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Full-Text Articles in Education

Specifying And Assessing Knowledge And Skills For Life, Geoff N. Masters Aug 2012

Specifying And Assessing Knowledge And Skills For Life, Geoff N. Masters

Prof Geoff Masters AO

In my presentation to this year’s Research Conference I will be taking as my starting point the proposition that a fundamental purpose of schooling is to provide every student with knowledge and skills to equip them for life beyond school. While acknowledging that schooling has broader purposes, I will argue that there are some fundamental understandings and skills that all students should develop during their school years, and that every student should be expected to demonstrate an acceptable level of these skills and understandings by the time they leave school.


Raising Standards : A Shared Challenge, Geoff Masters Aug 2012

Raising Standards : A Shared Challenge, Geoff Masters

Prof Geoff Masters AO

Geoff Masters outlines his recommendations to improve literacy, numeracy and science learning in Queensland primary schools.


Continuity And Growth : Key Considerations In Educational Improvement And Accountability., Geoff N. Masters Aug 2012

Continuity And Growth : Key Considerations In Educational Improvement And Accountability., Geoff N. Masters

Prof Geoff Masters AO

The author first discusses traditional styles of curriculum delivery, commenting on the characteristics of 'annual packages', where students are taught and expected to learn curriculum content that is common to those in their current grade. He then comments on various ways in which students are currently organised and taught in attempts to overcome the limitations of grouping by age/grade, and uses examples from research to evaluate the relative effectiveness. He addresses a range of significant issues, including conditions for learning, classroom structures and standards-based reforms, before looking at some of the possibilities for improved practice in future. These include an …


Using Research To Advance Professional Practice, Geoff N. Masters Aug 2012

Using Research To Advance Professional Practice, Geoff N. Masters

Prof Geoff Masters AO

This paper discusses quality in professional practice - whether as an engineer, accountant or orthopaedic surgeon - and how it depends on expert knowledge of the field, a deep understanding of underlying principles, accumulated experience in the practice of the profession, a familiarity with recent advances in the professional knowledge base, and mastery of the best available techniques and tools. Teaching qualifies as a profession to the extent that it requires the application of specialised knowledge and skill developed through research and high-level education and training. Quality in teaching practice depends on familiarity with recent advances in the professional knowledge …


Conceptualising And Researching Student Wellbeing, Geoff N. Masters Aug 2012

Conceptualising And Researching Student Wellbeing, Geoff N. Masters

Prof Geoff Masters AO

Schools have always seen it as part of their role to support and encourage children's all-round development, including their cognitive, interpersonal, social, aesthetic, physical and moral/spiritual growth. Beyond the academic, schools have been committed to children's general wellbeing; in seeing children develop into well-rounded, healthy individuals who can take their place as informed, principled and engaged members of society. In fulfilling this role, schools have worked alongside and complemented families, churches and other institutions in the community. In recent years, Australian schools and education systems have made efforts to clarify the broad purposes of schooling and to introduce ways of …


Restoring Our Edge In Education, Geoff N. Masters Aug 2012

Restoring Our Edge In Education, Geoff N. Masters

Prof Geoff Masters AO

Much of what is required to improve the quality of Australian school education is widely understood and agreed, as Professor Geoff Masters explains. The levels of educational attainment of Australian students will play a key role in the outcome of future individual, social and economic prosperity. Individuals benefit from high levels of education and training, which increase individuals’ ability to secure meaningful work, earn more, and break cycles of disadvantage. Society as a whole benefits from high levels of education and training, which are related to better health, family functioning and children’s wellbeing, less violent crime, and even a cleaner …


Review Of The Examination Processes For Membership And Fellowship Of The Australian College Of Veterinary Scientists, Gabrielle Matters Aug 2012

Review Of The Examination Processes For Membership And Fellowship Of The Australian College Of Veterinary Scientists, Gabrielle Matters

Prof Geoff Masters AO

This paper deals with examinations administered by the Australian College of Veterinary Scientists (ACVSc) (herein referred to as ‘the College’) to veterinarians at two levels – membership and fellowship. Membership examinations are set at a level that denotes an above-average level of expertise of the candidate in a particular field, signifying advisory status but no specialist status. Fellowship examinations are set at a very high standard and are intended to signify specialist status. The system of examinations administered by the College involves two components –written and oral/practical. Candidates, for both memberships and fellowships, sit the written examination in early June …


Australian Certificate Of Education: Exploring A Way Forward, Geoff N. Masters Aug 2012

Australian Certificate Of Education: Exploring A Way Forward, Geoff N. Masters

Prof Geoff Masters AO

Geoff Masters explains why Australia needs greater national consistency in senior school certificates and how an Australian Certificate of Education would likely benefit all Australian students.


Continual Improvement Through Aligned Effort, Geoff N. Masters Aug 2012

Continual Improvement Through Aligned Effort, Geoff N. Masters

Prof Geoff Masters AO

Keynote 1 - A framework for school improvement


Improving Educational Outcomes In The Northern Territory : Preliminary Advice To The Northern Territory Department Of Education And Training, With A Particular Focus On The Ongoing Improvement Of Students’ Literacy And Numeracy Achievements, Geoff N. Masters Aug 2012

Improving Educational Outcomes In The Northern Territory : Preliminary Advice To The Northern Territory Department Of Education And Training, With A Particular Focus On The Ongoing Improvement Of Students’ Literacy And Numeracy Achievements, Geoff N. Masters

Prof Geoff Masters AO

The primary focus of this review is on strategies for improving literacy and numeracy outcomes in the Northern Territory. Clearly, the role of school education is much broader than the development of students literacy and numeracy skills, but these are foundational skills on which almost all other school learning is based. It is also clear from research that low levels of literacy and numeracy by the middle years of school are associated with lower school completion rates and a range of post-school outcomes, including higher levels of unemployment, lower lifetime earnings, and poorer health outcomes. Although the primary focus of …


The Science Of Learning, Geoff Masters Aug 2012

The Science Of Learning, Geoff Masters

Prof Geoff Masters AO

Geoff Masters explains how an emerging field of research called the science of learning is improving our understanding of how students learn.


Measuring And Rewarding School Improvement, Geoff N. Masters Aug 2012

Measuring And Rewarding School Improvement, Geoff N. Masters

Prof Geoff Masters AO

There is now a widely held view that the most effective strategy for improving countries’ educational performances is to improve the day-to-day work of schools. This view follows several decades of significant increases in government expenditure on school education in developed countries, often with little or no accompanying evidence of improvements in the quality or equity of educational provision. A number of countries have introduced incentives – both rewards and sanctions – in an attempt to ‘drive’ improvements in the work of schools. Many of these incentive schemes have followed the model adopted in business of specifying and measuring desired …


Assessing Science Learning, Geoff Masters Aug 2012

Assessing Science Learning, Geoff Masters

Prof Geoff Masters AO

A new school assessment resource provides teachers with information about individual students’ achievement and progress in science. Geoff Masters details the development of the Progressive Achievement Test in Science.