Peers and pragmatics : listening to ESL students in a mainstream Australian school

This paper discusses a listening initiative aimed at assisting newly arrived ESL adolescents to meet the sociolinguistic challenges they faced in an Australian school. Proponents of a mainstream approach to ESL learning maintain that immersing students into age appropriate classrooms with native speakers provides superior opportunities for ESL students to those of a language school. Listening to native speaking peers is viewed as a way to accelerate sociolinguistic learning. Yet the school where this study took place acknowledged that many of the ESL students were quickly marginalized rather than supported within the school environment, and their academic success was erratic. A listening based initiative was introduced to raise awareness of pragmatics, the knowledge of meaning in context. Observed instances of communication analysed in this paper typify those likely to isolate ESL adolescents in their early years of mainstream secondary school. Furthermore, the positive impact of the outlined peer listening intervention on social inclusion as a precursor of significant language development is demonstrated. This case study has curriculum and welfare implications relevant to schools offering ESL students mainstream education.

Homophobic bullying in secondary schools : a prejudice worth fighting about

This thesis reports on the outcomes of the first mixed-methods controlled trial of a manualised anti-homophobia program with 72 year nine students.  The program tended to produce small improvements although most of the changes occured in the control group which experienced an overall worsening of homophobia.  Qualitative data suggests that the program has led to an increase in awareness of homophobia and highlights the need for specialised teacher training.

Characterising secondary school teacher imperatives as subject (signature) pedagogies : a pedagogy of support in maths and a pedagogy of engagement in science

The ideas of Lee Shulman have played a major role in reconceptualising pedagogical description. In 2005, Shulman described a construct called “signature pedagogies” in order to describe recognisable and distinctive pedagogies used to prepare future practitioners for their profession. As a broader application of Shulman’s ideas, this paper asks, what is the efficacy of describing pedagogies that have become entrenched in secondary school subjects as signature pedagogies? Approached from a cultural perspective these questions are examined by comparing the subject cultures of junior school maths and science as experienced by, and represented in the classrooms of, a small number of teachers from two secondary schools in Victoria, Australia. In this research, subject culture is underpinned by shared basic assumptions that govern the dominance of certain “subject paradigms” (what should be taught) and “subject pedagogies” (how this should be taught) (Ball & Lacey, 1980). In this secondary school setting, the term signature pedagogies can be equated to the term subject pedagogies on the basis that both aim to characterise practice across the subject, or discipline, based on what was perceived as central to the task of teaching and learning. The paper draws on classroom observation and teacher interview data to show how six teachers positioned two aspects of their teaching in relation to what they believed was central in shaping their maths and science teaching: the effect of the arrangement of curriculum content on teachers’ conceptualisations of the teaching task; and a pedagogical imperative to engage students through activity-based learning experiences. The cultural expectations surrounding these two aspects of teaching appear to have a strong influence on practice, and in some senses teachers’ pedagogical responses were clear. These common responses are what I am calling “subject pedagogies” (see Ball & Lacey, 1980) because there was general agreement about what was central to the teaching task. Two subject pedagogies were seen to represent strong discourses occurring in both subjects: a “Pedagogy of Support” in maths, and “Pedagogy of Engagement” in science. Their established and shared character resembled Shulman’s posited “signature pedagogies” (Shulman, 2005). The data shows that by evaluating cultural practices that teachers have in common, and assumptions underpinning these, there is potential for highlighting imbalances, strengths and weaknesses, and connections and disconnections, associated with prevailing subject pedagogies.

Reading the local and global: teaching literature in secondary schools in Australia

Recently Australia has witnessed a revival of concern about the place of Australian literature within the school curriculum. This has occurred within  a policy environment where there is increasing emphasis on Australia’s place  in a world economy, and on the need to encourage young people to think of  themselves in a global context. These dimensions are reflected in the  recently published Australian Curriculum: English, which requires students to read texts of ‘enduring artistic and cultural value’ that are drawn from  'world and Australian literature’. No indication, however, is given as to how the reading and literary interpretation that students do might meaningfully be framed by such categories. This essay asks: what saliences do the categories of the ‘local’, the ‘national’ and the ‘global’ have when  young people engage with literary texts? How does this impact on teachers’  and students’ interpretative approaches to literature? What place does a  ‘literary’ education, whether conceived in ‘local’, 'national’ or ‘global’  terms, have in the twenty-first century?

Assessing the reading and writing of EAL/D students: issues and implications

This paper reports on the preliminary findings of a study on literacy strategies for learners in established English as an Additional Language (EAL) classes in Years 7-10 in three Victorian secondary schools. The paper draws on baseline reading and writing assessment results (N=45). 

Secondary English in the Australian curriculum: Tasmanian teachers’ perceptions of implementation – a conceptual overview

Australian school curricula are currently being reformed with the nation-wide introduction of the Australian Curriculum, designed to bring national subject content and assessment standard conformity through the detailing of the “core knowledge, understanding, skills and general capabilities [that are deemed] important for all Australian students” (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA], 2008). The reform and implementation of any curriculum requires well- structured planning, and at the school level, curriculum implementation requires the input of teachers – the frontline stakeholders. Research suggests that the implementation of a new curriculum requires concentrated support to ensure that teachers are able to work and progress through professional learning effectively (Mulford, 2008; Australian Curriculum Coalition, 2010). This chapter is presented in two parts: a discussion about the incoming Australian Curriculum: English, and an outline of a proposed qualitative case study that will examine English teachers’ perceptions of the implementation of the Australian Curriculum: English in Tasmania.

The “inclusion” of students with vision impairments: generational perspectives in Australia

In this paper I draw upon findings of a recent qualitative project conducted in Queensland, Australia in which all actors – the researcher and 5 participants aged 13-17 years — were linked together by our shared experiences of being students with impaired vision (VI) and who were educated in inclusive secondary schools in Australia during the last two decades. The narrative demonstrates the alienating legacy of two everyday routines of schooling, the placement and the daily commute. In the paper I show how referential knowledge acquisition of a trans-identity research alliance can reveal barriers to inclusion that might be ordinarily overlooked. Theoretically I map the research relationship formed between myself and participants using both Foucault’s analysis of how human beings are made subjects (1982) and Bourdieu’s understanding of reflexive interviewing in qualitative research (1998). The empirical contribution of this paper is to demonstrate how special education discourses render subjects more “special” than the sum of their actual impairments, and methodologically to highlight the role of qualitative inquiry in the field of inclusive schooling.

Action research into social media within secondary school classes

Gail used social and participatory media in the secondary school classroom, not just to engage students but also to enhance their learning. Her action research successfully used concepts of formal and informal learning as well as peer review and peer/self-assessment. For the teacher, unlearning many previous practices became essential.

Refractive errors in students from Middle Eastern backgrounds living and undertaking schooling in Australia

Background:  Environmental factors associated with schooling systems in various countries have been implicated in the rising prevalence of myopia, making the comparison of prevalence of refractive errors in migrant populations of interest. This study aims to determine the prevalence of refractive errors in children of Middle Eastern descent, raised and living in urban Australia but actively maintaining strong ties to their ethnic culture, and to compare them with those in the Middle East where myopia prevalence is generally low.Methods:  A total of 354 out of a possible 384 late primary/early secondary schoolchildren attending a private school attracting children of Middle Eastern background in Melbourne were assessed for refractive error and visual acuity. A Shin Nippon open-field NVision-K5001 autorefractor was used to carry out non-cycloplegic autorefraction while viewing a distant target. For statistical analyses students were divided into three age groups: 10–11 years (n = 93); 12–13 years (n = 158); and 14–15 years (n = 102).Results:  All children were bilingual and classified as of Middle Eastern (96.3 per cent) or Egyptian (3.7 per cent) origin. Ages ranged from 10 to 15 years, with a mean of 13.17 ± 0.8 (SEM) years. Mean spherical equivalent refraction (SER) for the right eye was +0.09 ± 0.07 D (SEM) with a range from -7.77 D to +5.85 D. The prevalence of myopia, defined as a spherical equivalent refraction 0.50 D or more of myopia, was 14.7 per cent. The prevalence of hyperopia, defined as a spherical equivalent refraction of +0.75 D or greater, was 16.4 per cent, while hyperopia of +1.50 D or greater was 5.4 per cent. A significant difference in SER was seen as a function of age; however, no significant gender difference was seen.Conclusions:  This is the first study to report the prevalence of refractive errors for second-generation Australian schoolchildren coming from a predominantly Lebanese Middle Eastern Arabic background, who endeavour to maintain their ethnic ties. The relatively low prevalence of myopia is similar to that found for other metropolitan Australian school children but higher than that reported in the Middle East. These results suggest that lifestyle and educational practices may be a significant influence in the progression of myopic refractive errors.

Fostering intercultural understanding through secondary school experiences of cultural immersion

In parallel with many nations’ education policies, national education policies in Australia seek to foster students’ intercultural understanding. Due to Australia’s location in the Asia-Pacific region, the Australian government has focused on students becoming “Asia literate” to support Australia’s economic and cultural engagement with Asian countries. Drawing on Allport’s optimal contact principles and key factors supporting intercultural understanding, this study examines two “sister school” cultural immersion trips in Indonesia and East Timor to explore ways in which their different approaches supported positive intergroup contact and helped foster intercultural understanding among students. Focus groups and interviews with school project teams and analysis of both researcher and teacher project field notes and documents suggested that these schools’ programmes could be mapped onto Allport’s contact principles in different ways. The paper concludes with promising approaches that can help to inform sister school programmes.

Australian pre-service secondary teacher education courses : challenges and Dilemmas

Voice, post-structural representation and the subjectivity of ‘included’ students

Aligned with the broader movement from structuralism to the post-structuralisms [Lather, P. 2013. “Methodology-21: What Do We Do in the Afterward?” International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education 26 (6): 634–645; St. Pierre, E. A. 2009. “Afterword: Decentering Voice in Qualitative Inquiry.” In Voice in Qualitative Inquiry: Challenging Conventional, Interpretive, and Critical Conceptions in Qualitative Research, edited by A. Y. Jackson and L. A. Mazzei, 221–236. London: Routledge; St. Pierre, E. A. 2013. “The Posts Continue: Becoming.” International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education 26 (6): 646–657], research in disability studies for the past two decades has found ‘the potholes’ [Miller, L., J. B. Whalley, and I. Stronach. 2012. “From Structuralism to Poststructuralism.” In Research Methods in the Social Sciences, edited by B. Somekh and C. Lewin. London: SAGE] of disability rights scholarship. In this paper, I offer a critical research framework in the field of disability studies in education that is theoretical, political and personal. Concentrating on the positioning of disability, I draw on the methodological tools of post-structural representation, subjectivity and constructivist grounded theory to study how discursive practices within (and around) secondary schools shape ‘included’ disabled subjects. In the paper I develop this framework and then demonstrate its application in ongoing research that critically counters the conventions that marginalize particular students in schools.

Changes, challenges, and successes facing secondary pre-service teacher education in Australia

In December 2008, the Australian Government was presented with a report from a Review of Australian HigherEducation known as the ‘Bradley Review’. The report clearly articulates many challenges that lie ahead; it questions thestructure, organisation and financial position of Australia to effectively compete in the global economy. This paperprovides a succinct discussion of some of the challenges and dilemmas encountered at a metropolitan Australianuniversity in Melbourne within the Faculty of Arts and Education in the School of Education. The courses will bereaccredited in 2016 and has to comply with the new Australian Qualification Framework (AQF), the AustralianTeaching Standards Framework (AITSL) and the Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT). By employing narrative inquiry,reflective practice and document analysis as methodology, I discuss the Bachelor of Teaching (Secondary)/Bachelor ofArts course (degree), the largest secondary pre-service teacher education course at a university in Melbourne presentingsome strategies and inviting international dialogue in relation to some of the challenges faced regarding increasednumbers of students and lower entrance scores. Limitations of the current course are acknowledged and generalizationscannot be made to other education courses at universities across Australia. However, some new initiatives in the facultyare offered.