Recognising and respecting Torres Strait Islander mathematics knowledges and home languages through mainstream mathematics education [Abstract]

This abstract provides a preliminary discussion of the importance of recognising Torres Strait Islander knowledges and home languages of mathematics education. It stems from a project involving Torres Strait Islander Teachers and Teacher Aides and university based researchers who are working together to enhance the mathematics learning of students from Years 4-9. A key focus of the project is that mathematics is relevant and provides students with opportunities for further education, training and employment. Veronica Arbon (2008) questions the assumptions underpinning Western mainstream education as beneficial for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people which assumes that it enables them to better participate in Australian society. She asks “how de we best achieve outcomes for and with Indigenous people conducive to our cultural, physical and economic sustainability as defined by us from Indigenous knowledge positions?” (p. 118). How does a mainstream education written to English conventions provide students with the knowledge and skills to participate in daily life, if it does not recognise the cultural identity of Indigenous students as it should (Priest, 2005; cf. Schnukal, 2003)? Arbon (2008) states that this view is now brought into question with calls for both ways education where mainstream knowledge and practices is blended with Indigenous cultural knowledges of learning. This project considers as crucial that cultural knowledges and experiences of Indigenous people to be valued and respected and given the currency in the same way that non Indigenous knowledge is (Taylor, 2003) for both ways education to work.

Integrating engineering education within the elementary and middle school mathematics curriculum

Many nations are experiencing a decline in the number of graduating engineers, an overall poor preparedness for engineering studies in tertiary institutions, and a lack of diversity in the field. Given the increasing importance of mathematics, science, engineering, and technology in our world, it is imperative that we foster an interest and drive to participate in engineering from an early age. This discussion paper argues for the integration of engineering education within the elementary and middle school mathematics curricula. In doing so, we offer a definition of engineering education and address its core goals; consider some perceptions of engineering and engineering education held by teachers and students; and offer one approach to promoting engineering education within the elementary and middle school mathematics curriculum, namely through mathematical modeling.

Analysing preservice teachers' potential for implementing engineering education in the middle school

Engineering is pivotal to any country's development. Yet there are insufficient engineers to take up available positions in many countries, including Australia (Engineers Australia, 2008). Engineering education is limited in Australia at the primary, middle and high school levels. One of the starting points for addressing this shortfall lies in preservice teacher education. This study explores second-year preservice teachers' potential to teach engineering in middle school, following their engagement with engineering concepts in their science curriculum unit and their teaching of engineering activities to Year 7 students. Using a literature-based pretest-posttest survey, items were categorised into four constructs (ie. personal professional attributes, student motivation, pedagogical knowledge and fused curricula). Results indicated that the preservice teachers' responses had not changed for instilling positive attitudes (88%) and accepting advice from colleagues (94%). However, there was statistical significance with 9 of the 25 survey items (p<0.05) after the preservice teachers' involvement in engineering activities. Fusing engineering education with other subjects, such as mathematics and science, is an essential first step in promoting preservice teachers' potential to implement engineering education in the middle school.

Teacher change and professional development in mathematics education

It is generally agreed that if authentic teacher change is to occur then the tacit knowledge about how and why they act in certain ways in the classroom be accessed and reflected upon. While critical reflection can and often is an individual experience there is evidence to suggest that teachers are more likely to engage in the process when it is approached in a collegial manner; that is, when other teachers are involved in and engaged with the same process. Teachers do not enact their profession in isolation but rather exist within a wider community of teachers. An outside facilitator can also play an active and important role in achieving lasting teacher change. According to Stein and Brown (1997) “an important ingredient in socially based learning is that graduations of expertise and experience exist when teachers collaborate with each other or outside experts” (p. 155). To assist in the effective professional development of teachers, outside facilitators, when used, need to provide “a dynamic energy producing interactive experience in which participants examine and explore the complex components of teaching” (Bolster, 1995, p. 193). They also need to establish rapport with the participating teachers that is built on trust and competence (Hyde, Ormiston, & Hyde, 1994). For this to occur, professional development involving teachers and outside facilitators or researchers should not be a one-off event but an ongoing process of engagement that enables both the energy and trust required to develop. Successful professional development activities are therefore collaborative, relevant and provide individual, specialised attention to the teachers concerned. The project reported here aimed to provide professional development to two Year 3 teachers to enhance their teaching of a new mathematics content area, mental computation. This was achieved through the teachers collaborating with a researcher to design an instructional program for mental computation that drew on theory and research in the field.

Successful outcomes in vocational education and training courses : how pedagogy and expectations influence achievement

This paper reports on a four year Australian Research Council funded Linkage Project titled Skilling Indigenous Queensland, conducted in regional areas of Queensland, Australia from 2009 to 2013. The project sought to investigate vocational education, training (VET) and teaching, Indigenous learners’ needs, employer cultural and expectations and community culture and expectations to identify best practice in numeracy teaching for Indigenous VET learners. Specifically it focused on ways to enhance the teaching and learning of courses and the associated mathematics in such courses to benefit learners and increase their future opportunities of employment. To date thirty-nine teachers/trainers/teacher aides and two hundred and thirty-one students consented to participate in the project. Nine VET courses were nominated to be the focus on the study. This paper focuses on questionnaire and interview responses from four trainers, two teacher aides and six students. In recent years a considerable amount of funding has been allocated to increasing Indigenous Peoples’ participation in education and employment. This increased funding is predicated on the assumption that it will make a difference and contribute to closing the education gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians (Council of Australia Governments, 2009). The central tenet is that access to education for Indigenous People will create substantial social and economic benefits for regional and remote Indigenous People. The project’s aim is to address some of the issues associated with the gap. To achieve the aims, the project adopted a mixed methods design aimed at benefitting research participants and included: participatory collaborative action research (Kemmis & McTaggart, 1988) and, community research (Smith, 1999). Participatory collaborative action research refers to a is a “collective, self-reflective enquiry undertaken by participants in social situations in order to improve the rationality and justice of their own social and educational practices” (Kemmis et al., 1988, p. 5). Community research is described as an approach that “conveys a much more intimate, human and self-defined space” (p. 127). Community research relies on and validates the community’s own definitions. As the project is informed by the social at a community level, it is described as “community action research or emancipatory research” (Smith, 1999, p. 127). It seeks to demonstrate benefit to the community, making positive differences in the lives of Indigenous People and communities. The data collection techniques included survey questionnaires, video recording of teaching and learning processes, teacher reflective video analysis of teaching, observations, semi-structured interviews and student numeracy testing. As a result of these processes, the findings indicate that VET course teachers work hard to adopt contextualising strategies to their teaching, however this process is not always straight forward because of the perceptions of how mathematics has been taught and learned historically. Further teachers, trainers and students have high expectations of one another with the view to successful outcomes from the courses.

A conceptual framework for the cultural integration of cooperative learning : a Thai primary mathematics education perspective

The Thailand education reform adopted cooperative learning to improve the quality of education. However, it has been reported that the introduction and maintenance of cooperative learning has been difficult and uncertain because of the cultural differences. The study proposed a conceptual framework developed based on making a connection between Thai cultures and cooperative learning elements, and implemented a small-scale research project in a Thai primary mathematics class with a teacher and thirty-two Grade 4 students. The results uncovered that the three components including preparation of teachers, instructional strategies and preparation of students can be vehicles for the culture integration in cooperative learning.

Attracting and retaining specialist teachers and non-teaching professionals in Queensland secondary schools : a report to the Queensland Department of Education and Training

This report provides the Queensland Department of Education and Training (DET) with independent evidence based data to enable the identification of barriers and enablers to effective attraction and retention of suitably qualified people to specialist teaching and non‐teaching roles in Queensland secondary schools. The scope of this report is to consider the strategic imperatives, trends, and drivers as they apply to the recruitment and retention of specialised teachers and non‐teaching professionals. The research was specifically designed to inform DET on innovative and novel strategies to recruit and retain staff within Education Queensland in areas specifically identified as at risk of experiencing shortages in the near future. Those areas considered to be at risk of experiencing shortages included: • Teaching principals • Specialist teachers in mathematics, science, industrial technology and design, and special education • Non‐teaching professional roles, such as speech pathologists, occupational therapists, physiotherapists and registered nurses providing services in schools to students with special needs.

Successful outcomes in vocational education and training courses and mathematics: how pedagogy and expectations influence achievement

This paper reports on a four year Australian Research Council funded Linkage Project titled Skilling Indigenous Queensland, conducted in regional areas of Queensland, Australia from 2009 to 2013. The project sought to investigate Vocational Education and Training (VET) and teaching, Indigenous learners’ needs, employer culture and expectations and community culture and expectations to identify best practice in numeracy teaching for Indigenous VET learners. Specifically it focused on ways to enhance the teaching and learning of courses and the associated mathematics in such courses to benefit learners and increase their future opportunities of employment. To date thirty - nine teachers/trainers/teacher aides and two hundred and thirty - one students consented to participate in the project. Nine VET courses offered in schools and Technical and Further Education Institutes (TAFE) were nominated to be the focus on the study. This paper focuses on student questionnaire responses and interview responses from teachers/trainers one high school principal and five students as a result of these processes, the findings indicated that VET course teachers work hard to adopt contextualising strategies to their teaching; however this process is not always straight forward because of the perceptions of how mathematics has been taught and learned by trainers and teachers. Further teachers, trainers and students have high expectations of one another with the view to successful outcomes from the courses.

The continuing decline of science and mathematics enrolments in Australian high schools

Is there a crisis in Australian science and mathematics education? Declining enrolments in upper secondary Science and Mathematics courses have gained much attention from the media, politicians and high-profile scientists over the last few years, yet there is no consensus amongst stakeholders about either the nature or the magnitude of the changes. We have collected raw enrolment data from the education departments of each of the Australian states and territories from 1992 to 2012 and analysed the trends for Biology, Chemistry, Physics, two composite subject groups (Earth Sciences and Multidisciplinary Sciences), as well as entry, intermediate and advanced Mathematics. The results of these analyses are discussed in terms of participation rates, raw enrolments and gender balance. We have found that the total number of students in Year 12 increased by around 16% from 1992 to 2012 while the participation rates for most Science and Mathematics subjects, as a proportion of the total Year 12 cohort, fell (Biology (-10%), Chemistry (-5%), Physics (-7%), Multidisciplinary Science (-5%), intermediate Mathematics (-11%), advanced Mathematics (-7%) in the same period. There were increased participation rates in Earth Sciences (+0.3%) and entry Mathematics (+11%). In each case the greatest rates of change occurred prior to 2001 and have been slower and steadier since. We propose that the broadening of curriculum offerings, further driven by students' self-perception of ability and perceptions of subject difficulty and usefulness, are the most likely cause of the changes in participation. While these continuing declines may not amount to a crisis, there is undoubtedly serious cause for concern.

Science, ICT and Mathematics Education in Rural and Regional Australia: The SiMERR National Survey

The SiMERR National Survey was one of the first priorities of the National Centre of Science, Information and Communication Technology and Mathematics Education for Rural and Regional Australia (SiMERR Australia), established at the University of New England in July 2004 through a federal government grant. With university based ‘hubs’ in each state and territory, SiMERR Australia aims to support rural and regional teachers, students and communities in improving educational outcomes in these subject areas. The purpose of the survey was to identify the key issues affecting these outcomes. The National Survey makes six substantial contributions to our understanding of issues in rural education. First, it focuses specifically on school science, ICT and mathematics education, rather than on education more generally. Second, it compares the different circumstances and needs of teachers across a nationally agreed geographical framework, and quantifies these differences. Third, it compares the circumstances and needs of teachers in schools with different proportions of Indigenous students. Fourth, it provides greater detail than previous studies on the specific needs of schools and teachers in these subject areas. Fifth, the analyses of teacher ‘needs’ have been controlled for the socio-economic background of school locations, resulting in findings that are more tightly associated with geographic location than with economic circumstances. Finally, most previous reports on rural education in Australia were based upon focus interviews, public submissions or secondary analyses of available data. In contrast, the National Survey has generated a sizable body of original quantitative and qualitative data.

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.

Teacher attitudes and best practices with ICT faculty Adult Continuing Education in Andalusia

The present paper reports the results of a study aiming to describe the attitudes of teachers in adult continuous education in the Autonomous Community of Andalusia (Spain) towards the use and integration of information and communication technologies (ITC) in the educational centres they work in, while identifying those factors that favour the development of good practice. It is a mixed methods descriptive research, and information collection techniques include a questionnaire and in-depth interviews. A total number of 172 teachers were surveyed, as well as 18 head teachers and coordinators, in adult education. For questionnaire validation the expert judgment technique was used, as they were selected by the «expert competence coefficient» or «K coefficient» procedure. To improve its psychometric properties, construct validity was determined by means of Varimax factor analysis and maximum likelihood extraction (two factors were extracted). Confidence was set by Cronbach's alpha (0.88). The interview guide was also validated by this group of experts. Results point out, on one hand, that teachers hold positive attitudes towards ICT regarding both ICT's role in professional development and their ease of use and access. On the other hand, among the most important factors for ICT-supported good educational practices lies in ICT's capacity to favour personalized work.

Conceptualizing and Researching the Professionalization of Religious Education Teachers: Historical and International Perspectives

Current discussions on Religious Education (RE), both in Germany and England, focus on the quality of teaching and the professionality of teachers, but neglect the historical and institutional process of professionalization upon which conceptions of teaching quality and teacher professionality hinge. This article seeks to provide definitional clarity by differentiating between individual and collective professionalization; exploring teacher professionalization in general and in the special case of RE; and operationalizing the concept of RE teacher professionalization for the purposes of planned historical and international comparative research. A three-fold conceptualization of professionalization is proposed, consisting of the following inter-related levels: (1) initial and continuing professional development; (2) professional self-organization and professional politics; and (3) professional knowledge. The breadth, complexity and significance of the historical and institutional processes associated with the professionalization of RE teachers at each of these levels is described and discussed. It is argued that further historical and international comparative research on these lines would contribute a broader and deeper understanding of the presuppositions of RE teacher professionality beyond current debates.

Easier analysis and better reporting : modelling ordinal data in mathematics education research

This article presents an examination of the use of Rasch modelling in a major research project, 'Improving Middle Years Mathematics and Science' (IMYMS). It is unarguable that it is important to take students' perceptions, or views, into account when planning learning and teaching for them. The IMYMS student perceptions survey is an attempt to make visible these student viewpoints, and report them in a way that is accessible to teachers and researchers involved in the project. The project involves four clusters of schools from urban and regions of Victoria to investigate the role of mathematics and science knowledge and subject cultures in mediating change processes in the middle years of schooling. There are five secondary and twenty-eight primary schools. The project has generated both qualitative and quantitative data, with much of the qualitative data being ordinal in nature. Reporting the results of analyses for a range of audiences necessitates careful, well-designed report formats. Some useful new report formats based on Rasch modeling -the Modified Variable Map, the Ordinal Map, the Threshold Map, and the Annotated Ordinal Map - are illustrated using data from the IMYMS project. The Rasch analysis and the derived reporting formats avoid the pitfalls that exist when working with ordinal data and provide insights into the respondents' views about their experiences in schools unavailable by other approaches.

Professional standards for physical education teachers' professional development : technology for performance?

Background: The widespread and diverse models of professional standards for teaching raise questions with respect to the need to provide teachers with a pathway for continuing professional development balanced with the public nature of surveillance and accountability that may accompany standards. Ways of understanding technologies of power in relation to standards for
teaching gives us a new language and, in turn, new questions about the standards agenda in the physical education profession.
Purpose: To analyse how one health and physical education (HPE) teacher worked with Education Queensland’s (EQ) professional standards for teaching within the broader context of teacher professional development and renewal.
Participants and setting: An experienced HPE teacher working in an urban secondary school was the ‘case’ for this article. Tim was the only experienced HPE teacher within the larger pilot study of 220 selected teachers from the volunteer pool across the state.
Data collection: The case-study data comprised two in-depth interviews conducted by the first author, field notes from workshops (first author), teacher diaries and work samples, notes from focus groups of which Tim was a member, and electronic communications with peers by Tim
during the course of the evaluation.
Findings: Tim was supportive of the teaching standards while they did not have a strong evaluative dimension associated with technologies of power. He found the self-regulation associated with his reflective practices professionally rewarding rather than being formalised within a prescribed
professional development framework.
Conclusion: Tim’s positive response to the professional standards for teaching was typical of the broader pilot cohort. The concept of governmentality provided a useful framework to help map how the standards for teaching were received, regardless of teacher specialisation or experience.
We suggest that it is not until the standards regimes are talked about within the discourses of
power (e.g. codification for career progression, certification for professional development imperatives) that we can understand patterns of acceptance and resistance by teachers to policies
that seek to shape their performance.