Conceptualising challenges for teachers and learning futures

The assumption that all education prepares students for their futures is misguided. Rather, students are prepared, through curriculum and institutional practices for politically constructed notions of the future, which are often based on another assumption that what has worked in the past will continue to work in the future. This is evident in the absence of articulated futures within curriculum and other policy documents. This research showcases a critical ethnography which was undertaken in a Victorian primary school. The specific project focussed on the ways in which Year 5/6 classroom teachers reconceptualised curriculum to incorporate futures thinking as a result of ongoing professional learning and support. Through the use of analytical bracketing and post-analytic ethnomethodology for analysis across the data, the presenter proposes a conceptual model which highlights the complexity of this work as well as a theoretical explanation of why futures remains the missing dimension in education.

Reimagining poetry : innovative literacies, national agendas and digital landscapes

Renewing engagement with literature and integrating technologies in order to address the needs of an increasingly diverse student cohort are some of the challenges confronting 21st century English teachers as they go about implementing the Australian Curriculum: English. This chapter reports on an action research cycle of classroom inquiry into the interpretation and creation of poetry, drawing on both multimodal and traditional poetic forms. Three middle school teachers, in partnership with three university-based researchers, sought to explore the possibilities of one-to-one computing for creating differentiated literacy curriculum based on personalised learning goals and harnessing the affordances of multimodal literacy pedagogies. The learning gains achieved through this collaboration exceeded the expectations of all concerned: teachers, students and researchers. Student achievement was shown by their enhanced knowledge and creativity when interpreting and composing poetry. Furthermore, students increased their capacities in other ways, through collaborating and problem-solving, as well as increased technological mastery, meta-cognition and self-assessment. Such transformations in student learning challenge standardised notions of accomplishment in English and the kinds of pedagogy necessary to support their learning. The teachers involved in this research engaged in rich forms of collaboration, engaging in professional learning that matched the learning of their students. For academics, the co-creation of professional praxis with middle years teachers and students reaffirmed their sense of the value of generating literacy pedagogies through reflective dialogue within local, situated knowledge communities

Strengthening work integrated learning (WIL) experiences for rural education students : exploring community based partnerships

This paper investigates three areas of priority for rural teacher education: work integrated learning (WIL); attraction and retention of teachers to rural areas; and the potential challenges and benefits of community based partnerships to address these areas of need. The data on which this paper is based focuses on a Victorian project around six case studies that explored the research and scholarship of teaching graduates to be work ready for the needs of rural and regional communities. The project also aimed to explore how preservice teacher education can develop and better support pre-service teachers (PSTs) through rural and regional community-based WIL experiences.
The project investigated what sort of support PSTs undertaking WIL experiences in rural and regional communities need in order to develop positive attitudes and understandings in relation to working in a rural/regional community. Consideration was also given to how support from the university, school,
supervising teacher and broader local community enhances or detracts from the PST’s experience of WIL in rural and regional areas. In order to explore these issues in this paper the authors will outline some recommendations with regards to ways in which teacher education programs may enhance the experiences of stakeholders involved in rural and regional WIL experiences, including PSTs, supervising teachers, university teacher educators and community members.
The project’s underlying conceptual framework of place, productivity and partnerships will be explained in terms of its overlapping dimensions of community, creativity and capital in order to reconceptualise preservice teacher education in local, rural and regional and global contexts as adaptive community-based work integrated learning within a knowledge economy.
The final discussion will make recommendations on how universities and other identified stakeholders can better facilitate WIL and enhance stakeholder engagement in rural and regional areas in order to equip PSTs
and classroom teachers to work creatively together in productive partnerships to meet the future demands of local rural and global contexts of change in a knowledge economy.

Student centred approaches : teachers' learning and practice

Student-centred approaches to teaching and learning in mathematics is one of the reforms currently being advocated and implemented to improve mathematics outcomes for students from low SES backgrounds. The models, meanings and practices of student-centred approaches explored in this paper reveal that a constructivist model of student-centred teaching and learning is being promoted and implemented with some success. The ways in which teachers and leaders are being supported through network and school-based professional learning are described.

Leadership to improve mathematics outcomes in low SES schools and school networks

Instructional and transformational leadership is reportedly required to improve the mathematics outcomes of students in low socio-economic status school communities. This study of 43 schools in two networks of schools in rural Victoria explored leadership practices and found evidence to support both these leadership approaches along with distributed leadership practice. School leaders established network and school structures and relationships at various levels of the network and school organisation to enable and support ongoing improvement in teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge and teaching practice and to build the leadership capacity of teachers within their schools. The leaders’ knowledge of effective mathematics teaching practice enabled them to mentor teachers in their school or team and to support the practices of professional learning teams within their school.

Developing a rural teacher education curriculum package

This paper documents the development of a new website (www. rrrtec. net. au) specifically designed to better equip teacher educators to prepare graduates to teach in rural and regional communities. The two year study (2009-2011) that informed the website's creation included three data sources: A literature review of research into rural teacher education, a survey of pre-service students who had completed a rural practicum and interviews with teacher educators about the current strategies they used to raise awareness and understanding of the needs of rural students, their families, and communities. An analysis of the data revealed that teacher educators need to focus more on developing graduates to be not only 'classroom ready ' but also 'school and community ready'. This analysis provided the framework for the creation of a set of curriculum modules and resources including journal articles, film clips, websites and books that teacher educators could readily and publicly access and use in their own classroom teaching.

Primary science specialist learning program – report of delivery

The Primary Science Specialist (PrimSS) Professional Learning Program consisted of a fifteen day program, of which Deakin delivered 5 days of pedagogy and content in science education, followed by 3 days of leading change in schools and developing other teachers' capacities. Delivered in several phases, it was possible to provide teachers with ideas and models for them to trial within their schools and to report back to the group, during the program.

Through the looking glass : teaching and learning in blended immersive multiuser virtual and real world environments

This paper reports on the participation of higher education students and educators in blended immersive multi user virtual (MUVE) environments and real life teaching and learning experiences. Selected next generation technologies engage students and educators within the virtual socially networked elearning landscape of Deakin Arts Education Centre , and support the interaction of communities of learners in multiple modes, ranging from text and images accessed within the Deakin Studies Online learning management system to the "through the looking glass" virtual world in which the user’s creative imagination transports them to the “other side“ of their computer screens.

These constructed environments enable multiple simultaneous participants to access graphically built 3D environments, interact with digital artifacts and various functional tools, and represent themselves through avatars, to communicate with other participants and participate in collaborative art learning.

Immersive interfaces for art education teaching and learning in mixed reality virtual and real world environments

Selected ubiquitous technologies encourage collaborative participation between higher education students and educators within a virtual socially networked e-learning landscape. Multiple modes of teaching and learning, ranging from real world experiences, to text and digital images accessed within the Deakin Studies Online learning management system and a constructed virtual world in which the user’s creative imagination transports them to the “other side” of their computer screens is discussed in this paper. These constructed environments support interaction between communities of learners and enable multiple simultaneous participants to access graphically built 3D environments, interact with digital artifacts and various functional tools and represent themselves through avatars, to communicate with other participants and engage in collaborative art learning. A narrative interpretative research approach was used to profile the 21st century higher education student learner, to investigate the lived experience and multiple art learning perspectives documented in student visual journal entries and art educator observations to ascertain if an e-technology rich augmented learning environment resulted in the establishment of more effective e-learning communities of practice.

Immersive interfaces for art education teaching and learning in virtual and real world learning environments

The business of sexuality education : changing practice : the need for professional development

This paper reports on data collected from practicing sexuality education teachers following their participation in professional learning intervention in sexuality education. It explores whether the provision of effective professional development and classroom resources enables teachers to effectively address the sensitive issues of sexual diversity, gender and power.

Factors influencing mathematics and science teachers' self-assessment as teaching 'out-of-field' in rural and regional schools

Teaching 'out-of-field' occurs when teachers teach a subject for which they have no disciplinary or methods qualification. The incidence of out-of-field mathematics, science and technology teaching are particularly high in rural and regional areas. Given that mathematics and science are key areas of policy concern, there is an urgent need to understand teachers‟ position in this increasingly common practice in order to provide appropriate system responses. This paper asks the question, how are mathematics and science teachers‟ professional identities influenced by having to teach out-of-field? Twenty teachers who had taught science or mathematics at some time in their career, two school leaders, and two support staff, took part in semi-structured interviews, which I then transcribed. This paper reports on a thematic analysis of a subset of the data that isolated factors influencing teachers‟ self-assessment of themselves as out-of-field or in-field. Excerpts from the interviews are used to introduce and contextualise these factors within rural and regional settings. These factors are used to generate a theoretical model, the Boundary Between Fields (BBF) Model, that enables analysis of the impact of these factors on identity construction during a boundary crossing event. The Model highlights the influence of support mechanisms, contextual factors and personal resources on the nature of teachers‟ negotiation of subject boundaries and its impact on professional identity. This innovative model provides a platform for re-conceptualising these experiences as opportunities for professional learning occurring within schools as communities of practice, where teachers are supported and enabled to expand their professional identity. These findings provide insight for policy-makers, school leaders and teacher educators, into the complexity of the issue for teachers, as well as the conditions required for such teaching to be considered learning opportunities.

Learning in social action : the informal and social learning dimensions of circumstantial and lifelong activists

This paper explores the informal and social learning dimensions of activists as they learn skills and knowledge through participating in social action. In doing this I draw on Lave and Wenger's epistemology of situated learning and Bourdieu's theory of "habitus". I argue activists learn an array of community development skills in the social environment of activism. I claim activists' learning is cognitive, embodied and situated in practice. This paper is based on empirical research in Australia, where in-depth interviews were conducted with activists to uncover their important pedagogy. It explores the learning dimensions of two groups of activists. "Lifelong activists" who have generally been involved in student politics and have participated in activism over many years, and "circumstantial activists" who become involved in protest due to a series of life circumstances. This paper claims that while both groups' learning is social and informal, lifelong activists tend to develop their skills incrementally by being involved in the fertile site of student politics. On the other hand, circumstantial activists, not having had the benefit of early immersion in a community of practice, are rapid learners. They are frequently taken out of their comfort zone as activists and need to acquire new knowledge and skills urgently in order to practise effectively. Some circumstantial activists remain on the periphery of activism and never fully immerse themselves in the practices of activism. I argue there is much to be gained from understanding learning in social action, an epistemology of adult learning which deserves greater prominence in current adult education discourse.

The pedagogy of activism : learning to change the world

Much of the theorisation regarding radical adult education in Australia has concentrated on activists' pedagogy in the context of critical learning. Learning in social action is largely seen as taking place informally; it is tacit and implied and not always identified or articulated as knowledge or learning. This paper argues how activists' learning is embodied; the whole person is central to how meaning is made. A person's learning is embedded in significant identity change as they 'learn to be and become an activist'. Activists use their emotions, cognition and their physical body to make meaning. The symbolic use of the body is particularly important in the processes of direct action. Activists' learning is mainly informal, social and situated in practice, and they learn from one another by socialisation in a community of practice. Central to the paper is there is much to be learned from the important pedagogy of these activists, I argue that learning in radical adult education should be more prominent in the current discourses of lifelong learning and adult education in general.