1999 Abstracts

Compiler and Editor: Peter L. Jeffery.

Note: All the supplied abstracts are listed here. Not all papers had abstracts. Not all abstracts resulted in papers, and not all of those were submitted for electronic publishing. Some abstracts are listed under their symposium, a link in alphabetical order points to them. Such links are not identified by the word "Paper".

Student level factors influencing the mathematics achievement of Australian students: A path analysis

Tilahun Afrassa and John Keeves, Flinders University of South Australia

Over the past 30 years IEA has conducted three international studies of mathematics at the 13-year-old level. In the three studies, in addition to mathematics achievement tests, students were required to respond to an attitude questionnaire concerning their attitudes towards mathematics, the learning of mathematics and school learning and a general information questionnaire about themselves and their mathematics schoolwork. Australia is one of the countries who participated in all the three international studies. In this paper path analysis techniques are employed to examine student level factors that influence mathematics achievement of the 1994 Year 8 Australian students (Third International Mathematics Study) by using the PLSPATH 3.01 (Sellin, 1990) computer program. Conclusions are drawn about the student level factors that influence the mathematics achievement of the 1994 Year 8 Australian students and comparisons are made with the student level factors influencing mathematics achievement at the 13-year-old level in 1964 and 1978.

Exploring reality in two languages: Factual writing by a primary-aged bilingual child.

Dr. Marina A. Aidman, University of Melbourne

This paper reports some findings from a five-year case study of bilingual literacy development (pre-school through the early and mid-primary years) in Victoria.

Factual writing by a bilingual child allowed her to explore and negotiate factual (including "uncommonsense") information using both her languages. It also assisted in the child's developing control of written registers in both her tongues. We demonstrate this by examining the child's factual texts written in the two languages during her first four years in primary school (Grades Prep.-3).

Texts on factual topics have been selected out of all her written products which have been comprehensively collected over the five year period. The study utilises systemic functional analysis of the written texts (Halliday 1994), as well as genre and register theory (Martin 1992).

Quality teacher education: New questions and some answers about what helps or hinders learning in teacher education

Airini, Ministry of Education,Wellington & Barry Brooker,Christchurch College of Education.

With a view to informing understandings of quality teacher education, research through the Quality Teacher Education (QTE) Project has focused on what helps or hinders learning in teacher education. Particular attention is paid to preservice teacher education and factors which students themselves report as influencing their ability to learn how to be an effective teacher. While existing teacher education research has tended to focus on evaluating the student teacher's competency to teach as an indicator of quality teacher education, the QTE Project has emphasised the conditions and processes in preservice teacher education. Using the Critical Incident technique (Flanagan, 1954) the QTE Project examined 9 transcripts, identifying 244 critical incidents and 13 categories that describe what helps or hinders learning preservice teacher education. It is suggested that the incidents and categories have implications for policy and practices assoc iated with achieving quality in teacher education in general and preservice teacher education in particular. In response to the need to understand what processes in teacher education might support the provision of quality teacher education and thereby contribute to high quality teaching, this paper reports on the research questions: What hinders learning in preservice teacher education? What helps learning in preservice teacher education?

To teach reading and writing: What helps or hinders literacy learning in teacher education?

Airini, Ministry of Education,New Zealand

In a report prepared for the New Zealand Ministry of Education in March 1999 the Literacy Taskforce provided advice to the government on the achieving its goal that "By 2005, every child turning nine will be able to read, write and do maths for success". Taskforce members expressed concern over the reported variability in the skills and knowledge about literacy learning found in teacher education graduates.

With a view to informing understandings of the processes and conditions of literacy learning in teacher education, research through the Quality Teacher Education (QTE) Project has focused on Reading and Language courses in preservice teacher education. Particular attention is paid to what students themselves report as influencing their ability to be effective teachers in respect to literacy learning.

Using the Critical Incident technique, the QTE Project examined transcripts from interviews with 22 students, identifying critical incidents and categories that describe what helps or hinders learning to teach literacy. As descriptors of quality teacher education, the incidents and categories have implications for policy and practices associated with literacy learning, the quality of teaching and the achievement of children in literacy. In response to the need to understand what processes in teacher education might support the provision of quality teachers of literacy, this paper reports on the research question: What helps or hinders literacy learning in preservice teacher education?

'Teacher perceptions of the use and value of formative assessment in secondary English programmes'

Russell Aitken,Massey University

The significance of formative assessment strategies to student learning has been summed up by Paul Black and Dylan Wiliam in their review of all research data from 1988 to 1998. The potential value of a range of strategies for the effective incorporation of formative assessment in secondary English classrooms is beginning to be appreciated by teachers in New Zealand.

Formative assessment centres on effective feed-back to students close to the time of the learning task and it should look forward to the specific next step to improve performance.

This paper summarizes the perceptions of twenty secondary English teachers from a range of secondary schools across the Massey University College of Education's catchment area.

The paper outlines the understanding the teachers have of the following issues raised by Black and Wiliam: the relationship between formative and summative teaching strategies how assessment feed-back can be distorted by classroom management functions the clash between 'competitive' and 'personal improvement' assessment purposes in the classroom.

The paper will outline the nature of the gap between the perceptions held by the teacher involved in the study and their actual classroom practice and will highlight the reasons for that gap. It will also look ahead to the professional development needs arising from the gap.

From consensus to contestation: Professional accountability and initial teacher education in New Zealand

Noeline Alcorn University of Waikato

This paper examines changing concepts of teachers' professional accountability in New Zealand over the last fifty years and explores the resulting implications for initial teacher education. It analyses a series of official documents including the report of the Consultative Committee (the Campbell Committee Report, 1951), the Currie Commission Report (1961), the Select Committee Report on the Quality of Teaching (1986) and the Green Paper on Teacher Education (1997). Wilkin (1996) theorised that teacher education is best understood as an ongoing dialogue between official ideology and the culture of the professional community. The post war consensus on educational aims in New Zealand served to inhibit public dialogue in New Zealand until the 1980s. Since then the definition of professionalism and accountability have been more openly contested. The paper explores how this debate has impacted on initial teacher education in the new competitive environment resulting from government educational policies of the 1990s and how institutions, organisations, and individuals have endorsed, adapted, or resisted the assumptions on which these new policies are based.

Implementing innovation and systemic change in education : The achievement Of C.E Beeby.

Noeline Alcorn University of University

C.E. Beeby, who died in 1998, was responsible for overseeing a state sponsored revolution in New Zealand education, initiated by the 1st Labour Government. Director of Education from 1940 - 1960, he also established the NZCER, served as the first Assistant Director for Education at UNESCO in 1948-9, and was responsible for educational systems in Western Samoa and the Cook Islands. His particular genius was as an administrator; both his analytic intelligence and his creativity were directed to implementation and action.This paper explores Beeby's administrative practice in the light of recent theories of change management and both raises questions about and makes comparisons with more recent attempts at systemic changes to educational administration, curriculum and teacher development. Beeby's own writing on the realities of educational planning and its implementation provides an important commentary on this exploration of his practice.

Reading support: Asking the right questions, getting answers that matter.

Sue Allen, University of Southern Queensland

Increasingly, reading proficiency is being measured in terms of outcomes based data. This drive for accountability supports the growth of National Profiles, Literacy Benchmarks, and statewide assessments such as the Diagnostic Net, which record the numbers of students who fail to make the grade. In the face of widespread concerns about perceived low literacy standards, Governments have responded by providing increased funding for students experiencing difficulty, introducing specialized programs and personnel, and revamping syllabus documents. But are these responses based on an authentic assessment of the situation? Outcomes based data cannot adequately reflect the complex issues addressed in school contexts. In addition to assessing the end result of reading programs, perhaps we should be asking further questions. More informed questions might include: What is the nature of reading support? How is it planned and provided? What actually happens in support programs? How do students perceive the support they receive? This paper presents the rationale, methodology and preliminary findings of current research designed to answer such questions. It investigates policies and practices in reading support across Years 1-3, in two Queensland schools. The research is designed to identify the critical elements contributing to success in these contexts recognized for their provision of highly effective reading support. It features an emphasis on qualitative methods of investigation, an exploration and analysis of teacher theoretical orientations and their effects on planning and practice, and comprehensive description and analysis of the actual experiences and perceptions of the students receiving various types of reading support. If we want to get answers that matter, we must ask the right questions.

Different subject areas, different self-regulated learning strategies?

Sharon Andrew and Wilma Vialle, University of Wollongong

Academic disciplines may have widely varying subjects that require students to employ general and subject-specific learning strategies to be academically successful in that discipline. It has been increasingly recognised that more research is required on the subject-specific nature of self-regulation.

The purpose of this study was threefold: to determine whether students report using different learning strategies to study for two subject areas of a nursing program; to examine these differences in relation to academic performance; and to explore the changes in students' strategy use, in the two subject areas, over the academic year. The study focused on first and second semester science and nursing practice courses of first year nursing programs.

The study involved semi-structured telephone interviews of first year students, from three university campuses, which were conducted early in the first semester and late in the second semester of a first year nursing program. In both interviews, students were asked questions pertaining to the learning strategies they used when studying for their science and nursing practice courses. Students were divided into the high and low achiever categories based on their academic grades for these courses. Results for the study are presented in the paper, and may increase our understanding of students' self-regulatory behaviours for two subject areas of a tertiary program.

Ethnic group differences in the academic motivation of University students

Lyn Lavery, University of Auckland

Motivation is one of the most important psychological concepts in education today, and has in fact shown to be related to various learning and performance outcomes. While some research has begun to examine the motivation of various ethnic groups, and how this may impact on learning outcomes, little research has been conducted on the various ethnic groups present in New Zealand's multicultural University setting. The present study aims to examiine the academic motivation of Pakeha, Maori, Pacific Islands and Chinese students attending a New Zealand University. A revised version of the Academic Motivation Scale(measuring extrinsic, intrinsic, and amotivation) was administered to 400 undergraduate students, and results analysed as a function of ethnicity. Possible differences in the academic motivation of these ethnic groups will be discussed, along with implications for better structuring learning environments for these students.

The values of physical education trainees in Singapore

Nicholas G. Aplin, School of Physical Education, NIE, NTU

The issue of the relationship between values and the pursuit of national goals is a common issue in Singapore. The purpose of this study was to examine how the prevailing value systems that guide the decision making of Singaporeans might be implicated in the presentation of physical education programmes. It is argued that personal values represent a common mediating influence on the pursuit of goals associated with sport and physical education and as such represent an important element in maintaining the culture of physical activity in sport as it exists in Singapore.

A conceptual design based on the Values Model developed by Schwartz (1992, 1995) was used to analyse of individual value systems of physical education trainees at the National Institute of Education. Preliminary findings suggest that values associated with Self-Enhancement and Openness to Change are more positively representative of a physical education and sport culture than values linked with traditional beliefs concerning Self-Transcendence and Conservation. These findings highlight the potential conflicts that confront the teacher, who wishes to promote both sub-cultural values and national values.

Race dealing: multicultural moments in globalised times

Ruth Arber, Monash University

To describe ways that race is dealt with in Australia proves a complex task. To many race issues are seen as being something of little consequence in Australia and as not being something that needs to be dealt with at all. Yet and at the same time, arguments about specific race issues (who can enter, who can own, who can rule- Australia) flood the political and public arena. As I explore these ways that race has been dealt with in Australia I find that these dealings are not about dealing with them at a I argue that in contemporary Australian such maps of race dealing are not drawn within the noisy silences of race debate but maintained within codings of multiculturalism. These multicultural codings are become something contested, changing and controversial as they are located in the space of articulation between moments of liberalism and of essentialism. Viewed through the imaginings of these multicultural moments, national futures become utopian (or diablotin) as borders between us and them disappear.

Teachers' beliefs about successful teaching and learning in mathematics.

Jennifer Archer,University of Newcastle

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 advanced mathematics 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 advanced mathematics, would behave in the classroom in line with her beliefs. Teachers' beliefs about students' culture, sex, and socio-economic status would also affect their classroom behaviour. Changing behaviour, then, should stem from changing beliefs.

The present study focuses on mathematics teaching. The teaching of mathematics has been subject to considerable criticism in recent years: classes are divorced from students' everyday experiences; students are expected to work independently rather work together to solve problems; students learn algorithms without understanding the underlying mathematical principles. The data for the study are transcriptions of hour-long interviews with a group of primary teachers and with a group of high school mathematics teachers. In the interviews, teachers were asked to describe their teaching techniques, to explain why they chose these techniques, and to explain why they thought these techniques helped their students to learn. Interesting differences emerged between the responses of the primary and secondary teachers. In both cases, however, what emerged strongly was teachers' beliefs about the emotional and social aspects of teaching mathematics.

Real, local learning affects global issues: learning to set up small, new enterprises as a complement to prevailing wisdom

Teresa Arnold,University of South Australia

This paper reflects on an interpretivist approach used to research small, new businesses. The research focuses on adults learning to start small, new businesses in which the learner becomes self employed. A phenomenological methodology is used to explore learners' perspectives of what it is really like to learn to start a new, small business. Review of the literature indicates there has been little similar research. Simply the methodology has not been applied to learning and small business, despite either calls to do so from both education and small business researchers or potential economic implications. Using qualitative methods with data generated from interviews, the research reveals and takes to new heights understanding in this major area of human enterprise. Emerging from this less travelled research road are marked contrasts with findings arrived at by travelling the universally dominant road of positivist and quantitative methodologies. The research does not deny positivist research in learning and small business. The picture rendered through a phenomenological methodology complements. Describing idiosyncratic reality is a picture is of vibrancy, intensity, colour, and detail. This actual reality is not illumined with prevailing wisdom of abstracted, explanatory and generalised vocational and work based education. It is suggested that research conducted through an interpretivist approach, with equal but different rigour, and prevailing research approaches actually add to each other. Their convergence it is a fine example of educational research rising to the challenge of `global issues and local effects'.

The 'where' of teacher professional development

Fran Baker and Glynn Lorrigan, Auckland College of Education

What are the differences in teachers' perceptions of a professional development course for qualifications held in a school, involving all teaching staff, and the same course delivered on a College of Education campus for individual teachers? This paper presents our findings and identifies commonalities, some significant features, and the problematic nature of professional development for teachers. Some implications for professional development providers are commented upon.

Assessment: Defining the worth of professional practice

Simon Barrie, University of Sydney

Professional practice is an integral component of many university qualifications, especially in the professions. Despite the extensive literature on the value of such learning, the perception remains prevalent in some academic circles, that professional practice learning is somehow inferior traditional classroom learning and not at a university standard.

Most academics, including those responsible for professional practice, espouse high level learning outcomes for their university courses. However the rhetoric of such claims does not always translate to appropriate teaching and learning experiences (Biggs, 1996). This paper reports on a research which has investigated the extent to which such claims are realised in professional practice teaching and learning experiences.

Data was gathered in the form of transcribed interviews with academic staff and documentation of the assessment strategies used in professional practice. The data was analysed from the theoretical perspective offered by 'constructive development' (Kegan, 1994). Constructive development theory has been usefully applied to curriculum evaluation as well as to the evaluation of programme assessment (Taylor & Marienau, 1997).

The paper will discuss the outcomes of the analysis and explore the potential of pedagogically sound assessment strategies to provide a convincing argument as to the value of professional practice learning in traditional academic degrees. The implications and impetus for further scholarly reflection on teaching and learning in such professional settings will be discussed.

The end of a 'No Through Road'? Schooling and a group of disadvantaged students

Pamela Bartholomaeus, Deakin University

This paper will present conclusions from a research project conducted in a community where many are critical of the educational opportunities available to their students and also critical of the level of educational success most students attain. This project, using literacy as a lens, has investigated barriers to educational success which are important for a group of disadvantaged students. While much research about literacy learning in schools has been conducted with students in metropolitan settings, and is often centred on students in the early years of their education, this research project is concerned with students attending a South Australian rural secondary school. Rural students are a group of disadvantaged students who on average are achieving lower academic credentials at the conclusion of their schooling than is the average, for students as a whole, or for students from metropolitan areas. The students were principally post-compulsory students in Stage 1 of the SACE, students who were hoping to matriculate the following year. This paper will analyse the literacy events observed in the three main strands of studies in secondary schools, humanities, science, and technology classes. The literacy abilities required of the students for successful completion of the tasks set will be considered. The ways in which some of the tasks were completed, and student responses to some of the tasks will also be outlined. Conference sub-theme: Teachers and learners: New questions Subject area: Language and literacy

A study of the leadership behaviour of school principals in selected New South Wales State secondary schools

Kerry Barnett, John McCormick and Robert Conners, University of New South Wales

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between the transformational and transactional leadership behaviours of school principals in New South Wales State secondary schools and some teacher outcomes and aspects of school learning culture. A survey was carried out in 12 randomly selected schools involving 124 teachers from the Sydney metropolitan area. The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire Form 5X (Short) developed by Bass and Avolio (1997) was used to measure leadership behaviour, while, the Patterns of Adaptive Learning Survey developed by Maehr, Midgley, Hicks, Roeser, Urdan, Anderman and Kaplan (1996) was used to measure school learning culture. Factor analysis was used to determine the validity of the leadership model developed by Bass and Avolio (1997) and the school learning model developed by Maehr et al. (1996) in the Australian school context. The factor analysis of leadership items suggested that there were two transformational factors, two transactional factors and one teacher outcome factor. The analysis of school learning culture items identified five factors. Multiple regression analysis was used to determine the relationship between leadership behaviour with teacher outcomes and, with school learning culture. The results from the analysis of leadership items with teacher outcomes suggested that, transformational leadership behaviour is associated with the teacher outcomes - satisfaction, extra effort and perception of leader effectiveness. However, contrary to what might be expected, multiple regression of leadership items with school learning culture items suggested that transformational leadership behaviour had a negative association with school learning culture. Furthermore, significant interactions suggested that the relationship of leadership behaviour of school principals with school learning culture may be more complex and that further research is warranted.

Hecs lotto: Does marker variability make examinations a lottery?

Steven Barrett, University of South Australia

Focus groups that have been conduced with undergraduate students of the Division of Business and Management at the University of South Australia revealed general concerns about marker variability and the possible impact on examination results and student performance. This study has two aims. First, to analyse the relationships between student performance on an essay style examination, the questions answered and the markers. Second, to identify and determine the nature and the extent of the marking errors on the examination. The overall goal of the study was to improve item specification and to inform the staff development process in order to improve student confidence in the assessment practices of the Division.

These relationships were analysed using two commercially available software packages, RUMM and Conquest to develop Rasch Test Models. The analyses revealed minor differences in item difficulty, but considerable inter-rater variability. Furthermore, intra-rater variability was even more pronounced. Four of the five common marking errors were also identified.

The results of the study provide a framework for staff development with respect to assessment practices. However, the key to improved marker reliability and the reduction in marker error may lie in the University's industrial relations policies rather that staff development practices.

Lance and John get to know an integrated learning system

Annette Baturo, Tom Cooper, Gillian Kidman, Cam McRobbie, Rod Nason, and Romina Proctor, Queensland University of Technology

An integrated learning system (ILS) is a computer-based tutoring program which provides students with learning experiences in several disciplines across the full range of school years. The ILS's core mathematics course supports students' mathematics learning by providing electronic worksheets at random to individual students who are rostered on for three 15-minute sessions per week. The random nature and design of the worksheets allows the ILS to place students at levels at which they will be successful and to progress them through levels if success continues. A study which examined 14 students' (seven Year 6, seven Year 8) reactions to the electronic worksheets they encountered in their first 18 sessions on the ILS was undertaken. This paper reports on two Year 6 students' reactions to the electronic worksheets they encountered in their first 3 sessions on the ILS. Each session was video-taped and the students were individually interviewed at the end of the three sessions to determine: (a) what new procedures they were required to learn in the computer environment, and (b) the understanding they gained of the content delivered to them via the electronic worksheets. The results showed: (a) that students had to adjust their "school maths" procedures to accommodate the ILS procedures, and (b) some students were able to progress in terms of the systems' evaluation of their ability with impoverished understanding. The paper discusses the implications for teaching with respect to the quality of learning that is generated by an over-reliance on worksheets be they computer-based or print-based.

Literacy and information literacy in the school library

Susan Boyce, Caulfield Grammar School

In the present communication climate, information, literacy, text and technology seem particularly to be involved in a reshuffling process. New patterns of inter-relatedness have emerged which invest each with a different slant, extra dimensions, new potentialities and areas of overlap. Libraries are the sites within school communities these components intersect most overtly. School librarians are well placed to observe the changing literacy practices of their clients who interact with various modes of information delivery and textual representation. With the variety and complexities of digital and on-line texts, including ever-increasing dimensions of visual and multi-media components, the shades of meaning and experience between literacy and information literacy seem to blend. The question arises as to why it is that information literacy is so distinctly isolated from other forms of social, functional and critical literacy and why it is not regarded as part of a continuum of literacies.

Locations, liminalities and literacies

Noel Gough, Deakin University

The increasing extent to which our day-to-day activities involve global communications technologies makes conventional understandings of our geographic location--our identification with 'real world' territories, boundaries and borders--deeply problematic. However, apprehensions of virtual locations are ambiguous and liminal. In this paper, I explore some of the implications for literacy research that may arise from new conceptions of spatial location and of the liminality of our apprehension of space(s). How do we learn to 'map' cyberspace and its features and to develop the skills of 'navigating' in it? How do we learn the political geographies of cyberspace--'maps' of how power over information is distributed--and reach understandings of how the geographies of cyberspace and the 'real' world are interrelated and inform one another? These questions will be explored with particular reference to concepts of 'knowledge spaces' and 'actor networks' drawn from social and cultural studies of science and technology.

Magic or Mayhem? New texts and new literacies in technological times

Catherine Beavis, Deakin University

The advent of the new technologies raises big questions about the nature of literacy, curriculum and text. Schools and teachers are faced with the need to respond rapidly to changing forms and definitions of literacy, while more traditional versions of print literacy continue to be the focus of considerable media, governmental and community concern. Classroom practices are situated at the intersection of a set of highly politicised and contradictory discourses of (critical) literacy, cultural maintenance, technological sophistication and societal change. Drawing on case study research into the incorporation of computer games into the secondary school as texts of the new technologies, this paper examines issues entailed for teachers in the (re)construction of texts, reading and literacy and the implications for classroom practice and curriculum change.

PaperBEA99689

Introducing literacy across the curriculum in a secondary school: A university /school collaborative project

Margie Beck and Simon Humphries, Australian Catholic University

The Australian Catholic University developed a collaborative project for one of its personnel to move into a school for professional development and research. The key aim of the project was to develop literacy skills across the curriculum for the staff as well as for the University person to act as 'an educator in reisence' for particular areas of professional development. This paper looks at the development of a new collaborative project between the University and the school and the developing role of the University personnel. It explores the issues of developing new research agenda and relationships in a professional setting outside the University.

The paper will explore the way in which the project has been shaped by the work of the University person interacting with the school community at three different levels. The first level is working at the whole school level through meetings and a staff development day with staff and parents. The second level of involvement is working in small groups of teachers to develop their skills in teaching literacy skills in their particular subject area. The third level is being achieved by working with teachers on a one on one basis in the classroom demonstrating the teaching of text types as well as working in designated release time. The outcomes from each of the levels of involvement will be described in the paper.

One of the aims of the project was to ensure that action research would be generated as a result of the project - this paper reflects that research.

Teachers' ideas about teaching statistics

Andy Begg and the late Roger Edwards University of Waikato, New Zealand

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium JOH99135 Mapping learning communities at Methodist Ladies College.

This paper presents some results from the uncompleted doctoral thesis of the late Roger Edwards. In the literature there is evidence of a concern about teachers lack of statistical background and knowledge.This study started by assuming that primary school teachers have a rich source of ideas about statistics from their everyday and teaching experiences; that they have a greater understanding of statistics than they are often credited with; that their ideas influence their teaching, and that their ideas about teaching statistics are closely influenced by their ideas about teaching mathematics. This paper presents some of the results of this study in an exploration of these assumptions.

Accessing science in the primary school: meeting the challenges of children with learning difficulties.

Derek Bell,Liverpool Hope University College

The principle of education for all is one which few people, if any, would argue against but putting it into practice is one of the biggest challenges facing everyone involved in education. Internationally, nationally and locally attempts are being made to develop and put in place policies and structures which will lead to an inclusivity of education which meets the needs of all students. Children with learning difficulties are only one group for whom access to many aspects of education have been denied. Despite the obstacles, however, there has been much progress in opening up opportunities for them. However, unless teachers are able to help these children access the curriculum, the policies and structures that have been put in place are of little value.

This paper examines some of the challenges facing teachers of children with learning difficulties in primary schools as they try to make science accessible to their pupils. Traditionally such children have been give little in the way of scientific problems to explore but, it is argued, that science can make a significant contribution to the education of children with learning difficulties. The value and effectiveness of the contribution will be realised only if teachers can recognise the barriers to learning that these children face and have the skills to help their pupils overcome these difficulties. Examples of teacher-pupil interactions are used to illustrate the issues raised and some implications for mainstream teaching suggested.

Subject leadership in the primary school: contributing to school improvement.

Derek Bell, & Linda Fletcher, Liverpool Hope University College

The drive to raise standards, increase effectiveness and bring about school improvement is a world-wide phenomenon and has become increasingly a focus of attention at all levels - international, national and local. Governments of different political persuasions have introduced national and state curricula and set standards that schools are expected to meet. Whilst there is an overall framework in which schools must operate, it is the responsibility of teachers to bring about improvements in the teaching and learning that takes place in all areas of the curriculum.In recent years the importance of subject leadership in raising standards and improving the quality of children's experiences has been increasingly recognised in the England and Wales. In primary schools, however, subject leaders are faced with major challenges. Many feel their post is not clearly defined and are often daunted by the demands made on them. This paper presents some of the findings of an ongoing study into subject leadership in the primary school and will report the outcomes of interviews with subject leaders and their headteachers which explored their views on the complexity of the post, their frustrations and their responses to the challenges they face in raising the quality of teaching and learning in their subject area.In the context of local developments and global effects it is argued that in order to raise standards and quality in education subject leadership in individual schools must be effective and that subject leaders are key people in the process of school improvement.

Why there is no right to achieve your potential.

Martin Bibby, University of New South Wales

It has been popular for advocates of gifted and talented children to assert that all children are entitled to achieve their potential, and accordingly that gifted children are entitled to special treatment to enable them to do better than other students. Governments have been persuaded that if gifted students do not achieve better results than other students, they have somehow missed out on an entitlement.

In this paper, I demonstrate that this is a myth. Gifted students are made to feel deprived for no good reason. Governments are spending money that ought to be spent elsewhere. A whole industry of misguided moral outrage has been created. The social consequences are that wealthy parents gain yet another means of advantaging their children.

Values in mathematics education: Making values teaching explicit in the mathematics classroom.

Alan Bishop,Philip Clarkson,Gail FitzSimons & Wee Tiong Seeah ,Monash University

Values in mathematics education: Making values teaching explicit in the mathematics classroom Values in mathematics education are the deep affective qualities which education aims to foster through the school subject of mathematics and are a crucial component of the classroom affective environment. As a result of demands that students become more economically oriented and globally conscious, mathematics educators are being challenged about which values should be developed through mathematics education. Our concern is that, although values teaching and learning inevitably happen in all mathematics classrooms, they appear to be mostly implicit. Thus it is likely that teachers have only limited understanding of what values are being taught and encouraged. The new questions we are asking are:

1. What are teachers' understandings of their own intended and implemented values?