Skip to main content

Saxon Cheng

Responsibilities as an Educator

Saxon Cheng

                 Currently, I’m a secondary teacher at Maningrida College in West Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, and the school has 98% of students who are Aboriginal (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA], 2024). My teaching responsibilities are very different to standard pedagogical spaces as 50% of my Homelands role is teaching a combined Year 5 – 9 class at the College during the wet season. During the dry season, I travel and stay at remote Aboriginal outstations from 1 – 4 days a week. The age ranges are from 4 to 18-years-old and differentiation needs to be executed with culturally safe, adaptive and instructional learning design (Australian Education Research Organisation [AERO], 2024). As an educational practitioner, my responsibilities to the above duties is structured within 3 interconnected pillars:

Services

Create Solutions

Professional Knowledge:

I integrate disciplinary knowledge with Two-Way Pedagogy to cultivate guided instruction for English as an Additional Language or Dialect (EAL/D) learning pathways (AITSL Standards 1 & 2; Malcolm et al., 2018, p. 75).

Professional Practice:

I implement adaptive cognitive mechanisms and generate Trauma-Informed Practice (TIP) to construct a supportive classroom ecology (AITSL Standards 3, 4, & 5; Goodman et al., 2016, p. 749).

Professional Engagement:

I work closely with Aboriginal Co-teachers who provide in-class cultural support and generate collective inquiry (AITSL Standards 6 & 7; Burgess & Harwood, 2021, p. 628). (225 words

0

Years Experience

0

Completed Projects

0

Sutisfied Customers

0

dribble work

Developing Teacher Identity

The evolving vocational identity that I have as a Maningrida College teacher is based on culturally responsive practice, integrity and critical self-reflection (Cole, 2026, p. 2). Due to poor Homelands attendance, I view educating as explicit instruction as it decreases cognitive load and fosters bedrock skills (Lloyd et al., 2015, p. 8), which is fundamental to Aboriginal students as NT school attendance is 77% which is the lowest figure compared to other Australian state or territories (ACARA, 2025). Teaching is an adaptive socio-cultural practice, especially in West Arnhem Land due to students being affected by Sorry Business, a lack of food and sleep and other cultural community commitments (Ober, 2024, p. 110).

             Teaching ethically to Aboriginal students involves a deep respect, relational authenticity and educational equality for each student (Sarra et al., 2018, p. 42). This means that all learners in remote homelands communities have the same educational opportunities as students studying at Maningrida College campus. As some outstations only have Balanda educators (non-Aboriginal teachers) for 2 – 3 days, the remaining days are taught by Aboriginal co-teachers and it’s important these educators are on the same page ethically through sustained dialogue (Schnellert et al., 2022, p. 3). Based on the socio-cultural worldviews of learners, I comprehend that students bring cultural wealth and linguistic assets to the learning environment (Yosso, 2005, p.78). (225 words, 450 total)

Professional Clearances

               In adherence to NT statutory requirements for working with children and completing professional experience, I hold all required compliance clearances below:

  • NT Working with Children Clearance (Ochre Card): Cleared status for child-related employment throughout the NT (Notice number: 257092, Expiry: 07/07/2027)
  • NT Teachers Registration Board (TRB): Authorisation to Employ An Unregistered Person (Category 2 | A Person who has specialist knowledge and skills, Period of Authorisation: 26/01/2026 – 31/12/2027)
  • National Police History Check: TRB confirmed this Australian formal criminal history check and any pending court appearances have been cleared
  • NT Driver Licence: Required when driving to Homelands in West Arnhem Land, NT (Card number: 3462924, Expiry: 1/07/2027)

 

 

Reflective Action Plan and Documenting Evidence
                    To provide evidence of the AITSL Graduate Standards, I implement a reflective plan that is explicitly tailored to cater for Maningrida’s Homeland Learning Centres. All evidence is logged, de-identified and aligned with Curtin University Ethics Guidelines.
Step 1: I compile contextual evidence based on enrolment figures, diagnostic assessment grades, resources, co-teachers and food required (Guenther et al., 2015).
Step 2:  Based on my groundwork in Step 1, my AITSL Graduate Focus Areas are 1.1 1.4, 3.4, 3.7, 4.4, 5.4, 6.1 and 7.3. These chosen areas are directly connected to instructional design, cross-cultural learning, evaluation and professional engagement at outstations.
Step 3: My evidence features instructional plan, annotated artefacts, attendance records, learning materials and formative mentor commentary. The empirical findings will be analysed using Brookfield’s Four Lenses (1995, p. 30) incorporating critical self-reflection, learner agency, and collegial perspectives.
Step 4: Professional appraisal based on Assessment for Learning (Black & Wiliam, 1998, p. 7) drives the methodology of mapping and instructional practice.

Featured Work

Optimized UI/UX for digital products,
help business row more.

Services

Create Solutions

WordPress

94%

HTML

87%

Photoshop

95%

Adobe XD

92%

Sketch

85%

Senior Product Designer

Xpeedstudio

2019-2020

UX/UI Designer, Behance Inc.

Behance

2019-2020

Senior WP Front-End Developer

Theme Winter

2016-2017

Mobile App Development

Dribbble

2014-2016

Client Feedback

Our Client say About Us.

John Doe Founder & Leader at Xpeedstudio.com

"It's your round don't get shirty with me me old mucker buggered hotpot bodge that lost the plot cor blimey guvnor."

Carol E Sears Environmental Engineering Technician

"It's your round don't get shirty with me me old mucker buggered hotpot bodge that lost the plot cor blimey guvnor."

Elsie S Parker Media and Communication Worker, All Other

"It's your round don't get shirty with me me old mucker buggered hotpot bodge that lost the plot cor blimey guvnor."

Portfolio

My Latest Work

Let's Work Together!

I'm looking for something new.

Contact

We’re available for commissions and collaborations, and I’m excited to hear from you about new projects.