Education Commons^™

Book Review - Narratives Of Learning Through International Professional Experience, Maria Cantalini-Williams

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Narratives of Learning through International Professional Experience, edited by Fitzgerald, Parr and Williams (2017) provides compelling evidence that practicum placements in diverse cultural settings illuminate and inspire new understandings of participants including pre-service teachers, faculty facilitators and host mentor educators.

Which Strategy Promotes Retention? Intentional Vocabulary Learning, Incidental Vocabulary Learning, Or A Mixture Of Both?, Amirreza Karami, Freddie A. Bowles

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether intentional vocabulary learning, incidental vocabulary learning, or a combination of the two best prepares students for learning and retaining vocabulary in English as foreign language learning (EFL) classrooms. Three experimental groups and three control groups were selected. All groups were given a pre-test and an immediate post-test after the instruction. A delayed post-test was administered to the experimental groups after the immediate post-test. The three experimental groups received the intervention—intentional, incidental, or a combination—while the three control groups received no vocabulary learning instruction. The results show that the mixed instructed group …

Emergence Of Professional Identities Of Novice Emirati Teachers, Lilly Tennant, Patricia Stringer, Julie Riddlebarger, Martina Dickson, Keith Kennetz

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This article explores the emergence of Emirati novice teachers’ professional identity from a socio-cultural viewpoint where influences on identity are sourced internally through beliefs, attitudes, values and dispositions and externally through factors such as roles and responsibilities. Empirical data collected through individual and group interviews and analysed using content analysis, highlights both challenges and emergence of professional identity from point of graduation through to the end of the first year of teaching. The results show that influences on professional identity relate to challenges of raising learner outcomes in relation to delivery of the curriculum, managing the self in multiple contexts, …

Experiential Teacher Education – Preparing Preservice Teachers To Teach English Grammar Through An Experiential Learning Project, Jackie F. K. Lee

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The paper explores and describes the kinds of learning attained by a group of Hong Kong preservice teachers who worked collaboratively to develop online grammar teaching resources for school teachers worldwide. Based on the quantitative and qualitative data collected during the ongoing collaboration, lesson tryouts, and post-project evaluation, the project results reflect the value of experiential learning in preservice teacher education. The themes that detail the student teachers’ experiences include textbook evaluation, professional knowledge, core competencies of teachers, and understanding of English language teaching outside the Hong Kong context.

Looking In The Heads Of Experienced Teachers – Do They Use The Wide Range Of Principles Of Effective Teaching When Analysing Lessons?, Wilfried Plöger, Matthias Krepf, Daniel Scholl, Andreas Seifert

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This study aimed to examine whether principles of effective teaching constitute essential criteria for a systematic and successful analysis of lessons. After watching a video of a complete lesson, the participants (each of nine experienced and pre-service teachers) were asked to analyse this lesson in terms of effectiveness for pupils’ learning in the form of an open dialogue. Their comments were analysed by means of a qualitative content analysis and revealed that the experienced teachers independently used the wide range of principles of effective teaching and differed significantly from the pre-service teachers in this regard. Particularly striking were the large …

Skilling Up: Providing Educational Opportunities For Aboriginal Education Workers Through Technology-Based Pedagogy, Elizabeth M. Jackson-Barrett, Graeme Gower, Anne E. Price, Jan Herrington

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Over the past decade Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander studies and perspectives have been mandated across the Australian national curriculum and all teachers are now required to demonstrate strategies for teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and have a broad knowledge of Aboriginal histories, cultures and languages. This paper describes a project focused on enabling Aboriginal Education Workers (AEWs) to play a critical role in transforming these initiatives into real and sustainable change through authentic, technology-based pedagogy. Indigenous research methodologies and design-based research (DBR) were used to investigate the potential educational roles for AEWs enabled by e-learning and new …

Short-Term International Experiences In Language Teacher Education: A Qualitative Meta-Synthesis, Emrullah Yasin Çiftçi, A. Cendel Karaman

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Short-term international experiential learning opportunities can foster language teachers' multidimensional development. Even though such experiences are considered beneficial for language teachers’ development, educational reviews have scarcely concentrated on a comprehensive synthesis of the impact of such experiences on language teachers. This meta-synthesis of qualitative research analyzed the role of international experiential learning in the multidimensional development of pre- and in-service language teachers. Besides presenting a number of research patterns in the literature, this synthesis of 25 qualitative studies reported main outcomes of short-term international experiences for language teachers. These outcomes were synthesized under three main headings: (1) professional, (2) linguistic, …

Health And Physical Education Teacher Education 2.0: Pre-Service Teachers’ Perceptions On Developing Digital Twitter Skills, Brendon P. Hyndman, Stephen Harvey

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The advent of Web 2.0 technologies such as Twitter are reflective of an improved capacity for global educative collaboration. Yet there is an absence of research determining the potential of social media within Health and Physical Education Teacher Education (H-PETE). The aim of this paper was to therefore determine pre-service teachers’ (PSTs) perceptions of the potential of using Twitter within H-PETE training. The study was underpinned by a constructivist online learning framework. PSTs (n=35) enrolled at a regional Australian university were recruited to participate via online survey. Themes revealed PSTs perceived Twitter could be valuable during H-PETE for facilitating learning, …

Pre-Service Teachers’ Impact On Student Learning: Planning, Teaching, And Assessing During Professional Practice, Michael Cavanagh, Jennifer Barr, Robyn Moloney, Rod Lane, Iain Hay, Hye-Eun Chu

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This paper reports a pilot study to investigate four pre-service teachers’ reports of their impact on student learning while they completed a four-week professional experience block. We used Hiebert, Morris, Berk, and Jansen’s (2007) framework for teacher preparation to analyse the how the participants planned, assessed and reflected on a lesson sequence. Data collected were the pre-service teachers’ learning diary entries completed during the four-week block and an online questionnaire and interview completed at the end of the teaching block. Results indicate that the pre-service teachers struggled to identify clear learning goals for students which adversely impacted their ability to …

Developing A Mentoring Framework Through The Examination Of Mentoring Paradigms In A Teacher Residency Program, Rubén Garza, Raymond Reynosa, Patrice Werner, Ellen Duchaine, Rod A. Harter

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

In this paper, we extend on our exploratory study that examined mentors’ conceptualizations and practices of mentoring preservice teachers in a residency program to develop a mentoring framework to guide mentors’ approaches to mentoring preservice teachers in a year-long clinical experience. Our mentoring framework has the potential to make mentors consciously aware of their roles and purposes of mentoring throughout the year and within respective contexts. This metacognitive approach may help them to improve their practice and grow alongside their mentee. The Mentoring Framework for Mentoring is a tool that may be instrumental in developing mentors’ deeper understanding of the …

Enacting The Australian Curriculum: Primary And Secondary Teachers’ Approaches To Integrating The Curriculum, Julianne Moss, Sally C. Godinho, Edlyn Chao

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Integrated approaches to curriculum planning and delivery are not a recent phenomenon. In the 1930s John Dewey advocated for a more cohesive conceptualisation of students’ learning. Yet, despite state and national endorsement of curriculum integration in Australia, it is generally considered an alternative curriculum design that has failed to gain traction in Australian schools. A qualitative case study, situated in two inner city government schools in the state of Victoria, explored the integrative approaches undertaken by primary and secondary teachers when planning and implementing their curriculum to account for their students’ needs, interests and the school and community context. …

Integrated Content And Language Instruction: Lecturers’ Views And Classroom Instructional Practices, Soni Mirizon, Ben Wadham, David Curtis

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The objective of this study was to investigate how integrated content and language instruction, where English is used as the medium of instruction in teaching Mathematics and Science was viewed by the lecturers of the content subjects. The study also examined whether or not it had impacts on the lecturers classroom instructional practices. Cummins’ (1981, 1984) Content Based Instruction approach was used as the framework for the study. This study employed a mixed methods approach combining interview, classroom observation, and a survey questionnaire. Twelve lecturers participated in interviews; twenty responded to a survey questionnaire, and four participated in classroom observations. …

Literature In The Australian English Curriculum: Victorian Primary School Teachers’ Practices, Challenges And Preparedness To Teach, Louise Paatsch, Kirsten Hutchison, Anne Cloonan

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The introduction of the Literature strand within the Australian Curriculum requires all teachers to engage students in print and digital literature that embrace the cross-curriculum priorities and support students to examine, evaluate, and discuss literary texts. However, such curriculum change assumes that primary school teachers who have often not studied literature as a specific method, have the confidence and content and pedagogical knowledge to plan and implement programs. This paper investigates teachers’ views of their level of confidence and preparedness to teach literature, and to explore teachers’ practices, challenges and enablers in teaching literature in both print and digital environments. …

Teacher Education, Teachers’ Work, And Justice In Education: Third Space And Mediation Epistemology, Fátima Pereira

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

A theoretical essay, based on the results of research projects on teacher education, teachers’ work, and justice in education developed by the author, is presented. It reflects on teacher education and the epistemology of teachers’ work, and proposes a mediational and a narrative perspective towards a third space in Teacher education. An alternative mediation epistemological approach to justice in education and the epistemology of teachers’ work is presented, aiming towards an understanding of the ways in which teachers’ education has the possibility of making a difference in the construction of a more just public school.

Early Career Teachers’ Intentions To Leave The Profession: The Complex Relationships Among Preservice Education, Early Career Support, And Job Satisfaction, Nick Kelly, Marcela Cespedes, Marc Clarà, Patrick A. Danaher

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This paper investigates the complex factors that lead to early career teachers (ECTs) deciding to leave the profession. It extends prior studies to show the associations that different elements of preservice education (PSE), early career support, and on-the-job satisfaction have with the intention to leave the profession. The study uses data from 2,144 Australian ECTs to explore these relationships. Results highlight the importance of teachers’ collegial relationships with their peers, and replicate prior findings showing the significance of mentoring and induction programs. Results show that elements of job satisfaction are strongly associated with intention to leave the profession, leading to …

Beating The Bamboozle: Literacy Pedagogy Design And The Technicality Of Sfl, Erika Matruglio

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This paper explores the issue of metalanguage and writing instruction in the senior secondary curriculum. It reports on the use of a design based research collaboration between a very experienced teacher of Ancient History and a research team with the aim of improving literacy outcomes for a group of disadvantaged students. The case highlights some of the challenges implicated in this close work between educational linguistic theorists as language specialists and classroom practitioners as subject specialists. In particular, it raises the issue of how to provide already experienced teachers with a metalanguage to express their implicit knowledge about text more …

Understanding Teacher Evaluation In Finland: A Professional Development Framework, Hakan Tarhan, A. Cendel Karaman, Lauri Kemppinen, Juli-Anna Aerila

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This study explores the characteristics of the teacher evaluation model in Finland. Highlighting the unique qualities of the Finnish case, we also compare these teacher evaluation practices with the increasingly applied value-added model (VAM) for teacher evaluation across the globe. Our analysis revealed that the Finnish Model prioritises teacher empowerment and professional development by carrying out bottom-up evaluation practices. With a clear focus on teacher empowerment and professional development, this framework substantially differs from accountability measures such as VAM, which emphasize rigid data collection procedures and the use of standardized test scores to hold teachers accountable based on their students’ …

The Next Chapter In The Stem Education Narrative: Using Robotics To Support Programming And Coding., Susan Blackley, Jennifer Howell

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

IIn this paper, we use our qualitative research notes and observations to portray a model for integrated STEM education and summarise primary school students’ typical and recurring ways in which they engaged with each new robot. The purpose of this paper is two-fold: first, to unpack key elements of the Australian Curriculum: Technologies in order to support teachers and pre- service teachers to implement these components, and second, to describe ways in which teachers can teach authentic integrated STEM education that also provides opportunities for students to develop and demonstrate 21^st century competencies. Based on data collected from …

Collaborative Coteaching (Cct): Practitioner Learning Through Shared Praxis, Joanne Yoo, Keith Heggart, Nina Burridge

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This paper explores the benefits of coteaching a philosophy and ethics subject for final year Australian primary preservice education students. It depicts the learning experiences of two early career academics, who were the coresearchers and coauthors of this article. A third author acted as a critical friend who facilitated reflective discussion around their coteaching practices. The coteachers adopt the living theory methodology to investigate collaborative coteaching as an effective model of instruction in higher education through a case study of their own practice. The primary data sources include both coteachers’ weekly journals, an interview discussion with a critical friend, informal …

Middle School Mathematics Pre-Service Teacher’S Responses To A Mathematics Content And Specific Mathematics Pedagogy Intervention, Stephen J. Norton

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Prospective middle school pre-service teachers’ knowledge and affect in Australia has had little empirical research. In this study, 108 graduate entry pre-service teachers were surveyed for their knowledge of middle years’ mathematics, confidence, and self-efficacy at the commencement of a mathematics curriculum course. It was found that their memory of middle years’ mathematics was very poor and this was accompanied by low levels of confidence and self-efficacy. An intervention was undertaken to address these issues. The findings are discussed in the context of the “genericism” of pre-service teacher preparation. In particular, the findings call into question the justification for pre-service …

Multiage Education: An Exploration Of Advantages And Disadvantages Through A Systematic Review Of The Literature, Michelle Ronksley-Pavia, Georgina M. Barton, Donna Pendergast

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This systematic quantitative literature review explores existent empirical studies with an interest in multiage education in small school settings, with a specific focus on curriculum and pedagogy. Database searches were methodically conducted across six data bases. The inclusion criteria specified the need for empirical research, and publication dates ranged from 1997 to 2017. The article begins by setting the scene for the systematic review, exploring historical and international practices related to multiage complexities and terminology. Curriculum and pedagogical practices are explored to identify key advantages and disadvantages associated with a multiage approach in small school contexts.

Halliday’S View Of Child Language Learning: Has It Been Misinterpreted?, Anne Thwaite

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This paper gives a brief summary of Halliday’s theory of how children learn to talk, illustrating the development of children’s language from the microfunctions through the macrofunctions and into the metafunctions of adult language. The paper points to a possible source of the misinterpretation of Halliday’s theory in the work of Frank Smith (1983), which appears to have “trickled down” into some of the textbooks written for pre-service teachers in Australia. Links are made to teachers’ knowledge about language (KAL) and the current Australian Curriculum English (ACE). It is suggested that while any number of functions of the language of …

Online Initial Teacher Education In Australia: Affordances For Pedagogy, Practice And Outcomes, Jillian J. Downing, Janet E. Dyment, Cathy Stone

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This paper reports on interviews with 19 senior teacher educators from 18 universities across Australia who offer fully online courses in initial teacher education (ITE). Teacher educators provided insight into four focus areas related to online ITE: 1) institutional practices; 2) affordances; 3) challenges; and 4) research priorities. Analysis revealed teacher educators perceived that online ITE can not only match on campus delivery but is also able to respond to reform agendas in ITE, including attracting students with attributes and characteristics that are likely to see them succeed as teachers, enabling students to experience contemporary approaches to learning, building strong …

Historical Thinking For History Teachers: Review Essay, Bruce Haynes

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Allender, T., Clark, A., Parkes, R. (Eds). (2019). Historical Thinking for History Teachers: A new approach to engaging students and developing historical consciousness, Sydney, Allen and Unwin 352 pp., $44.48

Democratic Contribution Or Information For Reform? Prevailing And Emerging Discourses Of Student Voice, Jennifer Charteris, Dianne Smardon

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

While a range of typologies frame and critique the scope, purpose and power relations of different student voice approaches, it is timely to look at the direction that student voice literature has taken in recent years and map dominant discourses in the field. In the article the following questions are addressed: (a) What are the dominant discourses in student voice literature? (b) What are the ways forward, to ensure there is both systemic quality assurance and democratic (if not radical) student participation? The discourses named and interrogated in this article include: governmentality; accountability; institutional transformation and reform; learner agency; personalising …

The Development Of Preservice Teachers’ Self-Efficacy For Classroom And Behavior Management Across Multiple Field Experiences, Maria B. Sciuchetti, Nina Yssel

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Classroom and behaviour management difficulties are consistently reported among the top reasons given by both novice and experienced teachers for leaving the profession. In order to successfully prepare and retain teachers, it is imperative that we understand the factors related to issues of classroom and behaviour management that may influence their decision to remain in the field. This study explored the development of preservice special education teachers’ self-efficacy for classroom and behaviour management as they progressed through a four-semester professional development sequence. Findings indicated that although self-efficacy levels were variable across semesters, statistically significant changes in group self-efficacy levels were …

Does A “Science, Technology And Social Change” Course Improve Scientific Habits Of Mind And Attitudes Towards Socioscientific Issues?, Muammer Çalik, Faik Özgür Karataş

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The study aimed at exploring whether a “Science-Technology-Social Change” course improved pre-service social studies teachers’ (PST) scientific habits of mind and attitudes towards socio-scientific issues. Within a pre- and post-course experimental design, the study was conducted with 135 second-year PST (68 males and 67 females) from two classes at Department of Social Studies Teacher Education in a large-size university, Turkey. Two different Likert type scales, Scientific Habits of Mind Scale and Attitudes towards Socioscientific Issues Scale, were employed to collect data before and after the course. The data were imported to SPSS 15^TM for descriptive and inferential statistics in …

Developing Children’S Physical Literacy: How Well Prepared Are Prospective Teachers?, Judith Dinham, Paul Williams

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

While the known health impacts of sedentary lifestyles have focused attention on children’s outdoor activity, the development of their physical literacy – the physiological, social, cultural, cognitive, expressive, and psychological dimensions of their physicality – is much less in focus.

Developing children’s physical literacy is embedded in the Early Years Learning Framework and Primary curriculum: Health and Physical Education, and the performing arts subjects within The Arts. This study asks “How well prepared are pre-service teachers to implement a program that contributes to developing children’s physical literacy?”

This mixed methods study includes an environmental scan of BEd courses at 12 …

The Benefits And Challenges Of Embedding Work Integrated Learning: A Case Study In A University Education Degree Program, Maria Doolan, Ben Piggott, Sian Chapman, Paul Rycroft

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Embedded Work Integrated Learning (EWIL) is a specific model of Work Integrated Learning (WIL); students work with industry in small blocks of time at regular intervals throughout semester focussing on reflective learning in authentic work environments. This study highlights benefits and challenges experienced when incorporating EWIL into a university education degree. Data was collected through survey and interview; students and graduates were surveyed and industry partners were interviewed. Reflections from university staff involved in the degree were also included. Results demonstrate EWIL is an effective pedagogical strategy in terms of providing authentic, real world learning experiences and enhancing students’ employability …

Dimensions Of Agency In New Generation Learning Spaces: Developing Assessment Capability, Jennifer Charteris, Dianne Smardon

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

In new generation schooling contexts, the interaction of human activity, space, and objects, co- produce spatialised practices. There is the fluid use and continuous re-design of learning spaces, where dynamic socio-material practices support the ongoing and negotiated development of curriculum, pedagogy and assessment. Links are forged in this article between spatialised practice and student agency. In Aotearoa/New Zealand there is a national policy impetus for all schools to move towards re-designed learning spaces. School leaders are challenged with a mandate to lead pedagogic change to develop assessment capability, in alignment with the redesign of education facilities. Informed by theories of …