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.

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 …