Teacher professional standards : mirage or miracle cure - an archaeology of professionalism in education

This thesis is a problematisation of the development and implementation of professional standards as the mechanism to enhance professionalism and teacher quality in the teaching force within Australia and, more specifically, Queensland. Drawing on tools from Foucauldian archaeological analysis, the dominant discourses of professionalism from the academic literature, Australian federal and state policy documents and narratives from Queensland teachers are examined. These data sets are then cross referenced, analysing the intersections and divergences between the different texts. Findings suggest that through policy, political strategy and derisory statements from various authoritative voices, the managerial discourse of professionalism through professional standards documents has been unduly privileged as a means of regulating teachers, despite the fact that teachers themselves do not share this dominant notion of professionalism. The teachers in this study proffer ‘new classical-practical professionalism’ as a counter discourse, or discourse of resistance, to managerialism. However, an application of Foucault’s theorisations on power-knowledge reveals that their spoken discourses mean they are in fact yielding to the discourse of professional standards as docile bodies.

Sustaining teacher professionalism in the context of standards referenced assessment reform

Standards referenced reform, tied to reporting, engages directly with assessment issues related to accountability. Assessment is the key to good education and is inseparable from curriculum. In an accountability context, standards are used as a lever to improve the reliability and consistency of teacher judgement; and classroom evidence is used by education systems for reporting and tracking achievement over time. Assessment is thus a powerful driver for change and is at the heart of the teaching-learning dynamic. The relationship between the learner, learning and assessment needs to be kept central and the idea of teacher empowerment is fundamental. This chapter is a call to honour and sustain teacher professionalism through educative forms of school-based and teacher-led evaluation, assessment and communities of judgement practice. It supports the argument for a central place for classroom assessment in the role of assessment in educational accountability...

The Yonder project : literacy and social competency development in primary school students through co-creation of live performance

Since 2007 Kite Arts Education Program (KITE), based at Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC), has been engaged in delivering a series of theatre-based experiences for children in low socio-economic primary schools in Queensland. The artist in residence (AIR) project titled Yonder includes performances developed by the children with the support and leadership of teacher artists from KITE for their community and parents/carers,supported by a peak community cultural institution. In 2009,Queensland Performing Arts Centre partnered with Queensland University of Technology (QUT) Creative Industries Faculty (Drama) to conduct a three-year evaluation of the Yonder project to understand the operational dynamics, artistic outputs and the educational benefits of the project. This paper outlines the research findings for children engaged in the Yonder project in the interrelated areas of literacy development and social competencies. Findings are drawn from six iterations of the project in suburban locations on the edge of Brisbane city and in regional Queensland.

Retention and graduation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in initial teacher education : a review of the literature

While the need to increase numbers of Indigenous teachers has been highlighted for many years, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teachers are still significantly underrepresented in Australia making up less that 1% of teachers in schools. Nationally, little has changed since the 1980s when Hughes and Wilmot (1992) called for ‘1000 Indigenous teachers by 1990’. This paper reports on an initial literature review of teacher education as related to the preparation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. Alongside the scholarly literature, the review to date includes analysis of over twenty policy documents and government reports as well as web-based descriptions of historical and current models of Indigenous teacher education including both mainstream Education programs and cohort-based and community models. While the literature provides examples of successful models of Indigenous teacher education it also illuminates the longstanding and interrelated factors that continue to impact on the success or failure of teacher education for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders

Revisiting the trajectories of special teacher education in China through policy and practice

The preparation, recruitment, work, and career of teachers are important in education. This is no exemption for special education. However, the shortage of qualified teachers serving students with disabilities has long been an international problem. In China, both the quantity and the quality of special education teachers are of concern. This places unrelenting pressure on special teacher education. Given its growing size and challenges, special teacher education has received increasing attention from research, policy, and practice. However, there is a dearth of scholarship published in English to address these issues. To the best of our belief and knowledge, there is no systematic, comprehensive, and contextualised examination of special teacher education in China to date. This paper aims to make a contribution in this regard. First, we present the complexities of the Chinese context in which special teacher education is situated. Second, we synthesise recent literature on special teacher education in China through an extensive review of the relevant studies scattered in English publications. Third, we provide insights into special teacher education in China, regarding its trajectory of policy making, its history of development, and its strategies and challenges. Finally, we conclude our paper with some practical recommendations to aid the future development of special teacher education.

The development of shared understandings of assessment policy : travelling between global and local contexts

In this paper, teachers’ enactment of assessment policy within demands for accountability and consistency of teacher judgements is considered. Evidence is drawn from a qualitative study involving 50 middle school teachers from Queensland, Australia, who participated in online social moderation meetings with teachers located in dispersed areas around the state. The study presents how travelling policy is embedded in local histories and cultures, in particular within systems of accountability; and the different layers of what may be considered ‘local’. The paper examines the intersections of travelling and embedded policy, and global and local contexts as these are enacted through online moderation meetings.

Teacher organizational citizenship behaviours and job efficacy : implications for student quality of school life

The present study investigated the impact of teachers' organizational citizenship behaviours (OCBs) on student quality of school life (SQSL) via the indirect effect of job efficacy. A measure of teacher OCBs was developed, tapping one dimension of individual-focused OCB (OCBI – student-directed behaviour) and two dimensions of organization-focused OCB (OCBO – civic virtue and professional development). In line with previous research suggesting that OCBs may enhance job efficacy, as well as studies demonstrating the positive effects of teacher efficacy on student outcomes, we expected an indirect relationship between teachers OCBs and SQSL via teachers' job efficacy. Hypotheses were tested in a multi-level design in which 170 teachers and their students (N=3,057) completed questionnaires. A significant proportion of variance in SQSL was attributable to classroom factors. Analyses revealed that the civic virtue and professional development behaviours of teachers were positively related to their job efficacy. The job efficacy of teachers also had a positive impact on all five indicators of SQSL. In regards to professional development, job efficacy acted as an indirect variable in the prediction of four student outcomes (i.e., general satisfaction, student–teacher relations, achievement, and opportunity) and fully mediated the direct negative effect on psychological distress.

Student interactivity and teacher participation: An application of legitimate peripheral participation in higher education online learning environments

Lave and Wenger’s legitimate peripheral participation is an important aspect of online learning environments. It is common for teachers to scaffold varying levels of online participation in Web 2.0 contexts, such as online discussion forums and blogs. This study argues that legitimate peripheral participation needs to be redefined in response to students’ decentralised multiple interactions and non-linear engagement in hyperlinked learning environments. The study examines students’ levels of participation in online learning through theories of interactivity, distinguishing between five levels of student participation in the context of a first-year university course delivered via a learning management system. The data collection was implemented through two instruments: i) a questionnaire about students’ interactivity perception in the online reflective learning (n = 238) and then ii) an open discussion on the reason for the diverse perceptions of interactivity (n = 34). The study findings indicate that student participants, other than those who were active, need high levels of teacher or moderator intervention, which better enables legitimate peripheral participation to occur in online learning contexts.

Seeing it differently: physical education, teacher education and the possibilities of personal construct theory

The celebrated work of Lortie (1975) alerted teacher educators to the extended period of 'apprenticeship' that student teachers have been through before they arrive at teacher education programmes. The subjective implicit theories (Marland, 1992) developed by prospective teachers are shaped by their lifeworld experiences at school and in the case of physical education teachers, their experiences in sport. The biography of physical education teacher education (PETE) students tends to be characterised by ecto-mesomorphic individuals who have been socialised by the rigours of highly competitive sport (Gore, 1990; Macdonald, 1992; Rossi, 1996). We can add to this, the requirements of teacher preparation in physical education which for the most part are dominated by the traditions and rhetoric of the 'natural' bio-physical sciences; largely a legacy of Henry's (1964) work on physical education as an academic discipline, as well as that of Abernathy and Waltz the same year (Abernathy & Waltz, 1964). In the United Kingdom, Curl (1973) further advanced the argument in an attempt to justify human movement as an independent field of study with its own corpus of knowledge. It is little wonder then, that the dominant pedagogical discourse in physical education is, as Tinning (1991) discusses, one of performance pedagogy (see also Hendry, 1986 for an earlier discussion). The knowledge required to support such a discourse could be described as 'official' (Apple, 1993) and it assumes such status by virtue of the power appropriated by and bestowed upon the scientific community in PETE (Macdonald & Tinning, 1995; Sparkes, 1989, 1993). However, there are social reifiers too, and these tend to relate to the social construction of the body (Kirk, 1993; Kirk & Spiller, 1994; Gilroy, 1994) and what Tinning (1985) has termed the Cult of Slenderness. Furthermore the 'slender image' has become a signifier of 'good health'. This is inextricably linked to what might be considered as a health triplex—'exercise = fitness = health' (see Kirk & Colquhoun, 1989; Tinning & Kirk, 1991) which in Australia, underpins curriculum packages such as Daily Physical Education which teachers (often including physical education primary...

Professional learning places and spaces: The staffroom as a site of beginning teacher induction and transition

This paper argues that the staffroom is an important professional learning space where beginning teachers interact to understand who they are and the nature of their professional work. The authors highlight the theoretical importance of space and place in the construction and negotiation of beginning teacher subjectivities. To illustrate the staffroom as a particular place where important professional learning could occur the authors use two narratives based on the lived experiences of two beginning teachers, one in a primary context, the other secondary. The authors conclude by calling for greater research attention to the significance of the staffroom and its interaction with teacher subjectivities. At the level of practice we also call for the teaching profession to recognise staffrooms as important sites of professional learning and places that should support induction and mentoring of beginning teachers. Such recognition could enhance the retention, satisfaction, and effectiveness of new and experienced teachers alike.

The development of a new four-year Construction Technology and Management Stream at QUT

This paper focuses on the development and delivery of a core construction management (CM) unit, which forms the capstone of a four-unit CM stream in an undergraduate programme in the Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering at the Queensland University of Technology. UDB410 (Construction Management) is a final year unit that consolidates skills students have learned throughout their degree, hopefully graduating them as work-ready construction managers. It was developed in consultation with the Queensland Chapter of the Australian Institute of Building (AIB) and is a final year unit in the undergraduate Bachelor of Urban Development (CM) course. The unit uses various tools such as the OSIRIS business database (Bureau van Dijk Electronic Publishing, 2009), the AROUSAL (UK Version) construction business simulation (Lansley, 2009) and the Denison Organisational Culture Survey (Denison, 2000) to facilitate the development of skills in managing a construction company. The objectives of the paper are: • To track the rationale and development of the UDB410 unit sand describe the way in which this final year unit integrates learning from other parts of the course within which it is located as well as capping-off the CM stream of core units; • To highlight the difficulties of blending a balance of technology and management in a single unit; and • To explain how partnering with the construction industry benefited the learning quality of the unit.