Autumn 2005

Leadership

The tsunami sounds a wake-up call

Recent global events have heightened educators’ awareness of the need for a curriculum which prepares students to be effective citizens in an increasingly inter-connected world. MAUREEN WELCH draws on over a decade of work in schools nationally to provide examples of curriculum leadership in schools.

THE TOPIC which will dominate students’ return to school in 2005 will no doubt be the tsunami and its aftermath in Asia. This tragic event has once again emphasised the increasing inter-connectedness of the world and raised questions for school leaders about an appropriate classroom response.

For many schools and curriculum leaders, the response is easy: there is curriculum already in place which will take students beyond an immediate and understandably compassionate response to victims of the tsunami to a more multi-faceted understanding of the relevant countries in Asia.

For the 50% of schools who do not teach about Asia at all or who do so in only superficial ways, the question of how to respond is a little more complicated.

Just as ‘helicopter journalism’ describes a distanced ‘outside-in’ style of news coverage of events and disasters occurring in previously ‘unknown’ places, teachers and schools can sometimes unwittingly provide what might be called ‘helicopter education’—a view of Asia dominated by fear or pity, as articulated in the recent University of Newcastle study (Reynolds, 2004) of ‘Children’s Attitudes to the World’.

If the response of school communities is to be broader and long term, we need a curriculum which provides students with deep learning about the richness and diversity of the region and capacity to make real connections with our closest neighbours in Asia. We need to heighten students’ curiosity and develop their intercultural skills.

Education systems across Australia are currently grappling with the issue of ‘core’ or ‘essential’ learnings for their students. Most State and Territory curriculum documents acknowledge the need for learning which enables students to be effective participants in the global community. However, the responsibility rests largely with schools to decide on curriculum content. This is not easy. The world is a big place.

So how do principals, curriculum leaders, teachers and school communities determine the types of knowledge and skills relevant to students now and into the future? Principal of Eltham College, Dr David Warner, describes this as a risky but necessary skill for a leader.

The greatest challenge facing a principal is one of leadership for the future. This poses complexities and involves risk taking … The challenge is to alter community, teacher and parent views. Young people today are not preparing for the world their parents faced as school leavers.

Warner’s challenge to curriculum and school leaders is to construct curriculum that provides students with knowledge skills and understandings to be effective citizens in an increasingly globalised world. However, it may not be enough to focus only on the global without some emphasis on things ‘regional’. As Prime Minister Howard recently stated, ‘Our home is in the region’.

Taking a lead with curriculum

The Asia Education Foundation’s (AEF) experience in working with schools over the past 12 years indicates that there is a multitude of ways in which leaders can embed studies of Asia in the curriculum.

One motivated teacher

Leadership can start with one teacher. The findings of Dr John Owen and Pamela Andrew in their study of Access Asia schools show that many schools began a focus on Asia through the efforts of one interested teacher.

[It] is likely that whole school commitment to studies of Asia developed in parallel with teaching new units about Asia in classrooms. Small successes in classrooms are disseminated to other teachers, who are encouraged to try studies of Asia courses in their classes. Over time a critical mass of committed teachers is created… (Owen & Andrew, 2003).

Identifying a leader or team

The extensive 2002 review of how studies of Asia have been implemented in schools, conducted by Erebus Consulting Partners, provides guidance for schools wishing to implement a program. In schools where no person or team had responsibility for implementing a studies of Asia focus, 51% identified that only a minority of teachers included any emphasis on the region. A majority of schools active in studies of Asia had designated either an individual or team with responsibility for the area. Where a team approach was adopted, there was more likelihood that the studies of Asia would be taught by the majority of teachers in the school.

Leading edge schools

The Erebus study highlighted the fact that in ‘leading edge’ studies of Asia schools, change was always driven by at least one committed school leader or ‘teacher champion’. In these schools, a sophisticated approach has been taken to the issue of ‘un-crowding the curriculum’. Studies of Asia are notseen as something special but as a regular part of the school’s program. Head of Arts at Albany Senior High School, Marguerite Fynn, is a strong advocate of this approach. You have to embed perspectives on Asia in key parts of the school program. In English, I use texts from Asia to teach the literacy skills I want to teach. Albany is a fairly monocultural place and the students find these teaching materials totally engaging.

A multi-pronged approach

Don Gargan, principal of Beechworth Secondary College, supports a team of people in leading curriculum change within his school. The strategy adopted at this school is multi-pronged, including: people-to people contact through student and teacher exchange; embedding a focus on Asia through KLAs like SOSE, English and the Arts; and utilising special programs like the Artist in Residence scheme. Gargan has a clear view of the importance of this curriculum innovation in his school. ‘This is a small rural town but our students will have to go out and work in the wider world,’ he said, speaking about the school’s hosting of a teacher from Indonesia for six weeks in 2004. ‘Our students need to be able to work with people from other cultures.’

Taking action

The task of rebuilding countries after the tsunami will take decades. Building curriculum which enables Australian students to engage effectively with their neighbours and the wider world will also take time. What is clear from over a decade of work by the AEF in Australian schools is that leadership can start with one classroom teacher or through a team or school leader. As the student says in Hedley Beare’s illuminating text (2000), ‘My schooling must teach me about living comfortably in a multicultural, multi-national, multifaith world’. How does your curriculum shape up? As leaders, there has never been a time more pressing or a better opportunity to create a curriculum and school environment that ensures ‘the next generation has the knowledge and understanding to get on with their neighbours, to solve global problems, and to build a shared and prosperous future’ (Ganter, 2003). And the place to begin is in our front yard—Asia. The AEF is a foundation of the Asialink Centre at The University of Melbourne and Curriculum Corporation. It receives core funding from the Australian Government Department of Education, Science and Training. For further information regarding the resources and support available, visit www.asialink.unimelb. edu.au/aef

References

Beare, H (2000). Creating the Future School, Routledge Falmer, London.

Erebus Consulting Partners (2002). Review of Studies of Asia in Australian Schools, a report to the Commonwealth Department of Education, Science and Training.

Gantner C (2003). ‘In the national interest: knowledge and understanding of Asia’, opening address to the national summit, Studies of Asia at a Crossroad: Strategic Directions 2004–6, Canberra. Also available at www.asialink.unimelb.edu.au/aef/pd

Owen, J & Andrew, P (2003). Curriculum Outcomes in Access Asia Schools, DEST, Canberra.

Reynolds, R (2004). ‘Children’s attitudes to the world’, in The Social Educator, vol 2, no 3.

Warner, D (2004). ‘Principal in the new world’, available at http://ec-web.elthamcollege.vic.edu.au/ featured/discussions/

Maureen Welch is manager of the Asia Education Foundation.

The author owns the copyright in this article. For information related to the reuse of this work in any form please contact the publisher denise.quinn@curriculum.edu.au