Measuring the quality of teaching in elementary school classrooms

This paper reviews the means by which teacher quality has been measured. It considers data sources such as students, peers, experts, and examines the psychometrics and scaleproperties of teacher quality assessment instruments with respect to reliability and validity. A list of items for possible inclusion in an elementary student focussed instrument is considered, together with the potential use of such an instrument in measuring teacher quality.

Learning to reflect in the first year of legal education : the key to surviving legal education and legal practice

Lawyers and law students suffer significant rates of depression and substance abuse. This paper suggests that Law Schools have an obligation to assist students to develop the emotional intelligence necessary in order to cope with the stressful nature of legal practice. We draw on Schön’s discussion of the indeterminate zone of professional practice to suggest that reflective practice is the means by which students can become sufficiently emotionally intelligent to become balanced and happy lawyers. We suggest that incorporating reflective practice in intentional curriculum design in the first year of law is an effective first step in assisting students to develop the emotional intelligence necessary to survive the study and practice of law.

Educating the Other: Standpoint and Theory on the 'Internationalisation' of Higher Education

How adequate are current theoretical standpoints, tools and categories for explaining the flows of international students to Anglo/American/European universities? This essay takes a different analytic tact and historical standpoint to the study of them and us, insiders and outsiders (cf. Foley, Levinson & Hurtig, 2001), in the internationalisation of education.

The world of science education : handbook of research in Australasia

The focus of this Handbook is on Australasia (a region loosely recognized as that which includes Australia and New Zealand plus nearby Pacific nations such as Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu, and the Samoan islands) science education and the scholarship that most closely supports this program. The reviews of the research situate what has been accomplished within a given field in Australasian rather than international context. The purpose therefore is to articulate and exhibit regional networks and trends that produced specific forms of science education. The thrust lies in identifying the roots of research programs and sketching trajectories—focusing the changing façade of problems and solutions within regional contexts. The approach allows readers review what has been done and accomplished, what is missing, and what might be done next.

Defining an Identity : The Evolution of Science Education

Research in science education is now an international activity. This book asks for the first time, Does this research activity have an identity?-It uses the significant studies of more than 75 researchers in 15 countries to see to what extent they provide evidence for an identity as a distinctive field of research.-It considers trends in the research over time, and looks particularly at what progression in the research entails.-It provides insight into how researchers influence each other and how involvement in research affects the being of the researcher as a person.-It addresses the relation between research and practice in a manner that sees teaching and learning in the science classroom as interdependent with national policies and curriculum traditions about science. It gives graduate students and other early researchers an unusual overview of their research area as a whole. Established researchers will be interested in, and challenged by, the identity the author ascribes to the research and by the plea he makes for the science content itself to be seen as problematic.

Reflection on the 'Landscapes of Rights' Conference, Adelaide, 2009

This article presents a reflective view of three teaching colleagues from Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane who had attended and participated in the 'Landscapes of Rights' Conference in Adelaide, July 2009. The conference is a biennial event run by the Reggio Emilia-Australia Information Exchange. The authors explore and reflect on the provocations posed throughout this conference and consider these in light of their ongoing work in the field of teacher education, of early childhood teaching and as active supporters of children's rights.

Aligning policy with practice: an evaluation of vocational education and training in the library and information services sector

Vocational education and training for the library and information services (LIS) sector in Australia offers students the career pathway to become library technicians. Library technicians play a valuable role in drawing on sound practical knowledge and skills to support the delivery of library and information services that meet client needs. Over the past forty years, the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) has monitored the quality of library technician courses. Since 2005, ALIA has run national professional development days for library technician educators with the goal of establishing an alternative model for course recognition focusing on the process of peer review to benchmark good practice and stimulate continuous improvement in library technician education. This initial developmental work has culminated in 2009 with site visits to all library technician courses in Australia. The paper presents a whole-of-industry case study to critically review the work undertaken to date.