Australia Association for Research in Education
Teachers’ work
Teachers also are affected by the ‘school choice’ policies dividing Australia
What is it like to be a teacher? Often when we hear talk about teachers, whether in popular …
Educating teachers to be researchers: three surprising gaps in what we are doing in Australia
Much is asked of teachers these days. Governments and school systems seem to regularly increase their expectations of …
Roll back curriculum constraints and give teachers the freedom to make professional judgements
The role of the teacher in an Australian classroom is changing, and not in a good way. As I see it, the relentless pressure for schools to perform well in NAPLAN, the demands of various mandated curriculum and the ubiquitous concerns about ‘quality teaching’ are making teachers lose confidence in their own professional abilities. There …
Teacher research and why it is more important than ever for our schools
Is teacher research still important and relevant? In the 1970s, the Bay Area Writing Project in the United …
It is not easy being a teacher: my story
I did not become a teacher the day I walked out of university. I was trained as a …
This is how Australian teachers are taught how to teach children to read: not just phonics
There is a lot of misinformation out there, as well as ill informed commentary, about how we prepare teachers to teach reading and writing in Australian schools today Of course you have heard the argument that teachers do not teach phonics any more and worse, that many early career teachers do not even know how …
Gamification: not a gimmick but a radical new way of teaching
Despite the hype surrounding gamification the concept itself is poorly understood. I believe the real potential for the …
Australian schools teach the same texts for decades:good policy or big problem?
Have you ever noticed your children are studying much the same English texts at school as you did …
Learning from alternative schooling:mainstream schools can benefit greatly
Around the world today school systems in developed countries tend to produce a ‘one size fits all’ type …
Spurr’s recommendations for English fundamentally flawed
If we follow the recommendations of the recently released national curriculum review for teaching English we will all …