Critical literacies in place : teachers who work for just and sustainable communities

This chapter draws upon theories of social justice, critical literacy and place-based pedagogies and two research projects to discuss how teachers are working ethically and creatively towards a sustainable and just society in their place(s).

English Teachers at Work : Narratives, Counter Narratives and Argument

Do English teachers around the world share a common set of values, knowledge and experiences? Do they face the same kind of challenges? What can English teachers from different national settings learn by engaging with dialogue with one another? What histories shape the professional practice of English teachers? What impact have government policies and curricula had on English teachers' sense of professional identity? English Teachers at Work focuses on the professional knowledge and practice of teachers of English in a range of national settings.

Preparing high achieving English teachers to work in disadvantaged schools : 'I'll teach Shakespeare when I'm 60'

The recent release of the Gonski Review recognises the decline in Australia’s schooling performances over the last decade, noting in particular a distressing increase in the ‘achievement gap’ affecting students from low SES backgrounds (Gonski, 2012). The report details the need for more quality in teachers throughout the schooling system, particularly within the schools with the greatest academic needs. This paper specifically focuses on a group of high-achieving pre-service English teachers. In their last two years of university study, they participated in a program called Exceptional Teachers for Disadvantaged Schools (ETDS), designed to prepare them to work in disadvantaged or low SES schools. We wanted to capture their experiences of teaching in challenging settings during their practicum, and as they prepared to graduate, we wondered what they now felt about teaching English in low SES schools. Using narrative inquiry, we analysed a range of reflective data to gain insight into such things as their initial motivations for entering the teaching profession and how their preconceived expectations may or may not have shifted after practicum experiences in low SES schools. We encouraged open reflection about how they perceived themselves as English teachers.

Work and family : the perception of balance among female teachers in northern Malaysia

Women’s participation in paid employment has become a common scenario even in non-western developing countries. For example in Malaysia, the trend is growing although the traditional gender role remains strong in Malaysian society. Even though working, women are still expected to assume major responsibilities at home. Thus, as opposed to men, women in this society face the challenge to satisfactorily balance work and family. This study was carried out to explore how Malaysian women perceive the meaning of a balanced work-family life. Sampling women teachers, the interview findings revealed that work-family balance was mainly perceived in terms of an individual’s ‘ability to fulfill role obligation’ appropriately in both the work and family domains. A few participants also viewed balance in the context of role satisfaction and role interference. Overall, the results support the assumption in the literature that perceptions of work-family experience are not universal, rather, the construct of work-family balance is culture-specific.

Complimentary collaborations: Teachers and researchers co-developing best practices in art education

Australia is currently experiencing a huge cultural shift as it moves from a State-based curriculum, to a national education system. The Australian State-based bodies that currently manage teacher registration, teacher education course accreditation, curriculum frameworks and syllabi are often complex organisations that hold conflicting ideologies about education and teaching. The development of a centralised system, complete with a single accreditation body and a national curriculum can be seen as a reaction to this complexity. At the time of writing, the Australian Curriculum is being rolled out in staggered phases across the states and territories of Australia. Phase one has been implemented, introducing English, Mathematics, History and Science. Subsequent phases (Humanities and Social Sciences, the Arts, Technologies, Health and Physical Education, Languages, and year 9-10 work studies) are intended to follow. Forcing an educational shift of this magnitude is no simple task; not least because the States and Territories have and continue to demonstrate varying levels of resistance to winding down their own curricula in favour of new content with its unfamiliar expectations and organisations. The full implementation process is currently far from over, and far from being fully resolved. The Federal Government has initiated a number of strategies to progress the implementation, such as the development of the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) to aid professional educators to implement the new curriculum. AITSL worked with professional and peak specialist bodies to develop Illustrations of Practice (hereafter IoP) for teachers to access and utilise. This paper tells of the building of one IoP, where a graduate teacher and a university lecturer collaborated to construct ideas and strategies to deliver visual arts lessons to early childhood students in a low Socio- Economic Status [SES] regional setting and discusses the experience in terms of its potential for professional learning in art education.

Beginning primary teachers’ perspectives on becoming a teacher in the workplace: Contextual, emotional, and temporo-spatial dimensions of identity shaping

The issue, with international and national overtones, of direct relevance to the present study, relates to the shaping of beginning teachers’ identities in the workplace. As the shift from an initial teacher education programme into initial practice in schools is a period of identity change worthy of investigation, this study focuses on the transformative search by nine beginning primary teachers for their teaching identities, throughout the course of their initial year of occupational experience, post-graduation. The nine beginning teacher participants work in a variety of primary school settings, thus strengthening the representativeness of the research cohort. Privileging ‘insider’ perspectives, the research goal is to understand the complexities of lived experience from the viewpoints of the participating informants. The shaping of identity is conceived of in dimensional terms. Accordingly, a framework composed of three dimensions of beginning teacher experience is devised, namely: contextual; emotional; temporo-spatial. Data collection and analysis is informed by principles derived from sociocultural theories; activity theory; figured worlds theory; and, dialogical self theory. Individual, face-to-face semi-structured interviews, and the maintenance of solicited digital diaries, are the principal methods of data collection employed. The use of a dimensional model fragments the integrated learning experiences of beginning teachers into constituent parts for the purpose of analysis. While acknowledging that the actual journey articulated by each participant is a more complex whole than the sum of its parts, key empirically-based claims are presented as per the dimensional framework employed: contextuality; emotionality; temporo-spatiality. As a result of applying the foci of an international literature to an under-researched aspect of Irish education, this study is offered as a context-specific contribution to the knowledge base on beginning teaching. As the developmental needs of beginning teachers constitute an emerging area of intense policy focus in Ireland, this research undertaking is both relevant and timely.

Teachers’ reflections on non standard students work

One of the tasks of teaching (Ball, Thames, & Phelps, 2008) concerns the work of interpreting student error and evaluating alternative algorithms used by students. Teachers’ abilities to understand nonstandard student work affects their instructional decisions, the explanations they provide in the classroom, the way they guide their students, and how they conduct mathematical discussions. However, their knowledge or their perceptions of the knowledge may not correspond to the actual level of knowledge that will support flexibility and fluency in a mathematics classroom. In this paper, we focus on Norwegian and Portuguese teachers’ reflections when trying to give sense to students’ use of nonstandard subtraction algorithms and of the mathematics imbedded in such. By discussing teachers’ mathematical knowledge associated with these situations and revealed in their reflections, we can perceive the difficulties teachers have in making sense of students’ solutions that differ from those most commonly reached.

Teachers' experiences and perceptions of voluntary committee work as a vehicle for leadership development

In response to a looming leadership shortage, leadership development for teachers has become an increasingly important area of interest around the world. A review of the literature identified the key components of educational leadership development programs as effective curriculum, leadership practice, relationship building, and reflection. A gap in the research was found regarding the use of voluntary committee work as a vehicle for leadership practice. The purpose of this study was to explore teachers' perceptions of their experiences within board-level committees to determine the key factors that contributed, positively or negatively, to their leadership,pevelopment. A qualitative research design was employed using semistructured interviews with 8 participants. The key findings included a list of factors perceived by teachers as either supporting or hindering their leadership development. The supporting factors were: (a) leadership practice, (b) mentors and role models, (c) relationships and networks, and (d) positive outcomes for students. The hindering factors were: (a) lack of follow through and support, (b) committee members with a careerist approach to the experience, (c) personal and political agendas, and (d) overcommitment leading to burnout. Recommendations for practice focused on strategies to enhanc~_ the committee experience as a tool for leadership development. Recommendations for theory and research suggested more research be done on each of the 8 key factors, perceptions associated with teachers choosing to follow a leadership path, and how school boards can structure the committee process as an effective leadership development tool. This study provides a starting point for educators to begin to intentionally design, develop, and deliver voluntary committee experiences as a tool for leadership development.

A Shift in Role: The Perspectives of Ontario Secondary Principals Working in Data-Driven Environments

This study occurred in 2009 and questioned how Ontario secondary school principals perceived their role had changed, over a 7 year period, in response to the increased demands of data-driven school environments. Specifically, it sought to identify principals' perceptions on how high-stakes testing and data-driven environments had affected their role, tasks, and accountability responsibilities. This study contextualized the emergence of the Education Quality and Accountability Offices (EQAO) as a central influence in the creation of data-driven school environments, and conceptualized the role of the principal as using data to inform and persuade a shift in thinking about the use of data to improve instruction and student achievement. The findings of the study suggest that data-driven environments had helped principals reclaim their positional power as instructional leaders, using data as an avenue back into the classroom. The use of data shifted the responsibilities of the principal to persuade teachers to work collaboratively to improve classroom instruction in order to demonstrate accountability.