Graduate Attribute 07

 

Design, facilitate and guide learning for each individual’s success, using a wide range of context-appropriate strategies.

 

Every learner is different. Every learner is an individual. And yet in the education sector teachers typically engage with learners in groups - sometimes very large groups. This situation and the potential tensions arising from it are matters I have reflected upon from the very beginnings of my teaching career. As outlined in my career story, I trained as a secondary teacher in the late 1980s. During teaching practice placements, I began to question the purpose and wisdom of compulsory education, feeling quite strongly that learning should occur in a time and manner suited to the individual's needs, goals and preferences. As a result, my experience as a secondary teacher was only partly successful.

 

Upon commencing teaching in tertiary environments however, I found that these environments were a much better match with my core values as the students were/are there by choice (by and large). Consequently I began to take advantage of the opportunities to devise and deliver learning designs that would provide learners more individualised and more interactive experiences.