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This activity lends itself as a kind of thought experiment, it asks the question, what to students bring to school every day? The virtual aspect focuses our vision on the non-tangible aspects of schooling life, things that are commonly tacitly accepted insofar as that it’s a common assumption that all students come on a level playing field, often we don’t recognize what’s in the virtual schoolbag until something isn’t there.

What I am talking about is the knowledge, skills and past-experiences that all students bring with them to school as part of their identity. By discussing the different manifestations of the virtual backpack, it allows us to deepen our understanding of what it means to have both an inclusive practice and an inclusive classroom.

Different students will have different cultural capital. What we as teachers need to be aware of is that no set of cultural capital should sit hierarchically over another. Each will be different and these differences should be celebrated and respected in their own right.

My group's discussion in relation to the reading on Vicki & Thanh’s experiences helped to further illuminate the current divide. As both students come from very different backgrounds, current statistics show that the two children will eventuate with very different social standings (Thomson, 2002 p.3) and this is as schooling success is manifested by differences in social, cultural and economic successes (2002 p.5).

Further to this, we discussed how the onus is on us as teachers to begin to strategize as to how we can rectify this, to ensure that all students feel empowered, accommodated and able to achieve regardless of their background.

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Our next activity followed the juxtaposition of two YouTube videos. Firstly, we viewed the Western Sydney University (WSU) Ad titled “Deng Thiak Adut Unlimited” which documented the story of a child who escaped a war torn country while experiencing multiple atrocities before entering Western Sydney and eventually gaining admission into WSU law school. Secondly, we viewed a parody made of this original titled “Luke Williams Accomplished”, this second video portrayed the life of a middle class white male who has enjoyed the luxuries of being part of the dominant culture, being in a high socioeconomic family, and having such cultural capital as being part of various upper class sporting leagues. The idea of the parody was to question the idea of academic ‘merit’ that both of these men needed to enter into law school.

Our initial reaction to the video was commentary on how the initial video outcome happened in an overwhelming minority of individual cases. McGregor, Mills, Riele & Hayes (2014 p.609) affirm this notion by arguing in the majority of cases, our system blames individual children if they do not fit the system. A more likely story of Deng Thiak Adut could be painted if he was admitted to ‘normal’ school where regimes of testing and their subsequent consequences further marginalise disadvantaged youth (2014, p.616). In reality, this means that few existing schools would be likely to adapt to accommodating students such as Deng as by age fifteen, a lot of students who are at a similar level academically to him have already not been supported and have either dropped out, been relocated, or been expelled.

The research done by McGregor, Mills, Riele & Hayes (2014 p.620) does show however that in recent years, flexible schooling options have arisen that incorporates social services, flexible curricula, and support in a package that isn’t “dumbed down”. We agreed that success stories such as these need to break through to governmental levels in order to have a lasting effect.

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The Melbourne Declaration for Educational Goals for Young Australians strives for the idea that one day, “Australian schooling will promote equity and excellence” it also strives for a society in which all young Australians “become successful learners, confident and creative individuals and active and informed citizens” (MDEGYA 2008 p.2-3)

In our current society, one does not have to look far to see all the various ways that these goals are not being met. In committing to become a teacher who values diversity and seeks to become a teacher for ‘all’, one needs to be aware of what is resisting this ideal future from eventuating. The conclusions of recent research suggest that hegemony and assimilation are barriers to social change (Keefe 2007 p.17) the constraints imposed by education under capitalist society (Hart et al 2004 p.105) also poses as another seemingly insurmountable barrier.

However, there are ways in which myself and other education practitioners can move in the right direction, the following six activities pose as examples of how we might shift our understandings in order to become better people and in turn create a better society for all communities. McGregor et al. (2007 p.621) argue that the benefit of implementing inclusive and diverse schooling practices will definitively return on the cost in way of contributions to national prosperity. In other words, society will become better if we allow those voices that are currently silenced to speak up. Fostering critical thinking practices, enabling discussion and celebrating differences are at the heart of my commitment.

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In articulating my personal progression over the past five weeks, I have chosen six activities that I believe best demonstrate how tacit assumptions can be overcome by using critical thinking. To show this, I have created six different composite images that contrast positive/negative attitudes towards similar issues. I wanted to contrast images of prosperity normally correlated with those that have found success in the normative centre (Graham & Slee 2007 p.283), with images that show those that face negative aspects of our exclusive society and have thus been dispossessed. The overlayed text serves as my own commentary or mental processing as I develop my own (imperfect) understandings of these complex issues.

There was a substantial overlap in terms of the issues discussed between the 6 images. These issues revolved around normative centre as previously mentioned, and that this leads to the use stereotypes and labels because of said power structures (Keefe 2007 p.26). The word power is used as these ‘othered’ groups carry social, political and cultural currencies which are normally seen as deficits by the dominant authority. This is because the qualities do not reside in hegemonic norms. This can lead to self-fulfilling prophecies of failure to occur (Keefe 2007 p.26) as students (or all participants in society) will live up or down to the expectations that people have of them (Hart et al 2004 p.107).

While this paints an increasingly bleak picture of Australia in 2018 and what it means to be a student, I believe that this task has helped me immensely in developing personal strategies of hope which will begin with my own practice of diversity and inclusivity and then ripple out to the structures that are in dire need of change.

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Knowing one’s own story is foundational in becoming a more diverse teacher, how can we begin to look back and understand the differences in people’s experiences if we do not have a firm grasp on our own story already?

Based on the discussions in our group, we were lucky in that we all shared the successes of being part of the hegemonic successes of the dominant middle class, all coming from white backgrounds however, still deeply affected by the perceived injustices of our surroundings. None of our stories were free from acknowledgement of the past tragedies of the land we grew up on and for most of us this influenced why we want to become teachers in the first instance. To invoke change. To Make a better society.

The Melbourne Declaration on the Educational Goals for Young Australians (MDEGYA, 2008) was a popular reference point to continue this discussion. The two pillars of this document were that:

1. “Australian schooling promotes equity and excellence” (MDEGYA, 2008 p.7)

2. “All young Australians become successful learners, confidence and creative individuals, and active and informed citizens” (MDEGYA, 2008 p.8)

Where did this leave our discussions? Problematical. we all saw incredible value in statements such as these but the reality of our upcoming situations as graduate teachers was seen as a limiting factor. This is where I believe our reflexive practices re-emerge. To hold us to our convictions, to commit to our understandings of the past thereby enabling them to shape the future. To not give up in the face of a neoliberal political drive and monolithic economic shaping forces.

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Is it avoidable, even possible to avoid producing images when given a certain stimulus? In an activity where we were given different labels such as “good student, bad student, good school, bad school, normal student, normal school” we found it impossible not vividly imagine our own experiences of this situation. What does this narrow focus do to us? What does this mean for our capacity to know our students?

Graha & Slee (2007 pp.1-12) argue that our use of language, radically shapes this notion, insofar that there is a centre filled with cultural norms (e.g whiteness, ablebodiedness) and also those that exist outside it, the other.  One example of this occurring in schools happens in ESL classrooms, by differentiating those students, we re-enforce certain values to the group as a whole, this can serve to limit the future learning of all these students as some teachers may think they are ‘lesser’ or ‘less-capable’ than the normative center.

What we found as the take-away message of this is that we must actively work to dis-associate labels to various groups and rather see every student as capable, eager, and with their own challenges and skills. We must then find ways that teach to all in order to not exclude or continue to manifest these cultural norms and this means dismantling current sources of power by not recognizing existing barriers (2007 p.18).

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This activity focused on a variety of comic formats that illustrated the differences that a variety of different people undertake in order to get to the same goal. The metaphor of a race-track is deployed as it serves to highlight that some individuals have certain cultural capital that enable them to ‘run faster’ or avoid obstacles.

But where does this link into our own diversity practices? Apple’s (2017) chapter on the Hidden Curriculum helped us to unpack this comic a little further. He prefaces his writing by arguing hegemony or cultural dominance is created and recreated by schooling systems. Further to this, that middle class ideologies are catered for over others which are excluded, re-envisioned (incorrectly) or watered down. For us, the current VCE system was the best example for this and by far the most problematic. By having a one-size-fits-all system to determine University entrance, it is undeniable that having mastery over the ‘hidden curriculum’ will be in one’s best interests. The eventual stratification of society based on these results has and will continue to re-enforce labeling practices.

These students shouldn’t feel as if they are lesser or different due to having the system rigged against them.

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My last activity centers on a discussion that my group had following the display of an article on public perception of AFL footballer Adam Goodes. Adam Goodes is now more commonly known as an Indigenous footballer who stood up against white Australia for better or for worse.

The debate around Adam Goodes fits all too well into Keefe’s (2007 p.18) framework of what makes an inclusive school. We expanded this by suggesting that like a traditional school, the Australian public was not yet ready to become flexible, rather Goodes’ actions were starkly in contrast to the of rules, regulations, and traditions (2007 p.18) of the dominant social order. One commonly referred to ‘solution’ to cultural disagreements such as these is the idea that one must assimilate into the Australian ideal. Keefe (2007 p.22) defines assimilation as a process initiated by those dominant to minimise differences and substantiate the status-quo.

However, the question of what we lose when we do this must be asked. Does every who gives up a part of themselves succeed in the dominant system? Likely not. Rather, a process of negotiation needs to be opened up to ensure that everyone feels at home and that differences are celebrated. It is all too easy for the normative center to decide that everyone else must change, we as teacher’s need to re-affirm the rights of every student, that they are able to be individuals.

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Apple, M 2004 ‘Ideology and Curriculum’, Taylor and Francis, London.

Graham, L 2007 'Done in by discourse or the problems with labelling.' Ch 4, pp. 46-64 In M. O'Keefe and S. Carrington Schools and Diversity (2nd Ed). Melbourne: Pearson/Prentice Hall.

Graham, L, & Slee, R 2008, 'An illusory interiority: Interrogating the discourse/s of inclusion', Educational Philosophy and Theory, vol. 40, no. 2, p. 277-293

Hart, S 2004, Learning without limits, Maidenhead, Berkshire, England ; New York : Open University Press, 2004.

McGregor, G, Mills, M, Riele, K, & Hayes, D 2015 ‘Excluded from school: getting a second chance at a 'meaningful' education', International Journal Of Inclusive Education, 19, 6, pp. 608-625

Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs 2008, Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians, retrieved 1 June 2018, http://www.curriculum.edu.au/verve/_resources/National_Declaration_on_the_Educational_Goals_for_Young_Australians.pdf

Thomson, P 2011, 'Schooling the Rustbelt Kids: Making the Difference in Changing Times - By Pat Thomson', Support for Learning, no. 3, p. 139.

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