Education Commons^™

Staff In Australia’S Schools 2007, Phillip Mckenzie, Julie Kos, Maurice Walker, Jennifer Hong, Susanne Owen

Maurice Walker

The SIAS project, undertaken by the Australian Council for Educational Research in collaboration with the Australia College of Educators, gathered information from over 13,000 secondary and primary school teachers and leaders across the country. It aimed to address key gaps in the data available to characterise the teaching profession to support workforce planning. The project's findings and recommendations are presented in two components: the Staff in Australia's Schools data survey; and a report on Teacher Workforce Data and Planning Processes in Australia. The reports produced through the SIAS project provide a wide range of comprehensive data and advice on a …

Creating Equitable Classrooms Through Action Research, Cathy Caro-Bruce, Ryan Flessner, M. Klehr, K. Zeichner

Ryan Flessner

Despite the best intentions of reform efforts, educational inequity continues to exist in public schools. Creating Equitable Classrooms Through Action Research confronts this challenge head-on and shows educators how they can use action research confronts this challenge head-on and shows educators how they can use action research to both raise student achievement and strengthen instruction leadership. Ideal for both a first-time action research endeavor or one already in progress, this practical guidebook helps practitioners formulate specific research questions, collect and analyze data, and communicate their findings. Invaluable for school district leaders, teachers, professional development schools, and preservice teachers, this resource …

The Digest Edition 2010/1 : Successful Professional Learning, Marion Meiers, Sarah Buckley

Dr Sarah Buckley

This edition of The Digest is focused on research into teacher learning and professional development. Teacher learning includes not only activities such as conferences and workshops, but also includes participation in many formal and informal learning activities. Recent research has focussed, amongst other things, on characteristics of successful professional learning, and on the connections between teachers’ professional learning and improvements in student learning. This research has the potential to assist teachers and schools in selecting and planning for professional learning, so that it will maximise the benefits for participants. The first section of this digest presents some research findings on …

The Digest Edition 2010/1 : Successful Professional Learning, Marion Meiers, Sarah Buckley

Marion Meiers

This edition of The Digest is focused on research into teacher learning and professional development. Teacher learning includes not only activities such as conferences and workshops, but also includes participation in many formal and informal learning activities. Recent research has focussed, amongst other things, on characteristics of successful professional learning, and on the connections between teachers’ professional learning and improvements in student learning. This research has the potential to assist teachers and schools in selecting and planning for professional learning, so that it will maximise the benefits for participants. The first section of this digest presents some research findings on …

Experiences In The Field: The Evolution Of A Teacher Technology Professional Development Model, M. Robertshaw, Andrew Walker, Mimi Recker, Heather Leary, Linda Sellers

Heather Leary, Ph.D.

The New Science of Learning: Cognition, Computers and Collaboration in Education deftly explores the multiple relationships found among these critical elements in students’ increasingly complex and multi-paced educational experience. Starting with instructors’ insights into the cognitive effects of digital media—a diverse range of viewpoints with little consensus—this cutting-edge resource acknowledges the double-edged potential inherent in computer-based education and its role in shaping students’ thinking capabilities.

Australian Teachers And The Learning Environment : An Analysis Of Teacher Response To Talis 2008 : Final Report, Chris Freeman, Kate O’Malley, Frances Eveleigh

Chris Freeman

The Department of Education, Science and Training commissioned the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) to undertake the Australian component of the OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS). TALIS is one of the first international surveys to focus on the learning environment and the working conditions of teachers in schools. TALIS was conducted in 24 OECD and OECD-partner countries in 2007 and 2008, though internationally comparable results were reported for only 23 countries due to requisite sampling standards for publication. This first survey is part of a planned programme of surveys which will examine various levels of schooling over …

Experiences In The Field: The Evolution Of A Teacher Technology Professional Development Model, M. Robertshaw, Andrew Walker, Mimi Recker, Heather Leary, Linda Sellers

Linda Sellers

The New Science of Learning: Cognition, Computers and Collaboration in Education deftly explores the multiple relationships found among these critical elements in students’ increasingly complex and multi-paced educational experience. Starting with instructors’ insights into the cognitive effects of digital media—a diverse range of viewpoints with little consensus—this cutting-edge resource acknowledges the double-edged potential inherent in computer-based education and its role in shaping students’ thinking capabilities.

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

Successful Professional Learning, Marion Meiers, Sarah Buckley

Dr Sarah Buckley

This edition is focused on research into teacher learning and professional development. Teacher learning includes not only activities such as conferences and workshops, but also includes participation in many formal and informal learning activities. Recent research has focused, amongst other things, on characteristics of successful professional learning, and on the connections between teachers' professional learning and improvements in student learning. This research has the potential to assist teachers and schools in selecting and planning for professional learning, so that it will maximise the benefits for participants. The first section of this digest presents some research findings on effective professional learning. …

Staff In Australia’S Schools 2007, Phillip Mckenzie, Julie Kos, Maurice Walker, Jennifer Hong, Susanne Owen

Dr Phillip McKenzie

The SIAS project, undertaken by the Australian Council for Educational Research in collaboration with the Australia College of Educators, gathered information from over 13,000 secondary and primary school teachers and leaders across the country. It aimed to address key gaps in the data available to characterise the teaching profession to support workforce planning. The project's findings and recommendations are presented in two components: the Staff in Australia's Schools data survey; and a report on Teacher Workforce Data and Planning Processes in Australia. The reports produced through the SIAS project provide a wide range of comprehensive data and advice on a …

Working Out What Works, Kerry-Anne Hoad, John Munro, Catherine Pearn, Nola Purdie, Louise Ellis, Ken Rowe

Catherine Pearn

The WOWW professional development program provides resources and training to support teachers to develop expertise in designing and implementing literacy and numeracy intervention strategies for students with or without learning difficulties. [Title page]

Leadership And Learning With Ict : Voices From The Profession, Kathryn Moyle

Professor Kathryn Moyle (consultant)

Leadership matters’ and ‘start with the pedagogies, not the technologies’, say Australian educators. Voices from the profession provides an overview of what a cross-section of over 400 of Australia’s educational leaders saw in 2005 as factors that contribute to how leadership supports learning with information and communication technologies (ICT) in Australian schools. It presents some of the issues raised and solutions proposed by the educational leaders who participated in this research. This paper draws on the words of the participants throughout, to illustrate findings and to give the report authenticity. This research shows that integrating ICT into teaching and learning …

Learning About Teaching : Using Video, Hilary Hollingsworth

Dr Hilary Hollingsworth

This article describes some Australian research and professional development projects that use classroom video data, and explains some of the positive outcomes, as well as some of the challenges, of these projects. A variety of methodologies have been used to collect, store, retrieve, code, navigate and analyse classroom video data. These include CD-Rom, DVD and web streaming to dedicated software platforms. Video is used to preserve classroom activity so that it can be 'slowed down' to enable detailed examinations of teaching and learning from multiple perspectives, reveal alternatives through comparative analysis, and stimulate discussions about choices related to teaching learning. …

Lesson Study : A Professional Learning Model That Actually Makes A Difference, Hilary Hollingsworth, Delwyn Oliver

Dr Hilary Hollingsworth

Over the past year, a group of mathematics teachers from one Victorian school engaged in a process of professional learning called Lesson Study. In bi-weekly meetings that focused on the development of a single exemplary lesson, they questioned, pondered, discussed, debated, explored, and examined mathematics, and the teaching and learning of mathematics. This paper describes the process and the outcomes of what these teachers consider to be the most powerful professional learning they have experienced.

Mathematics Recovery : Frameworks To Assist Students' Construction Of Arithmetical Knowledge, Catherine Pearn

Catherine Pearn

Mathematics Recovery was the outcome of a three-year research and development project at Southern Cross University, conducted in 1992-5. The project received major funding from the Australian Research Council and major contributions in the form of teacher time, from regional government and Catholic school systems. Over the 3-year period, the project involved working in 18 schools with 20 teachers and approximately 200 participating first-grade students. MR can be regarded as consisting of two distinct but interrelated components. One component concerns an elaborated body of theory and practice for working with students, that is, teaching early number knowledge. The second component …

From Research To Practice : Using The Timss Video Study Findings To Enhance Australian Mathematics Teaching, Hilary Hollingsworth

Dr Hilary Hollingsworth

The findings of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 1999 Video Study have been reported at both international and national levels, however its impact on Australian mathematics teaching has yet to be realised. How can the results of the video study inform teachers' efforts toward excellence in mathematics teaching in Australia? This paper highlights some of the findings and recommendations in the national report, 'Teaching Mathematics in Australia: Results from the TIMSS 1999 Video Study', and anticipates ways that the products of the study might be used for improving teaching and teacher development. The broad purpose of the …

Towards Knowledge Building : Reflecting On Teachers' Roles And Professional Learning In Communities Of Practice, Elizabeth Hartnell-Young

Dr Elizabeth Hartnell-Young

This study was undertaken in conjunction with the Successful Integration of Learning Technologies (SILT) Project in Victorian state schools, and its purpose was to identify the forms of teachers' professional practice that enhance knowledge building, in order to inform teacher development policy and pre-service education. Knowledge building is based on a constructivist approach to learning and teaching, and this, in conjunction with the spread of learning technologies, is said to have greatly changed the role of the teacher in the classroom: from the expert dispensing knowledge to the facilitator of student learning. Using an ethnographic approach based particularly on observation …

Empowering Classroom Teachers For The 21st Century: Meeting The Challenge Of Advancing Children's Mathematical Development, Catherine Pearn

Catherine Pearn

In this paper, the specific concerns for literacy and numeracy as we enter a new era are addressed through a discussion of an innovative mathematics early intervention program, which the author and classroom teachers have developed and applied. 'Mathematics Intervention' is an innovative program developed by three classroom teachers to identify, then assist, children in year 1 'at risk' of not coping with the current mathematics curriculum. The program incorporates assessment tools and learning activities based on recent research about children's early numerical learning. It develops the basic concepts of number upon which children build their understanding of mathematics. All …

Change Trajectories In Teacher Professional Growth, Hilary Hollingsworth

Dr Hilary Hollingsworth

This paper reports some aspects of the professional growth of two Victorian mathematics teachers involved in the study and introduces the use of 'change trajectories' as a suitable mechanism for describing the growth process. The researcher made use of the Interconnected Model of Teacher Professional Growth for examining the process of change.

Investigations In Metacognitive Learning Processes With Computers: Learner Based Inquiries, Diane Maschette, Evelyn Bransgrove, S Morris, Richard Johnson, Prue Anderson

Prue Anderson

Current research concerning learning highlights the importance of metacognitive skills in promoting successful learning for both adults and children (Baird, 1989; Flavell, 1981; Rowe, 1988). Several researchers have identified particular strategies for use in developing metacognitive skills in the classroom (Baird & Mitchell, 1986; Swan & White, 1990). Claims have been made for the computer as a useful tool in this process (for example, in developing problem solving skills) however there is relatively little research evidence to support such claims. This study addresses this shortfall, building on the considerable research in metacognition.