Sexuality education matters : preparing pre-service teachers to teach sexuality education

Given the challenges to successful teacher-led, whole-school sexuality education there is an overall awareness that teacher education is crucial to the success of any sexuality education program undertaken within the school context. There is evidence that such teacher education, when provided, can address two of the most commonly identified barriers to successful teacher-led implementation of these programs; familiarity with the subject and curriculum content and increased levels of personal comfort and confidence regarding the topic of students’ sexual health. Sexuality Education Matters is designed to support pre-service teacher education programs to prepare students to teach sexuality education in primary and secondary schools. It builds on the research and teaching experience of Debbie Ollis and Lyn Harrison at Deakin University. It assumes that sexuality education in Australian schools is part of a comprehensive health and physical education curriculum. Even so, many of the readings and teaching and learning experiences could be adapted or used in other contexts that focus on school-based sexuality education. Sexuality Education Matters aims to equip teachers with the knowledge, skills and confidence to teach sexuality education. In light of the lack of resources for primary school based programs there is a deliberate focus on preparing both primary and secondary school pre-service teachers to teach sexuality education.
The resource is designed to:
– provide a theoretical understanding of the area
– explore the current debates
– increase knowledge
– give pre-service teachers access to a range of pedagogical approaches relevant to sexuality education
– increase students’ confidence and comfort level
– explore personal values, attitudes and ethical considerations.

Global education policy directives : impact on teachers from the north and south

Education policies from international organisations such as the World Bank and OECD are restructuring education to promote a utilitarian vision of education. By examining the experiences and opinions of teachers from countries representing north-south global regions, it is possible to identify the social and political implications of education reform as it impacts on teachers as not only practitioners, but also as social and political agents. As global communities are more inexorably linked through global, macro policies, an outcome of this trend is a growing political and social divide between the global north and south. The paper aims to identify and discuss the significant concerns of teachers from the global north and south in relation to education reform.

Workplace education and training : are TAFE teachers prepared for their evolving roles?

The implications of the research are that many TAFE teachers are ill-equipped to perform the roles, that, in the future, may well be expected of them. The reasons for teachers not being competent in a number of areas appear to include a lack of investment in human capital, a lack of adequate teacher training and a lack of relevant staff development contributing to many having neither the knowledge nor the skills to fulfil their evolving roles.

PROSPER: A Positive Education Approach to Safe Schools and Student Wellbeing

presentation overviews PROSPER, an approach to implementing Positive Education that focuses on evidence-informed strategies designed to develop student wellbeing, student engagement and success in learning. This approach also includes strategies for positive relationships and the development of student self-respect, a positive and resilient mindset and strengths-based self-knowledge.

Geo-identity, urban school choice and education campaigns for public schools

Educational campaigning has received little attention in the literature. This study investigates long-term and organised urban campaigns that are collectively lobbying the Victorian State Government in Australia, for a new public high school to be constructed in their suburb. A public high school is also known as a state school, government school, or an ordinary comprehensive school. It receives the majority of its funding from the State and Federal Australian Government, and is generally regarded as ‘free’ education, in comparison to a private school. Whilst the campaigners frame their requests as for a ‘public school’, their primary appeal is for a local school in their community. This study questions how collective campaigning for a locale-specific public school is influenced by geography, class and identity. In order to explore these campaigns, I draw on formative studies of middle-class school choice from an Australian and United Kingdom perspective (Campbell, Proctor, & Sherington, 2009; Reay, Crozier, & James, 2011). To think about the role of geography and space in these processes of choice, I look to apply Harvey’s (1973) theory of absolute, relational and relative space. I use Bourdieu (1999b) as a sociological lens that is attentive to “site effects” and it is through this lens that I think about class as a “collection of properties” (Bourdieu, 1984, p. 106), actualised via mechanisms of identity and representation (Hall, 1996; Rose, 1996a, 1996b). This study redresses three distinct gaps in the literature: first, I focus attention on a contemporary middle-class choice strategy—that is, collective campaigning for a public school. Research within this field is significantly under-developed, despite this choice strategy being on the rise. Second, previous research argues that certain middle-class choosers regard the local public school as “inferior” in some way (Reay, et al., 2011, p. 111), merely acting as a “safety net” (Campbell, et al., 2009, p. 5) and connected to the working-class chooser (Reay & Ball, 1997). The campaigners are characteristic of the middle-class school chooser, but they are purposefully and strategically seeking out the local public school. Therefore, this study looks to build on work by Reay, et al. (2011) in thinking about “against-the-grain school choice”, specifically within the Australian context. Third, this study uses visual and graphic methods in order to examine the influence of geography in the education market (Taylor, 2001). I see the visualisation of space and schooling that I offer in this dissertation as a key theoretical contribution of this study. I draw on a number of data sets, both qualitative and quantitative, to explore the research questions. I interviewed campaigners and attended campaign meetings as participant observer; I collected statistical data from fifteen different suburbs and schools, and conducted comparative analyses of each. These analyses are displayed by using visual graphs. This study uses maps created by a professional graphic designer and photographs by a professional photographer; I draw on publications by the campaigners themselves, such as surveys, reports and social media; but also, interviews with campaigners that are published in local or state newspapers. The multiple data sets enable an immersive and rich graphic ethnography. This study contributes by building on understandings of how particular sociological cohorts of choosers are engaging with, and choosing, the urban public school in Australia. It is relevant for policy making, in that it comes at a time of increasing privatisation and a move toward independent public schools. This study identifies cohorts of choosers that are employing individual and collective political strategies to obtain a specific school, and it identifies this cohort via explicit class-based characteristics and their school choice behaviours. I look to use fresh theoretical and methodological approaches that emphasise space and geography, theorising geo-identity and the pseudo-private school

Towards providing quality secondary education : training and retaining quality teachers in Malaysia

With the gradual attainment of universal primary education, governments are shifting their attention to secondary education. Responding to the increasing demand for secondary education presents serious challenges and major opportunities in the quest for Education For All (EFA), and countries are striving to find policy responses to address these emergingissues. It is clear that teachers play a fundamental role in addressing challenges faced by secondary education. Ensuring the presence of competent secondary teachers in urban and rural areas is a major concern in both quantitative and qualitative terms. Existing studies on teacherrelated issues and analyses of teacher policy in developing countries tend to focus on primary education, probably due to the special emphasis given to primary education in the EFA process. In order to fill the gaps and respond to the increasing demand for quality secondaryeducation, the Education Policy and Reform (EPR) unit of the UNESCO Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education (UNESCO Bangkok) coordinated a regional research study on secondary teacher policy and management in 2007 and 2008. This series includes a regional synthesis paper on comparative assessment of issues and policies affecting secondary teachers in East and South-East Asia, and five case studies: Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Malaysia, People’s Republic of China, Republic of Korea, and Thailand. Three major areas related to secondary teachers are discussed in the case studies: quantitative analysis of demand and supply of secondary teachers, quality of secondaryteachers, and compensation. Each study is presented as a summary of the original study, and gives an overview of the status and issues of the country’s secondary education system. Researchers and officials from several universities and education ministries collaborated in thepreparation of the study. UNESCO Bangkok would like to sincerely thank all those individuals and institutions who provided their expertise and professional experience to this research. The findings presented in the series are intended to help governments gain insight into policyfor secondary teachers across a diverse range of countries, and draw lessons for possible policy responses to challenges and problems in the expansion of secondary education.

Selecting, training and assessing new general practice community teachers in UK medical schools

Background: Standards for undergraduate medical education in the UK, published in Tomorrow’s Doctors, include the criterion ‘everyone involved in educating medical students will be appropriately selected, trained, supported and appraised’. Aims: To establish how new general practice (GP) community teachers of medical students are selected, initially trained and assessed by UK medical schools and establish the extent to which Tomorrow’s Doctors standards are being met. Method: A mixed-methods study with questionnaire data collected from 24 lead GPs at UK medical schools, 23 new GP teachers from two medical schools plus a semi-structured telephone interview with two GP leads. Quantitative data were analysed descriptively and qualitative data were analysed informed by framework analysis. Results: GP teachers’ selection is non-standardised. One hundred per cent of GP leads provide initial training courses for new GP teachers; 50% are mandatory. The content and length of courses varies. All GP leads use student feedback to assess teaching, but other required methods (peer review and patient feedback) are not universally used. Conclusions: To meet General Medical Council standards, medical schools need to include equality and diversity in initial training and use more than one method to assess new GP teachers. Wider debate about the selection, training and assessment of new GP teachers is needed to agree minimum standards.

Graduate teacher preparation for rural schools in Victoria and Queensland

Graduate teachers' preparedness for working in rural settings are mediated by the development of pedagogical expertise, professional engagement with parents and the community, and broader notions of preparation to teach in rural contexts. The Studying the Effectiveness of Teacher Education (SETE) project is a four-year longitudinal study tracking teacher education graduates in Queensland and Victoria to investigate the effectiveness of their programs in equipping them to meet the learning needs of students in a diverse range of school settings. A sub-set of the SETE data was examined to explore graduate teacher preparation for rural schools, specifically the authors analysed 1,539 point-in-time survey responses (April 2013) and findings from a case study exploring two teachers' transitions from teacher education into teaching positions at a rural primary school in Victoria. The case study is read iteratively with survey analysis to grapple with the issues associated with graduate teacher preparation for rural schools.

Making it real : pre-service music teacher education students ideas about artists-in-schools

Globally teacher educators try to prepare culturally inclusive students in an ever-crowded curriculum It is difficult to give students in-depth experiences of other musics and their cultural contexts. In schools, teachers are also faced with the. same challenges. This shortfall may be met by artists-in-schools programs. This paper focuses on the perceptions of pre-service music educators concerning artists-in- schools programs. The study builds on ongoing research (2003-2008), Intercultural attitudes of preservice music education students, between Deakin and Monash universities. Australia only the 2008 interviews (analysed using interpretative Phenomenological Analysis) are discussed. The paper reports only on one aspect that underpins artists-in-schools programs — the importance of authentic practice. Although international studies have, provided insights into artists-in—schools programs little attention has been paid to pre-service specialist music teacher understandings of such programs. It is imperative to know the attitudes that our teachers carry with theta into their future professional engagement The findings of this study provide insight into the need br artists-in-schools programs and the ways in which teachers can link theory to practice, fill in omissions in their own knowledge, skills and understandings. and also heighten student understandings of multicultural musics.