The theme focuses on building a balance between education and extracurricular activities including sports, recreational activities, and arts that would focus on creating equality in the education systems of Australia. Extracurricular activities act as community engagement programs allowing children to overcome issues of race, class, and socioeconomic disparities. The interview stimulates the discussion about the significance of sports and creative activities in curriculums of secondary school education because it leads to enhanced interaction between students of different backgrounds in Victorian State. Creating a balance between sports and academia is important as it promotes the physical and mental health of all children thus promoting the concept of greater fairness and equality. The theme plays a vital role in enhancing overall development and academic performance. Extracurricular activities are intervention programs stressing eliminating the gap between rich and poor by allowing learning in interactive environments. The theme is provoking and it will interest the pre-service teachers of the Victorian state as they are trying to uncover strategies that could help in promoting fairness and equality in education systems (MDE, 2008).
The quote from the interview states, “We shouldn’t have a dichotomy between private and public education. We shouldn’t have a dichotomy between the advantages the rich get over the disadvantages the poor have” (Interviewee 1). It is crucial that we drop the idea of having separate schooling for students of rich and poor classes as it promotes inequality resulting in disadvantages of the poor. The concept of equality supports the proposition of building dichotomy and providing equal learning opportunities to the students irrespective of their class, religion or socioeconomic status. Poverty prevails in the inner cities of Australia depicting the need for state funding. The assessment of the private-public education systems depicts gaps between the working-class and middle-class in terms of attainment and quality education. The disparities in the education system indicate the need for equal opportunity for the poor and children of indigenous communities. The realities of poor schools exhibit that society needs social change that could generate equal growth opportunities for the poor. Public and underdeveloped schools need more funding from the Victorian state compared to private schools. The existing inequalities cause adverse impacts on the lives of poor children as they fail to perform better. Class gap sets limitations for the deprived children, restricting them to interact with the children of the rich class (Tesee, 2006).
An effective approach to remove the disparities is to promote interaction between rich and poor children attained through investing in co-curricular activities. Social class reflects access to resources, status, and power. Students exhibit their need for co-curricular activities, “Curriculum is pretty balanced between sports, academia, and arts. I did quite well in arts”. The quote reflects that students want recreational activities and fun in their curriculum. Continuous studies can result in disinterest or overburden. The theme is part of the Australian legislature as the state emphasizes on building a connection between three schooling sectors; government, Catholic and independent. The students through recreational activities will interact with children of different cultures such as `protestants, Jewish, and Islamic (Proctor & Stacey, 2017).
A range of learning experiences
Zyngier emphasizes the role of information settings and their influence on learning capabilities. Students are able to use brain capabilities more under information settings and community engagement programs (Zyngier, 2017). The learning experiences of the students depict extracurricular activities such as tours, annual trips, and cultural events that are important for enhancing the cultural knowledge of students. It allows students to build effective interaction with students belonging to different cultural backgrounds, religions, and classes. The experiences are important for the students as it helps in exploring Victoria through excursions to cultural destinations and historical places. They are also vital in building social interests such as visiting parliament house, national museum, and Australian War Memorial. The opportunity allows students to explore famous attractions of Sydney and famous monuments such as Darling Harbor, Sydney Opera House, and Manly Beach. Classroom lectures on cultural experiences will enhance the learning capabilities of students.
The strategy is effective in eliminating a gap between children belonging to different classes and backgrounds (Gordon, 2013). Cultural activities provide an opportunity for aboriginal children to interact with students of other cultures that helps in improving interracial communications and removing discrimination. It further allows children to become well-informed citizens and accept indigenous communities as fellow citizens. Trips including children from different communities promote social justice and reshape society by enhancing positive thinking (Booth, 2014). Zyngier also recognizes the benefits of community engagement programs helping children to learn in an equal environment. Learning in informal settings permit children to communicate with children from diverse cultures, religions, and class thus promoting a concept of fairness and equality in the education system. The practice of sports, trips and creative events enhances students’ engagement and achievement that leads to community empowerment (Zyngier, 2017).
Assessment of understanding
To assess the understanding of students interviews are evaluated that gives an idea about their perceptions and experiences. The experiences and engagement of students in different extracurricular activities reveal their interests and enthusiasm towards creativity and sports.
Student’s experience
The experiences of students support their learning as a student states, “great experience, learned a lot about a country, the learned lot about each other and teachers, wonderful experience”. The experiences exhibit students’ need for meeting children of different groups and visiting historical places (Barker, Nosworthy, Humphries, & Sinclair, 2017). The experiences of students assessed through interview depict their interests in meeting children from diverse cultures as it adds to their knowledge. Students recognize the significance of extra-curricular activities as continuous studying without recreational programs results in monotony and anxiety.
Supporting specific learning needs
- The specific learning needs include classroom lectures, and educating students about cultural diversity prevailing in Australian schools.
- Creating an integrative environment that enhances engagement among students of diverse cultures.
- Promoting positive thinking that eliminates the concept of discrimination and disparities.
- Adopting interacting strategies that promote communication and interactions between students.
- Promoting understanding of the position of aboriginal children.
- Engaging children of indigenous groups in events and creative activities such as arts and sports.
References
Zyngier, D. (2017). How experiential learning in an informal setting promotes class equity and social and economic justice for children from “communities at promise”: An Australian perspective. Journal of Lifelong Learning, 11.
Barker, L., Nosworthy, K., Humphries, M., & Sinclair, J. (2017). Learning for Teaching, Teaching for Learning with Student Resource Access 12 Months, Melbourne: Cengage Learning Australia.
Booth, S. (2014). Teaching Aboriginal curriculum content in Australian high schools.
Gordon, T. (2013). Making Sense of Mass Education. Cambridge University Press.
MDE. (2008). Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians. MDE.
Proctor, H., & Stacey, M. (2017). A Most Poisonous Debate: Legitimizing Support for Australian Private Schools. Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden.
Tesee, R. (2006). Condemned to innovate. Griffith REVIEW Edition, 11.
