Finding passion and purpose in the teaching of reading in secondary school English through critical readings of practice : A huge kind of spider web
- Authors: McGraw, Amanda , Mason, Mary
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Australian Journal of Language and Literacy Vol. 43, no. 3 (2020), p. 205-213
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- Description: We argue in this paper that the experience of reading is an intricate and dynamic weaving of connections much like the tentative construction of a spider's web. We also use the metaphor of the web to examine a professional learning experience for Australian secondary school English teachers who over the course of a year, and by working in Communities of Practice, find and renew passion and purpose in their teaching of reading. The professional learning project, beginning in 2015, is conducted in Victorian schools under the auspices of the Victorian Association for the Teaching of English (VATE) and is funded for six years by the Victorian Department of Education and Training. In five years it has involved 36 schools. In this paper we focus on the experiences of teachers involved in the first three years of the project. The project begins by drawing attention, through an examination of literature, to disturbing levels of disengagement with reading at school and to a culture of pedagogy in English that has shifted over recent times toward transactional teaching and away from a focus on meaning-making. Drawing upon teacher interviews, the paper examines how teachers find passion and purpose in their teaching of reading through an initial focus on student experience revealed in drawings, which they find surprising and moving. In Communities of Practice and with the support of an external Critical Friend, the teachers explore a complex understanding of reading that has imaginative, dialogic, emotional, critical, metacognitive and embodied dimensions and design and trial reading activities with the aim of deepening students' reading experiences. Through a focus on what teachers say, the paper explores what is learned through this experience and examines some of the challenges associated with sustaining change in schools.
“Undoing” Gender: how the School of Science, Engineering and Information Technology SEIT Women’s group works across university and community lines to promote inclusive STEM
- Authors: Goriss-Hunter, Anitra , Echter, Adele , Firmin, Sally , Oseni, Taiwa
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Studies in Adult Education Vol. 24, no. 3 (2018), p. 3-9
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- Description: Research on gender and education in industrialised and developing countries suggests that schools and universities are sites of ‘doing’ rather than ‘undoing’ gender. Deutsch (2007) contends that ‘doing gender’ refers to social interactions that reproduce conventional and limiting notions of gender construction and that ‘undoing gender’ refers to social interactions that reduce gender difference and open up other possibilities. In this paper we consider how educational institutions can be strategic sites of influence in undoing gender and we investigate some ways that gender is ‘undone’ through the example of the work of the Science, Engineering and Information Technology Women’s Group (SEITWG) located in the Faculty of Science and Technology at Federation University Australia. For this purpose, a self-study methodology understood as a professional reflection was used. The paper explores how the informal coalition of SEITWG works as ‘wilful subjects’, on the one hand, coming up against some of the ‘brick walls’ of dominant discourse that attempt to limit women’s participation in STEMM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine). On the other hand, SEITWG attempts to move beyond the restrictions of conventional gender narratives to encourage more women to participate in STEMM by foregrounding the presence of women already active in the area; mentoring women students and staff; supporting a range of their colleagues’ endeavours to research and teach for inclusion; embedding gender analysis into the curriculum; and promoting workplace cultural change.
Foucault's toolbox: critical insights for education and technology researchers
- Authors: Hope, Andrew
- Date: 2015
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Learning, Media and Technology Vol. 40, no. 4 (2015), p. 536-549
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- Description: Despite having been a prolific academic, whose work exerts considerable cross-discipline influence, the ideas of Foucault are largely neglected in educational technology scholarship. Having provided an initial brief overview of the sparse use of Foucault's work in this sub-field, this paper then seeks to generate new understandings, arguing that his texts have ongoing relevance, particularly if ed-tech research is to escape its limited, instrumentalism and critically engage with broader social, economic and political concerns. To this end Foucault's writings on technology, discourse and panopticism are considered and the analytical insights they offer into educational technology research explored. Whilst recognising that it is impossible to do justice to Foucault's oeuvre in such a short piece, it is hoped that through providing an introduction to these key concepts and suggesting problems that they could be used to addresses a more critical approach to educational technology will be engendered.
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
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- 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.
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
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- 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
Students' attitudes, engagement and confidence in mathematics and statistics learning: ICT, gender, and equity dimensions
- Authors: Barkatsas, Anastasios
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Towards Equity in Mathematics Education. Gender, Culture, and Diversity p. 151-179
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- Description: Abstract In this chapter the findings of five studies are reported. Two research instruments were used: the Mathematics and Technology Attitudes Scale (MTAS), and the Survey of Attitudes Toward Statistics Scale (SATS). The aims, methods, data analyses, selected findings and conclusions are presented, as well as implications for the teaching and learning of mathematics and statistics. The studies involved samples from Australia and Greece. Findings from the three MTAS studies revealed that there is a complex nexus of relationships between secondary mathematics students’ mathematics confidence, confidence with technology, attitude to learning mathematics with technology, affective engagement and behavioural engagement, achievement, and gender. Findings from the SATS studies indicated that male Greek tertiary students had more positive attitudes toward statistics than female students; there was no gender gap for the Australian tertiary students. Secondary students’ attitudes towards ICT use for mathematics learning require further scrutiny in order to bring about gender equity and to facilitate improved outcomes for all students. Gender and cultural sensitivity are paramount in the instructional planning, decision making, and implementation of secondary mathematics and tertiary statistics.
'They're funny bloody cattle': encouraging rural men to learn
- Authors: Vallance, Soapy , Golding, Barry
- Date: 2008
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Australian Journal of Adult Learning Vol. 48, no. 2 (Jul 2008), p. 369-384
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- Description: Our paper examines and analyses the contexts and organisations in rural and regional communities that informally and effectively encourage men to learn. It is based on a combination of local, rural adult education practice and a suite of studies in Australia and elsewhere of learning in community contexts, most recently into community-based men's sheds. It is underpinned by both experience and research evidence that many rural men tend to have an aversion to formal learning. The intention of our paper and its specific, practical conclusions and recommendations is to focus on and share positive and practical ways, demonstrated through practice and validated through research, of encouraging rural men to learn.
- Description: C1
Houses and sheds in Australia : an exploration of the genesis and growth of neighbourhood houses and men's sheds in community settings
- Authors: Golding, Barry , Kimberley, Helen , Foley, Annette , Brown, Michael
- Date: 2008
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Australian Journal of Adult Learning Vol. 48, no. 2 (Jul 2008), p. 237-262
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- Description: This article reviews research into the genesis and spread of both neighbourhood houses and learning centres in Victoria and community-based men's sheds in Australia to identify some similarities and differences. Our article asks questions about the gendered communities of practice that underpin houses for women on the one hand, and sheds for men on the other. Our particular interest is with the gender issues associated with the development of the relatively mature neighbourhood house 'sector', and those associated with the very recent and developing community-based men's sheds 'sector'. Our underpinning research question has to do with the desirability (or otherwise) in each of these sectors of political and strategic decisions being either gender specific or gender neutral. We identify a number of tantalising parallels between the rationale behind the establishment of both sectors,for women and men, albeit in very different circumstances, along with some obvious differences.
- Description: C1
Introduction to themed issue new pedagogies for school and community 'capacity building' in disadvantaged schools and communities
- Authors: Smyth, John
- Date: 2006
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Learning communities Vol. 3, no. (2006), p. 3-6
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- Description: The educational landscape is changing dramatically and profoundly for schools and communities across Australia and other western countries. It is no longer the case that children automatically do not attend their local neighbourhood school, nor can it be assumed that within public schools that there is a heterogenous social mix. What we have is an increasingly segregated, stratified and residualised system of education in Australia as neo-liberal policies of so-called 'choice' do their pock-marking with those who can afford it 'opting out' to private education, leaving behind those without the resources to exercise choice.
- Description: C1
- Description: 2003001904