Researching effective teaching and learning in science : The science in schools research project

In 2000 a consortium headed by Deakin University was funded by the Victorian Department of Education, Employment and Training to develop a model of effective teaching and learning for science in schools from P-10. Initially working with 27 study schools, the Project has continued in 2001 with 126 participating schools. This paper will discuss the model for school and classroom change that we have been developing, with a particular focus on the change strategies being used by the research team and in the participating schools. Central to the model has been the appointment in each school of a SiS (Science in Schools) coordinator with time release and additional funding for resources. The Coordinator has used strategies including mapping each participating teacher against the eight components of effective teaching and learning (the SiS components); student preferences surveying; auditing of curriculum, resources and school policy; and team planning of priorities, actions, implementation and monitoring strategies. The emphasis has been on school ownership of the change process and the school leadership has been identified as central to its success. As well as focusing on actions in schools the paper will also discuss the research process from the research team's perspective.

School libraries, teacher-librarians and literacy at Gold Coast schools : research findings

This paper reports research about school libraries, teacher-librarians and their contribution to literacy development. It presents an evidenced based snapshot, from the principals’ perspective, of 27 school libraries in the Gold Coast area of Australia. These new Australian findings show: • an evidenced based snapshot of school libraries and teacher-librarians, from the principals’ perspective • indications that school NAPLAN scores for reading and writing were generally higher when (a) student to library staff ratios were lower (i.e. better) and (b) the school had a teacher-librarian. The research responds to the Australian Government inquiry into school libraries and teacher-librarians (2010-11) which identified an urgent need for current data about provision and staffing of school libraries and their influence on student literacy and learning. In light of the National plan for school improvement (Australian Government, 2013), the findings are of potential interest to education authorities, school leadership teams, teacher-librarians, teachers and researchers. They offer evidence to inform policy development, strategic planning and advocacy about school libraries and teacher-librarians in supporting the reading, literacy and learning needs of 21st century learners.

Effective schools, equity and teacher effectiveness : a review to the literature. 'Escuelas eficaces, equidad y eficacia docente : una revisión de la literatura'.

Monográfico con el título: 'Eficacia escolar y equidad'. Resumen basado en el de la publicación

Governing the Stressed Self: teacher "health and well-being" and "effective schools"

In diverse arenas there is much discussion about the dangerousness of contemporary lifestyles, including the stressful nature of work. These stresses associated with contemporary lifestyles and work are dangerous in so far as they are conceived as placing at risk the emotional, physical and psychic health and well-being of large populations. In this paper we engage with debates about the stressful nature of teachers' work, and the ways in which teacher health and well-being are constructed as being central to the task of delivering more effective schools. In this article we are not so much concerned with the nature of teacher stress as an indication of individual physical, emotional or psychic health and well-being, as with understanding how it is that at this particular historical juncture the self can be so widely conceived in terms of stress. Moreover, what processes make it possible at this moment to link the success or otherwise of a massive institutional process of state-regulated schooling to the health and well-being of teachers and the management of this health and well-being by school managers? We argue that in a policy context that devolves various responsibilities to self-managing schools, the government of the stressed self emerges as an ethical concern for teachers and those who manage them (Foucault, The Use of Pleasure , New York, Pantheon, 1985). Our purpose is to problematise these processes so that responsibilities for delivering on the promise of effective schools might be differently framed and debated.

Achieving 'sustainability education' in primary schools as a result of the Victorian Science in Schools Research Project

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the experiences of primary schools involved in the Victorian Science in Schools Research Project which was concerned with improving science teaching and learning strategies but which also unexpectedly led to more environmental (sustainability) education occurring. The paper also suggests a curriculum strategy for achieving more widespread acceptance and implementation of 'sustainability education' through primary school science curricula.

Effective schools resources.

"January 1984."

Effective schools programs : their extent and characteristics : briefing report to the Chairman, Committee on Education and Labor, House of Representatives.

"September 1989."

Schulwissen für und über Kinder. Beiträge zur historischen Primarschulforschung

Die in dem Band versammelten bildungshistorischen Studien aus der Primarschulforschung befassen sich in nationaler und internationaler Perspektive mit dem Konstrukt des Schulwissens. Im Interessensfokus steht zum einen das Schulwissen über Kinder, welches die Schülerinnen und Schüler selbst beschreibt, zum anderen das als vermittlungswürdig und -bedürftig ausgezeichnete Schulwissen für Kinder. Zum Schulwissen über Kinder erstrecken sich die Untersuchungen u.a. auf dessen professionsrelevante Aussagen über ideales und defizitäres Verhalten von Primarschulkindern wie über deren schulbedingte Gesundheitsgefährdungen. Weiterhin wird unter Problematisierung der schulhistorisch gepflegten Antithese von Kind und Curriculum das in curricularen Ordnungen verdeckt eingelagerte Wissen über Kinder identifiziert. Zum Schulwissen für Kinder analysieren die Beiträge u.a. dessen konfessionsbedingte Differenzen, die Inhalte und Formate seiner medialen Präsentation und rekonstruieren die vom vermittelten Wissen erwarteten politischen und pädagogischen Wirkungseffekte. Zudem werden die schulischen und außerschulischen Bedingungen zur Durchsetzung neuen Schulwissens im historischen Prozess untersucht. (DIPF/Orig.)

Gabriele Strobel-Eisele: Schule und soziale Evolution. System- und evolutionstheoretische Untersuchungen zur Entstehung und Entwicklung der Schule. Weinheim: Deutscher Studien Verlag 1992 [...] [Sammelrezension]

Sammelrezension von: 1. Gabriele Strobel-Eisele: Schule und soziale Evolution. System- und evolutionstheoretische Untersuchungen zur Entstehung und Entwicklung der Schule. Weinheim: Deutscher Studien Verlag 1992, 261 S. 2. Christel Adick: Die Universalisierung der modernen Schule. Eine theoretische Problemskizze zur Erklärung der weltweiten Verbreitung der modernen Schule in den letzten 200 Jahren mit Fallstudien aus Westafrika. (Internationale Gegenwart. Bd. 9.) Paderborn: Schöningh 1992, 312 S.