Surveying the landscape five years on : An examination of how teachers, and the teaching of Australia's shared-history, is constructed within Australian academic literature
- Authors: Weuffen, Sara
- Date: 2019
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Teaching and Teacher Education Vol. 78, no. (2019), p. 117-124
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: The purpose of this paper is to conduct a literature review of academic debates relating to the Australian Curriculum: History (ACH), in particular subjective constructions of teachers, and the teaching of Australian History and Aboriginal peoples' and Torres Strait Islanders’ histories. The literature reviewed from a socio-political lens, examines functions of power/knowledge operating in discourses of education to illuminate how teachers, Aboriginal peoples, and Torres Strait Islanders, take up and/or resist subjectivities constructing them. Drawing from the toolbox of post-structuralism, this literature review troubles the notion of the non-Indigenous perspective as dominant, and the teacher as an active, non-critical participant in the process.
Classroom assessment as a reciprocal practice to develop students’ agency : A social cognitive perspective
- Authors: Fletcher, Anna
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Assessment Matters Vol. 12, no. (2018), p. 34-57
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: The links among theory, teaching practice, and evidence of student learning have increasingly gained traction in the public discourse in much of the Western world, as educational policy makers seek to bring together accountability demands with the push for improvements in student learning. This article draws on the notion of teaching and assessment as generations informed by diverse theoretical viewpoints. The article pursues three goals. First, it identifies distinct elements of social cognitive theory and the concept of triadic reciprocality in relation to the concepts of student agency and reciprocity between teachers and students’ in-classroom assessment as a learning process. Secondly, the article outlines the transformation of assessment practice over three generations of pedagogical theory. Thirdly, it argues that social cognitive theory offers a recalibrated understanding of assessment as a student-centred learning process.
Selection and rejection in teacher education: qualities of character crucial in selecting and developing teacher education students
- Authors: McGraw, Amanda , Fish, Tim
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education Vol. 46, no. 2 (2018), p. 120-132
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: The focus of recent Australian political and media reports on the selection of candidates for initial teacher education programs has focused on the Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) score as one of the key indicators of worth. This narrative study conducted in an Australian regional university focuses on the life stories of twelve pre-service teachers (PSTs) who received lower ATAR scores and who may well have been rejected by other universities. The PSTs’ narratives highlight that low achievement levels in the final years of schooling did not prevent them from being able to succeed in teacher education programs. We argue that high stakes tests as gatekeeping devices are simplistic measures that fail to recognise important qualities of character crucial to effective teaching. We suggest that qualities of character such as these are hard to quantify but are central to both selecting entrants to, and developing PSTs during, their teacher education programs.
Constructing narratives in later life : Autoethnography beyond the academy
- Authors: Golding, Barry , Foley, Annette
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Australian Journal of Adult Learning Vol. 57, no. 3 (2017), p. 384-400
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Learning through life experiences as distinct from learning through the academy and courses have become increasingly important themes in later life adult education research and practice. Whilst the dominant discourse for most younger people is still about education and training for students in standardised and accredited courses, there is increasing concern to find ways of giving voice to empower people otherwise excluded, disempowered or missing from mainstream education, learning, research and the community. This paper specifically explores and actively mirrors ways of using techniques developed through academic autoethnography to empower older people to share and make sense of the lives they have lived by exploring some of the unexamined assumptions that govern everyday life, behaviour and decision making including in the many, often very informal contexts well beyond educational institutions, the academy and paid work. In essence, like autoethnography, our paper seeks to identify, interrogate and celebrate ways of revealing and displaying multiple layers of consciousness connecting the personal to the cultural for sharing and celebrating diversity in later life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Australian Journal of Adult Learning is the property of Copyright Agency Limited and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
How the Men's Shed idea travels to Scandinavia
- Authors: Ahl, Helene , Hedegaard, Joel , Golding, Barry
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Australian Journal of Adult Learning Vol. 57, no. 3 (2017), p. 316-333
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Australia has around 1,000 Men’s Sheds – informal community- based workshops offering men beyond paid work somewhere to go, something to do and someone to talk to. They have proven to be of great benefit for older men's learning, health and wellbeing, social integration, and for developing a positive male identity focusing on community responsibility and care. A Men’s Shed is typically self- organized and 'bottom-up', which is also a key success factor, since it provides participants with a sense of ownership and empowerment. Men's Sheds are now spreading rapidly internationally, but the uptake of the idea varies with the local and national context, and so too may the consequences. Our paper describes how the Men's Shed travelled to Denmark, a country with considerably more 'social engineering' than in Australia, where Sheds were opened in 2015, via a 'top-down' initiative sponsored by the Danish Ministry of Health. Using data from the study of the web pages of the Danish 'Shed' organizations, from interviews with the central organizer, and from visits and interviews with participants and local organizers at two Danish Men's sheds, we describe how the idea of the Men's Shed on the Australian model was interpreted and translated at central and local levels. Preliminary data indicate that similar positive benefits as exist in Australia may result, provided that local ownership is emphasized.
The impact of work-integrated learning experiences on attaining graduate attributes for exercise and sports science students
- Authors: Hall, Melinda , Pascoe, Deborah , Charity, Megan
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Conference proceedings
- Relation: Australian Collaborative Education Network 2016 Annual Conference; Sydney, Australia; 28th-30th September 2016; published in Asia-Pacific Journal of Cooperative Education Vol. 18, p. 101-113
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: Exercise and Sports Science (E&SS) programs at Federation University Australia provide work-integrated learning (WIL) opportunities for students to develop, apply and consolidate theoretical knowledge in the workplace. This study aimed to determine the influence of WIL experiences on achieving common graduate attributes for E&SS students. From a larger study cohort (N=80), semi-structured interviews (n=4) delved into participant perceptions of graduate attributes and the impact of positive and negative WIL experiences. Using constant comparative analysis, interviews were coded and arranged into lower and higher order themes using the Graduate Employability Skills publication as a framework and the process validated by a WIL colleague. Results showed three out of four essential graduate attributes were developed during all WIL experiences regardless of whether they were positive or negative. These findings have implications for E&SS higher education providers and WIL agencies in ensuring the development of key graduate attributes during all WIL experiences.
Examining the satisfaction levels of continual professional development provided by a rural accounting professional body
- Authors: Halabi, Abdel
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Australian and International Journal of Rural Education Vol. 24, no. 2 (2014), p. 59-70
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: The Society for the Provision of Education in Rural Australia (SPERA) recognises education as a lifelong process, and there is a need for continuing education and training to be available to rural communities. This paper examines the satisfaction levels of accounting continual professional development (CPD) when provided by a rural accounting professional body. Prior research has noted that rural accountants are disadvantaged when completing CPD because professional accounting bodies are city centric, and cost is prohibitive. Results of this study show that when CPD is locally provided this led to high levels of satisfaction. Implications for professional accounting bodies and rural accountants are discussed, as well as limitations and areas for further research.
How can the expansion of the apprenticeship system in India create conditions for greater equity and social justice?
- Authors: Smith, Erica , Kemmis, Ros Brennan , Comyn, Paul
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Australian Journal of Adult Learning Vol. 54, no. 3 (2014), p.
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: This paper reports on aspects of a recent project carried out for the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the World Bank, which was designed to feed into the process of updating and expanding India’s apprenticeship system. The apprenticeship system in India is extremely small for the country’s population, even taking into account the high proportion of jobs that are in the informal economy, and is subject to very rigid regulation. Expansion of the system has been seen as vital in order to improve the supply of skills to the rapidly expanding economy, and also to address issues of disparity in labour market participation and equity for certain groups in Indian society. The paper firstly explains how findings about apprenticeship systems from ten other countries, together with analysis of the Indian situation, were used to present options for consideration by the Indian government. It then analyses these options for their social justice and equity implications.
Reframing primary curriculum through concepts of place
- Authors: Power, Kerith , Green, Monica
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education Vol. 42, no. 2 (2014), p. 105-118
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Australian curricula name "sustainability" as a key priority area with implications for preparing pre-service teachers. In the research that generated this paper, we asked: How can framing teaching through space and place inform pre-service teachers' pedagogical thinking and practice? In new third year Bachelor of Education (primary) subject Understanding Space and Place, Australian teacher education students shared online responses to focus questions and readings framing education through place, designed and taught a unit of study "beyond the classroom" to children in their professional placements and reflected on changes in their theoretical, philosophical, and curriculum goals. Data from these forum posts were analysed through Somerville's three "enabling place pedagogy" categories of embodiment, storylines, and cultural contact zones. Many students came to re-imagine their teaching roles and understand how a place pedagogy framework can operate to expand the possibilities of teaching and learning sustainability through creative and embodied place-making experiences in local places. © 2014 © 2014 Australian Teacher Education Association.
Work–family balance : Perspectives from higher education
- Authors: Pillay, Soma , Abhayawansa, Subhash
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Higher Education Vol. 68, no. 5 (2014), p. 669-690
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: The article examines different types of work–family pressures amongst people working within the Australian university sector. We were specifically interested in work–family experiences between domestic and migrant Australians. Among the major findings, domestic Australians experience greater levels of work–family imbalance across most of the measures used. Limitations and implications for future research are discussed.
Facilitating 'organisational learning' in a learning institution'
- Authors: Lawler, Alan , Sillitoe, Jim
- Date: 2013
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of Higher Education Policy and Mangement Vol. 35, no. 5 (2013), p. 495-500
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: The term ‘organisational learning’ was popularised by Peter Senge in ‘The Fifth Discipline’, his seminal book from 1990. Since then, the term has become widely accepted among those interested in organisational learning and change management. However, partly due to the somewhat ambiguous situation which arises in a university which is a ‘learning organisation’ in a different sense, academic staff may experience some confusion when this term is used in a higher education institutional context. Further, the embedded notions of single- and double-loop learning and tacit and explicit knowledge, which are features of organisational learning, are not widely understood by those affected by organisational learning initiatives, leading again to some unintended confusion of purpose in situations of change.
Humanities education as a pathway for women in regional and rural Australia: Clemente Ballarat
- Authors: Smith, Jeremy , Gervasoni, Ann , Howard, Peter
- Date: 2013
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Australian Journal of Adult Learning Vol. 53, no. 2 (2013), p. 253-279
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: his paper provides insight into the experience of Clemente humanities education for six regional and rural Australian women living around Ballarat. Each took part in an audio-taped semistructured interview which explored the impact that university study had on their lives. Their responses suggest that Clemente Ballarat was life-giving. The student insights identified the critical importance of: providing a supportive learning environment for people lacking life opportunities and routine; students feeling better and happier with themselves resultant from personal learning achievements; doing something that was about ‘me’; support from others including Learning Partners and the program’s counsellor; students appreciating their academic and inner strengths; rekindling dreams and hope; seeking ways out of poverty for their family; finding friendships and connection; appreciating the academic disciplines; improvements in well-being and mental health; and pride in achievements. Students also were apprehensive about what the future may hold after completion and graduation. These insights highlight the treasures that students found when engaged in humanities education based upon community embedded socially supported structures that enable learning. Further, these insights provide contextual outcomes for the Clemente program, which could be implemented across regional and rural Australia for people experiencing multiple disadvantages or social exclusion.
Learning the business of teacher education research: Editorial work as capacity building
- Authors: Reid, Joanne , McDonough, Sharon , Bown, Kathryn , Santoro, Ninetta , Mayer, Diane , Singh, Michael
- Date: 2013
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education Vol. 41, no. 4 (November 2013), p. 345-349
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: C4
Promoting the development of children's emotional and social wellbeing in early childhood settings : How can we enhance the capability of educators to fulfil role expectations?
- Authors: Temple, Elizabeth , Emmett, Susan
- Date: 2013
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Australasian Journal of Early Childhood Vol. 38, no. 1 (2013), p. 66-72
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: This article discusses the expectations implicit in both Early Years Learning and National Quality Frameworks regarding the role of early childhood educators in promoting the development of children's social and emotional wellbeing. There is a specific focus on factors that may impact on the ability of early childhood educators to successfully adjust their practice to meet these expectations. Suggestions are made in relation to the training and education of pre-service teachers and the professional development of the current early childhood workforce to ensure that all early childhood educators are able to promote the development of social and emotional wellbeing in children. Copyright 2013. All rights reserved by Early Childhood Australia Inc.
- Description: 2003011108
Alternative settings - alternative teachers? Reflections on teaching outside the mainstream
- Authors: Dyson, Michael , Plunkett, Margaret
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: Joint AARE-APERA conference,Australian Association for Research in Education p. 1-12
- Full Text:
- Reviewed:
- Description: While alternative educational settings in Australia have expanded over the past two decades, there has been little formal research conducted into teacher perceptions of what it means to teach outside the mainstream. This paper outlines part of a longitudinal study involving the School for Student Leadership (SSL), an alternate educational setting in Victoria, Australia, which offers residential programs for Year 9 students. The SSL began operating in 2000 as the Alpine School situated at Dinner Plain and since then two further campuses have been added. A research partnership between Monash University Gippsland and the SSL began in 2001, with this component commencing in 2009 involving a mixed methods study consisting of both surveys and interviews. The focus of this paper is the qualitative findings resulting from interviews with 33 teachers across the 3 campuses. While a small body of literature relating to environmental and experiential education (Brown, 2006, Schartner, 2000, Simmons, 1988, Smith-Cabasto & Cavern, 2006) from a teaching perspective does exist, none really captures the breadth of the type of program offered through the SSL, which does not sit in isolation from broader educational, social and global discourses. While there is an ongoing debate about how we should educate young people there are some points of general agreement. One is that we live in a world of rapid global, technological and social change and education should equip young people to deal with these changes. This particular research provided an opportunity to seek teachers' perceptions about whether this goal was easier to achieve in a non-traditional setting. A particular focus was on participants' current perceptions about their role as 'teacher' and whether it differed depending on the setting. The findings provided interesting insights about the focus of the teachers that choose to become involved, with most suggesting that they were searching for more meaningful ways to connect their pedagogy and practice. They also felt that mainstream settings rarely provided opportunities for the development of substantive relationships with students. There was an acknowledgement that the alternate setting of the SSL did provide a greater opportunity for equipping students to deal with change but this also required teachers to respond differently, shifting the emphasis from content to context and from being a teacher to being an educator, facilitator or mentor.
Departing: the benefits of pathways and university study
- Authors: Levy, Stuart
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Student Voices in Transition: The Experiences of Pathways Students p. 291-318
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
Home
- Authors: Earl, Catherine
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Student Voices in Transition: The Experiences of Pathways Students Chapter 8 p. 213-249
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
Literacy Trails : A whole-of-community program to encourage literacy and numeracy awareness for children in preschool and early primary
- Authors: Ollerenshaw, Alison
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Australasian Journal of Early Childhood Vol. 37, no. 3 (2012), p. 147-153
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: This article describes the evaluation outcomes of an innovative, communitybased educational initiative to enhance and promote the awareness of literacy and numeracy in young children in two regional communities in Moorabool Shire, Victoria. With the support of committed educational and community partners (through the Moorabool Best Start Partnership), the Moorabool Literacy Trails were first established in 2006 to promote and nurture children's awareness of literacy and numeracy, and to encourage active participation in the Trails by facilitating local community involvement. In 2010 an evaluation of the program used a mixed, qualitative and quantitative methodology (surveys and interviews with teachers, parents, community participants, program partner representatives) to examine the program's effectiveness in promoting literacy and numeracy awareness for children in their early years, and also whether the program is an effective catalyst for increasing community awareness and capacity. There was strong evidence that the project achieved its aims, as quantified by the continued interest in the program through the large numbers of children participating and the continued commitment to the project by its partners and the local community. This whole-of-community approach helps to promote important educational principles for children and their parents. This program has large appeal at many different levels and offers great potential for similar educational programs to be adapted and/or transferred to other communities and regions.
- Description: 2003011111
Student Voices in Transition: The experiences of pathways students
- Authors: Levy, Stuart , Earl, Catherine
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Book
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Student voices in transition reports the voices of students who entered university through access pathways at Monash University in Australia and South Africa. It provides insight into why these students sought university qualifications, how they adjusted to university study, the challenges they faced and the rewards they experienced. It identifies the issues faced by commencing university students, particularly those who have past experiences of modest academic achievement, and what the transition to university actually involves, regardless of how it is reported by experts, lecturers or institutions."--Back cover.
The role of community based playgroups in building relationships between pre-services teachers, families and communities
- Authors: McFarland-Piazza, Laura , Smith, Melissa , Downey, Belinda , Lord, Alison
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Australasian Journal of Early Childhood Vol. 37, no. 2 (2012), p. 34-41
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: The purpose of this study was to explore how connections between families, communities and educators can be facilitated in teacher education courses through the use of playgroups. Barriers to building relationships, as well as the perceived benefits of these relationships to families and pre-service teachers, were also explored. Participants were involved in weekly university-based community playgroups. Focus group interviews were conducted and the constant comparative method was used to analyse interview transcripts. Themes of ‘Constraints’ and ‘Enablers’ emerged from pre-service teachers’ transcripts, indicating that they were initially uncomfortable with community and family involvement but eventually made connections as to why this was important. The theme of ‘positive relationship building’ emerged from parents’ transcripts, indicating that they saw building relationships with families and communities as an important role of early childhood educators. Implications for the importance of authentic learning situations for fostering these relationships in teacher education courses are discussed.