Engaging the Disengaged
Inclusive Approaches to Teaching the Least Advantaged

Addresses strategies and models of immersive teaching and learning that lead to successful schooling outcomes for the least advantaged students.

Tarquam McKenna (Author), Marcelle Cacciattolo (Author), Mark Vicars (Author)

9781107627987, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 17 January 2013

254 pages, 15 b/w illus.
24.9 x 17.6 x 1.4 cm, 0.48 kg

Engaging the Disengaged addresses strategies and models of immersive teaching and learning that lead to successful schooling outcomes. The new Australian Curriculum emphasises the importance of improved educational participation. This book will equip pre-service teachers with the tools and strategies they need to successfully implement these priorities. Drawing together a diverse range of experts, this book offers innovative ways of thinking about student engagement. Addressing education across early primary, middle and secondary school levels, it explores how differences in culture, sexuality and wealth can alienate students, and examines challenges faced by schools in rural, remote and high-poverty settings. It also offers new ideas for engaging students in subjects such as mathematics, physical education and the arts. Contemporary, real-life case studies help connect theory to practice. Each chapter also includes learning objectives, further reading suggestions and a reflective closure, as well as a set of strategies for invigorating disadvantaged students.

Foreword: are the engaged really engaged? Shirley Steinberg
Introduction: exclusion: a habit that's hard to kick Roger Slee
Part I. The Digital Divide as a Tool for Inclusion: 1. Accommodating new learning in different school cultures Greg Neal
2. Technology and social inclusion: rethinking the digital divide Nicola Yelland
Part II. Engagement in the Early Years: 3. The early years: reconnecting families with preschool education Andrea Nolan
Part III. Curriculum-Based Engagement: 4. Arts education: do the arts really matter? Tarquam McKenna
5. Bringing joy and success to students and teachers through student-centered teaching of mathematics Colleen Vale and Sharon Livy
6. Physical education: promoting healthy living in the classroom Anthony Watt
7. Literacy: who needs books? There not 'kewl' Mark Vicars
Part IV. Agents of Change and Student Wellbeing: 8. Fostering collaborative partnerships: one school's approach Marcelle Cacciattolo
9. Natural environments for learning: effecting change in classrooms and the community Cathryn Carpenter and Peter Burridge
10. Sexualities: gays and lesbians as outsiders? Mark Vicars and Tarquam McKenna
11. Indigenous Australia: ontologies, epistemologies and pedagogies Davina Woods
12. Positive education: pathways to achieving social and academic success Jeanne Carroll and Marcelle Cacciattolo
Conclusion: Creating purposeful, optimistic learning engagements Tarquam McKenna.

Subject Areas: Teaching of specific groups & persons with special educational needs [JNS], Inclusive education / mainstreaming [JNFN], Educational strategies & policy [JNF]