Aspirations: Supporting Students’ Futures
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Free online professional development course for teachers
This course unpacks the evidence to enhance teachers’ understanding of aspiration formation and the role they play in supporting students from diverse backgrounds, providing lots of practical applications within and outside the classroom.
Course overview
The course is relevant to teachers who work in primary, secondary and senior secondary schools. Other education stakeholders are also welcome to complete the course. It consists of a series of six units designed to support teachers in understanding and nurturing students’ aspirations and illuminating pathways to higher education.
The focus of each unit is as follows:
Unit 1
Course introduction and overview (10 minutes)
Unit 3
Aspirations matter
(2 hours)
Unit 5
Relationships and connections that matter (2 hours)
Unit 2
Introduction to aspirations
(2 hours)
Unit 4
Factors that matter
(2 hours)
Unit 6
Schooling and teachers matter
(2 hours)
Each unit provides a suite of digital resources (including videos, activities, links to data and information) designed to develop teachers’ capacity to better support students from diverse backgrounds in an inclusive and culturally appropriate manner.
The units have the following features in common:
1
A conceptual framework to enhance teachers’ understanding of aspiration formation and their role in supporting students from diverse backgrounds.
2
Activities (examples, data, strategies) to help teachers in translating the concepts to their own contexts and practices.
3
Material on education, careers, and preparing for higher education to inform teachers’ interactions with students, families and communities.
4
Opportunities for teachers to engage in online and/or face-to-face communities of practice for enriching their understanding and practice.
This work was funded by the Australian Government Department of Education within the Higher Education Participation and Partnerships Program.