Imagination for re-engagement from the margins of education

For marginalised secondary school students, mainstream education may no longer appear to be an inviting place. While proposed solutions to problems of disengagement and marginalisation appear to concentrate on finding ways to coerce students back to mainstream education through, for example, ‘learning or earning’ legislation, this article suggests that more effective solutions may be found by engaging with the students in the margins that they occupy. Following discussion of key influences on student disengagement and a theory of imaginations, a ‘students-as-researchers’ (SaR) model of working with young people is discussed to demonstrate that, through the scaffolded application of active imagination, it is possible for such students to identify and create their own connections to the mainstream. The SaR model is illustrated through reference to groups of disaffected high school students who participated in an action research project to investigate apparent low aspiration for tertiary education among their peers at schools serving low-income communities in Queensland, Australia.

Strengthening the role of the adult education sector in training workers for the digital content industries in Australia and Singapore

In 2009, QUT’s Office of Research and the Institute for Adult Learning Singapore funded a six-month pilot project that represented the first stage of a larger international comparative study. The study is the first of its kind to investigate to what extent and how digital content workers’ learning needs are being met by adult education and training in Australia and Singapore. The pilot project involved consolidating key theoretical literature, studies, policies, programs and statistical data relevant to the digital content industries in Australia and Singapore. This had not been done before, and represented new knowledge generation. Digital content workers include professionals within and beyond the creative industries as follows: Visual effects and animation (including virtual reality and 3D products); Interactive multimedia (e.g. websites, CD-ROMs) and software development; Computer and online games; and Digital film & TV production and film & TV post-production. In the last decade, the digital content industries have been recognised as an industry sector of strong and increasing significance. The project compared Australia and Singapore on aspects of the digital content industries’ labour market, skill requirements, human capital challenges, the role of adult education in building a workforce for the digital content industries, and innovation policies. The consolidated report generated from the project formed the basis of the proposal for an ARC Linkage Project application submitted in the May 2010 round.

What's happening down under : young adolescent education in Australia

The middle years are an important period of learning, in which knowledge of fundamental disciplines are developed, yet this is also a time when students are at the greatest risk of disengagement from learning. Student motivation and engagement in these years is critical, and can be influenced by tailoring approaches to teaching with learning activities and learning environments that specifically consider the needs of middle years’ students.

Its place in property education : where does property law fit into property programs?

Property law is one of the key elements in any property-based degree program. In particular, an understanding of 'property law' is one of the required knowledge fields for inclusion in property programs accredited by professional institutes such as the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, the Appraisal Institute and the Australian Property Institute. Despite the importance of property law as a cornerstone element of all property programs this aspect of the program is often approached from a more generic legal perspective with teaching resources used and pedagogical approach more aligned to the study of law that property. The specificity of this type of program is rarely adequately acknowledged. The question arises as to what the study of 'property law' entails and what the composition of a 'property law' subject should be. Replicating the methodology used by Placid and Weeks (2009) in their examination of the current composition of real estate law courses in the United States, this paper examines the current composition and pedagogical approach adopted by Australian universities based on the study of three Queensland property programs. In particular the curriculum, teaching resources used, assessment and engagement strategies are considered with a view to making improvements to the way these property law courses can be more effectively tailored to property students. It is anticipated that the outcomes of this paper will be of interest to all academics who are responsible for developing and delivering property law subjects and those who manage property programs in Australia and internationally.

Reclaiming professionalism for geography education : defending our own territory

In a world where governments increasingly attempt to impose regulation on all professional activities, this paper advocates that professional standards for teachers be developed ‘by the profession for the profession’. Foucauldian archaeology is applied to two teacher standards documents recently published in Australia, one developed at national governmental level and the other by geography teachers through their professional associations. The excavation reveals that both students and geography teachers themselves are better served when teachers assert their own definition of professionalism and thus reclaim their professional territory, rather than being compliant with generic governmental agendas. Whilst we use Australia as an illustrative example, our findings are applicable to all other countries where governments attempt to impose external professional standards on the teaching profession.

Dealing with unfinished business : preparing pre-service social education teachers for curriculum change

Pre-service teacher education is unfinished business. New social education teachers face the challenge of fluid policy environments in which curriculum content and pedagogy are continually changing. The evolving Australian curriculum is the most recent example of such fluidity with its emphasis on shifting the educational agenda to a focus on discipline-based approaches. This paper addresses the concerns of final year pre-service and early career social education teachers, in terms of their professional development needs, by drawing on the findings of a pilot study with students and recent graduates from a university in south-east Queensland. It concludes that social education curriculum units which embed links to professional practice and professional development in teaching, learning and assessment may provide the way forward for enhancing the transition to practice for beginning teachers and assist them in navigating constant change.

An action research approach for the professional development of Vietnamese nurse educators

Nurse education in Viet Nam is undergoing substantial reform. In order to facilitate the change, in 2007 the Viet Nam Nurses Association formed a collaborative partnership with the School of Nursing and Midwifery at an Australia university. This collaboration gave rise to the Viet Nam Nursing Capacity Building Project under the leadership of Professor Genevieve Gray, funded by the Atlantic Philanthropies. The new four year competency based nursing curriculum frame is expected to be implemented in September 2011 following approval by the Viet Nam Ministry of Education. The focus of this paper is the Teaching Fellowships Program, an initiative of the Viet Nam Nursing Capacity Building Project, developed to help meet the challenges associated with leading and dealing with the curriculum change. The paper explores the development of the program and justifies an action research approach, illuminates key issues, and briefly refers to changes to the next fellowship program.

Preparing to teach : perceptions of graduate entry teacher education students

International reviews of teaching and teacher education have highlighted the importance of quality teachers in improving the outcomes of students. Teachers may enter the teaching profession through a variety of pathways. Currently in Australia, one pathway is through graduate entry teacher education programs in which people who already hold university degrees outside of education can undertake one-year formal teacher preparation programs. It may be argued that graduate entry teachers value add to the teaching profession as they bring with them a range of careers and wealth of experiences often beyond those of teachers who enter the profession through traditional four-year Bachelor of Education programs. This paper reports on a study that investigated the preparedness to teach of a group of graduate entry teacher education students as they prepared to exit from university and enter the teaching profession. The study concluded that this group of graduating teachers perceived that the field experience components in their formal teacher education programs contributed most to their beginning professional learning. The study revealed also that this group of graduating teachers sought further professional learning opportunities in the canonical skills of teaching. These findings may be used to inform the design of future teacher education programs.

Teachers' knowledge for social education : perspectives from the middle years of schooling

Social education in Australia is a divisive educational issue. The last decade has been marked by the controversial integrated social studies curriculum, Studies of Society and Environment (SOSE) where history, geography and environmental studies were integrated with civics and citizenship. The introduction of a compulsory K-10 Australian Curriculum from 2011, however, marks the return to history and geography and the abandonment of SOSE. Curriculum reform aside, what do teachers think is essential knowledge for middle years social education? The paper reports on a phenomenographical exploration of thirty-one middle school teachers’ conceptions of essential knowledge for SOSE. Framed by Shulman’s (1986, 1987) theoretical framework of the knowledge base for teaching, the research identified seven qualitatively different ways of understanding essential knowledge for social education. The study indicates a professional practice-based theorisation of social education that justifies attention to discipline-based knowledge and teacher identity in the middle years.

Governing teacher education : the case of teacher education in Australia

This paper analyses the attempted installation of the 1990 Australian Education Council commissioned report 'Teacher Education in Australia' (the Ebbeck Report), a document which proposed a radical reformulation and relative standardization of the content and structure of initial teacher education in Australia. The paper draws on Michel Foucault's concept of 'governmentality' to examine the discursive and technological dimensions of this programme of political rule. The paper makes apparent the 'microphysics of power' that were generated within, particularly, the Queensland educational community in the attempt to operationalise this report. Analysing educational policy from the perspective of 'government', the paper contends, directs attention to the conditions of operation of policy practices and reveals the dependence of educational policy on particular technical conditions of existence, routines and rituals of bureaucracy, forms of expertise and intellectual technologies, and the enlistment of agencies and authorities both within and outside the boundaries of the state.

Sustainable education buildings in Australia : a green star review

In order to promote green building practice in Australia, the Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) launched the Green Star rating tools for various types of buildings built since 2003. Of these, the Green Star-Education rating tool addresses sustainability issues during the design and construction phrases of education facility development. It covers a number of categories, including Management, Indoor Environment Quality, Energy, Transport, Water, Materials, Land Use & Ecology, Emissions and Innovation. This paper reviews the use of the Green Star system in Australian education facilities construction and the potential challenges associated with Green Star- Education implementation. Score sheets of 34 education projects across Australia that achieved Green Star certification were collected and analysed. The percentage of green star points obtained within each category and sub-category (credits) for each project were analysed to illustrate the achievement of credits. The results show that management-related credits and ecology-related credits are the easiest and most difficult to obtain respectively. The study also indicted that 6 Green Star education projects obtained particularly high percentages in the Innovation category. The investigation of points obtained in each category provides prospective Green Star applicants with insights into credit achievement for future projects.

Education in City and Suburban Communities

This chapter will discuss how environmental factors, specifically one’s backgrounds and where one lives, has an impact on teaching and learning. You have learned from previous chapters that inclusive education is underpinned by human rights and social justice issues. This chapter takes up that argument by identifying the diversity of students in city and suburban schools and how some are excluded, leading to disengagement with learning. We suggest possible pedagogy such as differentiated instruction and a ‘pedagogy of hope’ to counter student disengagement. Inclusive education, as an ‘act of imagination’ engages students in creative ways with the curriculum, where they can find meaning and purpose in what they are doing. Such engagement allows student to make connections between their school work and their own life worlds.

Towards an inclusive education for all

Chapter 1: Presents international perspectives and understandings of what inclusion means, and explains why it is necessary for teachers to develop their own deep understanding of the beliefs and values that inform teaching. The chapter introduces the construct of an inclusive school community, which is an important focus of inclusive schooling, and explains how the theoretical framework for inclusion informs our thinking, and the ongoing processes of review and development. This framework also informs the stance we take on preparing teachers to work in more inclusive ways in schools. The chapter aims to encourage an appreciation of what it means to be included and excluded, and invites the reader to consider the challenges ahead.

The social and political underpinnings of the inclusive education movement

In this chapter we look at inclusive education as part of a number of wider social movements for social justice. Inclusive education is thus understood as a transformation of education systems, rather than simply the addition of new groups of students to schools, or the development of new techniques (Slee, 2006). We illustrate the ways movements for social change can occur at many levels. Resistance to social change also occurs at many levels. Movements for social justice often include a goal of changing what happens in education. This is because education is often seen as one of the important social institutions that can reinforce the status quo. Education is also seen as an important means of changing the status quo, giving more people access to a more meaningful education. It’s not uncommon to hear various political parties criticising each other’s educational policies as ‘social engineering.’ Movements for social justice in education understand that education has always been about social engineering. The questions of interest are thus: Social engineering for what?; Who benefits; and At whose expense?