Education Commons^™

Attracting Top Teaching Talent, Geoff Masters

Prof Geoff Masters AO

In some of the world’s highest-performing countries, entry to teaching is now as competitive as courses such as engineering, science, law and medicine.

Big Data In Education – An International Perspective, Robert Hassell, Sacha Develle

Dr Sacha DeVelle

The authors report on research they originally undertook for AISNSW, exploring how schools in Finland, Singapore, Japan and Ontario use data to inform improvements in student learning. These jurisdictions have regularly outperformed Australia in their results for PISA and other international assessments. The authors address: the types of data schools collect in the different jurisdictions and their explicit improvement agenda; how ‘big education data’ is used by schools; the future of data use, including ‘big data in education’; and exemplars of effective data use in schools. They identify implications emerging from their research and recommend future actions that are relevant …

Plan To Recruit Our Best And Brightest, Geoff Masters

Prof Geoff Masters AO

Australia faces a number of challenges over the next decade in planning the future teacher workforce, according to Geoff Masters.

Best Practice Teacher Education Programs And Australia’S Own Programs, Lawrence Ingvarson, Kate Reid, Sarah Buckley, Elizabeth Kleinhenz, Geoff Masters, Glenn Rowley

Dr Elizabeth Kleinhenz

This report was prepared by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) to support the work of the Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group (TEMAG). ACER was requested to undertake evidence-based research and benchmarking of world’s best practice teacher education programs against Australia’s own programs, which included: (a) identifying best practice principles for the design, delivery and assessment of teacher education programs; and (b) articulating the features of teacher education programs that most effectively support successful transition to effective practice.

Teach For Australia Pathway: Evaluation Report Phase 3 Of 3, Paul Weldon, Phillip Mckenzie, Elizabeth Kleinhenz, Kate Reid

Dr Elizabeth Kleinhenz

This report is the final of three reports of the evaluation of the Teach for Australia (TFA) Pathway, a pilot of an alternative approach to teacher education in Australia. The evaluation was undertaken by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) over the period 2010 to 2012. The basic design of the TFA Pathway is as follows: 1. High-achieving university graduates are recruited nationally. Applicants are subject to a rigorous recruitment process and are selected on the basis of qualities and skills suitable to the teaching profession, and the possession of a genuine desire to reduce educational disadvantage. 2. Selected …

The Mathematics Education Of Future Primary And Secondary Teachers : Methods And Findings From The Teacher Education And Development Study In Mathematics, Maria Tatto, Sharon Senk, Glenn Rowley, Ray Peck

Ray Peck

In 2005, the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), Michigan State University, and the Australian Council for Educational Research took an important step in advancing the field of education by partnering to develop and implement the first international and comparative study of mathematics teacher education. The study was made possible by the substantial funding received from the National Science Foundation, the IEA, and the collaboration of 17 participating countries. The purpose of this article is to illustrate the methodology used in this major cross-national study of teacher education—the IEA Teacher Education and Development Study in Mathematics, known …

An Analysis Of Teacher Education Context, Structure, And Quality- Assurance Arrangements In Teds-M Countries : Findings From The Iea Teacher Education And Development Study In Mathematics (Teds-M), Lawrence Ingvarson, John Schwille, Sharon Senk, Glenn Rowley, Ray Peck, Maria Tatto

Ray Peck

The present report is a companion report to the TEDS-M publication Policy, Practice, and Readiness to Teach Primary and Secondary Mathematics in 17 Countries: Findings from the IEA Teacher Education and Development Study in Mathematics (TEDS-M) written by Tatto et al., (2012). That report presented findings about the nature and content of teacher education programs in the 17 participating countries, as well as the mathematical knowledge and pedagogical knowledge of graduates from those programs. The present report focuses on reporting data gathered at the national level and placing those findings in context. When interpreting the findings presented in the aforementioned …

Why Facebook Is (And Isn't) A Pre-Service Teacher's Friend, Pauline Taylor

Associate Professor Pauline Taylor-Guy

Teach For Australia Pathway : Evaluation Report Phase 2 Of 3, Paul Weldon, Phillip Mckenzie, Elizabeth Kleinhenz, Kate Reid

Dr Elizabeth Kleinhenz

The evaluation of the Teach for Australia Pathway was commissioned by DEEWR and commenced in March 2010. The purpose of the evaluation is to assess whether the delivery of the Pathway can be modified to better achieve intended outputs and outcomes, and whether the Pathway is achieving expected outcomes. This report (Part 2) concerns the second of three phases of the evaluation of the TFA Pathway. The first report (Part 1) was designed to provide a summary of data gathered on the operation of the Pathway in its initial stages. Data for that report were collected via site visits with …

Practical Challenges And Possibilities For The Integration Of Academic Literacy In A First Year Subject, Clifford Jackson, Pauline Taylor, Adam Raoul

Associate Professor Pauline Taylor-Guy

A Systematic Approach To Literacy Support For First Year Preservice Teachers: Implications For Practice, Pauline Taylor

Associate Professor Pauline Taylor-Guy

The Review Of Teacher Education For Languages Teachers : Final Report, Elizabeth Kleinhenz, Jenny Wilkinson, Margaret Gearon, Suzanne Fernandez, Lawrence Ingvarson

Dr Elizabeth Kleinhenz

This report produces a comprehensive national picture of the nature and effectiveness of teacher education and re-training opportunities for languages teachers. The report investigates course entry requirements, course content and structure for primary and secondary languages teachers; identifies structural impediments relating to the development of languages teachers' linguistic and pedagogical competency; and explores the potential application of the Professional Standards for Accomplished Teaching of Languages and Cultures, developed by the Australian Federation of Modern Language Teachers (AFMLTA), in teacher education for languages teachers.

What Do Students Say About Learning With Technologies?, Kathryn Moyle

Professor Kathryn Moyle

This paper outlines some of the findings from Australian research which listened to and analysed the views and expectations of students within Australian education and training institutions about learning with technologies. Students in primary and secondary schools, vocational education and training (VET) institutions, international students studying education in universities, pre-service teacher education students and teachers in their first five years of teaching contributed to a national 'student voice' research project based upon their current experiences and views. Data was collected through online surveys and focus groups. The research shows that students and early career educators have access to and use …

'It Happened Just Like We Talked About' : Using Scenarios To Develop Professional Identity In Pre-Service Teachers, Ruth Hickey, Pauline Taylor

Associate Professor Pauline Taylor-Guy

Using Scenarios To Train Peer Mentors Online, Jenny Worsley, Pauline Taylor

Associate Professor Pauline Taylor-Guy

Fulfilling The Dream : An Online Early Childhood Teacher Education Course, Pauline Taylor

Associate Professor Pauline Taylor-Guy

Teacher Education And Development Study In Mathematics (Teds-M) : Policy, Practice, And Readiness To Teach Primary And Secondary Mathematics : Conceptual Framework., Maria Tatto, John Schwille, Sharon Senk, Lawrence Ingvarson, Ray Peck, Glenn Rowley

Ray Peck

TEDS-M is a collaborative effort of worldwide institutions to study the mathematics preparation of future primary and secondary teachers. This study investigates whether what future teachers learn in teacher education leads to more effective knowledge of mathematics and mathematics for teaching. The lead centre is the International Study Center at Michigan State University, which along with the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), the Australian Council of Educational Research, and national research centres (NRCs) in 17 countries, is analysing the costs of becoming a teacher prepared to teach mathematics, the policies governing mathematics teacher education (including recruitment, …

Can Video With Professional Conversations Improve Teacher Education?, Kathryn Moyle

Professor Kathryn Moyle

Top of the Class, the recent House of Representatives Report of the Inquiry into Teacher Education has reinforced the importance of good practice and the value of the practical dimension of teaching as part of universities' higher education teacher education programs. At the same time, in Australia and in countries in which off-shore teacher education programs are conducted, there are three other concurrent concerns: 1. the shortage of science, maths and literacy teachers and teacher educators; 2. the integration of ICT into teaching and learning in schools and higher education; and 3. the availability of schools and high quality teachers …

Are There National Patterns Of Teaching? Evidence From The Timss 1999 Video Study, Karen Givvin, James Hiebert, Jennifer Jacobs, Hilary Hollingsworth, Ronald Gallimore

Dr Hilary Hollingsworth

Why do teachers today teach as they do, and why has teaching evolved in the way that it has evolved? In order to improve teaching, it is important to understand why teaching looks the way that it now does and how its general form can be explained. One way to address this question is at the classroom level. In this article we build on ethnographic research by using the 1999 Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) video archives. Here we consider two possible explanations for the general patterns that have developed in school teaching. One explanation is that there …