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Full-Text Articles in Education

Mathematics Teachers’ Feedback Responses To Students’ Errors And Unexpected Strategies, Andrés Pinzón, Pedro Gómez, María José González Jan 2022

Mathematics Teachers’ Feedback Responses To Students’ Errors And Unexpected Strategies, Andrés Pinzón, Pedro Gómez, María José González

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

A part of students learning in the classroom depends on how the teacher responds to their thinking. The literature has separately addressed teachers’ feedback responses to errors and unexpected strategies that students put into play when solving tasks. We propose a framework to analyze these responses together based on three criteria: the focus of the answers (teacher or student), the type of knowledge (conceptual or procedural) that the teacher puts into play in the teacher-centered answers, and the types of actions (asking and proposing) involved in student-centered responses. We codified and analyzed the feedback responses of a group of mathematics …


Conversations With Australian Teachers And School Leaders About Using Differentiated Instruction In A Mainstream Secondary School, Kathryn Gibbs, Wendi Beamish Jan 2021

Conversations With Australian Teachers And School Leaders About Using Differentiated Instruction In A Mainstream Secondary School, Kathryn Gibbs, Wendi Beamish

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Circumstances in today’s schools are requiring a rethinking of pedagogical approaches so that equitable learning opportunities are provided to all students. This small-scale, qualitative Australian study reports how some teachers and school leaders viewed differentiated instruction (DI) being applied in their secondary campus to address diverse abilities and needs. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted using Zoom. The analysis of data identified three themes related to DI: understandings, practices, and concerns. Findings showed that all participants understood many of the important elements of DI. Teachers reported using several well-known DI strategies, with experienced teachers applying a more considered approach. Teachers raised …


How Teachers Find Meaning In Their Work And Effects On Their Pedagogical Practice, Kristina Turner, Monica Thielking Jan 2019

How Teachers Find Meaning In Their Work And Effects On Their Pedagogical Practice, Kristina Turner, Monica Thielking

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This study addresses a gap in current literature by applying a qualitative phenomenological approach to understand how teachers with a calling orientation perceive meaning in their work. A calling orientation has been defined by Wrzesniewski, et al. (1997) as a commitment to one’s work as it contributes to the greater good and makes the world a better place. Individuals’ perception of participation in meaningful work has been closely linked to subjective wellbeing. The current study revealed that teachers’ reported that they found meaning in their work through having an impact on their students’ lives and through positive relationships with students …


Anecdotes, Experience, And ‘Learning By Osmosis’: The Role Of Professional Cultures In Preparing Teachers For Parent-School Engagement, Sue Saltmarsh, Amy K. Mcpherson, Sayan Chakrabarty, Stephen Winn, David Saltmarsh Jan 2019

Anecdotes, Experience, And ‘Learning By Osmosis’: The Role Of Professional Cultures In Preparing Teachers For Parent-School Engagement, Sue Saltmarsh, Amy K. Mcpherson, Sayan Chakrabarty, Stephen Winn, David Saltmarsh

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Initial teacher education and experiences of the professional cultures of teaching contribute to teachers’ understandings about how to engage with parents. Drawing on qualitative research data, and informed by Michel de Certeau’s theory of culture and everyday life, this paper explores how everyday beliefs and professional practices that shape relationships between teachers and parents can remain relatively stable despite changing expectations of policy-makers and communities. The paper argues that equipping pre-service, beginning and experienced teachers and school leaders with research-based understandings about these cultural dynamics is crucial to informing professional practices that support meaningful and effective parent-school engagement.



Teenagers Perceptions Of Teachers: A Developmental Argument, J-F J-F, Karen Swabey, Darren Pullen, Seyum Getenet, Tony Dowden Jan 2018

Teenagers Perceptions Of Teachers: A Developmental Argument, J-F J-F, Karen Swabey, Darren Pullen, Seyum Getenet, Tony Dowden

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Using the concept of a developmental lens (Brighton, 2007; Caskey & Anfara, 2014; Davis, 2006; J-F, Pullen, & Carroll, 2013; National Middle School Association, 2010; Peterson, 2010), this article focuses on young teenage students’ perceptions of teachers. School teachers play an important role in the educational development of teenagers but little is known about how teachers cater for teenage students’ social, emotional, physical and cognitive developmental domains. Even less is known about teenage students’ perceptions of their teachers. The current study asked a cohort of Year 9 students in a secondary school in Brisbane, Australia (N=182) to comment on what …


Autism Spectrum Disorder Coursework For Teachers And Teacher-Aides: An Investigation Of Courses Offered In Queensland, Australia, Mitchell Coates, Janeen Lamb, Brendan Bartlett, Poulomee Datta Jan 2017

Autism Spectrum Disorder Coursework For Teachers And Teacher-Aides: An Investigation Of Courses Offered In Queensland, Australia, Mitchell Coates, Janeen Lamb, Brendan Bartlett, Poulomee Datta

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The content and structure of pre-service and teacher-aide programs has major implications for training, management, support and deployment of teachers and teacher-aides in mainstream schools working with students who have ASD. Data pertaining to course content and structure were collected from university and teacher-aide training websites, program enrolment guides, and through direct contact with institutions in Queensland, Australia. 101 education programs were narrowed down to 45 in early-childhood/primary education, and 8 online teacher-aide training programs. Findings indicate the urgent need for academics in institutions to begin working towards redesigning programs that deliver best practices in ASD for pre-service educators.



Relations Between Teachers’ Classroom Goals And Values: A Case Study Of High School Teachers In Far North Queensland, Australia, Claudia E. Pudelko, Helen J. Boon Jan 2014

Relations Between Teachers’ Classroom Goals And Values: A Case Study Of High School Teachers In Far North Queensland, Australia, Claudia E. Pudelko, Helen J. Boon

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

To date, there is an empirical gap in the evidence of the relations between teachers’ classroom goals and values, two key variables linked to students’ achievement motivation. The purpose of this study was to investigate this relationship in an Australian teacher sample. We surveyed 102 high school teachers from seven schools in Cairns, Queensland using items of Wentzel’s Classroom Goals Scales and Schwartz’s Portrait Values Questionnaire. Results showed several positive associations between teachers’ classroom goals and values. Social goals were linked to a wide range of values, while academic goals were linked to specific value dimensions, e.g. mastery approach goals …


Mathematics, English And Gender Issues: Do Teachers Count?, Gilah C. Leder, Helen J. Forgasz, Glenda Jackson Jan 2014

Mathematics, English And Gender Issues: Do Teachers Count?, Gilah C. Leder, Helen J. Forgasz, Glenda Jackson

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Pedestrians were stopped in the street and asked about their views on the teaching and learning of mathematics and English for boys and girls. Many commented on the importance of teachers for both subject areas; some respondents self-identified as teachers. In this article we present findings on the gendering of mathematics and English and the impact that teachers can have on learning outcomes in these disciplines. The data reveal that mathematics is endorsed by many as a male domain and English as a female domain, and that teachers play an influential part in the learning outcomes – achievement, future participation, …


Teachers’ Knowledge Of Anxiety And Identification Of Excessive Anxiety In Children, Clea Headley, Marilyn A. Campbell May 2013

Teachers’ Knowledge Of Anxiety And Identification Of Excessive Anxiety In Children, Clea Headley, Marilyn A. Campbell

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This study examined primary school teachers’ knowledge of anxiety and excessive anxiety symptoms in children. Three hundred and fifteen primary school teachers completed a questionnaire exploring their definitions of anxiety and the indications they associated with excessive anxiety in primary school children. Results showed that teachers had an understanding of what anxiety was in general but did not consistently distinguish normal anxiety from excessive anxiety, often defining all anxiety as a negative experience. Teachers were able to identify symptoms of excessive anxiety in children by recognizing anxiety-specific and general problem indications. The results provided preliminary evidence that teachers’ knowledge of …


Professional Conversations: Mentor Teachers’ Theories-In-Use Using The Australian National Professional Standards For Teachers, Simon N. Leonard Dec 2012

Professional Conversations: Mentor Teachers’ Theories-In-Use Using The Australian National Professional Standards For Teachers, Simon N. Leonard

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

In this paper the written feedback provided by mentor teachers using a new assessment model for preservice teacher professional experience deployed in the Australian Capital Territory and based on the Australian National Standards for Teachers is analysed. The analysis reveals mentor teachers hold a pervasive theory-in-use in regards to the needs of beginning teachers that may restrict the developmental ambition of the assessment model. The restricted vision of what is important for beginning teachers held by mentor teachers is possibly a reaction to continual change within school education. The analysis is preceded by a description of the ‘Professional Conversations’ model …


Teacher Professional Standards, Accountability, And Ideology: Alternative Discourses, Katarina Tuinamuana Dec 2011

Teacher Professional Standards, Accountability, And Ideology: Alternative Discourses, Katarina Tuinamuana

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Teacher professional standards and accountability are today writ large on the landscape of both schooling and teacher education practice around the world. This paper explores some of the related debates through a discussion of four discourses on teacher professional standards: namely, discourses of commonsense, professionalism and quality, managerialism/performativity, and strategic manoeuvring. It is argued that each of these discourses legitimises particular understandings of standards and quality, illustrating the competing set of lenses through which they are viewed, as well as the broader ideologies from which they emerge, including neoliberalism and technical rationality. These discourses also represent the interpretive practice that …


Putting Partnership At The Centre Of Teachers' Professional Learning In Rural And Regional Contexts: Evidence From Case Study Projects In Tasmania, Sue Stack, Kim Beswick, Natalie Brown, Helen Bound, John Kenny, Joan Abbott-Chapman Dec 2011

Putting Partnership At The Centre Of Teachers' Professional Learning In Rural And Regional Contexts: Evidence From Case Study Projects In Tasmania, Sue Stack, Kim Beswick, Natalie Brown, Helen Bound, John Kenny, Joan Abbott-Chapman

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This paper presents a professional learning (PL) model that emerged from the authors’ involvement with PL processes in several rural and remote schools in the state of Tasmania. As is the case for rural areas generally, young people in rural areas of Tasmania have lower retention rates to Year 12 and lower participation rates in higher education than their urban peers. Schools in these regions typically have less experienced staff, higher staff turnover and reduced access to professional networks compared with urban schools. Four case studies are presented to illustrate the experiences that lead to the partnership model of PL …