Doing collaborative reflection in the professional experience

Despite the importance of the school-based practicum experience in teacher education programs, only limited research has investigated how supervising and pre-service teacher roles and relationships are interactively achieved in situ. Using conversation analysis, we interrogate extracts of practicum talk between supervising teachers (STs) and their pre-service teachers (PTs), revealing that asymmetrical relationships are talked into being within and through their conversations about classroom practice. We compare the different structural conversational arrangements that are employed when STs provide either positive feedback or raise issues of potential difficulty in relation to their PTs’ observed classroom activities. Analysis reveals that STs tend to make evaluative statements when providing positive feedback, in contrast to initiating a process of critical reflection when talking about the need for improvements in PTs’ pedagogic practices. We conclude by arguing the need for STs to instigate sustained critical and collaborative professional conversations with their PTs during the practicum experience, enabling them to engage in reflective practice and providing them with opportunities to extend their professional knowledge and skills, thereby potentially improving their future classroom practices.

Internship : interpreting micropolitical contexts

Many university faculties of education across Australia employ a model of internship for final semester pre-service teacher education students to help them make a smooth transition into the teaching profession. While a growing body of research has explored pre-service teachers’ experiences of their practicum, including the internship, which is the final professional experience within a course of study, very little work has considered micropolitics as a lens through which to interpret interns’ relationships with their school supervisors/mentors. This paper uses a micropolitical framework to interpret reflective reports written by 145 Bachelor of Education (primary) interns who recorded their perceptions of their professional learning experience within the context of a relationship with their school-based mentors. Several key themes are identified that highlight interns’ reports of a range of micropolitical strategies at play. The paper concludes by raising a number of implications for universities and schools regarding how better to facilitate interns’ transition into the profession.

Transnational field experience : making the familiar strange

This study explores the impact of field experience in Australian primary classrooms on the developing professional identities of Malaysian pre-service teachers. This group of 24 Malaysian students are undertaking their Bachelor of Education in Teaching English as a Foreign Language (BEd TESL) at an Australian university, as part of a transnational twinning program. The globalisation of education has seen an increase in such transnational school experiences for pre-service teachers, with the aim of extending professional experience and intercultural competence by engaging in communities of practice beyond the local (Tsui 2005, Luke 2004). Despite overseas governments, such as Malaysia, having sponsored multimillion dollar twinning programs for their pre-service teachers, there is a lack of research regarding the outcomes of transnational professional practice within such programs. This study adopts a qualitative approach focusing on participants’ narratives as revealed in their reflective writing and through semi-structured interviews. Adopting a Bakhtinian framework, this research uses the concept of ‘voice’ to explore how pre-service teachers negotiate their identities as EFL teachers in response to their lived professional experiences (Bakhtin 1981, 1986). Encountering different cultural and educational practices in their transnational field experiences can lead pre-service teachers to question taken-for-granted practices that they have grown up with. This has been described as a process of making the familiar strange, and can lead to a shift in professional understandings. This study investigates how such questioning occurs and how the transnational field experience is perceived by the participants as contributing to their developing professional identities.

"Over The Hill" is not so far away : crossing teaching contexts to create benefits for all through rural teaching experiences.

Attracting and retaining quality teachers to rural and remote areas has been a challenge over the last decade. Many preservice teachers are reluctant to experience a rural and remote practicum and may not consider applying to teach in such areas when they graduate. Education departments and universities need to explore innovative ways that will encourage graduates to consider undertaking a teaching position in the bush. As a way forward, preservice teachers from a regional campus of a Queensland University were invited to participate in a six-day rural experience entitled ‘Over the Hill’ that included being billeted with local families, participating in community activities and observing and teaching in classrooms. Fifteen preservice teachers were accompanied by two university academics who returned to work in a classroom as teacher for their own rural and remote professional experience. The aim of this qualitative study was to explore and describe the perceptions of a rural and remote teaching experience from the perspectives of the preservice teachers, the accompanying academics and the school staff hosting the program. Data were collected from the preservice teachers and accompanying academics in the form of written reflections while fourteen school staff completed a related questionnaire. The results indicated that a six-day rural and remote teaching program can provide professional benefits for all involved, preservice teachers, accompanying academics and the school staff hosting the program. Indeed, this study indicates that short experiences such as “Over the Hill” not only assist preservice teachers to make informed decisions about teaching in rural and remote areas but can provide professional benefits for accompanying academics and the schools.

Mapping the ethical journey of experienced nurses now practising in rural and remote hospitals in central and south-west Queensland and in domiciliary services in Brisbane : a grounded theory approach

The aim of this thesis has been to map the ethical journey of experienced nurses now practising in rural and remote hospitals in central and south-west Queensland and in domiciliary services in Brisbane. One group of the experienced nurses in the study were Directors of Nursing in rural and remote hospitals. These nurses were “hands on”, “multi-skilled “ nurses who also had the task of managing the hospital. Also there were two Directors of Nursing from domiciliary services in Brisbane. A grounded theory method was used. The nurses were interviewed and the data retrieved from the interviews was coded, categorised and from these categories a conceptual framework was generated. The literature which dealt with the subject of ethical decision making and nurses also became part of the data. The study revealed that all these nurses experienced moral distress as they made ethical decisions. The decision making categories revealed in the data were: the area of financial management; issues as end of life approaches; allowing to die with dignity; emergency decisions; experience of unexpected death; the dilemma of providing care in very difficult circumstances. These categories were divided into two chapters: the category related to administrative and financial constraints and categories dealing with ethical issues in clinical settings. A further chapter discussed the overarching category of coping with moral distress. These experienced nurses suffered moral distress as they made ethical decisions, confirming many instances of moral distress in ethical decision making documented in the literature to date. Significantly, the nurses in their interviews never mentioned the ethical principles used in bioethics as an influence in their decision making. Only one referred to lectures on ethics as being an influence in her thinking. As they described their ethical problems and how they worked through them, they drew on their own previous experience rather than any knowledge of ethics gained from nursing education. They were concerned for their patients, they spoke from a caring responsibility towards their patients, but they were also concerned for justice for their patients. This study demonstrates that these nurses operated from the ethic of care, tempered with the ethic of responsibility as well as a concern for justice for their patients. Reflection on professional experience, rather than formal ethics education and training, was the primary influence on their ethical decision making.

Becoming professionals : partnerships reshaping preservice teachers’ transition to full-time teaching

While strengthened partnerships between University and Schools have been proposed in recent reviews of teacher education (House of Representative Standing Committee on Education and Vocational Training, 2007; Caldwell & Sutton, 2010; Donaldson, 2010), there is a need to understand the benefits and challenges for participants of these partnerships. The Teacher Education Centre of Excellence (TECE) in this study is a preservice teacher preparation partnership between a Queensland University, Queensland Department of Education, Training and Employment (DETE) and an Education Queensland school. It was established in response to a mandated reform within the Improving Teacher Quality National Partnership Agreement (Department of Education Employment and Workplace Relations, 2011). High-achieving Bachelor of Education preservice teachers apply to be part of the 18-month program in the third year of their four-year Education degree. These preservice teachers experience mentoring in partner schools in addition to course work designed and delivered by a DETE appointed Head of Mentoring and a university academic. On completion of the program, graduates will be appointed to South West Queensland rural and remote Education Queensland schools. This paper analyses participant perspectives from the first phase of this partnership in particular identifying the benefits and challenges experienced by the preservice teachers and the leaders of the program from the participating institutions. A sociocultural theoretical perspective (Wenger, 1998) informed the analysis examining how preservice teachers experience a sense of becoming a professional teacher within a specific employment context. Data from interviews with 6 pre-service teachers and 8 program leaders were analysed inductively through coding of interview records. Findings indicate the importance of strong relationships and opportunity for reciprocal learning through ongoing professional conversations as contexts for preservice teachers to develop an identity as an emerging professional. This research has significance for the ongoing development of this partnership as well as informing the principles for the design of future similar partnerships.

Preservice teachers’ observations of their mentors’ teaching strategies for differentiated learning

Tensions exist between teacher-centred and learner-centred approaches with constructivism as being favoured for learning in the 21st Century. There is little evidence of teaching strategies being used in the field for differentiating student learning. In addition, preservice teachers need to learn about teaching strategies for which observations of their mentor teachers can provide practical applications. This study explores 16 preservice teachers’ observations of their mentors’ teaching strategies over a four-week professional experience. They provided a minimum of five written observations during this period. Findings indicated that these preservice teachers observed their mentors’ practices and recorded four key teaching strategies used to differentiate learning, namely: (1) designating facilitators for students’ learning, including teacher, peers, parents, and support staff such as teachers aides, (2) managing student groups, (3) contexts for learning, and (4) using a range of teaching aids (visual, auditory, games) and resources. Preservice teachers’ observations of their mentor teachers indicated that they can commence at early stages for identifying teaching strategies and how they work for differentiating student learning.

The 7pm Project

The Making Connections: Innovations in Learning and Teaching Forum, jointly hosted by the Division of Technology, Information and Learning Support (TILS) and the Learning and Teaching Unit (LTU), was held on 20 June. The forum provided a snapshot of innovative practice across QUT, as well as an overview of services supporting innovation. Past events have attracted sizeable audiences and informal feedback has been very positive and encouraging. The objective of the forum is to give an opportunity to academic teaching staff to share their innovative practice with their peers, and it is planned that more events will be held to allow for further sharing of ideas. The program for the June 2012 forum included the following presentations: Ms Lindy Osborne: The 7pm Project Dr Ana Pavasovic: A multifaceted approach to teaching a first year unit Mr Paul Willis: Out of our comfort zone: How can Collaborate engage students in inclusive teaching practices Dr Kelly Zuniga: Can you draw what I see? Recasting the ‘crit’ to engage a larger classroom audience Dr Peter Bell, Dr Mark Lauchs, Amy Henderson and Edward Robinson: Crime Club: Lightbulb moments Dr Deboarh Peach: Improving student engagement through the integration of blended delivery approaches in WIL. Lindy Osborne Biography: As an early career academic, Lindy Osborne draws upon professional experience as a registered architect to offer students pioneering curricula that are firmly grounded in real-world practice. Since commencing her academic career in 2008, she has purposefully reconceptualised the delivery of Architectural Design, Technology, Professional Practice and Research subjects, using innovative digital technology and empowering students to direct their own learning. Lindy is cognisant of the impact that the physical learning environment has on students, and seeks to actively modify it to support students by enabling powerful enactive learning. Using technology embedded flexible learning spaces and innovative simulated office practice pedagogy,students actively learn in an authentic environment, redressing the structural and cyclical factors that have resulted in a lack of workplace learning opportunities. Lindy’s creative integration of interdisciplinary opportunities, popular culture, social media and Web-2.0 technologies connects with students on their level, while they develop critical professional skills both inside and perhaps more importantly outside, the formal classroom environment.

Logan Basin Water Resource Plan : environmental assessment of the southern Moreton Bay islands. Technical Advisory Panel Report: Stage 1.

This report is a technical assessment of the hydrological environment of the southern Moreton Bay islands and follows the terms of reference supplied by the then Queensland Department of Natural Resources and Water. The terms of reference describe stage 1 as a condition assessment and stage 2 as an assessment of the implications of water planning scenarios on future condition. This report is the first stage of a two-stage investigation whose primary purpose is to identify and assess groundwater dependent ecosystems (GDEs) and the groundwater flow regimes necessary to support them. Within this context, the groundwaters themselves are also considered and comment made on their condition. Information provided in this report will inform an amendment to the Logan Basin Water Resource Plan to incorporate the southern Moreton Bay islands. The study area is the water resource plan amendment area, which includes North and South Stradbroke islands and the smaller islands between these and the mainland, including the inhabited smaller rocky islands—namely, Macleay, Russell, Karragarra, Lamb and Coochiemudlo islands. This assessment is largely a desktop study based on existing information, but incorporates some field observations, input from experts in specific areas and community representatives, and the professional experience and knowledge of the authors. This report reviews existing research and information on the southern Moreton Bay area with an emphasis on North Stradbroke Island, as it represents the largest and most regionally significant groundwater resource in southern Moreton Bay. The report provides an assessment of key waterrelated environmental features, their condition and their degree of dependence on groundwater. This report also assesses the condition and status of ecosystems within this region. In addition, the report identifies information gaps, uncertainties and potential impacts; reviews groundwater models that have been developed for North Stradbroke Island; and makes recommendations on monitoring and research needs.

Contemporary actor training in Australia

This professional doctorate included a major research project investigating the efficacy of acting methodologies taught at four leading Australian actor-training institutions - National Institute of Dramatic Art, Queensland University of Technology, Victorian College of the Arts, and Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts. This study represents the first review of its kind, in which the 'castability' of acting graduates from each of these schools was scrutinized by industry leaders. The study not only reveals the methodologies and philosophies of each school but determines an ideal set of practices for future consideration. The doctorate also included two practice-led projects examining the candidate's transition from actor and teacher of actors to theatre director. The candidate's qualitative study was also underpinned by reflective practice on her extensive professional experience as actor, teacher and director.

Acquiring search expertise : learning experiences and threshold concepts

Expert searchers engage with information as information brokers, researchers, reference librarians, information architects, faculty who teach advanced search, and in a variety of other information-intensive professions. Their experiences are characterized by a profound understanding of information concepts and skills and they have an agile ability to apply this knowledge to interacting with and having an impact on the information environment. This study explored the learning experiences of searchers to understand the acquisition of search expertise. The research question was: What can be learned about becoming an expert searcher from the learning experiences of proficient novice searchers and highly experienced searchers? The key objectives were: (1) to explore the existence of threshold concepts in search expertise; (2) to improve our understanding of how search expertise is acquired and how novice searchers, intent on becoming experts, can learn to search in more expertlike ways. The participant sample drew from two population groups: (1) highly experienced searchers with a minimum of 20 years of relevant professional experience, including LIS faculty who teach advanced search, information brokers, and search engine developers (11 subjects); and (2) MLIS students who had completed coursework in information retrieval and online searching and demonstrated exceptional ability (9 subjects). Using these two groups allowed a nuanced understanding of the experience of learning to search in expertlike ways, with data from those who search at a very high level as well as those who may be actively developing expertise. The study used semi-structured interviews, search tasks with think-aloud narratives, and talk-after protocols. Searches were screen-captured with simultaneous audio-recording of the think-aloud narrative. Data were coded and analyzed using NVivo9 and manually. Grounded theory allowed categories and themes to emerge from the data. Categories represented conceptual knowledge and attributes of expert searchers. In accord with grounded theory method, once theoretical saturation was achieved, during the final stage of analysis the data were viewed through lenses of existing theoretical frameworks. For this study, threshold concept theory (Meyer & Land, 2003) was used to explore which concepts might be threshold concepts. Threshold concepts have been used to explore transformative learning portals in subjects ranging from economics to mathematics. A threshold concept has five defining characteristics: transformative (causing a shift in perception), irreversible (unlikely to be forgotten), integrative (unifying separate concepts), troublesome (initially counter-intuitive), and may be bounded. Themes that emerged provided evidence of four concepts which had the characteristics of threshold concepts. These were: information environment: the total information environment is perceived and understood; information structures: content, index structures, and retrieval algorithms are understood; information vocabularies: fluency in search behaviors related to language, including natural language, controlled vocabulary, and finesse using proximity, truncation, and other language-based tools. The fourth threshold concept was concept fusion, the integration of the other three threshold concepts and further defined by three properties: visioning (anticipating next moves), being light on one's 'search feet' (dancing property), and profound ontological shift (identity as searcher). In addition to the threshold concepts, findings were reported that were not concept-based, including praxes and traits of expert searchers. A model of search expertise is proposed with the four threshold concepts at its core that also integrates the traits and praxes elicited from the study, attributes which are likewise long recognized in LIS research as present in professional searchers. The research provides a deeper understanding of the transformative learning experiences involved in the acquisition of search expertise. It adds to our understanding of search expertise in the context of today's information environment and has implications for teaching advanced search, for research more broadly within library and information science, and for methodologies used to explore threshold concepts.

Through the eyes of the mentor : framing expectations within preservice teacher and mentor relationships

Mentoring relationships during pre-service education are a significant relationship through which emerging teachers negotiate their teacher identity (Iancu-Haddad & Oplatka, 2009; Hudson, 2010). It is therefore important to understand how mentor teachers frame their expectations. This paper explores mentoring relationships established within a Queensland partnership program funded through the Federal Government’s Improving Teacher Quality National Partnership Agreement (DEEWR, 2011). Within the broader policy context, these mentoring relationships were seen as an important space for pre-service teachers to experience cultural induction into Education Queensland schooling, and be advocates for quality teaching (Willis, Bahr, Bannah, & Welch, 2012). Interview and survey data from 14 teacher mentors were analysed using a dialectic constant comparison approach (Dick 2007). Three significant themes were identified. Mentor teachers’ understanding of their roles positioned pre-service teachers as either novices or alternatively as colleagues, and these had implications for the opportunities for learning that were then made available to the pre-service teachers. The mentor teacher’s beliefs about teaching as a practical craft, and how the mentor teachers judged a pre-service teacher’s “enthusiasm” were also analysed. Understanding the factors that guide teacher mentor approaches may inform future designs of mentoring and preservice teacher preparation programs.

Being an Early Childhood Educator: Bringing Theory and Practice Together

A practical guide for early childhood teachers on how to make the most of their practicum experience and successfully transition from student teacher to professional.

Professional ethics : the IT experience

IT professionals work in an environment which is under continual innovation, exerts a global influence and yet is relatively young. In such a context, how can professionals be effectively supported in their ethical practice? IT professional ethics has predominantly focussed on external standards or internal reasoning. However, attention also has to be paid to professionals’ experience of ethics, which influences how they interpret standards and construct reasoning. A comprehensive experience of ethics will embrace the professional’s inner circle, their employer, their client and humanity. In order to promote such a comprehensive view, we need to re-conceptualise a) the IT discipline, focussing on information users; b) professional ethics, adopting other-centred attitudes; and c) professional development, pursuing a change in lived experience. This book is written for those interested in professional ethics (practitioners, educators, professional bodies and employers), especially in the computing field.