AITSL STANDARDS FOR GRADUATES Standard #7

AITSL
Standards for Graduates
7.1 Meet professional ethics and
responsibilities
7.2 Comply with legislative, administrative
and organisational requirements
7.3 Engage with the parents/carers
7.4 Engage with professional teaching
networks and broader communities

1. Engage professionally with parents and the

community
by Sophie Love

Case Story - 7.2 Comply with legislative, administrative and organisational requirements and
7.3 Engage with the parents/carers

Being a drama teacher lends itself to more red tape, perhaps, than any other subject. Attaining
copyright for scripts, parental consent for content or practice, acquiring costumes and spaces,
audiences and budgets; it was a fantastic experience teaching drama throughout my FPE. The term I
was teaching had been aimed towards a devised drama experience for the students. It came about
that my mentor teacher wished to take the play to a neighbouring school as part of their learning.
The first challenge was getting a performance, that we would be happy to share at other schools,
finished in 6 weeks. I set it as a goal and pushed the classes hard. From there I was given the task of
generating the paperwork for parents to sign in regards to their approval of the activity which
involved a risk assessment, student health and emergency contact details and all the relevant
approvals of locations and times. With such as small window we werent sure that the students would
be ready in time but my mentor wanted to try. I undertook the task of getting parent consent through
their program Signmee and had less than 2 weeks to set it up (the recommended time for approval
was more than 2 weeks). I worked very hard at getting all the necessary paperwork done as soon as
possible and managed to receive all forms back in time. I had to laisse with the staff at the school
where we were going and arrange the costumes, space, and transport. The day came and we took the
class successfully to their performance; the students had a great time performing at another school
and it really extended their confidence and skill. The excursion was so successful, I asked if we might
be able to organise it for another class. The deadlines were even tighter but my mentor teacher
simply said if I could make it happen, he was on board. I performed the necessary permission
paperwork again and took a second class to perform in the final week of term. I felt extremely
excited to be able to give the students this opportunity and found the process of approval a good
challenge.

In terms of parent communication, one of the greatest opportunities I had was through the schools
portal Seqta. This was an extensive system setup for all matters of school reporting, recording and
communicating. There was a dashboard section for every student where I could input any merit,
AITSL STANDARDS FOR GRADUATES | Issue # 7 2

concern, homework instruction, demerit or parent communication. For example, there was an
incident with a student who was slouching very badly in class. The student kept saying they had lost
their headphones and was consequently slouching to listen to their iPad videos. Having insisted
several times, I decided to make mention of this to her mother. I sent a simple message under
concerns on Seqta and the issue was resolved overnight. It was a powerful tool when
communicating with family members that I continued to use over the course of my FPE. I did also take
very careful notice to make sure I did not use insensitive language in my communication so as not to
cause issues. I was successful in peaceful conversations and getting parents on side because of this.

Each school has its different processes and I discovered throughout my various practical experiences
that it was often up to me to educate myself. In each school I taught at, I always asked what the
communication and discipline procedures were. There were often posters, handbooks or personnel in
charge to teach me. I seek to do this in any future school I may teach at; to study up on the schools
policies and procedures. Their websites are also often useful places of information which I would take
time to read before employment at a school. Becoming familiar with their online portals and making a
special effort to use these is something I plan on doing when it comes to reporting, assessment and
communication. Conversations with the principal, pastoral care workers and heads of department are
also ways I will inform myself. I see that it is my responsibility to respect the schools code of conduct
and support their way of practice where ever I may be employed and whatever system they may use.
Figure 1 This is a copy of the letter I sent home to the student regarding their headphones and slouching.

Figure 2 This is a letter of activities written by the Principal who reviewed all my excursion paperwork.