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The Lifelong Learners podcast discusses the implementation of inclusive classroom practices at the Woden School. The school uses the Australian curriculum to create individualized units of learning for students with disabilities. They focus on general capabilities like intercultural and ethical understanding, as well as cross-curricular priorities like Asia-Australia engagement. The Woden School also emphasizes personalized learning to cater to each student's needs and interests. Collaboration between teachers and outside sources is key to maintaining inclusive practices. Hello and welcome back to Lifelong Learners, where we discuss the latest hot topics of teaching 21st century students. We're your co-hosts, Chelsea and Tia. Before we dive into developing learners in the 21st century, we would firstly like to acknowledge the Guyabul and Jarawa people as the traditional custodians of Toowoomba and its surrounding land and waters. And the Calcutta people as the traditional custodians of Mount Isa and its surrounding land and waters. We wish to pay our respects to our elders, both past, present and emerging. Our focus for this episode today follows the Woden School approach to implementing inclusive classroom practices in the 21st century. We leave no book unturned as we examine the education world as it is today and how certain learning initiatives support diverse cultural knowledges, identities and linguistic backgrounds through explicitly focusing on how general capabilities and cross-curricular priorities are addressed. To give our lovely listeners a bit of background on the Woden School, it is a small secondary school located in the ACT that exclusively supports students with mild to moderate intellectual, sensory, physical or behavioural disabilities in addition to other medical conditions. Now there are a lot of legal requirements around disability and what this means. Teachers have an obligation to make reasonable adjustments and as it is unlawful to discriminate on the grounds of a person's disability. These teaching frameworks are the foundation of an inclusive education and we will dissect how the Woden School incorporates this. Ian Copeland, the principal of the Woden School establishes how inclusion is evident throughout the school by utilising the Australian curriculum to plan individualised, meaningful and achievable units of learning and to differentiate the learning capabilities of each student. And you may be thinking to yourself that how exactly is this achieved and does it foster the development of today's learners? And to that we say great question. Let's begin by taking a closer look into how the Woden School employs the general capabilities and cross-curricular priorities to support the classroom diversity. General capabilities and cross-curriculum priorities are crucial dimensions of the curriculum that coincide with learning areas to improve the skills, knowledge and dispositions of our students to successfully live and work in the modern era. It is evident that the Australian curriculum is heavily embedded into the Woden School's teaching and learning practices. Teacher Mr Gonzalo Donoso Lopez comments on utilising the general capabilities to differentiate learning outcomes for each individual to provide an inclusive education through all learning experiences. Now let's unpack delivering these standards through two general capabilities, intercultural and ethical understanding. Intercultural understanding consists of three interrelated strands that work together to help students value, recognise, respect and connect their own and others' cultural perspectives and practices. This capability gives students opportunities to explore and engage cultural and linguistic diversity, equipping them with the necessary tools to appropriately navigate intercultural contexts. This effective representation of intercultural understanding is explored through the sub-element reflect on the relationship between cultures and identities, where students reflect and engage to navigate different cultural identities and practices. We see this reflected through their What Have We Learned This Year wall, which highlights the evidence of developing intercultural identities and awareness. We know that the students have learned about historical periods such as the livelihoods of Vikings, which enables students to build awareness of cultural practices, beliefs and values that have changed over time. It is through this knowledge of cultural understanding that students grasp worldwide views and know how to appropriately respond when cultures intersect, a crucial life skill in navigating our interconnected world. Next, we consider ethical understanding and how students begin to identify and explore ethical concepts, decisions and perspectives to manage conflict, context and uncertainty. This general capability builds a foundational level of understanding in order for students to develop honesty, resilience, empathy and respect. The Melbourne Declaration of Educational Goals for Young Australians reiterates the importance of ethical understanding and integrity as an essential aspect in creating successful 21st century learners. And just like its friend intercultural understanding, ethical understanding also carries main elements that underpin learning expectations. To pinpoint the elements of ethical understanding evident at the Warrant School, we will focus on the sub-element examining values, rights, responsibilities and ethical norms. The learning wall demonstrates elements of ethical understanding where students have been recognising common behaviours that constitute friendship and bullying. Through these learning experiences, students begin to identify relationships between the role of the individual and community values, rights and responsibilities, as well as ethical norms which determine right from wrong. This leads us now to one of three cross-curricular priorities, Asia and Australia's engagement with Asia. Working interchangeably with our general capabilities, we hone in on growing Asia-Australia engagement and how the Warrant School supports such rich and diverse learnings in this space. Firstly, let's analyse the importance of developing our young students' knowledge, skills and attitudes to effectively navigate and engage with Asia. This knowledge is necessary for understanding our ethnically diverse world and communities and has proven to be a site of critical significance for Australia's economic and strategic future with the most populous region in the world. And experts still debate here that a continued and strong engagement between Asia and Australia has potential to provide a high-quality life for all. It's clear that strengthening our students' knowledge about Asia is a necessity in developing global citizenship. The Warrant School provides a formal, highly supported and individually negotiated independent travel unit in an attempt for smooth transitions post-school life. This unit here offers students opportunities to explore Asia-Australia engagement by means of art, media, connecting and collaborating aids to make active connections and deeper relationships with peoples of Asia, which is argued as a long overdue focus in the national curriculum. Furthermore, students gain global competence by analysing global issues and understanding different perspectives and experiences. Additionally, this unit encourages ideas of self and others in an attempt to engage in open and active interactions where individuals become informed and active citizens across local, regional and global communities. This diverse approach assists in fostering respect for cultural knowledges, identities and linguistic backgrounds as students understand differences and how to appropriately respond. All in all, this school demonstrates great efforts in collaborating with the general capabilities and cross-curricular priorities. But how exactly are these learning experiences achieved here? Well, let's make our way into the next chapter where we identify how the school utilises inclusive practices to ensure all students become successful learners. So what is one key pedagogical approach seen at the Warrant School that inspires illustrations of inclusive practices here? Well, one pedagogical approach here is personalised learning. Now personalised learning has been described as a value-based pedagogy that recognises human uniqueness and is reflected in an education system tailoring to the needs, interests and aptitudes of each student. This practice is appropriate, relevant and accessible for all, preparing any students for real-world experiences post-school. Executive teacher of professional practice, Mr Gonzalo Donoso-Lopez comments, if it's not relevant, it's not significant. Further emphasising inclusive practice through building real-world connections that add value and enrich our students' lives. I smiled when Mr Lopez mentioned a parent was impressed with their son's ability to discuss Viking content during a movie and contribute to an adult conversation. This is the exact personalised learning outcome we aim for, young adults finding genuine value and adding relevance for themselves and their community. This simple approach builds self-advocacy in students, preparing them for life after school and builds confidence to understand diverse cultural perspectives and again unlocks those deep connections all around the globe. The Woden School's personalised learning approach follows a learner-centred practice which is essential to sustain transformational change and it's argued that promoting learner autonomy and creativity is part of the solution to successful reinvention of education systems worldwide. Exactly and leading experts still argue that adding value and deepening learning include personalised learning strategies and collaborative learning which I believe is something the Woden School does quite well. Absolutely and look, as effective teachers, we are required to accommodate, adapt and modify all lessons to engage and cater for diverse student cohorts. This includes constant collaboration with other teaching staff and outside sources to remain consistent and concise. And we see this personalised learning ensures the curriculum is appropriate to the student's academic level, inspiring inclusive practice, teaching staff, planning teams, ensuring practices remain relevant and relatable to the individual, honing in on connecting the dots between their learning and their real day-to-day interactions. The Woden School remains committed to providing authentic, hands-on, personalised learning experiences that meet each student's needs and incorporate relevant tools such as ICT to build cross-curricular priorities and general capabilities. So taking a look at the bigger picture that we've painted here, Tia, we know the school takes an active stance in developing successful 21st century learners by incorporating general capabilities and cross-curricular priorities. Absolutely and the learning experiences and teaching practices we have discussed foster critical thinking, communication, global awareness and civic responsibility, all of which are vital 21st century skills. And if we reflect on the last few years, including the impact of a global pandemic, it really spotlights the significance of building strong capabilities and cross-curricular priorities in the next generation as they navigate such an unpredictable future. I could not have said that better myself, Tia. A key takeaway here is that it starts with us. We as teachers are powerful. We can make a difference and by instilling these skills in our students, we are providing them with a range of tools, keys to a kingdom they don't even know exist yet and a range of strategies to tackle such complex global challenges. Absolutely, Chelsea. It is paramount that young people develop these skills and especially in a world where we see technology rapidly advancing, our students need to be cultivating these skills as well as strong digital literacy, which we dive deep into next week. Absolutely, we do not have time for that today. But that is all we have time for today, folks. So thanks for digesting one inclusive 21st century practice with us. We've seen such an insightful scoop into the life of the contemporary classroom and the important roles we teachers have and how lucky we are to be in such an inspiring and rewarding profession. Oh, absolutely. And as always, thanks to our listeners. This wouldn't be made possible without you. Don't forget to like and subscribe. Tune in next week and as always, keep learning. Bye.