Preschool-Play-Performativity': Local/Global Constructs and Contradictions.
AILWOOD, J: University of Queensland
In 1998 Education Queensland released a mandatory curriculum for the voluntary preschool year. A compulsory professional development program accompanied the release of this curriculum. This paper aims to explore the modes of regulation and governance evident in the curriculum document through an analysis of how the text constructs preschool childhood. The analysis takes play, the central pedagogical tool of early childhood education, as its focus. The ways in which play is reaffirmed as the natural, holistic and inherent basis of preschool childhood are then considered. Through this consideration it is argued that play, as described in the Preschool Curriculum Guidelines, is not natural. Rather, it is 'preschool play' and as such is regulated and surveyed with the particular end in view of recrafting the preschool child as, for example, the 'school ready child' (Grieshaber, 2000). Further, it is suggested that the construction of preschool play as natural also constructs the preschool child as natural, enabling an evasion of the deeply social processes involved in early childhood education. Issues widely debated in other areas of education, for example gender, class, ability, culture or geographical location, are largely silenced or marginalised. A significant omission are the changing local contexts in which preschool childhood may be experienced and the intersection of these contexts with global changes and influences.
ake00471
Developing as a University Teacher: How academics experience it.
+KERLIND, G The Australian national University
This paper reports the outcomes of a study, undertaken from a phenomenographic perspective, of academics' conceptions of and approaches to their own growth and development as a university teacher, i.e., what it means to them, what they are trying to achieve, how they go about it, why they do it that way.... The outcomes presented are based on a series of interviews with teaching and research academics at the Australian National University.
The group as a whole showed a range of views of their teaching development, representing in particular a varying focus on development experienced as a change in:
- the teacher, in terms of their feelings about teaching;
- the teacher's teaching, in terms of teaching skills and strategies,
- the learners, in terms of students' satisfaction with the subject and teaching,
-the learners' learning, in terms of students' learning outcomes and developmental changes.
Different approaches to growing and developing as a university teacher, were associated with each view of what teaching development meant to academics. Particular strategies included: increasing their teaching content knowledge; learning by doing (i.e., engaging in teaching); expanding their repertoire of teaching strategies; finding out which strategies work and don't work; and personally reflecting on their teaching.
Thinking this and that: teacher thinking beyond boundaries
ALLEN J University of Newcastle
The role of teacher thinking within emancipatory social practice has cultivated great debate within educational discourses. Critical theory as a distinct school of thought has privileged universal notions of emancipation whilst poststructural conceptions have challenged such grand narratives. It is this ongoing debate that has the potential to release teacher thinking from certainty to embrace indeterminancy and to conceive of 'critical' in radically different ways. Teachers' work is no longer considered as just the 'geographical' site of thinking but as a field constituted by competing discourses where vectors of power crosscut the cultural terrain of their everyday lives, Teacher thinking is constructed, constituted, contested and conducted in a field of competing discourses of human relationships, power relations, cultural, historical, political, social, ideological and visionary terrain. To conceive of teacher thinking in this way is to regard it as a 'critical' exploration where the quality of interpretation, its own richness, depends on how fully and well we develop the various alternatives indeterminacy presents.
This paper will bring to the surface the dissonances between, around and within espoused theories and practices of teacher thinking, the 'actual' and the 'real'. It is a critique that will work from within the categories of existing thought and everyday lives of teachers, describe them, radicalise them, and explore in varying degrees both their problems and unrecognised possibilities
Teachers' practices are strongly influenced by teachers' own experiences as students and their beliefs about what constitutes good teaching and learning. For example, a teacher who believes that only students with "natural" ability will succeed in English classes, compared with a teacher who believes that with effective teaching and diligence on the part of the student non-talented students can succeed in English, would behave in the classroom in line with her beliefs. Changing behaviour, then, should stem from changing beliefs.
The present study focuses on English teaching. The data for the study are transcriptions of hour long interviews with groups of prmary school teachers and groups of secondary school teachers. In the interviews, teachers were asked to describe their teaching techniques, to explain why they chose those techniques, and to explain why they thought those techniques helped their students to learn. Interesting differences emerged between the responses of the primary and secondary teachers. These differences can be related to to the way primary and high schools are structured, and the resulting more wholistic approach to education of primary teachers.
arn00274
The Nature and Function of Optimism and Feelings in an Empathic Model of Intelligence
ARNOLD R University of Sydney
This paper will outline how an empathic model of education applied to teacher education, to research into professional practice and to the development of leadership abilities in both educators and students mobilises affect, cognition and in turn, a particular kind of intellectual development known as empathic intelligence. In terms of education and leadership, empathic practitioners demonstrate enthusiasm, expertise, capacity to engage others and empathic attunement. Such qualities in practice can enhance the learning and empathic intelligence of practitioners and those with whom they engage. The most recent work of Antonio Damasio (The Feeling of What Happens) will illustrate the paper, along with references to research completed and in progress on empathic education in a number of settings (juvenile justice, teacher education, literacy education, drama in education, school revitalisation).
Issues in Literacy Prior to School.
ARTHUR LUniversity of Western Sydney, Macarthur
MAKIN L University of Newcastle
ASHTON J University of Western Sydney Nepean
This symposium will report on research into literacy practices undertaken in 79 prior to school early childhood settings undertaken as Stage 1 of the Early Literacy and Social Justice Project. This is a co-operative project between two government departments and three universities in NSW. Data was gathered through environmental observations, interviews with staff and focus group discussions with families. Analysis identified literacy practices in homes, communities and early childhood settings, as well as staff members' and families' beliefs, attitudes and knowledge bases regarding literacy.
A major finding of this study was that children have a variety of experiences with literacy at home and in their communities that have the potential to be incorporated into early childhood programs. However, most early childhood staff are not aware of the extent of children's literacy experiences and learnings. In particular, children's experiences with environmental print, technology and popular culture and in community languages other than English are not fully understood. Ways of broadening definitions of literacy to include everyday literacy practices, and incorporating these in early childhood programs are currently being explored in Stage 2 of the Early Literacy and Social Justice Research Project.
A case study of constructing a platform for addressing the professional development needs of primary school principals in an independent sector
ASPLAND TQueensland University of Technology
BROOKER R Queensland University of technology
MACPHERSON I Queensland University of Technology
This paper works within the current literature about school leadership and asks such questions as:
How can school principals mobilise their staff, students, parents and community interest groups to become proactively engaged in the issues affecting teaching and learning in their schools?
How can school principals encourage teachers to reflect on their own practice and work collaboratively with them to find the means to enhance teaching practice?
How can school principals assist stakeholders in their school community to influence policy makers and curriculum decisions to ensure that the highest standards of teaching and learning take place in their schools?
In order to address these questions, the researchers negotiated with a repesentative group of primary school principals in an independent sector to develop a way of tapping the lifeworld perspectives of the principals concerning their work as school leaders, as well as exploring their preferred pathways of professional learning.
The work proceeded iteratively and collaboratively and moved towards addressing the questions posed above from the elicited lifeworld perspectives of the principals. Addressing the questions in this way provided an inside-out rather than an outside-in view of how to construct appropriate pathways for the professional learning of the principals.
The paper reports on and critiques the research process and its substantive outcomes. The iterative and colaborative research process is elaborated in terms of investigation, interrogation, interpretation and implication; while a discussion of the substantive outcomes is framed by the questions outlined above.
atp00105
Changing teachers teaching approach through the use of eduPAD
ATPUTHASAMY LNanyang Technology University
WONG SK Nanyang Technology University
PHILLIP Nanyang Technology University
CHUN H Nanyang Technology University
The eduPAD is a hand-held electronic device designed to enhance teaching and learning in schools. It can be used to access electronic publication stored in memory cards, about the size of postage stamps. It is connected to the Internet through wireless technology. Teachers can use the eduPAD to create and carry out class activities. Pupils on the other hand can use the device as a platform for their work, on which they can carry out hands-on and collaborative activities. The predominant mode of teaching in the Singapore classrooms is the teacher centred recitation approach. There is a great effort on the part of the Ministry of Education to make the learning process in schools to become more student-centred in line with its vision of "Thinking School, Learning Nation". The development and testing of eduPAD in a trial school is one of the efforts on the part of the Ministry of Education to make learning more student-centred. The device is on trial in a secondary school in a number of lower secondary classes. The authors of this paper are members of the research team evaluating the impact of the introduction of eduPAD.
This paper examines and reports the teaching approaches of three teachers teaching English, Mathematics and Science prior to the introduction of eduPAD and with the use of eduPAD. Video taped lessons will be analysed to determine the degree of shift from a teacher-centred approach to a more student-centred approach. Have it been successful? Were there more student-centred activities than before? Are teachers comfortable using eduPAD as a tool to help students in the learning process? These are some questions, which the paper will address.
Part C of Symposium
aub00452c
Packaging quality: what's left when the wrappings are gone.
AUBUSSON PUniversity of Western Sydney Nepean
WATSON K University of Western Sydney Nepean
Curriculum initiatives often flounder at the implementation stage. Consequently, curriculum packages have been developed that attempt to build in quality teaching. Improving quality teaching then depends on the ability of curriculum developers to package their product in a way that will promote teachers' ability to faithfully implement appropriate teaching.
This paper outlines research that assessed the effectiveness of two different curriculum packages for promoting a constructivist teaching approach by a high school science teachers. Teachers from six different schools across Sydney attended professional development sessions at which the learning/teaching theory supporting the curriculum package was explained along with the main ideas teachers were likely to find new and different. The teachers then implemented the different packages.
The findings suggested that the amount of support present in the curriculum packages was so overwhelming in itself that it hindered the implementation process. In some cases the curriculum packages improved the quality of teaching and learning while in other cases quality teaching and learning was hindered.
Assessing Children's Creativity in Music and Storytelling.
AUH M.S University of Technology, Sydney
How can we assess creativity in musical compositions in a reliable and valid way? Four approaches can be used: assessing (1) product, (2) process, (3) person, and (4) environment. Following Torrance's assessment method, some creativity researchers in music use fluency, flexibility, originality, and syntax as the criteria for assessing creativity in improvisations, while others use more musical criteria, such as tonal coherence and rhythmic coherence in compositions. Despite disagreements about specific definitions of creativity among researchers, there is one definition on which they generally agree, that is, "creativity is the ability to produce work that is novel (ie. original , unexpected) and appropriate (ie. useful, adaptive concerning task constraints). This paper reports on a research study conducted by this researcher on creativity in children's music compositions and storytelling.
The Effects of Use of Graphic Notations on Creative Thinking in Composing Music
AUH M.S University of Technology Sydney
Several research studies have shown that graphic notations could enhance imagination in composing music, and thus more creative compositions could be made using graphic notations than using traditional staff notations. However, no such study has been conducted with Australian students.
The purpose of the study was to determine if composing music with graphic notations could produce more creative compositions by Australian secondary school students than composing music without graphic notations. Subjects were 80 seventh-grade students attending a secondary private school in Sydney, Australia. The students were divided into Experimental (n = 40) and Control groups (n = 40), and were given three warm-up sessions before actual test. 30 minutes were observed to be the average time that the students spent for composing. They gathered in groups of 10, and composed music. When they finished, they played their compositions, which were videotape-recorded. Three expert judges evaluated the compositions for creativity, using 5-point rating scales and criteria of 1) Originality, 2) Structure, and 3) Expressiveness. Interjudge reliability will be calculated. Analysis of the data is in progress, and results will be reported in presentation. It is expected that the Experimental group would show higher creativity scores in composition than the Control group.
Implementing Nutrition Education in Preschool Children in Malaysia
AYOB A University of Science, Malaysia
The goal of nutrition education should be that children eat a well-balanced diet that contains a wide variety of foods, and that children learn to make wise food choices independently (Herr & Morse, 1982:10). The main purpose of this study is to design a program, which helps children develop important concepts, attitudes and behavior toward food. Nutrition education should take place through children's actual experiences and be focused on attitudes and feelings as well as development of concepts. Parental involvement is also important in this program. Without a total, continual approach to nutrition education that is integrated between home and school, children's behaviors will probably not change. The intervention program focuses the following concepts, attitudes and behaviors respectively: 1) The five basic food groups give a balance of food. Food help us to live, grow, keep healthy, and have energy for work and play; 2) Willingness to accept and try foods not known to them, developing acceptance of a variety of foods. Awareness of food dislikes and likes, and understanding of why they select certain foods above others; 3) Selecting a variety of foods, balancing food choices among the five basic food groups. Establishing orderly meal patterns. Hence, the program involves curriculum based on story, activity and play carried out by preschool teachers and parents. The sample of this study involved one hundred preschool children (age from five to six) from three preschools. The preschool teachers that participated were trained from time to time to conduct the intervention program designed. Preliminary, a pretest was carried out to these preschool children and a posttest will be conducted after the completion of the intervention program of six months.
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bah00470
Engendering Higher-order Cognitive Processing Using On-line Material in teaching
BAHR N University of Queensland
BAHR MUniversity of Queensland
Information technologies are transforming the classroom and education in general. Students and teachers engage with technology in many ways, but these primarily fall into two broad types of use. The first is to enhance productivity and generally involves learning "about" technology, improving skill with productivity software and file management are key examples. The second is to improve student learning, and includes the design and development of IT specifically aimed at improving student knowledge and understanding of key concepts. This second area is a fundamental concern for teachers.
This paper reports a study that explored the development of higher order cognitive processing using on-line material. The study audited popular software in use to support teaching at a Queensland metropolitan secondary school. The study compared student employment of metacognitive strategies to solve problems using either IT based or traditional approaches to the same content. Features of software and educational use that promote metacognitive approaches to learning are identified.
bai00196
Learning Using Authentic Experiences in a Real Situation.
BAIRD CEdith Cowan University
This paper presents findings from a study in which TAFE students worked on authentic tasks, under the direction of a mentor. The study took the view that activity, culture and content are interdependent and that learning must involve all three, making learning a process of enculturation (Brown, Collins, Duguid, 1989, p.33). The study concentrated mostly on how thirteen students acquired various kinds of knowledge and how they learned the processes that experts used to handle complex tasks. Based on a cognitive apprenticeship approach to learning with key elements of modelling, coaching, scaffolding, articulation, reflection and exploration, the study revealed new elements capable of implementation in other settings.
In this session, main findings of the study, implications for learning, and lessons for industry based learning are presented.
Form: an Organic, Dynamic Research Conception.
BAMFORD AUniversity of Technology, Sydney
Form, to an artist , implies the characteristic structure of a thing, be that a painting, sculpture, poem or symphony. Good art is often described as having "significant from", attributes that are both physical and intuitive that set a work apart from others. Art based, qualitative research and feminist inquiry have long felt uncomfortable with the term 'validity' as a measure of significance of research practice. For this reason, it is the contention of this paper that traditional notions of validity be replaced in qualitative research with the concept of 'form': an organic and dynamic concept that encompasses the many manifestations of qualitative and feminist inquiry.
bar00246
Explaining Sex Differences in Enrolments in Elective Science Courses in NSW Secondary Schools
BARNES G NSW Department of Education and Training
Despite attempts to alleviate sex differences in enrolments in elective science courses, substantial differences still exist. This paper presents a set of empirical models of male and female enrolment intentions in Biology, Chemistry and Physics which help to explain the reasons for these differences.
The models, constructed using the techniques of structural equation modelling, use an expectancy/ value framework to examine the relationships between the various influences on enrolment behaviour and their combined effect. Measures of enrolment intentions, performance expectations, self-concept, interest, perceived career value, perceptions of parent and teacher encouragement, perceptions of past performance, attributions for past performance and personality measures were included.
The models were based on the responses of 223 male and 226 female year 10 students selected to represent a socio-cultural and academic cross section of the New South Wales student population. Approximately two-thirds of the sample attended government schools and one-third attended private schools.
The expectancy/value variables explained between 57% and 70% of the variance in enrolment intentions in the models. Significant sex differences were identified in a number of the relationships between the model constructs which help to explain differences in enrolment behaviour.
bar00236
Ways of knowing and understanding in school mathematics
BARNES M University of Melbourne
In this paper I analyse interviews with students in Years 10 and 11 about how they come to know mathematics, and what they mean when they say "I understand". The interviews are part of a larger study of collaborative learning in three different coeducational mathematics classrooms. The data analysis is based on an epistemological framework developed by Marcia Baxter Magolda (1992) to describe gender-related patterns of intellectual development for US college students.
She identified a developmental sequence of four ways of knowing: Absolute, Transitional, Independent, and Contextual. Within the first three positions, she observed gender-related (not gender-dictated) reasoning patterns and hypothesised that these converge in Contextual knowing. Her model also describes five learning domains which characterise the four epistemological positions: perception of knowledge, the role of the learner, peers, the teacher, and evaluation. In this paper, the framework is adapted to cater for Australian school students. Key factors are the students' views of the nature of mathematics, the sources of authority to which they turn, and the role played by peers in knowledge construction and verification. Apparent stages of epistemological development as revealed by the interviews are compared with the students' behaviour in the classroom, especially when working in collaborative groups.
Leadership behaviour of secondary school principals, teacher outcomes and school culture.
BARNETT K University of New South Wales
MCCORMICK J University of New South Wales
CONNERS R University of New South Wales
The purpose of this study was to build upon the findings of a previous study by the authors, which suggested that, the transformational and transactional leadership behaviours of school principals in New South Wales State secondary schools were associated with some teacher outcomes and aspects of school learning culture.
Three hundred and seventy three teachers from forty randomly selected state secondary schools in New South Wales, Australia participated in the study. Teachers were asked to indicate their perceptions of principal leadership behaviour and teacher outcomes by responding to the 45-item Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire Form 5X (Short) and to indicate their perceptions of school learning culture by responding to the 42-item Patterns of Adaptive Learning Survey. Data analysis was designed to take into account the measurement, distribution and hierarchical properties of the data. Thus, these data were analysed using the combined approaches of multilevel analysis and structural equation modelling.
bar00424
Where does the 'no through road' go? Investigating educational disadvantage
BARTHOLOMAEUS P Deakin University
This paper is based on research investigating a student population identified as disadvantaged as a result of rural location. The focus is on students in year 8, the first year of secondary education in South Australia, and students in year 11, the first year of the two-year South Australian Certificate of Education. Literacy has been used as a lens to facilitate searching for answers to questions about student learning and how the school contributes to the disadvantage experienced by these students. Some issues to emerge from the research include the socio-economic status of students, social class, gender, rurality, and the effects of geographic location. Issues in the school environment include the types of instruction teachers thought important for these students, and the negative perceptions of successful students in particular students in the junior years.
Emotion Matters in Educational Leadership
BEATTY B University of Toronto
Pursuing the apparent paradox in educational leadership research and practice, wherein emotion is often treated as marginal or insignificant, this paper explores the foundational role of emotion in the working lives of teachers and leaders in schools. As part of a doctoral research project, fifty teachers were interviewed about emotionally positive and negative interactions with school administrators. Twenty-four principals from six different countries, participated for six months in an asynchronous online conversation focused on the emotional dimension of their work with teachers, students, parents and each other.
Findings from these studies indicate that educational administrators are emotionally 'significant others' in teachers' lives, affecting their motivation, their confidence and their classroom practice. Principals, breaking the silence about the emotional dimension of their leadership lives, reveal some of the rarely considered and often most meaningful aspects of their work including emotional labour (Hochschild, 1983; Blackmore, 1994), emotional politics and emotional practice (Hargreaves, 1998). Considered together, the findings from these two studies indicate that the emotions ofleadership as they shape and reflect the realities of life in schools, are not only relevant but also defining and therefore worthy of furtherconsideration in educational research, theory and practice.
Popular culture, textual practice and identity: literacy and the new technologies in the middle years
BEAVIS C Deakin University
This paper explores young people's textual engagements with electronic and other forms of popular culture, and the changing nature of literacy in the context of commodification, mass marketting and the new technologies. Building on school based studies exploring computer games in the classroom and the Pokemon phenomenon, it examines ways in which popular texts are read, and narrative and generic elements incorporated into the curriculum and into students' spoken and written texts. Drawing on Green's model of cultural, critical and operational dimensions of (technological) literacy, it examines issues of literacy and culture, identity and critique for teachers and students in the middle years, and their implications for constructions of literacy and curriculum
bec00096
Reconceptualising Health Education. Towards Critical Practice
BECKETT L - University of Technology, Sydney
This paper reports on a UTS IRG funded research project, which aimed to investigate, analyse and evaluate the re-conceptualisation of school health education around health promotion and social justice in the recent reform of the NSW Higher School Certificate, and the ways this is being realised by teachers in the Personal Development, Health and Physical Education (PDHPE) key learning area. Two interrelated tasks formed the focus of the study. A small ethnography investigated teachers‚ use of the new stage 6 PDHPE syllabus which included their knowledge of gender and youth health, pedagogical practices, and political actions around youth health inequalities. The second task, inextricably intertwined with the first, was a data collation and analysis concerned with demographic variables, health differences and health-related disadvantage, with a view to mapping youth health inequalities. The map provides specific information on students‚ health status in education regions, and informs teachers‚ work on youth health.
Becoming an inclusive educator
BENTLEY-WILLIAMS R - Charles sturt University, Bathurst
This research focused on how student teachers develop understandings about people with disabilities and their future role as inclusive educators of children with diverse needs. The study adopted Knowles' Biographical Transformational Model(1992), as a framework to explore the biographical influences affecting how a select number of student teachers gained an understanding of what it means to become an inclusive educator. Participants were 12 students in the BEd course, involving 6 students studying the mandatory Special Education subject in 2nd year and 6 students in the Early Intervention subject in the 3rd year Special Education Major.
In conjunction with their studies, participants were asked to provide voluntary support in a setting for people with disabilities. The contexts included an independent living skills centre, a recreational program, and respite in families' homes for young children with disabilities. Through processes of reflective inquiry in these situated contexts, students identified critical incidents that expanded their understanding of role identity as teachers of children with disabilities. Findings from this investigation demonstrate how broadening the learning context facilitated the connection between the student teachers' personal and professional lives. Implications for teacher educators highlight the value of practical field experiences as a way of enhancing deeper learning.
BER00416
Effects of Background Information and Audiovisual Presentation Modes on Students' Attention Styles and Enjoyment in Listening to Unfamiliar Music.
BERRY L - University of Sydney
CHAPMAN E- University of Sydney
Research has indicated that students typically do not enjoy or engage with unfamiliar pieces of music. This is discouraging and puzzling to music educators who wish to introduce their students to a diverse range of musical genres. This study explored the effects of two factors on students' initial reactions to an unfamiliar Shakuhachi piece. Using a 2 by 2 crossed-factor design, 438 students in grades 9-11 were assigned at random to listen to the piece in either audio-only or audiovisual form, and with or without verbal background information. Results indicated that while the provision of information significantly (p < 0.05) increased students' enjoyment of the music and their interest in hearing more of the same kind of music, it had no effect on their listening attention styles (e.g., focusing on the melody or idiomatic details of the piece). Conversely, use of the audiovisual presentation mode significantly impacted on one aspect of students' attention styles (focus on idiomatic details) and perceived familiarity with the piece, but had only a marginally significant effect on their enjoyment or interest. Implications of these results for the introduction of unfamiliar music to high school students will be discussed.
Information Literacy - Implications for Early Childhood teaching.
BERTHELSEN D- Queensland University of Technology
HALLIWELL G - Queensland University of Technology
PEACOCK J - Queensland University of Technology
BURKE J - Queensland University of Technology
RYAN I - Queensland University of Technology
Information literacy encompasses both technological skills and skills to locate, evaluate, and use information from a range of sources. Early childhood teachers require knowledge, skill and confidence in such skills to inform their teaching practice and to facilitate their ongoing professional development. Increasingly, within early childhood programs, there is a focus on the development of information literacy skills of children from the time they enter formal school programs and this continues across their schooling years. Two cohorts of students, first and second year students in a Bachelor of Education course, completed surveys in which skills levels and knowledge of information literacy were explored. Students were found to have a range of skills and confidence levels and they indicated commitment to such skill development. The importance of a focus on early childhood students' skills in information literacy are discussed in terms of the need for systematic planning and integration of a range of information literacy tasks across students' undergraduate programs. The implications that such experiences have for teachers' professional practice, as educational contexts change and increasing importance is given to children's information literacy skill development, is explored.
Symposium 27 Part A | B | C | D
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Cautiously optimistic: Actor-networks, translations and other useful inventions for re-thinking educational change and innovation - Symposium Overview
BIGUM C - Central Queensland University
ROWAN L - Central Queensland University
Given the significant and on going institutional change endured by individual researchers over the past years, it is hardly surprising that people would look longingly towards a more optimistic future for educational research. Clearly there are many different factors that determine what individual researchers will see as causes for optimism. Regardless of how they are defined, however, optimistic or desirable futures don't just happen: they have to be made.
In order to contribute proactively and effectively to the creation of 'positive' futures, we have a real need for analytical frameworks that allow us to think about the work that goes into making/sustaining any kind of change or innovations and for analysing innovations as and when they occur. As a basis for the study of change and innovation in education, actor-network theory has recently begun to be taken seriously. It represents a significant move away from current theories of change in education.
This symposium draws together six instances of research into various instances of institutional/cultural/personal change which is informed by actor-network theory. It works to highlight the work that goes into the development/implementation/stabilisation of innovations and recognises the key roles that individuals actors play in this process. Attention is drawn to the relationship between innovations and such factors as identity, technology, and gender.
Translating change agents, enrolling relative advantage and problematizing communication channels: taking an actor-network axe to accounts of educational change and innovation informed by diffusion theory
BIGUM C- Central Queensland University
The stories we tell each other about change and innovation in education are important. Much of the research literature concerned with change and innovation in education as in other fields has been strongly informed and influenced by the tenets of diffusion theory. Typically applied to the study of technology-based change, diffusion theory can be shown to be consistent with many of the commonly used frameworks that account for change in education. Working to generate abstract and generalisable accounts of change, diffusion theory employs a large set of factors or influences as the means of explaining the rate at which an innovation spreads through its potential adopter society, for instance, the characteristics of the innovation, characteristics of the adopter, the culture of the organization, and the influence of opinion leaders.
This paper describes an alternative approach to the study of educational innovation and change which is based on a sociology of translation or actor-network theory (ANT). ANT rejects cause and effect or factor-based accounts of change and focuses on understanding how alliances and associations of people and things are made, strengthened and weakened. This paper will offer a critique of diffusion theory as a basis for theorising educational change and illustrate what an ANT analysis can bring to the study of educational innovation via reference to some recent research.
Work, Work, Work: Turning Optimistic Innovations into Durable teaching Practices
BIGUM C - Central Queensland University
ROWAN L- Central Queensland University
Contemporary educational, economic, technological and equity pressures have given rise to a veritable flood of 'innovative' university teaching practices ostensibly designed to make teaching at once more effective, more efficient and more attractive to the student population. While the existence of these teaching innovations is easily documented and while man are celebrated uncritically-and optimistically-for their 'innovative' and 'flexible' nature, there is an absence of research focused on the actual and ongoing work (including significant technological, political, social, ethical and economic negotiations) required to make any educational innovation durable and stable.
This paper reports on research within a current ARC LG project that is designed to explore the actual work required to make university teaching innovations stable and durable. Drawing on the analytical resources provided by the sociology of translation (actor-network theory: ANT) and focusing on a particular instance of web-based university teaching within a Queensland University, this paper explores the usefulness of ANT for identifying the full range of influences, pressures and contexts (social and technical) which shape the design, development, implementation and, potentially, the stabilisation of educational innovations. The paper explores the way ANT based educational research can help us translate optimistic teaching goals into sustainable teaching practices.
Symposium 31 Parts: A | B | C
bis00031
Developing and validating teaching standards for professional development and advanced certification - Symposium Overview
BISHOP A - Monash University
In 1999 the Australian Research Council funded three collaborative research projects (1999 - 2001) designed to develop professional standards and performance assessments for English, Mathematics and Science teachers. These were Strategic Partnerships in Industry Research and Training (SPIRT) Grants with the relevant subject associations acting as the industry partners. Each project has approached the common task in significantly different ways, but all three have been based on the primacy of teacher's knowledge of their work. As the task of developing teaching standards progresses, the validation of those standards is becoming the focus of the research.
Each project is conducting this discourse about validation with teachers from across Australia. The challenge is to ensure that the teaching standards developed will be an accurate reflection of the work of teachers and provide a useful focus for professional development and a basis for advanced certification. This symposium will present an overview of each project and focus on the research issues in foregrounding the voice of the teacher in the development of the standards.
The 'accidental' manager and the enterprise of the self: gender, identity and crisis of motivation in leadership?
BLACKMORE J - Deakin University
SACHS J - University of Sydney
The nature of work and work identity are also being transformed. In much of the organisational literature, the concept of identity is treated separately from notions of professionalism within specific occupations or institutions. We argue in this paper that individuals' work identity is informed by the articulation between particular personal and professional discourses circulating within and around educational organisations. These give rise to different understandings and readings of corporate identities.
At the same time, each new educational setting defines corporate identity differently. We found that there were different professional cultures across the three sectors-the entrepreneurial culture of TAFE, the disciplinary knowledge based Culture of universities and the pedagogical or caring culture of schools.
Work provides a new sense of identity for a generation of increasingly economically independent women, together with or substituting for family and home as key aspects of women's identity in previous generations. While women continue to move into leadership in middle and executive management largely through accident rather than design, by proven rather than potential performance, their progression upwards requires more strategic leadership performances. Once there they face ambiguity and paradox - caught between macho competitive individualist cultures reinvented in the corporate organisation seeking to do more with less, and more humanist approaches of soft management theory premised upon networks, change agency and transforming organisations. While all managers, both executive and middle managers, male and female, confront these tensions, women are open to a range of gendered images, expectations and perceptions, caught between adopting the corporate line and between more inclusive and team building behaviours. We explore how 'the corporate' informs gendered work identity of women managers in a number of universities, TAFEs and schools. Women's investment in their identity which may not 'fit' the corporate educational organisation. To 'become a manager' may often require relinquishing those aspects of self which were seen to be critical to how they were viewed by others and wished to be viewed and a reinvestment in practices which could be seen as being complicit with non educational agendas, creating a sense of abandonment of self and adoption of the colluded self.
'Warmware': new learning technologies, teachers and educational change
BLACKMORE J - Deakin University
JOHNSON R - Deakin University
WARREN W - Deakin University
Much has been written about the potential of new learning technologies for transforming teaching and learning, and indeed the organisation of schooling. Much has also been written about teacher responses to new learning technologies-how they resist, ignore, or innovate. A number of recent reports indicate a gap between policy, practice and the capacity of organisations to provide the conditions and resources in schools to creatively use new learning technologies. Few of these discourses draw upon theories of educational change, in particular those which relate to the dissonance between attitudes and feelings about radical change, and how it impacts on teacher work identity with respect to learning technologies. Much of the literature has focused upon the technical aspects, the hardware and software, but not the 'warmware', so critical to sound pedagogical practice. This paper draws from the Learning in New Environments Research Group action research project, a pilot study in a large metropolitan secondary college, which is exploring the social implications of new learning technologies for changing relations between students, between teachers and students, between teachers and between family and school. The paper draws from the first round of data collection from the teachers in an on going action research project in a region with a high level of socio-economic and cultural diversity. It draws on concepts of Lieberman's notion of learning networks and Wenger's notion of communities of practice, as well as past research on the reception of gender equity reform in educational organisations, which focuses upon emotional aspects of professional work identity and organisational change.
Creating an Optimistic Future for Indigenous Research in Education: Re-visioning both Outcome and Process
BLANCHARD M - Koori Centre, University of Sydney
MCKNIGHT A - Koori Centre, University of Sydney
LUI L - Koori Centre, University of Sydney
WRAY D - Koori Centre, University of Sydney
GALLEGUILLOS S - Koori Centre, University of Sydney
SMITH A - Koori Centre, University of Sydney
The panel will be comprised of Indigenous and non-Indigenous staff from the Koori Centre at The University of Sydney. Each contributor will present a brief paper focusing on selected challenges, issues and opportunities facing the field of Indigenous research in Education. In keeping with conference goals and expectations, panel members will explicate an optimistic and positive view of the future. While recognising past and present shortfalls, panel members will also explore ways and means of creating an environment in which rigorous, critical, inclusive enquiry will better inform practice in Indigenous Education. The perspective, wherever possible, will take account of national and international trends and priorities in Education. In a broad overview sense, some or all of the following topics will referred to by panellists:
- Indigenous research methodology.
- Indigenous research ethics.
- Protocols for collaborative enquiry in educational research.
- Intellectual property questions and issues.
- Understanding the system; writing applications for funding and research management.
- Professional development needs and interests in Indigenous Education research.
- Impact of the internationalisation of educational research in general.
- Setting an agenda for Indigenous educational research and translating findings into relevant, quality practice.
Patterns of Discontent: International Perspectives on Teacher Satisfaction
Shared Leadership In Tasmanian Early Childhood Settings
BOARDMAN M - University of Tasmania
The study was designed to investigate the perceptions of Kindergarten to Grade 2 teachers and leaders regarding the nature of leadership provided at their school, with respect to collaborative and consultative processes utilised. Study Methods Data gathering was undertaken utilising surveys. Demographic data was sought via closed questions, whilst scaled items, employing a Likert scale process, sought participants' perceptions regarding the role of their school leader in early childhood education. Data Source A stratified sampling process was employed, within two Tasmanian state school districts, to identify the research target group, which comprised 30 schools. Study participants included 101 early childhood teachers and 40 leaders (including 17 principals and 23 senior staff members, who were responsible for leadership in Kindergarten to Grade 2 within their school). Conclusions Leaders in the study were almost universally committed to utilising shared leadership processes, rating it as the third most important factor. However, K-2 teachers indicated less enthusiasm for this leadership process with it being only rated as their tenth most important factor of leadership, although they did nominate teams of teachers as an important source of leadership. Speculation has to be given to whether teachers are seeing the current drive for shared leadership as fragmenting the leadership role, and whether some view it as an avoidance of responsibility by substantive leaders. The widely recognised benefits of shared leadership need to better communicated to K-2 teachers, with areas in which shared leadership can be gainfully utilised carefully defined, along with those areas in which substantive leadership is more appropriate.
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FARM-GATE INTELLECTUALS AND THE POVERTY OF THINKING HIGHER EDUCATION BREEDS "EXCELLENCE"
BOSHIER R - University of British Colombia
Everywhere it is assumed "excellence" (particularly in international arenas) requires high levels of participation in higher education. In the global economy countries with poorly organised universities or low participation rates, can expect to fall behind. Higher education presumably produces "high performers" and "excellence." Because of the large positive correlation between "education" and "economy" mass higher education is needed.
Nowhere is the folly of this thinking more apparent than in New Zealand where there is a long history of distinguished and life-transforming accomplishment in the arts, technology and sport. Not by university educated folk, but "farm-gate" intellectuals who excelled without the "benefit" of education. None of the following had any higher education and most hated school - Richard Pearse (heavier-than-air flight) C.W.F. Hamilton (marine jet drives), John Britten (motor cycles), Ed Hillary (mountaineering and development), Peter Jackson (film), Kiri te Kanawa (singing), Laurie Davidson (America's Cup yachting). Australia has similar folk (such as Ben Lexcen).
The purpose of this paper is to problematize the notion "education" is good for you. Much of the focus is on America's Cup yacht racing - which involves intense technological innovation and interaction between human/technology/environment factors - all within the global economy. What can be learned from the fact Team New Zealand is largely run by "uneducated" (bordering on the delinquent) high school and university dropouts who twice defeated the technology of the U.S. military-industrial complex with "inputs" from MIT, computer companies and universities? Laurie Davidson, designer of NZL-60 left school at 15 and doesn't even use a computer.
Against the accomplishments of kiwi farm-gate intellectuals, university "visioning," strategic plans, competences and "best practices" look like a case of playing with oneself in public. Unseemly and embarrassing. Is it time to fold the university tent and go back to the farm gate? Or should 21st century conceptions of "lifelong learning" re-embrace, recognise and celebrate learning in nonformal and informal settings - much like Faure and others proposed in the 1970's.
The Future: Optimism or Ossification
BOTTRELL C - La Trobe University
LING L - La Trobe University
This paper addresses the issues raised in a recent review of post compulsory education and training in Victoria. In the interim report (April 2000) it is stated that employers found that the skills of new graduates appear to be most deficient in the areas of creativity, flair, problem solving, oral business communication and interpersonal skills. It is upon the first three of these perceived deficiencies that this paper focuses. In the research study conducted in southern NSW primary schools (Bottrell 1997-1999) where 66 teachers were surveyed, it was found that the subjects of creative arts, science and society and its environment are being allocated significantly less time in the curriculum of primary schools than other so-called basic subjects.
With the govenrment policy driven emphasis on literacy and numeracy, competency based approaches to curriculum, standardised testing programs and outcomes based curriculum, subjects which are likely to promote flair, creativity and problem solving often slip into the background. Competency based and outcomes based curriculum develop in learners an imperative to emit the desired response to achieve the state outcome, thus encouraging homogenity of response and convergent outcomes. Teachers faced with the need to prpeare students for the standardised statewide tests which result, despite assurances to the contrary, in league tables of successful educational institutions, ar tempted to teach to the test and to narrowly defined competencies or outcomes. Thus from both a teaching and learning perspective the likelihood of flair, creativity and problem solving being encouraged is severely diminished.
Against the Odds
BOTTRELL D - University of Sydney
This paper presents preliminary findings from research with girls and young women from an inner city public housing estate. The project explores girls' and young women's experiences in education, job seeking, recreation, being in trouble and notions of personal success. Participants in the study may be characterised as marginalised, but their desire for and rejection of promises of 'the centre' indicate an hegemony of values which at times inverts the hegemonic ideologies encountered in classed, raced and gendered centre-marginal relations.
The paper draws on theories of resistance and resilience for understanding processes of opposition and conformity, cultural management and identity work. Resistances as part of identity work involve both acceptance and rejection of available cultural ideals. Reframing resistances as aspects of identity work, within specific cultural contexts, points to the resilience of marginalised girls in their management of life constraints and opportunities. Their perceptions of what constitutes success, and what that means for individuals, indicate reiterated patterns of resistance and conformity and a mix of optimism and wariness of expecting too much.
THE ROLE Of POSTGRADUATE STUDENTS IN DISSEMINATION AND USE OF RESEARCH IN SCHOOLS AND SCHOOL SYSTEMS
BOURKE S - The University of Newcastle
HOLBROOK A - The University of Newcastle
Postgraduate students, particularly those working in schools and school systems, are a key group in disseminating and using educational research. This paper reports the results of a questionnaire administered in 1999 to a national sample of 1267 postgraduate students focussing on their views of the sources and importance of research, and on their individual research interests. Colleagues at the respondent's school were seen as the most important sources for and initiators of new ideas and developments in schools. Other colleagues, professional associations and universities were also important for the majority of postgraduate students. The types of information on which new developments were based were principally research (45% of respondents) and accumulated wisdom/experience (29%). The impact of university research was recognised on their own activities by 77% of postgraduates and on education generally by 60%. In descending order, the research projects most often listed by postgraduates (54%) were in the area of educational processes and structures which included three sub-topic areas: (1) internal educational processes, (2) social and philosophical views of education and, to a lesser extent, (3) curriculum organisation, educational levels and qualifications. Other prominent areas were learning and development (12%), human society (10%), special education (8%), politics and economics (7%), and curriculum areas, for example, key learning areas (6%).
Portfolios For Assessment and Reporting
BRADY L - University of Technology, Sydney
Portfolios have arguably become the most prominent strategy for assessment and reporting in Australian primary schools, a trend explained both by the need to assess and report in an outcomes framework (a legacy of the national curriculum), and by the authentic assessment movement with its emphasis on performance assessment.
This paper reports on a study conducted in 2000 using a stratified proportional systematic selection of 64 primary schools in NSW to determine school portfolio implementation. Specifically the study aimed to investigate teacher perceptions of the purpose of portfolios; the contents of portfolios; and how portfolios are used to assess and report. A case study of one school provided more explicit focus on how portfolios have changed both teaching and assessment and reporting practice.
Data from the survey were analysed using frequency distributions, tests of significance and analysis of variance. Qualitative case study data are also reported. Finally the paper accounts for and discusses the results.
Reclaiming materiality: The use of ANT in considering educational reform
BRENNAN M - Central Queensland University
The paper examines some of the methodological issues arising in the study of school reform, using key foci of Actor Network Theory (ANT) as a starting point. It surfaces issues of idealism, neo-positivism, and realism, as well as human-centric social science, in much of the research on school reform. In particular, many of the large-scale studies tend to be more useful for top-down management of reform and measurement, with the smallest unit that of the school. Ironically in an era of school-based management, the methodology and the outcomes tend to parallel centre-periphery innovations, working towards centralist explanations of change, policy, so school reform is treated as an effect of a centralised action. ANT makes possible different explanations that do not presume a centre-periphery model of change. Rather, the goal is to track the multiple ways in which innovation works - or does not. ANT encourages the study of innovations as iterative and inclusive of non-human actants, treating them as involved in multiple and intersecting networks. Comparisons of methodological issues will be drawn between specific studies of school improvement/school effectiveness and more ANT-influenced approaches to the consideration of research on school reform.
The role of children when mother returns to study mathematics in the further education sector: Benefits for both
BREW C - La Trobe University
It is well documented that children of middle-class parents generally do better at school than their working-class peers and despite increases in school retention rates in Australia, this remains the case. Social reproduction theories are used to describe this phenomenon. Social reproduction theory assumes that a family's class position is generally fixed by early adulthood, based on the occupation and education and associated values and attitudes acquired by the parents-to-be. But what happens when social class becomes more fluid, and parents markedly raise their educational status after their children are born? Do the children inherit their old level of cultural capital or the new?
Empirical studies demonstrate a large indirect relationship between home environment and mathematical achievement and conclude that ways are needed to improve the home environment because the benefits for children's mathematical achievements are potentially quite large. In this paper case studies of women with children who have returned to study mathematics in the further education sector are presented. Interview data from both the adult students and their children provide evidence of a synergistic relationship in the intellectual development of women and their children
From CATs to coursework: Teacher feedback on the VCE Mathematics 2000
BREW C - La Trobe University
TOBAIS S - La Trobe University
MILNE L - La Trobe University
LEIGH-LANCASTER D - La Trobe University
Following the recent review of the Victorian Certificate of Education, work requirements and the extended project or problem solving common assessment tasks (CAT 1) have been replaced by outcomes and coursework assessment in the revised VCE Mathematics studies. These changes were to address perceived problems with the authentication of students' work & excessive workloads in the previous study. Coursework assessment consist of a more flexible assessment structure, comprising a limited number of specified tasks that are smaller in scope and undertaken mainly during scheduled classes.
In July 2000 a survey was sent to over 700 VCE mathematics teachers across all sectors and regions on the first year of implementation of this new assessment structure. In this paper we report on the extent to which teachers believe that the authentication and workload issues associated with work requirements and the former extended common assessment tasks have been addressed. Also presented are teachers' experiences of the impact of the changes on the quality of students' learning outcomes. A focus is given to the use of investigative and problem solving approaches, the likely impact of the changes on junior mathematics and by gender, and the use of technology in the classroom.
The Triviality of Transfer in the Arts
BROWN N - (COFA, University of New South Wales
Claims of educational value in the arts are motivated by the realisation that, one way or another, the arts are more obliged than other subjects to spell out their wider educational relevance. The marginal position of the arts in education is largely a result of the unique kinds of knowledge they represent. For this reason redressing the marginalisation of the arts is often linked with attempts to redefine and broaden their cognitive structure. Recent evidence of transferability between knowledge in the arts and other curriculum domains is currently advanced as one useful approach. However, different ways of valuing the arts embrace different structural aspects of their knowledge. Thus the facts of transferability between knowledge in the arts and other domains vary according to their interpretation within different frameworks of artistic value.
This paper investigates the impact of three claims of artistic value on the facts of transfer in the arts. It emerges that the extent to which each value claim sifts out different properties of the evidence, weighed against the high levels of abstraction at which the transport of qualitative knowledge occurs, nullifies the usefulness of cognitive transfer as a stratagem against marginalisation in the arts.
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CRITICAL BEGINNINGS: PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS' ENGAGEMENTS WITH DISCOURSES OF CRITICAL LITERACY
BUCHHOLZ J - Central Queensland University
In this paper, I seek to examine obstacles to the implementation of critical theories in the English classroom encountered by pre-service and beginning teachers. At one level, the paper is idiosyncratic in that it draws heavily on the author's personal experience as a trainee English teacher in a large secondary school in regional Queensland. At another level, these experiences raise broader concerns with how current, dominant theoretical discourses are used to reinforce, strengthen and naturalise certain discourses of practice. In such circumstances, beginning or trainee teachers are in danger of being limited in their awareness of their own partial, subjective and preferential engagement with particular theories of language learning. In addressing these concerns, the paper highlights a number of issues for consideration, ranging from the personal to the systemic; for example, how and to what extent are the attitudes and practices of beginning teachers of English shaped by the attitudes and practices of the more experienced teachers with whom they work? What exposure do pre-service teachers have to different theoretical perspectives of language learning? How and to what extent do syllabus documents, assessment methods and educational policy dictate or restrict the theories of language learning being accessed by beginning teachers? The paper concludes by suggesting that critical literacy provides not only a resource with which to critique current and dominant theories and practices of language learning but also a legitimate, although often discounted, alternative to 'mainstream' English 'instruction'.
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teaching - An appealing career choice for school leavers?
BUTCHER J - Australian Catholic University
The role of the teaching profession is currently the focus of much media attention. Teachers feel that the nature of their profession has changed, that they must fill a range of roles which are unrecognised or not valued by society, parents or employers. They believe that the salary they receive is not in accord with the difficult job that they perform and that their career paths are often very limited.
Male teachers, especially in primary schools, are currently experiencing a particular set of conflicts and tensions as they undertake work which has been traditionally performed by women. Whilst they express a sense of personal and social efficacy in their decisions to care for and help children, they believe that primary teaching is not perceived as a very masculine job. They feel apprehensive regarding issues related to student contact and being accused of child abuse (Butcher & Lewis, 1999).
It would appear that Year 12 boys do not regard teaching, and primary teaching in particular, as a worthwhile career. Students report teachers and parents who actively dissuade them from undertaking a teaching career. The number of males completing primary teacher education courses is declining and is a cause for concern to educational administrators and policy makers.
It is important that the teaching profession be seen as an appealing career choice. To do this more information is needed regarding why school leavers choose or ignore teaching as a possible career. This paper reports on the results of survey of approximately 1400 Year 12 secondary students in Catholic schools of the Sydney Archdiocese. Students were asked if they had considered teaching as a career, what was the area of teaching that they were most interested in and why teaching could be considered attractive. They were also asked to respond to a series of statements which might influence their decision to become a primary school teacher.
The data were analysed with respect to the gender of the respondents. The analysis also examined whether male Year 12 students find teaching unattractive because of similar conflicts and tensions reported by practising male teachers. Findings of the survey are summarised and a number of recommendations for recruitment policies are indicated for employer authorities.
The folio and critical stages in students' experiences with Design and Technology in school settings
BUTCHER L - University of Newcastle
All students in NSW schools study Design and Technology which is the core technology subject offered in the Technology and Applied Studies 'Key Learning Area'. Students study D&T for 200 hours between years 7 to 10, but in most instances the prescribed component can be undertaken in the first two years of high school. Many schools are offering elective D&T programs for students in years 9 and 10 and these programs are frequently chosen by students wishing to extend their experience with design and technology. One of the questions of critical interest to teachers and curriculum planners relates to the perception that students have of D&T and how they engage with it. The author's professional interests in D&T classroom activities led him to undertake a qualitative study that was structured to maximise researcher involvement with two year ten class groups in two separate schools over a school year. The author conducted 75 field observations and 30 student interviews.
This paper explores in detail the students' engagement with the requirement of the design folio, incorporating what value they place on it and what they think makes a good design experience. Further analyses showed that these views varied throughout different stages of the design process and critical points are discussed in depth.
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can00250
Theorising the assessment of musical learning
CANTWELL R - University of Newcastle
JANNERET N - University of Newcastle
Recent debate within the domain of music education has focussed on issues of discriminating between higher and lower quality learning outcomes. Much of this debate has centred on the language of music education, particularly in giving both substantive and psychometric meaning to terms as diverse as "the craft of music", "musical skills", "originality", "musically convincing", "sustained involvement in the composition process", and "convincing development of ideas". Moreover, in the search for standardisation in music assessment, much of what is conventionally described in assessment criteria (eg. NSW Board of Studies 1999, 2000) reduces musical assessment to quantifiable competencies often not indicative of the higher-order musical thinking underlying the production of these competencies. In this paper we propose an alternative theoretical framework based upon a synthesis of current text processing theory with Biggs and Collis' (1982) SOLO Taxonomy. We propose that musical assessment should primarily be sensitive to the quality and structure of music thinking. We argue that musical learning, like other domains of learning, can be analysed for evidence of structural quality and that such evaluations may provide viable diagnostic as well as summative information about musical outcomes.
Moving Out and Moving On: School Closure and Transition Experiences of Students, Teachers and Parents
CARRINGTON V - University of Tasmania
CHURCHILL R - University of Tasmania
While there is a large body of research focused on the transition of students from primary to secondary schools, this is not the only major shift that may encompass/overtake groups of students. School closure and amalgamation appear increasingly on the agendas of Australian State governments. It is our contention that it is highly inappropriate to assume that the issues related to closure parallel those of transition. However, in the absence of research into the impact of closure, educators and administrators are forced to rely on existing and/or extended transition programmes.
While the literature focuses on issues of continuity and discontinuity between sites, transition has a long tradition as a positive rite of passage into adolescence and early adulthood. Closure, however, raises highly specific and often negative emotive issues for staff, students and families.
Based on the results of a number of semi-structured interviews with staff, students and families, this paper reports on the impact of one instance of closure of a Tasmanian secondary school on the closing and receiving school communities. Additionally, implications for school communities in planning for and coping with the processes and pressures of impending closure are addressed.
Mentoring and beginning teacher's workplace learning
MARK CARTER - Deputy Principal Cheltenham Girls High School, NSW Department of Education and Training
ROD FRANCIS-School of Education - Charles Sturt University
Mentoring has been the focus of much attention in the recent literature on initial teacher education, induction and approaches to professional development for experienced teachers. There have been several reasons for its prominence. There has been a growth in understanding of how beginning teachers learn, a recognition of the place of practitioner knowledge in the teaching profession together with a belief that mentoring offers a 'cost' solution to teacher training and development.
This paper briefly reviews the literature related to mentoring and beginning teacher professional learning. The key conclusions in the literature are examined in relation to findings from research into the professional learning of beginning teachers conducted in NSW government schools during 1998. Some 220 beginning teachers and 245 supervisors and mentors were surveyed and the processes of beginning teacher professional learning examined observed closely in six case study schools in different settings across the state. Examination of survey data using multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) clearly established the importance of mentoring support in beginning teachers' professional learning in the induction year. Case study research also identified key practices, conditions and professional interactions that sustained transmission, transactional and transformational approaches to teacher learning.
The complementary qualitative and quantitative data in relation to mentoring provide new and robust evidence of the importance of this professional learning strategy in generating beginning teacher satisfaction with induction support. In particular, the analysis of qualitative data establishes the importance of mentoring in moving teacher learning beyond the simple transmission of prevailing culture and professional norms. In combination with other key conditions and practices mentoring has the potential to shift the outcomes of beginning teacher induction from transmission to transactional and transformational learning.
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Science teachers' understanding of the nature and future of science
CARTER L - Australian Catholic University
SMITH C - Australian Catholic University
Current initiatives in the promotion of science such as the Victorian Science, Engineering and Technology Initiative (SET for Success, 1998) as well as widespread reflections on science and science education globally (e.g. Millar and Osborne, 1998) clearly demonstrate the crucial importance attached to science. The immutability of its superior and universal claim to truth is the view of science that has historically and continues to be, largely recapitulated in science education despite critiques from various discourses. Increasingly the literature calls for a re-visioning of science education enabling more generative possibilities better suited to the complex postmodern and techno-scientific world of the 21st century. Cunningham's(1998) research argues that teachers who possess greater knowledge about science as well as content knowledge, skills and pedagogy, are able to innovate curricula more creatively and offers promising directions for elaboration. Further, given the potency and persuasiveness of science, a knowledge of Futures Studies set alongside Grumet's (1981) notion of temporal ambiguity seemingly has much to offer science education discourse. This paper takes up these two ideas and reports preliminary research on science teachers knowledge and understandings about the nature of science and its processes as well as their views of the future, and the extent to which these understandings inform their practice.
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Subject Status and Curriculum Change: Perceptions of Beginning Student Teachers
CASSIDY H - Central Queensland University
WALMSLEY H - Central Queensland University
What do beginning student teachers think about school subjects? How significant is the influence of these perceptions on their attitudes towards their university subjects and their development as teachers? Can preservice teacher education experiences modify or change these perceptions and attitudes? This paper will report on a research project which is attempting to address these and other questions about beginning student teachers, subject status and curriculum change.
The starting point for this research was our belief that beginning student teachers brought with them a range of well established ideas and theories about what school subjects are important and that this had a significant influence on their attitude towards their university experiences. Using both quantitative and qualitative methodologies, our initial task was to illuminate the perceptions of a cohort of beginning BEd (Primary) students.
In this paper we report on the findings from the first stage of this research, which focussed on mapping student preconceptions, and consider what this might mean with regard to improving our programs and practices.
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Challenging the bully: Towards an optimistic future.
CASSIDY T - University of Otago
A key factor in the development of the content and pedagogy of the New Zealand Health and Physical Education (HPE) curriculum was the 1994 UNICEF report which identified New Zealand as having "high rates of child abuse and youth suicide" (Tasker, 1996/1997, p.195). Child abuse and youth suicide are identified as two of many "symptoms of youth in crisis"(Ministry of Youth Affairs). Bullying, in its various forms, is a form of child abuse in a school context. The New Zealand government funds several programmes in schools to stop bullying, nonetheless most students report they have experienced some form of bullying (Crooks & Flockton,1998). One agency that has gathered information and opinion from young people is the National Education Monitoring Project (NEMP) (Crooks & Flockton, 1998).
This paper draws on the findings of a project that performed a secondary analysis of the NEMP data. This enabled insight to be gained into what bullying the students have encountered and what strategies they use to deal with the situation. The paper concludes with some suggestion for practice that are framed by constructivist theories of learning (Lave & Wenger,1991) and build on what the students already know and do when faced with bullying situations.
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Can professional portfolios capture the complexity of highly accomplished teaching?
CHADBOURNE R - Edith Cowan University
THWAITE A - Edith Cowan University
BROWN C - Edith Cowan University
In an attempt to raise the quality and status of teachers work, Australian education systems over the past decade have introduced new career paths in teaching and performance management policies for school staff. For these initiatives to succeed, teachers (and their assessors) need images of what highly accomplished teaching looks like. Vignettes, cases or narratives are one source of these images. This paper discusses research we conducted on another source, namely, the six portfolio entries required of candidates for advanced certification by the US National Board for Professional Standards of Teaching (NBPTS). During this year we worked with a group of WA English teachers to develop a complete set of these entries. Our interest centred not only on the portfolio entries themselves but also on what the process of completing them involved for the teachers in terms of resources, obstacles, strategies and professional benefits. To validate the portfolio entries (i.e. whether they show the complexity and sophistication of highly accomplished teaching) we conducted two separate invitational workshops: one with a group of language education academics; the other with a group of ten experienced practising classroom teachers, organized in conjunction with the English Teachers Association of WA.
Parents' Perception of Private School Provisions
CHADWICK, F - The University of Newcastle
Educational policy makers are able to cite sound reasons for certain types of instruction being the responsibility of the generalist primary class teacher. Parents of able young Australian musicians are, however, critical of the impact of such policies upon their children's school-based experiences. They maintain that teachers' lack of skills and expertise i specialised areas, results in the use of inappropriate and less than successful approaches to teaching and learning.
An examination of extensive qualitative data reveal firmly held parental contentions, that the needs and interests of musically involved children would best be served by school-based music programs differentiated from the mandatory courses undertaken by all students. Additionally, parent maintain that placement of their children in advantaged school settings is likely to ensure the provision of teaching and learning programs more readily suited to their children's needs.
The evidence presented in this paper has been obtained from a recently completed, Australia-wide study, concerning itself with an examination of environmental facilitation of talent development in music. Australian parents (N=194) describe a crisis of confidence in the public education system in respect of this specialised area of education. The implications for teacher education programs shall also be addressed.
Teacher education students' epistemological beliefs - A cultural perspectives on learning and teaching
CHAN KW - Hong Kong Institute of Education
The role of beliefs on teaching and learning has been evidenced in research literature as influencing the success or failure of curriculum and instruction. Within the belief system, the epistemological beliefs are found to relate to meta-cogntive activities (Schommer, 1994) , which are considered important in leaning and teacher professionalization. This paper reports the findings of a study conducted by the author to examine the epistemological beliefs of Hong Kong teacher education students, based on a questionnaire adapted from that of Schommer (1991) and any possible relation between epistemological beliefs with demographic variables such as age, gender and electives. The issue is approached from a comparative perspectives with results discussed with reference to both the Hong Kong (Chinese) cultural context and western (North America) culture. Implications are drawn from the cultural base, with suggestions for future development in teacher education programs and possible direction of research.
che00117
"Who helps whom?": Researching Social Networks of Help
CHEN M - University of Queensland
This paper describes a study that examines the networks that students accessed, when they experienced difficulties in completing non-traditional assessment tasks in secondary mathematics. The study drew upon literature on helping interactions, revoicing and the zone of proximal development, to theorise and analyse the interactions and networks that were constructed. Data sources included field notes and transcripts of audio and video recordings, and interviews with teachers and students. Qualitative analyses revealed 2 different aspects of helping interactions: who helped whom; and how help was given or sought. Students reported asking peers and teachers for help, before asking parents and siblings.
The findings from observations and interviews also revealed different ways in which students sought help. This included directly asking the teacher or peer for help; checking or exchanging information with the peers, looking on, when peers are being helped by the teacher or another peer, and getting help through the "chain" of many different sources. The results have implications for educational practice. First, the study suggests that seeking help can enhance students' learning. In addition, the analysis sheds light on students' strategies for exploiting alternative sources of help in the classroom.
che00128
University Researchers and the Practice of Collaborative Research
CHEREDNICHENKO B - Victoria University
HOOLEY N - Victoria University
KRUGER T - Victoria University
MOORE R - Victoria University
Since 1996 a team from Victoria University, in collaboration with the NSN, has worked with teachers from schools in Vic, Tas and SA to research school restructuring. The project has sought the development of approaches to practitioner research which has engaged teachers in data collection and analysis.
The paper will briefly report the broad findings of the project so far. The next phase of the research will be a further analysis in which the research team reviews the data and practitioner based findings for their relevance to current understandings about schools restructuring and it impact of student learning. This analysis will be constructed to allow alternative understandings to emerge such as democratic practices and critical perspectives on practice. The paper will outline how the research team conceives this task will be undertaken.
CRAFTING SUBJECTS: LOCAL CONTEXTS/GLOBAL IMPERATIVES
Globalization and Governmentality: Educational Changes in Hong Kong and Singapore.
CHEUNG W-L - University of Queensland
SIDHU R - University of Queensland
A popular reading of the Asian economic crisis of 1997 is that it exemplifies the worst possible excesses of globalization. As the economic bubble burst in the much-lauded 'Dragon' and 'Tiger' economies, many NIEs in Asia are still suffering from the impacts of the crisis. On the contrary, Hong Kong and Singapore escaped the harsh neo-classical prescriptions delivered by the IMF on the one hand, and they were sufficiently concerned by the magnitude of the crisis to impose a harsh regime of fiscal restraint on their public sector on the other. Using the Asian financial crisis as a starting point, we argue against the position taken by some globalization theorists who have declared the imminent redundancy of the state in light of fast capitalism. Besides, we conceive both globalization and the state are 'complex organism' instead of monads in which there contains no parts. The interactions between globalization and the state may weaken some areas of the state but simultaneously strengthen others. In the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis, we see in both Hong Kong and Singapore, a renewed governmentality that is centred around survival, competitiveness and prosperity. Education provides space for both governments to strengthen their governmentality as well as enhances adapting to economic globalization. We conclude that the state continue to play significant role in the management of global-local tensions and education is an important sphere where this negotiation takes place.
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A "Sound" Education - The relationship between Music & Language in Beginning Readers
CHONG S - National Institute of Education
There is a pivotal relationship between music and language learning. The natural medium for both music and language is auditory - vocal. That is, both music and language are primarily received as sequences of sounds and produced as sequences of sounds. Receptive skills precede productive skills. Both music and language learning depend on the perception, reception and
production of sound patterns. Thus, many of the neural mechanisms for analysing input and producing output in music and language learning must be shared. The most universal of all musical forms is the song where words and music are intimately combined. Children seem to have a natural ability to learn the use of music and language. Spontaneous singing and spontaneous speech are first exhibited at about the same age, between one and two years. The repetitive, rhythmic language of action songs, rhymes, and simple chants serve to encourage and assist children. Exposure to such 'musical language' provides the perfect linguistic setting for children to gain more confidence in talking and singing. Music is frequently used as a motivational aid to the teaching of reading, writing and other areas of the language arts. Combine research in areas of music, psycholinguistics and auditory-visual integration suggests that music provides a co-ordinating schemata, where the child learns to manipulate and segment the sound and its visual representation.
This paper will look at various research studies on the relationship of music and language learning. It will also draw implications and discuss the effectiveness of using music toward enhancing early language skills in a young child.
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The effect of Hanyu Pinyin on Chinese Character Learning.
CHUNG K - University of NSW
Hanyu pinyin is regarded as an important instructional aid to learn written Chinese. It has been accepted as a conventional approach to include a Hanyu pinyin word as well as a first language word when a new Chinese character is introduced, and yet the efficacy of this practice is seldom examined.
The purpose of this study was to examine the role that Hanyu pinyin play during Chinese character learning. Samples. The participants were 16 year eight male students from a private college. They ranged in age from 13.9 to 14.5 years, with a mean age of 14.2 years. A repeated-measurement experimental design was used. The target characters were presented with two prompts, that is, an English translation equivalent and either a pinyin or a verbal cue. The prompts were presented either simultaneously with the character or as feedback given to the participants. Four presentation techniques were formed: two pinyin conditions (Simultaneous Pinyin and Feedback Pinyin) and two no pinyin conditions (Simultaneous Verbal Cue and Feedback Verbal Cue). The participants experienced all four experimental conditions and learned one set of characters under each condition. Results. The data revealed that pronunciation was learned faster in the pinyin conditions than the no pinyin conditions. However, the acquisition of pronunciation was slower in the simultaneous pinyin condition than the feedback pinyin condition. Similarly, the meaning was learned faster in the feedback conditions than in the simultaneous conditions.
The inclusion of Hanyu pinyin facilitated the acquisition of pronunciation, but it had little impact on the learning of meanin