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Full-Text Articles in Education
Cultivating Teachers’ Beliefs, Knowledge And Skills For Leading Change In Schools, Suzanne Carrington, Joanne Deppeler, Julianne Moss
Cultivating Teachers’ Beliefs, Knowledge And Skills For Leading Change In Schools, Suzanne Carrington, Joanne Deppeler, Julianne Moss
Australian Journal of Teacher Education
Australian policy initiatives and state curriculum reform efforts affirm a commitment to address student disengagement through the development of inclusive school environments, curriculum, and pedagogy. This paper, drawing on critical social theory, describes three Australian projects that support the cultivation of teachers’ beliefs, knowledge and skills for critical reflection and leading change in schools. The first project reports on the valued ethics that emerged in pre-service teacher reflections about a Service-learning Program at a university in Queensland. The second project reports on a school-based collaborative inquiry approach to professional development with a focus on literacy practices. The final project reports …
The Attributes Of Effective Lecturers Of English As A Foreign Language As Perceived By Students In A Korean University, Bruce D. Barnes, Graeme Lock
The Attributes Of Effective Lecturers Of English As A Foreign Language As Perceived By Students In A Korean University, Bruce D. Barnes, Graeme Lock
Australian Journal of Teacher Education
This study, conducted in a Korean university setting, examines student beliefs about the attributes of effective lecturers[1] of English as a foreign language. Student opinions about rapport and delivery type attributes are particularly informative. Rapport attributes were the major focus of discussion and viewed as particularly important in Korean university contexts where student anxiety about interacting in English often inhibits effective English language learning. Discussion about delivery attributes was generally supportive of participatory modes of instruction, but contained different views about how aggressively lecturers should enlist participation. The beliefs of Korean university students revealed in this study can, if seen …
The Relation Between The Level Of Job Satisfaction And Types Of Personality In High School Teachers, Sezer Ayan, Faruk Kocacik
The Relation Between The Level Of Job Satisfaction And Types Of Personality In High School Teachers, Sezer Ayan, Faruk Kocacik
Australian Journal of Teacher Education
Teachers are loaded important responsibilities in educational process. The productivity and effectiveness of them are influenced by promotion, charging, job security, technological level, course load and working schedule which all are determined mostly by their institutions and influenced by noncognitive characteristics such as age, gender, family structure and finally influenced by personality types and characteristics, attitudes and behaviors, social values, competency and other personality characteristics of teachers. Purpose of this study was to establish the relationship between the level of job satisfaction of high school teachers and types of personality and to evaluate the differences of the levels of job …
Supporting Primary And Secondary Beginning Teachers Online: Key Findings Of The Education Alumni Support Project, T. W. Maxwell, I. Harrington, H. J. Smith
Supporting Primary And Secondary Beginning Teachers Online: Key Findings Of The Education Alumni Support Project, T. W. Maxwell, I. Harrington, H. J. Smith
Australian Journal of Teacher Education
During 2005, the Education Alumni Support Project (EdASP) (Maxwell, Smith, Baxter, Boyd, Harrington, Jenkins, Sargeant & Tamatea 2006) provided online support for University of New England (UNE) graduand, and later, graduate, teachers as they commenced their careers. The project was based on research which reported that many beginning teachers did not get the support they needed as permanent or contract workers, or, as casual, relief or support teachers, and that small scale trials had shown that online support could be effective. One third of beginning teachers who were alumni of UNE in 2004, reported they did not receive adequate or …
The Effect Of Problem Posing Oriented Analyses-Ii Course On The Attitudes Toward Mathematics And Mathematics Self-Efficacy Of Elementary Prospective Mathematics Teachers, Hayri Akay, Nihat Boz
The Effect Of Problem Posing Oriented Analyses-Ii Course On The Attitudes Toward Mathematics And Mathematics Self-Efficacy Of Elementary Prospective Mathematics Teachers, Hayri Akay, Nihat Boz
Australian Journal of Teacher Education
Research on mathematics teaching and learning has recently focused on affective variables, which were found to play an essential role that influences behaviour and learning. Despite its importance, problem posing has not yet received the attention it warrants from the mathematics education community. Perceived self-efficacy beliefs have been found to be a strong predictor of mathematical performance, while problem posing is considered to be a fundamental ability in mathematical learning. On the other hand majority of research in this area present a positive relation between attitude toward mathematics and success. Therefore, it is shown that attitude toward mathematics is a …
Aspire: Formation Of Pre-Service Teachers Through Leadership, Community Engagement And Retreat Training, Chris Hackett, Shane Lavery
Aspire: Formation Of Pre-Service Teachers Through Leadership, Community Engagement And Retreat Training, Chris Hackett, Shane Lavery
Australian Journal of Teacher Education
This article explores the experiences of pre-service teachers who are involved in a program promoting leadership, community engagement and retreat training. It initially presents a review of the literature on the significant links between teacher commitment and quality teaching. It then describes how four significant dispositions: care, leadership, service and reflective practice, are embedded in a program entitled ‘ASPIRE’ at The University of Notre Dame Australia. The program is designed to assist pre-service teachers in recognising and developing their sense of teaching vocation. An outline of the research methodology is provided. Specifically, the research is based on qualitative data derived …
Learner Autonomy In Language Learning: Student Teachers’ Beliefs, Cem Balçıkanlı
Learner Autonomy In Language Learning: Student Teachers’ Beliefs, Cem Balçıkanlı
Australian Journal of Teacher Education
This paper aims to investigate student teachers’ beliefs about learner autonomy in the Turkish educational context. In a study in the ELT Department, Gazi University, a questionnaire developed by Camilleri (1997) was administered to 112 student teachers. Twenty volunteer student teachers were interviewed in groups to identify their further general attitudes towards learner autonomy. The overall study findings indicate that student teachers are positive towards the adoption of learner autonomy principles. Most student teachers, however, do not want their future students to take part in the decision making process concerning the time and place of the course and the textbooks …
Climate Change? Who Knows? A Comparison Of Secondary Students And Pre-Service Teachers, Helen J. Boon
Climate Change? Who Knows? A Comparison Of Secondary Students And Pre-Service Teachers, Helen J. Boon
Australian Journal of Teacher Education
In the context of recently published academic discrepancies between Queensland students and students from other Australian states, final year pre-service teachers were surveyed to explore their understanding and knowledge of climate change. Their responses were compared to those of secondary students to discern any significant gains in knowledge as a consequence of tertiary teacher training. Responses from a survey completed by a sample of 107 pre-service teachers and 310 grade 10 secondary students were examined for their level of understanding and knowledge, models of explanation and sources of information of the phenomenon. Results showed similarities between the two groups, with …
Self As Teacher: Preliminary Role Identification Of The Potential Teaching Candidate, Lisa A. Gross, Shanan Fitts, Tracy Goodson-Espy, Ann-Marie Clark
Self As Teacher: Preliminary Role Identification Of The Potential Teaching Candidate, Lisa A. Gross, Shanan Fitts, Tracy Goodson-Espy, Ann-Marie Clark
Australian Journal of Teacher Education
In this study, the researchers used qualitative surveys to explore potential teaching candidates’ preliminary perceptions of self as teacher and examine how roles are identified, defined and constructed in the context of a tutoring lab that provides support to English Language Learners. Prospective candidates’ perceptions of their tutees, children whose cultural identities and backgrounds differ from their own, are also examined. Findings indicate participants’ teaching identities and conceptualizations of their roles as teachers became more specific and elaborated over the course of the semester. Additionally, the significance of multiple practicum experiences in diverse settings for ongoing identity development and for …
Facilitating The Teaching-Learning Process Through The Reflective Engagement Of Pre-Service Teachers, Gloria Jean Rodman
Facilitating The Teaching-Learning Process Through The Reflective Engagement Of Pre-Service Teachers, Gloria Jean Rodman
Australian Journal of Teacher Education
The repeated use of reflection throughout their teacher preparation experience can be useful in encouraging growth and improving pedagogical knowledge, teaching performance and professional development among pre-service teachers. This study looks at how the reflective engagement of these teachers in a structured classroom activity reinforces the application of the teaching-learning process in the classroom and enables them to construct meaning from that application. It seeks to identify ways in which the teachers engage in reflection; determine their levels of reflective engagement; examine what they discover about teaching through reflection; and establish how this reflection affects their pedagogical ability.
Preparing Pre-Service Teachers For Multicultural Classrooms, Jessica Aimée Premier, Jenny Miller
Preparing Pre-Service Teachers For Multicultural Classrooms, Jessica Aimée Premier, Jenny Miller
Australian Journal of Teacher Education
Cultural diversity is evident throughout schools in Victoria, Australia. Many students are new arrivals from war-torn countries including Sudan, Afghanistan and Iraq. To what extent do teacher training courses in Victoria prepare pre-service teachers to cater for the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) students? This paper reports findings from a qualitative study on pre-service preparation for teaching CALD students in mainstream secondary schools. It investigated ways in which CALD student needs are addressed in secondary teaching courses in Victoria. Data included course outlines, questionnaires completed by forty-one final year pre-service teachers, and interviews with four final year pre-service …
The Competencies Of An English Teacher: Beginning Student Teachers’ Perceptions, Sorrel Penn-Edwards
The Competencies Of An English Teacher: Beginning Student Teachers’ Perceptions, Sorrel Penn-Edwards
Australian Journal of Teacher Education
This paper presents the results of a survey conducted with first year Education students at a Queensland university on the levels of competency in literacies expected for teachers in schools. Eight aspects were chosen to be examined to discover the skill levels students thought to be essential for effective teaching and to compare these with their estimation of their own skill level; spelling and grammar competency rated the highest, ICT/computing and visual aspects the lowest for teachers. Students rated their own spelling competency at the highest level and knowledge of genre the lowest. They were asked how they intended to …
Philosophical And Pedagogical Patterns Of Beliefs Among Vietnamese And Australian Mathematics Preservice Teachers: A Comparative Study, Bao Hiep Ly, Christine Brew
Philosophical And Pedagogical Patterns Of Beliefs Among Vietnamese And Australian Mathematics Preservice Teachers: A Comparative Study, Bao Hiep Ly, Christine Brew
Australian Journal of Teacher Education
Swayed by global pressures and poor international academic standing, Vietnam in 2002 initiated further school-wide curriculum change reflecting a student-centred reform agenda. Initial research on implementation is producing mixed results. One explanation is a mismatch with a Confucian Heritage Culture as a social-constructivist philosophy may counter the traditional widespread teacher-centred classrooms in Vietnam. School mathematics is often regarded as culture-independent as similar topics are taught across nations. We take as a premise that the adoption of the reform agenda is a worthwhile goal. Presented are the findings of a small scale study that set out to explore antecedent philosophical predispositions …
First-Year Transition In Teacher Education: The Pod Experience, Jennifer Masters, Sharn Donnison
First-Year Transition In Teacher Education: The Pod Experience, Jennifer Masters, Sharn Donnison
Australian Journal of Teacher Education
Research on student retention and transition in higher education has been an ongoing focus since the 1950s and during the past decade research into this area has gathered momentum as institutions of higher education increasingly recognise the economic and social costs of failing to retain and transition future graduates. Measures to improve transition and retention rates have generally focused on developing strategies to engage students in their studies and tertiary discourses by providing institutional, academic and/or social support. In this paper we discuss ‘Pods’ as an effective and innovative approach to transitioning first-year pre-service teacher education students in regional Victoria. …
Pre-Service Primary Teachers’ Perceptions Of Early Childhood Philosophy And Pedagogy: A Case Study Examination, Alison Lord, Laura Mcfarland
Pre-Service Primary Teachers’ Perceptions Of Early Childhood Philosophy And Pedagogy: A Case Study Examination, Alison Lord, Laura Mcfarland
Australian Journal of Teacher Education
This study examined the experiences of three primary teacher education students participating in early childhood-focused community play sessions, as well as their perceptions of early childhood and primary philosophy and pedagogy. The purpose was to explore perceived differences in primary and early childhood pre-service teacher courses, which may then translate to differences in approaches to pedagogy in the field. Three pre-service teachers participated in a weekly community play session on a rural university campus in NSW, Australia. As these students had been educated in primary education pedagogy, a focus group interview was conducted to gain insights to their experiences in …
Reciprocal Mentoring Residencies … Better Transitions To Teaching, Lisa Paris
Reciprocal Mentoring Residencies … Better Transitions To Teaching, Lisa Paris
Australian Journal of Teacher Education
The 2007 "Top of the Class" report on the Inquiry into Teacher Education in Australia found teacher induction failure and high attrition rates were endemic in most Australian states. Mentoring was advocated as an important mechanism for countering the debilitating drain attrition exerted on the profession (more than 30% within the first years in most developed nations). Reciprocal mentoring represents a departure from traditional mentoring arrangements in that it aligns two professionals with skills of equivalent importance and stature but in different discipline areas/domains. The importance of "reciprocity" in sustaining mentoring relationships is a distinctive theme in the conceptual framework …
Consonance And Dissonance Between Turkish Prospective Teachers’ Values And Practices: Conceptions About Teaching, Learning, And Assessment, Altay Eren
Australian Journal of Teacher Education
This study aimed to examine the consonance and dissonance between prospective teachers’ values and practices in terms of their conceptions about teaching/learning and conceptions about assessment, as well as to explore the patterns of those consonance and dissonance between prospective teachers’ values and practices. The sample consisted of 304 prospective teachers majoring in teaching science, art, special education, music, Turkish literacy, mathematics, English language, and classroom teaching domains in a large university located in the north-west of the Black Sea region in Turkey. Overall results of the study showed that the prospective teachers valued constructivist teaching/learning, making learning explicit, and …
Proposed Principles For Promoting Pre-Service Teacher Transfer Of Group-Based Learning To The Classroom: A Discussion Paper, Terry De Jong, Marguerite Cullity, Sue Sharp, Sue Spiers, Julia Wren
Proposed Principles For Promoting Pre-Service Teacher Transfer Of Group-Based Learning To The Classroom: A Discussion Paper, Terry De Jong, Marguerite Cullity, Sue Sharp, Sue Spiers, Julia Wren
Australian Journal of Teacher Education
The effective ‘transfer’ of knowledge and skills from university to the workplace is of global interest, yet this area of inquiry lacks research. Teacher educators, for example, require information on how to advance pre-service teachers’ transfer of group-based learning to the primary school classroom (Scott & Baker, 2003). Group-based learning (GBL) is a valued means of developing learners’ group work, personal attributes and interpersonal skills, and in the case pre-service teachers their professional skills.. Graduate teachers do not necessarily generalise GBL pedagogy to the classroom. This discussion paper draws from a qualitative case study that examined this pedagogy in a …
Community Service Learning: A First Year Transition Tool For Teacher Education, Sharn Donninson, Diane Itter
Community Service Learning: A First Year Transition Tool For Teacher Education, Sharn Donninson, Diane Itter
Australian Journal of Teacher Education
Community Service Learning (CSL) as a first year transition strategy into teacher education is a new concept not previously identified in either the CSL literature or the First Year in Higher Education literature. This paper reports on a study that investigated how first year preservice teachers experienced CSL and how this impacted on their current and future professional sense of self. The study showed that the students benefitted professionally, personally, and academically from undertaking community service. We argue that given these results and the similar framing discourses of both CSL and first year transition into Higher Education, that CSL can …
Putting Theory Into Practice: Moving From Student Identity To Teacher Identity , Dawn Joseph, Marina Heading
Putting Theory Into Practice: Moving From Student Identity To Teacher Identity , Dawn Joseph, Marina Heading
Australian Journal of Teacher Education
As teaching is a highly skilled and complex profession, pre-service teachers’ need to develop a series of attributes for their practice in relation to pedagogy, content, student learning, classroom management and their ability to engage in reflection. Through reflective narrative, this article seeks to share how a tertiary music educator prepares her generalist primary pre-service teachers to engage, explore and experience music education within the Bachelor of Education (Primary) course at Unnamed University. It also presents one pre-service teacher’s experience of teaching music during her school placements in 2009 in what she calls ‘putting theory into practice’ moving from student …
The Models Used By Elementary School Teachers To Solve Verbal Problems , Yasin Soylu
The Models Used By Elementary School Teachers To Solve Verbal Problems , Yasin Soylu
Australian Journal of Teacher Education
One of the most important goals of mathematics education is to improve students’ problem solving skills, which can only be realized by teachers who are well-trained in this field. In this context, the purpose of the studies on the subject is to investigate the models used by elementary school teachers to solve verbal problems and their opinions in this process. A multiple-case study was conducted for this study which employs the Problem Information Scale comprised of eight open-ended questions. The study sample consists of a total of 100 elementary school teachers. Six of them were selected for individual interviews on …
Training English Language Student Teachers To Become Reflective Teachers, Ali Al-Issa, Ali Al-Bulushi
Training English Language Student Teachers To Become Reflective Teachers, Ali Al-Issa, Ali Al-Bulushi
Australian Journal of Teacher Education
Reflective teaching practice has become a central theme in professional growth at the pre-service teacher education level almost everywhere. English language teaching (ELT) teacher trainers, like any other teacher trainers, have a powerful role to play in fostering reflection in their student teachers through the approaches and strategies they incorporate in their training, which can have implications related to the perceived worth of reflective practice. This quantitative study describes the responses of 90 final-year ELT student teachers and eight of their trainers at Sultan Qaboos University in the Sultanate of Oman, to a survey about the roles, approaches and strategies …
Cross-National Comparisons Of Background And Confidence In Visual Arts And Music Education Of Pre-Service Primary Teachers , Deirdre Russell-Bowie
Cross-National Comparisons Of Background And Confidence In Visual Arts And Music Education Of Pre-Service Primary Teachers , Deirdre Russell-Bowie
Australian Journal of Teacher Education
This paper reports the findings of a study on pre-service teachers’ background and confidence in music and visual arts education. The study involved 939 non-specialist pre-service primary teachers from five countries. Initially the paper identifies the students’ perceptions of their background and confidence in relation to music and visual arts education. Secondly it examines any differences between the visual arts and music education background and confidence of Australian students and those from the other four countries. Results indicated that 25% of the subjects agreed or strongly agreed that they had a good background in music education and 16% indicated that …
The Dynamics Of Emergent Self-Organisation: Reconceptualising Child Development In Teacher Education, Minkang Kim, Derek Sankey
The Dynamics Of Emergent Self-Organisation: Reconceptualising Child Development In Teacher Education, Minkang Kim, Derek Sankey
Australian Journal of Teacher Education
For more than half a century, child development has endured as one of the main components of teacher education. But if children do develop, as developmentalists claim, what precisely is it that develops and how? Traditionally, within education, answers to these questions have drawn heavily on the theories of Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky. Piaget advocated the progressive development of reasoning through identifiable linear phases or stages. Vygotsky emphasised the role of cultural mediation, whereby the child internalises the habits of mind of his/her social group. More generally within cognitive psychology, development has been attributed to the interaction of two …
Casualties Of Schooling? 18 To 22 Year Old Students In A Tertiary Bridging Programs, Robert Whannell, Bill Alen, Kathy Lynch
Casualties Of Schooling? 18 To 22 Year Old Students In A Tertiary Bridging Programs, Robert Whannell, Bill Alen, Kathy Lynch
Australian Journal of Teacher Education
A sample of 81 students between the ages of 18 and 22 years in a tertiary bridging program at a regional university completed a questionnaire examining how demographics, social context, academic engagement and the ability to cope with the curriculum complexity influenced academic success in high school and adversely affected their preparedness for tertiary study. The demographics of the study participants, including socio-economic status, private/public school attendance and first in family to attend university were such that the study participants could not be considered to be members of a disadvantaged group. The study supports the hypothesis that a number of …
Bibliotherapy Use By Welfare Teams In Secondary Colleges, Pam Harvey
Bibliotherapy Use By Welfare Teams In Secondary Colleges, Pam Harvey
Australian Journal of Teacher Education
Bibliotherapy – the use of books to heal – is a concept that dates back to the time of the philosopher Aristotle who believed that literature had healing effects and that reading fiction was a way of purging illness. But how is bibliotherapy practiced now in secondary schools? This study investigates bibliotherapy use in a regional Australian city with adolescents who have chronic illness. It explores the responses of members of welfare teams (welfare co-ordinators, school nurses and teacher-librarians) within secondary schools to questions on how books are used with students experiencing issues. Findings indicate that although bibliotherapy practice is …
Towards A Classroom Pedagogy For Learner Autonomy: A Framework Of Independent Language Learning Skills, Hayo Reinders
Towards A Classroom Pedagogy For Learner Autonomy: A Framework Of Independent Language Learning Skills, Hayo Reinders
Australian Journal of Teacher Education
In recent years there has been a growing recognition of the importance of learner autonomy and the role of individual learners in directing their own learning process, both inside and outside the classroom (Alford & Pachler, 2007; Benson, 2000; Breen, 2001; Conacher & Kelly-Holmes, 2007). However, in practice it is not always clear how to support learners in this role, and how to ensure they are ready to assume it. This paper explores some of the teaching aspects related to the development of learner autonomy and proposes a framework of skills that could be used by teachers as a guide …
“Use-It-Or-Lose-It”? Interrogating An Educational Message From Teen Brain Research, Monica A. Payne
“Use-It-Or-Lose-It”? Interrogating An Educational Message From Teen Brain Research, Monica A. Payne
Australian Journal of Teacher Education
Recent neuroimaging research has encouraged a fundamental shift in psychological thinking about cognitive development in adolescence. Challenging the existing view that early childhood was the most critical period for intellectually hard-wiring the brain, findings led researchers to speculate that early adolescence might be the more important use-it-or-lose-it period. Despite cautions from critics and some neuroscientists themselves, the new story seems to be following its predecessor in acquiring the status of hard fact. An eclectic sampling of texts examines possible implications of the penetration of this hypothesis into educational discourse. Elements of classism and adultism are identified, and considered with reference …
Examining Perspectives Of Entry-Level Teacher Candidates: A Comparative Study, Ping Liu
Examining Perspectives Of Entry-Level Teacher Candidates: A Comparative Study, Ping Liu
Australian Journal of Teacher Education
This study examines entry-level teacher candidates on career choice, professional goals and view on a teacher’s role. The candidates were enrolled in two elementary teacher education programs in the People’s Republic of China and the United States of America. A total of 66 participants responded in writing to three questions about why they decided to become a teacher, what they wanted to accomplish as a teacher, and how they viewed the role of a teacher. Major differences were found between these groups in their responses to the first two questions but the participants used similar terms to describe a teacher’s …
Fostering Nonverbal Immediacy And Teacher Identity Through An Acting Course In English Teacher Education, Kemal Sinan Özmen
Fostering Nonverbal Immediacy And Teacher Identity Through An Acting Course In English Teacher Education, Kemal Sinan Özmen
Australian Journal of Teacher Education
This research study focuses on integrating acting theories in pre-service English teacher education so as to improve nonverbal immediacy behavior and to contribute to the development process of teacher identity. Studies on incorporation of acting literature into teacher education provide educators with some significant findings clearly indicating that certain teacher competences can be fostered effectively by benefiting from acting theories and practices. While focusing on different aspects and competences of the teaching profession, these studies are in a general accord with the idea that teacher education programs should give more attention to actor preparation theories and techniques so as to …