Developing culturally responsive pedagogy

Leader story

Lyne Plummer
Assistant Principal and Project Leader
Doonside Primary School
Dharug Cluster

It has been my pleasure to be the project leader at Doonside Primary School as part of the Dharug Hub Cluster for the past three years. I have been involved with other action research projects in Literacy and Numeracy and while they were focused on improving student learning outcomes, none specifically addressed the needs of Aboriginal students or posed the idea of specifically examining how Aboriginal students vary in their learning styles.

I have been in the privileged position of working with a dedicated team of teachers who have been willing to embrace and appreciate the opportunities the project provided. One of the most exciting outcomes has been the teacher professional learning flow-on effects across all KLAs through the development of Quality Teaching strategies and a Culturally Responsive Pedagogy. It is particularly rewarding when Early Career teachers comment that strategies like Lesson Sharing have changed the way they plan lessons and teach their classes; for example:

"I found the whole experience fantastic. I was a bit nervous at first but found it to be very constructive...I am planning better maths lessons and my students are very engaged." (Jade CRT, 2012).

The project has also provided me with many opportunities to network with other education professionals who are passionate not just about teaching but also mathematics, both in our cluster and at national conferences. Dr Peter Howard, our critical friend and Caty Morris as Project Manager (both Peter and Caty were external to the school) have been a source of inspiration for me. Their insights and knowledge shared during discussions were often the catalysts for another idea or avenue for exploration.

This inspiring story connects to:

Finding 6.4: Action learning
Participate in action learning or research where you design, act, observe and reflect. This involves examining data to determine current progress and future planning.

Finding 6.9: Improvement
Engage critically with external resources to gauge their appropriateness and relevance for Indigenous learners and compatibility with your aspirations for pedagogical improvement.

Want to know more about Lyne's work at the school?

• Have a look at the unit of learning Metalanguage and Thinking Mat.