Assignment 1 Guide – Annotated Standpoint Slide Show

(1000 Words, 25% of Total Grade)

Good morning, everyone. My name is Stella. Today I will present my initial

thoughts about my standpoints on Education. My presentation has 3 parts.
First, I will begin with my educational experiences. This is followed by a
reflection on my experiences. Finally, I will conclude with my viewpoints on
Education.

First, let’s delve into my educational background. I come from Vietnam, and I
finished 19 years of studying in my home country, including 4 years of higher
education. Therefore, I experienced the whole process of the education
system. In Vietnam, due to the influence of Confucian culture, teachers are
seen as the main providers and transfer pre-package knowledge to students
who are passive receivers (Tran et al., 2014, as cited in Tran et al., 2018). I
remember that the teacher-centred approach was mostly employed during my
school years. My friends and I needed to listen to our teachers and follow
what instructions they gave us. We took lots of tests, and exams and strove to
gain high scores; otherwise, we were considered low-level students. As I grew
older, I knew I was learning for testing. If I hadn’t achieved high scores, I
couldn’t have found a good job to get high social status.

Then, after studying abroad for a half year, I am honoured to experience

different teaching and learning approaches from Vietnam to Australia. From
my experience, because education is an element of a social system
(Gonzales, 2020), each country with a particular social system has a different
education policy related to the three orientations, including vocational/neo-
classical, liberal/progressive, and socially critical that Kemmis et al. (1983)
mentioned in their book. Based on what I have read about these orientations,
I believe that in my home country, the education system focusing on students’
behaviours and equipping students with skills for future employment is relative
entirely to
the vocational/neo-classical orientation. On one hand, according to Starr
(1991), each of us has unique abilities from birth. Therefore, one of the
benefits of the vocational/neo-classical orientation is that schooling can help
students recognise and develop their abilities or skills, which is sufficient
support for students to be skilled workers in the future. On the other hand,
instead of empowering students to express their opinions and give feedback
on others’ standpoints, therefore enhancing their cognitive abilities (Lefstein &
Snell, 2014, as cited in Cui & Teo, 2020), the orientation adopted by the
schools I attended concentrated mainly on assessing the knowledge that
students acquired and underestimated students’ contributions. As a result,
students’ intellectual ability is not sufficiently developed, and students
frequently lack skills for the workplace and life. →
Next, when it comes to my standpoints on education, I am inspired by Reggio
Emilia approach after starting 2 topics exploring early years curriculum/
pedagogy and researching play and pedagogies in my Master course. I would
like to create a dynamic and student-centred learning environment and
(Fraser, 2009) indicated that we should “value the children's resourcefulness
and competence and believe that the children have ideas that are worthy of
attention”. I believe the child plays an active role in their learning and can
create their own learning experiences. Teachers, therefore, pay closer
attention to what the children are saying and collaborate with them to create
projects and learning activities. Then, I will prioritise the interests and inquiries
of my students and think of new ways to use classroom and school
environments to provoke students’ curiosity and exploration because of the
notion of “environment as the third teacher” in Reggio Emilia approach that
(Strong-Wilson & Ellis, 2009) mentioned in their research. Moreover, as a
teacher, I think I shouldn’t teach children with a fixed curriculum (Fraser,
2009) because (Smyth et al., 2014) stated that this would impact teachers’
teaching autonomy and judgment. The last crucial element in education I
would like to mention is parent involvement. Based on my experience working
as a home tutor for 3 years, I agree that the role of parents is as equally
important as a teacher. The children I tutored at that time frequently did not
receive sufficient love or attention from their families, which led them to
mental illnesses, personality issues, or deviant behaviours. Therefore,
according to (Ahmed et al., 2024) parent engagement in their children's
education is essential to giving them a solid foundation for success and
independent effort. I think working as a teacher, we should strive to foster
parental involvement in their child's learning to ensure each child’s health and
well-being (McNally & Slutsky, 2016).
 References
1. Tran, L. H. N., Phan, T. N. P., & Tran, L. K. H. (2018). Implementing the
student-centred teaching approach in Vietnamese universities: The
influence of leadership and management practices on teacher
engagement. Educational Studies, 46(2), 188–204.
https://doi.org/10.1080/03055698.2018.1555453
2. Gonzales, M. (2020). Systems thinking for supporting students with special
needs and disabilities: A handbook for classroom teachers. Springer
Singapore.
9. Ahmed, Q. W., Rönkä, A., Perälä-Littunen, S., & Eerola, P. (2024). Parents’
involvement in their children’s education: Narratives from rural Pakistan.
Educational Research, 66(1), 34–50.
https://doi.org/10.1080/00131881.2024.2305821
8. Smyth, J., Down, B., & McInerney, P. (2014). Socially Critical Curriculum. In
The Socially Just School (pp. 111–132). Springer Netherlands.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9060-4_6
7. Strong-Wilson, T., & Ellis, J. (2009). Children and place: Reggio Emilia's
environment as third teacher. Theory Into Practice, 46(1), 40–47.
https://doi.org/10.1080/00405840709336547
6. Fraser, S. (2009). Play in other languages. Theory Into Practice, 46(1), 14–22.
https://doi.org/10.1080/00405840709336544
5. Cui, R., & Teo, P. (2021). Dialogic education for classroom teaching: A critical
review. Language and Education, 35(3), 187–203.
https://doi.org/10.1080/09500782.2020.1837859
4. Starr, K. (1991). Justice for whom? A critique of the social justice strategy of
the South Australian Education Department. South Australian
Educational Leader: A Publication of the Centre for Studies in
Educational Leadership, 2(5), 1–10.
3. Kemmis, S., Cole, P., & Suggett, D. (1983). Orientations to curriculum. In
Orientations to curriculum and transition: towards the socially-critical
school (pp. 8–13). Victorian Institute of Secondary Education.
10. McNally, S., & Slutsky, R. (2016). Key elements of the Reggio Emilia
approach and how they are interconnected to create the highly regarded
system of early childhood education. Early Childhood Development and
Care, 187(12), 1925–1937.
https://doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2016.1197920
1. Ahmed, Q. W., Rönkä, A., Perälä-Littunen, S., & Eerola, P. (2024). Parents’
involvement in their children’s education: Narratives from rural Pakistan.
Educational Research, 66(1), 34–50.
https://doi.org/10.1080/00131881.2024.2305821
2. Cui, R., & Teo, P. (2021). Dialogic education for classroom teaching: A critical
review. Language and Education, 35(3), 187–203.
https://doi.org/10.1080/09500782.2020.1837859
3. Fraser, S. (2009). Play in other languages. Theory Into Practice, 46(1), 14–22.
https://doi.org/10.1080/00405840709336544
4. Gonzales, M. (2020). Systems thinking for supporting students with special
needs and disabilities: A handbook for classroom teachers. Springer
Singapore.
5. Kemmis, S., Cole, P., & Suggett, D. (1983). Orientations to curriculum. In
Orientations to curriculum and transition: towards the socially-critical
school (pp. 8–13). Victorian Institute of Secondary Education.
6. McNally, S., & Slutsky, R. (2016). Key elements of the Reggio Emilia
approach and how they are interconnected to create the highly regarded
system of early childhood education. Early Childhood Development and
Care, 187(12), 1925–1937.
https://doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2016.1197920
7. Smyth, J., Down, B., & McInerney, P. (2014). Socially Critical Curriculum. In
The Socially Just School (pp. 111–132). Springer Netherlands.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9060-4_6
8. Starr, K. (1991). Justice for whom? A critique of the social justice strategy of
the South Australian Education Department. South Australian
Educational Leader: A Publication of the Centre for Studies in
Educational Leadership, 2(5), 1–10.
9. Strong-Wilson, T., & Ellis, J. (2009). Children and place: Reggio Emilia's
environment as third teacher. Theory Into Practice, 46(1), 40–47.
https://doi.org/10.1080/00405840709336547
10. Tran, L. H. N., Phan, T. N. P., & Tran, L. K. H. (2018). Implementing the
student-centred teaching approach in Vietnamese universities: The
influence of leadership and management practices on teacher
engagement. Educational Studies, 46(2), 188–204.
https://doi.org/10.1080/03055698.2018.1555453