Cultivating teachers' knowledge and skills for leading change in schools

Australian policy initiatives and state curriculum reform efforts affirm a commitment to address student disengagement through the development of inclusive school environments, curriculum, and pedagogy. This paper, drawing on critical social theory, describes three Australian projects that support the cultivation of teachers’ beliefs, knowledge and skills for critical reflection and leading change in schools. The first project reports on the valued ethics that emerged in pre-service teacher reflections about a Service-learning Program at a university in Queensland. The second project reports on a school-based collaborative inquiry approach to professional development with a focus on literacy practices. The final project reports on an initiative in another university in Victoria, to operationalise pedagogical change and curriculum renewal in Victoria, through the Principles of Learning and Teaching (PoLT). These case studies illustrate how critical reflection and development of beliefs, knowledge and skills can be acquired to better meet the needs of schools.

Growth of pre-service teachers’ knowledge and teaching ideas about decimals and fractions : The case of Vivi

This paper discussed and analysed the growth of one pre-service teachers’ knowledge about decimals and fractions during a teaching experiment. Evidence of her progress is based on responses to written test and interview questions. This case shows with probing questions and appropriate teaching ideas, it is possible for a pre-service teacher with initially weak and fragmented knowledge about decimals and fractions to develop a meaningful knowledge about decimals and fractions. The stronger conceptual base provided by use of a concrete representation of decimals enabled Vivi to move away from reliance on memorised facts and rules and towards conceptually based explanations of ideas.

A framework for teachers’ knowledge of mathematical reasoning

Exploring and developing primary teachers’ understanding of mathematical reasoning was the focus of the Mathematical Reasoning Professional Learning Research Program. Twenty-four primary teachers were interviewed after engagement in the first stage of the program incorporating demonstration lessons focused on reasoning conducted in their schools. Phenomenographic analysis of interview transcripts exploring variations in primary teachers’ perceptions of mathematical reasoning revealed seven categories of description based on four dimensions of variation, establishing a framework to evaluate development in understanding of reasoning.

Deepening the mathematical knowledge of secondary mathematics teachers who lack tertiary mathematics qualifications

A professional learning program for unqualified practising secondary mathematics teachers regarding senior secondary mathematics teaching is described in this paper. The VCE (Victorian Certificate of Education) mathematics professional learning program for senior secondary mathematics was designed for practising secondary teachers of mathematics who had no experience of teaching advanced senior secondary mathematics and who had not completed the recommended qualifications. Professional learning episodes, artefacts and reflections of three teachers who participated in the program are analysed to identify the development of these teachers' mathematical and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). The PCK framework developed by Chick et al. was used to analyse teachers' knowledge, and the cases of teachers' knowledge presented in the paper illustrate the entwining of knowledge of mathematics and knowledge of teaching and learning The findings indicate that a program designed for senior secondary mathematics can enable practising teachers to deepen and broaden their understanding of junior secondary mathematical pedagogy.

P(ICT)ures of English : teachers, learners and technology

The increasing challenges presented by information and communication technologies (ICTs) and the need for English curriculum to prepare young adults for the digital world are raised in this work. Viewed from the standpoint of current theoretical debates on the subject among educators, it draws on a wide range of classroom and real-world experiences to explore how technology affects the instruction of English. Teachers' knowledge of these technologies and their practices in assimilating them into English curriculums are celebrated and exciting scenarios for the future are presented.

Shifting constructs of global education : the role of travel in meeting new challenges for teachers

Globalisation is driving the impetus for change by teachers, and in classrooms, schools and education in countries across the world. This phenomenon has bought global education from the fringes to prominence in the curriculum. Although global education is a fixture in education discourse today, it has not always occupied such a position. This paper reviews global education from its early beginnings to the present in the United Kingdom, USA and Australia and reports on research that focuses on how teachers' travel experiences further their confidence to teach global education.
Approaches to global education have moved from primarily content approaches to include an emphasis on teachers as agents of implementation. With global education positioned centrally within schools and curriculum policy, teachers' knowledge and skills to implement global education are called into question. This paper reports on research that focuscs on how teachers' travel experiences further their confidence to
teach global education. The implications from this research suggest that teachers should emphasise their lived travel experience in global education.

Mental health first aid training for high school teachers: a cluster randomized trial.

BACKGROUND: Mental disorders often have their first onset during adolescence. For this reason, high school teachers are in a good position to provide initial assistance to students who are developing mental health problems. To improve the skills of teachers in this area, a Mental Health First Aid training course was modified to be suitable for high school teachers and evaluated in a cluster randomized trial. METHODS: The trial was carried out with teachers in South Australian high schools. Teachers at 7 schools received training and those at another 7 were wait-listed for future training. The effects of the training on teachers were evaluated using questionnaires pre- and post-training and at 6 months follow-up. The questionnaires assessed mental health knowledge, stigmatizing attitudes, confidence in providing help to others, help actually provided, school policy and procedures, and teacher mental health. The indirect effects on students were evaluated using questionnaires at pre-training and at follow-up which assessed any mental health help and information received from school staff, and also the mental health of the student. RESULTS: The training increased teachers' knowledge, changed beliefs about treatment to be more like those of mental health professionals, reduced some aspects of stigma, and increased confidence in providing help to students and colleagues. There was an indirect effect on students, who reported receiving more mental health information from school staff. Most of the changes found were sustained 6 months after training. However, no effects were found on teachers' individual support towards students with mental health problems or on student mental health. CONCLUSIONS: Mental Health First Aid training has positive effects on teachers' mental health knowledge, attitudes, confidence and some aspects of their behaviour. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ACTRN12608000561381.

Primary teachers’ algebraic thinking: example from lesson study

Previous studies have reported on primary children’s algebraic thinking and generalising in a range of problem settings but there is little evidence of primary teachers’ knowledge of algebraic thinking. In this paper the development in algebraic thinking of one primary teacher who taught a research lesson in a Japanese Lesson Study project involving teachers from three primary schools is presented. The findings suggest the need for professional learning in algebra and reasoning and indicate the value of Lesson Study.

New teachers, professional knowledge and educational reform in New Zealand

This thesis examines the professional knowledge of new secondary school teachers in New Zealand, their negotiation of multiple discourses encountered in policy and practice, and their processes of professional identity formation. It is also a study of policy reform. In New Zealand, as elsewhere, recent educational and social reforms have brought about major changes to the way education is managed and implemented. These reforms emphasise market ideologies promoting consumer choice and responsibility, while measuring and monitoring quality and effectiveness. At the same time, the reforms attempt to alleviate social inequality. Teachers' negotiation of an accountability culture and the dominant equity policies is a major focus of this study. The study draws upon group interviews held with nine new teachers during the first two years of their teaching careers. The group interviews were designed to elicit extended narratives from individual teachers, as well as promote more interactive dialogue and reflections within the groups. Because the interviews were conducted at different points in their early careers, the study also has a longitudinal element, allowing insight into how teachers' views are formed or changed during an intense period of professional learning. Analysis of the teachers' narratives is informed by poststructural and feminist understandings of identity and knowledge and by a methodological orientation to writing as a method of enquiry. The thesis develops three main types of discussion and sets of arguments. The first examines new teachers' negotiation of the 'macro' context of teacher knowledge formation that is, their negotiation of an educational policy environment that juxtaposes an equity agenda with accountability controls. In order to historically situate these dilemmas, the particular political, social and educational context of New Zealand is examined. It is argued that teachers negotiate competing political and conceptual debates about social justice, equity and difference, and that this negotiation is central to the formation of professional knowledge. The analysis illustrates ways in which teachers make sense of equity discourses in educational policy and practice, and the apparent contradictions that arise from placing tight accountability standards on schools and teachers to achieve associated equity goals. The second type of discussion focuses on teachers' negotiation of the 'micro' dimension of professional knowledge, looking closely at the processes and practices that form professional identity. Against stage or developmental models of teacher identity, it is argued that professional identity is formed in an ongoing, uneven and fluid manner and is socially and discursively situated/embedded. It is further argued that professional knowledge and identity are entwined and that this relationship is most usefully understood through analysis of the discursive practices that frame teachers' working lives and through which teachers work out who they are or should become and what and how they (should) think. This analysis contributes new perspectives to debates in teacher education about teacher preparation and the knowledge required of teachers in current 'new times'. The final cluster of arguments brings together these macro and micro aspects of professional knowledge and identity with a case study of how new teachers negotiated a recent educational reform of senior secondary school qualifications in New Zealand. This reform has had a significant impact on secondary schools and on the way teachers, and New Zealanders in general, think about education, achievement and success. It was found that this reform significantly challenged new teachers to question their beliefs about assessment and justice in education, and what counts as success. This case study draws attention to the tensions between equity, academic excellence and standards-based assessment, and contributes to understanding how teacher professional knowledge forms both in the context of a specific educational policy reform and in relation to educational reform in general. This study contributes new knowledge to the formation of teacher professional knowledge and identity in an educational climate of change in New Zealand. The findings offer new insights for teacher educators, policymakers and schools into how teachers build, shape and sustain professional knowledge; how they juggle contradictions between a desire for justice, policy imperatives and teacher education rhetoric; the self-constructed, but contingent nature of professional knowledge and identity; and the urgency to address identity formation as part of teacher education and to take account of the dynamic ways in which identities form. These matters need to be articulated in teacher education both pre-service and in-service in order to address teacher retention and satisfaction, and teachers' commitment to equity reform in education.

Inclusive policy action : exploring the realities and knowledge of teachers implementing inclusive education

Inclusive Policy Action recognizes the complexity of inclusive policy for teachers. However, the author presents a strong view that a constructive approach for future action can be accomplished by drawing on teachers' own accounts of the significant characteristics contributing to effective inclusion. Accordingly, teachers' work is recognized as a vital contributing factor to successful inclusion, despite the often over-powering emphasis on additional funding. For this reason the finer structures of changed pedagogy, the development of teacher knowledge and the vision of quality education for all students are explored using teachers' own voice to theorize and analyze the actuality of successful inclusive practice. The emergent characteristics relate to the importance of communicative infrastructures promoting knowledge within learning communities rather than political directives associated with inclusive education policy. These characteristics draw attention to the need to reconsider and revalue the knowledge and expertise generated by education policy actors, namely the teachers and school administrators involved in institutional planning and practice.

'I do lots of things that the University would not approve of'. What counts as professional knowledge in the eyes of pre-service and beginning teachers -implications of the encounter for the role of teacher educators in pre-service middle school preparati

This paper is an account of teacher educator perceptions of the take-up by beginning teachers of the values and practices advocated in pre-service education. Methodologically grounded in a critical ethnographic account, two teacher educator/researchers retell their understanding of the one-month experience as middle school classroom teachers in an allocated school. The paper examines the consequences of what counts as professional knowledge in the eyes of pre-service and beginning teachers and the implications of the encounter for the role of teacher educators in preservice preparation. The purpose of the research is to consider the well-researched issue of the rejection of academic training (to greater or lesser extents) that is experienced by very many preservice and beginning teachers at some stage after experience in schools. As an exemplary colleague teacher said to us as we negotiated our participation in the school: "I do lots of things that the University would not approve of". Our argument is that teacher education needs the kind of participatory inquiry represented by the undertaking and methodology of this project. The paper is the 'primary record' (Carspecken 1996) of the research and works to open the next phase, the dialogical stage of the research process.