The quick and the dead : Stawell and its race through time

Examines the history of the Stawell Easter Gift from its beginnings in 1878 and, in doing so, tells the story of an Australian country town, its inhabitants, its visitors, its troubles and its traditions.

Metaphors are good mirrors: reflecting on change for teacher educators

In this paper we discuss the use of metaphor as an educative tool for reflection. In the instance of this paper we use metaphor to reflect on the personal images of change that were used by some women teacher educators to make sense of their professional lives and practices over the last decade. This last decade in teacher education has seen significant institutional and cultural change. The paper discusses the strengths and limitations of the use of metaphor. The different interpretations of these metaphors illustrates how these women have used metaphor for explaining facets of change in their professional lives. The challenge of professional renewal is apparent in the metaphors in the ways that complexity, change, journeys, and movement are indicated. Reflection on change in professional practice needs to be continuous. Use of metaphor in the way described in this paper encourages that ongoing process.

Providing space for teacher renewal: the role of the facilitator in school-university partnerships

This article uses the process of a teacher renewal partnership programme to explore the role of the university academic as a facilitator of change. Responses to a series of interview questions relating to change were used to explore and examine the dimensions of the facilitator's role. Facilitators report that the role is complex, often uncertain and requires an understanding of the school and its culture and schools' and teachers' previous experiences in professional development programmes. The findings from this article suggest that an effective facilitator creates, for the teachers involved, a space for discussion, reflection and challenge and that this space provides for and legitimates teacher renewal.

Emotional intelligence and teaching situations : development of a new measure

This article reports on the development of a new measure entitled: Reactions to Teaching Situations to indicate levels of emotional intelligence among beginning teachers. This article discusses the concept of emotional intelligence and defends the development of such a measure specifically related to the situations in the teaching environment, an environment where emotional intelligence is considered to influence a teachers' thoughts and actions. The measure was found to have acceptable reliability and a range of individual differences was reported. Gender differences were found where female teachers reported greater likelihood of demonstrating emotional intelligence compared to male teachers. There was partial support for the four branch model of emotional intelligence. The discussion includes some projections for these findings and for the use of this measure with more experienced teachers.

Teacher subject specialisms and their relationships to learning styles, psychological types and multiple intelligences: implications for course development

This study explores issues in teacher education that increase our understanding of, and response to, the individual differences displayed by learners. A large undergraduate teacher education cohort provided evidence of the range and distribution of preferences in learning styles, psychological types and multiple intelligences. This information revealed that distributions of scores on the Kolb Learning Style Inventory, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, and the Multiple Intelligences Checklist for Adults provide evidence about the scope and range of differences between four teacher subject specialisms. This rich information about those participating in teacher education courses provides some guidance for educating those with their own clear preferences to the range of different preferences expressed by many other learners and highlights the existence of four sets of major differences in approaches to teaching and learning in prospective teachers.

Emotional intelligence and teaching : further validation evidence

Further evidence is presented to demonstrate the validity of a new measure of emotional intelligence: Reactions to Teaching Situations (RTS). Using criterion-related groups of high and low scorers on the RTS, it is shown that high scorers give more responses coded as emotional intelligence in their answers to sentence completion tasks relating to ten situations found in teaching. The questions of convergent and discriminant validity is tackled by examination of correlations of emotional intelligence scores and scores on the Multiple Intelligences Checklist for Adults (MICA) and information processing preferences as measured by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). The results confirm that emotional intelligence (as assessed by the RTS) bears significant relationships to both intrapersonal and interpersonal intelligences and also to linguistic intelligence, but emotional intelligence shows no significant relationships with the MBTI preferences.

Where in the world is room N101? Engaging with first year education students' experiences of transition

National reports on students’ experiences in their first year of tertiary study suggest that many students, particularly those coming directly from  secondary schools, find the transition into university life particularly difficult. These reports suggest that while many students find the experience to be a challenging hurdle others feel disengaged and unconnected to academic life. Reports also note that many students enter university with the expectation that their university experience should 'fit into their lives' rather than vice-versa.

Additionally, research indicates that successful transitional experiences for undergraduate students are critical in promoting effective learning habits, positive attitudes and openness to new knowledge. Establishing positive practices in the early days of the undergraduate course can enable students to utilise these experiences and knowledge as a part of their life-long professional habits. However, in order for this to occur, connections must be made, and relationships built, between students and their new peer groups and with the wider academic community. Connections must also be made between students' prior experiences and their new knowledge.

In light of the findings of recent research and reports, Deakin University has instituted a First Year Initiative to assist students in their transitions. Alongside and complementary to this, the Faculty of Education has developed a new three year Education Studies Major program which began this year.

In this paper, we discuss the ways in which the first two units of this new educational program aim to address some of the issues that students face when making the transition into university life. We see the implementation of the first two units as a 'pilot study' and while at this stage, evaluation of these units is only beginning, here we will consider some of the pedagogical strategies, resources, organisational structures and 'grounded' experiences that are being trialled as means to help students make the connections and take the first successful steps in their journey to becoming professional educators. Ways in which these new approaches aim to build important relationships between students, with staff and, as well, help them connect their prior experiences with new knowledge, will be considered in light of the literature on first year student transitions.

Teacher renewal: collaboration and collegiality

This paper draws in part on findings gathered for the evaluation of the Victorian Department of Education and Training (DE&T) response to the federal Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST) funded Quality Teacher Progam (QTP). The paper reports on findings from one strategy, the Local Area Project and focuses on aspects of that project that relate to teacher renewal and enhancement of professionalism. The findings suggest that the professional development opportunities offered by participation in Local Area Projects have, through collaboration and collegiality, enhanced teacher professionalism and provided an environment for teacher renewal.

Midnight water : a memoir

Gaylene Perry, author of Midnight Water (2004), dealt in this work with the loss of her father and her brother eleven years ago in an irrigation channel in country Victoria (Australia). She set her story in one day- the day of the drownings.

Emotional intelligence and teacher self efficacy : the contribution of teacher status and length of experience

Practicing teachers and principals in selected Government schools in Victoria provided data on their levels of emotional intelligence and teacher efficacy beliefs. The data supported the theoretical expectation of a linkage between emotional intelligence and teacher self efficacy. Regression analyses showed that neither gender nor age moderated this relationship. However length of teaching experience and current status add significant direct effects on predicting teacher self efficacy but did not moderate the relationship between emotional intelligence and teacher self efficacy. These findings are significant as this now demonstrates a relationship between levels of emotional intelligence in teachers, their self efficacy beliefs and teacher effectiveness.

Dealing constructively with negatively evaluated emotional situations: the key to understanding the different reactions of teachers with high and low levels of emotional intelligence

Recent work on the distinctive features of emotions appraised as either negative or positive has links to the investigation of differences in levels of emotional intelligence. In a study with experienced teachers as participants, it was found that emotional reactions to positive or negative situations was moderated by level of emotional intelligence. The reactions to positively charged emotional situations involving students and peers were similar for teachers with high and low levels of emotional intelligence, although the low level group showed somewhat lower likelihood of making an “emotionally intelligent” response compared to the high level group. A much sharper contrast in response likelihood was found for negatively charged emotional situations involving students and peers. Teachers with high levels of emotional intelligence responded quite differently to those with low levels of emotional intelligence. The results indicate the prospect of clarifying a neglected area of exploration of differences in the likely behaviour of teachers differing in levels of emotional intelligence.