1. From your observations, including interviews you conducted, does it seem that this policy is reflected in the teachers’ practices?
During my placement at Donvale Christian College I was able to observe how the College’s Behavioural Management Policy was implemented in a range of different classroom settings. When I first entered the school, I was sceptical about how successful the staff would be in implementing the program; however I was amazed to see a unanimous implementation of restorative practices. In the college’s policy, the teachers were instructed to address behavioural issues with four questions, firstly “what has happened?” followed by “who has been affected? How can we find a way forward?” and “How can everyone do things differently?” …show more content…
I have come to the conclusion that as an educator, my work is “learning work”, as I have a greater understanding about the evolutionary nature of education, and the need to adjust practices to emerging theories (Groundwater-Smith 2003, p. 47). Additionally, I have learnt that although I may support a certain theorist, I will always be competing with needing to replace or modify existing theories which both students and I have previously identified with (Bruner 1996, p. 46). Accordingly, even after selecting a theory to commit to, I was always be adjusting my teaching to students “backgrounds, abilities, styles and interests” to the classes interests (Bruner 1996, p. 47). In this context, I support the notion that a “teacher’s role is changing from that of instructor to that of a leader of learning” (Groundwater-Smith 2003, p. 39). Consequently, I most closely align with Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, arguing that to learn, students must reach a state of disequilibrium, wrestling with their previous understand to advance their understandings (Hammond et al.2001, p. 8). Concluding, I believe the role of the educator should be to “teach students how to learn, to solve problems, to analyse and so on, so as to become life-long learners” (Groundwater-Smith 2003, p.
During my placement at Donvale Christian College I was able to observe how the College’s Behavioural Management Policy was implemented in a range of different classroom settings. When I first entered the school, I was sceptical about how successful the staff would be in implementing the program; however I was amazed to see a unanimous implementation of restorative practices. In the college’s policy, the teachers were instructed to address behavioural issues with four questions, firstly “what has happened?” followed by “who has been affected? How can we find a way forward?” and “How can everyone do things differently?” …show more content…
I have come to the conclusion that as an educator, my work is “learning work”, as I have a greater understanding about the evolutionary nature of education, and the need to adjust practices to emerging theories (Groundwater-Smith 2003, p. 47). Additionally, I have learnt that although I may support a certain theorist, I will always be competing with needing to replace or modify existing theories which both students and I have previously identified with (Bruner 1996, p. 46). Accordingly, even after selecting a theory to commit to, I was always be adjusting my teaching to students “backgrounds, abilities, styles and interests” to the classes interests (Bruner 1996, p. 47). In this context, I support the notion that a “teacher’s role is changing from that of instructor to that of a leader of learning” (Groundwater-Smith 2003, p. 39). Consequently, I most closely align with Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, arguing that to learn, students must reach a state of disequilibrium, wrestling with their previous understand to advance their understandings (Hammond et al.2001, p. 8). Concluding, I believe the role of the educator should be to “teach students how to learn, to solve problems, to analyse and so on, so as to become life-long learners” (Groundwater-Smith 2003, p.