Creating a warm and supportive learning environment for young children

Planning and managing the classroom environment in relation to daily schedule, activities, and routines is vital to creating warm, supportive learning environments for young children.

A practical approach to developing the general capabilities in middle-years English

Described as a three-dimensional “living” document, the new Australian Curriculum delineates the knowledge, understandings and skills considered necessary for students in the 21st Century to become confident and creative individuals, successful learners and active and informed citizens. The Australian Curriculum comprises discipline-based learning areas, general capabilities and contemporary cross-curriculum priorities. Teachers have particularly indicated the need for more professional development in relation to the general capabilities notably personal and social capability, ethical behaviour and intercultural understanding. This article provides ideas, activities and resources for middle-years English and literacy teachers to recognise and create opportunities for teaching and learning about these three general capabilities in their classrooms.

Opportunities and challenges : school guidance counsellors’ perceptions of counselling students online

School guidance counsellors world-wide seek ways of providing appropriate professional assistance to all students. While young people integrate online technology into their daily lives and go online for information and to communicate with each other, school counsellors in Australia are not offering online support to students. This cross-sectional study reported on the reluctance of school counsellors to offer online counselling and the reasons for this. A survey of 210 school guidance counsellors found that there is conditional support for the introduction of online counselling into the school setting. Counsellors indicated that they would use online counselling if students accepted its use in the school setting though they question how genuine students would be in its use. Most respondents reported a lack of confidence in understanding the ethical and legal implications of online counselling. However, the majority of participants were prepared to undertake further professional development in this mode of counselling. Additionally, they sought confirmation of the effectiveness of counselling students online before committing themselves to it. The implications for school guidance practice are discussed.

A case study of pedagogical responses to internationalisation at a faith-based secondary school in Australia

This case study investigated pedagogical responses to internationalisation by a faith-based secondary school in Australia. Using social constructivism as the theoretical framework the study examined teaching and learning for culturally and linguistically diverse students. Data generated through questionnaires, focus groups, individual interviews and document archives were analysed and interpreted using thematic analysis. The findings showed that teachers believed themselves to be ill-equipped to teach international students. Their concerns centred on a lack of explicit pedagogical, cultural and linguistic knowledge to help the students acculturate and learn. Recommendations include the dissemination of school policies to teachers, intentional staff collaboration and professional development to address the teachers’ needs for internationalisation.

Community college faculty's teaching social networks and their implications for librarians

Collaboration between faculty and librarians is an important topic of discussion and research among academic librarians. These partnerships between faculty and librarians are vital for enabling students to become lifelong learners through their information literacy education. This research developed an understanding of academic collaborators by analyzing a community college faculty's teaching social networks. A teaching social network, an original term generated in this study, is comprised of communications that influence faculty when they design and deliver their courses. The communication may be formal (e.g., through scholarly journals and professional development activities) and informal (e.g., through personal communication) through their network elements. Examples of the elements of a teaching social network may be department faculty, administration, librarians, professional development, and students. This research asked 'What is the nature of faculty's teaching social networks and what are the implications for librarians?' This study moves forward the existing research on collaboration, information literacy, and social network analysis. It provides both faculty and librarians with added insight into their existing and potential relationships. This research was undertaken using mixed methods. Social network analysis was the quantitative data collection methodology and the interview method was the qualitative technique. For the social network analysis data, a survey was sent to full-time faculty at Las Positas College, a community college, in California. The survey gathered the data and described the teaching social networks for faculty with respect to their teaching methods and content taught. Semi-structured interviews were conducted following the survey with a sub-set of survey respondents to understand why specific elements were included in their teaching social networks and to learn of ways for librarians to become an integral part of the teaching social networks. The majority of the faculty respondents were moderately influenced by the elements of their network except the majority of the potentials were weakly influenced by the elements in their network in their content taught. The elements with the most influence on both teaching methods and content taught were students, department faculty, professional development, and former graduate professors and coursework. The elements with the least influence on both aspects were public or academic librarians, and social media. The most popular roles for the elements were conversations about teaching, sharing ideas, tips for teaching, insights into teaching, suggestions for ways of teaching, and how to engage students. Librarians' weakly influenced faculty in their teaching methods and their content taught. The motivating factors for collaboration with librarians were that students learned how to research, students' research projects improved, faculty saved time by having librarians provide the instruction to students, and faculty built strong working relationships with librarians. The challenges of collaborating with librarians were inadequate teaching techniques used when librarians taught research orientations and lack of time. Ways librarians can be more integral in faculty's teaching social networks included: more workshops for faculty, more proactive interaction with faculty, and more one-on-one training sessions for faculty. Some of the recommendations for the librarians from this study were develop a strong rapport with faculty, librarians should build their services in information literacy from the point of view of the faculty instead of from the librarian perspective, use staff development funding to attend conferences and workshops to improve their teaching, develop more training sessions for faculty, increase marketing efforts of the librarian's instructional services, and seek grant opportunities to increase funding for the library. In addition, librarians and faculty should review the definitions of information literacy and move from a skills based interpretation to a learning process.

Using projects instead of pracs for hands on learning

In 1999, power electronics laboratory practicals were isolated two-hour sessions with only nominal assessment. Students were unmotivated, and didn’t prepare for or subsequently review these sessions. The pracs were rushed, and students’ actions task oriented. Learning was shallow at best. In 2000, the practical component was changed to two projects, each spanning four weeks. The projects were larger, linked, real world problems, tackled by groups of three students. Assessment was via individual workbooks kept during the project, a group demonstration of the working project by all members, and a subsequent written report. These projects were highly successful in motivating the students, and achieved the transfer of the theory presented in lectures into personal practical understanding of that material. These outcomes were judged by observations of the class, project and exam marks, and responses to a questionnaire given at the conclusion of the semester.

A matrix for appropriate assessment of workplace learning in stem disciplines

With increasing interest shown by Universities in workplace learning, especially in STEM disciplines, an issue has arisen amongst educators and industry partners regarding authentic assessment tasks for work integrated learning (WIL) subjects. This paper describes the use of a matrix, which is also available as a decision-tree, based on the features of the WIL experience, in order to facilitate the selection of appropriate assessment strategies. The matrix divides the WIL experiences into seven categories, based on such factors as: the extent to which the experience is compulsory, required for membership of a professional body or elective; whether the student is undertaking a project, or embedding in a professional culture; and other key aspects of the WIL experience. One important variable is linked to the fundamental purpose of the assessment. This question revolves around the focus of the assessment: whether on the person (student development); the process (professional conduct/language); or the product (project, assignment, literature review, report, software). The matrix has been trialed at QUT in the Faculty of Science and Technology, and also at the University of Surrey, UK, and has proven to have good applicability in both universities.

ICT and internet usage in early childhood education : a comparative study of Australian and Malaysian teachers' beliefs and current practices

The thesis is a comparative study of ICTs and Internet use of Australian and Malaysian early childhood teachers in terms of their personal and professional comfort with ICTs, pedagogical beliefs, and their reported classroom practice. The study discovered teachers from both countries as relatively comfortable with digital technologies and the Internet, with most teachers held positive beliefs about ICT usage. The structural barriers in classrooms include lack of Internet access and the wide gap that exists between teachers’ positive beliefs and classroom practice. The study suggests the need for strategic and targeted professional development for teachers.

Enhancing teacher education : the School-Community Intergrated Learning (SCIL) pathway

National Australian reviews advocate exploring new models for preservice teacher education. This study investigates the outcomes of the School-Community Integrated Learning (SCIL) pathway as a model for advancing preservice teachers’ understandings of teaching. Thirty-two final-year preservice teachers were surveyed with extended written responses on how the SCIL pathway advanced their understandings of teaching. Results indicated 100% agreement on 6 of the 27 survey items. Indeed, 78% or more preservice teachers agreed that they had a range of experiences across the five categories (i.e., personal-professional skill development, understandings of system requirements, teaching practices, student behaviour and reflective practices). Extended responses suggested they had developed understandings around setting up classrooms, whole school planning processes with professional development, the allocation of teacher responsibilities (e.g., playground duties), parent-teacher interviews, diagnostic testing for literacy and numeracy, commencing running records of students’ assessment results, and the development of relationships (students, teachers and parents). Although a longitudinal study is required to determine long-term effects, the SCIL pathway may be viewed as a positive step towards preparing final-year preservice teachers for their first year as fully-fledged teachers.

Teaching sociology within teacher education : revisiting, realigning and re-embedding

This paper uses theoretical resources from the sociology of education to consider the teaching of sociology in teacher education programs in Australia. Once a disciplinary ‘pillar’ of teacher education, sociology’s contribution has become less explicit while more integrated, with consequences for disciplinary identity. Here we explore how sociology is taught in teacher education curricula on two fronts. Firstly we outline how sociology is embedded as one of a number of competing perspectives in foundational studies, and its pedagogic consequences. Then we consider the powerful contribution of sociology in literacy studies, amidst public debate about literacy performance. The analysis draws on Bernstein’s (2000) distinction between singular disciplinary curriculum design and practically-oriented regional curriculum design. We seek to trouble the commonsense binary between theory and practice that structures debates around professional education in higher education more broadly, and to dignify service sociology as a valuable, generative site for the discipline’s future.

Understanding preconditions for digital school transformation

While over the past decade many Australian schools have come to understand the transformative potential of digitally-rich teaching and learning, traditional models of schooling continue to dominate. Even with significant investment in the area, both in terms of digital resourcing and teacher professional development, innovation has generally only occurred in individual classrooms or ‘pockets’ in schools. This article discusses three interdependent conditions which need to exist as a foundation in order to facilitate the opportunity for transformation from traditional to digitally-rich ways of working in primary, middle and secondary schools or colleges. Distributed and transformational leadership approaches are critiqued with core elements identified which facilitate change. The establishment of a vision is identified and discussed as a fundamental driver and rudder for school transformation. The importance of creating and maintaining urgency to compel a school community to adopt and embed change is unpacked. This report concludes with a synthesis of the three preconditions and recommendations for proponents of digital school transformation.

Through the eyes of the mentor : framing expectations within preservice teacher and mentor relationships

Mentoring relationships during pre-service education are a significant relationship through which emerging teachers negotiate their teacher identity (Iancu-Haddad & Oplatka, 2009; Hudson, 2010). It is therefore important to understand how mentor teachers frame their expectations. This paper explores mentoring relationships established within a Queensland partnership program funded through the Federal Government’s Improving Teacher Quality National Partnership Agreement (DEEWR, 2011). Within the broader policy context, these mentoring relationships were seen as an important space for pre-service teachers to experience cultural induction into Education Queensland schooling, and be advocates for quality teaching (Willis, Bahr, Bannah, & Welch, 2012). Interview and survey data from 14 teacher mentors were analysed using a dialectic constant comparison approach (Dick 2007). Three significant themes were identified. Mentor teachers’ understanding of their roles positioned pre-service teachers as either novices or alternatively as colleagues, and these had implications for the opportunities for learning that were then made available to the pre-service teachers. The mentor teacher’s beliefs about teaching as a practical craft, and how the mentor teachers judged a pre-service teacher’s “enthusiasm” were also analysed. Understanding the factors that guide teacher mentor approaches may inform future designs of mentoring and preservice teacher preparation programs.

Peer review of teaching practice and resources : exploring new spaces to embrace cultural change

The implementation of systematic peer review as a professional development activity, and as a support for educational design activities is under-utilised in many Australian higher education institutions. This case study reports on the first stages of planning and implementation of an institution-wide project to enhance teaching and learning quality at a remote and regional university, where one of the major strategies for improvement is peer review. Through a systematic process of staff engagement in peer review, within and from outside the organisation, a substantial change in flexible learning is envisaged. A mix of new and different learning spaces are to be used in the project, including blended learning spaces for academic development. This paper describes the research framework that will guide the peer review process and examines the early findings of the design-based research. Leadership, awareness raising and development of a supportive community of inquiry are seen as key components for successful implementation of peer review. In addition, unique contextual elements add to the complexity of designing for transformative change within such a relatively new organization.

Exploring the experiences of embedding Indigenous knowledge and perspectives on teaching practicum through interpretive phenomenology

In this paper, we discuss interpretive/hermeneutic phenomenology as a theoretical approach to explore the experiences of three stakeholder groups in embedding Indigenous knowledge and perspectives on teaching practicum, a project sponsored by ALTC. We begin by asking the phenomenological question ‘what is your experience of practice teaching?’ An open, explorative, phenomenological framework seeks the meanings of experiences, not truths, from the participants’ words themselves. Interpretive phenomenology is particularly suitable to explore educational experiences (Grumet, 1992; M. van Manen, 1990), as it provides rich ground for listening to the stakeholders’ lived experience and documenting it for interpretation. In an interpretive process, perspectives on lifeworlds, worldview and lenses get highlighted (Cunningham & Stanley, 2003). We establish how through various project stages, interpretive phenomenology gets to the essence of practice teaching experience creating a pedagogical ‘understanding’ of the essential nature of shared experience as lived by the participants (M van Manen, 2002). Thereby, it foregrounds voices of agency, dissent, acceptance and resistance. We consider how our research study focuses on the pedagogic voice of Indigenous pre-service teachers and the recognition of complex pedagogic fields in Indigenous education. We explain how this study seeks insights into their evaluation of pedagogic relations with two other education stakeholders – their practicum supervising teachers at schools and university staff involved practicum experience. As such, our study aims to support and develop long term, future-oriented opportunities for Indigenous pre-service teachers to embed Indigenous knowledge in the curricula. We conclude with some projections into the discourse on how Indigenous knowledge (IK) and perspectives might be diversely exemplified in pre-service teachers’ professional works (particularly E-portfolios). We speculate how this change could in turn maximise opportunities for Indigenous pre-service teachers, their supervising teachers and university staff to demonstrate leadership in their field through the creation of future tangible products such as units of work, resources, assessment and reflection tools. The processes contextualising the cultural interface of competing knowledge systems (Nakata, 2007) provide important analytical tools for understanding issues affecting student-teacher-mentor relationships occurring on practicum.

Perspectives on Reconceptualizing Early Mathematics Learning

This introductory section provides an overview of the different perspectives on reconceptualizing early mathematics learning. The chapters provide a broad scope in their topics and approaches to advancing young children’s mathematical learning. They incorporate studies that highlight the importance of pattern and structure across the curriculum, studies that target particular content such as statistics, early algebra, and beginning number, and studies that consider how technology and other tools can facilitate early mathematical development. Reconceptualizing the professional learning of teachers in promoting young children’s mathematics, including a consideration of the role of play, is also addressed. Although these themes are diffused throughout the chapters, we restrict our introduction to the core focus of each of the chapters.