Pursuing better childhoods and futures through curriculum : utopian visions in the development of Australia’s early years learning framework

In recent years, globalised curriculum discourses have given rise to local curriculum texts that convey and produce particularised imaginings and narratives, as well as hopes for, and expectations of, young children, their childhoods and their futures. In this article, the authors employ concepts from utopian studies and Deleuzeguattarian concepts of assemblage, rhizomes and lines (supple, rigid and lines of flight) to undertake a preliminary and partial rhizomatic mapping of utopian visions of better childhoods and futures evident in the development of the Early Years Learning Framework, Australia’s first national curriculum for early childhood settings. Drawing on the perspective of policy makers, News Corporation, the public, politicians, academics and practitioners who shaped the development of the Framework, the authors seek alternatives to the well-rehearsed dichotomies that so often characterise and confine curriculum politics and debates, and ways of exploring spaces between the possible and not (yet) possible.

Facebook : a 24 hour studio environment for contemporary architectural education

The popularity of Web 2.0 technology amongst tertiary students has become an increased talking point due to its pedagogical capabilities. The purpose of this research was to incorporate the social network Facebook within an architectural design studio to reintroduce the social interaction that was once generated within the traditional, 24 hour setting. This interaction has proven vital to an architect’s future as here they develop the initial peer network within the industry. The study draws upon existing literature to gage the effectiveness of introducing Facebook within the contemporary university environment, further, a case study was established within a second year architectural class. The correspondence was monitored at five intervals across the semester, with the information that was shared, quantified. The aim of this research was to provide the necessary foundation for the feasibility on the possible inclusion of Facebook within architectural tertiary education.

The legacy of Ian Hunter's work on literature education and the history of reading practices : some preliminary remarks

Ian Hunter's early work on the history of literature education and the emergence of English as school subject issued a bold challenge to traditional accounts that have in the main focused on English either as knowledge of a particular field or as ideology. The alternative proposal put forward by Hunter and supported by detailed historical analysis is that English exists as a series of historically contingent techniques and practices for shaping the self-managing capacities of children. The challenge for the field is to advance this historical work and to examine possible implications for English teaching.

Exploring emotional climate in preservice science teacher education

Classroom emotional climates are interrelated with students’ engagement with university courses. Despite growing interest in emotions and emotional climate research, little is known about the ways in which social interactions and different subject matter mediate emotional climates in preservice science teacher education classes. In this study we investigated the emotional climate and associated classroom interactions in a preservice science teacher education class. We were interested in the ways in which salient classroom interactions were related to the emotional climate during lessons centered on debates about science-based issues (e.g., nuclear energy alternatives). Participants used audience response technology to indicate their perceptions of the emotional climate. Analysis of conversation for salient video clips and analysis of non-verbal conduct (acoustic parameters, body movements, and facial expressions) supplemented emotional climate data. One key contribution that this study makes to preservice science teacher education is to identify the micro-processes of successful and unsuccessful class interactions that were associated with positive and neutral emotional climate. The structure of these interactions can inform the practice of other science educators who wish to produce positive emotional climates in their classes. The study also extends and explicates the construct of intensity of emotional climate.

Learning environments – Laboratories at the cross roads

Laboratories and technical hands on learning have always been a part of Engineering and Science based university courses. They provide the interface where theory meets practice and students may develop professional skills through interacting with real objects in an environment that models appropriate standards and systems. Laboratories in many countries are facing challenges to their sustainable operation and effectiveness. In some countries such as Australia, significantly reduced funding and staff reduction is eroding a once strong base of technical infrastructure. Other countries such as Thailand are seeking to develop their laboratory infrastructure and are in need of staff skill development, management and staff structure in technical areas. In this paper the authors will address the need for technical development with reference to work undertaken in Thailand and Australia. The authors identify the roads which their respective university sectors are on and point out problems and opportunities. It is hoped that the cross roads where we meet will result in better directions for both.

Critical attributes of public-private partnerships : a case study in vocational education

The term ‘partnership’ is increasingly used by governments, industry, community organisations and schools in supporting their daily businesses. Similar to the terms ‘ICT’ and ‘learning’, ‘partnerships’ are now ubiquitous in policy discourse. Yet, the term remains ill-defined and ambiguous. This study reviews and reflects on a government led industry-school partnership initiative in the state of Queensland, Australia, to understand how the term is used in this initiative. Given the frequent use of Public Private Partnership (PPP) language, PPP was used as a framework to review this initiative. The methodology of this qualitative case study involved consultations with stakeholders and an analysis of Gateway schools documents, policy documents, and literature. The review suggests that despite the use of terminology akin to PPP projects in Gateway school and policy documents, the implicit suggestion that this initiative is a public-private partnership is untenable. The majority of principles shaping a PPP have not been considered to a significant extent in the Gateway project. Although the review recognises the legitimate and sincere purpose of the Gateway schools initiative, the adoption of a PPP framework during the design, monitoring, or evaluation stages could have strengthened the initiative in terms of outcomes, benefits, and sustainability.

Disrupting Preconceptions : Postcolonialism and Education

This is a fine collection of papers, from some leading educational scholars. They argue that the contemporary corporatised policies of education such as international education limit the possibilities of transformative practice. They demonstrate how the local (the national) and the global (the imperial) are interconnected phenomena, acting upon one another to construct indigeneity and racialised identities, and even hybridation, in ways that engender inequalities, restrict human rights, and infridge on the democratic and civil rights of the colonised and the marginalised. At the same time, they point to the possibilities of resistance, conditions that provide pedagogic opportunities for the creation of counter-hegemonic ideas, expressions, practices and structures. This book is highly recommended.Fazal RizviProfessor in Educational Policy Studies,University of Illinois, Urbana- Champaign, USA

Education for sustainability : a case study of pre-service primary teachers' knowledge and efficacy

This study investigated the relationships between knowledge and efficacy for teaching sustainability in a sample of 266 pre-service primary teachers at a large, metropolitan university in Australia. A survey gathered information about the participant’s attitudes and self-efficacy for education for sustainability, along with their perceived and actual knowledge of environmental sustainability issues. The participants typically believed they were confident in their abilities to engage with education for sustainability with self-efficacy increasing with increased levels of perceived knowledge. However no relationship was found between perceived knowledge and actual knowledge which suggests that the participants either do not feel constrained by their lack of knowledge, or are perhaps unaware of their actual knowledge of sustainability issues. This lack of relationship may have implications for the development of pedagogical content knowledge with pre-service teachers potentially developing shallow, tokenistic approaches to Education for Sustainability.

English language teacher education in Cuba : context, pedagogy and identity

In this study, I investigate the model of English language teacher education developed in Cuba. It includes features that would be considered innovative, contemporary, good practice anywhere in the Western world, as well as having distinctly Cuban elements. English is widely taught in Cuba in the education system and on television by Cuban teachers who are prepared in five-year courses at pedagogical universities by bilingual Cuban teacher educators. This case study explores the identity and pedagogy of six English language teacher educators at Cuba’s largest university of pedagogical sciences. Postcolonial theory provides a framework for examining how the Cuban pedagogy of English language teacher education resists the negative representation of Cuba in hegemonic Western discourse; and challenges neoliberal Western dogma. Postcolonial concepts of representation, resistance and hybridity are used in this examination. Cuban teacher education features a distinctive ‘pedagogy of tenderness’. Teacher educators build on caring relationships and institutionalised values of solidarity, collectivism and collaboration. Communicative English language teaching strategies are contextualised to enhance the pedagogical and communicative competence of student teachers, and intercultural intelligibility is emphasised. The collaborative pedagogy of Cuban English language teacher education features peer observation, mentoring and continuing professional development; as well as extensive pre-service classroom teaching and research skill development for student teachers. Being Cuban and bilingual are significant aspects of the professional identity of case members, who regard their profession as a vocation and who are committed to preparing good English language teachers.

The place of higher education institutions in assessing student engagement, success and retention : a maturity model to guide practice

The perennial issues of student engagement, success and retention in higher education continue to attract attention as the salience of teaching and learning funding and performance measures has increased. This paper addresses the question of the responsibility or place of higher education institutions (HEIs) for initiating, planning, managing and evaluating their student engagement, success and retention programs and strategies. An evaluation of the current situation indicates the need for a sophisticated approach to assessing the ability of HEIs to proactively design programs and practices that enhance student engagement. An approach—the Student Engagement Success and Retention Maturity Model (SESR-MM)—is proposed and its development, current status, and relationship with and possible use in benchmarking are discussed.

Child sexual abuse prevention education : A review of school policy and curriculum provision in Australia

The past four decades have seen increasing public and professional awareness of child sexual abuse. Congruent with public health approaches to prevention, efforts to eliminate child sexual abuse have inspired the emergence of prevention initiatives which can be provided to all children as part of their standard school curriculum. However, relatively little is known about the scope and nature of child sexual abuse prevention efforts in government school systems internationally. This paper assesses and compares the policies and curriculum initiatives for child sexual abuse prevention education in primary (elementary) schools across state and territory Departments of Education in Australia. Using publicly available electronic data, a deductive qualitative content analysis of policy and curriculum documents was undertaken to examine the characteristics of child sexual abuse prevention education in these school systems. It was found that the system-level provision of child sexual abuse prevention education occurs unevenly across state and territory jurisdictions. This results in the potential for substantial inequity in Australian children’s access to learning opportunities in child abuse prevention education as a part of their standard school curriculum. In this research, we have developed a strategy for generating a set of theoretically-sound empirical criteria that may be more extensively applied in comparative research about prevention initiatives internationally.