Gumeracha Primary School

School profile

Gumeracha Primary School is located in the Adelaide Hills region of South Australia. It is a school with six teachers and 105 students organised into four classes. Demographically, the student population is relatively homogeneous. The school provides students with a program of global and multicultural education and is strongly committed to the inclusion of studies of Asia throughout the school.

College website: www.gumerachr7.sa.edu.au

Jan Carey, Principal

Our school community recognises that learning programs should provide students with opportunities to learn about other nations and cultures. In 2008, with support from parents, we commenced a specialist Global and Multicultural Education Program. This was an important start for us. We also recognised that if we were to maximise the impact on student learning then we would need to incorporate global and multicultural dimensions across all curriculum programs. My personal and professional interest in Asia and studies of Asia has been an important driver for me and has led to my participation in the Leading 21st Century Schools: Engage with Asia (L21CS) project. L21CS has given me the opportunity to reflect on our current programs and practices and to enable me, in collaboration with staff, to establish processes for growing staff awareness and to explore ways of continuing to support teachers as they plan for the inclusion of studies of Asia in their teaching and learning programs.

 

Getting started

A shift in direction

I am now in my third year as principal of Gumeracha. In my first year, due to changing staffing circumstances, we had the opportunity to review our German language program. Through a survey of parents, and in discussions with staff and the governing school council, it was decided to shift direction and to focus on the development of a Global and Multicultural Education program. Whilst this marked the end of formal language learning for students, it did open up new possibilities for developing student knowledge and understanding of other nations and cultures.

Global and Multicultural Education program

We were fortunate to have a highly motivated and experienced teacher, Leonie Feutrill, on our staff. She commenced delivery of the program in 2008 and has built up extensive teaching and learning resources for use in her program and by other teachers in their classrooms. Her program draws on the cultural strand of a LOTE learning area and incorporates aspects of Studies of Society and Environment. Much of the delivery and content is based on an issues and inquiry-based learning model. Students participate in the program for two hours per week.

Leonie has participated in the Including Studies of Asia across the Curriculum course at Flinders University, the Asia Education Foundation’s Linking Latitudes conference in India in 2007 (I was a participant also) and maintains strong personal interest in Asia through travel. Her knowledge and experience have enabled her to incorporate studies of Asian countries into her program. In addition, she has established strong links with the Language and Multicultural Resources Centre (LMRC) and the Global Education Centre (GEC) with open access to useful resources for her program. 

Leonie’s significant knowledge and skills with studies of Asia have enabled her to be a major source of leadership and support for staff. In our continuing professional conversations we recognised the importance of the Global and Multicultural Education program initiative. We were also clear that cultural studies should be part of everybody’s business and that we needed to create a collective, professional ownership of processes that would lead to incorporation of studies of Asia in all curriculum programs across the school.

Catalysts for further action

Australia-Korea Teacher Exchange program

In 2008 I participated in an Asia Education Foundation teacher exchange program designed to provide Australian and Korean educators with opportunities to learn about each other’s society, culture, people and history through home-stay and professional learning activities. In July 2008, Hee Jun Kim, a Korean elementary school teacher, became part of our school. Her presence and engagement in activities across the school had a significant impact on staff, students and parents. This was a unique and rich experience for the school community and for me, growing the importance of taking a whole-school approach to studies of Asia. My reciprocal visit to Korea in September 2008 added further to my own knowledge and understanding of Asia. It prompted me to encourage staff members to consider participation in study tours/exchanges to Asia and to participate in the Including Studies of Asia across the Curriculum course at Flinders University.

It was important for me to ensure that our school community was kept informed about our developing connections with Korea. Newsletters to our school community celebrated and promoted the visit of Hee Jun Kim to our school and my visit to Korea. I also took the opportunity to share photographs and stories of my visit to Korea with teachers, students, staff and the governing school council.

Audit of school programs

Statewide meetings of principals participating in the L21CS project were stimulating and helpful for me. Through our strategic conversations it was generally agreed that conducting an audit of school programs to gauge the extent to which studies of Asia were already included, would provide a significant entry point for raising staff awareness and generating further discussions about the vision for studies of Asia within our school.

I took this idea back to the staff who agreed that it would be a useful exercise. The audit covered aspects of current school practices including the extent to which Asian content was included in classroom programs, teacher knowledge and experience of teaching studies of Asia, the range of Asia-focused school events and activities, school vision and policies and community awareness of studies of Asia.

Results of the survey indicated that there were some good things happening in the school but that studies of Asia were mainly delivered through the Global and Multicultural Education Program. It was also discovered that there was a correlation between teachers’ own personal experiences of Asia, their participation in professional learning programs related to studies of Asia and the extent to which studies of Asia were included in their classroom program.   

Survey of teacher knowledge and interest

It was also decided to survey teachers’ knowledge of studies of Asia, their use of resources, personal experiences of Asia and the extent to which they thought students’ learning about Asia was important.

A strong platform for further work

For staff the key value of the audit and surveys was the generation of more focused interest in, and awareness of, the importance of including studies of Asia in teaching and learning programs. We now had a stronger base on which to build a whole-school approach to studies of Asia. The Beijing Olympics provided a good opportunity for whole-school practices including China-focused activities in all classrooms, a Chinese banquet day, the construction of the ‘Great Wall of China’ as a display centrepiece in the library and a focus on Asia in book week.

A three-year strategic approach

Our school conducted a review of its three-year Site Learning Plan (strategic plan) in the latter part of 2008 with the aim of developing a 2009–2011 plan. We ‘brainstormed’ the qualities we believed our students should have, know and understand in their time at Gumeracha. The discussions were lively and exciting and staff worked together to shape the view that an important quality was that our students should be prepared for global citizenship, be multiculturally aware and have a greater understanding of our Asian neighbours. This provided an excellent opportunity to view and discuss the 2020 Engage with Asia DVD.

As a consequence, our school articulated a key target in our 2009–2011 Site Learning Plan of developing global and multicultural literacies of all students. Associated strategies included increasing staff knowledge and skills related to Asia literacy, the development of students’ intercultural skills, formulation of a school vision, expanding our teaching and learning resources, continuing support for the Global and Multicultural Education program and further development of connections with Korea.

With the endorsement of the governing school council the new plan has been adopted, thereby formalising direction for the next three years.

Creating a support structure for teachers

We recognised that in the early implementation stages our teachers required significant support to build knowledge and confidence to incorporate studies of Asia in classroom programs.

Peer support for teachers

Using funds provided through the L21CS project, it was decided to release teachers to work with Leonie, our Global and Multicultural Education program leader, to develop topic plans, classroom activities and awareness of resources such as the Snapshots of Asia series and how they might be used.  A consultant from the GEC was invited to come and work with teachers.  Teachers have also been made aware of the resources available through the LMRC and GEC from whom resources have been borrowed.

A whole-school focus on The Arts

We have taken an emergent ‘from the ground up’ approach to implementation and believe that mentoring of and support for teachers is essential. Out of these continuing professional conversations has come a strong whole-school focus on The Arts as a learning area for the incorporation of studies of Asia across the school. This has led to the staging of a ‘Come Out 2009’ festival involving presentations by each class at a special Indonesian assembly and rotational electives involving puppet- and batik-making, and painting. Parents participated in these Asia-focused presentations and a special newsletter feature written by the students in years 3–5 about the Indonesian assembly was published and distributed throughout the school community.

Recent implementation activities

Professional learning

A significant amount of our professional learning is school-based with ‘hands-on’ learning taking place in meetings involving the Global and Multicultural Education program leader and classroom teachers.

In addition, through L21CS grant funds we have supported the participation of two teachers in the Flinders University course Including Studies of Asia across the Curriculum.

Networking with principals

To support the further development of studies of Asia in our cluster schools, I invited local Principals to become part of a Torrens Valley/Hills network to focus on studies of Asia. This has given me the opportunity to share ideas about studies of Asia, my experiences in the teacher exchange program and to introduce Principals to the resources available through L21CS. This network provides opportunities for sharing of practice and professional learning opportunities for leaders across six sites. A successful strategy so far has been on providing shared experiences with Asia through a culinary approach with each meeting having a different Asian country theme and learning focus.

Sharing resources electronically

Through a South Australian Department of Education and Children’s Services initiative, I have been given release time to develop an online Asia-focused ePal project called Kimchi and Meat Pies. This online project has been designed to connect teachers and students in Australia with peers in Korea. At present, there are six schools in South Australia and six schools in Korea who have become part of the program. My experiences in Korea provided me with many opportunities to gather visual resources such as photographs and video footage, which are now being shared through the project.

Developing a school vision

Recently, as a whole staff, we initiated an activity designed to help us reflect on our achievements to date and to explore what our next implementation steps might be. This is leading to the development of a vision statement which will require formal endorsement by staff and the governing school council. An important objective now is to look to ways in which we can sustain our studies of Asia program into the future.

Our next steps

We are strongly committed to implementing the strategies contained in our new three-year Site Learning Plan. We will establish processes for monitoring student and community perceptions and engagement with multicultural studies, and continue to:

• provide opportunities for staff to develop their knowledge and understanding of Asia and the ways in which students can engage with Asia and develop intercultural skills
• build on the relationship with our Korean exchange teacher to develop ongoing connections between students and teachers
• support and resource our Global and Multicultural Education program
• take a whole-school approach to including studies of Asia through school activities and classroom units of work
• explore ways of promoting and communicating learning about global and Asia literacy with our school community.