Naomi Elliott

Engage professionally with colleagues, parents/carers and the community

 

 

7.1 Meet professional ethics and responsibilities

7.2 Comply with legislative, administrative and organisational requirement

7.3 Engage with the parents/carer

7.4 Engage with professional teaching networks and broader communities

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Critical Reflection

 

Throughout my experience as a pre-service teacher, I have actively sought to engage professionally with colleagues, caregivers and the community. On my EPT218 placement I attended all stage and staff meetings, and contributed to the development of teaching strategies. Additionally, I participated in welfare meetings and supervising playground duties. On the placement, I also assisted at the parent teacher night, where I introduced myself to parents and explained my role during the practicum (7.1). As a pre-service teacher, I comply with the legislative, administrative and organizational policies (7.2) while upholding values of fostering the intellectual, creative, ethical and social development of students (NESA, 2017). As a parent and pre-service teacher, I understand the need for confidentiality, and respectful dialogue between teachers and caregivers. I also acknowledge the important role that parents and teachers have in shaping the future leaders of society, the children in our care (7.3). Throughout my teaching experiences and University studies, I have opted to participate in additional Professional development, further broadening the teacher networks and communities I engage in (7.4). From my personal perspective, I find teaching to be a collective experience, where teachers, communities and parents or caregivers should aim to work together, to support the learning and development of students. I have also created a twitter account, which facilitates a global perspective on teaching. Additionally, lessons such as the Story Bird example, have provided connections between the home and school environment. Furthermore, the creation of parental surveys has provided me an insight on parental perspectives. These are methods that I would like to take forward into my teaching practice. This practice is supported by Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological System Theory of Development (Shaffer, 2009), whereby the microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, and macro system can in an ideal world work positively to facilitate a child being the best version of themselves. This belief is further supported by Noble & McGrath (2012) who emphasise the importance of building positive relationship to help foster well-being.

Noble, T., & McGrath, H. (2012). Wellbeing and resilience in young people and the role of positive relationships. In S. Roffey (Ed.), Positive relationships. Evidence-based practice from across the world (pp. 17-33). London: Springer.

 

NSW Education Standards Authority [NESA]. (2017). NSW Syllabus. Syllabus.nesa.nsw.edu.au. Retrieved 1 April 2017, from http://syllabus.nesa.nsw.edu.au

 

Shaffer, D. (2009). Social and personality development (1st ed., p. 89). Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth/Cengage Learning.

 

Through my twitter account, I am able to engage with educators locally and globally. I am able to identify teaching trends, as well as share resources with educators. Through twitter, I am also able to observe and interact with global classrooms and other related people at the click of a tweet. If you have feedback or comments I would love to hear from you. You can tweet or follow me here.

References from teachers I have engaged with can be found here