Education Commons^™

Bullying And The Inclusive School Environment, Chris Forlin, Dianne Chambers

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

As Australian education departments and teacher education institutions become aware of international trends, they are keen to implement quickly pedagogical and curriculum changes that are being promoted as best practice for schools of the twenty-first century. One such recent change has been the inclusivity movement. There remain, however, many unresolved issues for teachers that fall outside these new paradigm shifts but still require urgent attention.

Art Collections And Teacher Education, Penelope J. Collet

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

My interest in teaching collections began at Geelong Teachers’ College where I did my undergraduate training. Fellow students seemed to be oblivious to the marvelous artworks hanging on the walls throughout the buildings. The opportunity to study the F M Courtis Collection, initiated at Bendigo Teachers’ College, now part of La Trobe University Bendigo, raised obvious questions about the role of these collections in the early teaching colleges and what events or factors led to their beginnings. This case study will be situated within a broader picture of art collections in institutions across three states.

Learning How To Learn : Problem Based Learning., Wendy Hillman

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

During the course of study for the Graduate Certificate of Education (Tertiary Teaching) we participated in a seminar about Problem Based Learning (PBL) and were asked to write a piece of assessment about this topic. I struggled long and hard with PBL and came up with a fairly mediocre piece of work to be assessed. This led me to an interest in PBL itself and, to the writing of this general overview of the subject. It has helped me to understand the concept and its implications within the tertiary system to a much greater degree.

Describing Standards For Early Childhood Teachers : Moving The Debate Forward To The National Level., Carmel Maloney, Lennie Barblett

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

In Australia, there is no set of agreed upon national teaching standards for early childhood teachers. In some states such as Western Australia and Queensland, documents have been produced that outline generic teaching competencies for all teachers. However, research in Australia and overseas shows that one set of standards does not always fit all teaching specialisations easily. This paper reports on the culmination of a joint research project between Edith Cowan University and the Department of Education (WA) that undertook to describe the generic teaching competencies for Phase 1 teachers in terms of early childhood teachers work. The views of …

Claremont Cameos, Bruce Haynes

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Hunt, L. and Trotman, J. (2002) Claremont cameos : women teachers and the building of social capital in Australia. Churchlands, Edith Cowan University.

Robert George Cameron : The First Professor Of Education, At Uwa 1927-1954, Di Gardiner, Tom O’Donoghue

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

There has been much debate about the status of Education as a field of study within universities. In many circumstances the evidence suggests that there was hostility towards the inclusion of Education within the university curriculum. The fact that ‘teacher training was never accepted at the Universities of Sydney or Melbourne in the same manner as the professional training courses such as Medicine, Law or Engineering’ (Bessant and Holbrook, 1995. p.266) was a legacy of the association of teaching with the public service and apprenticeship training.

Editorial, Janina Trotman

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

In recognition of the centenary of Claremont this issue of the Australian Journal of Teacher Education is devoted to the history of teacher education. The four articles selected for this edition provide a miniature of key issues and enduring themes in the history of teacher education in Australia. They delineate debates about the balance of theory and practice in courses, the politics of decision-making, the importance of networks, the influence of individuals and nature of teacher professionalism.

Staking Out The Territory : The University Of Western Australia, The Diploma In Education And Teacher Training 1914-1956, Kaye Tully, Clive Whitehead

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The Diploma in Education has been a licence to teach in Western Australia since 1929. As an award made outside the State's education system, the history of the decision-making behind its institution has been overlooked. This article surveys some of the more important decisions made by The University of Western Australia as it staked out its territory in teacher education and training in the first half of the 20th Century. It suggests that the main motivation for such involvement by the University was to protect the quality of its matriculants, many of whom came from independent schools.

Sowing The Seeds Of A Pre-Service Model Of Teacher Education In The Early Twentieth Century., Lynne Trethewey, Kay Whitehead

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Our article seeks to describe, analyse and assess the contribution of Margaret Hodge and Harriet C. Newcomb to the training of kindergarten, primary and secondary school teachers in New South Wales at a time of wide-ranging educational reform. These two English teacher educators were recruited to Sydney in 1897 for the purpose of establishing a new training scheme equivalent to the teaching diploma courses offered at the University of Cambridge. In their subsequent work for the Training Board of the NSW Teachers’ Association, reconfiguring training programs for teachers in private schools, as lecturers and examiners in the history and theory …

Building 'Professionalism' And 'Character' In The Single Purpose Teachers College, 1900-1950., Malcolm Vick

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Teacher training, in a variety of forms, is a well-established, integral component of mass schooling. Institutions specifically for that purpose were established in England by the first half of the nineteenth century. They made their first appearance in Australia in the form of Model or Normal schools in the 1850s and as purpose-specific teachers’ colleges from the 1880s. For the majority of new teachers in Australia, until at least the end of the nineteenth century, however, training consisted of a form of apprenticeship, either as monitors (around the mid century) or pupil-teachers.

Questions : Help Or Hindrance? Teachers' Use Of Questions With Indigenous Children With Conductive Hearing Loss., Ann Galloway

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The development of oral language skills is an important foundation for written literacy for all children. However, where children have conductive hearing loss and consequent language impairment, the development of good oral language skills, especially those that underlie written literacy, becomes even more important. This paper discusses the use of questions during literacy focus lessons by three teachers of Indigenous students, and the way in which their use of questions serves to support or inhibit children’s opportunities to participate in classroom interaction. The paper concludes with a brief consideration of the implications of the findings for teacher education.

Why Indigenous Issues Are An Essential Component Of Teacher Education Programs, Gary Partington

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The extensive failure of Indigenous students in school, particularly during adolescence, is a shameful characteristic of Australian education. Students who have most to gain from a successful school experience are the most likely to leave school with minimal skills and qualifications. The situation has shown little improvement over 30 years, as evidenced by the repetitious nature of articles in, for example, The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education. Government inquiries into Indigenous education, especially those addressing issues such as attendance (Bourke, Rigby & Burden, 2000), identity (Purdy, Tripcony, Boulton-Lewis, Fanshawe & Gunstone, 2000) and achievement (Department of Education, Training and Youth …

Two Book Reviews, Richard G. Berlach

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Crowley, S. (2003). Getting the Buggers to Behave (2nd ed.). NY: Continuum.

McLeod, J., & Reynolds, R. (2003). Planning for Learning. Tuggerah, Australia: Social Science Press.

Partners In Learning : Proceedings Of The 12th Annual Teaching And Learning Forum, Edith Cowan University, 11-12 February 2003, Allison Bunker (Ed.), Mardi O'Sullivan (Ed.)

Research outputs pre 2011

This publication of selected papers addressing the 12th Annual Teaching and Learning Forum theme of Partners in Learning provides an overview of the issues facing staff in higher education in Australia. The articles chosen for this post-forum publication provide innovative ideas that bring the opportunity to share and learn about teaching and learning into focus as lecturers consider ways to improve students’ learning and experiences in higher education through partnerships with them and with others. With the advent of Higher Education at the Crossroads by Federal Minister Brendan Nelson, it is evident that staff will face new challenges.

"I Just Wanted It Finished!": The Transitions Of A Novice Project Manager, Barnard Clarkson, Joseph Luca

Research outputs pre 2011

How do you identify quality project managers? Is it possible to rate project managers on a scale, and more importantly once their level has been identified, can their skills be improved? These issues are addressed in this case study by observing the development of a research officer as she unwillingly undertook the management of a series of multimedia projects aimed at training and up-skilling tertiary students. The major conclusion from this research are that her skill development can be identified through the use of a four-stage typology derived from the literature on adult learning.

Teaching Metacognitive Regulation Of Reading Comprehension In An On-Line Environment, Mark Mcmahon, Ron Oliver

Research outputs pre 2011

This paper examines how to teach Cognitive Self-Regulation. Approaches to enhancing Metacognition are discussed and a model for metacognitive regulation is presented. A strategy of reciprocal teaching is advocated for the development of metacognitive regulation of Reading Comprehension. An on-line annotation tool is proposed with a rationale for how learning supports, resources, and activities may be included.

Improving Aboriginal Numeracy: A Book For Education Systems, School Administrators, Teachers And Teacher Educators, Thelma Perso

Research outputs pre 2011

Aboriginal students have the right to access the same education that is available to non-Aboriginal children in Australian schools. At present, Aboriginal children have access to, the same curriculum that non-Aboriginal students have access to but it may not empower them. This might be for a variety of reasons: their different starting points, learning styles, underlying issues which are impediments to learning, and in particular, their previous experiences may not be understood by their classroom teachers.

Local Learning And Employment Partnership: North Metro: Environmental Scan, Beth Walker, Beverley Webster, Alan Charlton

Research outputs pre 2011

Young people are vital to all communities and encouraging and supporting them to participate in education and training is a significant way to ensure that communities maintain a skilled workforce. However, there are many barriers to young people staying in the community, not the least of which is a lack of appropriate jobs. That is, jobs that the young people want to do, but are sustainable for the individual as a career path and not on a casual basis. These jobs normally involve some form of training or further education. Marrying the needs of industry in terms of their current …

Reading Comprehension, And Attitude And Behaviour, Of Students Taught Esl By Cooperative Learning In Prathom (Grade)6 Classrooms In Thailand, Sutaporn Chayarathee

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

A system-wide educational change has been implemented in primary, secondary and tertiary education in Thailand. One major aspect of the change was the requirement for all students from grade I onwards to study English as a second language (ESL). The change requires new methods of teaching and learning, such as cooperative learning, to be introduced in Thai ESL classrooms. This study aims to determine if cooperative learning improves English reading comprehension, and attitude and behaviour to learning ESL, compared to a Thai communicative methodology. The study was conducted in three phases. Phase 1 involved creating a linear scale of English …

Does The Computer Helpdesk Vocational Training Course Change Attitude About Customer Service?, Anthony Wethereld

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The purpose of this research was to determine whether The Computer Helpdesk vocational computing course, in conjunction with The Virtual Workplace simulation computer program, changed attitude about customer service. Thirty-seven adult female students at Fujairah Women's College of the Higher Colleges of Technology in the United Arab Emirates took part in the study. To assess possible attitude change, a combination of observation, interview and survey techniques were used. The Likert scale customer service attitude survey, which measured beliefs and perceptions about customer service, fanned the primary data gathering instrument. Qualitative and quantitative data were triangulated, and quantitative results were analysed …

Effect Of The Specificity Of Training Delivery On Skill Acquisition And Transfer, Suzanne Mary Matthews

Theses : Honours

Past research (e.g., Brewer, 1998) has shown that when people learn to solve simple formulae where elements are repeated over and over again, the greater the degree of repetition, the less transferable the skill. The current study tested one explanation for this observation; that training conditions involving little stimulus variation encourage the development of specific skills with low transferability. These habit-encouraging conditions were compared with a habit-breaking manipulation that involved presentation of unfamiliar stimuli throughout training. Participants were randomly assigned to one of 2 groups, the habit-encouraging and habit-breaking groups. The groups had 22 and 20 participants respectively. Participants were …

Teacher Development Through Action Research : A Case Study In Focused Action Research., Gillian Perrett

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

'Focused action research' was employed in a teacher inservice program which sought to develop a fusion between trainer-centred input and teacher-centred action research. The areas of input to teachers were learning strategies, thinking skills, questioning skills and the teaching of study skills. During the four months of this action research project of the teacher educators, teachers experienced two cycles of action research, one investigating their students' learning strategies and the second implementing a plan to improve some aspect of their students' learning - such as summary writing, remedial reading, hotseating, introducing group work, vocabulary-learning techniques - and wrote reports on …

'Being A Teacher' : Developing Teacher Identity And Enhancing Practice Through Metacognitive And Reflective Learning Processes., Anne Graham, Renata Phelps

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The discourse of reflection is now firmly embedded in a range of teacher education programs in Australia and overseas. Reflective frameworks have been used by teacher educators to offset the perennial emphasis on technically prescriptive interpretations of ‘being a teacher’. Whilst these undoubtedly contribute to the personal ‘meaning making’ of neophyte teachers, particularly in relation to practical classroom experiences, there remains significant scope to integrate a more concerted reflective approach throughout other elements of the teacher education endeavour. When the language of reflection is applied only in a cursory or superficial way in the teacher education context the opportunity to …

Phonological And Syntactic Processing, And The Role Of Working Memory In Reading Comprehension Among High School Students, John V. Holsgrove

Theses : Honours

The performance of 60 year8 students was examined on tasks measuring phonological processing, syntactic processing, and reading comprehension. The students were also administered several measures of working memory relating to the phonological loop and the central executive. A series of hierarchical regression analyses indicated that phonological processing and syntactic processing were both predictors of reading comprehension, and that the presence or absence of the latter distinguished good and poor comprehenders respectively. The phonological loop was found to play a small but significant role in the processes involved in reading comprehension, but not the central executive. Gender differences suggested that boys …

The Experiences Of Mothers Studying At University Who Have Pre-School Aged Children, Alison Welsh

Theses : Honours

This study of three women's experiences ·with studying at university whilst bearing the responsibilities of family and work, investigated the unique situations and problems that these mothers encountered. A qualitative research approach was utilised, using a narrative inquiry method to give voice to the student mothers, which has proved to be lacking in academic research. In addition to an auto-ethnographic case study, two case studies were formulated by conducting conversational interviews with two other student mothers. Common themes were identified and discussed, with reference to the literature. The findings of this study suggested that the experiences of mothers studying at …

Development, Implementation And Evaluation Of An Interactive Multimedia Instructional Model : A Teaching And Learning Programming Approach, Kacha Chansilp

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This study sought to explore the outcomes from the use of a dynamic interactive visualisation tool among novice programmers in an introductory computer programming course. The proposed model, Dynamic Interactive Visualisation Tool in Teaching C (DIVTIC), was designed to use multimedia and visual imagery to provide learners with a step-by-step representation of program execution in the C language as a means of enhancing their understanding of programming structures and concepts. DIVTIC was designed to support constructivist learning principles and combined collaborative and visualisation learning strategies with use of the Internet and the World Wide Web to support the learning of …

Attitude Of Students Towards Peers With Disabilities: The Effect Of Including Students From An Education Support Centre In An Inclusive Middle School Setting, Steven J. R. Mcgregor

Theses : Honours

This research examines the attitudes of middle school students towards their peers with disabilities. The opportunity for students with disabilities to participate in inclusive education in Western Australia has increased steadily in recent years. The impact of inclusion on stakeholders within the education arena is, therefore, an important area of research. As part of this increased demand for inclusive education a trial inclusion program was set-up at a middle school in regional Western Australian. The target group for this study was all Year 8 (N = 199) students at that school. The attitude of the Year 8 students towards students …

A Study Of The Use Of Graphic Organiser Software To Support The Development Of Organisational And Problem Solving Skills In A Middle School Curriculum, Suzanne Bursey

Theses : Honours

Early adolescence, classified from 10-14 years, is an important stage of development where thinking, planning and reasoning skills are evolving. Many young adolescents in this age group encounter problems with these skills in the transition from primary school to high school. Middle school is an educational context which focusses on the provision of support for young adolescents in this transitional period. Graphic organizer software is a program designed to help users visualize problems and organize information into logical structures. This study considered the conditions under which the problem solving and organizational skills of middle school students can be enhanced using …

The Effects Of Sleep On The Acquisition Of Skill, Peter G. Croy

Theses : Honours

The current research was designed to evaluate the effect of sleep on memory for the declarative and procedural knowledge components of a cognitive skill. In a training phase, 17 participants in a no-sleep control group practised 120 repetitions of a simple algebra equation at Sam and 22 participants in a sleep group practised the task at 8pm. Novel task inputs were introduced withh1 the same task structure in a transfer phase conducted 12 hours after training for each group. Overnight sleep conferred a 29% performance deficit on the transfer tusk compared to no-sleep controls. The results support the hypothesis that …

The Practice Of Homework : A Critical Ethnography : The Story Of Four Families, Jacqueline Hubbard

Theses : Honours

This thesis explores the homework experiences of four students and their families through the lens of critical inquiry. The stories of the participants are told through conversational interviews with students and their parents/caregivers, as well as their classroom teacher, in a bounded study. Drawing on these stories, the issue of homework is 'problematised', and analysed in light of issues such as institutional power and hegemony. A critical review of the literature reveals a significant gap in the existing research on homework in relation to the inclusion of student and parent voices. The study addresses this silence by listening to the …