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Full-Text Articles in Education
Service-Learning: A Valuable Component Of Pre-Service Teacher Education, Dianne J. Chambers, Shane D. Lavery
Service-Learning: A Valuable Component Of Pre-Service Teacher Education, Dianne J. Chambers, Shane D. Lavery
Education Papers and Journal Articles
Since the late 1990s service-learning programs as a teaching pedagogy have become increasingly popular in Australia within primary, secondary and tertiary education (Lavery & Hackett, 2008; Service-Learning Australia Inc., 2010). However, such programs require a commitment to providing resources, staffing, finance and time, which may lead some to wonder about the importance of these programs (Karayan & Gathercoal, 2005). There is also the danger that, as service programs become more commonplace, they may well fade into the educational routine or become “another educational fad and another failed social program” (Rue, 1996, p. 246). Service-learning programs at a tertiary level within …
Rote Is An Essential Feature Of Teaching And Learning, Don Watts, Keith Mcnaught
Rote Is An Essential Feature Of Teaching And Learning, Don Watts, Keith Mcnaught
Education Papers and Journal Articles
A significant part of the commentary on the outcomes of schooling suggests that ‘learning by rote’ should have no place in contemporary teaching. There is a widely held view that rote learning is an historical hangover in teaching and learning. Learning by repetitive confrontation with factual material is seen as a waste of brain capacity at a time when computer-based information services better serve one’s information needs. This fails to recognise that some things must be learned and mastered and be available for immediate application, particularly those facts and experiences that form the foundation for the development of concepts and …
Principals: Catalysts For Promoting Student Leadership, Shane D. Lavery, Gregory S C Hine
Principals: Catalysts For Promoting Student Leadership, Shane D. Lavery, Gregory S C Hine
Education Papers and Journal Articles
The role of the principal is pivotal in the development of student leadership within schools. As well as assuming a heavy administrative workload and undertaking numerous complex and time-absorbing responsibilities, the principal plays a significant part in facilitating student leadership development initiatives—in essence, this person becomes the steward of student leadership. This stewardship most often takes one of two forms: through direct or indirect involvement. A principal advocating stewardship through direct involvement is personally engaged in leadership activities, and works closely with student leaders. By contrast, indirect involvement requires the principal to empower colleagues with the responsibility of personally engaging …
Formation Of Pre-Service Teachers For Religious Education Through Experiential Learning: The Retreat Leaders Training Program, Chris Hackett, Shane D. Lavery
Formation Of Pre-Service Teachers For Religious Education Through Experiential Learning: The Retreat Leaders Training Program, Chris Hackett, Shane D. Lavery
Education Papers and Journal Articles
This article reports on the formation of pre-service teachers for religious education through an experiential learning program called the Retreat Leaders Training Program (RLTP). First, the article examines the need for formation for pre-service RE teachers, especially as the formation relates to the development of three forms of teacher knowledge: content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge and experiential content knowledge. Second, the article reviews the literature on the role of experiential learning in professional formation and the contribution live-in retreats may make in this formation. Third, the article presents the Retreat Leaders Training Program as an example of the formative influence …
Exploring The Need For Improvement In A Student Leadership Program, Gregory Hine
Exploring The Need For Improvement In A Student Leadership Program, Gregory Hine
Education Papers and Journal Articles
Despite the importance of adolescent leadership development, little research has examined how to improve such programs within a school context. The intention of this article is to explore how one Catholic secondary school developed leadership potential in young adolescents, and how such efforts can be refned and improved in the future. The primary methods for collecting data included focus groups interviews, researcher field notes, and researcher reflective journaling. Based upon these data, the author conceptualised the strengths and shortcomings of the program of leadership being pursued consciously or implicitly by the school, by examining the perspectives held by those students …
How Long Do We Carry An Ineffectual Teacher?, Keith Mcnaught
How Long Do We Carry An Ineffectual Teacher?, Keith Mcnaught
Education Papers and Journal Articles
Siegler et al. (2012) demonstrated that primary school students experiences with fractions and division, can reliably predict their mathematics achievement in high school, five or six years later. This research, a major international comparative study, sounds a dire warning, when we know such topics are frequently taught poorly. As student engagement with mathematics and science in upper school plummets, much of the disengagement can be linked to poor prior teaching and learning experiences. This is directly related to teacher competence, and specifically to teachers who lack the necessary content knowledge to teach these subjects effectively. The ‘elephant in the room’ …
Testing Times For Teachers And Teaching, Don Watts, Keith Mcnaught
Testing Times For Teachers And Teaching, Don Watts, Keith Mcnaught
Education Papers and Journal Articles
The decreasing demand from better-performing school-leavers for courses in teacher education reflects lower respect for the profession of teaching as a whole.
Forget The Magic Powers, Many Just Aren't Switched On By Technology, Keith Mcnaught
Forget The Magic Powers, Many Just Aren't Switched On By Technology, Keith Mcnaught
Education Papers and Journal Articles
...there seems to be a lack of willingness within the younger generation of secondary students to engage with learning management systems, and technological tools, in particular those not highly motivating and fun to use.
Why Music Really Matters, Keith Mcnaught
Why Music Really Matters, Keith Mcnaught
Education Papers and Journal Articles
As we move forward, there is much need for some national direction on the teaching of the Arts. The current work on the Australian national curriculum documents, for the Arts, is a sign of great hope. The time is opportune for a review of the role of music in child development outside the narrow dimensions of the place of “music” as a subject.
Let’S Not Wait For Curriculum Change, Keith Mcnaught
Let’S Not Wait For Curriculum Change, Keith Mcnaught
Education Papers and Journal Articles
While the National Curriculum will bring change, some immediate reforms are necessary now, particularly in Western Australia, says Keith McNaught. Doing nothing but wait is not an ethical option, he argues.
Pedagogies And Policies Of Impediment: How A Lack Of Connectivity Is A Barrier To Learning Within Early Years Education, Doireann O'Connor
Pedagogies And Policies Of Impediment: How A Lack Of Connectivity Is A Barrier To Learning Within Early Years Education, Doireann O'Connor
Education Papers and Journal Articles
Connectivity is a multi-faceted concept. It relates to three main central pillars of early years learning. These are; the inter-personal connections between educators and children, the connections between the children themselves and the connectivity to learning that exists within each individual child. The interpersonal connections, whether they are between the children and their educator or peer to peer are important because their level of positivity leaves the child either free to learn or unable to progress. If there is a lack of positive inter-personal connectivity within a child’s central relationships, they are unable to focus on anything else to any …
The Catholic School Principal: A Transcendent Leader?, Shane D. Lavery
The Catholic School Principal: A Transcendent Leader?, Shane D. Lavery
Education Papers and Journal Articles
In the early 1990s Sergiovanni (1993) pointed out, with a touch of cynicism, that despite the multitude of leadership studies over many years “we still do not understand what distinguishes leaders from non leaders, e!ective leaders from ineffective leaders, and effective organisations from ineffective organisations” (p. 1). He argued that one of the reasons for this confusion was an overemphasis on what he called “bureaucratic, psychological and technical-rational authority” (p. 1), while neglecting professional and moral authority. As an antidote to this situation, Sergiovanni (1993) argued that the moral dimension of leadership must be moved “from the periphery to the …