Education Commons^™

Handbook Of Moral Motivation: Theories, Models, Applications, Minkang Kim

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

In the Handbook of Moral Motivation, the editors have collected together an array of distinguished authors in the field of moral psychology and moral philosophy, all of whom have an interest, one way or another, in the question what forces us to act morally, how are we morally motivated?

Pre-Service Teachers’ Attitudes Towards Overseas Professional Experience: Implications For Professional Practice, Mohan Chinnappan, Barbra Mckenzie, Phil Fitzsimmons

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Reforms in Australia about the education of future teachers has placed a high degree of emphasis on the development of knowledge and skills that are necessary for practitioners who will ply their trade in culturally rich and diverse classrooms (Ramsey, 2000). There is now a broad consensus from key stakeholders (Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership, 2012) that pre-service teachers need to be provided with a range of opportunities that are grounded in classroom practices including exposure to teaching students overseas. The aim of the study that is reported here is to better understand the skills and knowledge that …

‘Follow’ Me: Networked Professional Learning For Teachers, Kathryn Holmes, Greg Preston, Kylie Shaw, Rachel Buchanan

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Effective professional learning for teachers is fundamental for any school system aiming to make transformative and sustainable change to teacher practice. This paper investigates the efficacy of Twitter as a medium for teachers to participate in professional learning by analysing the tweets of 30 influential users of the popular medium . We find that Twitter primarily acts as a valuable conduit for accessing new and relevant educational resources on the internet and also as a viable means of social support for like minded educators. The cost effective nature of the microblogging platform ensures that it can act as a medium …

Examining The Alignment Of Subject Learning Outcomes And Course Curricula Through Curriculum Mapping, Bick-Har Lam, Kwok-Tung Tsui

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Content analysis has been used to conduct curriculum mapping to map the course objectives, course content, and the assessment tasks of 14 compulsory courses, onto the five Subject Learning Objective (SLO) factors of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction (DC&I) in a teacher education institution in Hong Kong. The results show that the SLO factors appear either as a cluster or a concentrated whole in the courses, suggesting a connective nature and dominated feature among them. The situation can be explained by the planned integrated learning experience as well as emphasis on specific SLO factors in response to change in …

Effects Of Epistemological And Pedagogical Beliefs On The Instructional Practices Of Teachers: A Chinese Perspective, John Chi-Kin Lee, Zhonghua Zhang, Huan Song, Xianhan Huang

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This study examines how the beliefs of Chinese in-service teachers regarding knowledge and knowledge acquisition influence their instructional classroom practices in junior secondary schools directly or indirectly through their conceptions of teaching and learning. The results indicate that the factor of learning effort/process is highly valued by Chinese in-service teachers in their epistemological beliefs, and that the constructivist approach is the dominant conception on teaching and learning for junior secondary school teachers.. In addition, the constructivist conception of teaching and learning is found to be positively related to three types of classroom instructional practices, whereas the traditional conception about teaching …

Creating Spaces For Critical Transformative Dialogues: Legitimising Discussion Groups As Professional Practice, Christine J. Edwards-Groves

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Focussed dialogue (as lived and living practices) can have a powerful role in renewing professional practice, advancing its sustainability and development as administrative and political systems colonise the practices of teachers and teacher educators. However, participating in discussion groups for many teachers, including those in academia, is often constrained by time demands, workplace structures and accountabilities. This paper reports a two year empirical case study investigating the transformative nature of dialogues experienced in one such focused discussion group. The dialogic practices of the group aimed firstly to provide a communicative space for its participants to interrogate and interpret factors …

Wider Professional Experiences: The Value Of Pre-Service Teachers Learning In Wider Contexts, Peta Salter, Angela Hill, Fiona Navin, Cecily Knight

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Within teacher education, professional standards across Australian jurisdictions consistently note the importance of developing the ability to “engage professionally” with a community (QCT, 2009; AITSL, 2012). Paralleling this however, are calls for more ‘classroom’ time (Australian Government, 2012). This paper explores opportunities to provide students with experiences outside the classroom; both the space made available in professional standards and how this space it taken up in teacher education programs. It will be argued that wider professional experiences are crucial in developing future teachers who are cognisant of and engaged with the complexities of the communities in which they teach.

The Effect Of Dynamic Software On Prospective Mathematics Teachers’ Perceptions Regarding Information And Communication Technology, Enver Tatar

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of dynamic software on prospective mathematics teachers’ perception levels regarding information and communication technology (ICT). The study was conducted with senior prospective teachers studying in a department of secondary mathematics education. The data of the study used both quantitative and qualitative research approaches have been obtained using two different tests, namely “Technology Perception Scale” and “Computer Assisted Mathematics Instruction Perception Scale”. Consequently, it has been observed in the study that learning how to use dynamic software positively affects prospective mathematics teachers’ perception levels in a statistically significant way regarding the …

Teachers’ Questioning Techniques In Advanced Level Chemistry Lessons: A Tanzanian Perspective, Ernest Kira, Sotco Komba, Eugenia Kafanabo, Frank Tilya

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This study investigated the extent to which teachers’ questioning techniques and the way teachers handled students’ responses facilitated students’ learning and promoted their thinking skills. The study focused on three secondary schools in Dar es Salaam. The data collection process involved classroom observations during chemistry lessons and interviews of 10 chemistry teachers. The findings showed that 80% of the observed teachers had a moderate ability in using questioning techniques to measure students’ understanding. The interesting observation in all schools was that teachers interacted frequently with active students and bothered less to involve the least active ones. Moreover, above 80% of …

Developing Deep Understanding About Language In Undergraduate Pre-Service Teacher Programs Through The Application Of Knowledge, Lisl Fenwick, Sally Humphrey, Marie Quinn, Michele Endicott

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The development of deep understanding of theoretical knowledge is an essential element of successful tertiary-programs that prepare individuals to enter professions. This study investigates the extent to which an emphasis on the application of knowledge within curriculum design, teaching strategies and assessment methods developed deep knowledge about language within the first year of a tertiary-based teacher education program in Australia. Concepts of application from literature on tertiary-based learning informed the design of curriculum, teaching strategies and assessment within a unit on linguistics for pre-service teachers. Questionnaires, provided to students at the end of the unit, and analysis of a final …

Everything In Moderation: A Quality Improvement Initiative, Rowena H. Scott, Bev Ewens, Lesley Andrew

eCULTURE

This discussion paper describes the review and development of a standardised moderation of assessment process in the School of Nursing and Midwifery. This initiative was the result of collaboration between two nursing course coordinators and a Centre for Learning and Development academic who provided the scholarship of moderation of assessments. A review of the current moderation processes revealed the potential for variation amongst markers especially due to the large number of new and sessional academic staff. A recommendation from the review was the need for a moderation process that provides evidence for reporting and is not difficult for academic staff …

Develop A Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (Sids) Education Package In Jordan: Using Participatory Action Research Approach To Create Ripple Of Change, Shereen Hamadneh, Jehan Hamadneh

eCULTURE

IInfant mortality is high in Jordan, a developing country in the Middle East, at 19 per 1000 live births. Most mortality risk factors are preventable. The SIDS incidence rate has also been extrapolated as 11.22 per 1000 live births [1]. This is much higher than the United State of America (USA), a developed country (0.54 per 1000 live births) [2]. Most of modifiable SIDS risk factors can be reduced by increasing knowledge, change behaviors and practices regarding SIDS risks and prevention measures.

There has not been a major investment in educating Jordanians about SIDS. Heath care providers are identified …

Moocs, Learning Analytics And Learning Advisors, Ron Monson, Diane Bunney, Teresa Lawrence

eCULTURE

The advent of Massive Open Online Courses has been variously described as heralding the end of the modern university or alternatively, an over-hyped re-badging of existing online content whose advantages have already been realised. Appeals to ideology however, have typically characterised coverage of both polarities rather than hard evidence; in particular, there has been much less analysis on just how learning outcomes are impacted by either “face-to-face” interaction or online/digital environment. Less dichotomously and even more rarely addressed is perhaps a more pertinent question: What blending of the two learning modes works best and in what circumstances? In this paper …

The Future Of Assessment Is Mobile, Alistair Campbell

eCULTURE

Mobile devices now allow us to capture a students learning in situ. Although the iPad is largely used in education, its use is often as a supportive tool and not on endemic to assessment. Digitisation of assessment holds the promise of reducing the assessment load to two-thirds of the current administrative workload. The process transforms to a co-creative learning experience negotiated between the teacher, student and parent.

Sids Poster, Shereen Hamadneh

eCULTURE

This study sought to develop, implement and evaluate a Jordanian SIDS Education Prevention Program (JSEPP), to reduce mortality rates due to SIDS in Jordan. This study targeted health care providers, who subsequently delivered the information to families.

Careers In Research And Volunteering, Marta Garcia, Michelle Chafin

ECU Research Week

The presentation covers the professional career service and job search coaching available to all current students and alumni and the opportunities available for volunteering, mentoring and leadership opportunities.

Using Appreciative Inquiry To Frame The Appraisal Of An Australian Initial Teacher Education Program, Jeanne M. Allen, Maureen Innes

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This paper reports on a study that investigated the process and outcomes of using Appreciative Inquiry (AI) in an Australian initial teacher education (ITE) program review. The aim of the study, which drew on a sample of teaching staff involved in this Master of Teaching program, was to gain an understanding of the extent to which the application of the AI framework can be used effectively in the review of ITE programs. AI promotes collegial reflective practice and the generation of positive resolutions and thus aligned with the purposes of the review that were to foster collaboration, strengthen staff morale …

What Teachers Need To Know To Teach Mathematics: An Argument For A Reconceptualised Model, Derek P. Hurrell

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Since Shulman’s (1986) seminal work on Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) was released, it has created opportunities for the creation of constructs to scaffold the knowledge and understandings that teachers need in order to be effective. Adapting this work from being a heuristic to an operational structure has seen the development of many models. One such model regarding Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching (MKT) (Hill et al., 2008) has enjoyed a good deal of attention. This paper aims to argue for a reconceptualisation of Hill et al.’s (2008) model to make it as informative as possible for teachers and teaching.

A Strategic Approach To Curriculum Design For Information Literacy In Teacher Education – Implementing An Information Literacy Conceptual Framework, Anna Klebansky, Sharon P. Fraser

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This paper details a conceptual framework that situates curriculum design for information literacy and lifelong learning, through a cohesive developmental information literacy based model for learning, at the core of teacher education courses at UTAS. The implementation of the framework facilitates curriculum design that systematically, consistently and incrementally develops information literacy capabilities across entire teacher education course structures, thereby facilitating teacher education students to graduate as critical thinkers, problem solvers, informed decision makers and independent, self-directed lifelong learners. As education professionals, these graduates have the potential of developing these capabilities in the children they teach. The paper discusses the development …

Factors Influencing Job Attainment In Recent Bachelor Graduates: Evidence From Australia, Denise Jackson

Research outputs 2013

Favourable graduate employment outcomes are critical for future enrolments in higher education. Enrolments fund higher education providers and ensure a continuous supply of graduates to enhance organisational effectiveness, national productivity and global competitiveness. Recent evidence suggests the global financial crisis has softened graduate labour markets. Stakeholder concerns for graduate career prospects and the adequacy of return on investment from studying at university prompt exploration of those factors which influence graduate employment outcomes. This study tests, using logistic regression, a model of job attainment in recent Bachelor graduates of Australian higher education providers using national data gathered in 2011 (n …

Second-Year Pre-Service Teachers’ Responses To Proportional Reasoning Test Items, Sharyn Livy, Sandra Herbert

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

A recent international study of pre-service teachers identified that proportional reasoning was problematic for pre-service teachers. Proportional reasoning is an important topic in the middle years of schooling and therefore it is critical that teachers understand this topic and can rely on their Mathematical Content Knowledge (MCK) when teaching. The focus of this paper is second-year Australian primary pre-service teachers’ MCK of real number items related to ratio, rate, proportion and proportional reasoning. This paper reports on strengths and weakness of pre-service teachers’ MCK when responding to test items; including a method suitable for analysing responses to five items and …

The Curriculum For English Language Teacher Education In Australian And Vietnamese Universities, Minh Hue Nguyen

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This paper examines the curricula for English language teacher education in two universities, one in Australia and the other in Vietnam. Specifically, it analyses the structures of the two curricula, compares and contrasts them, and examines how the development of the curricula was shaped by distinctive contextual factors. Sources of data include relevant literature, policy and curriculum documents, and interviews with curriculum developers from the two universities. Analysis of data revealed great variation across and within the two curricula in terms of structure and content. Findings also reveal specific contextual factors that influenced the development of the curricula. Although the …

How To Enable Asian Teachers To Empower Students To Adopt Student-Centred Learning, Thanh Thi Hong Pham, Peter Renshaw

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Asian teachers’ reluctance to empower students has been claimed to be an significant barrier preventing their students from practising student-centred learning. To promote student-centredness in Asian classrooms, this study aimed to develop strategies that could enable Asian teachers to delegate part of their authority to students. Twelve college teachers and six hundred and fifteen Vietnamese college students participated in this one-semester study. The results revealed that ‘artificial’ innovations such as forming group work and regularly questioning students in class did not mean empowering students in active learning. Students were only positioned and given opportunities to engage in proper student-centredness when …

Citizenship Education In The Social Science Subjects: An Analysis Of The Teacher Education Curriculum For Secondary Schools, Aaron T. Sigauke

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Citizenship education is widely acknowledged as a necessary part of the school curriculum for various reasons. For young people, it is assumed that citizenship can best be learnt through the school curriculum. This means that teachers need to thoroughly understand what citizenship means and how to pass this knowledge on to students.

This paper examines the nature of civics and citizenship education offered in the social sciences teacher education program at a teacher education institution in Australia. It analyses ten social science subject syllabuses to find out how pre-service teachers are trained about teaching citizenship education in schools when they …

Teacher Professional Learning In A Neoliberal Age: Audit, Professionalism And Identity, Nicole Mockler

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This paper examines the current shape of teacher professional learning, or in-service teacher education, in Australia. Increasingly, teacher professional learning is positioned as both a sure-fire solution to some of the intransigent educational problems of our time, as well as a policy problem in and of itself. In this paper I explore some of the dominant discourses surrounding teacher learning, such as those related to professional standards, teacher professionalism and teacher quality, which regard teacher learning predominantly as about skill acquisition and competency development. I argue that the civil society aspirations of the Melbourne Declaration will better be met by …

Incorporating The Aesthetic Dimension Into Pedagogy, R. Scott Webster, Melissa Wolfe

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

One of the dimensions of learning experiences, which is not often given much attention outside of the creative arts, is the aesthetic dimension. In this paper we report on a study we conducted which explores the importance of learning through aesthetic experiences as identified by Dewey. While there is literature available which engages with the significance of such experiences (Hinchliffe, 2011; Nakamura, 2009) there is little which explores the nexus between this and specific practices in classrooms. Through examining pedagogical practices and beliefs of some exemplary teachers (as identified by their community), our study uncovered some approaches which offer alternate …

Start With The End In Mind: Experiences Of Accelerated Course Completion By Pre-Service Teachers And Educators, Anita Collins, Iain Hay, Irmgard Heiner

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

In response to changes government funding and policies over the past five years, the Australian tertiary sector has entered an increasingly competitive climate. This has forced many universities to become more strategic in attracting increased numbers of PSTs. Providing accelerated learning opportunities for PSTs is viewed as one way to gain greater market share. Accelerated learning programs are one of the fastest growing transformations in Australian higher education over the past five years. There is limited research that investigates the effectiveness of accelerated programs and the ways in which PSTs experience them. This preliminary study investigates the experiences of pre-service …

Ideas Of And Attitudes Towards Projects And Changing Practices: Voices Of Four Teachers, Saurav Shome, Chitra Natarajan

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The paper reports a study of the project practices of four Indian middle school teachers, elicited through semi-structured interviews of individual teachers. The teachers also responded to a proposal to modify four aspects of existing project practices, viz. subject integration, assessment, group work, and management of resources. The aspects were derived to be significant from the recommendations of the Indian National Curriculum Framework (2005), and based on research literature on project-based learning (PBL). The study found that teachers largely used projects as motivating exercises before teaching, or an activity for applying what was learnt. Hence, they associated fluid meanings to …

The Journey To Becoming Teaching Professionals In Rural South Africa And Zimbabwe., Tabitha G. Mukeredzi

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

There seems to be consensus on what constitutes effective professional development although the gap between rhetoric and practice remains wide. Knowing what professional development looks like is insufficient, what is critical is to get it engrained in school structures. The study explored professional development practices of twelve professionally unqualified practicing teachers in rural South Africa and Zimbabwe secondary schools. Drawing on models of professional development, analysis of qualitative interview data suggests that classroom teaching practice, in-school meetings and school-to-school subject cluster and association meetings are effective for teacher professional growth. The paper illustrates that if teacher professional development is to …

Rethinking The Literacy Capabilities Of Pre-Service Primary Teachers In Testing Times, Eileen Honan, Beryl Exley, Lisa Kervin, Alyson Simpson, Muriel Wells

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This paper demonstrates how teacher accreditation requirements can be responsibly aligned with a scholarly impetus to incorporate digital literacies to prepare pre-service teachers to meet changing educational needs and practices. The assessment initiatives introduced in the newly constructed four year undergraduate Bachelor of Education program at one Australian university are described and analysed in light of the debates surrounding pre-service primary teachers’ literacy capabilities. The findings and subsequent discussion have implications for all literacy teacher educators concerned about the impact of standardised assessment practices on the professional future of teachers.