The quote “He who can, does; he who cannot, teaches.

” is from the four-act drama,

Man and Superman, written by George Bernard Shaw in 1903. However, I do not
agree with the quote. From my point of view, “He who can, does” refers to the
occupations that utilize techniques, skills and put knowledge into practice. In other
words, it indicates those who are professions. And “he who cannot, teaches” assumed
that teaching is the occupation without any of the above abilities. Nevertheless,
teachers could be referred as knowledge workers and accord with the profession
model in many aspects (Connell, 2013). Connell (2013) indicated that same with any
other skilled or profession occupations, professional and long-term trainings are
required for teachers, as well as a formal certificate. School teacher trainings used to
be in independent institutions named Teachers’ Colleges, but currently, teacher
trainings and education are all accomplished in universities. Therefore, it is
compulsory for teachers to have a university degree nowadays. Moreover, teachers
are not self-employed and they are under quality control enforced by the employers.
In other words, “teaching is not in self-regulating associations of independent
practitioners” (Connell, 2013, p. 267). Steven Loomis and colleagues (2008) also
suggested as universities are under the pressures of global neoliberalism, there’s the
trend around the world that teacher education programs are tend to become narrower
and more standardized (cited in Connell, 2013, p266). There are regulation
organisations to monitor teachers’ professional levels and manage teachers’ standard.
For instance, Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL)
developed the Australian Professional Standards and NSW Education Standards
Authority (NESA) is in responsible for accredit all teachers who work in New South
Wales.
In this essay, firstly, the interrelationship between four foundation concepts of
teaching and learning - teacher professionalism, curriculum, pedagogy and assessment
will be discussed and analysed. Secondly, the interrelationship between four concepts
in addressing the learning need of Indigenous students will be evaluated.
As mentioned above, the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers developed by
AITSL is the guide for all national teachers to achieve quality teaching and
professional development. Connell (2013) noted that subject matter and pedagogy are
two bodies of knowledge in teaching. And this idea comforts to the first and the
second standard of Australian Professional Standards for Teachers, which is “know
students and how they learn” (AITSL, 2012, p. 7). In order to deliver a successful and
effective teaching method, teachers are ought to understand their students’
backgrounds, including culture, religion and language, and also identify the diverse
learning needs of students. The second standard “know the content and how to teach it”
(AITSL, 2012, p. 7), relates to the content of subjects and curriculum. It points out
that the significance of knowing the basic knowledge, concepts and make the content
meaningful to students. Standard three, which is “plan for and implement effective
teaching and learning”, correlates to pedagogy. It emphasis the effective teaching
strategies and engage with students to make them enjoy learning. Standard five
indicates it is important to “assess, provide feedback and report on student learning”
(AITSL, 2012, p. 7). By analyzing the assessment statistics, feedback regards to
student learning achievement can be provided. It can also help teachers to diagnose
the deficiency of their teaching plan. And thus improve students’ academic
performance.
Curriculum can be seen as one the most significant element in teacher’s professional
work. Though Ewing (2013) argued that nowadays, curriculum is usually recognized
relates to the syllabus or the content of the particular subject that students need to
learn. The curriculum is not a certain product, instead, it can be modified and changed
according to the student ability and learning needs. Tsolidis (2008) reported that after
World War Two, there were a large number of immigrants affluxed into Australia and
a significant number of the children of immigrants were non-English speakers. Faced
with this reality, schools in the suburbs where many immigrants settled tried to
experiment with a special curriculum to achieve the reproductive purpose. However,
by the 1980s, multicultural curriculum was developed in the whole nation to reinforce
the understanding of multiculturalism and to deliver the chance for minority students
to maintain their cultures and at the same time obtain the skills to integrate into
Australian society (Tsolidis, 2008). Tsolidis (2011) concluded that:

Curriculum policy serves to narrate a nation by providing subsequent generations

with a story line about who we were, are and want to be. The aim here has been

to consider how various curriculum policy frameworks related to cultural

 difference nuance this story line differently (p. 27).

Curriculum delivers the principal concept of what subjects and contents the students
should learn and what skills they need to master to fit in the current social context.
Curriculum may also be instructed differently to stress different student needs. Ewing
(2013) emphasized that what teachers believe is significant, how teachers consider
learning is and how it happens may differentiate what students perceiving. The
National Curriculum was developed in 2008 to solve the problematic of uneven
student achievements across the states (Ewing, 2013). A second phase of the National
Curriculum included Languages, Arts and Geography and a third phase focuses on
health and physical education, technologies and civics and citizenship (Ewing, 2013).
However, the National Curriculum still remains incomplete as “it needs to address a
broad and integrated approach to knowledge and the development of thinking skills
and attributes” (Ewing, 2013, p. 133).
To “plan for and implement effective teaching and learning” (AITSL, 2012, p. 7),
pedagogy plays a significant role in the profession of teaching. Pedagogy focuses on
how knowledge is constructed, delivered and critiqued. It is the effective strategy for
teachers to successfully implement curriculum in the classroom or other educational
settings, to guide and develop student learning and make the them enjoy learning.
Bernauer and Tomei (2015) stated that a penetrate understanding of pedagogical
issues and learning experiences is significant in order to become successful in the
education area. The Quality Teaching model developed for New South Wales
(Australia) public schools aims to lead and improve teaching practice and
consequently student learning outcomes. The model includes three dimensions, which
are Intellectual Quality, Quality Learning Environment and Significance. These three
dimensions individually stress the quality of the knowledge that students are engaged,
the approaches to provide a better learning environment and support student learning,
and the methods of structuring learning experiences associated with related contents
to increase their significance or meaning for students. It is aimed to ensure that during
the process that students are required to perceive knowledge and complete classroom
tasks, learning is deep and meaningful (Gore, 2007). By experimenting diverse
pedagogical models of learning, classifying the important elements for students to
learn, and exploring the methods to create an effective learning environment that
achieves anticipated results, teachers involve in a continuing process to become more
effective classroom instructors (Bernauer & Tomei, 2015). For NSW Quality
Teaching model, though it provides a clear and defensible set of concepts to improve
pedagogy, teachers are encouraged to adjust and improve the Intellectual Quality,
Quality Learning Environment and Significance of teacher when they apply the model
in the classroom to meet the special needs for their students (Gore, 2007).
Assessment is also a considerable important foundation concept in teaching and
learning. Assessment extends to schooling and the curriculum (Lawson, 2012).
Lawson pointed out that grade and examine about the knowledge, abilities and
attitudes of individual students is one of the key tasks in the secondary schooling
period, and it is also one of teachers’ key accountabilities to support students to
achieve the best they can to be successful in the future. Thus assessment is the perfect
method to monitor students’ attitude and progress in study, give them impetus to do
better and deliver feedback to students and the parents in order to assist them to
progress. Moreover, assessment is also a good way to provide teachers the feedback
of whether the curriculum or pedagogy is suitable for students and if any part of the
teaching plan need to be improved or integrated to match students’ learning needs.
The interrelationship between curriculum, pedagogy and assessment is important as
they interact with each other, they impact on each other and it is necessary to plan
them with consideration of one another (Earl, 2013). It is a consistent, iterative and
sometime cyclical process for learning effectively. The National Assessment Program
in Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) replaced the Multi-level Assessment Program
(MAP) in 2008 (Ford, 2013). NAPLAN does not only reveal the continuous
inequality of academic achievement of indigenous students but also show the
achievement gaps of different school years (Ford, 2013). It is an effective assess
method to disclose the achievement gaps and for the government to determine how to
best fund. Nevertheless, many students felt pressure for having NAPLAN and some
of the parents oppose to the it since it deprived the young students’ happiness in their
education experience.
As different students have diverse learning needs, it is one of the teacher’s main
responsibilities to identify them and plan teaching methods accordingly. Here, the
learning needs for Indigenous students will be discussed. Groome and Hamilton
(1995) stated that the majority of Aboriginal adolescents are not obtaining the most
advantage from their experience in school. Indigenous adolescents tend to have the
need of achieving in the academic area, developing social skills, reinforcing their
self-recognition and self-confidence, being treated equally and receiving support from
the teachers (Groome & Hamilton, 1995). Education is recognized as the key to
mitigate poverty in Indigenous communities. Eady, Herrington and Jones (2010) also
stressed that Indigenous communities view indigenous literacy as more than obtain
higher education, it is seen as fundamental to maintaining culture and language. Ford
(2013) indicated that in the early twentieth century, the discourse of white domination
caused Aboriginal people, especially those from the rural North and Centre of
Australia were considered not capable for education. After the critical race theory
applied to education in the middle of twentieth century, government started to fund
schooling for remote aboriginal students. However, secondary education was not
commonly available in rural regions until the 1980s (Ford, 2013). The continuous
inequality of education opportunity for indigenous students revealed problem in the
NAPLAN program, the results continually showed under-achievement for Indigenous
students (Ford, 2013).
To achieve the learning needs mentioned above, teachers play an important role in
designing curriculum, pedagogy and assessment. As Ladson-Billings (2004, p. 60)
argued, “a poor quality curriculum coupled with poor quality instruction, a poorly
prepared teacher, and limited resources add up to poor performance on so-called
objective tests”. Australian Professional Standards should be followed when teachers
designing curriculum, pedagogy and assessment in order to meet indigenous student
learning needs. Firstly, teachers need to gain a deep understanding of the background
of aboriginal students and identify their learning needs, which comfort to “know
students and how they learn” (AITSL, 2012, p. 7). Secondly, when it comes to design
the curriculum, the subject content can be explained more or showing examples to
make the content easier for them to understand as parts of indigenous students may
hold low levels of proficiency in English. When teaching, pay attention to every
individual aboriginal student so they can be treated equally and perceive equal
amount of support from the teachers. Also the pedagogy and assessment can be
engaged with the indigenous culture in order to provide an effective and joyous
learning environment. Moreover, detailed feedback can be given to students and
parents to make further learning plans. Last but not the least, teachers ought to
‘engage professionally with colleagues, parents and the community’ (AITSL, 2012, p.
7) so as to monitor their behaviors, understand their difficulties in regard to learning
and living environment, provide help for them to achieve better in school. The
methods of achieving Indigenous student learning needs still require development and
it is teachers’ obligation to design curriculum, pedagogy and assessment to cater for
the full range of student abilities.
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