take time to settle into your new teaching position as you become accustomed with the schools daily routines, environment, staff, students and wider community. We at Project BEAM hope that the following provides you with relevant and up to date information on resources and handy hints that will help you start off the school term with confidence. 

After reading your concerns in regard to your first day at PHPS it seems that it wasn’t what you expected it to be. We feel that this may have been due to not fully understanding the schooling and community context that is associated with PHPS. Understanding the schooling context is imperative for not only new scheme teachers like you but for any teacher who is assigned or secures a teaching position at a school that they don’t know much or anything about. Knowledge is power and by having an understanding of the schooling context allows you to identify, acknowledge and empower yourself with tools and strategies to handle certain situations before you even set foot onto the school grounds. Remember, as a teacher you must know your students and how they learn as outlined in element two of the NSW Professional Teaching Standards (2004). As a graduate teacher you must be able to demonstrate knowledge, respect and understanding of the social, ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds of your students and how these factors may affect learning as stated in 2.1.1 of the NSW Professional Teaching Standards (2004).  The description and statistics relevant to PHPS given to you before you started would’ve given you a clear indication of the varying backgrounds in which your students come from. One great way of doing this is by accessing the My School website (http://www.myschool.edu.au./) as it provides profiles of almost 10,000 Australian Schools that can be searched by the school’s location, sector or name (ACARA, 2010). This website is fantastic as it provides you with a range of statistical and contextual information such as:

-          A short description of the school
-          Number of students
-          Number of teachers
-          Attendance rates
-          School-level data about students backgrounds
-          School Index of Community Socio-Educational Advantage (ICSEA) value
-          A link to the school’s website and, where appropriate, a link to the 
      school  sector or system to which the school belongs

-          School NAPLAN results compared with the national average and the
       average results of statistically similar schools

                                                                                                       (ACARA, 2010)
               
Another fantastic tool that you can used to get an idea of a schools context is its annual report usually located on their website. The primary purpose of annual reporting is to inform parents and the wider school community of the school’s successes, activities and achievements throughout the year (NSW DET, 2009). To help you understand the schooling context we suggest that you take a look at the following links:


http://www.ycentral.com.au/filelibrary/Who__s_who_in_primary_school.pdf

http://www.schools.nsw.edu.au/gotoschool/a-z/is_ps_staff.php

These two links provide an in-depth look at the human resources that are available in schools. We feel that these will benefit you as a recent graduate teacher at PHPS as it is a school that has a diverse array of students which requires it to have a diverse staff in terms of knowledge, skills and abilities. We have included a brief look at some of the roles and responsibilities that some of the staff at PHPS have so that you will have a deeper understanding of their roles and how you can draw upon them to assist you in your everyday teachings.

-          Principal: the most important resource at a school as they have an overall responsibility for the whole school, students, staff (teaching and administrative), teaching and learning and all associated areas (DET, 2009). This includes the education and welfare of all students, all educational programs, learning outcomes, the management of the school property and the development of partnerships between the school and the school community.
-          Assistant Principal: the assistant principal is responsible for the day to day organisation of the school and for the welfare of all students and staff. Along with the principal they are responsible for overseeing the teaching and learning programs in the school.
-          Classroom teachers: teachers are very important people for students as they deliver educational programs both inside and outside the classroom. They provide appropriate variety and flexibility in educational practice. They also support student learning, acknowledge classroom achievement, communicate progress with parents, ensure classrooms are safe, caring environments where every child is appreciated as an individual. 
-          Parents: enhance social and educational outcomes for children and communication between classrooms and home. They allow schools to benefit from socio-cultural and linguistic diversity that students bring to school.
-          Librarian: are members of the school teaching staff and are actively involved in the teaching/learning process. They provide relevant resources to classes that coincide with what they are learning.
-          ESL teacher: provide specialist assistance to students from non English speaking backgrounds.
-          Student teacher learning assistant (STLA): help students who are having difficulty with learning. They work with regular classroom teachers to help them make the classroom work more manageable which enables students to be more confident and independent in their learning.
-          Support teacher behaviour officer (STB): provide direct support to the student and assists the class teacher in behaviour management and social skill development.
-          Aboriginal education officer (AEO): placed in schools where there are large numbers of aboriginal students are enrolled, working closely with teaching staff to develop culturally appropriate resources and programs.
-          School learning support officers (SLSO): under supervision and direction of a teacher the learning support officer assists in classroom activities, school routines and the care and management of students with disabilities and behaviour disorders.
-          School counselor: assist teachers by strengthening the school’s student welfare provisions and provide counseling to students with specific needs.
-          Home school liaison officer (HSLO): assist students and their carers when students are not attending school.
-          Aboriginal student liaison officer (ASLO): officers operate across districts and assist district student welfare and home school liaison officers to restore and maintain the regular school attendance of aboriginal students.
-          Anti-racism contact officer: assist carers, students or staff experiencing problems with racism.
-          Anti-discrimination contact officer: manage procedures in place dealing with complaints about discrimination.
-          School assistant: The first person to greet you when you arrive at the school will probably be the school assistant or senior school assistant. The school assistant supports the Principal or the supervisor to maintain school routines. They also assist in classroom activities and financial administration matters.
-          General assistants: support student learning through the preparation and maintenance of equipment, distribution of goods delivered to the school and minor maintenance.
                                                               (NSW Health, 2001 & NSW DET, 2009)

Knowing the context of your students as well as the human resources available within a school is invaluable knowledge to any teacher making their teaching more effective. If you access to these types of resources use them, don’t let them go to waste they are employed to help you so that your students can achieve to their fullest potential. We understand that it is exciting to secure a full time teaching position straight out of university and we congratulate you but you must not throw away all that you have learnt over the past few years as the things that you have learnt and the documents that you have come across will support and guide on this new and exciting journey that you are embarking on. We at Project BEAM are here to help so if you have any further enquiries do not hesitate to contact us. All the best, and we wish you success in your future teachings.

Yours Sincerely,                                        

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Project BEAM