Professional Knowledge
Standard 1: Know students and how they learn

This is evidence of student observation notes that I gathered during my final placement to gather background information about cultural, linguistic, and socioeconomic aspects of multicultural foundation year students, to inform contextualised teaching and learning.

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This sensitively gathered information about students’ cultural, linguistic, religious, and socioeconomic backgrounds guided me to effectively draw relevant linkages within classroom discussions and encourage students to sensitively express and explore their identity, with empathy for other beliefs and cultures, essentially incorporating the culturally sensitive pedagogy suggested by Santaro (2009, p.41). Better relationships with students were established by valuing their ‘virtual bags’ and ‘funds of knowledge’, which effectively maintained supportive learning environments within the classroom. This in turn impacted their learning capabilities by developing a ‘sense of belonging’ and performing at their potential capacity (Powell & Powell, 2010).