Ensuring I can attain all the artefacts to develop all the graduate standards proposed by AITSL will be challenging. Hence, it is important I have knowledge of the professional development programs that are available to me during my time as a pre-service teacher.

Standard 4.1: Engaging every learner and promoting student participation can be difficult for all teachers, even experienced ones. As a student who once was too anxious to speak in front of the class, or put my hand up to answer a question, I found it difficult to engage as I believed the teacher would tell me off if I got an answer wrong. This is most likely due to the fact that I saw my teacher as an authority figure. Hence, I want to be able to develop and demonstrate the graduate standard of 4.1 – support student participation (AITSL, 2017) to ensure that my students do not have the same experience I have had. I should make their learning environment student-centred so they all feel listened to and included. In order to help my students engage, I intend to take an online course provided by Teach.com.au. By subscribing to this website, and paying $29 a month, I can enrol in any number of courses. One of the courses I discovered was “Supporting Student Participation,” which I can complete in order to develop strategies that I can implement to empower my students in my classroom consistently (Teach.com.au, n.d.a). The duration of the course is not fixed and I will gain a Certificate of Completion along with four and a half compulsory personal development hours. It is also stated on the website that this course will address the AITSL graduate standard 4.1. I believe it is important for me to undertake a course that includes theories from highly-esteemed academic experts like Hattie and Csikzentmihalyi. 

Standard 4.4: Finding strategies for graduate standard 4.4 to support students’ wellbeing and safety is another area where I may encounter difficulties when trying to locate artefacts. The School Drug Education and Road Aware website offers teachers of all teaching levels professional learning opportunities about safe schools (School Drug Education and Road [SDERA], 2019a). As a pre-service primary school teacher, I can complete some of the workshops in order to enhance my understanding of what road safety and drug education looks like for primary schools. In particular, the Safer Kids workshop will teach me strategies I can use in order to develop children’s self-efficacy and personal and social competence (SDERA, 2019a). The workshop is free to attend and participants receive a certificate upon completion. To participate, an understanding of the Western Australian Curriculum and Assessment is recommended (AITSL, 2017). There are no available Safer Kids workshops on the SDERA in the metropolitan area, however, a similar workshop, called Smart Steps, is available to sign up for on 8 August, Term 3 this year. In addition, I plan to obtain a first aid certificate from St John Ambulance.  I will attend a first aid course, specifically catered to providing a first aid response in an education and care setting. This course can be booked online, I can choose my preferred location to attend, for example, Joondalup Training Centre, and pay $199 to attend a full-day course on 8 June 2019 (St John Ambulance Australia, 2019).

Standard 6.3: As I am quite an anxious person, growing effective teams and support groups may be difficult for me when I finally enter the teaching profession. However, it is vital I engage with colleagues and improve practice as it is one of the graduate standards (6.3) for teachers (AITSL, n.d.). One program available is called Growing Effective Teams, a two-day program in Leederville that commences on 10 June 2019. While it does cost $650, I believe it would be a worthy investment as it will assist me in learning how to have an open dialogue with my colleagues where we encourage one another to share ideas to improve our practice (Department of Education, n.d.a). Growth Coaching International (GCI), run the program which is linked to the latest research and practice in school leadership. By attending I believe I can develop the most effective strategies to build trust, commitment and accountability in a team context. If I can communicate and work effectively with my colleagues, this will improve my confidence in and outside of the classroom. Another program that I believe could assist me in developing my relationships with colleagues is the Verbal Judo for Individuals one-day program. This program, provided by the Leadership Institute is available to sign up for on the Department of Education website. It costs $385 and is run by Trevor Lawson, an instructor in management of aggression strategies and customer service (Department of Education, n.d.b). This program will teach me how to treat people with respect when encountering any verbal resistance. If I implement the skills and strategies from this workshop into my workplace, it will lead to increased professionalism with my colleagues.