Putting literacy in the middle: key learnings from the middle years literacy research project

This article discusses the Middle Years Literacy Research Project and its design. The authors report on key findings and recommendations from the research. In particular the authors look at what is distinctive about teaching adolescent learners in middle years and what does the research show that is distinctive about teaching, the ways that literacy is understood and talked about, its various positioning in the middle years and, connections between effective literacy and effective learning. The article describes a Four Resources model as a framework for literacy teaching and learning for middle year education; literacy leadership, coordination, professional development and collaborative partnerships; and, what school strategies have the most potential to bring about long-term change and improvement in students' literacy and learning outcomes.

Research supports quality learning

This article reports on research currently being conducted at the Faculty of Education, Deakin University, into the factors that contribute to quality learning. It describes a shift in research focus from an emphasis on teachers and teaching to an emphasis on learners and learning, as well as to exploring how learning occurs within a social context.

Having fun outside : teaching and learning science through the environment

Examines how some Victorian Schools have incorporated both science and environmental education into their programs through the Science in Schools Research Project. Development of environmental science education in two primary schools; Conceptualizations of science teaching and learning in schools.

Travelling north : the differing research cultures of Australia and Germany

Summary: This invited paper discusses the discipline of Information Systems in Australia and German. Initially it describes the wide differences between the two academic cultures, endeavouring to identify the causes of these differences, as well as their implications. It then discusses the ways in which these two cultures handle the teaching of Information Systems and finally discusses the similarities and differences of the I.S. research cultures in Australia and Germany.

Academics' experiences of teaching Australian 'non-local' courses in Hong Kong

This paper reports on some research from an ARC funded project conducted by the authors into the ways in which Australian universities establish collaborations with partners in Hong Kong and Papua New Guinea to offer courses in those countries. The research used principally qualitative methods (interviews, observations, document collection and analysis) to develop case-studies of a range of partnerships in Hong Kong. The project commenced in 1999 and is in its final stages. The paper discusses the experiences of staff who developed, administered and taught courses offered in Hong Kong by Australian institutions in partnership with a local provider. It presents and discusses findings on their reasons for working 'off-shore' in Hong Kong, their engagement with local staff and students, and their experience of Hong Kong students' coping with Australian curricula, pedagogies and assessment.

Practical activities : what science teaching can learn from primary classrooms

Although I have been teaching and researching in primary science for the past decade, I began my career in science teaching in secondary and tertiary institutions and my views on science teaching were formed in these environments. Because I have never been a classroom primary teacher it has only been slowly that I have come to recognise some of the unique characteristics of science teaching in primary schools and come to value them. This paper is an attempt to begin a discussion about what science teaching can learn from the culture of teaching in primary schools by examining some of the ways in which science is taught.

This paper is based on research conducted for my doctorate. It was done in two parts: first a pilot study, Current Primary Science Practice, to try and get a feel for the way science is taught in primary schools in Victoria, N.S.W. and the A.C.T., followed by an in study of a term-long unit of science teaching done by four teachers at four different schools in Victoria and N.S.W, The Role of Practical Activities in Science Teaching.

Diversity discourses / diversity experiences : teaching for and with cultural diversity

The contexts for 'cultural diversity education' usually reported in the research literature typically involve white middleclass people being prepared for teaching in ethnically diverse classrooms. The emphasis is thus on 'diversity' 'out there' in the classroom, with little acknowledgement of what such diversity education might mean for trainee teachers who themselves either identify as or are classified as culturally diverse. This study examines intercultural interactions reported by ethnically and culturally diverse teacher education students. Their difficulties with making sense of these interactions are described as 'intercultural disjunctions', often affecting personal or professional identity. I ide ntify three dominant discourses in the research literature that attempt to describe such disjunctions and analyse these in relation to the participants' stories. I conclude by outlining some implications for teacher education.

For goodness sake! Postlogographically de-(dis)positioning education research

How are education researchers and their research now positioned? Where are education research and researchers now positioned in the public/private debate? What is the position of practitioner research in these circumstances? My paper introduces 'post logography' as a researching trope for perturbing structuralist analytic methods towards interpreting post structuralising complexities that challenge the 'positioning' of education/research/researchers.

I discuss interpreting researching with and in (with-in) educating as intertwining ways, for turning the analytical objectivity that 'positions' subjective 'facts' as essentialised 'goods', towards exploring generative states of 'goodness'.

Education and its research are typically cast as separate constructs (like teaching and outcomes) for defining the subjectification of educational objects as valuable 'goods' - especially those with private economic value.

I argue that researched educational 'goods' are mostly teaching and outcomes focussed, and mainly privately positioned, whereas researching with-in educating for 'goodness' concerns a public disposition of exploring-learning-generativity for social knowing-acting.

I am theorising that through postlogographically de-positioning the predominance of 'facts' as private 'goods', and thereby recognising interpretive states concerning and generating 'goodness', the reductive polarisation of education/research, public/private, theorist/practitioner turns towards understanding complex continua for exploring-learning-generativity, which introduce new horizons of significance for social knowing-acting.

Making sense of difference? Teaching identities in postmodern contexts

How do teachers make sense of ethnic and classed differences? Frequently students from non-mainstream cultures and of lower socio-economic status are constructed in the literature and through practice as ‘deficit’ and consequently become marginalised. A range of short-term, ‘quick fix’ policy and curriculum approaches have aimed to address the ‘problems’ of those ‘othered’ from the mainstream due to their perceived difference. These have had little effect on improving educational results for students of specific ethnic and/or class backgrounds whose outcomes remain below the national average.

Poststructural theories offer opportunities to think about how teachers are positioned within discourses of identity. Our research (and others’) suggests the need for teachers to interrogate their assumptions about class and culture and how these are played out in their pedagogical relationships with students.

In this paper we report on a small research project that investigates the professional practices and personal beliefs of teachers. Empirical data from this study will build knowledge about how difference is constructed and diversity is ‘taken up’ by teachers as they engage with secondary students who have Language Backgrounds Other Than English and who are economically disadvantaged.

Faculty collaboration in teaching global business, MBA teaching process

This presentation stems from global business teaching and ongoing research of an interactive group of professors working together in the service delivery of online MBA education at University of Maryland University College . A model for collaborative teaching by delocated professors who literally span the globe – from Australia to Canada, including the United Kingdom, both coasts of the USA, China and Dubai - is offered, underscoring the enormous mobility of knowledge and knowledge workers. Working together as a collaborating team, it was found that the "whole is greater than the sum of the parts". The teachers became more than a teaching team, they became a collaborating operation as they worked together in the sharing and development of materials, insights and knowledge. The model demonstrates how the teaching of global business in an MBA environment is really an exercise in the management of global service operations.