Education Commons^™

Teacher Curriculum: A Failed Paradigm Of Practise And Proceedure, D. M. Cavanagh

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

An examination of recent literature concerning teacher training suggests that in many parts of the western world it is constantly under review. Major Reports (Martin: 1964; Bell: 1971;James: 1972; The Senate: 1972; Williams: 1979; Coffey: 1980; Auchmuty: 1980) and the popular press have written and continue to write about various aspects of the teachers life. Some of these are anlyses of what is the case, others are about what could be the case whilst others dwell on the shortcomings of the teaching profession. The U.K. for example has its infamous Black Papers whilst in Australia the same concepts concerning standards …

Explorations In Early Childhood Education / Braithwaite, J., Acer, 1983., Joy Cullen

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The Mt Druitt Early Childhood Project was established in 1975 to provide early childhood programmes for disadvantaged children living in Government housing estates in an outer suburb of Sydney. This book by the project's field director, John Braithwaite of Macquarie University, records the development, implementation, and evaluation of the five programmes in the project. The programmes comprised four centre-based preschools (Cognitive, Contemporary, Competency, Behaviourist) which were subsequently extended into the kindergarten and Year One classes in the schools with which they were associated, and a home-based programme. This programme was designed to help mothers provide appropriate educational experiences for their …

Philosophy A Frill?, L. Stott

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Because philosophy of education courses are viewed by mlny as being impractical, an academic frill, they are vulnerable to elimination from teacher preparation programs as faculties of education struggle with current fiscal pressures. Philosophy of education courses, as I conceive them, deal with the question of overriding aims, and consequent key features, of education. Such courses are indeed impractical along many dimensions. However, the sense in which they are practical is of such overwhelming import to the welfare of the school system as to reduce to triviality the senses in which they are not. Intelligent student teachers insist on questioning …

The First Year Of Teaching : A Grounded Theory - Part 1, David Battersby

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This is the first of two papers detailing the findings from a tecent New Zealand study of the socialisation and induction of primary school teachers during their first year of teaching. Background information about this study and the methodology used, as well as a discussion of four of the seven major categories of data to emerge from the study, will constitute the basis of the present article. In the second paper, the final three categories of data will be discussed, along with the practical application the findings have for a wide range of personnel connected with the training and professional …

Supervising Student Teachers : A Shared Responsibility, C. H. Laine, S. A. Tanveer

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Preparing a quality future teacher is a pressing concern of teacher education institutions, school systems, and state departments of education. It is almost impossible to train effective teachers unless these educational agencies share their responsibilities in the total teacher preparation process. This is becoming a greater reality as each agency recognises its identifiable and distinct role. Student teaching is an important component of teacher preparation and is frequently taken for granted. This internship plays a significant role in the making of a teacher who has acquired confidence in short- and long-range planning, communication and classroom management. This can be done …

United States Experience With Music The Arts Curriculum And Implications For Teacher Education, Lois N. Harrison

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

For many years, when music was integrated into the curriculum it was done by the primary classroom teacher weaving music throughout the school experiences of the children. With careful planning, social studies, spelling, maths, art, physical education, and other curricular components were enhanced by having music contribute to broader understanding of them, and by helping to make experiences within those curricular components more interesting. The children would have opportunities to sing songs of the countries being studied in social studies, to learn spelling words and number combinations through chants or songs, to develop works of art while listening to music, …

The Attitudes And Values Of Melbourne Adolescents Towards Schooling And The Future, Millicent E. Poole

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

It has been long evident in the research literature that students in different countries hold quite different views about school and about learning at school (e.g. Husen, 1967; King, Moor & Mundy, 1974). Likewise, their value orientations towards life in general, as well as towards school in particular, vary (e.g. Jackson, 1968; Robinson, 1973; Himmelweit and Swift, 1969). Only recently, however, have such issues been widely researched in Australia (e.g. Anderson, 1978; Batten & Girling-Butcher, 1981). The present study explored the emerging views and perspectives of adolescent views and perspectives concerning schooling and life generally. Attitudes towards the curriculum were …

The Personal Construction Of Teaching And Mathematics Teacher Education, J. W. Mcqualter, W. G. Warren

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

With the expansion of schooling in the 1950s and 1960s there was a consequent flurry of curriculum activity. More pupils stayed longer at school and schools had to cater for a wider range of abilities and interests. New curricula were developed, old curricula revised to provide educational programmes for the changing clientele, and many curriculum projects initiated, covering all aspects of schooling. By the 1970s these curriculum projects had been evaluated and the evaluations provided new insights into the whole curriculum process. One insight of particular interest concerned the role of the teacher. What the teacher did in the classroom …

Computers In Undergraduate Teacher Education Programs, Neil Hall

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Clearly, there are many issues that need consideration when one seeks to analyse the role of computers in education. For example, how might computers best support the teaching/learning process given what we know about learning and teaching; what effects will computer technology have on school curriculum; how will presently employed teachers come to grips with this technological change; is all this talk about computer technology and the impact on education relevant anyway - is it more than a fad? In this paper I want to discusss the curriculum implications of computer technology for the infants and primary school. In particular …

Teacher Education Needs Teachers : But Can The Supply Be Planned?, H. Sungaila

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

On the face of it planning the supply of teachers for Australian schools by estimating the supply of, and demand for, primary and secondary teachers in Government and non-Government schools seems eminently rational. With inflation curbing public spending, with political support for public spending on education eroding, with a consequent tightening of educational budgets, and a new austerity demanding that there be no surpluses - that nothmg more be produced than what is required for the purposes in hand - what more needs to be said? If educational plannmg is ratonal, and, in particular, if it is rational that forecasts …

The Collegial Alternative, Doug Ogilvie

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Professionals and managers promote authoritarian ideologies which justify their claims to privileges of authority The egalitarian, collegial ideology provides a genuine alternative that is particularly relevant to educators.

The Role And Influence Of Teachers In Relation To Student Decision Making Regarding Jobs And Careers, P. P. Lynch, W. Ramsay

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Secondary schools in most parts of Australia now conduct work experience programmes which provide for student participation in normal conditions of work. Generally, work experience is now embedded within what is termed a 'Transition Education' programme, and usually includes elements of social studies, skills associated with job acquisition, and components designed to prepare the student for transition from school to work

The First Year Of Teaching : A Grounded Theory - Part 2, David Battersby

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This is the second of two articles to focus on the findings from a study of the socialisation and induction of a sample of New Zealand primary school teachers. In the first paper, background information about the study was presented and categories of data on Pupil-teacher Influences, Parent-teacher Interaction, the Role of the Principal, and Guidance from Senior Teacher were discussed. These four categories of data, along with the three to be detailed below constitute a 'grounded theory' about the socialisation and induction of primary school teachers. The practical applications this theory has for those concerned with beginning teachers will …

Educational Research - Two Paradigms : Two Epistemologies, Alan Cumming, Tom Moore

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Put simply, educational research is the systematic study of educational problems and practices. Its basic purposes would at least be seen to cover such things as evaluating new and existing policies, programmes, curricula and practices; strengthening the information base underlying educational planning, the formulation of educational policy and the design of educational programmes; increasing the problem solving capacity of education systems, institutions and teachers; increasing knowledge and understanding of educational problems and processes; and raising questions concerning assumptions and identifying weaknesses. Research into these problems and practices has commonly been designed and structured so as to lay claim to 'scientific' …

Towards Equality : Progress By Girls In Mathematics In Australian Secondary Schools / Jillian D. Moss, Acer, 1982, E. B. Thornton

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Experts in educational measurement in Australia tend to cherish two major illusions regarding mathematics. One is to think that their testing activities give them the right to prescribe about teaching and learning mathematics, of which they appear to know relatively little. The other is to think that mathematics learning is easy to measure!

Personal Construct Theory And The Reconstruction Of Teacher Education, Colin Symes

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The preparation of teachers, earnest enterprise though it is, is fraught with inadequacies. Many of these stem from the ill-defined nature of the enterprise itself. The goal of getting fledgling teachers into the classroom has taken many guises over the years, as befits an enterprise somewhat uncertain of its direction and goals. Courses of teacher education have got longer and the experiences contained within them more varied and academic. The spoils of educational science, if 'science' is the right word, are ever more marshalled into the service of teacher training, with the natural expectation that teachers will be better for …

Changes In Australian Teacher Education : A Proposal For School-Based Teacher Education, B. Haynes

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The structures of teacher education in Australian tertiary institutions should change to take advantage of changes in the context of teacher education. In particular, the teacher education institutions should become more involved in all aspects of school-based teacher education.

Recent Classroom Research And Its Implications For Teaching, Richard Coatney

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

In the early days of classroom research, a great number of studies were conducted but unfortunately yielded either insignificant or contradictory results. As Medley (1979) puts it, "to borrow a phrase Charles Silberman once used in a similar context, the teacher educator who examines the research is likely to conclude that there is less there than meets the eye" (p.16). But in the past twenty years, and especially the past ten years, the research on teaching has been fruitful and can be of great benefit to teachers and teacher educators.

Pattern In Professional Formation, Ken Shaw

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Soothed by what now seem the easy banalities of the spate of DES and HMI documents in the wake of the Great Debate, the curriculum of secondary schools in the United Kingdom seemed to be settling down. In 1982-1983 it was abruptly destabilised by unprecedented interventionist policies of the central authorities, the backwash from the activities of the Manpower Services' New Training Initiative, discontent with the traditional offering provoked by massive unemployment amongst leavers and the reemergence of pressure for vocationalism. Teacher education, both preservice and in-service had by then largely moved on from the traumas of boom and bust …

Teacher Development : Curricular Problems And Paradigm Possibilities, Darol Cavanagh

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This paper attempts to analyse sections of Fielding's 'non-deterministic' model of teacher development from a curriculum perspective. The need for such an analysis is obvious, since there has been a spate of reports on teacher education in recent years; Auchmuty (1980) at the national level and Correy (1980) at the State (N.S.W.) level, to name just two. An implicit assumption of these reports is that there is a need to know what teacher development is, how it is being conducted in institutions, if it can be improved and if so, how. Such reports often suffer a similar fate; the rhetoric …

Some Implications Of A Non-Deterministic Model Of Teacher Development, Barry A. Sheehan, Ramon Lewis

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Since the 1950s, pre-service teachers and teacher educators have been caught in a quagmire of confusion as teacher education came to be held in increasingly poor repute. More recently, in Britain and Australia particularly, colleges and faculties of education took the major brunt of cuts in spending on education. Most of the old certainties - the certainty of a job at the end of one's training; the certainty of the absorption model of teacher training characterised by the 'give 'em a bit of everything and turn 'em loose' philosophy; the certainty of tenure in a college lecturing position - vanished …

Scientific Theory And Teacher Education Theory, John H. Chambers

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

According to the empiricist tradition, science starts with observation. The observer should in an unprejudiced fashion faithfully record what he sees, hears, etc., about him. From his (admittedly) limited number of observation statements, the laws and theories of science can be established by generalization. Chalmers summaries the view when he writes, If a large number of A's have been observed under a wide variety of conditions, and all those observed A's without exception possessed the property B, then all A's have the property B. (1976,5) There are more sophisticated versions of the empirical account, but the core of them is …

The Morality Of Moral Education, C. T. Symes, A. J. Fielding, J. D. Mackenzie

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The Background - Moral Education as the Traditional Source of Personal Development. One of the abiding interests of moral philosophy is how some measure of competence at existence can not only be attained, but attained to an excellent degree. The idea that man is born imperfect but may so order his life that he approaches a more complete state of perfection has been echoed in the words and deeds of men through the ages. It is reflected in our willingness to revere those men and women who in their lives neared the condition of existential entelechy. Throughout the ages, for …

Reconceptualizing The Curriculum Development Process Through In-Service Education, Kerry J. Kennedy

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Recent studies published by the National Science Foundation and the Rand Corporation have indicated the immense difficulties that confront anyone seeking to bring about change in education (Helgeson, Blosser and Howe, 1977; Suydam and Osborne, 1977; Wiley, 1977; Berman and McLaughlin, 1978). In particular, these studies indicate the special problems posed by attempts to implement curriculum change. On the one hand, there has been strong teacher resistance to externally designed products. Perhaps the most startling result of the NSF studies was the reported lack of use of the major curriculum projects of the 1960s and 1970s. On the other hand, …

The Theme Of Teacher Development, Tony Fielding

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The paper by Tony Fielding, Personal Construct Theory as a Basis for a Non-deterministic Model of Teacher Development, is an attempt to analyse and provide a reconstruction of the psychosocial process of 'becoming a teacher'.

Personal Construct Theory As A Basis For A Non-Deterministic Model Of Teacher Development, Tony Fielding

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

In an earlier paper (Fielding, Cavanagh and Widdowson, 1978), an attempt was made to portray the developmental aspects of the pre-service teacher education experience as a process of role integration. It was assumed that the student integrates several new roles into personality in dealing with the tasks of becoming a teacher. The paper's main assertion was that the tasks could not be adequately completed unless they were accompanied by role transformations and integrations. In this paper further ideas are presented which may provide additional understanding of the process of role integration. The central theme of these ideas is that role …

Less Idealism And More Realism : The Programme For Teacher Education, David Mcnamara

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

First, on a positive note, I wish to nominate three issues which are implicit in Fielding's paper which busy teacher trainers and educational researchers often set aside, possibly because of the disturbing consequences of thinking seriously about them. The first is that he is prepared to recognise the limitations, indeed failings, of contemporary teacher training* programmes, in so far as available evidence indicates that training effects are rapidly 'washed out' when beginning teachers enter the classroom and that, setting aside periods of school-based practice, students are disenchanted with teacher training courses (for example, see Desforges & McNamara 1977; Shaw, 1981; …

Carpenters Or Cabinet-Makers : The Developing Role Of Teachers In Urban Society, Crispin Jones

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Fielding's article is a brave attempt to make more systematic the present inchoate organisational structures by which we train and in-service educate teachers. In England and Wales, government cuts in education have led to, amongst other depredations, many thousands of newlyqualified teachers being unable to find jobs. One of the consequences of this is that most of the teachers in British schools in the year 2000 are already in post, already initially trained. The concern of many teacher educators therefore, has partly moved away from initial teacher training (IT) towards the provision of a more efficient and comprehensive pattern of …

Use Of Student Perceptions In Facilitating Improvement In Classroom Environment, Barry J. Fraser, Teresa Seddon, Jeffrey Eagleson

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Probably the best known and most widely used technique for studying teaching in order to improve it is classroom interaction analysis (Dunkin & Biddle, 1974; Peterson & Walberg, 1979). The coding ot classroom communication (usually verbal) according to category schemes has been used extensively and successfully in preservice and inservice education as a way of making teachers aware of and subsequently improving their own teaching. Used for this purpose, interaction analysis has provided teachers with a method of obtaining specific feedback on their classroom practice and a firm basis for reflection, discussion, and improvement related to their teaching.

As an …

The Merging Of Institutions: Contextual Decisions And Teacher Training, D. M. Cavanagh

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

With the Fraser's razors in operation and the impending collapse of numerous College's of Advanced Education as independent autonomous institutions and the unitary vision of the Correy Committee on a teacher training style for New South Wales, certain cautionary warnings should be uttered concerning the direction that teacher training could take if such stupidity is allowed to go unchallenged. The necessity for such warnings is fairly obvious: (1) there may exist in the shuffle for compliance a built in bias towards rigidity in teacher training; (2) political expediency or economy may become confused as good common sense; (3) educational principles …