Education Commons^™

Teacher Education And Experiential Learning: A Visual Ethnography, Maureen F. Legge, Wayne Smith

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Abstract: This article reports research that critically examined our teacher education outdoor education pedagogy. The purpose was to use visual ethnography to critique our teaching over twenty years of annual five-day bush-based residential camps. The bush camps were situated in an outdoor education programme contributing to a four-year undergraduate teacher education Bachelor of Physical Education in Aotearoa New Zealand. The research method involved photo-elicitation of selected photographs representing students’ experiences and our practices. We each wrote about the photographs using introspection and recall to create a layered narrative analysis reflecting on the educative focus of the images. We responded to …

Teaching Reading: Why The “Fab Five” Should Be The “Big Six”, Deslea Konza

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The Report of the National Reading Panel (NICHD, 2000) identified five key elements that were critical to the development of reading, and these have been widely accepted by educational jurisdictions as providing definitive guidelines for early reading instruction. This paper presents a case for the inclusion of oral language and early literacy experiences as an additional and foundational element. The pervasive influence of a child’s early experiences on future reading achievement must be understood if teachers are to maximise the opportunities of all children to become independent readers.

How A Teacher Educator In The Field Of The Education Of Hearing-Impaired Children Provides Feedback To A Student Teacher, Hasan Gürgür

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The aim of this article was to investigate how an experienced teacher educator (TE) specialized in the education of hearing-impaired children provides feedback to a student teacher regarding a planned, one-to-one conversation activity. This case study was conducted at Anadolu University, Education and Research Center for Hearing-Impaired Children with the participation of a TE, a student teacher, and a hearing-impaired student. Based on the study results, main themes relating to the TE’s activities before, during, and after the conversation and his feedback were identified. The study findings were discussed in light of the current literature, and various recommendations were proposed.

The First Year At University: Giving Social Capital A Sporting Chance, Fiona Budgen, Susan Main, Deborah Callcott, Brenda Hamlett

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The first year of university has been identified as an area of interest and concern for several decades because, for many students, their first year at university is also their last. The researchers developed a program based on a Sports Education model to influence the engagement and retention of first year students. The program sought to build social capital by providing opportunities for students to connect with their peers and establish supportive social and collegial networks at university. The data highlighted a number of interesting outcomes for both the first year students and mentors. First year students reported that the …

The Value Of Aesthetic Teacher Learning: Drawing A Parallel Between The Teaching And Writing Process, Joanne Yoo

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Although teacher learning has often been overlooked in discussions surrounding classroom practice, it is believed that learning cultivates the resilience and vitality needed for teachers to thrive. Teachers have often been required to demonstrate a high level of skill and professionalism as they orchestrate tasks that maximise student engagement. Their work has consequently been compared to that of artists, who display their skills of craftsmanship as they construct meaningful learning activities, such as a keen sense of discernment, creativity and presence. The current article illustrates how learning to write reflectively can help teachers acquire the aesthetic skills needed to craft …

Norms And Varieties Of English And Tesol Teacher Agency, M. Obaidul Hamid, Lingyan Zhu, Richard B. Baldauf Jr.

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The growing recognition of the plurality of English underling the World Englishes (WE) paradigm has problematised the conventional second language acquisition (SLA) views of errors. If English use in emerging English-speaking contexts is to be judged by local norms, as argued by WE scholars, applying exocentric norms in these contexts can be inappropriate. On the other hand, despite the significant growth of WE, varieties of new Englishes have yet to develop widely acceptable endocentric norms. These developments have raised a critical question: How can TESOL teachers distinguish between errors in the SLA sense and varietal features in the WE sense? …

Western Australian Music Teachers And The Wace Music Syllabus Five Years Down The Track: Where Are We Now?, Geoffrey M. Lowe, Andrew Sutherland

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Western Australia introduced a new Western Australian Certificate of Education (WACE) Music course for Year 11 and 12 students in 2009. The construction of the course was protracted due to political interference at the ministerial level, input from vested interests within the music teaching community and adverse publicity in the wider community. The result has been the creation of a long and potentially confusing syllabus document. This paper reports on music teacher experiences with the WACE music course five years after its initial implementation. A questionnaire was distributed to all WACE music teachers asking them to respond to 27 statements …

Teaching Practice In Cameroon: The Effectiveness Of The University Of Buea Model And Implications For Quality, Margaret Nalova Endeley

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The paper aimed at assessing the effectiveness of the teaching practice model in the University of Buea, which is different from that of other teacher education institutions in Cameroon. Teaching Practice is an important component of a teacher education programme and the quality of supervision and duration are key in achieving effectiveness which is an indicator of the quality of teachers being trained. The study was a descriptive survey that made use of a 22-item closed ended questionnaire with indicators of effectiveness as competencies acquired, supervision and duration of teaching practice, obtained from a review of literature. The questionnaire was …

Science Teacher Education Partnerships With Schools (Steps): Partnerships In Science Teacher Education, John Daniel Kenny, Linda Hobbs, Sandra Herbert, Mellita Jones, Gail Chittleborough, Coral Campbell, Andrew Gilbert, Christine Redman

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This paper reports on the STEPS project which addressed international concerns about primary teachers’ lack of confidence to teach science, and on-going questions about the effectiveness of teacher education. The five universities involved had each independently established a science education program incorporating school-based partnerships between the university and local schools to enable primary pre-service teachers (PSTs) to teach science.

The diversity of the programs enabled an examination of the relevant literature underpinning the approaches and comparison of data from participants to identify key features and success factors for establishing and maintaining working relationships with schools.

This preliminary analysis of learning …

The Literacy Skills Of Secondary Teaching Undergraduates: Results Of Diagnostic Testing And A Discussion Of Findings, Brian Moon

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Abstract: The capacity of secondary school teachers to support general literacy and to teach discipline-specific literacy skills depends upon their personal literacy competence. Diagnostic testing of 203 secondary teaching undergraduates at one Australian university revealed deficiencies in personal literacy competence that could affect their future teaching effectiveness. The sample of undergraduates was tested in spelling, vocabulary, and punctuation. Analysis of the results showed high rates of error on general spelling and vocabulary tasks. The degree of error in many cases was severe. For some undergraduates, the prospect of successful remediation so late in their academic career appeared poor. It is …

Student Teachers’ Implementation And Understanding Of Repeated Picture-Book Reading In Preschools, Clodie Tal, Ora Segal-Drori

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Research conducted among student teachers during three academic years (2010-2011; 2011-2012 ; 2012-2013) at Israel’s Levinsky College of Education sought to ascertain (a) the extent of implementation of repeated picture-book reading (RPBR) with preschool groups each academic year ; (b) how does the implementation of RPBR progress throughout the years of the study ? (c) students’ understanding of the value of RPBR; and (d) the perceived benefits and difficulties of RPBR by student-teachers. Of approximately 250 students who completed questionnaires each semester, most report that they regularly perform RPBR – implementation in 2013 was 96% for students in the four-year …

Creating Space For Pre-Service Teacher Professional Development During Practicum: A Teacher Educator’S Self-Study., Tabitha G. Mukeredzi

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This article reports on my self-study of leading cohorts of Bachelor of Education student teachers through collaborative reflections applying reflective questions strategy during four weeks of residential practicum in a rural school. I explore the potential for reflective questions approach as an effective tool for reflection and professional learning in teaching and mentoring pre-service teachers. Data consisted of journal entries describing my experiences as classroom teacher and teacher educator and, of teaching and mentoring groups of students during residential practicum. Reading teacher education as text and, the audio recorded collaborative reflection conversations also provided data. Students’ documented personal and collaborative …

The Approaches To Teaching Inventory: A Preliminary Validation Of The Malaysian Translation, Pauline Swee Choo Goh, Kung Teck Wong, Mohd Sahandri Gani Hamzah

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The purpose of this study was to evaluate a Malaysian translation of the 22-item Approaches to Teaching Inventory for application in higher education. The Approaches to Teaching Inventory was a quantitative measure used by teachers of higher education to gauge their own teaching approaches that had been psychometrically assessed and widely used in western universities. Data in the present study came from 172 teachers in two institutions of higher learning. Principal factor analyses with varimax rotation and confirmatory factor analyses support a model with 17 items categorized into five sub-factors that were subsumed within two main factors. The alpha values …

Professional Dialogue, Reflective Practice And Teacher Research: Engaging Early Childhood Pre-Service Teachers In Collegial Dialogue About Curriculum Innovation, Kym M. Simoncini, Michelle Lasen, Sharn Rocco

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

While embedded in teacher professional standards and assumed aspects of teacher professionalism, willingness and ability to engage in professional dialogue about practice and curriculum initiatives are rarely examined or explicitly taught in teacher education programs. With this in mind, the authors designed an assessment task for pre-service teachers that required them to interview their supervising teachers about the implementation of sustainability as cross-curriculum priority in the Australian national curriculum, and to write a reflective account of the process. Forty-seven early childhood pre-service teachers and their supervising teachers consented to the interview transcripts and reflective accounts being used as research data. …

A Cognitive Analysis Of Students' Activity: An Example In Mathematics, Jean-Francois Hérold

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

In this paper, we argue for an engagement of productive connections between research findings and teaching, this since the vocational training of the teachers. We exemplify how analyses of written tests by using a cognitive approach lead to better interpretations and understanding of the learner’s knowledge. We show how a teacher can do it and we discuss the possibility of introducing it to the available scientific knowledge in teacher education, in order to include it in the current practices of teachers’ methods.

Valuing Assessment In Teacher Education - Multiple-Choice Competency Testing, Dona L. Martin, Diane Itter

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

When our focus is on assessment educators should work to value the nature of assessment. This paper presents a new approach to multiple-choice competency testing in mathematics education. The instrument discussed here reflects student competence, encourages self-regulatory learning behaviours and links content with current curriculum documents and with collaborative and cooperative learning episodes.

Cultural Identity Through Art(S)Making: Pre-Service Teachers Sharing Ideas And Experiences., Jennifer Munday, Atia Sajid, Brandi Reader

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

In their Bachelor degree, Early Childhood Pre-service teachers undertake art(s)making and online journaling (blogging) to chronicle the process and thinking through the problem of them’selves’ in relation to their world. They express and challenge their own thoughts and ideas regarding their daily lives and those of the children in their future classrooms.

The article is presented as a Case Study with the outcomes of the process of the assessment task and the resulting artwork through two student experiences from different cultural backgrounds who produced artworks using different processes and deep reflections about their lives.

The sharing of the reflections through …

Are They Genuinely Novice Teachers? - Motivations And Self-Efficacy Of Those Who Choose Teaching As A Second Career, Tili Wagner, Dalia Imanuel-Noy

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The research is based on the trend of broadening unique teacher training programs. It is a mixed-method research aiming to explore the motives of three groups of Graduate-Retraining-Program (GRP) who opted for teaching as a second career and their self-efficacy

The research population comprises 82 participants from three specialized teacher's education programs. Tools include a closed self-efficacy and a semi-structured motivation questionnaires and interviews.

Findings: motives relate mostly to psycho-ideological aspects; three efficacy dimensions relating to Teaching Tasks (TT), Teacher-Student Relations (TSR), and Influence in the Organization (IO); The TT dimension is the highest, while the IO dimension is the …

Title: How Do Preservice Teacher Education Students Move From Novice To Expert Assessors?, Peter R. Grainger, Lenore Adie

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Despite the acknowledged importance of assessment in education, there has been minimal research into the preparation of preservice teachers for the important role of involving preservice teachers in marking, grading, moderating and providing feedback on student work. This article reports on a pilot project in which preservice teachers participated in an ongoing peer assessment and social moderation process in a dedicated course on assessment. The purpose of the project was to investigate specific ways in which key assessment processes can be effectively taught to preservice teachers. The research involved 96 preservice teachers who completed a Likert scale survey and free …

The Relationship Between Alienation Levels Of Physical Education Teacher Candidates And Their Attitudes Towards The Teaching Profession, Mustafa Kayihan Erbas

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This study aimed to determine the alienation levels and attitudes of physical education teacher candidates towards the teaching profession and identify the relationship between their alienation levels and their attitudes towards teaching. The relational research model was used in the study. The study group consisted of 695 teacher candidates (M_age = 21.53, SD = 2.284) of which 276 (40%) were female and 419 (60%) were male, all of whom were studying in physical education and sports teaching departments. In the data analysis, a t-test for independent groups was conducted to determine whether the alienation levels and the attitudes towards …

“Creative Writing As Freedom, Education As Exploration”: Creative Writing As Literary And Visual Arts Pedagogy In The First Year Teacher-Education Experience, Nicole Anae

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The themed presentation at the Sydney Writers’ Festival on May 25, 2013 entitled “Creative Writing as Freedom, Education as Exploration” brought together three key players in a discussion about imaginative freedom, and the evidence suggesting that the impact of creativity and creative writing on young minds held long lasting, ongoing implications. This is a particularly crucial conversation given the factors stifling creative writing pedagogies in contemporary classrooms. In contributing to the ongoing dialogue about literary creativity, this theorized classroom-based discussion explores the integration of creative writing as literary and visual arts pedagogy among first year preservice-teachers developing an …

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, …

An Exploration Of The Relationship Between Teachers’ Psychological Capital And Their Collective Self-Esteem, Charmaine S. Bissessar

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Teachers who possess high levels of psychological capital and collective self-esteem are better able to cope with the spate of school violence, student/student bullying, and other current issues confronting the education system globally, regionally, and nationally. A teacher psychological capital high in hope, optimism, self-efficacy, resilience, and collective self-esteem translates into educators who possess a more positive outlook and can impart and influence how their students perceive themselves. No known research exists in the Trinidadian context linking both psychological capital and collective self-esteem. This study expands the body of research in these two areas, locally, by reporting the findings of …

Teacher Revoicing In A Foreign Language Teaching Context: Social And Academic Functions, Banu Inan

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The aim of this study is to investigate the occurrences of teacher revoicing as a discursive move in English Language Teaching (ELT) literature classes, and to identify its social and academic functions. Teacher revoicing refers to the restatement or incorporation of previous student comments into subsequent teacher statements and/or questions to build an extended discourse based on student contribution. The analysis of more than 25 hours of data of recorded classroom conversation in a university level literature class has demonstrated that teacher revoicing is a very common teacher move in the college EFL literature classroom. Eight functions of teacher revoicing …

Investigating The Literacy, Numeracy And Ict Demands Of Primary Teacher Education, Helen De Silva Joyce, Susan Feez, Eveline Chan, Stephen Tobias

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The pre-service programs delivered in Australian teacher education institutions are expected to graduate students who meet externally determined standards, including standards in literacy, numeracy and information and communication technology. These programs are also expected to educate future teachers in professional knowledge and practice, as well as prepare them to engage in professional learning continuously throughout their careers. This paper reports on the first phase of a project that investigated the literacy, numeracy and ICT demands of assessment tasks across the four years of the Bachelor of Education (Primary) program at a regional university.

Handbook Of Moral Motivation: Theories, Models, Applications, Minkang Kim

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

In the Handbook of Moral Motivation, the editors have collected together an array of distinguished authors in the field of moral psychology and moral philosophy, all of whom have an interest, one way or another, in the question what forces us to act morally, how are we morally motivated?

Creating Spaces For Critical Transformative Dialogues: Legitimising Discussion Groups As Professional Practice, Christine J. Edwards-Groves

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Focussed dialogue (as lived and living practices) can have a powerful role in renewing professional practice, advancing its sustainability and development as administrative and political systems colonise the practices of teachers and teacher educators. However, participating in discussion groups for many teachers, including those in academia, is often constrained by time demands, workplace structures and accountabilities. This paper reports a two year empirical case study investigating the transformative nature of dialogues experienced in one such focused discussion group. The dialogic practices of the group aimed firstly to provide a communicative space for its participants to interrogate and interpret factors …

Pre-Service Teachers’ Attitudes Towards Overseas Professional Experience: Implications For Professional Practice, Mohan Chinnappan, Barbra Mckenzie, Phil Fitzsimmons

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Reforms in Australia about the education of future teachers has placed a high degree of emphasis on the development of knowledge and skills that are necessary for practitioners who will ply their trade in culturally rich and diverse classrooms (Ramsey, 2000). There is now a broad consensus from key stakeholders (Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership, 2012) that pre-service teachers need to be provided with a range of opportunities that are grounded in classroom practices including exposure to teaching students overseas. The aim of the study that is reported here is to better understand the skills and knowledge that …

‘Follow’ Me: Networked Professional Learning For Teachers, Kathryn Holmes, Greg Preston, Kylie Shaw, Rachel Buchanan

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Effective professional learning for teachers is fundamental for any school system aiming to make transformative and sustainable change to teacher practice. This paper investigates the efficacy of Twitter as a medium for teachers to participate in professional learning by analysing the tweets of 30 influential users of the popular medium . We find that Twitter primarily acts as a valuable conduit for accessing new and relevant educational resources on the internet and also as a viable means of social support for like minded educators. The cost effective nature of the microblogging platform ensures that it can act as a medium …

Teachers’ Questioning Techniques In Advanced Level Chemistry Lessons: A Tanzanian Perspective, Ernest Kira, Sotco Komba, Eugenia Kafanabo, Frank Tilya

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

This study investigated the extent to which teachers’ questioning techniques and the way teachers handled students’ responses facilitated students’ learning and promoted their thinking skills. The study focused on three secondary schools in Dar es Salaam. The data collection process involved classroom observations during chemistry lessons and interviews of 10 chemistry teachers. The findings showed that 80% of the observed teachers had a moderate ability in using questioning techniques to measure students’ understanding. The interesting observation in all schools was that teachers interacted frequently with active students and bothered less to involve the least active ones. Moreover, above 80% of …