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
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- 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.
Making a difference: a different way of being a teacher in an alternate educational setting
- Authors: Plunkett, Margaret , Dyson, Michael
- Date: 2011
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: AARE Conference 2010 p. 1-13
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- Description: Alternate or non-traditional educational settings within Australia have undergone a period of expansion over the past two decades, with a greater range of opportunities being afforded to both students and teachers. Although very little research has been conducted, most studies to date have concentrated on the student experience of education in such settings. There has been minimal focus on teachers, particularly in relation to self perceptions and what it might mean to be a teacher in an environment that differs substantially from the type of educational setting in which many teaching careers had begun. 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 focus of the school is on the development of self-understanding and positive relationship building through a holistic approach that is underpinned by the philosophy of cooperative learning. Not all teachers would choose to teach in this type of school, so this project aimed to investigate the hopes and aspirations of the teachers working in the SSL. The findings illustrated a genuine commitment to the principles underpinning the core moral purpose of the SSL and the concomitant level of involvement required. While most did not see their role as teacher to be substantively different from their earlier perceptions, they acknowledged the difference in emphasis that was both possible and necessary within the different context of the setting.
Shifting the focus in teacher education: foregrounding the value of teacher/student relationships
- Authors: Dyson, Michael , Plunkett, Margaret
- Date: 2011
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: The Australian Teacher Education Association Conference p. 1-6
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- Description: Alternate or non-traditional educational settings within Australia have undergone a period of expansion over the last decade, yet there has not been any substantive recognition of this growth within teacher education programs (Plunkett & Dyson, 2010). However, since 2000 a research partnership that has been operating between one of Victoria’s most innovative alternate educational settings - the School for Student Leadership (SSL) and Monash University, has attempted to redress the dearth of research into alternate settings and related potential change within Teacher Education. This paper reports on part of that ongoing longitudinal mixed method study, specifically highlighting the impact that reflection on practice, which is built into the program, has had on building positive relationships between staff and Year 9 students (Dyson & Plunkett, 2010). Findings support Mezirow’s (1991) contention that transformative learning occurs as the result of the reflection process, which in turn leads to a shift in the role and nature of the teacher and allows for openness in communication with students, creating enhanced relationships. As acknowledged by both Cranton (2007) and Glasser (1998) the recognition of the importance of self and ones values and beliefs in relation to others is an essential part of learning. In particular we suggest that connectedness, especially between teacher and students, promotes active engagement concomitantly enhancing transformative learning. We propose that it is important that an understanding of these factors should foreground any discussions about future developments in teacher education.
Educating generation Y in alternate settings : What seems to work
- Authors: Dyson, Michael , Zink, Robyn
- Date: 2008
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: Australian Association for Research in Education
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- Description: Abstract: This paper presents one element of our research conducted in a contemporary, yet alternate, school setting. This setting provides ten-week residential programs for Year nine students. Year nine has been identified as a significant time when students become disengaged with schooling. These Year nine students also belong to a group known as Generation Y (Gen Y). This group is characterised as having difficulties with communication, developing relationships and functioning as a community. However, our research, at the 'Remote School' suggests that the students in this residential school develop skills that enable them to communicate more effectively and establish relationships with others. One of the key aspects of this appears to be the relationships they form with each other and with the staff while on the program. The environment, or the ecosystem developed in this unique setting, allows students to interact more explicitly with the complexity of life and, in doing so, recognise diversity and the shades of grey, which start to colour their worlds. The students talk about feeling challenged in forming relationships and about comprehending more about themselves, how they operate and how others operate. It would seem likely that there is a gap in understanding the capacities of Year nine students and Gen Y students, who are construed as being difficult to communicate with, form relationships with, or fail to function effectively in communities. It is this gap in understanding, based on the experiences of the young people at the Remote School, which we explore in this paper.