School of Education

102095 Secondary Professional Practice 3Report

Pre-service Teacher’s Name: Alexander Neil McLennan Pre-service Teacher’s ID: 18803088
Professional Experience Session: From: 22/07/2016 To: 12/12/2017
Name of Educational Setting: Western Sydney University
Number of Hours 60
Supervisor’s Name/s: Shirley Gilbert
Description of Educational Setting:
The strand was specifically designed to support preservice teachers in Western Sydney. It was developed by UWS
Aboriginal Academic Shirley Gilbert (s.gilbert@westernsydney.edu.au ). Approval to develop units was sought
through the NSW Aboriginal Education Consultative Group and the NSW DEC Mr A. Hall- approval to develop was
received in February 2015. The strand provides the preservice teacher a practical and guided opportunity to
develop engaged and real application and development of National Standards, 1.4 and 2.4. The units developed
are provided as support for Aboriginal students and teachers wanting to support their students pursue higher
education at the university level through an HSC pathway; and work towards closing the gap in initial teacher
education training at UWS. The strand demonstrated changes to preservice teacher’s receptivity to change in
relation to the Pre-service teacher’s knowledge requirements linked to AITSL graduate teacher benchmarks.
Students in this strand actively sought appropriate Aboriginal knowledge to enhance classroom engagement,
teaching and learning experiences. The units in this strand have been specifically developed for NSW Stage 6.
Their final units of work show commitment to developing greater awareness the need to develop authentic
Aboriginal perspectives outlined by Yunkaporta’s (2010) work in developing 8 ways materials for classroom use.
These units can be viewed at: https://8wayshscimprovement.wordpress.com/

Summary Comments:
Alexander participated actively in the initial training workshops and developed a unit of work for the series “Redfern
Now”. The unit clearly articulates an 8 Ways approach and gives teachers and students appropriate support to meet
the NSW BOSTES requirements for cross curriculum use. Alexander has also developed a full set of additional
support materials for these units which explain how and why teaching and learning is delivered in a specific
sequence. Alexander’s unit shows how teaching through Aboriginal processes and protocols, is not just about
Aboriginal content. His developed unit shows future possibilities of how Aboriginal materials and their delivery can
be undertaken in a classroom using 8 Ways. The introduction gets the attention of the audience and clearly states
the specific purpose of the unit. He clearly makes the links required in 8 Ways to learning through narrative and his
support materials give students opportunities to engage and visualise throughout the programs. The units satisfy
BOSTES requirements and show how learning is made possible through images, symbols and metaphors. Alexander
has used a range of indirect, innovative and interdisciplinary approaches, modelling and scaffolding (by working
from wholes to parts of texts), and where possible connecting the learning to local values, place, needs and
knowledge. Alexander and his commitment to Aboriginal Education a value added asset to any school.
Final Grade: Satisfactory Unsatisfactory

Supervisors Signature:
13/12/2017
Date:

Pre-service Teacher’s Signature:

13/12/2017
Date:
WSU Co-ordinator’s Signature:
13/12/2017
Date: