Digital Commons Network^™

Attitudes Of Preservice Teachers Towards Teaching Deaf And Esl Students, Claire Ting, Linda Gilmore

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This study explored preservice teacher attitudes towards teaching a deaf student who uses Australian Sign Language (Auslan) compared to a student who is new to Australia and speaks Polish. The participants were 200 preservice teachers in their third or fourth year of university education. A questionnaire was created to measure attitudes, and participants were also asked to list teaching strategies they would use with the two students. A factor analysis yielded two subscales: Teacher Expectations and Teacher Confidence. Results showed that teachers had higher expectations of the Auslan student than the Polish student, and were more confident about teaching the …

Is A Degree Relevant? A Comparison Of Pedagogical Thought Units Of Teachers With And Without Elt-Related Academic Credentials, Ramin Akbari, Shahab Moradkhani

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This paper studies the difference between the pedagogical thought units of ELT practitioners with English-relevant degrees and those with non-relevant degrees. An entire teaching session of eight EFL teachers’ performance was video recorded and their pedagogical thoughts were identified by using stimulated recall technique. The findings revealed that, in general, teachers with English-related degrees significantly reported more pedagogical thoughts than their colleagues with unrelated degrees. With respect to the categories of pedagogical thoughts, although the same families were reported by participants in both groups, there were slight differences in their rankings and significant differences in their frequency.

How Do Early Childhood Students Conceptualize Play-Based Curriculum?, Avis Ridgway, Gloria Quinones

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The study’s purpose was to discover student understanding of play-based curriculum. Traditionally, play has been misunderstood in pedagogical terms, and was widely interpreted in our study. The Early Years Learning Framework suggests educator guidance in sustaining play is essential for learning and development. As teacher educators, we wanted to reflect on Play and Pedagogy (A new fourth year unit) that expected students to create a conceptual play model for use in practice. Twenty-six students volunteered de-identified assignments. From these, common conceptual elements were identified. We selected quotes from student’s work to support identified concepts and entered a methodology of dialogue …

Understanding Teacher Attraction And Retention Drivers: Addressing Teacher Shortages, Jennifer A. Ashiedu, Brenda D. Scott-Ladd

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The attraction and retention of teachers is a problem faced by schools worldwide and possibly more so in the public sector. One possible solution to this problem is likely to be better targeting of attraction and retention drivers of value to teachers. This paper presents the findings from a qualitative study conducted in Australia. The study used electronic in-depth interviews and an online survey to interrogate the reasons teachers are attracted to the profession and what drives their decision to either stay or leave. Participants in the study were both serving and retired teachers. The majority of respondents cited intrinsic …

Teaching Quality And Performance Among Experienced Teachers In Malaysia, Siti Rafiah Abd Hamid, Sharifah Sariah Syed Hassan, Nik Ahmad Hisham Ismail

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The role of teachers has evolved from merely being teacher-centered to one that is student centered and the skills required for a quality teacher are changing too. Assessing teacher’s effectiveness will not be a straight forward attempt by solely examining students’ achievements or students’ perceptions of their teachers’ attributes. A careful examination of the teaching concepts, one as a form of “labor and profession” (Firestone & Bader, 1991); or the other as a “craft and art” (Grimmett & MacKinnon, 1992) will indicate that it involves teacher’s cognitive ability and interpersonal skills (soft skills) which enhance teacher’s performance in the classroom. …

The Teachers’ Role In Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Programs: Implications For Teacher Education., Laura Scholes, Christian Jones, Colleen Stieler-Hunt, Ben Rolfe, Kay Pozzebon

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

In response to the diverse number of child sexual abuse (CSA) prevention programs currently implemented in school contexts, this paper examines key considerations for selecting such initiatives and the multiplicity of understandings required to inform facilitation of contextually relevant prevention curriculum. First, the paper examines concerns about the lack of explicit professional development for educators concerning child protection, and the need to develop understandings about prevention program best practices within pre-service and in-service training. Second, drawing on a systematic review of literature, the paper identifies five key considerations to inform teachers’ selection and facilitation of CSA prevention curriculum in school …

“There’S No Big Book On How To Care”: Primary Pre-Service Teachers’ Experiences Of Caring, Hellen Kemp, Andrea Reupert

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This study investigated primary, pre-service teachers' experiences regarding their caring role, and the barriers they face when caring for students. Thirteen Australian primary pre-service teachers were individually interviewed. Within a qualitative framework, transcripts were thematically analysed, alongside member checks. While results indicated highly individualised notions of care, common themes included difficulties in navigating the caring teacher role, the caring student-teacher relationship and gaps in training around notions of care. A continuum of care was identified, mediated by student and teacher factors as well as school location. This continuum provides a framework within which pre-service teachers might explore boundary issues.

Motivations Of Turkish Pre-Service Teachers To Choose Teaching As A Career, Ebru Ozturk Akar

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This study was conducted to investigate the motivations of 974 Turkish pre-service teachers for choosing teaching as a career and to examine their perceptions about the teaching profession. Correlations, t test, ANCOVAs and MANCOVAs were used to explore the relationships among participants’ motivations and perceptions, and to make comparisons according to different characteristics such as gender, different specialism, number of times participants had entered the university entrance examination, and rank of their preference of teaching as a profession. The results showed that the social and personal utility value and prior teaching and learning experiences were the highly rated motivation factors. …

The Tower Builders: A Consideration Of Stem, Stse And Ethics In Science Education, Astrid Steele, Christine R. Brew, Brenda R. Beatty

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The call for the integration of ethical considerations in the teaching of science is now firmly on the agenda. Taking as illustrative a science lesson in a pre-service teacher class, the authors consider the roles of STSE (science, technology, society and environment) and the increasingly influential heavily funded STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education initiatives. The origins and foci of both initiatives are discussed, as are their disparate ontological foundations. The use of Habermas’ knowledge theories in conjunction with ethical frameworks is posited as a way of considering both STSE and STEM perspectives and their implications for strengthening science …

Teacher Education Partnerships: An Australian Research-Based Perspective, David Lynch, Richard Smith

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This article reviews literature about partnerships between teacher education faculties and schools that indicates not just heightened interest in recent years, but also significant progress. Despite interest and progress, conceptual and practical difficulties remain in establishing, developing, nurturing and implementing successful partnerships so that core interests of partners are satisfied. Against this background, the article examines the experiences of an Australian teacher education faculty that sought to enhance its arrangements with local schools by reorganizing and staging a teacher education program through a community of practice. Data drawn from a study of the emergent partnership confirm the trends in the …

Codes Of Ethics In Australian Education: Towards A National Perspective, Daniella J. Forster

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Teachers have a dual moral responsibility as both values educators and moral agents representing the integrity of the profession. Codes of ethics and conduct in teaching articulate shared professional values and aim to provide some guidance for action around recognised issues special to the profession but are also instruments of regulation which position teachers in sanctioned roles. This paper offers a rationale for reviewing the purposes of codes of ethics in Australia as instruments which profoundly influence teacher morality and have significant educational implications. As one of the first comparative reviews of Australian state and territory codes of ethics and …

Are They Ready? Final Year Pre-Service Teachers' Learning About Managing Student Behaviour, Judith H. Peters

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This paper presents findings from a study addressing final year pre-service teachers’ perceptions of their confidence and competence in managing student behaviour. Data were collected by means of a written survey administered shortly after the end of their last professional experience. Themes derived from analysing survey responses are examined in relation to seven principles identified by the MCEETYA funded Student Behaviour Management Project as best practice in Australia (De Jong, 2005). The findings reveal that although the majority of participating pre-service teachers felt confident and competent to manage student behaviour, their reporting of strategies indicated a narrow ‘behaviourist’ conception of …

Turkish Pre-Service Teachers` Perceived Self-Efficacy Beliefs And Knowledge About Using Expository Text As An Instructional Tool In Their Future Classroom Settings, Kasim Yildirim, Seyit Ates

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The aim of this research was to examine Turkish pre-service teachers` knowledge and perceived self-efficacy beliefs toward using expository text as an instructional tool in their future classroom settings. The research sample were 346 pre-service teachers who studied in different teacher preparation programs which included elementary classroom and middle content classrooms (for example, science, social studies and Turkish language arts) teaching professions. A teacher efficacy inventory and a knowledge test about using expository text were developed and administered to the pre-service teachers in a public university in Turkey. The research findings showed that there was a small but positive correlation …

Rethinking Sport Teaching In Physical Education: A Case Study Of Research Based Innovation In Teacher Education, Shane Pill, Dawn Penney, Karen Swabey

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This paper focuses on the significance of physical education teacher education (PETE) in the diffusion of ‘new’ thinking about sport teaching in physical education. It explores issues arising from a case study investigation that sought to respond to the critical commentary about the form and substance of sport teaching in physical education by supporting innovation in school curriculum and pedagogy through pre-service teacher education. The study was designed to challenge PETE pre-service teachers’ thinking about sport curriculum and pedagogy in physical education, introduce them to new thinking about models and specifically, the sport literacy model (Drummond & Pill, 2011; Pill, …

Pre-Service Teachers’ Conceptions Of Education For Sustainability, Neus (Snowy) Evans, Hilary Whitehouse, Ruth Hickey

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Environmental education researchers argue that pre-service teachers have a limited understanding of education for sustainability. The research described in this article applies a phenomenographic approach to investigating variations in how a representative cohort of 30 pre-service teachers, at various stages of completing an education degree at a small regional Australian university, understands the concept of education for sustainability. The results distinguish four related but distinctive categories of descriptions: (1) education that is continuous; (2) education about ecological systems and environmental systems; (3) education that is active, hands-on, local and relevant; and (4) education for the future. This paper discusses the …

Evaluation Of An In-Service Training Program For Primary-School Language Teachers In Turkey, Hacer H. Uysal

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Despite the critical importance of in-service education programs (INSETs) for teachers’ on-going professional development, educators often report problems concerning many INSETs. However, due to lack of systematic evaluation studies of INSETs in especially language education field, specific problems in these courses cannot be diagnosed, and they are left unresolved. The present study, therefore, evaluates a one-week INSET offered by the Turkish Ministry of Education to explore its sustained impact on language teachers’ attitudes, knowledge-base, and classroom practices. The program is first evaluated against the criteria for effective INSETs suggested by previous literature. Then, data are gathered through course materials analysis, …

Lack Of Men, Flame Throwers And Rabbit Drives: Student Life In Australia's First Rural Teachers College 1945-1955, Anthony Potts

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This article examines student life in an Australian rural teachers college. The paper is informed by studies on university student life and extends these to Australia’s first rural teachers college in the period 1945-1955. It explores the diversity of students’ experiences in a small college with predominately female students gradually supplemented by male students. It looks at staff student relations in a college struggling to train teachers for rural Australian towns in the immediate post World War II period. While these rural students’ lives were similar to those portrayed in the standard histories of teacher education students were well aware …

How Can Schools Support Beginning Teachers? A Call For Timely Induction And Mentoring For Effective Teaching, Peter Hudson

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Induction programs largely focus on informing the beginning teacher about the school culture and infrastructure yet the core business of education is teaching and learning. This qualitative study uses a survey, questionnaire, and interviews to investigate 10 beginning teachers’ needs towards becoming effective teachers in their first year of teaching. Findings were synonymous with studies in other countries that showed they required more support in the induction process, particularly around the school context, networking, managing people, and creating work-life balances. It also found that these beginning teachers required support in school culture and infrastructure with stronger consideration of developing teaching …

Does Study Of An Inclusive Education Subject Influence Pre-Service Teachers' Concerns And Self-Efficacy About Inclusion?, Stuart Woodcock, Brian Hemmings, Russell Kay

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Survey data were collected from pre-service teachers studying at a large regional Australian university. These data were examined with the purpose of determining whether pre-service teachers’ views (and concerns) about inclusion and their confidence to teach in inclusive classrooms had changed as a result of studying an inclusive education subject and undertaking a practicum linked to that subject. The results of an analysis based on mean values indicated that the various concerns, namely, resources, acceptance, workplace, and academic standards, did not change markedly as a consequence of the subject and practicum experiences. This analysis also showed a hierarchy of concerns …

The Role Of Field Experience In The Preparation Of Reflective Teachers, Maria Liakopoulou

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

A basic condition for teachers developing their personal theory about teaching and utilising their knowledge in practice and perceiving and managing the complexity of the teaching process, is their ability to analyse the teaching process and to reflect on it. The research data presented in this article comes from research carried out, during which the role of field experience in teachers training was examined, and in particular to what extent and under what conditions field experience contributes to developing the ability of teachers to analyse and evaluate the teaching process. To answer those questions, information was primarily obtained from reflection …

Early Career Teachers’ Self-Efficacy For Balanced Reading Instruction, Petra Hastings

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

According to Bandura (1986; 1997), perceptions of efficacy are based on four sources: enactive attainment; vicarious experience; physiological and emotional states; and verbal persuasion. The factors affecting Early Career Teachers' self-efficacy for reading instruction are closely related to these four sources. It is not difficult to imagine an Early Career Teacher practicing within a ‘source vacuum’ as he or she attempts to grapple with the methodologies and strategies necessary for a balanced reading program. How, then, do they rate their teaching efficacy for this area of the curriculum? And which types of professional learning opportunities do they believe have heightened …

Basic Literacy Or New Literacies? Examining The Contradictions Of Australia’S Education Revolution, Rachel Buchanan, Kathryn Holmes, Gregory Preston, Kylie Shaw

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

In 2007 the Labor Government came to power with the promise to bring to Australia an ‘Education Revolution’. More than four years later we are still waiting for the full impact of this series of policy initiatives. Among the various facets of the Education Revolution was the assurance that the Education Revolution would focus on the most fundamental skills – literacy and numeracy, and that it would offer world-class teaching and learning through a ‘Digital Education Revolution’. The digital education revolution aims to foster the development of 21^st century learning skills in students, skills which seem at odds with …

Teaching Students With Disabilities: A Web-Based Examination Of Preparation Of Preservice Primary School Teachers, Jennifer Stephenson, Sue O'Neill, Mark Carter

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

With increasing expectations that preservice teachers will be prepared to teach students with special needs in regular classrooms, it is timely to review relevant units in teacher education courses. Units relevant to special education/inclusion in primary undergraduate teacher preparation courses in Australian tertiary institutions, delivered in 2009, were examined. Information was gathered through a series of Google searches, and available information was very limited for some units. Sixty-one units in 34 courses met criteria for inclusion. Units typically ran for one semester with 30-40 hours of instruction. Just under half the instructors for whom relevant information was available had an …

Crossing The Primary And Secondary School Divide In Teacher Preparation, Sally Knipe

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Teacher education courses at universities qualify graduates to teach in age-related contexts of primary/early childhood/secondary that reflect the organisational structure of schools. In terms of teacher employment, for some considerable time, these longstanding organisational divisions have been by-passed whereby a shortage of teachers in particular areas (for example a perennial shortage of science and mathematics teachers) has resulted in schools employing teachers in subjects and grade levels for which they are not qualified. More recently, the development of middle schooling, P/K to 10 and P/K to 12 colleges, has created demand for teachers with generic skills able to teach across …

Development Of Teaching Beliefs And The Focus Of Change In The Process Of Pre-Service Esl Teacher Education, Eunice Lai-Yiu Tang, John Chi-Kin Lee, Cecilia Ka-Wai Chun

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This study sets out to investigate how pre-serviceESLteachers shape their beliefs in the process of experimenting with new teaching methods introduced in the teacher education programme. A 4-year longitudinal study was conducted with four randomly selectedESLpre-service teachers. Their theoretical orientations ofESLinstruction were tracked at intervals through a protocol which consisted of i) descriptive accounts, ii) surveys, iii) lesson plan analysis, iv) lesson recording and v) interviews. Despite the fact that these 4 student teachers had shown different theoretical orientations in the protocols, they shared similar patterns of instructional practices in the Teaching Practicum. It was also found that the new …

Learning To Lead: A Social Justice Perspective On Understanding Elementary Teacher Leadership In Papua New Guinea, Joanne Brownlee, Laura Scholes, Ann Farrell, Julie Davis, Donna Cook

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Leadership in elementary education is currently recognized as a political imperative in Papua New Guinea (PNG), as the nation develops strategies towards equitable access to schooling. One recent initiative aimed at building educational leadership was an intensive Australian Leadership Award Fellowship (ALAF) program funded by AusAID, involving a group of 10 teacher trainers from PNG. As part their involvement participants completed self-authored journal entries at the beginning and end of the leadership program. Participants were also involved in focus groups after completion of the initiative. Referring to the experiences of these teacher trainers, this paper draws on Nancy Fraser’s (2005, …

Service-Learning: A Valuable Component Of Pre-Service Teacher Education, Dianne J. Chambers, Shane Lavery

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

There is recognition that involvement in service-learning can impact positively on the development of pre-service teachers professionally, culturally and academically (Billig & Freeman, 2010; Anderson, 1998). This article explores and describes the experiences of pre-service teachers in the School of Education at the University of Notre Dame Australia (UNDA) who are undertaking two service learning units as part of their teacher education. This research is based on qualitative data collected from pre-service teachers on completion of their service learning units. Initially, service-learning as a concept is explored with particular reference to four basic elements identified in the literature (Jacoby, 1996; …

University-School Partnerships: Pre-Service And In-Service Teachers Working Together To Teach Primary Science., John Daniel Kenny

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This paper reports on a partnership approach preparing pre-service primary teachers to teach science. Partnerships involving pre-service teachers and volunteer in-service colleagues were formed to teach science in the classroom of the colleague, with support from the science education lecturer. Each pre-service teacher collaboratively planned and delivered a sequence of at least six science lessons over six weeks.

An earlier paper reported on how the program affected the confidence of the pre-service teachers. Over three iterations, 61 in-service teachers from 23 local schools participated.

In this paper the data from the colleague teachers and principals who participated is explored. The …

Being A Teacher Educator: Exploring Issues Of Authenticity And Safety Through Self-Study, Dawn Garbett, Alan Ovens

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The catalyst for this self-study was implementing peer-teaching in our respective science education and physical education teacher education courses. Because our students taught one another it meant we redefined our roles as teacher educators as well as the roles that our students took in the teaching and learning community. We documented and explored our learning about teaching and teacher education through journaling, observations, discussions and interviews with students. Our students’ responses to peer- teaching provided a critical lens through which we considered our efficacy as teacher educators. Through this collaborative self-study, we have learnt to manage the issues of authenticity …

Structured Reflective Communication As A Meta-Genre In Teacher Education: Creative Uses Of Critique In A Teacher Education Program, Donna Starks, Howard Nicholas, Shem Macdonald

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Critical reflection is central to teacher education for unpacking privileged positions and empowering participants to adopt valued professional stances (e.g. Krull, Oras & Sisask, 2007; Harford & MacRuairc, 2008; Fernandez, 2010), yet critical reflection is not a well-developed conceptual structure within teacher education. Lesson planning is, likewise, central to teacher education, yet not well-developed as a theoretical tool. Our model proposes a way of engaging beginning teachers in critical reflection by drawing together the informal spoken discourse meanings of critical reflection in education, its more formalised structure as critique in rhetoric and genre analysis, and lesson planning. When critical reflection …