Standard 7 - Engage professionally with colleagues, parents/carers and the community
7.3 Engage with the parents/carers The DEECD claims that creating a productive partnership between schools and parents result into an increase in the student achievement and improvement of their attitudes towards their learning. This can be viewed through the positive effects of modelling behaviour or as a social process; both are discussed in the work of Albert Bandura (1977), whose work can be viewed as a bridge between behaviorist and cognitive learning theories because it encompasses attention, memory and motivation. Bandura theorized that people learn via observation, imitation and modeling. Part of my role as a PST in the P.E department was to help organise various college sports teams for interschool competition. This often involved calling and emailing parents and carers, chasing permission forms of payments for travel expenses or giving reminders about uniform requirements. It also involved meeting parents and carers at the games, making them feel welcome and "part of the team". 7.4 Engage with professional teaching networks and broader communities One of the programs I was involved with during my PST placement that demonstrates my engagement with teaching networks and broader communities was "Circus Class", training and activities facilitated by the "Westside Circus". The program was developed with "at risk" students in mind, as a way of engaging them in school based extracurricular activities. The program is an initiative of Moreland council. Linking to Vygotsky's social development theory and with Marcia's Identity Status theory, the goal of the program is to help students develop a range of physical and social skills. I found these sessions to be a great way to develop my relationship with students outside the classroom and to develop my professional network. |