A “partnership in teaching excellence”: ways in which one school-university partnership has fostered teacher development

This paper reports on some of the factors that contribute to an effective partnership between an urban Australian university and a State Department of Education. The partnership, currently in its third year of implementation, entails as a key purpose the development of school Centres of Excellence which contribute to the preparation of pre-service teachers. The foundational aims of the partnership include addressing the gap between theory and practice, facilitating pre-service teacher recruitment and providing a guarantee of future employment for identified Faculty of Education students through the provision of pre-service teacher scholarships. Data for the study were collected via two program reviews, conducted at the end of the first and third years of the program. Findings point to ways in which the partnership has enhanced pre-service teacher engagement and learning and also indicate ways in which partners in both institutions might further strengthen the partnership.

Using online video-recorded interviews to connect the theory and practice of inclusive education in a course for student teachers

This article reports on a study into university preservice teachers’ perceptions of online video-recorded interviews as an alternative to the traditional lecture format in a course on inclusive education. With the aim of assisting preservice teachers to link theory and practice, the series of video-recorded interviews focused on key concepts around educating students with diverse needs and abilities. The interviews were conducted between the course coordinator and a number of professionals with relevant field experience in special education and inclusion, and were then made available to preservice teachers online. Survey data indicated that this type of delivery model was perceived as effective in promoting engagement and learning, and in facilitating an understanding of the connection between theory and practice. Implications for teacher education are discussed.

Assessing for work integrated learning experiences : a pre-service teacher perspective

A critical aspect of the debate about work integrated learning in the university context is the blurring of boundaries and responsibilities in terms of student learning. In an Australian pre-service teacher education program this blurring of boundaries is apparent in stakeholder tensions about the nature and role of assessment during the practicum. In the study reported in this paper students responded positively to the content of assessment tasks but maintained that their efforts to implement the associated planning in the workplace were stymied because of disparate understandings between university and school staff about the purpose of the task.

The graduate teacher workforce : shaping teacher quality in Australia

Studying the Effectiveness of Teacher Education (SETE) is a four-year, mixed-method, longitudinal study investigating graduate teachers’ perceptions on the effectiveness of teacher education. The main target population were new teacher education graduates (those who graduated in 2010/2011) registered as teachers in Victoria and Queensland. The secondary target population were the school principals in those schools where the graduate teacher was employed. Identification of the main target population is drawn from Teacher Registration Authority databases. The quantitative component of the SETE project involves tracking teacher education graduates through a series of four surveys, collecting data on the influence of initial teacher education on graduate teachers’ perceptions of their preparation and effectiveness across key areas and in diverse school settings.

How ready are you? A preliminary investigation into the workplace readiness of final-year education students at a regional university

One criticism of teacher-training programs is that they do not sufficiently prepare graduating teachers for the transition between higher education and the demands and practicalities of classroom teaching. This lack of workplace readiness or 'teacher ready' status of graduates has been attributed to insufficient pre-service practical experience and the failure of training programs to adequately coach pre-service teachers in the delivery of quality pedagogy (Nelson, 2005). On the other hand, the Australian Council of Deans of Education (2005, p. 3) argues that teacher-training programs should provide foundational knowledge and skills with the onus on the profession to build on these foundations and elevate the teacher 'to the point of full and complete practitioner-readiness'. Central Queensland University has tried to respond to these concerns through the introduction of the Bachelor of Learning Management. This paper reports on a preliminary investigation into the perceived strengths and weaknesses of the program in preparing graduates and enabling workplace readiness. Towards the end of 2005 a cohort of final year students was asked to identify their levels of confidence in the transition from university to work; and how the cohort could have been better prepared. It is intended that the issues identified will be translated into recommendations for future program improvements.

Using feedback from stakeholders to strengthen the student teacher experience during field experience

This paper reports a study into key stakeholders’ perceptions of a teacher education program in the context of field experience. Located in an urban Australian university, the study draws on data collected from students, university supervisors and teachers to provide insight into three inter-related issues. First, it projects an understanding of how different stakeholders perceive and enact their roles and responsibilities during field experience. Second, it contributes an understanding about factors that enhance and impede students’ capacity to integrate theory and practice and, third, it shows the fundamental role that effective university-school partnerships play in enabling student engagement in teacher education. The paper concludes by proposing ways in which the study’s findings can be used to improve teacher education.

A Meadian analysis of pre-service and beginning teacher practice

This paper uses Mead’s theory of emergence to examine the theory-practice gap in pre-service teacher education. The paper argues that the theory-practice gap in pre-service teacher education under present institutional arrangements is axiomatic in the process of emergence from pre-service to graduate teachers. The argument draws on interview and focus group data collected via a study of first-year graduate teachers of an Australian pre-service teacher education programme. An interpretation of the data using Mead’s theory of emergence demonstrates that role taking and self-regulated behaviour inhibit the trainee teacher from exercising the power of agency to implement theory learned at university into practice in the classroom. Thus, Mead’s theory of emergence explains the obduracy of the gap between theory and practice in teacher education.

Enriching interdisciplinary connections : student engagement in theory and practice in higher education programs in Australia and the UK

This paper provides insight into how postgraduate students in two pre-service disciplines, namely medicine and education, identify and make meaning of their circumstances in the globalised era of tertiary education.
Drawing on elements of Giddens’ theory of structuration, we discuss some of the tensions students have reported encountering in an era which is characterised by greater internationalisation of the student body and more globalised curricula.

International ‘benchmarking’ studies and the identification of ‘education best practice’: a focus on classroom teachers and their practices

 Abstract:The disproportionate focus on classroom teachers and their instruction—teacher effectiveness—in order to confront and address under-achievement and disadvantage appears as a contemporary education policy theme in Australia. Phrases such as ‘high performing schooling systems’, ‘the best teachers’, ‘high performing countries’, ‘quality teaching’, ‘under-performing schools’, ‘the right change’, ‘operationally feasible’, ‘targeting of reforms’, ‘degrees of under-performance’, ‘educational drivers’, ‘teacher quality and improved teaching’ and ‘external standards and governance’ are constantly mentioned and given continual attention and prominence by policy-makers. The paper questions and critiques a policy-making direction that uses teacher effectiveness research to force and steer reform in education. The distinctive and narrow concern with teacher effectiveness works to the specific exclusion of breadth and scope concerning debate about broader education related issues and questions, for example, matters of student achievement, exclusion and disadvantage. This article uses a qualitative research approach informed by critical theory to examine three influential private sector reports on education and schooling: The McKinsey Report ( 2007 )—How the world’s best-performing school systems come out on top, The Nous Group ( 2011 )—Schooling Challenges and Opportunities and The Grattan Institute ( 2012 )—Catching up: Learning from the best school systems in East Asia. The article subjects the reports to close critical scrutiny and examination and finds that classroom teachers are positioned so that their specific and explicit instruction becomes the differentiating ‘variable’ in matters of student achievement and success.

New directions in education? A critique of contemporary policy reforms

This paper draws on facets of Foucault's theoretical resources to critique current education policy reform from within the Australian State of Victoria, namely the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development's (DEECD) discussion paper New directions for school leadership and the teaching profession. Implicit in the reform effort is decentralization, including penalties for “underperforming” classroom teachers and “ineffective” teacher education courses. Principals will hold a pre-eminent rank in the reforms proposed as they are charged with their oversight and implementation, including intervening in the education and preparation of pre-service teachers.

Developing teacher competencies through videos for facilitation of mathematical modelling in Singapore primary schools

Mathematical modelling tasks which are situated in real-world contexts encourage students to draw connections between school-based mathematics and the real-world, enhancing their engagement in learning. Such tasks often require varied interpretations of the real-world problem context resulting in multiple pathways of solutions. Although mathematical modelling has been introduced in the Singapore mathematics curriculum since 2007, its incorporation in schools has been limited. One reason for this could be that teachers are challenged by how best to facilitate for rich student mathematisation processes during such tasks. This chapter reports how a multi-tiered teaching experiment using design research methodology was conducted to build teachers’ capacity in designing, facilitating, and evaluating student mathematisation during mathematical modelling tasks with an intact class of Primary 5 students (aged 10-11). The use of videos was critical because grounded images helped capture the dynamics and complexity of authentic classroom interactions. This chapter highlights how video recordings of teacher-student interactions during a modelling task were harnessed during design methodology cycles, particularly during the Retrospective Analysis phase, to activate critical moments of learning for the teacher towards developing her competencies in facilitating students’ mathematisation processes.

We did the how to teach it: music teaching and learning in higher education in Australia

The Australian Government recognizes that the Arts are acritical part of formal school education and it should not be viewedas subordinate or extra. This paper forms part of a wider researchproject titled “Pre-service teacher attitudes and understandings ofMusic Education” that started in 2013. The focus of this paperinvestigates music teaching and learning in a core unit within theBachelor of Education (Primary) course at Deakin University(Australia). Using questionnaire and interview data gathered in 2014,I employ Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis to analyse andcodify the data. Three themes are discussed in relation to: Why it isimportant to include music in the primary school? What wasenjoyable and what aspects were challenging in the musicworkshops? What can students integrate as generalist teachers intotheir future classrooms? Though the findings focus on “we did thehow to teach it”, it also highlights some challenges and opportunitiesfor students and staff. Tertiary educators are challenged to raise thecapacity and status of music when preparing students to translate themusic curriculum into their future classrooms.

Improving online communication for students in higher education contexts

The study reported here sought to identify Higher Education students’ preferred modes of online communication whilst studying a wholly online research subject at University. The teacher education student participants from an Australian university were required to collaboratively conduct inquiry research projects in groups whilst relying upon computer-mediated communication. How do students communicate as a collaborative research group whilst only meeting online? The data were collected via the use of online pre-test and post-test surveys conducted ‘prior to’ and ‘post’ involvement in the unit of study and descriptive statistical analysis was applied. The findings revealed that important influences affecting students’ choice of communication mode included their own views on the capacity of online communication, their prior experience and the availability and accessibility of the modes. Furthermore, it was found that when given a choice, students preferred the use of asynchronous forms of digital communication to synchronous forms. Recommendations for improving online teaching, learning and research contexts in Universities are provided and the importance of considering blended mode delivery for wholly online units is argued.

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.

Researching early career teachers and gender differences: ramifications for rural education

Recent research into the lives of early career teachers’ in Victoria and Queensland suggest that gender remains a significant factor in shaping the careers of those teaching in rural and regional schools. The cohort of nearly 5,000 teachers involved in the ARC-funded research project, ‘Studying the Effectiveness of Teacher Education’ (SETE) has a high proportion of females (78%). This composition is consistent with other large-scale datasets and across four rounds of SETE surveys between 2010-2014, and reflected in Case Studies of a selection of Victorian rural and regional schools. Continued perceptions of teaching as an ‘appropriate’ career for women remains - that is, it is reasonably well paid, with holidays and hours that allow a combination of responsibilities in work and family contexts (Acker, 1994). Yet, the analysis of SETE career progression data shows that employment and career chances of female and male graduate teachers diverge. Male graduates were more likely to be employed in full time positions and saw themselves in a leadership role in three years’ time, while female graduates were more likely to be employed in part-time positions and saw themselves teaching or in other education related occupations in the future. Interestingly, there was also significant difference in the perceptions of preparedness and effectiveness scores for males and females, with female teachers consistently reporting higher scores for both scales. In this paper, we examine the research data with regards to gender differences in rural and regional primary schools and ask the question: thirty years after the first Affirmative Action Plan for Women in the Victorian Teaching Service (1986), why do these gender differences in teaching careers still hold true—and does it matter in rural education?