Further Information
download "Solid classroom practices" review
Classroom practice should include learning activities that actively engage students in understanding and addressing bullying. The classroom environment should foster solid student relations, cooperative learning and solid behaviour management. All students should feel supported academically and emotionally in the classroom.
Teachers can foster solid relationships among students and between themselves and students by adapting the curriculum and their knowledge of individual students to:
- teach appropriate modes of behaving
- encourage and reinforce appropriate responses to bullying
- include curriculum that celebrates Aboriginal history and culture
In schools with Yamaji students the inclusion of curriculum that celebrates the strengths and contribution of the local Aboriginal community would foster solid student relations.
The reflection questions below link to the National Safe Schools Framework (NSSF) Key Element Three, ‘Provision of education and training’ (DEST, 2003)
Reflection questions for solid classroom practice
- Are classroom management procedures consistent within and across classrooms in the school?
- Are classroom rules about bullying developed and maintained according to school guidelines?
- Are cooperative learning methods and activities used to foster pro-social behaviour?
- Do teachers use their knowledge of social relationships to facilitate opportunities for students to experience working within a variety of group arrangements and structures?
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Does the curriculum provide common understandings about bullying behaviour, including clear definitions and key information about:
- what constitutes bullying?
- how to identify bullying?
- the effects of bullying on students who bully?
- the effects of bullying on students who are bullied?
- the effects of bullying on onlookers/bystanders?
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Does the curriculum provide direction for:
- understanding the school’s bullying prevention and management guidelines?
- responding to being bullied, including reporting bullying, seeking support and responding assertively?
- supporting students who are bullied and ways to counter bullying behaviour?
- students to talk about bullying with each other and with adults?
- Do teaching and learning activities give students an opportunity to further their understanding of local Aboriginal worldviews and cultural protocols (e.g. outdoor classrooms about bush tucker)?
- Are significant events (e.g. NAIDOC week and Sorry Day) utilised to include local and national Aboriginal history in teaching and learning activities?
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Do teaching and learning activities enhance student social skills and personal development, including:
- social problem solving?
- being assertive (not acting aggressively)?
- conflict-resolution techniques to resolve differences constructively?
- student responsibilities toward one another?
- pro-social and cooperative behaviour?
- Does the curriculum provide a clear and consistent understanding about how peers (especially bystander) should respond to bullying behaviour?
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Are peers (especially bystander) encouraged to take actions to reduce bullying and commended for positive action through bystander training that facilitates:
- positive social norms and expectations to discourage bullying?
- peer support for students who are being bullied?
- cooperation, empathy and inclusivity?
- resistance to negative group pressure?
- reporting of bullying?
- Are students provided with real-life, experiential activities to encourage the development of appropriate skills for dealing with bullying?
- Do teaching and learning activities actively engage students in self-reflection and exploration of developmentally appropriate ways to address bullying (e.g. role playing)?
- Are students provided with opportunities for group-level decision making about solid solutions to bullying problems (e.g. class meetings, yarning time, group discussions and activities)?
- Is support provided to Aboriginal students who miss classes due to family obligations such as funeral attendance?
- Do classroom activities and curriculum content promote solid Aboriginal identity?
Ideas from other Aboriginal communities
- Additional ways to develop culturally secure classroom content include:
- present information in comic form and tell stories in street language
- resources should have pictures of Aboriginal people
- design posters using Aboriginal English
- use story boards
- use cartoons of Dreaming
- where possible use local stories
- remember that Dreaming stories have traditionally been used to regulate behaviour
- make sure resources are culturally inclusive
- Trevaskis (no date)
- Developing cultural secure classroom content can include:
- running parent workshops
- forming a committee such as Aboriginal Student Support and Parental Awareness (ASSPA)
- linking with Aboriginal Education and Training Council (AETC)
- consulting with Aboriginal communities represented in the school
- using visual and performing arts
- recruitment of a community artist to write and perform a song or play
- providing an opportunity for Aboriginal students to share stories with other students
- inviting Aboriginal staff (e.g. AIEO (ATA or AEW), education assistant, gardener, bus driver) to share Aboriginal stories
- flexibility and variety in student assessment (i.e. not standard written test)
