VATE Curriculum Committee response to the Victorian Curriculum Reform 2004 Consultation paper, and the implications for English and English teaching in a Framework of Essential Learning.

1. PREAMBLE

The following response is made on behalf of the Curriculum Committee of VATE. Curriculum Committee meets monthly, and welcomes the input of members, who are invited to attend meetings and participate in the framing of our thinking, or to make submission via email or mail.

VATE’s thinking about English and English teaching has been informed by recent developments at both a national and an international level. The national context includes our participation in the Standards for Teachers of English Language and Literacy in Australia project (STELLA: a three year Australian Research Council funded project in which practicing teachers across Australia, in collaboration with academic researchers and standards bodies, articulated and developed a professional standards framework for English and literacy teachers). One of the principles underpinning STELLA is the importance of recognising the professional knowledge of practising teachers in the development and implementation of any standards. A second principle is the acknowledgement and valuing of the way local contexts have a bearing on the articulation of professional standards. Our acceptance of these principles means that while VATE acknowledges the value of much of the work done on national benchmarks and standards, we are wary of curriculum prescription, or of any national developments which undermine local and particular differences in English curriculum development and implementation.

The international context includes VATE’s hosting of the eighth International Federation for the Teaching of English (IFTE) Conference in July 2003. The conference: Transforming Literacies Changing English: Elsewheres of Potential could best be characterized as a series of international ‘conversations’ around five interrelated strands: Literacy in a democratic society; English as a global language; Literacy as textual diversity/English as cultural studies; 21st century literacies; and Professional identity and change: the role of the English literacy educator in the 21st century. These strands are now seen by the international English teaching community as embodying the major issues with which all English teachers should engage in order to create a meaningful English curriculum in the 21st century. While these strands are not discrete, nor the work done on teasing out the strands complete, The Australian Association for the Teaching of English (AATE) and VATE endorse the ‘findings’ of the strand working parties and are committed to ensuring that these issues are brought to the fore in discussion about the ‘essentials’ of English, and the place of English in the national and state curriculum. A detailed statement of the key findings from the IFTE conference can be found in the VATE/ALEA (Victoria) response to the Blueprint for Education: Key Findings and Recommendation circulated to members in October 2003. This response to the Framework of Essential Learning should be read ‘hand in hand’ with that earlier response.

2. FLEXIBLE CURRICULUM DELIVERY

One of the strengths of the Framework of Essential Learning is its commitment to flexible curriculum delivery. This commitment that there will be no one template for all schools, complements both STELLA’s recognition of the importance of local contexts and VATE’s literacy policy principle that endorses local diagnoses of literacy needs, and the development of local solutions in responding to those needs. We see this as the best way to determine curriculum and pedagogical practice. Flexibility in curriculum delivery also reflects the practical experience of the English teachers who have a long tradition of developing and delivering a range of ‘Englishes’ for different student cohorts, and in a variety of configurations: *as a stand alone subject

• as subject specific electives
• as an element of integrated curriculums
• as a component of general studies programs
• in VET and work experience programs in Year 10
• in an increasing range of community involvement and experiential learning projects at year 9
• in VCAL
• in TAFE Communications Skills courses
• in Liberal Arts programs

3. ENGLISH in an ENGLISH & LANGUAGE DOMAIN

It seems likely that in the implementation of the Framework, English will be located in a more comprehensive English & Language domain. This raises issues of the relationship between English and literacy, between English and other languages, and with the teaching of English as a second language. We acknowledge that ‘Literacy’ (and by implication, subject English) is contested ground; in keeping with the International Federation for the Teaching of English, we endorse a complex, rather than a functional definition of literacy, which includes the critical analysis of a diverse range of texts and of the social values and practices such texts challenge and endorse. As Freebody and Luke put it in Literate Futures: ‘Literacy is the flexible and sustainable mastery of a repertoire of practices with the texts of traditional and new communications technologies via spoken language, print and multimedia’. It is discussion about what we mean by ‘flexible’, by ‘practices’, by ‘texts’ – and the balance between traditional texts and new communication technologies, that assists English teachers to distinguish subject English from the role language and literacy learning must have across all Framework domains.

All Englishes, in their array of contexts and delivery modes value the development of the literacy skills, and the critical and analytical thinking skills which enable young people to participate in creating the societies in which they live. They acknowledge the role of literature and story (visual and print) in developing understandings of self and others, through the imaginative inhabiting of the worlds of texts (see point 7 - English and Personal & Social Skills & Development). One of the realities of English teaching is that we teach students with diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds, and that such backgrounds are rich resources for exploring multiple languages, identities and realities.

VATE acknowledges our responsibility as English teachers to develop student competence in English as the language of access, power and status; at the same time, we value the particular linguistic backgrounds and ‘dialects’ of our students. The balance between these two dimensions of English teaching is a source of discussion and debate between English professionals.

4. THE THREE PILLARS OF A FRAMEWORK OF ESSENTIAL

LEARNING: DISCIPLINE BASED KNOWEDGE & DEEP LEARNING, INTERDISCIPLINARY OR GENERIC SKILLS, PERSONAL & SOCIAL SKILLS & DEVELOPMENT

Each of the interrelated pillars of the Framework - discipline based knowledge & deep learning, interdisciplinary or generic skills, and personal & social skills & development - are familiar staples of good English curriculum and pedagogy.

5. ENGLISH AND DISCIPLINE BASED KNOWEDGE & DEEP LEARNING

VATE endorses the primacy given in the consultation paper to ‘language’ and ‘text’ as the core study of English, and believes that many of the principles and practices underlying the teaching of language and text embodied in the English CSF II should be further developed in the Framework.

In particular, VATE argues that ‘essential’ English must draw on a rich array of diverse texts – contemporary, classical, literary, media and everyday, and provide opportunities for the creation as well as the study of such texts. In studying this rich array of texts students must be given opportunities to explore critically an interrelated series of ‘contextual understandings’: contextual (texts as constructed products influenced by social and cultural factors), extratextual (issues of reader response and interpretation) , intratextual ( text types and genres, linguistic structures and features and intertextual ( the interconnectedness of texts).

We place strong emphasis on developing a curriculum which is respectful of the rights and values of students, responsive to cultural and linguistic diversity, and collaborative in the ways we might work with local communities. We acknowledge the relationship between literacy/literary practices and the ongoing production through language of individual and collective identities. We endorse the ways in which a cultural studies approach to English opens up questions about the nature of the literary object and literary experience. We value the integration of the wide range of emerging multi- and techno - literacies of new forms of communication into the English curriculum.

Professional knowledge and deep learning

Deep learning in a discipline should be premised on deep professional knowledge on the part of the teacher . As a professional teaching association committed to a subject discipline we encourage teachers to explore new theoretical paradigms about learning and teaching which result from new definitions of literacy , multi-literacies and subject English. We do so mindful of our historical traditions, and the body of professional knowledge built upon our expertise in textual practice and reflective critical enquiry. Furthermore, we recognise the importance of building a collaborative community with one another and with other members of the education community. We particularly encourage intergenerational dialogue in which the perspectives and knowledge of the experienced teacher and the early career teacher are valued equally.

6. ENGLISH AND GENERIC OR INTERDISCIPLINARY SKILLS

The consultation paper lists a series of generic ( or interdisciplinary, cross curriculum) skills, all of which are familiar to English teachers. VATE welcomes the fact that all the language modes – speaking and listening, reading and writing- as well as visual and non verbal communication are skills to be taught across all aspects of the curriculum. We believe English teachers should take every opportunity to share with other teachers our expert knowledge of the best theory and practice for the integration of these skills across the curriculum. Similarly the cross curriculum thinking skills listed in the consultation paper – inquiring, processing information, creative thinking, reasoning, problem solving, evaluation, to which we would add critical reflection and metacognition – have been staples of purposeful pedagogy in productive English classrooms. English teachers have also demonstrated their capacity to think about the learning and teaching possibilities embedded in the kinds of key competencies embraced by the Framework as generic interdisciplinary skills. In work such as the VCE Communication Project they have shown their capacity to design and, teach and assess rich tasks that integrate a range of these skills and competencies.

7 ENGLISH AND SOCIAL & PERSONAL SKILLS & DEVELOPMENT

VATE believes productive English classrooms enhance personal and social development, both through the curriculum content and the pedagogies used in teaching English.

Literacy is a social practice, and the content of subject English is concerned with developing students’ repertoires of literacy practices in aesthetic, creative, imaginative and utilitarian ways. Increased literacy skills improve students’ social development through enhanced participation in society. In English classrooms students examine and analyse current issues—providing opportunities to engage with public discourse; they read, interpret and critique a wide variety of texts—providing opportunities to consider the world from other viewpoints; they participate in a wide variety of oral activities—providing opportunities to develop public speaking skills, debating skills, and personal confidence in presenting ideas to peers; and they develop an extensive range of writing skills, including personal and creative writing—providing opportunities for students to shape and communicate their thoughts and feelings.

A productive English curriculum demands a wide variety of teaching methods and cooperation and collaboration between students from participation in whole-class work, to small group work to individual work. Activities such as debating, drama, literature circles, reader’s theatre, and small group discussions require students to work closely in small groups, co-operatively building on each other’s ideas. Students are also required to participate in whole class work, such as class discussions, the production of a class publishing project (such as a newspaper or writing collection), a whole class presentation or performance. Working with others and in teams on problem solving activities enhances students’ social development through teaching skills of collaboration.

The implications of the above may well be that as English teachers we should become more conscious of the need to re-frame a series of theoretical models of English teaching that have both historical antecedents and current application, as demonstrated in the integrative curriculum model proposed by Mark Howie in “The quest for coherence in 7-10 English” ( see insert). Such a model Howie explains allows him to draw on several well established ‘schools’ of English to enable students to experience ‘an English curriculum which remains centred upon the personal , but which is also overtly socially and culturally critical’.

8. ENGLISH AND VALUES EDUCATION

Values have always been a subject of discussion in English, implicitly rather than explicitly, and in a predominantly exploratory mode. Values are imaginatively explored and evaluated through the reading and study of texts. This approach is not prescriptive – in terms of naming and adopting a particular set of values, but rather looks at the way people operate within the world of a text, what this means for their lives and how this casts light on the way we (the readers or viewers) live in the present.

In English, all values are up for discussion. The values outlined in the Essential Learning Framework represent one way of articulating a set of values with which we can identify – there are other values that could be drafted into such a list. As English teachers we know however, that there is something artificial in providing a prescribed list of values. Young people must develop values for themselves, within the context of a critical examination of the worldviews from which those values spring and the kinds of thinking and actions they lead to.

The English classroom is the place where conversations about the challenges and opportunities of living in a culturally diverse and pluralistic society, take place. It is through the reading of texts and a discussion of their context and interpretations that students can step into the shoes of others and in this way, transform their own ways of seeing. This is the kind of environment that is conducive to the development of critical reflection and it is this that will enable students to tease out their own values and assist them to make their way in a complex world. This sort of critical reflection is a major focus of English and will contribute to the development of citizens who are culturally aware and able to participate in the shaping of their worlds, both personal and public.

We believe that common understandings about our world are essential for the effective functioning of our democratic society. But values are living entities, they are not static. The most desirable educative process in the field of values education is not one of prescription. Students must own their values and this can be achieved through the exploration, discussion and critical assessment of a wide range of values and the kinds of worlds they create.

9. ENGLISH AND ASSESSMENT

As we have argued in this response, English is a broad curriculum field, and caters for diverse students; it follows that English teachers value assessment tasks that reflect the breadth, depth and range in curriculum and learning styles. In Victoria we have, in recent decades, developed a powerful range of assessment tasks and criteria to assist parent and teacher understanding of student development in a wide range of skills, and knowledge. This includes the assessment of formal and informal written work, of oral presentation and communication skills, of creative writing, of reading and analysis of a range of texts. We acknowledge the role of testing and examinations as part of this repertoire of assessment. Nevertheless, we caution that testing must not gain ascendancy over other, more qualitative forms of assessment, must always be seen in context, and must be reported to parents in a way that acknowledges the limitations of what we can learn from testing.

Getting the right balance of assessment tasks in the Framework, and valuing that balance, will be very important to the success of curriculum reform in Victoria. Many a time it has been argued, for example, that teachers have not fully exploited the flexibility of approach implicit in both the CSF and VCE study designs. This is generally a consequence of overlaying an assessment instrument that values a narrow type of performance, and that is more publicly ‘credible’ than other forms of assessment. VATE believes that part of the role of educationalists, both those working within schools and universities, and those involved in policy and management, is to educate and lead parents and communities to understand the limitation and reductionism of systems that elevate competitive ranking and grading as if it gives a full picture of student learning. .We hope the year of validation promised for the implementation of the Framework allows teachers plenty of opportunities to play that educative role.

Acknowledgement: Mark Howie's article "The Quest for Coherence in 7-10 English" first appeared on page 12 in EQ Australia Issue One, Autumn 2004, 'Talking English'. EQ Australia is a quarterly magazine published by Curriculum Corporation. http://www.curriculum.edu.au/eq