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Hello! My name is Cassie Cartwright and this is my 'Handbook for Teaching'. I will be exploring aspects of intercultural understanding and global competencies, as well as sharing with you to what I have learned about Vanuatu before my 3 week placement in a Ni-Vanuatu primary school begins. I have left a satellite image below of where I will be. Thanks for reading!

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I am a twenty-two-year-old female living in Melbourne, Australia. I'm a third-plus generation Australian. Most of my family were born here, with a mixed background of English and Irish upwards from my great grandparents. Along with most of my family I am not religious; however, my dad’s side of the family is catholic and were educated within the Catholic system. We all speak English, except for my bilingual Auntie who is Thai, and my cousins. We have all participated in education to various levels, from withdrawing during high school to completing university degrees. Leisure time mostly involves spending time with friends; going out for meals, exercising, shopping, and exploring all over Victoria. I have lived in Australia my whole life. My furthest and only journey outside Australia has been to New Zealand. I have visited various places around Australia but have remained living in the same place. I would love to travel more when I am able to. I live in the South Eastern suburbs and my area is quite suburban. We have a reasonably spacious house with a backyard. I live locally to schools, shops, public transport, and Natural Park lands around the Dandenong Ranges. We have a pet cat named Misty and a dog-named Tash. I live with my older sister, my mum and her partner. My father passed away. Below is a collage of images to accompany these words and create a small snapshot of my life.

This short story creates a picture of who I am on an extremely surface level. Whilst aspects such as identity, mobility and place do help describe who I am in some ways, I do not believe it is representative of whom I truly am. I realised how easy to perpetuate your own ‘single story’ (Adichie 2009). I believe summarising who you are in this way feels incredibly impersonal. Adichie (2009) states that if you ‘show a people as one thing, as only one thing, over and over again, and that is what they become’. If I were to repeat this paragraph as the complete product of my being and who I am to my core enough, it's exactly who I would be. I believe if you were to ask who I am to various people in my life, it is possibly you may hear varying ‘stories’. This is not because I’m a different person all the time, but because we are all products of environment and context. These words create a story about who I am in one way, however there is much that is left out about my life experience. Truthfully, stories can be defining. Adichie (2009) further contends how ‘power is the ability not just to tell the story of another person, but to make it the definitive story of that person’. This is something that resonates with me. If someone only knows you through one ‘story’ or experience, his or her image of you may completely differ from every single person who knows you. It's important to reflect on the effect the ‘single story’ may have on my own teaching. Griffiths & Allbutt (2011, p. 17) contend that ‘as teachers it is important to recognise how our own perceptions impact on what we might do in our classrooms’. Over this placement, one of my main goals is to be aware of any assumptions I may have, and actively work to recognise the single stories I may be unfairly harbouring so that I can teach to my best ability.

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Vanuatu (initially named New Hebrides) homes various waves of colonisers, and is subsequently a country of rich linguistic diversity. There are more than 100 local languages as well as the country’s official Pidgin English language of Bislama. Many British and French settled which means French and English are also spoken amongst the Ni-Vanuatu people. New Hebrides became Vanuatu in 1980 as the islands gained independence; with Vanua meaning ‘land’ and tu meaning ‘stand’ (Central Intelligence Agency 2016). Cricket, football (soccer), rugby and volleyball are Vanuatu’s most popular sports. However, cricket, football and rugby is for males and volleyball is for females (Topend Sports 2018, para. 1). According to 2009 data 70% majority of the Ni-Vanuatu people align themselves with Protestant religion, with a smaller percentage following customary believes or other unspecified belief systems (Central Intelligence Agency 2016). Vanuatu is a parliamentary republic with 6 administrative divisions. Their constitution was finalised in a conference on the 19th September 1979 with much of their law derived from English common law, French law and customary law. Their current chief of state is President Tallis Obed MOSES (Central Intelligence Agency 2016). Vanuatu is located in Oceania and is a group of over eighty islands in the South Pacific Ocean. The weather is tropical and is also subject to natural disasters such as cyclones, earthquakes and tsunamis. Natural disasters also explain Vanuatu’s terrain, which encompasses volcanic mountainous islands (Central Intelligence Agency 2016). Women have a lot less power and mobility than men. Marriage is extremely common practice and the nuclear family unit is prominent. When a baby is born, both the mother and father will take care of the child whilst the eldest female sibling will also do much of the looking after. Homes are often made using “bush” materials, as well as cement as bricks and aluminium for roofs (World Culture Encyclopaedia 2018). The expected years of schooling in Vanuatu is 10.9 years with the mean years of schooling standing at 6.8. The primary school dropout rate is 28.5% and the percentage of teachers who have been trained to teach is 28% (United Nations 2018). Moreover, the Central Intelligence Agency (2016) reports that 85.2% of people over the age of 15 in 2015 could read and write. Vanuatu’s average household monthly income was recorded in 2010 to be 83,800 Vatu (Vanuatu National Statistics Office 2010, p.6), which is roughly equivalent to 1022.36 Australian dollars.

Honestly, the vast majority of what I have learned has been really surprising! I have never known much about Vanuatu (hence the intrigue to go there). However, I will admit that my knowledge of Vanuatu didn’t go far past knowing it’s a region of tropical islands. This is an aspect Martin (2012, p. 3) may consider ‘object-based’ as I am creating binaries between Australia and Vanuatu and aligning my idea of Vanuatu with ‘stereotypes’ (Martin 2012, p. 3). After researching Vanuatu’s culture and history, I concur with Martin (2012, p. 3) that when considering things in a relational sense, we see culture as something that ‘changes, evolves and modifies itself as it is challenged by people from other cultural backgrounds’. Vanuatu is so much more than tropical islands and I am beyond excited to immerse myself in Vanuatu’s culture.

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My whiteness is something I believe I need to be meticulously aware and conscious of in my professional practice. Ask Dr Whiteness 2017 contends that whiteness emerges as ‘an idea of a racial category that is at the apex’. She contends how whiteness is the product of the power structures regarding race that have formed and the construction of subsequent hierarchies. This is something that can feel extremely confronting to be faced with as a white person. Ask Dr Whiteness 2017 contends that if we want to make any change in this world then ‘we have got to get uncomfortable’, and begin teasing out why whiteness may make us uncomfortable, and what we can do to begin eradicating ‘implicit bias’ (Ask Dr Whiteness 2017) regarding race.

Picower (2009, p. 199) asks ‘how do white, middle class, prospective teachers make the transition from being unaware of their culture to a critical understanding of the role of culture, power and oppression’? I believe that as teachers and human beings, it is helpful to consider racism as ‘a system that is fused across the world’ Ask Dr Whiteness 2017, and that to become globally competent citizens, we should consistently ask ourselves ‘how does [racism] manifest here’? (Ask Dr Whiteness 2017) and actively work to bridge whichever gaps we may find. Moreover, Cheetham (2015) contends that ‘as an Australian with a strong desire to deepen our nation’s understanding of identity and our place in the world, I believe we can and must do better’. He asserts this in terms of how much of Australia’s Indigenous cultures ‘remain unwrapped, unacknowledged and unexplored’ (Cheetham 2015). As a white Australian who will be teaching the generations to come, it is imperative that indigenous history and culture is something I am comfortable to acknowledge and explore. Without this willingness, how would I educate?

I have attached this document as a PDF (Norwegian Students’ and Academics International Assistance Fund 2015) due to what I can’t help but think of every time ‘whiteness’ is brought up; the white saviour trope in one of its many hegemonic forms. The document is a social media guide for travellers and to me, may help some minimise the perpetuation of ‘whiteness’. Picower (2009, p. 202) explains hegemony as the ‘internalized ways of making meaning about how society is organised’. Media such as this promotes the idea of white man at the apex, supporting the notion that ‘‘Those poor people over there needed our generous help’ (Griffiths & Allbutt 2011, p. 16). In our own professional practice, it is vital that we question our surroundings, media portrayals in particular. It may be helpful to consistently ask and consider ‘who is represented, by whom and for what purpose(s)? And what world views and assumptions are these based on’? (Griffiths & Allbutt 2011, p. 16). Being critically aware and conscious of my ‘whiteness’ may truly alter how I conduct myself in the classroom, and my relationships with students.

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During the creation of this visual (below) which is inspired by Penstone’s ‘Iceberg Model of Culture’ (2014), it truly fascinated me how much of my life and the way I conduct myself can be attributed to socially constructed cultural normalities. The aspects at the tip of the iceberg felt easy to refer to as being cultural. However, the ones ‘below the waterline’ are characteristics I don’t consciously associate with my culture which are actually its deep features that have become unspoken facets of my heritage. I found this very interesting when wondering about cultures all around the world creating their own versions of these and the responses they would have.

I believe it’s important in my teaching and becoming a globally competent citizen, to consider how these aspects of my being are in fact socially constructed norms that I may unconsciously bring into the classroom. As well as my own, each and every student will be bringing his or her own culture into the classroom. I strongly concur with the practice of cultural relativism, the ‘culturally empathetic and tolerant position that all cultures can be seen as equally legitimate and ethically justified in terms of their own historical evolution’ (Muller 2006, p. 14). In a global perspective, I need to analyse my own culture ‘in a way that provides some level of objectivity’ (Muller 2006, p. 13), and realise the ‘strengths, weaknesses and paradoxes’ (Muller 2006, p. 14) that make up all cultures. A paradox I’m aware of in my culture is the importance of marriage amongst the high rate and normality of divorce. It’s a given that I will come across cultural aspects that surprise me during my 3 week placement, however it will help significantly to harness critical awareness of my own culture.

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In our culturally diverse world, valuing culture and having strong intercultural understanding is now a crucial element of my practice. Campbell & Walta (2013, p. 1) assert how ‘we are no longer insulated from cultural differences as we encounter culturally different people in every realm of our lives’. It is for this reason that I believe lacking intercultural understanding as an educator has great implications that will impact the lives of students. I believe intercultural understanding encompasses so many attributes that putting it down to three feels like a difficult task. However, in considering my own practice, I found the attributes of empathy, perspective and self-awareness to be crucial when navigating my way through enacting effective intercultural practice. I feel all of these attributes go hand-in-hand.  What can I do to think and act constructively and make cultural adjustments in the face of differences, challenges and discomfort? I align my thoughts with those of Campbell & Walta (2013, p. 13) that the process of becoming culturally sensitive is complex. However starting with empathy, perspective and self-awareness of your own culture and others is a great place to start. Campbell & Walta (2013, p. 13) further contend that ‘the structured preparation needs to include opportunities to reflect on one’s own culture and identify possible challenges associated with cultural adjustment’. I concur that the nature of preparation is key.

I believe I need to work on becoming more culturally competent. Whilst Australia is a culturally diverse country, I believe my lack of life experience regarding cultures has rendered me with the desire and need to culturally adjust. I say this because to my surprise, I caught myself perpetuating ethnocentric viewpoints over the course of my trip on more than one occasion. Much like the pre-service teaching in the study Campbell & Walta (2013, p. 12) discuss, I also found that I was ‘not as comfortable with the situation as was first thought’, with small moments of culture shock. However, I believe immersing myself in this experience to the highest degree I could allowed me to make my way from moments of ethnocentrism to ethnorelativism. Below are some moments from my experience which helped me to culturally adjust and broaden my intercultural understanding.

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Adichie, CN 2009, ‘The dangers of a single story’, video, TEDGlobal, retrieved 20 May, <https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story?language=en>.

Ask Dr Whiteness 2017, podcast, ABC, 22 June, retrieved 29 June 2018, < https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/itsnotarace/ask-dr-whiteness/8613954>.

Campbell, C & Walta, C 2015, ‘Maximising intercultural learning in short term international placements: finding associated with orientation programs, guided reflection and immersion’, Australian Journal of Teacher Education, vol. 40, no. 10, pp. 1-13.

Central Intelligence Agency 2016, The world factbook, Central Intelligence Agency, retrieved 13 June 2018, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/nh.html.

Cheetham, D  2015, ‘Young and free? Why I declined to sing the national anthem at the 2015 AFL Grand Final’, The Conversation, 20 October, retrieved 20 May 2018, < https://theconversation.com/young-and-free-why-i-declined-to-sing-the-national-anthem-at-the-2015-afl-grand-final-49234>

Griffiths, H & Allbutt, G 2011, ‘The danger of the single image’, Primary Geography, vol. 75, pp. 16-17.

Martin, F 2012, ‘Thinking Differently about Difference’, Think Global Thinkpiece 2012 series, retrieved 19 May 2018, < https://think-global.org.uk/resource-category/thinkpieces/>.

Muller, W 2006, ‘The contribution of ‘Cultural literacy’ to the ‘Globally Engaged Curriculum’ and the ‘Globally Engaged Citizen’, The Social Educator, vol. 24, no. 2, pp. 13-15.

Norwegian Students’ and Academics International Assistance Fund 2015, How to communicate the world, Radi-Aid, retrieved 25 June 2018, https://saih.no/english/

Penstone, J 2014, ‘Interculturalism matters’, The iceberg model of culture, weblog post, 23 April, retrieved 17 May 2018, http://interculturalism.blogspot.com/2011/03/iceberg-model-of-culture.html.

Picower, B 2009, ‘The unexamined Whiteness of teaching: how White teachers maintain and enact dominant racial ideologies’, Race Ethnicity and Education, vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 197-215.

Topend Sports 2018, Sport in Vanuatu, Topend Sports, retrieved 17 June 2018, < https://www.topendsports.com/world/countries/vanuatu.htm>.

United Nations 2018, Vanuatu human development indicators, United Nations Development Programme, retrieved 20 May 2018, <http://hdr.undp.org/en/countries/profiles/VUT>

World Culture Encyclopaedia 2018, Culture of Vanuatu, retrieved 28 May 2018, Advameg Incorporated, <https://www.everyculture.com/To-Z/Vanuatu.html>.

Vanuatu National Statistics Office 2010, Vanuatu income and expenditure survey, VSNO, retrieved 5 June 2018, <https://mjcs.gov.vu/images/research_database/2010_HIES_REPORT.pdf>.