Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Abstract: Abstract The recruitment and retention of teachers in regional, rural and remote areas of Australia remains a persistent challenge. Greater awareness of and experience in regional, rural and remote schools is a common strategy adopted by initial teacher education providers to mediate this challenge. This paper examines the quality of connection between preservice teachers and a regional community developed through a multi-university placement program. The program adopted a multi-faceted approach to building quality community connections—fostering preservice teacher connections to a cohort of preservice teachers, to regional schools, and to a regional area. Findings suggest this tripartite approach enhanced the quality of all connections, positioning the program as a useful model for developing a pipeline of preservice teachers to regional schools struggling to find teaching staff. PubDate: 2024-08-08 DOI: 10.1007/s13384-024-00754-9
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Abstract: Abstract Attracting and retaining a stable supply of effective teachers is critical to the provision of schooling that meets international commitments to equity, excellence, and inclusion. Initiatives targeting school staff are predicated on the accessibility of schools for the workforce. To this point, the empirical impact of housing and transportation costs on the school education workforce has been relatively poorly understood. Based on a novel approach describing workforce distribution, our analysis of the Greater Sydney statistical area in Australia found that not only is the city unaffordable for the school education workforce, but unobserved characteristics (e.g., intergenerational wealth, housing assets, high income housemates) fill the income to cost gap. De-centring the individual, we show that the sustainability of the Sydney school education workforce is fragile and should it collapse, the consequences would be sudden and acute. PubDate: 2024-08-08 DOI: 10.1007/s13384-024-00758-5
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Abstract: Abstract In Australia, there is a growing concern about the well-being of teachers with many expressing their intention to leave the profession or indeed have already left. Various reasons have been suggested for this trend, with burnout being identified as one of the factors. This study investigates burnout in Australian teachers as one of the constructs which make up compassion fatigue (CF), a reduced ability to empathise with others. Moreover, it explores secondary traumatic stress (STS), which also contributes to CF and occurs when a person learns about the traumatic experiences of someone under their care. Both constructs may severely impact the ability of teachers to form close relationships with their students. As part of the present study, 1939 Australian teachers were surveyed about their quality of life, well-being, classroom efficacy, and trauma awareness. Findings demonstrate that teachers with higher levels of well-being and with higher perceived classroom efficacy are less prone to burnout, reducing the risk of emotional exhaustion and disengagement often associated with this phenomenon. Conversely, connections were found between lower well-being of teachers and educators' awareness of trauma and their susceptibility to STS. Recommendations are made for further research exploring the barriers and enablers of compassion fatigue as well as positive teacher well-being, in order to develop targeted initiatives to better prepare and protect teachers to work with a cohort of students who are increasingly demonstrating symptoms of trauma and poor well-being. PubDate: 2024-08-06 DOI: 10.1007/s13384-024-00755-8
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Abstract: Abstract Professional learning communities (PLCs) actioned through collaborative action research (CAR) have been found in the literature to be beneficial for both teachers and students. However, previous studies mainly examined teachers’ perceived effectiveness of CAR-based PLCs, as well as identified steps and elements involved in such PLCs, either self-initiated by teachers themselves or by university researchers in a school-university partnership model. Few have focused on a whole-of-school teaching improvement initiative based entirely on PLCs through CAR. In this study, we provide preliminary evaluation of a 3-year whole-of-school teaching improvement initiative (the SETaRI), based on PLCs through CAR at a regional primary school in NSW, Australia. Analysis of students’ various assessment measures (N = 206), teachers’ survey (N = 44), observation of professional learning team meetings, and various types of student artefacts revealed that students showed general and consistent improvement in both their reading and maths performance over time following the implementation of the SETaRI model, with greater progressive learning effects for those whose initial learning outcomes were lower than their peers. The findings also highlighted data-driven decision making, teacher collaboration, and school leadership as potent elements underlying teachers’ positive attitudes toward the implementation of the model as well as student learning outcomes and improvement. This study provides useful implications for a school improvement agenda focused on action research communities. PubDate: 2024-08-05 DOI: 10.1007/s13384-024-00756-7
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Abstract: Abstract This article considers differences and similarities in curriculum form between the senior secondary certificates offered across Australia, drawing on three different understandings of curriculum form, one focused on the grid or map of the curriculum and its core categories and levels of specification, one on the cultural assumptions underpinning significant policy reforms, and one on the internal relations between curriculum contents and the divisions evident in the curriculum assigned to particular groups of students. It highlights differences between these perspectives and the value of engaging them collectively to understand the various senior secondary systems operating across Australia, how they have changed over time and their equity implications. It shows that the certificates continue to be different in multiple ways despite decades of standardising reform but that shifts have occurred within states once defined as progressive, with practices changing to align with larger states’ conservative agendas. The differences which do continue are also shown to be in some respects arbitrary, with common patterns evident in relation to the knowledges valued and the distinctions enforced between university and non-university pathways which are obfuscated by the highly complex rules and requirements evident in each jurisdiction. Further research and analysis considering the enactment of these requirements within schools is needed to better understand the equity implications of different requirements and approaches and to think about what kind of curriculum form might be needed to enable an equitable educational system in Australia. PubDate: 2024-08-03 DOI: 10.1007/s13384-024-00752-x
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Abstract: Abstract In 2023 the Australian government mandated reforms to initial teacher education (ITE) courses across Australia. The key rationale of the Strong Beginnings Report is to better prepare teachers for the classroom and help stem the flow of teachers leaving the profession. This article suggests that the Strong Beginnings Report mobilises forms of evidence that privilege bureaucratic intervention over teachers’ insight and capacity. Using Bacchi’s ‘What’s the problem represented to be'’ approach to policy analysis, I argue that the Report selectively draws on evidence to position teachers as underprepared for the classroom and in need of reform. It does this by (i) suggesting that one of the main reasons teachers leave the profession is because they have inadequate skills, (ii) downplaying the broader social, economic and political context in which teacher attrition occurs, and (iii) deprofessionalising teaching by casting it as a technical process. Building on works that critique the impacts of standardisation, regulation and oversight in educational reform, I contend that the proposed reforms will do little to improve ITE or address teacher attrition. More than this, they will work to further discredit teachers and undermine the value of public education. PubDate: 2024-08-03 DOI: 10.1007/s13384-024-00757-6
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Abstract: Abstract While there is a body of literature monitoring Indigenous Australian post-secondary school experiences, research investigating aspirational development in this life stage and Indigenous youth success as defined by Indigenous youth is severely lacking. Too often academic, government and public discourses portray Indigenous youth experiences through deficit frames of representation, completion and performance. By sharing the insights, reflections and aspirations of 15 young Indigenous Australian participants this paper calls for Indigeneity to be centred in ideations and indicators of Indigenous youth success. Findings confront institutionalised and hierarchical ideals of Indigenous Australian success premised on dominant neoliberal ideation and the accumulation of White cultural and social capital. Through an Indigenist Research lens this paper presents aspirational development and achievement as a complex and raced space where Indigenous Australian secondary school leavers articulate ambition and agency in developing successful careers, rich in cultural wealth and with their identity intact. PubDate: 2024-08-02 DOI: 10.1007/s13384-024-00747-8
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Abstract: Abstract Students with English as an additional language (EAL) comprise approximately a third of the government school population in Australia’s second most populous state of Victoria. While the broad impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on teachers and students has been the focus of recent studies, there is a lack of information on how EAL educators adapted to meet the needs of this diverse cohort of students during periods of emergency remote teaching (ERT). In this mixed-methods study, eleven EAL educators from diverse educational contexts in Victoria completed a Q-sort of 49 statements followed by in-depth interviews. The by-person factor analysis resulted in a three-factor solution that revealed the transition to remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic brought both challenges and opportunities for EAL educators. Some students who struggled in traditional classrooms engaged more effectively in remote learning, while others experienced significant anxiety. Additionally, some educators experimented with digital tools and strategies, gaining valuable insights into effective approaches for students with EAL. These findings render a nuanced picture of educators’ experiences during this time, enhancing our understanding of transformative educational practices for linguistically diverse students. PubDate: 2024-07-30 DOI: 10.1007/s13384-024-00753-w
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Abstract: Abstract While the COVID-19 pandemic brought with it multiple challenges for families and the Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) workforce, it also highlighted the essential role of ECEC in the lives of children and families and presented unique opportunities for innovation and learning. The current study sought to explore learnings from this uniquely challenging period, including the factors and strategies that best supported educator wellbeing and family engagement in ECEC settings, from the perspectives of families, centre directors and educators. In 2021, 104 Centre Directors/Educators and 102 families completed online surveys exploring wellbeing and educator–family relationships. Correlations suggest that robust professional wellbeing and resilience are potential enabling factors for strong family engagement, and that supportive organisational structures in ECEC settings are a protective factor for both educator wellbeing and family engagement. In addition, five effective family engagement strategies were derived from the qualitative data: (1) drawing on personal and professional knowledges to enrich children’s learning at home; (2) prioritising regular and reliable communication with families; (3) maintaining familiar relationships and a sense of community; (4) providing person-centred support and a bridge to other services; and (5) nurturing mutually supportive educator–family relationships. Learnings provide important insights that may inform ongoing quality improvements across different ECEC contexts, and to help safeguard against the negative impacts of future global crises. PubDate: 2024-07-22 DOI: 10.1007/s13384-024-00751-y
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Abstract: Abstract Schools play significant roles in promoting pupils’ well-being. This study explores teachers’ experiences using the research-based, psychoeducational method Let’s Talk about Children (LTC) to support pupils’ well-being and identify possible risk factors in cooperation with home and school. The study’s data comprise 83 LTC training participants’ writing about their experiences with the method as first-time users. The results indicate that the teachers noticed several benefits and potential uses of LTC, but they reported that the method requires adaptation. The experienced LTC benefits were early intervention, increased knowledge about pupils, encouragement and improved relationships with families. Challenges included a poor fit with teachers’ work, rigid materials and challenging interactions. Teachers noticed benefits from LTC use, but adjusting the method to their work was challenging. These results will enable the method’s further development. PubDate: 2024-07-18 DOI: 10.1007/s13384-024-00736-x
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Abstract: Abstract There is a growing body of evidence highlighting effective pedagogical approaches for educating First Nations students around the world. Despite this evidence, and a plethora of culturally-inclusive aligned policies and professional strategies, many Aboriginal students continue to receive inequitable and poor-quality schooling in Australian schools in ways that do not meet their sovereign needs. While a range of culturally responsive / sustaining / competent / etc. practices have been argued to positively impact Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander students' educational experiences, there remains a lack of cohesive understanding about the factors at play that impact student outcomes over a sustained period of time. This conceptual paper explores scholarship that has either provided empirical evidence of, or coherent descriptions about, cultural pedagogies to provocate a culturally nourishing framework and guide educators in working with Aboriginal students and knowledges. Beyond general descriptions, we conceptualise what such pedagogies might look like as observable attributes of classroom practice. The aim in doing so is to offer a framework that supports the authentic and effective professional learning of educators who work with, and learn from, local Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander students to actualise nourishing pedagogies throughout the everydayness of schooling. PubDate: 2024-07-15 DOI: 10.1007/s13384-024-00733-0
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Abstract: Abstract Collaborative practice between teachers and occupational therapists is promoted as best-practice to support the inclusion of students with disabilities in mainstream classrooms. However, interprofessional practice across the disciplines of education and health is complicated, and success is mediated by personal, professional, and system factors. This qualitative ethnographic study used shadowing, contextual conversations, and interviews to explore collaboration between teachers (n = 11) and occupational therapists (n = 10) in mainstream primary schools (n = 10) in three Australian states to better understand how context impacts practice. Findings reveal that collaborative practice is influenced both by the model of occupational therapy service delivery employed as well as professional differences between teachers and therapists. A move from itinerant to embedded models of service delivery may support collaboration and help bridge differences between professionals through improved communication and mutual professional development. PubDate: 2024-07-15 DOI: 10.1007/s13384-024-00748-7
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Abstract: Abstract Enrolments in school arts subjects are falling in both England and Australia. There are various arguments made in an attempt to reverse the situation. The arts are said to be vital for the economy, linked to success in core school subjects, are educationally inclusive and important for their disciplinary knowledges. In this paper, based on my Radford lecture, I canvass these arguments, concluding that arts education, like the arts themselves, are complex and refuse simple reductions. I speculate about what this might mean for the arts and broader education research community. PubDate: 2024-07-15 DOI: 10.1007/s13384-024-00741-0
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Abstract: Abstract Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender/gender diverse, or queer (LGBTQ+) students, staff and parents can each perceive school as challenging environments. These challenges have typically been explored within three disparate bodies of research, however. Using a school climate lens, this study aimed to explore how LGBTQ+ student (n = 1926), staff (n = 198), and parent (n = 180) perceptions of school safety, interpersonal challenges and self-harm differ by roles, school types, school location, and gender modality. ANOVA and chi-square analyses showed that although LGBTQ+ students, staff and parents experience similar concerns in school safety, interpersonal challenges, and self-harm, students have higher prevalence on all indicators. Students in government/public, religious affiliated schools, and non-metropolitan schools had particularly high concerns, as did transgender and gender diverse students. This study offers important implications for school-wide interventions to promote positive school climates, with particular focus on school safety, anti-bullying, and self-harm, targeted to the needs of multiple members of the LGBTQ+ community. PubDate: 2024-07-15 DOI: 10.1007/s13384-024-00749-6
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Abstract: Abstract Currently Australia is experiencing an unprecedented teacher shortage. Increasing and retaining the number of mid-career Initial Teacher Education entrants has been identified as one strategy to combat the shortage. This study examines the psychological needs (autonomy, competence, and relatedness) innate to autonomous forms of motivation to support retention. While there is much research investigating how universities support students’ psychological needs using questionnaires, few have gathered data examining how students articulate their lived experiences, and fewer have examined mid-career students’ perspectives. This paper contributes to the literature by sharing 26 Master of Teaching (Early Childhood, Primary, Secondary) mid-career student perspectives on how a university promoted or hindered their psychological needs. The data, analysed using Critical Discourse Analysis, highlighted moments that students identified as maximising or minimising their autonomy and motivation. Similarities were found with previous research on supporting students’ psychological needs. Additional findings indicated mid-career students desired more control over the pace of their course, and workload issues in some schools during professional experience eroded their teacher-efficacy. Recommendations on how to support mid-career retention are suggested. PubDate: 2024-07-14 DOI: 10.1007/s13384-024-00745-w
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Abstract: Abstract Coding and computational thinking are being hailed as the new literacy for the twenty-first century, and have become increasingly common in schools world-wide. At the same time, the sector is facing a global shortage of technology teachers, and technology lessons are frequently being delivered by non-specialist teachers. Therefore, some have suggested integrating coding into other curricula as a practical solution for non-specialist teachers to deliver outcomes in both Digital Technologies and their own subject areas, whilst also developing general capabilities. To better understand the benefits and practicality of integrating coding into the English curriculum, we present a detailed case study of an Australian Year 5/6 classroom where students engaged in learning units integrating both Digital Technologies and English curriculum outcomes. We explored the nature of students’ interdisciplinary learning and general capabilities development through two learning units in which they coded animated narratives (CANs). We also built understanding of how non-specialist teachers in regular classrooms can develop the necessary technological, pedagogical and content knowledge (TPACK) to facilitate cross-curricular learning involving coding, and at the same time, promote general curriculum capabilities. Findings challenge the commonly held assumption that integrating coding can be a universal solution to specialist staff shortages and an overcrowded curriculum, and reveal the challenges faced by non-specialist teachers and school organisations that need to be overcome for successful implementation. However, they also indicate that when these challenges are met, integrated approaches can result in interdisciplinary learning, high levels of student engagement, and provide effective environments for general capability development. PubDate: 2024-07-12 DOI: 10.1007/s13384-024-00742-z
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Abstract: Abstract The study of English is compulsory throughout all 13 years of schooling in Australia and, while there are differentiated options in the senior years of school, these do not have the same parity of esteem nor transactional value. Previous research has identified patterns of enrolment in high versus low-status subjects, reflecting differential access to powerful knowledge and further educational opportunity. To date, research has focused on patterns of inequalities in enrolment access along socioeconomic lines with comparatively less attention to the accessibility of pedagogy and assessment, particularly for students with high-incidence disabilities like Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). In this study, we draw on individual achievement and interview data to consider the accessibility of subject English from the perspectives of 59 Year 10 students identified as having language and/or attentional difficulties consistent with DLD and ADHD. In describing their ease or difficulty with subject English, students reported attributions to self (e.g., their ability to write or to concentrate), and attributions to the subject (e.g., explicitness of success criteria, flexibility of assessment requirements, and the in/accessibility of teaching). Attributions to the subject dominated students’ responses, however, students also described a range of supportive pedagogical practices that—if implemented consistently and effectively—may help to increase the accessibility of subject English for students with language and/or attentional difficulties, providing more equitable opportunities for these students to gain from their participation in this important compulsory subject. PubDate: 2024-07-10 DOI: 10.1007/s13384-024-00728-x
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Abstract: Abstract This paper examines competitive grants for public schools, as a form of additional funding from the government. We draw on interviews with principals from different states in Australia to examine systemic impacts of competitive grants for public schools, exploring this in relation to school autonomy. Public school principals are labouring to generate additional school funding via competitive applications from the traditional state government, to supplement their core or regular government funding. The competitive applications are to fund what many would consider rudimentary or fundamental resources, such as school infrastructure and student wellbeing programs. For the interviewed principals, the drive to generate more funding was anchored within significant government funding shortfalls in public schools. The majority of interviewees did not find the funding model to be ‘needs-based’ or responsive. Autonomous public schools presented many paradoxes and contradictions, particularly in under-funded contexts; whilst on one hand, principals are tasked with managing their budgets, the majority experienced the environment as highly inflexible and often punitive, laden with bureaucratic red tape. The majority of interviewees expressed notions of responsibilisation for generating additional funds. In this context, we found that competitive funding applications increase school principal work intensification, with principals spending excessive time labouring to generate additional funding via competitive grant applications, in order to fund essential school projects. The labour involved in completing time-demanding funding applications supplants their traditional responsibilities and is critically reshaping their role as a school principal, to one of ‘grant applier’ and fundraiser, reinforcing the retreat of the traditional state. PubDate: 2024-07-10 DOI: 10.1007/s13384-024-00746-9
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Abstract: Abstract The paper studies the rise of neuroscience in initial teacher education, paying attention to the relatively recent Australian Government (2023) report titled ‘Strong Beginnings’. In taking up a critical policy sociology lens, we focus on the first priority within the reforms, which is mandating brain science and the ‘brain and learning’ as core curriculum within initial teacher education. The reforms will embed standardised curriculum into initial teacher education and tie this curriculum to graduate teacher standards, bracketed within prescribed texts, ideologies and agendas. The reforms are positioned within the ‘what works’ movement, increasing accreditation and certain types of evidence, and the role and authority of intermediary organisations, including the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL). It promotes research that has been paid for by the think tank Centre for Independent Studies and aligned with the Australian Education Research Organisation and Education Endowment Foundation. In this paper, we endeavour to highlight how the singular and narrow focus on brain-based approaches is not only reductionist, but also potentially generative of oppressive technologies. The mandating of standardised curriculum and brain science undermines educators, including initial teacher educators, and bolsters private interests in education. The standardisation of core curriculum, which will be tied to accreditation processes and graduate teacher standards, is underpinned by a punitive-accountability based approach. Furthermore, whilst it is less visible, these reforms contain brain science tropes redolent of eugenics and deficit framings of low socio-economic status students. PubDate: 2024-07-09 DOI: 10.1007/s13384-024-00743-y
Please help us test our new pre-print finding feature by giving the pre-print link a rating. A 5 star rating indicates the linked pre-print has the exact same content as the published article.
Abstract: Abstract An analysis of teacher metaphors has long been a feature of research into the development of early career teacher identity, however, the metaphors used to construct the ideal teacher in educational policy remains under-researched. These policy documents explicitly seek to frame what it means to be an effective teacher. As such, an analysis of the metaphors used in these documents to describe teachers ought to provide insights into how policy makers perceive teachers, particularly early career teachers, not least in how these metaphors differ from those held by early career teachers themselves. This research finds that a recent Australian government policy document Strong Beginnings, with the explicit aim to make initial teacher education courses more effective in producing teachers likely to stay in the profession, provides teacher metaphors that fall within three overarching categories: saviour, victim and compliant teachers. These categories of metaphor rarely overlap with those early career teachers use to describe either themselves or their profession. The teacher as compliant metaphor is mostly constructed indirectly by first making initial teacher education courses compliant in teaching core content. In this way policy proposes it is best placed to mandate changes to initial teacher education courses to ensure they produce effective teachers, and this effectiveness will be the deciding feature in keeping them in the profession long-term. This paper argues the mismatch of metaphors between those held by policy and early career teachers is likely to undermine this assumption. PubDate: 2024-07-06 DOI: 10.1007/s13384-024-00744-x
Hybrid journal (It can contain Open Access articles)
[2468 journals]
