EDUC399 Program Review

EDUC399 Program Review

Educational Theories/Theorists Educational Themes/principles

Behaviourism and Social Learning  New South Wales Department of Education and

 John B. Watson Training (DET)

 Ivan Pavlov  NSW Board Of Studies (BOS)

 B. F. Skinner  NSW Syllabus

 Albert Bandura  Foundation Statements

 Key Competencies

Cognitive-Development  NAPLAN

 Jean Piaget  National Curriculum

 Barbel Inhelder  New Perspectives

 Lawrence Kohlberg  William Spady’s Outcomes Based Education (OBE)

 David Elkind  NSW Quality Teaching Model (QTM)

 Robbie Case  Anderson & Krathwohl Revised Taxonomy

 John Flavell  Bloom’s Taxonomy

 Key Learning Area(s)
Sociocultural  Outcomes
 Lev Vygotsky  Instruction
 R. Luria  Assessment
 James Wertsch  Reporting
 Barbara Rogoff  Programming
 Patricia Greenfield  Alignment
 Mary Gauvain  Differentiation
 Inclusion
Behaviour Management  Behaviour Management: Applied Behavioural
 William Glasser Analysis (ABA)
 Rudolf Dreikur  Integration
 COGS Units of work
Constructivism  Standardised testing: Norm-referenced, Criterion-
 Piaget referenced
 Vygotsky  Marking and Grading

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 Dewey  Validity & Reliability
 Child Protection

Understanding of Theories and Themes

To begin to understand how to teach, one must understand how people learn. Learning how to become a
primary school teacher, it was essential that I learnt the foundations of child development. The two theorists
that provided this knowledge are Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky. Their theories will now be explored in
greater depth.

Jean Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development

Piaget was especially curious about the nature of knowledge and how children acquire it. Central to Piaget’s
theory are the following principles and concepts:

 Children are active and motivated learners

 Children organise what they learn from their experiences
 Children adapt to their environment through the processes of assimilation and accommodation
 Interaction with the physical environment is critical for cognitive development
 Interaction with other people is equally critical
 The process of equilibration promotes increasingly complex forms of thought
 Children think in qualitatively different ways at different age levels

Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development

1. Sensiromotor. Birth to age 2

2. Preoperational. Age 2 through age 6 or 7
3. Concrete Operations. Age 6 or 7 through age 11 or 12
4. Formal Operations. Age 11 or 12 through adulthood

Lev Vygotsky’s Theory of Cognitive Development

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Vygotsky emphasised the importance of society and culture for promoting cognitive growth, is perspective
is known as a sociocultural theory. These are Vygotsky’s key ideas:

 Through both informal interactions and formal schooling, adults convey to children the ways in
which their culture interprets the world.
 Every culture passes along physical and cognitive tools that make daily living more effective and
efficient
 Thought and language become increasingly interdependent in the first few years of life
 Complex mental processes begin as social activities. As children develop, they gradually internalise
the processes they use in social contexts and begin to use them independently
 Children appropriate their culture’s tools in their own idiosyncratic manner
 Children can perform more challenging tasks when assisted by more advanced and competent
individuals
 Challenging tasks promote maximum cognitive growth. Zone of proximal development (ZPD)
 Play allows children to stretch themselves cognitively

My interpretations of these theories are:

 Learning is lifelong,
 Children learn from their environment
 Children actively construct learning
 Culture plays a vital role
 Communication and collaboration with other people is essential
 Children pass through different stages of learning
 Challenging tasks promote cognitive growth
 Motivation is essential in learning

Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development and Vygotky’s Sociocultural Theory have formed the
foundations of my understanding of child development. Behaviourism is also an essential theory in
understanding child development; it focuses on environmental stimuli and learning processes that lead to
behavioural change. It is important to understand how these three different child development theories
should interplay and help broaden ones knowledge of how children develop. Behavioural management

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theories are also components on having a comprehensive understanding of child development. By
incorporating all these different types of theoretical perspectives into the practice of education, a teacher can
then fully understand why children learn and act the way they do and more importantly know how to
implement and apply these perspective before, during and after learning occurs.

Theoretical perspectives form the foundations of education. I will be discussing how theory and theme play
interdependent roles with each in other in the application of theory into practice. For students’ learning to
occur along with quality teaching, theme and theory need to be intimately linked to achieve this. There are
many themes that have been dominant in my program; here are the major themes I think are essential to
teacher education.

William Spady’s Outcomes Based Education (OBE) can be seen as a theory of instruction or principles for
instruction. I choose to take the latter view that OBE are principles of instruction that can be applied in the
classroom.

William Spady’s Outcomes Based Education (OBE)

Spady underpinned three basic premises:

 All students can learn and succeed, but not all in the same time or in the same way.
 Successful learning promotes even more successful learning
 Schools (and teachers) control many of the conditions that determine whether or not students are
successful at school learning

From these three premises, Spady developed four essential principles of OBE.
1. Clarity of focus
2. Designing Down or Designing Back
3. High Expectations
4. Expanded Learning Opportunities

Spady’s OBE is advocated by the NSW BOS. It is not a compulsory set of instructional principles that all
teachers must follow but as a future graduate teacher in NSW, I believe that OBE is effective in designing
programs and that it aligns instruction and assessment. The idea of alignment has been a major theme in my

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program. When outcomes, instruction, assessment and reporting are all aligned, improved student learning
occurs with also quality teaching.

The NSW Quality Teaching Model is another major theme in my program. The QTM was revised by the
NSW BOS to align itself with the OBE.

New South Wales Quality Teaching Model (QTM)

Building on recent research the NSW QTM identifies three dimensions of pedagogy that have been linked to
improved student outcomes:

 Pedagogy that is fundamentally based on promoting high levels of intellectual quality.

 Pedagogy that is soundly based on promoting a quality learning environment.
 Pedagogy that develops and makes explicit to students the significance of their work.

The QTM expands on the three dimensions of pedagogy that have been linked to improved student
outcomes:
Intellectual Quality Significance Quality Learning Environment
 Deep knowledge
 Deep understanding  Background knowledge  Explicit quality criteria

 Higher-order thinking  Knowledge integration  High expectations

 Metalanguage  Connectedness  Academic engagement

 Substantive communication  Cultural knowledge  Social support for student

 Inclusivity achievement
 Student self-regulation
 Narrative
 Student direction

The QTM identifies that by incorporating these three dimensions in your pedagogy, the ultimate goal of
improving student outcomes can be achieved and also improving your quality teaching practices. OBE and
the QTM play a significant role in program. One other theme that is important is the use of taxonomies in
that they provide a useful framework for thinking about outcomes, teaching and assessment. The Anderson
& Krathwohl Revised Taxonomy provides cognitive and knowledge dimensions that links with Spady’s
OBE and the NSW QTM. Other themes that are important to my program are:
 Assessment
 Instructional strategies
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 Differentiation
 Integration and Inclusion

Relevance to educational practice

How has it shaped my learning?

Learning multiple child development theories has shaped my learning by that it provides me with deep
knowledge and understanding of how children learn and develop. I believe that by being informed of the
multiple theoretical perspectives on child development, teachers are able to understand children on a whole
and individual level and are able to implement strategies to deal with cognitive, emotional and behavioural
issues. Learning the themes and principles has helped me make connections with the theory and what
policies and principles are used to implement these theories into educational practice. Understanding who
the governing bodies are and what their purpose is, is essential to understanding the parameters of
education.

How it delivers to education?

Theoretical perspectives create foundational theories on child development. It is then up to the governing
bodies to use this information to create principles that suit a learning system. This may be different to a
school system. In a perfect world learning and education through schooling should work harmoniously to
achieve the ultimate aim of teaching; improving student outcomes. Unfortunately this is not the case,
although principles of education such a Spady’s OBE aim to create a transformative style of education,
current models are far from this stage. Schools in many ways are still structured on the industrial era from
which they were first formed, that is schooling as an institute.

The current state of education in Australia is changing and developing into what the governing bodies hope
to create a more streamlined education system that can compete globally. With the introduction of
NAPLAN; tests aim to provide more data on student performance, data on school performance, data for
funding and increased accountability for teachers. This sounds positive but there are flaws in this type of
testing system. Some teachers may take the approach of ‘teaching to the test’, by doing this other KLA’s
and areas of learning will suffer, the creation of league tables, hence creating competition rather than
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collaboration between education bodies and schools, and that results are not used to improve student
learning as they become available months after the tests, in this sense the results are made redundant.

Reflection on learning

My Vision

My vision as a graduate teacher is to be the best possible teacher I can be. The best I mean being able to
provide multiple opportunities through my pedagogy to help students reach their full potential. I believe
that if a student is failing then it is the fault of the teacher, if the school is failing it is the fault of the
principle.

My pedagogy

My pedagogical beliefs have been formed and refined over my program by; learning the multiple theories of
child development, learning the themes and principles of education, and my practical experience as a
student teacher. All this has helped me define who I am as a teacher and how my pedagogy has been
shaped. These are some of the key aspects of my pedagogy:

 I have a constructivist style of teaching. I strongly believe that children learn best when they are
active participants in the learning of new concepts, and that they are the centre of that learning.
 I view teaching as a process of constant communication and collaboration between student and
student, student and teacher, teacher and teacher and so on.
 I believe that the relationship the teacher has with their students should always be balanced. But on
that point I believe that the teacher must always remain in control.
 All students should be treated fairly and with respect. They should have input on decisions that
directly affect them like classroom rules and regulations.
 I intent to work with the school and community to create a sense of unity for the ultimate aim of
achieving improved student outcomes.

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 I will also endeavour to constantly improve and refine my teaching strategies so I can ensure
students are provided with learning environments that allow students all the opportunities to reach
their maximum potential as an individual and as a member of society.
 I will use the OBE, QTM and taxonomies to drive programming and assessment and make sure that I
align outcomes, instruction, assessment and reporting.
 I will differentiate my lessons to account for all learning styles and abilities.
 My classroom will be inclusive of different cultures and children with additional needs.
 I will ensure that my lessons integrate the New Perspectives.
 I will ensure that I follow the policies of the NSW DET & BOS.
 I will ensure that my assessment techniques are suitable for certain tasks and to ensure student.
improvement and quality teaching are enhanced by them.
 Instructional strategies will be aimed to maximise students in their active construction of knowledge.
 I believe that peer to peer learning is incredibly beneficial.
 Finally I believe that school must a place where children are able to express themselves, explore
their world and learn new concepts with only the restriction of their own ability.

My pedagogy is a work in progress as I see my pedagogy as one that will undergo refinements and possible
changes due to experience in the field. In this sense I want to be a flexible teacher and learner myself,
because the world is not a static place, it is constantly moving.

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Bibliography
Killen, R., (2005) Programming and Assessment for Quality Teaching and Learning. Thomson Social
Science Press. South Melbourne, VIC.

Killen, R., (2009) Effective Teaching Strategies, 5th Edition. Cengage Learning. South Melbourne, VIC.

Introduction to Curriculum and Pedagogy. Compiled by John De Nobile (2009) Cengage Learning. South
Melbourne, VIC.

McDevitt, TE, & Ormrod, JE,. (2007) Child Developing and Education, third edition. Pearson, Merrill
Prentice Hall. New Jersey.

https://www.det.nsw.edu.au/proflearn/areas/qt/qt.html

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