Back to School 2026 - Getting Ready for the Year Ahead

School Resumes in Australia

For the information of my international readers, schools return on the 2nd February in Australia from the school Summer Vacation. Some will be sad, others ready for a new year. There will be stresses for students as classes change and their friends aren't necessarily with them anymore. Parents will breath a sigh of relief. Teachers of course will be a little stressed as they prepare for the year, and await their new students. 

For children entering Primary School (Elementary school as many know it in other countries) some will be excited. They might well have enjoyed preschool, and the chance to spend time with one of their parents, or a grandparent who encouraged them at home when not at preschool as well as teaching them many things. But now they are off to 'Big' school as some young ones call it at first. While some are nervous, Primary school will open up a whole new world of learning.

 

1. How to Support Children in this Transition Phase?

a) Being positive about school

There will be a vast array of emotions about school commencing. Those well advanced in their education will be excited to catch up with old friends.Those attending school for the first time will have a different experience. Some will be excited, others not so! 

Parents might do varied things to ease the transition, such as organising 'play dates' prior to the first day of school between their child and their friends. This has the secondary benefit of being able to 'talk up' the good things that will happen at school with their existing friends as well as new ones.

b) Shopping for School things

As well as shopping for school uniforms, there will be new back packs, and perhaps even a small desk for them to use at home while they prepare for school. You may need to shop for pencils, crayons, water bottles and other things too. Most children will enjoy getting these new things, and again, this will be preparing them for the 'excitement' of school.

 

In Australia, the school year commences in February which is late Summer. Many will be returning from beach holidays and fun at home to go to school, where the temperature might be quite high. This will be challenging. There are so many things that can make these first days and weeks difficult, especially for children new to a school. But hopefully, there will be excitement as well.

2. Adjusting to New Teachers and Class Mates

It's important to talk to your children before and after school in the first weeks and even months is very important. Students can be brutal to one another in new classes. As James Gee suggests, these early days require students to be "...apprenticed to new social groups". These groups begin to shape their position and status in groups. I talk about this in "Pedagogy and Education for Life" and offer examples of how this occurs in everyday school life. Barbara Rogoff takes the apprenticeship metaphor further, by arguing that students are effectively apprenticed into thinking in quite specific ways.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As well as the students who have an impact on one another, the teacher has an important role in leading these young apprentices into classroom and school life too. The words and actions of teachers matter! If we teach, we inevitably signal to our students what we see as appropriate, as well as the roles in life that are possible, important and valuable.

The things teachers sanction in classroom discourse as appropriate and valuable, will also be important. The teacher's role is not to try to be liked by simply reflecting the values, habits and hopes of the students. They need to shape attitudes by creating frameworks for classroom life, that encourage and create predictable behaviour and outcomes [see Chapter 5 of 'Pedagogy and Education for Life' for more details on this topic].

3. The Role of Guided Participation

To create the right environment in classes, teachers must understand the perspectives of the students, and in turn, students need to understand those of the teacher. American Psychologist Jerome Bruner saw this as a type of 'exchange' taking place, helping both to understand one another. 

This notion of 'exchange' will of course look quite different for the teacher of 5 year olds compared to later Primary and Secondary. 

If we observe our students holding unhelpful views of the world, or engaging in practices that are problematic, we will also need to guide them into new ways of seeing and acting on and in the world. Vygotsky, Bruner, Rogoff and others all suggest that as we create positive communities in classrooms, it is possible to exchange meanings and help students to grow. This in turn, will lead to common goals and pursuits.

4. Wrapping up

Parents might find it helpful to reflect on your own distant memories of school and the challenges of each year. As well, if we think about the challenges of the adult world of work and relationships, this should help us to have empathy for our children. 

I hope that all teachers have a great start to the new school year in Australia. I also wish my many international readers have endurance as in some cases you are entering the second half of the school year. Some will be doing so in cold weather where the students have less chance to get outside. Go well! 

You can explore this and other topics of educational interest in my book 'Pedagogy and Education for Life'. 

 

 

 

 

How our Students are Apprenticed into School Communities

1. Apprenticeship in the Classroom

Students can be brutal to one another in school and also outside school. James Gee talks about this as "...being apprenticed to a social group" which in effect is the shaping of what we believe, accept and reject. I talk about this in "Pedagogy and Education for Life" and and offer some examples of how this occurs in everyday school life. Barbara Rogoff takes the apprenticeship metaphor further by arguing that students are effectively apprenticed into thinking in quite specific ways.

Of course, while students have an impact on one another, the teacher also has an important role in leading these young apprentices into life too. The words and actions of teachers matter! If we teach, we inevitably signal to our students what we see as appropriate, the roles in life that are possible, important and valuable.

The things teachers sanction in classroom discourse as appropriate and valuable, are important. The teacher's role is not to try to be liked by reflecting the values, habits and hopes of the students. Rather we need to shape attitudes by creating frameworks for classroom life, that encourage and create predictable behaviour and outcomes [see Chapter 5 of 'Pedagogy and Education for Life' for more details].

2. The Role of Guided Participation

 

If a teacher hopes to have a positive influence on their students they must understand the perspectives of the students, and in turn, students need to understand those of their teacher. Bruner saw this as a type of 'exchange' taking place, helping both to understand one another. As we observe our students holding unhelpful views of the world, or engaging in practices that are problematic, we need to guide them into new ways of seeing and acting on the world. Vygotsky, Bruner, Rogoff and others all suggest that as we create positive communities in classrooms, it is possible to exchange meanings and help students to grow. This in turn, will lead to common goals and pursuits.

3. Orchestrating Community Life

Bourdieu's work has been particularly helpful in enabling teachers to grasp how teachers and schools can influence students positively for "the Good". He used the concept of "Habitus" to explain how in our world we relate to one another in a collective way, with accepted practices, perceptions, action and so on. These practices in turn shape our view of the world, leading to the valuing of specific things, desires, clothing and habits over others. Families and institutions also do this, but friendship groups are powerful. But classroom communities also matter and should have an impact on school life.

Teachers have a critical role to monitor and intervene if necessary if we observe practices that are not helpful to student well being, as well as classroom and community life. I offer a number of vignettes in my book to illustrate how practices inside and outside school classrooms can at times be problematic and in need of intervention. Let me share a few of these.

4. Influencing and Negotiating Changes in Community Life

Within any school or educational institution you will be able to identify practices within the school community that are unhelpful. The first step is to know your students well enough to identify them. For example, in my book I describe a practice within a College where I was Master, and how tricky it was to change. It involved a form of ritualistic behaviour known as 'Basining'. It was seen as funny by many young males to drag someone into the male bathroom on their birthday, when they'd been seen as doing something 'dumb', or simply for fun. They would hold them down and splash water all over them, in spite of any protestations. Men and women! This had to stop!

Changing such 'secular liturgies' (as James Smith calls them), can shape how students see community life, and what is required to be accepted by others. In our schools we will observe many examples. Some are as trivial as the clothes or shoes students wear, or perhaps the things they value most, music, personal interests and so on. Others include rejecting someone who doesn't 'fit in' (code for who 'likes the things we do', or 'dresses like us' etc), or in some cases, removing threats to the person who seems to 'rule' the group.

5. Is Influencing Community life Possible and Feasible?

Some teachers will respond to my comments by saying, "this isn't possible", "I have enough to do just teaching", "that's the parents' job not mine". I can understand these responses, but in reality to be a teacher is more than just presenting knowledge and teaching subject skills and content. Such responses ignore the imperative of any faith-based school to "nurture, inspire, form and influence for the good, the children God gives us" ('Pedagogy and Education life', Cairney, p.13). 

Bryan Cowling points to worrying inconsistencies in how schools articulate key goals. He concluded that the "weight" of language and emphasis of many Christian schools is "lifelong learning, citizenship, tradition, academic performance, community, curriculum, standards, quality, self esteem, heritage, culture, sport, well-being, justice and innovation" (Cowling, "The Context of Anglican Education", pp 25-40; Cairney et al., 'New Perspectives in Anglican Education', pp 77-88). 

These might sound good, but notice what is missing in relation to faith and spiritual maturity.

6. Summing Up

The task of religious schools is difficult. Of course, if the primary aim is to keep students and their parents happy by 'guaranteeing' greater success in life, then the task is easier. But if the faith-based school sees worldly success as important but not the key driver, the task is harder. In short, we must not allow ambitious parents - who place more value on worldly success than deep faith in our God and eternal life - to shape our school life, we have failed. Apprenticing our students into Christian School communities requires much more.