ABSTRACTS
(in alphabetical order)
-1-
PRESENTER/S
Raoul Adam, Clifford
Jackson & Pauline
Taylor
Raoul Adam
Clifford Jackson
Pauline Taylor
Pauline Taylor
Colette Alexander
Andrea Allard & Julie
Dyer
Andrea Allard, Mary
Dixon, Andrea Gallant
& Diane Mayer
Julie Arnold & Jo
Williams
Tania Aspland
Nanette Bahr
Jo Balatti, Malcolm
Haase, Lyn Henderson
& Cecily Knight
Jo Balatti
Malcolm Haase
Lyn Henderson
Cecily Knight
Tina Bavaro
Eva Bendix Petersen,
Anthony Loughland &
Robert J. Parkes
Eva Bendix Petersen &
Robert J. Parkes
Eva Bernat
Di Bloomfield
Tracey Borg & Donna
Mathewson Mitchell
Marie Brennan, Briony
Carter, Faye McCallum
ABSTRACT TITLE
Symposium: Literacy at first year teacher education
Paper 1: The design, implementation, and review of a literacy initiative for first
year pre-service teachers
Paper 2: Practical challenges and possibilities for the integration of academic
literacy in a first year subject
Paper 3: A systematic approach to literacy support for first year preservice
teachers: implications for practice.
Paper 4: An analysis of first year preservice teacher education students’ use of
literacy support resources in relation to literacy performance: implications for
practice and further research.
Unpacking the Maze of Expectations: Lecturers, Mentors and Preservice
Teachers using Rubrics Together on Professional Experience
Re-forming teacher education in Malaysia: A case study of Malaysian and
Australian teacher educators’ collaboration and learning.
Symposium: Sustaining Professionalism: Authentically Assessing the
Professional Practice of Graduating Teachers.
PAGE
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6
6
7
7
8
9
10
The UC Diary Project: tell me about your day
11
Teacher Education Standards: Rethinking ways forward for sustainable
relationships between regulatory organizations and education faculties.
Expert apprenticeship in Middle Years of Schooling
Symposium: Considering professional identity, gendered learning, resilience,
and technology in an online teacher education subject
12
Paper 1: Developing teacher professional identity through online learning: A
social capital perspective
Paper 2: Male preservice teachers, gender and performance in an online teacher
education subject
Paper 3: Motivation and participation in learning blogs: Challenging the role of
assessment
Paper 4: Preservice teacher stressors and their reactions to those stressors:
Resilient responses
The Networked Solutions Project Evaluation of the Graduate Diploma of
education (GDE) at the University of Wollongong: A focus on renewal for a
sustainable future.
Unfashionably Postmodern: Rethinking Teacher Education and the Project of
Consensus
14
Pedagogical Refrains in Australian Teacher Education: Developing a conceptual
frame for empirical exploration
Towards a Pedagogy of Empowerment 'Impostor Syndrome' among Non-Native
Speaker Teachers in TESOL.
Sustaining pre-service teachers in neo-liberal times: Tertiary Mentors as 'good
enough' teacher educators.
An investigation of bullying in schools: a review of literature and development
of methodology
Symposium: Community-School-University-Pre-Service teacher partnerships:
Exploring theoretical and practical dimensions of sustainable partnership
19
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13
14
14
15
15
17
18
20
21
22
23
& Bruce Underwood
Briony Carter
Faye McCallum
Bruce Underwood
Marie Brennan
Catherine Burgess
Jill Burgess
Jill Burgess
Arend E Carl
Deb Clarke
Carol Collins
Maxine Cooper & Joan
Stewart
Amanda Coroneos &
Mystie Smith
Leanne Crosswell
Patrick Danaher, Bobby
Harreveld, Lindsay
Parry & Ren Yi
Graham Daniel
Maree DinanThompson
& Michelle Lasen
Sue Duchesne
Kerry Earl, Frances
Edwards, David Giles,
Heather McRae, Bill
Ussher & Russell Yates
David Giles & Russell
Yates
Kerry Earl & Bill
Ussher
Heather McRae &
Frances Edwards
Bill Ussher & Heather
McRae
Kerry Earl & David
Giles
Bill Eckersley
Richard Edwards
Rickie Fisher
Catherine Flores
Bronwyn Gallagher
Andrea Gallant &
Paper 1: Building a theoretical framework for (rural) place-based and
community-based teacher education.
Paper 2: Perspectives of teachers and community partners on sustaining support
for pre-service students
Paper 3: Inducting pre-service teachers into remote Aboriginal communities
Paper 4: Sustainable partnership-based teacher education? Some reflections for
action and theoretical development
Aboriginal Preservice teacher identity formation in the Professional Experience
Teaching intelligent behaviours for social sustainability
Counteracting e-bullying in Australian schools: Sustainable approaches and
pedagogical issues
Teachers as change agents for sustainable curriculum development in South
Africa
Developing cultural competence: Creating and sustaining Indigenous
partnerships in teacher education
Fostering thoughtful engagement in the political process through teacher
education: an intervention study
Sustaining change: Insights from a meta-theoretical perspective of teacher
change and teacher culture.
A change in Professional Learning Model: A school based study
23
Sustaining the Resilience of Middle Years Teachers in challenging schools.
Futuring sustainable Australian teacher education through recent doctoral
dissertations: a thematic analysis of alternative scenarios
33
34
Building sustainable family-school partnerships: Supporting effective
professional practice
Graduate Diploma of Education course curriculum and assessment strategies:
unifying university and professional experiences.
Professional development of school-based partners in professional experience another step towards sustainable partnerships?
Symposium: Teaching as a collaborative endeavour: Practice stories from a
teaching team in teacher education.
35
Paper 1: Teaching and learning together: a relational culture within a teacher
education department.
Paper 2: Teaching and learning together: using enduring understandings to focus
on what is important.
Paper 3: Teaching and learning together: collaboration in curriculum.
38
Paper 4: Teaching and learning together: creating and sustaining opportunities
for critical dialogue.
Assessment-in-learning: Being-in assessment
38
University-school partnerships and site-based pre-service teacher education
A Place for Education for Sustainability in pre-service teacher education: an
example from New Zealand
Sustainable Transitions: Career change into teaching
Developing and sustaining induction in Chile
Competing perspectives on the teacher as a self
Cross-Cultural Collaboration for Effective Teacher Education in Global Contexts
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41
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23
24
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
36
37
38
38
38
39
42
43
44
45
Diane Mayer
Sallie Gardner
Maggie Garrard
Ruth Geer
Rob Gilbert, Graeme
Hall, Patrick Lee & Sue
Willis
Veronica Graham
Malcolm Haase,
Woendi Hampton,
Angela Hill, Lai Kuan
Lim, Helen McDonald
& Gail Mitchell
Woendi Hampton, Gail
Mitchell & Helen
McDonald
Angela Hill & Helen
McDonald
Helen McDonald,
Malcolm Haase & Lai
Kuan Lim
Lisa Hall
Lisa Hall, Julie-Ann
Murphy, Ann Poulsen
Wendy Hastings
Peichang He
Angela Hennessey
Ruth Hickey
Ruth L Hickey &
Hilary Whitehouse
Sharon Hogan
Peter Hudson
Anne Jasman
Anne Jasman, Janice
Jones, Karen Noble &
Janice Stenton
Marie-Therese Jensen
Mellita Jones
Mellita Jones,
Josephine Ryan &
Caroline Walter
Brian Kean
Kate Keeley
Contemporary Coping Strategies among Student Teachers: a study of fourth year
primary school student teachers.
Sustaining Teacher Education with Multi-modal Teaching and Learning
Resources
Preparing the global teacher
Symposium: Program standards for pre-service teacher education: towards a
sustainable national system of accreditation
46
Consultative training delivery for sustainable instructor development in a tertiary
science context
Symposium: Indigenous Teacher Education: Challenges for community based
programs
50
Paper 1: Supporting partnerships in Indigenous Teacher Education
51
Paper 2: Navigating new identities: Indigenous Education Workers moving to
preservice teacher status.
Innovation Showcase 3: Elluminating pedagogy
52
Addressing the 'Come and Go' syndrome of teachers in remote indigenous
schools -- Listening to the indigenous perspective
Developing school based Teacher Education Pathways for Remote Indigenous
Teachers in the NT
“There's a lot of guilt tied up with me”: Sustaining site-based teacher education
in an accountability climate
EFL Preservice Teacher Identity Formation in School-University Partnership:
Cases in P.R.C.
Creating and sustaining quality in tertiary primary physical education programs
The Cattana Wetlands Project: A case study in environmental education for
sustainability (EfS) with preservice teacher education
Building capacity in Education for Sustainability: A model of practice
53
Being Ethical - Sustainable Professional Ethics Education for Pre service
Teachers
Mentors report on their own mentoring practices
Future directions: an analysis of Australian teacher education policy initiatives.
Balancing perceptions of ‘becoming’ teacher: Hopes, fears and challenges for
the future
60
Self study and reflective teaching in a postgraduate TESOL practicum
Science and sustainability education: an approach to preservice science
education to increase the prevalence of science teaching.
The sustainability of rural and regional teacher education programs- supporting
the practicum
64
65
An analysis of changes in developmental understanding of bullying: Implications
for schools, professional development and teacher education.
New Teachers, accreditation and their mentors.
67
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48
49
51
52
54
55
56
57
58
59
61
62
63
66
68
Jodie Kline & Simone
White
Rosie Le Cornu
Rosie Le Cornu &
Anna Sullivan
Karen Lewis
lisahunter
lisahunter, Leanne
Crosswell, Sally Knipe,
Jane Mitchell, Ruth
Newton, & Liisa
Uusimaki
Alison Lord & Laura
McFarland
Tony Loughland
John Loughran
Meg Lu
Donna Mathewson
Mitchell
Heather McRae
Jane Mitchell & JoAnne Reid
Karen Noble &
Michelle Turner
Paul Pagliano
Fraser Power &
Christine Robertson
Leonie Rowan
Tom Russell
Peta Salter
David Saltmarsh
David Saltmarsh
Michael Singh
Kerry Smith
Geri Smyth
Richard Taffe
Tengku Sarina Aini
Tengku Kasim
Louise Thomas
Brian Tieba
Bruce Underwood
Developing a rural teacher education curriculum: responding to the needs of preservice teachers
Socially Sustainable Teacher Education: Relationships Matter
Conditions that Support Early Career Teacher Resilience
69
Embracing diversity: Empowering preservice teachers for teaching gifted and
talented students
Healthy staff spaces in teaching: Ideas for sustaining a profession
Commencing a teaching career: initial employment pathways for
primary/secondary qualified teachers
72
Pre-service primary teachers' perceptions of early childhood philosophy and
pedagogy: A case study examination
Swimming (not drowning) in the data stream: Using Moodle Logs as a formative
assessment tool
What expert teachers do
The importance of critical thinking: multicultural awareness practice in teacher
preparation classroom
An arts-based relational framework for the investigation of teaching practice
75
“You revert back to the easy”: Is co-constructive teaching practice too difficult?
Working the field of Teacher Education Research
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81
Playing it real in a virtual context and preparing teachers for rural contexts:
Developing sustainable connections to university
Care and teacher education for a sustainable future: A critical survey of the
literature
A Model of Empowerment - From Teaching to Understanding to Conservation
82
Is Flexibility Sustainable? the impact of intensive teaching practices upon
teacher educators
Improving the Quality of Teaching and Learning: Lessons Learned as a Teacher
Educator
The new national history curriculum: We can't change history...can we?
Constructive collaboration: Using learner biographies in per-service teacher
education
Moving forward & giving back: Making the change to teaching
Research oriented school engaged teacher education
Preparing preservice teachers to step up to the new Australian curriculum: The
challenges and successes
Changing the face of the Scottish teaching profession? Refugee teachers speak
out
Flexible teaching and learning in teacher education: Prospects, barriers, and
opportunities.
Transforming Malaysian teacher education for a sustainable future through
student-centred learning
Sustainable professional identities: Holding together both certainty and
uncertainty in the transition from pre-service teacher to practicing teacher.
Sustainable and effective primary teacher training under trimester program in
Papua New Guinea.
Sustaining Indigenous Teachers in School Landscapes
85
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83
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Bill Ussher
Necy Cesaria VaquilarRomo
Melissa Vick
Noelene WeatherbyFell
Bruce White
Simone White
Simone White
Kimberley Wilson
Sue Wilson
Lew Zipin
Preparing assessment capable teachers: First steps in a national project
The Bachelor of Elementary Education (BEED) Student Teachers' Teaching
Performance of the College of Teacher Education, University of Northern
Philippines
Disciplinarity, performativity, subjectification, practice: Four concepts for
understanding the work of teacher education in relation to the formation of
teacher identities
Individual resilience and professional sustainability
Student involvement in teacher professional learning
An alternative model of placing pre-service teachers: Responding to a
partnership agenda
A place for rural teachers: celebrating a community sense of knowing their own
rural social space
Pre-Service Teachers' Preparedness for Sustainability Education- a Case Study
Teacher Education for Sustainability (EfS): drivers and blockers to embedding
EfS across a primary teacher education course.
Teacher education and government in new times: A Bernsteinian analysis of
changing relations
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Literacy at first year teacher education
Raoul Adam, Clifford Jackson & Pauline Taylor
James Cook University
Email: Raoul.Adam@jcu.edu.au, clifford.jackson@jcu.edu.au & Pauline.Taylor1@jcu.edu.au
Presentation format: Symposium
Paper 1
The design, implementation, and review of a literacy initiative for first year pre-service teachers
Raoul Adam
The First Year Literacy Initiative (FYLI) is part of a broader response by the School of Education at James Cook
University to concerns about the literacy of pre-service teachers. These concerns have been expressed in the
Masters Review (2009) on literacy and numeracy in Queensland schools. The review details the causes of
literacy problems in Queensland’s primary schools and notes the formative impact of pre-service teacher
education programs on the quality of teachers’ literacy. The first recommendation of the Queensland
Government’s (2009) response to the Masters Review is that primary teachers demonstrate literacy proficiency
through testing. Within this context, the FYLI seeks to raise pre-service teacher awareness, accountability, and
support, for the development of basic literacy.
This paper examines the design, implementation, and review of the FYLI in four sections. The first section
conceptualises the design of the initiative as a cycle of literacy awareness, support, and accountability. The
second section examines the ‘pedagogies of connectedness’ that inform the initiative. The third section
describes and analyses the five parts of the FYLI, including: (i) a literacy guide, (ii) diagnostic literacy tests, (iii)
formative literacy tests, (iv) a literacy assessment rubric, and (v) literacy support sessions. The fourth section
describes the specific methodologies of an action research cycle that serves to refine and sustain the FYLI.
Paper 2
Practical challenges and possibilities for the integration of academic literacy in a first year subject
Clifford Jackson
This paper examines some of the practical challenges and possibilities for the integration of academic literacy in
a first year university subject – Foundations of Educational Technologies. The results of this integration and the
reflective refinement of integrating strategies contribute to a broader action research project involving the First
Year Literacy Initiative (FYLI) in the School of Education at James Cook University. This paper and the
broader FYLI are contextualised within the Queensland Government’s recent recommendation to test
prospective teachers’ personal literacy competency. The recommendation forms part of the Queensland
Government’s (2009) response to the Masters Review (2009) which identified teacher competency as a key
factor in student literacy. The FYLI is an evolving response to the recommendation. Accordingly, this evolution
is better informed through research that explores the practical integration and implementation of the FYLI in a
single subject.
Three strategies were used to integrate academic literacy into the subject. The first strategy involved the direct
use of literacy support materials in lectures and tutorials. The second strategy involved the inclusion and
expansion of literacy criteria in assessment rubrics designed to promote accountability. The third strategy
involved the introduction of subject-specific literacy sessions for students identified as needing extra literacy
support. Evidence used to assess and refine these strategies included student performance in literacy assessment
tasks, and student feedback on individual literacy strategies. In light of this evidence, the paper provides
recommendations for the effective integration and implementation of student support strategies promoting
academic literacy.
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Paper 3
A systematic approach to literacy support for first year preservice teachers: implications for practice.
Pauline Taylor
Concerns about teacher standards and teacher quality particularly in literacy, numeracy and science and their
impact on student achievement are prevalent in current Australian federal and state reports and responses. The
Masters (2009) review into improving literacy, numeracy and science learning in Queensland schools identifies
the clear need for preservice teachers to demonstrate high levels of proficiency in these areas (p.viii). The
Queensland government response to the report has been to introduce mandatory preregistration testing in
literacy, numeracy and science. These tests are being trialled in 2010 with a view to full implementation in 2011.
In 2010, a team of researchers at James Cook University School of Education in Cairns (Adam; Jackson, Taylor
& Adam; Taylor, in press) has undertaken an innovative pilot study to investigate student academic literacy
proficiency of preservice teacher education students on entry to the program and provide a range of strategies
and support for those at risk. This paper forms part of a symposium on the first year literacy initiative and
presents initial quantitative and qualitative data collected from the literacy testing at the beginning of the pilot
study and draws comparisons with longitudinal data gathered from formative literacy assessment tasks over five
years. It presents some implications for the author’s practice as a lecturer in the first year professional studies
subject. Findings suggest that a systematic, collaborative and consistent approach to literacy testing and
intervention has benefits for both students and academic staff. Furthermore, such an approach is consistent with
first year curriculum design principles (Kift, 2009) and successful transition pedagogy (Wilson, 2009).
Paper 4
An analysis of first year preservice teacher education students’ use of literacy support resources in relation to
literacy performance: implications for practice and further research.
Pauline Taylor
This paper presents findings from one set of data collected in a collaborative research project undertaken by a
team of first year lecturers in the School of Education at James Cook University. The First Year Literacy
Initiative (FYLI) is a systematic approach to addressing concerns about preservice teachers’ literacy levels
articulated in national and state reviews (Masters, 2009). The preservice teacher education cohort at James Cook
University, Cairns is distinctive in that students are more likely to belong to traditionally marginalised groups
than the norm (JCU, 2008). As such, they are more likely to be considered ‘at risk’ in terms of literacy
performance.
The FYLI pilot study includes five key elements (Adam, in press): (i) a literacy guide, (ii) diagnostic literacy
tests, (iii) formative literacy tests, (iv) a literacy assessment rubric, and (v) literacy support sessions. This
particular study examines the relationship between students’ self-identified use of the FYLI literacy guide and
literacy performance in the first assessment task of a core first year subject. Data were collected from 130
students via an adapted feedback questionnaire (Race, 2008), general demographic information, and from the
literacy assessment rubric designed specifically for the FYLI. Findings point to the importance of collecting fine
data in designing appropriate support, pedagogical responses and participation and retention in the program
(Commonwealth of Australia, 2009; Kift, 2009; Wilson, 2009)
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Unpacking the Maze of Expectations: Lecturers, Mentors and Preservice Teachers using Rubrics
Together on Professional Experience
Colette Alexander, Garth Hentzschel & Sadie Praeger
Christian Heritage College
Email: calexander@chc.edu.au, ghentzschel@chc.edu.au & spraeger@chc.edu.au
Presentation format: Paper Presentation
In 2008 the School of Education and Humanities (SEH) initiated an Action Research project around the use of
rubrics to address the gaps and silences evident in assessment processes. Embedding rubrics containing ‘clearly
specified evaluation criteria and proficiency levels’ (Montgomery, 2000, p. 325) as an evaluation tool has
encouraged justice in and equity of engagement with assessment practices for students. Three phases of research
have been conducted revealing strong positive outcomes for student learning in on-campus units where rubrics
have been used for both teaching and assessment purposes.
Differing mentor, lecturer and student expectations of assessment through Professional Experience presents
unique challenges regarding openness, fairness and equity of judgement in relation to student performance
(Turney, Eltis, Towler & Wright 1985). In an attempt to unshroud the mystery of these judgements rubrics were
developed and trialled with one Professional Experience unit. This research seeks to both evaluate and
understand the use of these rubrics for promoting open, equitable and fair judgements about student performance
on Professional Experience.
The study investigated the use of rubrics within a Professional Experience context using surveys and open-ended
short answer questionnaires which were sent to participants. The survey data was collated quantitatively using
descriptive statistics to identify patterns in the data (Johnson & Christensen 2004), and qualitative data was
analysed to identify and classify emergent categories (Glesne 1999; Johnson & Christensen 2004). The data
demonstrates high levels of satisfaction with the rubrics by all participant groups. It also shows that the rubrics
contributed positively in moderating participants’ understandings of relevant and reasonable expectations of
students. The need for minor adjustments to some descriptors was also identified as important for improving the
shared understandings developed through the rubrics. The project has encouraged the development of rubrics for
all Professional Experience units and the provision of professional development opportunities for mentors.
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Re-forming teacher education in Malaysia: A case study of Malaysian and Australian teacher
educators’ collaboration and learning.
Andrea Allard & Julie Dyer
Deakin University
Email: acallard@deakin.edu.au & julie.dyer@deakin.edu.au
Presentation format: Paper Presentation
In 2005, the Malaysian government decided that all primary school Mathematics and Science classes
should be taught in English from 2010 onwards. In response, the government commissioned
universities in the UK and Australia to provide a Bachelor of Education (Primary) four-year course, to
be taught in English, for implementation by the Malaysian teacher educators. Deakin University’s
School of Education was one of the selected program providers. Such cross-cultural teaching
experiences contain possibilities for personal and professional growth, but, as well, can be fraught with
potential for misunderstandings and miscommunication.
This paper reports on research that grew from a four-year partnership between teacher educators from
Deakin University and academics in three teacher education institutes in Malaysia. While such a
program contained the potential to re-inscribe colonial relationships, the process undertaken throughout
the four years included staff from both countries working together through ‘induction’, ‘quality
assurance’ and ‘moderation’ sessions.
Here we focus on research undertaken with Malaysian colleagues with whom we worked
collaboratively to ‘deliver’ the Education Studies units of the course. Specifically, we draw on
interview data to answer: to what extent was it possible, given the linguistic and cultural differences, to
develop a genuine collaboration between the teacher educators from the two countries? How did such
an exchange alter each of the teacher education courses? In what ways, can such cross-cultural
interactions contribute to our understanding of building and sustaining better programs in teacher
education?
The findings from this study suggest that program design and the means used to enhance professional
relationships led to learning among Australian and Malaysian educators. This also suggests new
thinking for teacher education programs and staff in response to increasing demands to work across
borders and build intercultural competencies in international settings.
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Sustaining Professionalism: Authentically Assessing the Professional Practice of Graduating
Teachers.
Andrea Allard, Mary Dixon, Andrea Gallant & Diane Mayer
Deakin University
Email: acallard@deakin.edu.au, mary.dixon@deakin.edu.au & diane.mayer@deakin.edu.au
Presentation format: Symposium
In 2009, the School of Education, Deakin University gained accreditation for a new Master of
Teaching, a teacher preparation course that offers separate ‘strands’ in Early Childhood, Primary and
Secondary teaching. Among the signature features of the new course is the Deakin Authentic Teacher
Assessment (Deakin ATA). This is an integrated, authentic, and strand-specific assessment of
beginning teacher knowledge and skill. Deakin ATA is comprised of multiple sources of data (teacher
plans, teacher artifacts, student work samples, video clips of teaching, and personal reflections and
commentaries) organised in four categories of professional practice: planning, teaching, assessment,
and reflection. Linked closely to Graduate Teacher Standards, the ATA is designed as a capstone
assessment of graduating teachers’ professional practice in the workplace setting. All candidates in the
M.Teach must successfully complete the Deakin ATA.
In this symposium, we will: a) locate the Deakin ATA in the context of contemporary research on
authentic assessments of professional practice; b) report on the research that informed the development
of Deakin ATA, including a project located in Malaysia, where the ATA was initially trialed, and a
Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Development-funded pilot study that took
place in 2009-10; and c) discuss how a curriculum design technique of ‘backward mapping’ from the
ATA has been used to enhance the design and implementation of the Master of Teaching course.
Finally, issues that have emerged from these research projects together with the current course are
considered. In particular, we examine the extent that the Deakin ATA might provide more sustainable
and rewarding professional relationships among M.Teach pre-service teachers, the supervising teachers
with whom they work, and university academics.
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The UC Diary Project: tell me about your day
Julie Arnold & Jo Williams
Victoria University
Email: jo.williams@vu.edu.au & julie.arnold@vu.edu.au
Presentation format: Paper Presentation
The UC diary project draws on our professional dialogue as University Colleagues (UC) in site-based teacher
education partnerships, through an email exchange and case writing (Wasserman, 1993). This project has
facilitated a shared reflection on both purpose and practice in a space that demands multi layers of performance,
and has resulted in the identification of a number of key factors for UCs to consider in framing their work.
Emerging from ongoing conversations around the practice-theory nexus in teacher education, more recent
explorations of site-based partnership experiences for preservice teachers have given rise to literature discussing
the role of the UC. At Victoria University, a strong emphasis on placing preservice teachers and academics in
school settings for extended periods beyond the traditional practicum has been significant in informing changes
in the nature of university ‘supervision’ and contact. As UCs we find ourselves located in schools working
alongside teachers, students and importantly preservice teachers undertaking core university classes and
negotiated school-driven projects (Eckersley et. al., 2008). The role can be bewildering, with competing
demands and a complexity of tasks spanning both academic and mentoring responsibilities (Le Cornu, R. 2009).
The requirement to move fluidly between school communities, preservice teaching teams and traditional
academic settings presents challenges, and can raise tensions regarding time, language and values.
In considering the multiple roles we assume as UCs, we ask the following key research questions:



What is our role as the UC in site-based teacher education?
What are the emerging opportunities and challenges?
How do our experiences as UCs inform the development of sustainable site-based teacher education?
This paper will be presented as a performance piece, capturing both the process and outcomes of the research
project, inviting the audience to share in a reflection on the relevance of the data and its significance for teacher
education.
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Teacher Education Standards: Rethinking ways forward for sustainable relationships between
regulatory organizations and education faculties.
Tania Aspland
University of Adelaide
Email: tania.aspland@adelaide.edu.au
Presentation format: Paper Presentation
In Australia, a cosmopolitan nation with increasing public concerns about teacher quality, the regulation of the
teaching profession has escalated both at a national level and through state jurisdictions. The academic freedom
that is aligned with curriculum design in universities is becoming constrained in education faculties as
professional regulation authorities impose more restrictions on course design. Further, regulatory boards ensure
that accreditation processes scrutinize the content and the outcomes of teacher education programs, the duration
of programs and the nature and quantity of the practicum or field experiences. Auditing of this type is not tied to
research evidence. Rather it reflects bureaucratic practices implicit in a largely neo-liberal and conservative
educational context that is non-responsive to cultural or global change. Further it fails to be cognizant of cultural
pluralism, international globalization, and the socio-cultural reconstitution of education for the future.
This paper reports on a deconstruction of several sets of regulatory standards for teacher education across
Australia, Europe and the UK. A proposal for new ways of thinking about regulatory standards and building
sustainable partnerships between government and universities, from a global perspective, is proposed as the
paper unfolds.
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Expert apprenticeship in Middle Years of Schooling
Nanette Bahr
Queensland University of Technology
Email: n.bahr@qut.edu.au
Presentation format: Paper Presentation
Teacher educators bear the mandate to prepare classroom ready professionals. Immediately after their degree is
awarded, graduates assume responsibility to independently design teaching approaches that effectively lead
learning, and to autonomously engage purposefully with their allocated learners. Even though they are beginners
and join the profession as provisionally registered apprentices, their role and scope of responsibility is generally
indistinguishable from other classroom teachers. Many new graduates are welcomed excitedly to their first
school with a promise of new and fresh ideas to invigorate the learning. Although beginners, they often have
skills and knowledge that, when shared, can extend the imaginations and capabilities of more senior teachers.
For beginner teachers from specialist programs in the Middle Years of Schooling, they bring their freshness, but
they are also a new breed of professionals. Middle Years of Schooling specialists, even as recent graduates, are
often hired to lead and influence school reform for the Middle Years. This places them in the awkward position
of being both apprentice and expert. This paper reports the experience of one such expert apprentice in the
Middle Years of Schooling, and presents their narrative reflections of the link between their teacher preparation
and their entry to the profession. Their story gives insight to the challenge for teacher education to effectively
prepare teachers with particular regard to the often hidden professional standard to lead from first steps.
- 14 -
Considering professional identity, gendered learning, resilience, and technology in an online teacher
education subject
Jo Balatti, Malcolm Haase, Lyn Henderson & Cecily Knight
James Cook University
Email: Josephine.Balatti@jcu.edu.au, cecily.knight@jcu.edu.au, malcolm.haase@jcu.edu.au &
lynette.henderson@jcu.edu.au
Presentation format: Symposium
Paper 1
Developing teacher professional identity through online learning: A social capital perspective
Jo Balatti
Social capital has been defined as the ‘networks, together with shared norms, values and understandings which
facilitate cooperation within or amongst groups’ (ABS 2004, p.5). Fundamental to social capital theory is the
proposition that networks of relationships can facilitate access to resources of value to individuals or groups for
specific purposes. A social capital perspective to designing learning environments in preservice teacher
education would suggest that the quality of the learning experienced is impacted by the networks to which
preservice teachers have access, the resources that are available within those networks, and the norms and levels
of trust that shape the kinds of interactions that take place within those networks.
This paper describes and critiques an online learning environment that was designed from a social capital
perspective to help preservice teachers learn a professional teacher identity. The online activity formed part of a
professional development subject in the second year of a four year undergraduate education degree at an
Australian university. Developing or learning a professional identity is an ongoing process that is social in nature
and negotiated in communities of practice (Wenger, 1998). Such communities of practice developed in the
online environment of this case.
In the study, changes to the identity resources (Falk & Balatti, 2003) associated with a teacher professional
identity were considered as evidence of learning. The data analysed comprised the online text preservice teachers
produced and their responses to survey questions concerning the learning they experienced over the semesterlong subject.
Two findings of note are the potential for online interaction of the kind described in this paper to develop
professional literacies and to normalise the deprivatisation of practice. In an era in which teaching practice is
being made more visible and accountable to the public, these two professional identity resources are important in
developing the professional confidence necessary for sustainable teaching careers. A dilemma that remained
unresolved in the study was the voluntary nature of the participation in the online activities.
Paper 2
Male preservice teachers, gender and performance in an online teacher education subject
Malcolm Haase
The paper informs teacher educators concerned with the development of more sustainable futures for men in
education.
There is widespread concern about the high attrition and poor performance of males when compared with
females in teacher education programs (Drudy et al. 2005; Skelton 2009; Thornton and Bricheno 2006). To date
research attention has mostly been upon male students’ overall performance in a teacher education program. This
research both confirms and extends research knowledge by examining the finer detail of gender, learning and
performance at the level of an individual subject within a program. While, to an extent, the analysis of men’s
performance is compared with women’s, importantly, the paper also draws out the range of difference between
men. In doing so it emphasises the social constructedness of gender and highlights the imperative to not employ
pedagogies that are underpinned by essentialist understandings of gender. Such understandings tend to be
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socially oppressive by the way they can homogenise groups and segregate human qualities into two falsely
distinct gender categories (Connell, 2002).
Data are drawn from student submissions for online assessment tasks and two surveys. One hundred and thirtyfive second year preservice teachers (100 female, 35 male) were enrolled in the subject. The subject aimed to
develop students’ praxis, which in this context, is the connecting of educational theory and the practice of
teaching. The subject was an innovative trial, where much of the student/student and student/lecturer interaction
was conducted in an online learning space that consisted of lecture notes, blogs and journals.
The paper concludes that better understandings of gendered patterns of learning can assist teacher educators to
improve learning experiences for all students. This will hopefully lessen the attrition of males from teacher
education, thus contributing to more sustainable futures.
Paper 3
Motivation and participation in learning blogs: Challenging the role of assessment
Lyn Henderson
There is substantial research on the role and efficacy of blogs in learning and teaching in differing educational
levels and contexts (e.g., Du & Wagner, 2005; Coutinho (2007). The majority opinion is that blogs align with the
centrality of social engagement through information communication technologies (ICTs) in students’ lives and,
hence, are a relevant and motivating tool in learning, teaching, and assessment. However, research (e.g., Chen &
Bonk, 2008; Gulati, 2008;) also reports that it is assessment that is an important, if not, the controlling factor in
the number, quality, and length of the blogs. The paper examines this contention.
The research reported here concerned the nature of student engagement with the non-assessable and noncompulsory blog activity in a core second-year subject of a four year Bachelor of Education degree. The
semester-long subject involved a weekly online lecture, online blogs, and a face-to-face tutorial. The 135
students (100 female and 35 male) were tracked in terms of their blog participation and tutorial attendance. A
survey, with a 75 percent completion rate, was administered half-way through the semester. It sought
information about what motivated students to participate at various levels in the blog activity. Data were
analysed in terms of the benefits and costs that students associated with engaging in the blog activity.
Blog participation rates were higher than expected. Survey findings indicated that students considered their
engagement in blog activities was beneficial to their learning and helped them “keep on top of things”. Even
though the students knew that the blogs were not assessable, many expressed a commitment to contribute. The
main impediments to engaging in the blogs were the constraint of time, followed by other personal
circumstances.
Contrary to the research, most of this cohort of students voluntarily engaged in the online blogs knowing it was
non-assessment and non-compulsory.
Paper 4
Preservice teacher stressors and their reactions to those stressors: Resilient responses
Cecily Knight
The study reported in this paper looked at preservice teachers’ perceptions of stressors as they engaged with a
core subject in the Bachelor of Education program. Preservice teachers’ responses to those stressors were
explored in an attempt to ascertain their capacity or lack thereof, for resilient responses. Diminished resilience
has the potential to affect teachers’ ability to respond to the challenges that face them and their students
(Grayson & Alvarez, 2008). Teachers’ inability to cope with the demands placed on them and the resulting stress
and attrition impact the sustainability of the profession.
The study involved a target population of 135 second year preservice teachers engaged in a compulsory subject
that included professional experience in schools, on-campus tutorials and online engagement.
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Data analysed were preservice teachers’ responses to two surveys and a written essay on the topic of resilience.
Survey and essay questions were developed around two dimensions of preservice teacher education that impact
on the formation of teacher professionalism. The first dimension was the awareness of potential stressors that
impact on the work of teachers; and the second, the awareness that preservice teachers can increase their
resiliency in managing these stressors. Responses were coded using categories emerging from the data. These
categories were then considered in relation to a three-dimensional resilience framework: resilience as a state; a
condition; and a practice (Knight, 2007).
Findings are consistent with research into coping and resilience building for teachers that establishes the
importance of managing the emotional aspects of teachers’ professional work (Le Cornu, 2009; Parker & Martin,
2009). The findings also support the Knight resilience framework (2007) as a useful guide to designing and
incorporating resilience education in preservice teacher programs.
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The Networked Solution Project - Evaluation of the Graduate Diploma of Education (GDE) at the
University of Wollongong (UOW) : A focus on renewal for a sustainable future.
Tina Bavaro & Sharon Tindall-Ford
University of Wollongong
Email: tbavaro@uow.edu.au & sharontf@uow.edu.au
Presentation format: Roundtable
Globally there has been considerable discussion on the quality of teacher education over the past decade (Allen,
2003; Cho, 2008; Cochran-Smith, 2004; Darling-Hammond, 1998; Levine 2006). The plethora of literature
agrees improvement in teacher quality requires a re-conceptualisation of the preparation the new generation of
teachers. In essence, teacher education institutions have to re-think their core assumptions and processes
(Levine, 2006) in the hope of equipping future teachers with appropriate knowledge, skills and professional
values for 21st century teaching (Cho, 2008; Cochran-Smith, 2004; Farrington, 2008).
The 2008 report by the International Alliance of Leading Education Institutes (IALEI) Transforming Teacher
Education: Redefining Professionals for 21st Century Schools strongly verifies the need for continual review and
renewal of teacher education programmes. Given the complexity of 21st century teaching tertiary institutions
must move towards evidence-based evaluations by means of a stronger connection to research (Grossman, 2008;
Grossman & McDonald, 2008) to inform and improve teacher education programs.
In accordance with the Australian Universities Quality Agency (AUQA), an independent national body that
promotes, audits and reports on quality assurance in Australian Higher Education and support of federal funding
by the Department of Education, Employment & Workplace Relations (DEEWR) for the Multi-Location
Network Solutions Project. The University of Wollongong, Faculty of Education has taken a proactive approach
to afford evaluation evidence for the renewal of the Graduate Diploma of Education (GDE) in the delivery of a
quality teacher education program across all four sites.
This paper intends to:
-
provide an overview of the Multi-Location Network Solutions (MLNS) Project
outline an evidence-based approach for the evaluation of the GDE program, with the intent of
building and documenting a model of innovation and best practice
report on first phase of the evaluation, the rationale of the GDE program and the changes to be
implemented during 2010
discuss student scholar’s perceptions of knowledge and skills for 21st century teaching.
During orientation, the primary & secondary GDE student scholars were invited to voluntarily participate in the
MLNS project. An online questionnaire was made available during the first weeks of the autumn semester in
2010. The data was analysed to identify many recurring themes. The most prevalent theme was that of
“professionalism”. The findings of the initial report support the need to re-define the notion of “professionalism”
(Whitty, 2006) in the context of contemporary global, social, economical and technological realities for future
teachers.
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Unfashionably Postmodern: Rethinking Teacher Education and the Project of Consensus
Eva Bendix Petersen1, Anthony Loughland2 & Robert J. Parkes1
1. University of Newcastle
2. University of Sydney
Email: eva.petersen@newcastle.edu.au & Robert.Parkes@newcastle.edu.au
Presentation format: Paper Presentation
Underlying the development of state and national teacher accreditation standards is the notion that consistency
and consensus will ultimately lead to sustained production of high quality professional teachers. Fragmentation,
inconsistency, and incoherence are the dirty words of teacher education, and are frequently ‘problems’ levelled
at teacher education programs and research. A clear and coherent program philosophy is called for in state
accreditation applications, echoing Kagan’s (1990) concerns that a lack of consensus and a common culture are
‘serious’ problems for teacher education faculties. Today, in response to the Excellence in Research for Australia
(ERA) initiative, and a sense of despair at an inability to influence policy makers, the desire for a strong and
influential teacher education research agenda has inspired calls for greater coherence and consensus in teacher
education research. Such a call is seductive. We challenge the logic that conflates consistency with quality, and
explore what damage may be done to teacher education/research in the name of consensus. In this position paper
we ask not only what is to be gained from consensus, but also what is lost? Concerned with a postmodern
strategy of multiplication, proliferation, and repertoire development (Foucault, 1976/1994), we invite the
celebration of heterogeneity and dissensus in teacher education, in the interests of producing powerful critique of
current policy developments, robust and sustainable teacher education research, and flexible and adaptable
teachers.
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Pedagogical Refrains in Australian Teacher Education: Developing a conceptual frame for
empirical exploration
Eva Bendix Petersen & Robert J. Parkes
University of Newcastle
Email: Eva.Petersen@newcastle.edu.au & Robert.Parkes@newcastle.edu.au
Presentation format: Paper Presentation
Despite the continuing reviews of teacher education in Australia, and the associated polemics engulfing
the discipline, teacher educators are a poorly understood assemblage. Whilst teacher socialisation is
becoming a strong and vibrant field of research, studies of teacher educator socialisation remain
sporadic, conceptually underdeveloped and empirically emaciated. Given the current
deprofessionalisation of teacher educators, through the various and complex ways they are being
stripped of authority to determine their curricula, pedagogies and research agendas, a more sustained
effort is timely. This paper presents the conceptual framework developed for a substantial empirical
investigation of teacher educator socialisation in Australia. The framework takes as its point of
departure the heterogeneous and competing power/knowledge relations alive in the assemblage. It
offers the notion of ‘the refrain’, as developed by Deleuze and Guattari in A Thousand Plateaus (1987,
orig. in French 1980), as a way of problematising subjectification and territorialisation in the teacher
educator machine.
- 20 -
Towards a Pedagogy of Empowerment: ‘Impostor Syndrome’ among pre-service Non-Native
Speaker Teachers in TESOL.
Eva Bernat
The University of New South Wales
Email: eva.bernat@unsw.edu.au
Presentation format: Paper presentation
The English language is experiencing an exponential rise as a global language (Sharifian, 2009), and it
is estimated that non-native speakers of English now outnumber native speakers 3:1 (Crystal, 2003).
Given also that as many as 80% of English language teachers world-wide are of non-English language
background (Cangarajah, 1999), non-native speaker teachers’ (NNSTs) self-perceptions and
professional identity become of paramount importance in light of current debates surrounding, inter
alia, the ownership of English and thus NNSTs’ legitimacy as role models. Indeed, evidence suggests
(Rajagopalan, 2005) that ‘impostorhood’, which is characterised by feelings inauthenticity or
fraudulence, is still prevalent among this group of language professionals.
The NNST phenomenon has recently begun to receive deserving attention in literature, and research in
this area has been explicitly identified as necessary for NNSTs professional preparation and
development (Mahboob, 2010). This paper aims to uncover and address the self-perceptions of NNSTs
and their emerging professional identity in the foreign language teaching context. It reports on the
findings a quasi-experimental study undertaken with 11 non-native pre-service EFL teachers in
Australia. Using a number or diagnostic and intervention methods such as self-rating scales, artwork/collages, interviews, focus groups, and Near Peer Role Modelling from social-psychology,
changes in perceptions of self adequacy and self-efficacy beliefs were noted in all participants. These
findings are significant in identifying and exploring the impact of NNSTs’ underlying feeling of
professional inadequacy, and provide an optimistic fruitful direction for future research geared towards
a pedagogy of empowerment in English language teacher education. The paper ends with pedagogical
implications for language teacher education, yet, solutions presented here can also be transferred to
other discipline areas of teacher education. [274 words]
- 21 -
Sustaining pre-service teachers in neo-liberal times: Tertiary Mentors as ‘good enough’ teacher
educators.
Di Bloomfield
University of Sydney
Email: di.bloomfield@sydney.edu.au
Presentation format: Paper Presentation
Sustainability in an ecological sense is defined as: ‘the capacity for development that can be sustained
into the future without destroying the environment’ (Macquarie Dictionary, 2010). It derives from the
verb sustain, around which cluster such meanings as: to hold, to bear up, to be the support of, to endure
without giving way or yielding, to keep going. When applied to the field of teacher education and more
specifically to consideration of the development of the pre-service teacher within this field, notions of
sustainability invite questions as to what are the forces bearing down which need to be resisted, what is
in danger of being destroyed, what needs to be defended against for teachers and teaching to be
sustained into a future?
Given the persistent neo-liberal pressures bearing down upon the work of teachers and teacher
educators, it could be claimed that one element that is at risk of being destroyed is the professional
autonomy of all educators. Within a climate of persistent prescription, accountability and audit, it has
been suggested that neo-liberal measures articulated through standards and accreditation procedures
are serving to fashion prescribed forms of the ‘good teacher’ and ‘good’ teacher educator (Connell,
2009). Perhaps what is most at risk are possibilities for exploration, for individuality, for uncertainty.
Thus, this paper asks: how can alternate spaces for pre-service teacher development be established and
sustained outside of those strongly populated by practices that are defined by prescription,
accountability and management? Using Donald Winnicott’s psychoanalytically informed notions of the
‘good enough mother’ (1971, p.10) and Deborah Britzman’s consequent proposal for the ‘good enough
teacher’ (1998, p.41) as theoretical background, it explores forms of educative relationship that aim to
sustain spaces for pre-service teachers to work within and against current notions of the ‘good teacher’.
In particular it focuses on a re-conceptualisation of the role of Tertiary Mentors as ‘good enough’
teacher educators within Professional Experience programs as they work with pre-service teachers.
- 22 -
An investigation of bullying in schools: a review of literature and development of methodology.
Tracey Borg & Donna Mathewson Mitchell
Charles Sturt University
Email: trborg@csu.edu.au & dmmitchell@csu.edu.au
Presentation format: Roundtable
This roundtable presentation will present and discuss the first stage of a research project focused on bullying in
schools. Bullying is a significant issue in education that has received wide media coverage in recent times. While
research in the area is relatively extensive, few studies have taken a qualitative approach. Likewise, while
bullying is acknowledged within schools, the implications of bullying for teaching practices is rarely considered.
The planned research will use a range of qualitative methodologies to examine bullying in schools with the aims
of capturing the relatively silent voices of parents, teacher and students in the Australian educational context.
Ultimately, the project will investigate implications for teaching and teacher education.
The initial stage of the project will focus on: (1) the production of an extensive literature review; and, (2) the
development of an appropriate methodology. The scope of the project will address: bullying in schools; teachers
responses to bullying; student perceptions of bullying; parent and family involvement in bullying, school
leadership and bullying; and professional development in relation to the management of bullying.
In exploring a range of qualitative methodologies, the project will draw on alternative methodologies that allow
for the emergence of alternative voices and the development of new knowledges (Somerville, 2007). The
researcher’s initially propose a methodology of postmodern emergence, which Somerville (2007) suggests
involves “wondering”, “becoming” and “generating”. This approach involves a form of storytelling that explores
the constructions of self and knowledge. Somerville goes on to argue that an epistemology of a postmodern
emergence requires new forms of representation, embracing multiple modes of expression.
This roundtable presentation will examine the research questions and explore the proposed methodology.
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Community-School-University-Pre-Service teacher partnerships: Exploring theoretical and practical
dimensions of sustainable partnership
Marie Brennan, Briony Carter, Faye McCallum & Bruce Underwood
University of South Australia
Email: marie.brennan@unisa.edu.au, briony.carter@unisa.edu.au, faye.mccallum@unisa.edu.au &
bruce.underwood@unisa.edu.au
Presentation format: Symposium
Paper 1:
Building a theoretical framework for (rural) place-based and community-based teacher education.
Briony Carter
Current debates in teacher education and scholarship continue to identify teacher shortage and quality in rural
areas as a problem for policy and practice. This paper takes up the groundbreaking orientation provided by
Green et al (Green & Reid 2004; Green et al 2008) to theorise teacher education as situated practice. It builds on
this theoretical framework in two ways. First it includes regional community in place-based teacher education
and second it conceptualises induction to the profession as commencing within teacher education programs and
professional experience through to the early years of employment. Drawing on the work of Billett (2001) on
learning conducive work places and Wenger’s (1997) concept of Communities of Practice, alongside the placebased literature (e.g. Gruenewald 2008), the paper reflects on the theoretical implications of a three year study of
community and professional partnerships in regional South Australia that has previously been reported as case
study (Carter & McCallum 2009; McCallum and Carter 2009). In providing a framework that brings together the
university teacher education program, the students as active agents, the school and employer authorities, regional
community agencies and locations, and early career teachers, the paper is significant in taking up the call from
reviews of the literature that point to the shortage of robust theoretical work in Australian teacher education
(Nuttall et al. 2006). The framework that emerges is theoretically complex but also practical for those entering
the profession and for teacher education. It is also significant in contributing to the ongoing efforts to
reconceptualise teaching as a changing profession in these changing times. This paper will be the first effort to
add to the literature which will grow over the next few years.
Paper 2:
Perspectives of teachers and community partners on sustaining support for pre-service students
Faye McCallum
The problem of attracting, recruiting and retaining teachers to rural areas cannot be solved only by teacher
education or by employer authority strategies: wider partners need to become involved. This paper discusses
strategies that were adopted to foster teacher and community participation and partnership in an innovative
program developed at the University of South Australia (McCallum & Carter 2009; Carter & McCallum 2009)
through a four-way collaboration between pre-service teachers, university teacher education, education systems
and the local communities in three rural localities. Data taken from focus groups and surveys with the local
stakeholders were analysed to investigate socially sustainable ways of attracting and supporting pre-service
teachers to rural areas. Further examination was undertaken of the strategies used by the various community
groups during professional placement that enabled pre-service teachers to experience a 'lived' experience that has
resulted in recruitment and retention to rural areas post-graduation. This paper argues that socially sustainable
partnership practices must be built into the ongoing work of teacher education program staff, in developing a
sense of ownership locally in schools and their wider communities if we are to address the shortfall of high
quality teachers in regional Australia.
- 24 -
Paper 3:
Inducting pre-service teachers into remote Aboriginal communities
Bruce Underwood
While initial teacher education often includes subjects which pay attention to indigenous education issues,
arranging professional placements in remote Indigenous settings such as the APY Lands works to raise issues of
a whole different dimension. This paper aims to discuss some of the ethical, educational and personal challenges
faced when inducting largely non Indigenous student teachers into the challenges and excitement of working in
remote Aboriginal school settings. Drawing on data from the last three years (2008- 2010) of a UniSA program
designed to bring graduate entry or Master of Teaching students into regional Australia, the paper explores the
issues which students imagine, hope and worry about, and the ways to present issues which a more experienced
teacher educator understands are still ‘unknown’ to the students. The lessons learned from the project include
attention to entering the community, negotiation of teaching with senior Aboriginal community members, often
in the position of AEWs, working with teachers who may themselves be new to the Lands and new to the
profession, and issues of contextualising curriculum, assessment and pedagogy. Furthermore, the experience
challenges their taken-for-granted position of white privilege as early career professionals, often for the first
time. The experience of placement on the APY Lands also raises issues about students’ future employment paths
as they become far more specific than their often idealistic or naïve expectations might have begun in the
project. The existence of the project relies strongly on relationships and collaboration built over many years
between the university and the communities on the Lands, especially in negotiation with the PYEC, the major
Indigenous Policy Council for Education on the APY Lands. In presenting this case study, the paper adds intercultural dimensions to the analysis of the teacher education innovation under discussion in this symposium.
Paper 4:
Sustainable partnership-based teacher education? Some reflections for action and theoretical development
Marie Brennan
Kemmis (2009) reminds us that the durability of practices relies as much on the ‘practice architectures’ or
‘mediating preconditions of practices’ (p.36) as it does on those who engage in the practices. Sustainability of
practices thus requires attention to all the power dimensions that make up the field of practice, practitioners,
history and context. In this paper, I apply the five criteria provided for sustainability of practice offered by
Kemmis – discursive, social and political, material and environmental, economic and personal dimensions – to
the question of the long-term viability of innovative practices associated with a partnership project working in
three regional centres in South Australia. Taking the standpoint of each partner in turn – students, teacher
education program staff, community agents, schools and school systems- I analyse issues of sustainability of the
new practices and what might be at stake in building a new sub-‘field’ of practice towards longer-term
sustainability of innovations. In considering issues of relative positioning of teacher education within the
discursive and political economies of teacher education in Australia (Brennan & Willis 2008; Brennan 2009), I
argue that Kemmis’ criteria are essential for analysis of innovation in teacher education and raise important
issues of power relations constructed in and for the field, suggesting new kinds of relationships, practices and
knowledge needing to be built in order to sustain and redirect innovations. .
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Aboriginal Preservice Teacher identity formation in the Professional Experience.
Catherine Burgess
University of Sydney
Email: cathie.burgess@sydney.edu.au
Presentation format: Roundtable
In the Professional Experience, Preservice teachers occupy an unpredictable space between ‘novice’ and ‘real’
teacher with growing expectations of being able to engage a classroom of teenagers while improving learning
outcomes. For Aboriginal1 Preservice teachers, experiences in education are multifarious due to the legacy of
colonisation in Australia which also shapes non-Aboriginal perceptions about Aboriginal people. Underlying
factors such as Aboriginal Preservice teachers’ socio-cultural background, life experiences and appearance as
perceived by themselves and others as ‘looking Aboriginal’ are complex and often defining in terms of their
Preservice teaching experiences.
Through a critical lens, narrative inquiry is employed as an appropriate methodology to elucidate marginalized
voices. Using data from semi-structured interviews and ongoing collaborative dialogue, two to three narratives
will be constructed to unpack the lived experiences of Aboriginal Preservice teachers. This study attempts to
identify personally and professionally meaningful spaces that are sustainable and that reconcile the internal and
external perceptions of themselves as successful, respected teachers.
Preliminary findings reveal the following trends:
 the perception of others of who/what constitutes an Aboriginal person determines their response
to the Aboriginal Preservice teacher predominately as an Aboriginal person rather than a
Preservice teacher,
 the expectation that they are the expert on everything Aboriginal (but nothing else) including
solving perceived ‘Aboriginal problems’ in the school,
 the perception of being less qualified than non-Aboriginal teachers,
 the complexity of balancing community, family and school expectations;
 the potential compromise of their identity and role as an Aboriginal person with that of a
Preservice teacher; and
 the experience of exclusion (unintentional, subtle, or overt) often as a result of professional
and/or cultural insensitivity.
In the context of Aboriginal student disadvantage and government commitment to ‘closing the gap’,
teacher education for Aboriginal people has a significant role to play. The cathartic and empowering
nature of narrative inquiry in exploring these issues will potentially identify new and challenging
questions for existing policy and practice.
1 Participants in the study identify themselves as Aboriginal rather than Indigenous.
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Teaching intelligent behaviours for social sustainability
Jill Burgess
Australian Catholic University
Email: jill.burgess@acu.edu.au
Presentation format: Innovation Showcase
Teacher educators can sometimes be overwhelmed by the task of preparing pre-service teachers for a complex
and challenging profession. This paper presents an approach that aims to create learners (at every level) who
display intelligent behaviours when faced with problems and demonstrate qualities that will build social
sustainability. Social sustainability in this paper is presented in terms of quality social, emotional and life skill
outcomes for individuals and communities, promoting wellbeing and resilience in learners and building
communities that are equitable, diverse, connected and democratic and provide a good quality of life
(WACOSS, p. 35).
Teacher education courses and university graduate skill requirements regularly include documentation that
incorporates and encourages critical thinking skills, problem-solving, working with others (Denson, Dalton &
Zhang, 2009), deep thinking and learning, creative, flexible thinking, and making informed reflective choices.
Explicit teaching of behaviours that promote successful problem solving in learning across all areas of academic
and social life is an essential component of pre-service teacher education. Various lists of the top intelligent
behaviours often labelled as habits of mind or thinking dispositions have been proposed by numerous
researchers. These lists have been found to be relatively similar, all emphasising flexibility, curiosity, creativity,
being reasonable, posing problems, risk taking, decision making and behaviours that support creative and critical
thought (Costa & Kallick 2009).
This practical paper presents ideas for using Costa and Kallick’s (2009) approach with children and their parents,
pre-service and in-service educators to develop effective thinking skills that promote positive and effective
behaviours when faced with a problem. The paper reviews the literature exploring innovative ideas from the
research, both Australian and international studies and from the authors research in schools and pre-service
teacher education experience. The paper makes recommendations from the research on how teacher educators
can prepare pre-service teachers and the students they teach, to behave intelligently when confronted with an
array of problems and develop behavioural habits associated with wellbeing, resilience and social sustainability.
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Counteracting e-bullying in Australian schools: Sustainable approaches and pedagogical
Issues
Jill Burgess & Catherine McLoughlin
Australian Catholic University
Email: jill.burgess@acu.edu.au & catherine.mcloughlin@acu.edu.au
Presentation format: Paper Presentation
Around the world, episodes of e-bullying and online harassment are constantly in the headlines, as
school violence escalates so too has public concern about child safety, positive school environments
and measures to counteract these forms of social aggression among youth.
Though cyber violence is not a new phenomenon, it is attracting increased media attention due to the adverse
affects it has on youth behaviour and academic achievement. Recently however, there is research that explores
the complexities of cyber violence from an educational perspective and recommendations as to how schools and
communities can adopt sustainable and effective counter approaches (Cross, et al. 2009; McLoughlin, Meyricke
& Burgess, 2009; Shariff, 2008). Attention to this area is necessary to inform and engage the teaching profession
and to focus on pedagogical issues emerging from the research. The research aim is therefore to investigate and
evaluate current approaches to dealing with the problem of cyberbully and to recommended evidence-based
pedagogical strategies. The context of the research is a recent survey comparing urban and regional student
experiences of cyberbullying. Beginning with a synthesis of findings on the forms and characteristics of cyber
bullying, the paper presents cases where empirical data has been collected, with a particular focus on the
Australian context.
I addition, the paper reviews existing research and literature in Australia and internationally to document and
present sustainable approaches being adopted to address the occurrence of cyberbullying.
The most prominent pedagogical issues are identified, and current policies and strategies for schools are
examined. The paper concludes with an overview of sustainable best practice solutions that are being adopted
globally to address the growing problem of electronic bullying.
- 28 -
Teachers as change agents for sustainable curriculum development in South Africa
Arend E Carl
Stellenbosch University
Email: aec2@sun.ac.za
Presentation format: Roundtable
One cannot ignore the key role that teachers play in curriculum development today. The questions can be asked
WHAT do these roles entail, WHY must teachers be involved and WHAT is meant when we talk about “teacher
involvement in sustainable curriculum development”? The whole notion of teacher participation and freedom,
as well as democracy in the classroom, comes to the fore.
The major focus of this paper will be on the last question, i.e. what can be understood when we refer to teacher
involvement in sustainable curriculum development” as this involvement to a large extent determines the
dynamics of curriculum development.
The research context is the South African setting. Are teachers to be mere receivers of curricula developed
“somewhere else” (“top down” approach) or are they supposed to be creative and skillful developers of curricula
themselves to ensure sustainable curriculum development? Are these manifestations of curriculum involvement
restricted to the classroom or is there a broader context to be considered? To what extent is meaning given to this
notion through the typical functions they fulfill on a daily basis? What determines the meaning? What is the
“voice” of teachers themselves regarding their involvement in curriculum development and is this voice heard?
Apple (1986:178-179) refers to this symbiotic relationship between meaning and execution when he highlights
the danger of “… separation of conception from execution …”. Meaning and the actual functions are closely
intertwined.
The paper focuses on a project undertaken to try and answer these questions. The data was obtained through an
extensive questionnaire investigation. Findings highlight the fact that teachers still, despite a dynamic period of
extensive curriculum change, that they are still seen as mere receivers of the curriculum and not change agents.
- 29 -
Developing cultural competence: Creating and sustaining Indigenous partnerships in teacher
education
Deb Clarke
Charles Sturt University
Email: dclarke@csu.edu.au
Presentation format: Innovation Showcase
Increasingly Australian tertiary institutions are including cultural competence as a graduate attribute
required as an exit outcome for their students. With this in mind, pre-service teacher education courses
have in recent years, included mandatory subjects that address Indigenous content with the specific
intent of developing students’ knowledge, skills, values and critical reflective ability relating to
Australian Indigenous culture.
In the School of Human Movement Studies at Charles Sturt University, third year Bachelor of
Education (Health & PE) students participate in an authentic trans-cultural experience with Wiradjuri
elders and children from a local government Primary school with a 33% Indigenous population.
The purpose of this experience is for CSU students to develop their cultural competence by liaising
with the local Indigenous community and co-facilitating recreational and play pursuits of significance
to Indigenous peoples. As part of the subject, Games and Sports, students are required to participate in
dialogue with a Wiradjuri elder to inform their research of a traditional Indigenous play activity or
game, learn of its cultural significance and, with the assistance of elders, teach the game to the Primary
school children. A DVD of the dialogue with elders and the co-facilitation of the play and games will
be produced to act as a future resource for pre-service teachers in this subject and course. It is further
envisaged that the project team would undertake an action research study that documents the efficacy
of the project outcomes for all stakeholders.
This experience is significant as it provides authentic opportunities for CSU pre-service teachers to
develop the elements of cultural competence by:




Increasing their understanding of Australian Indigenous culture through observation of and interaction with
Indigenous children participating in culturally-significant play and games;
Developing awareness of cultural practices that are outside their own belief system by participating in
dialogue with Wiradjuri elders;
Co-facilitating play and games for children with Wiradjuri elders; and
Modelling respectful partnerships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.
- 30 -
Fostering thoughtful engagement in the political process through teacher education: an intervention
study
Carol Collins, Sue Knight & Tace Vigliante
University of South Australia
Email: Carol.Collins@unisa.edu.au, Sue.Knight@unisa.edu.au & Tace.Vigliante@unisa.edu.au
Presentation format: Paper Presentation
Thoughtful participation in the political process is crucial to the well being and sustainability of our democratic
society. Yet it is estimated that approximately 300 000 Australians aged between 18 and 24 years do not exercise
their vote in state or federal elections, a phenomenon echoed in many democracies throughout the world (Saha,
Edwards & Print, 2007). The question of what motivates young people to become politically engaged features
prominently then, in a rapidly expanding body of literature concerned with civics and citizenship education in
both schools and tertiary institutions. Factors shown to be influential in increasing individuals’ levels of political
interest and participation include developing knowledge and skills associated with political systems and electoral
processes, and encouraging participation in civic activities ranging from signing petitions to taking part in
demonstrations and contributing to civic organisations (e.g. Beaumont, Colby, Ehlrich & Torney-Urta, 2006).
Very little consideration has been given, however, to the notion of ‘thoughtful engagement’ in the political
process; engagement that reflects a willing acceptance of the rights and responsibilities of democratic
citizenship: the right to have one’s interests counted, and the responsibility to capture the interests of others in
the casting of votes. This makes it clear that the choice to engage in the political process is an ethical one and
that the act of voting is itself an ethical act. We argue here that the well being of democratic society depends on
individuals’ willingness to vote thoughtfully, that is, on the basis of reasoned ethical decision making (Collins,
2005). The paper also describes a quantitative intervention study conducted within a semester-long teacher
education course, the findings of which indicate that participation in dialogue-based ethical inquiry sessions
around the topic of civic rights and responsibilities is effective in developing individuals’ interest and thoughtful
engagement in the political process.
- 31 -
Sustaining Change: Insights from a meta-theoretical perspective of teacher change and teacher
culture.
Maxine Cooper¹, Joan Stewart¹ & Lorraine Ling ²
1. University of Ballarat
2. La Trobe University
Email: m.cooper@ballarat.edu.au & jste663348@aol.com
Presentation format: Paper Presentation
One of the challenges and opportunities for university academics working in teacher education programs in the
current global/glocal context is to work in close partnership with schools and systems to enable new teachers,
experienced teachers and principals to manage sustainable change. Working with new pedagogies and new
curriculum initiatives for learning involves dynamic creative learning spaces that affect teacher culture and
change in schools.
This study develops a meta-theoretical framework drawing on the work of Kardos et al (2001) which articulates
three distinct teacher cultures which are referred to as veteran oriented professional cultures, novice-oriented
professional cultures and integrated professional cultures. This is synthesised with the work of Robertson
(2000) who claims that there are three levels of experience into which teacher change can be classified. These
are ‘the world of events’, ‘conjunctural time’ and the ‘longue duree’ (p 7) and all are interpreted within a
glocalised and cosmopolitan world.
This paper is based on the second phase of a study of beginning and experienced teachers and principals in two
Australian states and their experiences are interrogated in the light of teacher culture and teacher change. An
imperative for knowledge creation in a new era is presented here. The focus is on the current influences on
teacher culture and teacher change which include elements such as entrepreneurialism, competition,
credentialism and teacher supply and demand, location of power, and responding to the challenges of
globalisation in the global/glocal community. We argue that theorists and practitioners need to work to reach the
longue duree stage for as Smyth argues there is a need for ‘a continuous cycle of critical analysis, education and
action’ (1991: xv).
Implementing and developing new theories of teachers’ work, teacher learning and school change requires
education professionals including teachers, administrators, teacher educators as well as government policy
makers to reexamine their current practices and ideologies, undergo a period of knowledge creativity and critical
action, and then move into a period of sustainable risk taking where reflection through a world view of long
time-space duration and patterning is developed which is informed by the needs and demands of a glocalised
world.
- 32 -
A change in Professional Learning model: A school based study
Amanda Coroneos & Mystie Smith
North Sydney Demonstration School
Email: amanda.coroneos@det.nsw.edu.au & mystie.addison@det.nsw.edu.au
Presentation format: Roundtable
This presentation is about North Sydney Demonstration School re-visioning our professional learning model.
Although traditional accounts of teacher professional development oscillate between discussions of 'managerial'
and 'democratic' conceptions of teacher learning (Hardy 2008), the manner in which many schools timetable
professional development emphases the former.
In practice however - and in particular best management practice - the work of teachers and schools is very much
a blend of the two models and the structures of school based professional development need to strike a balance
between compliance and freedom, educational risk management and teacher empowerment.
Initiated through an action learning project at school executive level, partnering with the Education Faculty at
the University of Sydney and undertaken in consultation with staff a tri-partite structure for teacher professional
learning emerged. In our new model, the school has retained some, but minimal, compulsory, managerial-based
PD oriented towards information dissemination. We have moved action learning away from an 'individual
learning journeys' model into our operational committee management structure with the stated aim of producing
a body of situated school knowledge. The final component has been to make all other PD entirely voluntary,
offered by teachers for teachers on subscription basis.
- 33 -
Sustaining the Resilience of Middle Years Teachers in challenging schools.
Leanne Crosswell
Queensland University of Technology
Email: l2.crosswell@qut.edu.au
Presentation format: Roundtable
Teacher resiliency allows teachers to cope in changing and challenging situations. Such a disposition is critical
for effective classroom practice as well as the overall success of a school. The issue of teacher resilience is even
more important for schools that are operating within socio-economically disadvantaged areas, with the complex
associated social issues that often impact on the day to day work of teachers (Howard & Johnson, 2004). There
has been growing interest in teacher resilience in Australia (Howard & Johnson, 2004), the United States
(Brunetti, 2006) and the United Kingdom (Gu & Day, 2007). While some of this work has focused on teacher
resilience in challenging school contexts (Howard & Johnson, 2004), there continues to be a dearth of research
that explicitly focuses on teacher resilience in middle school settings. This paper addresses the significant gap in
the current literature, further expands on the understanding of teacher resilience in an Australian context and
reports on the factors that a recent study undertaken in Queensland.
This is a phenomenographic study into the phenomena of teacher resilience. The paper reports on the analysis of
8 semi-structured interviews with middle years teachers working in disadvantages school sites. The study used
‘purposeful’ sampling techniques (Lincoln & Guba, 1985).where participants were identified by principals as
educators who have demonstrated resilience in a consistent and sustained way. The participants have worked in
the schools (or similar schools) for at least 3 years and have demonstrated some of the following characteristics
of resilience as educators; focused on the students learning, enthusiastic learners themselves, willing mentors,
eager problem solvers, pedagogical experimenters as well as ensuring students experience success (Patterson,
Collins & Abbott, 2004). The analysis strongly supports the findings of Howard and Johnson, (2004) and Gu
and Day (2006). The small sample, the purposeful selection of participants and the theoretical underpinnings of
phenomenographic research means that the results of this qualitative study cannot be readily generalised (Burns,
1994). However, what this type of qualitative research can do well is offer a rich description of the phenomena
being investigated and also provides clear directions for teacher educators in assisting graduates sustain their
own levels of commitment as they transition to professional practice.
- 34 -
Futuring sustainable Australian teacher education through recent doctoral dissertations: a thematic
analysis of alternative scenarios
Patrick Danaher¹, Bobby Harreveld³, Lindsay Parry² & Ren Yi¹
1. University of Southern Queensland
2. James Cook University
3. CQ University Australia
Email: patrick.danaher@usq.edu.au, b.harreveld@cqu.edu.au, lindsay.parry@jcu.edu.au & ren.yi@usq.edu.au
Presentation format: Paper Presentation
Envisioning and enacting teacher education for sustainable futures require simultaneous attention to multiple
influences and imperatives. One among several possible approaches to this task is to draw on alternative
scenarios as recommended by futures researchers, thereby suggesting several different possible visions of
teacher education and considering their likely impact on current policy-making and practice. This paper deploys
scenarios of potential higher education futures in the United Kingdom (Blass, Jasman, & Shelley, 2009, in press)
as a framework for addressing two research questions: What are some options for the sustainability of Australian
teacher education in the next decade and beyond? Which opportunities and challenges are associated with those
options?
In particular, the framework is employed to examine a number of recent doctoral dissertations supervised by the
authors and dealing explicitly or implicitly with teacher education research issues, ranging from visual literacy
and visual signifiers to students with learning difficulties and teaching for social justice. A thematic analysis
elicits several opportunities and challenges attending the sustainability options for Australian teacher education
generated by Blass et al.’s (2009, in press) scenarios.
The paper presents the thematic analysis findings by clustering the opportunities and challenges around three key
elements of contemporary theorising of sustainability: contexts, connections and capabilities (Holland, 2008;
Lanzi, 2007). These elements are posited as robust conceptual resources for highlighting and interrogating
sustainability options across multiple domains of educational experience and activity. They are also proposed as
vital ingredients in the ongoing re-evaluation of Australian teacher education designed to ensure its sustainable
futures and to maximise its effectiveness and relevance.
- 35 -
Building sustainable family-school partnerships: Supporting effective professional practice
Graham Daniel
Charles Sturt University
Email: gdaniel@csu.edu.au
Presentation format: Roundtable
It is widely accepted that parental involvement in their children’s education is important in supporting
student development and achievement (Baker & Soden, 2005) and this evidence has informed the
recent adoption in Australia of a Family-schools partnerships framework (DEEWR, 2008). How these
family-school partnerships are best established remains contested within research literature, and undertheorised as a pedagogical area of expertise (Baker & Soden, 2005; Daniel, 2008; Mattingly et al.,
2002; World Bank, 2008). This paper explores what current research says about parent involvement
and participation practices in schools, and presents the findings of a critical analysis of policy and
research to consider how teachers might establish robust supportive and sustainable family-school
partnerships in their own practice. The implications for teacher educators in supporting student teachers
in developing professional practices that support the development of sustainable and effective familyschool partnerships are explored, and the need for the inclusion of research-based practice within
teacher education courses advocated.
- 36 -
Graduate Diploma of Education course curriculum and assessment strategies: unifying university
and professional experiences.
Maree DinanThompson, Michelle Lasen & Ruth Hickey
James Cook University
Email: Maree.Dinanthompson@jcu.edu.au, Michelle.Lasen@jcu.edu.au & Ruth.Hickey@jcu.edu.au
Presentation format: Roundtable

Research aims or questions
This paper investigates a cutting-edge planning and assessment process that embeds authentic assessment, workintegrated learning, professional standards and e-Assessment in a Years 1-9 Graduate Diploma of Education
course. The process is innovative in that it utilises an e-Portfolio to unify and capture the evidence for
assessment across all ten professional standards in core professional practice subjects, core curriculum subjects
and practicum. The e-Portfolio also serves a purpose for teaching applications to future employers.

Research context
A decision was made in 2008 to restructure the one-year Graduate Diploma of Education Years 1-9 course in
light of the current movements towards canonical knowledge and skills (Billett, 2009) in English, mathematics
and science in primary and middle years of teaching and comprehensive alignment with graduate professional
standards (Queensland College of Teachers, 2006). More recently, the restructure has been reinforced in the
literature analysis and recommendations in the Masters’ Report (Masters, 2009). Further, emphasis in workintegrated learning and the use of e-portofolios in teacher education have influenced research in this course.

Methodology + Evidence and/or data
The paper outlines the process undertaken to systematically plan for authentic and relevant assessment,
templates developed for curriculum and assessment mapping, subject calendars outlining the explicit links to
professional standards and assessment, and examples of the e-Portfolios. Further, the paper presents research
undertaken to gain insights into students’ and professional advisory committee members’ perspectives of the
process, authentic assessment tasks and e-Portfolio via interview and document analysis.

Findings, conclusions and significance
The planning process, implementation and review of assessment tasks in the Years 1-9 Graduate Diploma of
Education has built new capacities in assessment knowledge and practice for students, lecturers and the advisory
committee members.
- 37 -
Professional development of school-based partners in professional experience – another step
towards sustainable partnerships?
Sue Duchesne
University of Wollongong
Email: sued@uow.edu.au
Presentation format: Roundtable
This forum invites practitioners from programs across Australia to share strategies and explore research towards
developing quality preparation programs for teachers involved in schools in pre-service and in-service
supervision.
It is timely to have this discussion in Australia given:
- The draft National Professional Standards for Teachers could make teachers in Australia look at
supervision (and training in it) as something they receive recognition for the first time;
- The Federal Government’s National Partnerships (Centres for Excellence) program focuses on schooluniversity partnerships in initial teacher preparation, which provides funding for schools to be involved – a
crucial element in the success of such a project;
- As states and territories establish mentoring programs for beginning teachers in schools, there are
overlaps between skills in supervising pre-service and beginning teachers – so preparation programs for
supervising teachers could serve a double purpose.
These conditions provide us with brand new possibilities in Australia of breaking the longstanding difficulty in
finding in-school placements for pre-service teachers, and of addressing the variation in quality of supervision
(House of Representatives standing committee on education and vocational training, 2007). Research is required
to investigate the particular models of professional development which might address these needs most
effectively. There are also opportunities here to explore the conditions under which partnerships between
schools and universities around professional experience are sustainable.
- 38 -
Teaching as a collaborative endeavour: Practice stories from a teaching team in teacher education.
Kerry Earl, Frances Edwards, David Giles, Heather McRae, Bill Ussher & Russell Yates
University of Waikato
Email: kearl@waikato.ac.nz, francese@waikato.ac.nz, dlgiles@waikato.ac.nz, hmansell@waikato.ac.nz,
bussher@waikato.ac.nz & ryates@waikato.ac.nz
Presentation format: Symposium
Paper 1
Teaching and learning together: a relational culture within a teacher education department.
David Giles & Russell Yates
At a time when academics might be forgiven for being distracted by performance-based accountability regimes,
stories and experiences can be found of relational and collaborative cultures existing within academia. Indeed,
the relational ethos and team priority within the Department of Professional Studies in Education at the
University of Waikato has not only stood the test of time, but is seen as enabling the individual and collective
responsibilities of academic staff. This presentation raises critical notions and practices that background and
enable collaborative pedagogical endeavour within the context of a compulsory third year course. Drawing on
the perceptions and experiences of the department’s chairperson and the teaching team, the nature of the
relational ethos and collaborative culture within the department is explored with implications for future practice.
Paper 2
Teaching and learning together: using enduring understandings to focus on what is important.
Kerry Earl & Bill Ussher
To ensure a shared ideology exists across a teaching team we have developed and used enduring understandings.
Drawing on the ongoing work of McTighe and colleagues, teaching staff engaged in sustained dialogue to shape
enduring understandings and essential questions for the compulsory papers in an undergraduate teaching degree
programme. We argue the strength of this collaborative endeavour and describe some strategies that embed these
understandings in practice.
Paper 3
Teaching and learning together: collaboration in curriculum.
Heather McRae & Frances Edwards
The co-construction of curriculum between teacher and students (often termed curriculum negotiation) is
desirable. However, enacting this process in the context of teacher education is often perceived as problematic.
Our team endeavours to model quality practice in a way that creates spaces that allow for co-construction of
content as well as learning and teaching strategies. We offer descriptions of working together as staff and
students which give opportunities for student influence, input and control of learning. On the basis of these
experiences we look for further opportunities for co-construction across the programme.
Paper 4
Teaching and learning together: creating and sustaining opportunities for critical dialogue.
Bill Ussher & Heather McRae
Critical dialogue between practitioners, researchers and students, where each seeks to understand the others’
perspectives, is vital to initial teacher education. We advocate the ongoing inclusion of practitioners’
perspectives and expertise alongside those of their tertiary colleagues. This presentation shares the current
practices of a teaching team at the University of Waikato and the place of critical dialogue in their ongoing
learning. It explores how a culture of respect and inclusion is developing to create and sustain learning
opportunities.
- 39 -
Assessment-in-learning: Being-in assessment
Kerry Earl & David Giles
University of Waikato
Email: dgiles@waikato.ac.nz & kearl@waikato.ac.nz
Presentation format: Paper Presentation
Current discourse on educational assessment advocates for the priority of student’s learning. Indeed, student’s
learning experiences are seen as central to formative assessment. While this intent is laudable and invariably
played out in classroom practice, we suggest that a consideration of the ontological layering of assessment
practice opens the experience of ‘being-in assessment’ in fresh ways for pre-service teachers. In addition to
specific assessment practices, third year students in a compulsory online curriculum and assessment paper were
provoked to consider the essential or ontological nature of their being-in assessment with students. Central to
this dialogue were the notions of ‘assessment as noticing’ and ‘assessment as attunement’. Drawing upon the
Heideggerian notion of attunement, the nature of teachers’ ways of being ‘in’ assessment was considered.
Student’s responses suggest a deepening appreciation and awareness of the sensitivities and subtleties of
‘assessment-in-learning’.
- 40 -
University-school partnerships and site-based pre-service teacher education
Bill Eckersley & Merryn Davies
Victoria University
Email: bill.eckersley@vu.edu.au
Presentation format: Roundtable
Recent Federal and State reports on pre-service teacher education, combined with Federal Government policy
directions, emphasise the power and significance of university-school partnerships, not least as a cornerstone of
pre-service teacher learning. The Federal House of Representatives Standing Committee on Education and
Vocational Training in its 2007 Top of the Class report gave evidence of some “outstanding partnerships
particularly around the provision of the practicum...Key ingredients in these partnerships are the awareness that
teacher education is a shared responsibility and a willingness to work in partnership with other parties to fulfil
their responsibility” (2007: 79).
Recently, in specific contexts where partnerships have been strong, enduring and productive, school leaders and
Victoria University staff have extended their involvement in the partnership model. These “longer, deeper,
richer” relationships involve seminar groups of up to 30 pre-service teachers undertaking at least half of their
course work in site-based classes at their partnership school. “Learning teams” of VU and teaching staff support
them. “School students’ learning is the principal focus of [an] effective partnership, enabling links to be made
between school needs and priorities and preservice teachers’ skills and interests”(Kruger, Davies, Eckersley,
Newell and Cherednichenko, 2009: 8).
This research focuses on the following key research questions:







What are the educational and organisational characteristics of these on site partnerships?
For selected site-based teacher education partnerships, how do participants understand their own
practices and contribution to the learning of pre-service teachers and school students?
What are impacts of the on-site teacher education model on school cultures and staff?
What investment of resources contributes to sustainability of this model?
How do the characteristics of the on-site model contribute to effectiveness and sustainability?
What set of principles can be given for an ‘effective and sustainable model of site based teacher
education’?
How do the partnerships studied in this research exemplify the principles of effectiveness and
sustainability for a future focused teaching workforce?
A Collaborative Practitioner Research (CPR) methodology (Cherednichenko, B., Davies, A., Kruger, T., &
O’Rourke, M. 2001) will be used to engage the participants (e.g., pre-service teachers, teachers and Victoria
University staff) in a series of team based focus groups where they will be prompted by the research team to
describe and interpret key aspects of their experience in the site–based partnerships. After initial site-based focus
group meetings, sites will “pair” together to develop commentaries and feedback. This approach employs case
writing and commentary methodology (Wassermann, 1993) which has been used frequently by the Victoria
University team in the initiation of practitioner inquiry. Research Validation meetings to aid the analysis and
interpretation of the data will also be employed.
- 41 -
A Place for Education for Sustainability in pre-service teacher education: an example from New Zealand
Richard Edwards
University of Waikato
Email: richarde@waikato.ac.nz
Presentation format: Paper Presentation
Despite its high profile internationally, Education for Sustainability (EfS) is seldom a core element of national
curricula and is rarely seen in pre-service teacher education programmes. The recently published New Zealand
Curriculum (Ministry of Education, 2008) included sustainability as a future focused issue, but did not give a
mandate for EfS as part of the curriculum. Consequently, a rationale for including EfS in teacher education must
be based on other reasons. This paper addresses the questions of why EfS could play a useful role in pre-service
teacher education and what approaches are most likely to enable it to do this effectively.
Examples in the literature of how EfS has formed part of pre-service teacher education tend to focus on specific
initiatives (e.g. Cheong, 2005; Paige, Lloyd, and Chartres, 2008). Ferreira, Ryan, and Tilbury (2007) have
developed a set of models of professional development supporting EfS in initial teacher education in Australia.
The example discussed in this paper contributes an additional example and explores how it reflects the
constraints and opportunities identified elsewhere.
This research focuses on the way EfS is incorporated into a New Zealand primary teacher education degree
programme. Course materials and interviews with people involved form the basis of an exploration of the
rationale, development, and approaches to teaching for the course. Reasons why it continues to survive and
challenges to its long-term sustainability are discussed. Central to this is a consideration of the importance of a
collaborative approach to development and teaching and of the way the paper is closely aligned with the intent of
the curriculum.
- 42 -
Sustainable Transitions: Career change into teaching
Rickie Fisher
Central Queensland University
Email: r.j.fisher@cqu.edu.au
Presentation format: Roundtable
People become teachers for a number of reasons. Teaching for some may not be their first career choice and
they may transition into teaching after experiencing another career. This paper will critically review the recent
literature on career change into teaching. The findings from this review form the basis of a proposed research
project investigating a group of adults as learners making a career change to teach with Queensland secondary
schools. The questions that frame the proposed research project are: What factors influence a career change into
secondary school teaching for a cohort of adult learners? and, What are the aspects of the teacher education
program that support and enhance their successful transition? This review of the literature positions this
research within the field in order to identify the major aspects that influence a change of career into teaching
through the completion of a one-year postgraduate pre-service teacher education degree.
Conclusions place focus on the aspects that attract those to undertake a change career and transition into
teaching, and second, explore how these motivations are sustained throughout their transition whilst completing
a postgraduate pre-service teacher education degree.
The issues that have emerged from this review are framed within three key areas: Sustainable Pathways: The
impact of initiatives to recruit high-achieving graduates into the teaching profession through fast-tracked
intensive programs; Sustainable Recruitment: The recruitment of secondary school teachers into specific
specialist teaching areas or hard to staff locations especially within a regional context through a career change;
Sustainable transitions: Understanding why a person changes career direction; and, the aspects that attract a
person to transition from one career into secondary school teaching to teach a specific subject. These key issues
are significant to employing authorities and research into teacher education.
- 43 -
Developing and sustaining induction in Chile
Catherine Flores
Charles Sturt University
Email: Catherine_flores_2002@yahoo.com
Presentation format: Roundtable
Available evidence indicates that beginning teachers in Chile are not experiencing induction that provides them
development support and that many novices are not receiving the type and level of help they need to function
effectively after taking up their appointments (Avalos & Aylwin, 2007). Principal support has been regarded as a
significant variable in achieving beginning teachers’ efficacy (see, for example, Capa & Loadman 2004). It is
important then to explore how principals understand and conceptualise induction and what kind of support is
currently available for novices at school settings.
A foundational premise of this study is that professional practice is not dependent solely upon the experiences
and actions of practitioners. Rather, an individual practitioner’s practice is shaped and formed by ‘practice
architectures’ which constitute the mediating preconditions that construe, enable, or constrain his or her actions
(Kemmis 2005, 2006). This study adopted case study methodology to focus on the experiences of a relatively
small group of principals, in order to make visible their understandings of the concept of induction. Through a
discourse analysis approach of the focus group and individual interviews with principals, this study aimed to
reveal how discourse operates in the construction of practices of induction and what significant issues are
revealed concerning induction at school level.
The findings from this study point to a number of issues important to teacher educators responsible for preparing
candidates for initial certification, as well as to policy-makers responsible for developing induction programs.
Some of the key issues are: principals’ views concerning teacher education and professional experience, the
neglect of pedagogy during induction, and principals’ symbolic induction. The data provided a window into
principals’ understandings regarding induction and how principals’ practice has been shaped by the practice
architectures that structure the whole work of schools in ways underpinned by the Chilean context and culture.
- 44 -
Competing perspectives on the teacher as a self
Bronwyn Gallagher
University of Newcastle
Email: Bronwyn.Gallagher@newcastle.edu.au
Presentation format: Paper Presentation
This paper explores competing perspectives on the self for the purposes of developing a conceptual framework
to support a study into the importance of understanding a teacher’s self-hood in the development of sustainable
teaching practice, teacher training programmes and ongoing professional development. This framework can then
provide a structural focus for addressing a teacher’s continuing self-development to aid in the management of
teacher stress and burnout and to support the development of sustainable teaching practices. Studies into stress,
burnout and professional development currently don’t address a teacher’s self-hood so this exploration provides
a meaningful contribution to the existing field of research in these areas. The question that forms the focus of
this exploration is: ‘Who is the self that teaches?’ The paper will explore a range of different perspectives that
potentially inform a conceptual framework to think about the question. This exploration addresses a limited body
of Australian educational research and teacher training practices that provides considerations about the teacher as
a person. Through its’ reflective investigation of the different perspectives of self this paper aims to contribute a
considered theoretical understanding of constructive ways of knowing the teacher as self.
- 45 -
Cross-Cultural Collaboration for Effective Teacher Education in Global Contexts
Andrea Gallant & Diane Mayer
Deakin University
Email: diane.mayer@deakin.edu.au
Presentation format: Paper Presentation
Education programs offered off-shore have often been simple replications and translations of existing programs
offered to domestic students. There is little or no evidence of consideration of cross cultural contexts when
designing and delivering off shore programs and seemingly little attention paid to the higher education providers
in-country (Marginson, 2006 & 2007). What is conspicuous by its absence is consideration and attention to
building sustainable and mutually sustaining relationships in the delivery off shore programmes. This paper
reports one university’s collaborative development and implementation of a teacher preparation programme
designed to provide an alternative to the conventional colonising models in higher education provision.
In the 21st Century, higher educators providers should be asking why export Western models of education? Why
promote uniformity? What impact does this have on cultural diversity and personal identities? Is this global
education or colonising pedagogy of the poor by a rich minority? These questions are critical for educators if we
are to understand complex ecologies in a changing world. As there “is no such thing as a neutral education
process” (Mocombe, 2007, p.1), these questions must be examined when exporting higher education to
developing nations. The continuation of the 20th Century model of exporting education leads to a monouniversal educational culture – a closed system not an open organic system where diversity is the mark of
sustainability.
The research reported in this paper, specifically investigated the intercultural capacities and international
perspectives of Deakin and Malaysian teacher education faculty who participated a collaboratively developed
and implemented teacher education program. The key findings suggest that this approach can result in:
1) Enhanced professional learning among academics both on-shore and off-shore
2) Context appropriate programmes that are sustainable over time
3) Beginning teachers who are recognised by principals, classroom teachers and academics as
being highly effective and identifiably different to other comparable cohorts.
- 46 -
Contemporary Coping Strategies among Student Teachers: a study of fourth year primary school
student teachers.
Sallie Gardner
Griffith University
Email: S.Gardner@griffith.edu.au
Presentation format: Paper Presentation
Current discourse among teacher educators reveals a prevalent view that teaching, and the teaching practicum,
are stressful. By the year 2020, depression is predicted to be the second most prevalent medical illness among
the community at large, followed closely by anxiety (Hirschfeld, 2001). People exposed to stress-inducing
factors often become anxious and depressed (Parker & Fletcher, 2007; WHO, 2005). As teaching is widely
regarded as a stressful profession, (Kyriacou, 2001), it is expected that many teachers and student-teachers may
be anxious and/or depressed (Morrison & O'Connor, 2005), and that this will interfere with the completion of
their degree and their classroom practicum experience.
This paper addresses coping strategies and resources used by student-teachers for the management of their stress,
particularly in the final year of their undergraduate degree. A mixed-method approach was adopted to explore
the coping strategies used by fourth year primary school student teachers at a medium sized Queensland
University. Analyses of quantitative survey data, and individual responses to open-ended questions, supported
the assumptions that contemporary student teachers use a variety of coping strategies and resources to manage
their stress. These included self-help, using a mindful cognitive behavioural therapy (MCBT) approach, seeking
support from friends and family, and referring to web-based materials.
These results have implications for strategic planning by institutions for the future well-being of graduate
teachers. If we are to retain beginning teachers who may not have these skills, training in methods such as these
as part of pre-service degree courses may be a productive resource in helping student-teachers make a successful
transition into schools and professional life.
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Sustaining Teacher Education with Multi-modal Teaching and Learning Resources
Maggie Garrard
Australian Children's Television Foundation
Email: maggie.garrard@actf.com.au
Presentation format: Innovation Showcase
The accessibility of our students to personal digital technologies makes it imperative for teachers to engage with
digital resources and new pedagogies for delivering them. The new digital media texts, do not privilege verbal
language. New digital technologies are visual and offer teachers more jumping off points and connections than
ever before.
Teachers require relevant and purposeful online and digital resources to support the implementation of the
Australian curriculum. An important aspect of effective 21st century teaching resources is that they are multi
platform, accessible and interactive offering components that can be delivered directly to students and be highly
usable with interactive white boards, online and other digital technologies. They should allow for both passive
and active content with scope for students to adapt models for their own leaning.
The recent ACTF TV productions and education resources support teachers in the implementation of new
curriculum expectations. My Place for Teachers, Screen Asia and Double Trouble adapt well known written
texts and films into online free resources that encourage these new connections. It is as important for students to
be able to deconstruct and critically evaluate screen text as the ‘screen’ plays an ever increasing importance in
their lives.
The Australian Children’s Television Foundation (ACTF) is dedicated to improving student engagement through
the use of new media and new communication technologies. This workshop will allow participants the
opportunity to view case studies as examples to how the ACTF products help motivate, inspire and engage
students with meaningful, authentic, creative and challenging learning experiences.
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Preparing the global teacher
Ruth Geer
University of South Australia
Email: ruth.geer@unisa.edu.au
Presentation format: Paper Presentation
There is an increasing number of international students undertaking preservice teacher education courses in
Australia. As international students are an important source of revenue for universities there is increased pressure
to accept more and more students into teacher education. There is recognition that competent international
teachers can bring a depth of knowledge and experience to our “white middle classed” profession. The two-year
Master of Teaching (Middle and Secondary) has a strand within the main program that provides additional
support for international students. However, how effective is this strand and other accompanying support
strategies in helping international students face the numerous challenges confronting them in their professional
experience placements? International students are often the last to be placed, and frequently in very demanding
settings as mentor teachers recognize the fact that they require additional support. This paper examines the
effectiveness of the implemented support strategies within the program in assisting international students to meet
the challenges of their placement and to develop their competence and dedication as teachers. Areas of concern
such as language barriers, relationship building and cultural adaptation that impact on their successful entry into
the profession are also discussed with recommendations of ways forward.
This study utilizes feedback from an online survey where a number of opened ended questions provide further
opportunity for international students (approximately 50) to reflect on the value of their current program in
equipping them for a successful entry into the profession. Six interviews have been conducted to further tease
out some of the issues. While the findings are limited, in that they relate to a particular context, this paper
identifies successful strategies while also highlighting the challenges faced by many teacher education
institutions in producing quality teachers who can enhance the international perspective in our already
multicultural classrooms.
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Program standards for pre-service teacher education: towards a sustainable national system of
accreditation
Rob Gilbert², Graeme Hall¹, Patrick Lee³ & Sue Willis⁴
1. Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL)
2. NSW Institute for Teachers
3. Monash University
4. University of Queensland
Email: graeme.hall@aitsl.edu.au, patrick.lee@nswteachers.edu.au, sue.willis@ahm.monash.edu.au &
rob.gilbert@uq.edu.au
Presentation format: Symposium
The Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) was established by the Ministerial Council
for Education, Early Childhood Development and Youth Affairs (MCEECDYA) in January 2010 to provide
leadership to the Commonwealth, state and territory governments in the quality of teaching and school
leadership across Australia. The central focus of its work lies in finalising, maintaining and implementing
professional standards for teaching across the stages of a teacher’s career, and for school leadership. The
Institute’s other activities will be based on these standards, will build on them and will be predicated by them.
This work will include activities related to professional learning, accreditation and provision of professional
development programs, prestigious new national teaching awards, assessment of qualifications of overseas
teachers for the purpose of skilled migration, and the accreditation of pre-service or initial teacher education
programs.
An early decision of the Board of AITSL was to establish a Working Group of Directors and co-opted members
to finalise the development of national accreditation of pre-service teacher education programs. This broadly
representative group is building on the work over the past few years of various working parties and sub-groups
comprising the range of stakeholders in the quality of initial teacher education in Australia. The national system
being developed will be based both on the graduate teacher level of the emerging new national professional
standards for teachers and on program standards for pre-service programs.
This interactive, participatory symposium and workshop will outline progress in establishing the national
system. It will report elements where agreement is developing, and those that are ready for some wider
consultation. A key component of the workshop will be to seek input from conference participants about a
number of outstanding or partially resolved issues.
The development of this system is moving quickly, and it is anticipated that some implementation will occur in
2011. This symposium / workshop provides an opportunity for teacher educators to participate in its
development, bringing to the development process their expertise in the area and the evidence of their own
research into effective and sustainable initial teacher education.
- 50 -
Consultative training delivery for sustainable instructor development in a tertiary science context
Veronica Graham & Helen Boon
Charles Sturt University
Email: veronica.graham@jcu.edu.au & helen.boon@jcu.edu.au
Presentation format: Roundtable
A lack of clear policy frameworks and recognition in Australian universities identified by the Australian
Teaching and Learning Council (ATLC) and is the focus of an ongoing project to address the impact of
employing casual teaching staff in the higher education sector (RED Report, 2008). Sector-wide improvements
are sought in five domains: systemic and sustainable policy and practice; induction and academic management;
employment and administrative support; professional and career development; and, rewards and recognition.
Arising from the above, in the Discipline of Molecular Biology it was noted that imported generic casual staff
training programs did not link directly to ongoing local team building or management needs in a sustainable
fashion. They tended to rely on conventional knowledge in the field rather than respond to the needs of
individual groups of casual teachers (Luft et al, 2004).
This study was designed to examine the following questions:
1) What are the perceptions of casual teachers to implementation of training?
2) What, if any, key concepts or skills can be identified by them as critical to their own
professional development?
The methodology used was mixed methods: a short survey followed by focus and individual interviews with the
casual staff in Molecular Biology.
Results indicate that an organisational framework for constructing a community of teachers through which a
recognition and consultation process between facilitator and casual staff is viewed as highly desirable. Two-way
feedback between casual staff and other stakeholders is valued and empowering. This sense of empowerment is
perceived to enhance proactive teaching behaviour, and individual responsibility within the community which is
potentially more sustainable than current practice.
This innovative implementation of sessional staff inductions can potentially be adapted to different tertiary
contexts and disciplines where it can support the professional development of future scientists and academics
and enhance the learning outcomes of students.
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Indigenous Teacher Education: Challenges for community based programs
Malcolm Haase¹, Woendi Hampton¹, Angela Hill¹, Lai Kuan Lim¹, Helen McDonald¹ &
Gail Mitchell²
1. James Cook University
2. Queensland Department of Education and Training
Email: malcolm.haase@jcu.edu.au, angela.hill@jcu.edu.au, LaiKuan.Lim@jcu.edu.au &
helen.mcdonald@jcu.edu.au,
Presentation format: Symposium
James Cook University has a long history of providing pathways for indigenous people to enter the teaching
profession. This symposium focuses on current developments and practices in RATEP, a community- based
teacher education program for Indigenous people. While RATEP has been operating for 20 years, the need for
increased participation of indigenous people in teacher education remains firmly on the agenda, particularly in
light of “Closing the Gap” initiatives. Increasing the number of Indigenous teachers has long been advocated as a
means of improving educational outcomes for Indigenous students. The availability of fully qualified local
community people is seen as one way ensuring quality teachers in communities which commonly experience
high turnover of teachers. In this symposium, we examine three significant challenges of community based
teacher education programs such as RATEP: (i) the provision of academic and social support offered to students
studying in regional and remote sites: (ii) facilitating the transition from paraprofessional to professional
educator; and (iii) the incorporation of synchronous online learning environments within the course pedagogy.
Paper 1
Supporting partnerships in Indigenous Teacher Education
Woendi Hampton¹, Gail Mitchell² & Helen McDonald¹
While there have been improvements in the number of Indigenous people attending university, retention remains
an area of concern. In this context, the provision of effective social and academic support, particularly for
students studying externally, is vital. This paper critically examines the three-pronged approach taken to student
support in the Bachelor of Education via RATEP. It describes the differing roles of “teacher coordinators” who
are members of the local school staff located in the students’ home communities and the “Indigenous Student
Support Officer” located on the university campus. However, as Nakata, Nakata and Chin (2008, p.141) argue,
support programs should consider the need for Indigenous students to “navigate and negotiate contested
positions in knowledge while maintaining and developing their own intellectual positions for productive
Indigenous ends and to satisfy academic requirements”. Thus the paper argues that that the curriculum and
pedagogy of the subjects which students undertake should also be conceptualised as part of the support
“package”.
Each of these modes of support offers differing opportunities for students. However, the paper also argues that
the differing contexts in which these modes of support operate can result in differing priorities. These can
exacerbate the possible theory practice divide in teacher education unless there is a shared understanding of and
commitment to quality teacher education, the development of professional standards for teaching and the
possibilities of Indigenous teachers as transformative practitioners..
The presentation brings together the perspectives of participants in this three-pronged approach to support as
well as students in the program.
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Paper 2
Navigating new identities: Indigenous Education Workers moving to preservice teacher status.
Angela Hill & Helen McDonald
Reid and Santora (2006) argue that the interplay between culture and identity in the construction of teacher
identity can produce challenges for Indigenous teachers. This paper reports on a work integrated learning project
designed to facilitate the identity work undertaken by Indigenous preservice teachers making the transition from
Indigenous Education Worker to professional decision maker and teacher. The students in this project were
studying a Bachelor of Education in their home communities where they also undertake part of the professional
experience requirements. The majority of students in the program have worked as Indigenous Education
Workers (IEWs) in their local schools and have completed a TAFE Diploma of Education.
Indigenous Education Workers play an invaluable role in schools, their importance arising from the historical
and social realities whereby most teachers and school leaders are non-Indigenous and transient. However, the
position of IEWs within school structures is frequently marginalised as poorly paid contract labour.
Consequently, transitioning from the IEW status within the school to the core role of professional teacher
presents a range of challenges. Additionally, students studying for a Bachelor of Education while remaining in
IEW positions need to negotiate conflicting identity positions within their local schools. In this context, a series
of student centred activities was developed to promote critical reflection of their historical experiences as IEWs
as a basis for engaging with the new identity demands of practice as they begin their role as preservice teachers.
The paper describes these activities and, using data generated through narrative inquiry, analyses the
effectiveness of these strategies, not only in terms of student retention and success, but also in terms of the
students’ own understanding of their identity work as becoming Indigenous teachers.
Innovation Showcase 3
Elluminating pedagogy
Helen McDonald, Malcolm Haase & Lai Kuan Lim
New forms of e-learning have increased the opportunities for off-campus students to interact with lecturers and
fellow students. This presentation showcases the use of Elluminate, a synchronous online learning environment,
within an Indigenous community based teacher education program. This technology provides the opportunity for
online tutorials in which students are able to discuss their learning with simultaneous access to interactive
whiteboard, chat room and other desktop applications. Like all technologies, it has both potentials and
limitations. However, as a relatively new technology, its pedagogical potentials are still emerging.
This showcase examines the experiences of three lecturers in the developing their own pedagogy within the
Elluminate environment. It demonstrates differing ways in which such technologies can be used according to the
philosophy of the teacher, the nature of the specific subject being taught and its intended outcomes. Additionally,
it explores the value of new technologies where both students and lecturers are novices, learning together to
productively use the learning environment. In this context, student expertise in the technological environment
can quickly overtake that of the lecturer providing opportunities for increased democracy in the e-learning
environment.
Participants in this showcase can interact with presenters and one another in an Elluminate classroom.
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Addressing the ‘Come and Go’ syndrome of teachers in remote indigenous schools – Listening to the
indigenous perspective
Lisa Hall
NT Department of Education and Training
Email: lisam.hall@nt.gov.au
Presentation format: Roundtable
In 2006 the Evaluating Literacy Approaches Project released a report (Abu-Duhou, McKenna & Howley, 2006)
that revealed data about teachers working in Northern Territory Schools. It looked at teacher quality, experience
and expertise, particularly in relation to the students most at risk – those in very remote communities. The data
revealed trends in three main area:
 High teacher mobility and low retention rates
 Lack of experience, particularly in terms of teaching indigenous students
 Lack of specialist skills and training, particularly ESL.
A constant theme in the ELA research is the high turnover of non-indigenous teaching staff. The average length
of stay for a non-indigenous teacher in a remote school can more easily be measured in months than years.
While it is useful to finally have the data to verify it, the ‘Come and Go’ syndrome in remote schools has hardly
been a secret for those who work in the NT. However, while the ‘Come and Go’ syndrome hold true for nonindigenous staff, the opposite can be said of indigenous staff. Indigenous staff in these schools tend to be the
‘Stay and Stay and Stay’ teachers. They have often worked in their local community school for decades and have
seen literally hundreds of non-indigenous teachers ‘Come and Go’. While there is some qualitative data on the
things that improve retention of non-indigenous in rural and remote schools, it mostly looks at the training and
skills development that can be applied to the situation. No one has really ever asked indigenous teachers their
opinion about what makes teachers stay and what makes them go. This paper will draw on conversations from
two focus groups of indigenous teachers from remote schools in Central Australia who were invited to discuss
just this question.
- 54 -
Developing school based Teacher Education Pathways for Remote Indigenous Teachers in the NT
Lisa Hall¹, Julie-Ann Murphy², Ann Poulsen² & Colleen Combe¹
1. NT Department of Education and Training
2. Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education
Email: lisam.hall@nt.gov.au, Julie-ann.murphy@batchelor.edu.au, ann.poulsen@batchelor.edu.au &
colleen.combe@nt.gov.au
Presentation format: Paper Presentation
The Northern Territory has had a strong history of delivering community based teacher education programs for
remote indigenous teachers, particularly during the 1980s and 1990s. However, structural changes, changing
financial priorities and human resource changes within Government Departments and Institutions have resulted
in a shift away from community based delivery to a more mainstream campus based delivery of teacher
education programs. This has resulted in a substantial drop in the number of remote indigenous school staff
completing their training as teachers in the NT.
A new project in Central Australia aims to reinvigorate the community-based model of teacher education
through a renewed partnership between the Northern Territory Department of Education and Training and
Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education. This partnership will enable a value added model of
teacher education meeting the training needs of remote indigenous staff members working in NT DET schools,
as well as the schools needs for targeted professional learning for their entire staff, with a view to improving
student outcomes.
This paper will:
 consider past Teacher Education models in Australia and internationally that have focused on
delivery of teacher training for remote populations
 consider current thinking around adult education and training for the knowledge economy
 propose a new inquiry learning sequence that provides structure for professional learning in
remote schools and targets the improvement of student outcomes
 propose a new delivery model will enable Indigenous staff members to enter the learning
sequence at any stage of their learning journey and complete units through differentiated
assessment tasks
While this program is in its infancy, this paper will form part of a road map, the first of several stages in the
journey towards a new and exciting era in remote indigenous Teacher Education in the NT.
- 55 -
“There’s a lot of guilt tied up with me”: accountability discourse and teacher subjectivities
Wendy Hastings
Charles Sturt University
Email: whastings@csu.edu.au
Presentation format: Roundtable
Discursive practices of schools and universities impact on the (emotional) experiences of site-based teacher
educators when they provide support to a preservice teacher undertaking a professional placement in their
classroom. This paper explores the emotional experiences of a group of teachers, all of whom worked with
preservice teachers who struggled to achieve successful outcomes on their placements. Discourse analysis of
teachers’ narratives provided my personal, partial and dynamic (Mauthner & Doucet, 2003) interpretation of
what occurred in these typically emotionally painful events. Literature related to emotion, power, “nontraditional” students aided my attempts to make sense of teachers’ stories when viewed through a
poststructuralist lens. The paper analyses aspects of teachers’ work that are privileged and valued, by specifically
focusing on the discourse of accountability as it constructs teachers’ subjectivities and teachers’ identity. Further,
the paper examines current discursive practices of universities that intersect with school discourses to accentuate
the negative emotional experiences associated with problematic site-based teacher education programs.
- 56 -
EFL Preservice Teacher Identity Formation in School-University Partnership: Cases in P.R.C.
Peichang He
The University of Hong Kong
Email: hepc@hku.hk
Presentation format: Paper Presentation
This study aims to explore the way EFL preservice teacher identities are constructed in schooluniversity partnership and the factors influencing the identity formation process. It also focuses on the
contradictions which arise from the tensions and interpersonal relationships in the school-university
partnership context and the impact of these contradictions on the shaping of preservice teacher
identities. This research is concerned with the teaching practicum of a cohort of four-year TEFL
undergraduate student teachers in a partnership school. Drawing on Situated Learning Theory and
Social Theory of Learning (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Wenger, 1998), the student teachers’ learning to
teach is regarded as an ongoing process of identity formation in the community of practice. Based on
Activity Theory (Engestrom et al., 1995; Engestrom, 1999), the school-university partnership practice
is conceptualized as boundary-crossing from one activity system to another and the partnership context
is reconceptualized as a new Activity System of learning community comprising of co-learners of
student teachers, mentor teachers, and university supervisors.
A multiple-case interpretive qualitative approach is adopted in this study. Data collection methods
include observation of lessons and post-lesson discussions, semi-structured interviews and focus group
interviews, and various documents including the TP Scheme, teaching reflective reports, self-appraisal
reports, and TP magazines. Both content analysis and modified analytic induction are adopted to
analyze the data. Preliminary findings from fieldtrip data seem to indicate that the student teachers
underwent a legitimate peripheral participation experience in the community of practice. The tensions
and interpersonal relationships within the Activity System of school-university partnership had an
important impact on preservice teacher identity formation. These institutional factors were affected by
both social factors in the educational system and the personal factors such as teacher professional
knowledge, personalities, and prior experiences.
- 57 -
Creating and sustaining quality in tertiary primary physical education programs
Angela Hennessey
Charles Sturt University
Email: ahennessey@csu.edu.au
Presentation Format: Roundtable
The purpose of this roundtable is to discuss the papers that will be presented for my doctoral thesis. As a result,
this roundtable will identify the nature of the research papers and their exploration of the translation of theory
into practice. The six proposed papers examine the following primary research questions:
1.
2.
What curriculum and discipline knowledge is required of K-6 teachers to implement quality
Physical Education?
How is this curriculum and discipline knowledge translated from theory to practice in preservice teacher PDHPE education programs?
The proposed papers examine the Physical Education curriculum and discipline knowledge that is mandated in
the NSW K-6 PDHPE Syllabus (2007) and the Queensland Health and Physical Education Years 1 to 10
Syllabus (1999), and the quality governed by the Draft National Professional Teaching Standards for Teachers
(MCEECDYA , 2010). Further, the proposed papers explore the philosophy and pedagogy employed by
academics in universities across NSW and Queensland, involved in pre-service teacher education in this area.
How these academics adopt the role of ‘translator’ of curriculum and discipline knowledge into practice in their
pre-service teacher education workshops form a component of this investigation. By examining the design,
structure and content of workshops presented by academics in their pre-service teacher education subjects, the
proposed papers seek to examine whether academics’ espoused philosophy constructively aligns with their
enacted philosophy (Biggs & Tang, 2007). This research also examines the relationship between pre-service
teachers’ philosophy, self efficacy and Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK).
It is projected that these papers will be explored through a mixed method, comparative case study approach.
Academics who teach Physical Education in Primary pre-service teacher education courses in NSW and
Queensland Universities, from regional, satellite and metropolitan areas, will form the potential participant
sample. Various modes of data collection will be employed throughout the exploration of the proposed papers
including i) semi-structured interviews, ii) document analysis, iii) e-surveys, and iv) observation and field notes.
It is forecasted that data will be analysed using inter- and intra- textual thematic analysis (Maykut & Morehouse,
1994).
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The Cattana Wetlands Project: A case study in environmental education for sustainability (EfS) with
preservice teacher education.
Ruth Hickey
James Cook University
Email Ruth.Hickey@jcu.edu.au
Presentation format: Roundtable
The Cattana Wetlands Environmental Education for Sustainability project promotes community awareness of
the Cattana Wetlands (3km from JCU Cairns) through the development and use of environmental educational
materials by JCU preservice teachers, enrolled in a Graduate Diploma of Education. The project’s website is
innovative as educators can ‘meet’ virtual experts through video streaming, and select from learning activities,
fact sheets and unit plans to support their own interests, or curriculum planning. Themes within the website are
catchments (e.g., revegetation, hydrology), the richness and vulnerability of the catchment’s flora and fauna
(e.g., mammals, invertebrates), and the people who have created links to wetlands through their work, beliefs or
values (e.g., scientists, Indigenous perspectives).
This paper reports on the adopted strategy of integrating field activities into preservice teachers’ studies to
develop a positive frame of mind (Bonnett, 2002) through a partnership between James Cook University’s
School of Education, the Cairns Regional Council, and Terrain Natural Resources Management. The project
established that preservice teachers are keen to engage in action-competence (Jensen & Schnack, 1997)
activities, such as Community Awareness Raising Events at schools, markets, interest-group meetings and
residents’ groups, because they recognise that community education work is highly regarded by the Queensland
teacher registration body, and is a way they can make a personal contribution to environmental education for
sustainability. Embedding workplace-integrated learning (WIL) with digital pedagogies also emerged as critical
factors in the project’s parameters. This project was made possible by funding from the Australian Government’s
Caring for our Country: Community Coastcare initiative (Project 082237).
- 59 -
Building capacity in Education for Sustainability: A model of practice
Ruth L Hickey & Hilary Whitehouse
James Cook University
Email: Ruth.Hickey@jcu.edu.au & hilary.whitehouse@jcu.edu.au
Presentation format: Paper Presentation
Sustainability has been described as a “recalibration of human intentions to coincide with the ways the
biophysical world works” (Orr, 2005, p. xiv). The School of Education at James Cook University has adopted
environmental and social sustainability as core themes to be embedded throughout its programs, in recognition
that it is imperative that we graduate students who are thoroughly versed in the knowledges, values, skills and
practices of education for a sustainable future, active citizenship, and place-based pedagogy. It is timely to
determine teacher educators’ perceptions of sustainability education, and how they position their teaching to
support preservice teachers to (a) develop robust knowledges, practices and values of conservation, stewardship,
appreciation of ecological limits and socio-ecological interdependence and (b) understand in sufficient depth and
breadth, to teach these skills and understandings to youth, who will be enacting their beliefs within tropical
ecosystems. Such work builds on strategic initiatives for system-wide change (Ferreira, Ryan & Tilbury, 2006).
This paper reports on the extent of centrality of sustainability education to lecturer practice. Using data from a
research method of semi-structured, face-to-face interviews with lecturers in the School of Education, a multilevel classification model of practice was developed. Categories were developed to describe levels of
engagement with education for sustainability (EfS) practice, these are: ‘explicit practice’, ‘opportunistic
practice, ‘cultural and social focus, ‘integrated focus’ and ‘not included’. The results suggest a model for
strategic change, and identify a productive strategy to embed awareness of sustainability into lecturers’ practice,
when planning programs, courses, learning activities and assessment.
- 60 -
Being Ethical – Sustainable Professional Ethics Education for Pre service Teachers
Sharon Hogan
University of the Sunshine Coast
Email: shogan@usc.edu.au
Presentation Format: Roundtable
Professional ethics feature in our standards for teacher registration yet how do teacher education
courses currently induct pre-service teachers into professional ethics in teacher education?
This paper explores how current approaches to pedagogy in teacher education are building the capacity
of beginning teachers and assist them to develop a sustainable ethical practice.
Professional ethics is a branch of applied ethics and for teachers includes the consideration of issues linked to
punishment and behaviour management, due process in discipline, intellectual freedom, rights and
responsibilities, equity and inclusivity, privacy and confidentiality (Beckner, 2004; Strike & Soltis, 2004;
Shapiro & Stefkovich, 2005; Duignan, 2006). In 2007, the Queensland College of Teachers (QCT) (2) launched
its professional standards requiring teachers “to know and understand their legal and ethical responsibilities”, to
value ethical conduct and commit to “enhancing the reputation of the profession” (QCT, 2007, p. 16). To
supplement these professional standards the QCT recently released a draft Code of Ethics based on a
“framework of ideal” underpinned by the following virtues: integrity, dignity, responsibility, respect, justice and
care (QCT, 2008). Despite this focus on ethics in professional standards for teachers, ethics education in teacher
education programs in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States of America have been neglected
(Strike & Ternasky, 1999; Freakley & Burgh, 2000; Campbell, 2003; Reiman, 2004; Carr, 2005; Carr, 2007).
Pre-service teachers face a profusion of ethical choices on “almost an hourly basis” (Nash, 1996, p. 64)
as they attempt to discover what it means to be a teacher and what kind of teacher they want to be. Yet,
many teachers carry out their daily work without being fully conscious of the moral and ethical
implications of their actions (Campbell, 2004, p. 1).
This paper focuses on the experiences of pre-service teachers and considers how teacher education
programs may assist them to reflect on key aspects of professional ethics such as mandatory codes or
standards, principled moral reasoning, moral character, moral agency, and moral literacy. Research
from higher education provides evidence that current pedagogical approaches used to prepare pre –
professionals for practice in medicine, engineering, accountancy, business, psychology, counselling,
nursing and education, rarely address the more holistic or affective dimensions of professional ethics
such as moral character .
- 61 -
Mentors report on their own mentoring practices
Peter Hudson
Queensland University of Technology
Email: clifford.jackson@jcu.edu.au
Presentation format: Roundtable
There are only two ways to implement reform in an education system, namely through inservice education of
existing teachers and preservice teacher education. Implementing the Australian Curriculum will require
targeting both teachers and preservice teachers. Classroom teachers in their roles as mentors have a significant
role to play for developing preservice teachers. What mentors do in their mentoring practices and what mentors
think about mentoring will impact on the mentoring processes and ultimately reform outcomes. What are
mentors’ reports on their mentoring of preservice teachers in science and mathematics? This mixed-method
study presents mentors’ reports on their mentoring of primary preservice teachers (mentees) in mathematics
(n=43) and science (n=34). Drawing upon a previously validated instrument (Hudson, 2007), this instrument was
amended to allow mentors to report on their perceptions of their mentoring. A questionnaire elicited extended
written responses that focused on: (1) the mentors’ rapport with their mentees, (2) successful mentoring
strategies, (3) aspects that may lead the mentee to feel unsuccessful, and (4) ways to enhance their mentoring
skills. Mentors claimed they mentored teaching mathematics more than science. However, 20% or more
indicated they did not provide mentoring practices for 25 out of 34 survey items in the science and 9 out of 34
items in the mathematics. Educational reform will necessity mentors to be educated on effective mentoring
practices so the mentoring process can be more purposeful. Indeed, mentors who have knowledge of such
practices may address the potential issues of more than 20% of mentees not receiving these practices. These
mentors also claimed that professional development on effective mentoring can enhance their skills. To ensure
the greatest success for an Australian Curriculum will require targeting mentors for professional development in
order to assist mentees’ development into the profession.
- 62 -
Future directions: an analysis of Australian teacher education policy initiatives.
Anne Jasman
University of Southern Queensland
Email: anne.jasman@usq.edu.au
Presentation format: Roundtable
Jasman (2009) conducted a comparative analysis of policy trajectories in England and Australia, identifying a
number of issues likely to inform teacher education policy over the next ten years. For example, it is likely that
both the quantity and quality of new entrants to teaching will remain key policy drivers and that there will be
increasing centralised control over initial teacher education provision. She also argued that past assumptions
about initial teacher education, often expressed as binaries, must be challenged to provide appropriate initial
teacher education for future education scenarios. For example, beginning teachers are expected to build their
expertise on what is valued from the past with little attention paid to what might be in the future, nor do we
consider the generational differences in the experience of young children entering school today when compared
to ten or twenty years ago. There is no best practice and ‘one size fits all’ cannot meet the needs of children and
young people in the education systems of the future.
This paper takes forward this policy analysis discussing trends emerging in the last six months within Australia.
Emerging issues such as the possible alignment of State and National Professional Standards are examined
through the lenses of ‘coherence and continuity’ across policy, research and practice in initial and continuing
teacher education. In conclusion, this paper argues for a stronger evidence-base derived from research by, with,
for and on teachers that ensures that professional learning is seen as a constant in preparation, induction and
teacher progression, that the nature of this learning is better understand within the various contexts within which
it occurs and that there is consideration of the ways in which teachers can enhance their expertise for a variety of
purposes.
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Balancing perceptions of ‘becoming’ teacher: Hopes, fears and challenges for the future
Anne Jasman, Janice Jones, Karen Noble & Janice Stenton
University of Southern Queensland
Email: anne.jasman@usq.edu.au & karen.noble@usq.edu.au
Presentation format: Paper Presentation
In Australia, recent reviews of higher education highlight the importance of developing a more progressive
education system that meets the needs of the 21st century (DEEWR, 2008). The social context of higher
education, with increased demands to increase participation regardless of socio-economic status and location
means that universities must find new ways of engaging and supporting students entering university for the first
time.
Many students, upon entering university report that they experience feelings of isolation in relation to their study
(Kift, 2008; Devlin, 2008). This is particularly the case when they study in external or web-based mode, work
full-time and have a range of family or community commitments that help to constrain opportunities for face-toface engagement (Henderson, Noble & Danaher, in press). This situation is again further exacerbated when
students reside in locations distant from the university. Any attempt to redress issues of retention, or indeed
curriculum renewal, must therefore attend to issues of context.
This paper addresses one aspect of that transition to university studies in teacher education. The teacher
education program that was the focus of the study was a newly accredited four-year Bachelor of Education
degree that had the unique feature of being available as a fully on-campus experience, a fully online experience
or a blend of both. Clearly the variations in the ways in which students access learning are complex and further
investigations are required to better understand the ways in which the learning journey can be enhanced.
Pre-service teacher educators must also strive to renew the purposes, pedagogies curriculum and assessment of
education programs so as to meet external accreditation and accountability pressures while at the same time
remaining cognisant of student expectations. Students commence teacher education with pre-determined ideas
of what it means to teach and therefore a concept of what it means to be a teacher based largely upon their own
schooling experiences, rather than on connection to professional networks or experience. The authors argue that
these conceptions must be confronted in order to deconstruct expectations as well as being recognised as
impacting significantly on the student learning journey from the outset. The expectations of student teachers are
part of the baggage that determines how the curriculum is traversed (Jasman, 2010).
By asking students to identify perceived hopes, fears and potential challenges that they face upon entry to the
program as part of a survey, a clear picture emerged from the data, providing a focus for addressing potential
short term as well as longer term strategies that may better support students to develop a professional identity,
regardless of their mode of study or other contextual factors. The analysis is sociologically framed so as to
create the space to interrogate the culture of teacher education, both the formal and informal curriculum issues
and elements; to examine the connections to the field and the potential for beginning teacher education students
to see entry to the profession from the outset of their degree rather than upon completion, as we believe that it is
through engagement in formal as well as informal learning spaces that these students will be better supported to
balance realities of ‘being’ a futures-focused teacher.
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Self study and reflective teaching in a postgraduate TESOL practicum
Marie-Therese Jensen
Monash University
Email: marie-therese.jensen@education.monash.edu.au
Presentation format: Roundtable
Crookes (2003:180) emphasizes reflective teaching “as a means by which teachers can work, alone or with their
students and colleagues, to develop their practice”. One context for reflective teaching is a postgraduate
practicum, where experienced classroom teachers complete coursework and fieldwork to gain qualifications in
Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). Students in the practicum come from a wide range
of teaching backgrounds and aim to teach in a range of TESOL contexts. This unit provides opportunities for
reflective teaching not only for teacher participants but also for the lecturer who facilitates it. This paper sets out
to analyse and evaluate opportunities for a teacher educator to develop her practice while teaching a practicum
unit in one Australian university. At the heart of this analysis is the question posed by Crookes (2003:182):
“What counts as knowledge in second language teaching?”
The paper consists of a self study where one teacher educator reflects on the content and delivery of the
specialist practicum over recent years. The study includes a review of teaching standards documents, past
student evaluations of various kinds, coursework materials including assessment tasks, fieldwork reports and
notes of conversations with supervising teachers. Results of this review show that the practicum needs, among
other things, to include language awareness-raising activities, opportunities for peer observation and a focus on
how to teach language for communication in a wide range of real-life contexts.
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Science and sustainability education: an approach to preservice science education to increase the prevalence
of science teaching.
Mellita Jones
Australian Catholic University
Email: Mellita.jones@acu.edu.au
Presentation Format: Paper Presentation
This paper explores the effect of collaborative partnerships between practicing and preservice teachers on
preservice teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs about their ability to teach primary school science, with a view to
increasing the prevalence of science and sustainability education.
Sustainability education is one of the many facets of science education, and is a significant issue threatening the
future of our world. Many primary school teachers report having a low confidence and ability in the sciences
(Rennie, Goodrum & Hackling, 2001; Appleton, 2003) and tend to avoid its teaching as a consequence
(Appleton, 2003; Akerson, 2005). This is a significant issue when sustainability and the science behind it need
to be understood and embraced by citizens around the world. It is also important in an era of increasing
technology that requires citizens to be able to make informed decisions about the environment, their health and
the way science and technology develops (DEST, 2002; NSTA, 2003; Rennie et al., 2001). This research
explores whether a collaborative partnership model can instil enough efficacy belief in preservice teachers to
affect their intention to teach science.
The research involved practicing and preservice teachers working in a classroom to plan, implement and reflect
on a series of science lessons. A range of data collection techniques were used including pre and post
questionnaires; round table and online discussions; and data from pre and post participant workshops. Findings
indicated that partnerships with medium to strong collaboration between practicing and preservice teachers were
effective in building preservice teacher efficacy and confidence to teach science. They also provided valuable
experience for preservice teachers to observe and teach science which was lacking in their previous professional
experience teaching rounds. While confidence and background knowledge were still identified as potential
barriers for increased science teaching in schools, all preservice teachers indicated a strong desire to include
science in their teaching frequently as a result of their experience in the project.
The collaborative partnership in an authentic classroom setting was instrumental in providing efficacy building
experiences for preservice teachers. This is important for teacher education generally, and science teacher
education especially.
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The sustainability of rural and regional teacher education programs- supporting the practicum
Mellita Jones¹, Josephine Ryan¹, Caroline Walter² & Alan McLean²
1. Australian Catholic University
2. Latrobe University
Email: Mellita.jones@acu.edu.au
Presentation Format: Roundtable
The practicum is one of the most critical components of teacher education programs (Grundy, 2007; Zeichner,
2002) which is becoming increasingly difficult to support when preservice teachers (PSTs) are placed in schools
a significant distance from the university campus. This is a situation faced by many organisations. It is
particularly the case for regional universities that are often the institutions of choice for students who come from
rural, regional and remote areas. However, it also adds to the challenges experienced by urban universities as
they attempt to encourage more preservice teachers to undertake a rural practicum and address teacher shortages
there (White, 2008). Constraints on the funding of universities make the appropriate level of support, often
expected in the form of school visits during the practicum period, an unsustainable option for many (House of
Representatives Standing Committee on Education and Vocational Training, 2007; Parliament of Victoria,
Education and Training Committee, 2005). This results in limited communication between course lecturers,
PSTs and their supervisors.
In an effort to explore potential resolutions to this issue, the regional campuses of Australian Catholic University
Ballarat and Latrobe University Shepparton proposed a successful research project for an ALTC grant. The
project aims to:
 Develop processes and protocols for universities to share secure ICT platforms for the purposes of
enhanced rural and regional PST practicum;
 Create processes and protocols, including ICT-based options, which will allow universities to share
supervision of PSTs in rural and regional areas; and
 Develop new strategies for creating positive partnerships with rural and regional teacher supervisors to
support a successful ‘work integrated’ (ALTC, 2009) environment for the teacher practicum.
In addressing these aims PSTs will be placed in inter-university clusters based on their practicum location. In
these clusters PSTs will engage in cooperative learning activities and peer assessment using a range of media.
University staff, while sharing supervision processes, will explore the needs of school-based personnel in an
effort to enhance school-university partnerships.
This round table session aims to explore potential issues, risk factors and ideas for sustainable teacher practicum
support being explored in this project, whose pilot phase is due to commence in Semester 2 of this year.
- 67 -
An analysis of changes in developmental understanding of bullying: Implications for schools, professional
development and teacher education.
Brian Kean
Southern Cross University
Email: brian.kean@scu.edu.au
Presentation format: Roundtable
Bullying and victimisation of students continues to be a major problem in schools. A significant amount of
literature and programs have been developed at local, regional, state and federal level in an attempt to reduce the
problems of bullying in schools. There is a trend in the overall approaches to promote positive behaviour and
zero tolerance of bullying. Has increasing awareness of bullying and the implementation of anti-bullying policies
and programs alleviated the problem?
As children make the transition from primary to high school the complexity of peer interactions and
understanding of the bullying process is not clearly understood. This research paper presents a single case
analysis of bullying and uses reflection on Piaget’s stages of social development as a lens to focus on the age
group 7-11, the period of Concrete Operations, and track the child’s transition to high school and between high
schools in Year 7, in the early period of Formal Operations. This single case study outlines the child’s social
development and understanding of bullying.
Generalised anti-bullying programs need to be informed by a deeper understanding of the child and adolescent’s
view of their social world. This understanding is necessary to create environments where teachers can provide
effective education, continually improve school climate and address the psychosocial circumstances of children
in need of support. Strategies for improvement in practice are recommended with a particular focus on programs
being more age specific and being congruent with stages of cognitive and social development.
Insight into the child’s and young adolescent’s perceptions of and strategies for dealing with bullying and the
new wave of cyber-bullying may inform policies and programs for dealing with the problem in schools,
structuring professional development for teachers and improving teacher education programs.
- 68 -
New Teachers, accreditation and their mentors.
Kate Keeley
University of Sydney
Email: catherine.keeley@sydney.edu.au
Presentation format: Roundtable
This paper examines the role of mentors in assisting new teachers achieve accreditation. Research has
highlighted the importance of both formal and informal mentoring for new teachers. The way this role
is defined is undergoing change in the context of the requirements of achieving accreditation. Research
acknowledges the importance of the older teacher in this new teacher’s life, mostly as their mentor.
New roles and new relationships are emerging in a climate in education increasingly focused on
accountability. What was once a deeply ingrained relationship between older teachers, especially Head
Teachers and, new teachers, has become a mandated mentoring and supervisory role. The accreditation
processes seek to define rigidly this relationship and require specific demonstration of the success of
the way Head Teachers supervise or mentor new teachers. This adds a new layer of complexity to both
the new teacher and older teacher relationships and their work in teaching. In the context of a pilot
study this paper seeks to explore the impact of these requirements on both the new teacher and the
older more experienced teacher.
- 69 -
Developing a rural teacher education curriculum: responding to the needs of pre-service teachers
Jodie Kline & Simone White
Deakin University
Email: swhite@deakin.edu.au
Presentation format: Roundtable
A decade ago, a report commissioned by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, (2000)
highlighted that Australia faced a national crisis in attracting and retaining teachers and other professionals in
rural areas. Since that report a number of research projects have been initiated to address this issue, in particular
the TERRAnova project, an Australian Research Council grant aimed at improving Teacher Education for Rural
and Regional Australia. Findings from this project made it clear that teacher education is well placed to address
this crisis in better preparing teachers for rural careers. However research in this project (White, Reid, Green,
Lock, Hastings & Cooper, 2008) also indicated that the majority of universities have had relatively little explicit
focus on rural education in their teacher education programs; have often random and ad hoc rural practicum
opportunities and no obvious link to any of the various State-based financial incentives across Australia to
encourage graduates to work in rural areas. Based on this evidence a successful application was made for an
Australian Teaching and Learning Council grant which aims to address this gap and provide explicit advice and
resources to teacher educators related to curriculum renewal to address these issues and assist universities to
make best use of and embed existing and new resources.
This paper will outline the current theoretical and conceptual framework of the ALTC funded project titled
Renewing Rural and Regional Teacher Education Curriculum drawing on key research findings from the
TERRAnova project in terms of preparing rural teachers to be community, school and classroom ready. Data
will also be presented from a large qualitative survey conducted by pre-service teachers who had participated in
either a university based or State based rural professional experience and the implications of the survey findings
for developing a rural teacher education curriculum.
- 70 -
Socially Sustainable Teacher Education: Relationships Matter
Rosie Le Cornu
University of South Australia
Email: rosie.lecornu@unisa.edu.au
Presentation format: Paper Presentation
Social sustainability is increasingly playing a more significant role in the broader contemporary sustainability
discourse, requiring the consideration of values, culture, decision-making and democratic processes of the social
systems of which we are a part (Hammond, 2009). At the centre of social sustainability, are “inter-relationships
and interdependencies built on communication over time…” (Murray, Dey & Lenzin, 2005, p.10). It will be
argued in this paper that the principles of social sustainability need to be applied to teacher education if it is to
endure the ‘changing landscapes’ (Clandinin, 2009) in which we, as teacher educators, find ourselves working. It
will be further argued that relationships are pivotal.
The paper draws on the findings of a number of studies that have been undertaken at the University of South
Australia on reconceptualised professional experiences based around the notion of learning communities. Key
findings include the role of reciprocal learning relationships for ongoing professional learning and the role of
peer support in the development of resilience (Le Cornu & Ewing, 2008; Le Cornu, 2009). Similar initial
findings have emerged from an investigation of 60 Early Career Teachers in South Australia and Western
Australia. Based on a preliminary analysis of 120 interview transcripts (the Early Career Teachers were
interviewed twice during their first year of teaching), five themes in relation to enhancing Early Career Teacher
resilience were discerned. The first theme is Relationships and the need for relationships that are based on
mutual trust, respect, care and integrity (Johnson, Down, Le Cornu, Peters, Sullivan, Pearce & Hunter, 2010).
The paper focuses on the nexus of these studies. It illuminates the role that sustainable and mutually sustaining
relationships play in the development of both Pre-service and Early Career Teachers. The paper considers this
finding and its implications for teacher education programs and practices.
- 71 -
Conditions that Support Early Career Teacher Resilience
Rosie Le Cornu¹, Anna Sullivan¹, Bruce Johnson¹, Barry Down², Judy Peters¹, Jane Pearce² & Janet Hunter³
1. University of South Australia
2. Murdoch University
3. Edith Cowan University
Email: rosie.lecornu@unisa.edu.au & anna.sullivan@unisa.edu.au
Presentation format: Paper Presentation
There are serious concerns around the sustainability of teaching and teacher education given the attrition rate of
early career teachers. In Western countries we know that between 25% and 40% of beginning teachers are likely
to leave the teaching profession in the first 5 years (Ewing & Smith, 2003; DETE, 2005). Clearly, there is a
need to better understand the experiences of early career teachers and to investigate, in new ways, how the
problem of teacher attrition can be addressed.
This paper is based on a collaborative qualitative research project between the University of South Australia,
Murdoch University, Edith Cowan University and eight stakeholder organisations including employer groups
and unions in South Australia and Western Australia. The aim of this study is to investigate the dynamic and
complex interplay among individual, relational and contextual conditions that operate over time to promote early
career teacher resilience.
The methodology for the study was a critical enquiry drawing on the traditions of narrative enquiry and critical
ethnography. In 2009 sixty beginning teachers from the two states were interviewed at the beginning and end of
the year. Towards the end of the year interviews were also held with a member of the leadership team in their
schools. Data were also collected from a series of Roundtables held in each of the two states and attended by
representatives from stakeholder groups. NVivo8 was used to manage a thematic approach to data analysis.
Preliminary analysis has identified five major themes or conditions that support early career teacher resilience.
The themes relate to (a) relationships, (b) school culture, (c) teacher identity, (d) teachers’ work, and (e) system
policies and practices. In this paper, we present these themes as a framework that can be used to examine
policies, practices and resources that promote early career teacher resilience.
- 72 -
Embracing diversity: Empowering preservice teachers for teaching gifted and talented students
Karen Lewis, Peter Hudson & Sue Hudson
Queensland University of Technology
Email: karen.lewis@connect.qut.edu.au, pb.hudson@qut.edu.au & sm.hudson@qut.edu.au
Presentation format: Paper Presentation
A country’s prosperity rests upon the talent of its people. Educating gifted and talented students must be a
primary concern for educators and education systems. Therefore, educating preservice teachers on how to cater
for gifted and talented students commences the process as they can filter current teaching practices into an
education system. This study investigated preservice teachers’ perceptions for teaching and sustaining gifted and
talented students while developing, modifying and implementing activities to cater for the diverse learner.
Preservice teachers from one regional university participated in a six-week program and were allocated one
identified gifted and talented student. Preservice teachers were provided with school guidelines, student profiles
and worked with specific activities as directed by the classroom teacher. Activities were developed to cater for
the student’s needs with the introduction of problem-solving activities, co-operative learning strategies, and
science and technology based learning. Participants were surveyed at the end of the program on their perceptions
to differentiate the curriculum for meeting the needs of the student (n=22). SPSS data analysis with the five-part
Likert scale indicated these preservice teachers agreed or strongly agreed they had developed skills in curriculum
planning (91%) with well-designed activities (96%), and lesson preparation skills (96%). They also claimed they
were enthusiastic for teaching (91%) and understanding of school practices and policies (96%). However, only
46% agreed they had knowledge of syllabus documents with 50% claiming an ability to provide written
feedback on student’s learning. Furthermore, only 64% suggested they had educational language from the
syllabus and effective student management strategies. Preservice teachers require more direction on how to cater
for diversity and begin creating sustainable societies by building knowledge from direct GAT experiences. The
survey may be used as a diagnostic tool to determine areas of further development.
- 73 -
Healthy staff spaces in teaching: Ideas for sustaining a profession
lisahunter, Tony Rossi, Erin Flanagan, Richard Tinning, Doune Macdonald
The University Of Queensland
Email: lisahunter@uq.edu.au
Presentation format: Paper Presentation
Our recent work investigating the place of the staff/staffroom for preservice teachers’ and beginning teachers’
workplace learning has revealed the importance of such a place in both sustaining and alienating new teachers in
the profession (See for example Sirna, Tinning & Rossi, 2010 and lisahunter, Flanagan, Rossi, Tinning &
Macdonald, 2009). Drawing on Jean Clandinin & Michael Connelly’s (2000) version of narrative we will
juxtapose two beginning teacher’s stories to explore what a ‘healthy’ staffspace (place and relations) might be.
By employing Pierre Bourdieu’s conceptual tools such as logic of practice, field, habitus, symbolic violence,
doxa and misrecognition (1985, 1989, 1990, 1998) we want to make the familiar staffspace strange. Through a
somewhat provocative move we suggest that on reflection of this space, teaching as a profession, and therefore
teacher education, runs the risk of becoming unsustainable. Following this critique we offer ideas about what a
professionally supported criteria for a ‘healthy staffspace’ might be like. Using the idea of the ‘healthy tick’,
such as that recognised through the Heart Foundation
(http://www.heartfoundation.org.au/sites/tick/Health_Professionals/Pages/TickCriteria.aspx), we invite the
school teaching field to participate in constructing guidelines that might be applied to staffspaces in schools as a
matter of professional expectation and a logic of sustainable good practice.
- 74 -
Commencing a teaching career: initial employment pathways for primary/secondary qualified teachers
lisahunter³, Leanne Crosswell⁴, Sally Knipe¹, Jane Mitchell¹, Ruth Newton², & Liisa Uusimaki¹
1. Charles Sturt University
2. Victorian Institute of Teaching
3. University of Queensland
4. Queensland University of Technology
Email: lisahunter@uq.edu.au, l2.crosswell@qut.edu.au, sknipe@csu.edu.au, jmitchell@csu.edu.au &
ruth.newton@vit.vic.edu.au
Presentation format: Roundtable
Tracking the employment pathways taken by graduates from teacher education courses has been notoriously
difficult. However, without this tracking data, it is difficult to develop a strong sense of the employment patterns
that follow particular degree programs. The research reported in this paper is based on a cross-institutional
project regarding pathways data for graduates from courses that provide a qualification to teach in both primary
and secondary schools (i.e. middle years; K-12; P-10). The research deliberately focuses on degrees that prepare
teachers for both the primary and secondary school sector because there has been a growing interest in the
development of these degrees over the last decade. Knowing the initial employment destinations will be useful
for both workforce planning and teacher education course evaluation and development.
The presentation will draw on a select range of teacher education programs across urban and regional
universities and examine the following 2009 data: graduation numbers; registration numbers; type of
employment (FT, PT, contract, permanent); school sector (primary/secondary); school system (government/nongovernment); school location (urban, regional, rural). The analysis of data will identify employment pathways
and will provide grounds for some initial speculation on why these pathways are selected.
This presentation is based on the outcome of discussions and subsequent exchange between registration
authorities in Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales, and a small number of universities in each of these
states that offer teacher education courses that enable a combined primary and secondary qualification.
- 75 -
Pre-service primary teachers’ perceptions of early childhood philosophy and pedagogy: A case study
examination
Alison Lord & Laura McFarland
Charles Sturt University
Email: alord@csu.edu.au & lmcfarland@csu.edu.au
Presentation Format: Paper Presentation
This study examined the experiences of three primary teacher education students participating in early
childhood-focused community play sessions, as well as their perceptions of early childhood and primary
philosophy and pedagogy. The purpose was to explore perceived differences in primary and early childhood preservice teacher courses, which may then translate to differences in approaches to pedagogy in the field. Three
pre-service teachers participated in a weekly community play session on a rural university campus in NSW,
Australia. As these students had been educated in primary education pedagogy, a focus group interview was
conducted to gain insights to their experiences in the play sessions, which had an early childhood emphasis in
theory and practice. Transcripts were coded using constant comparative analysis. Results suggest that these
students found several major differences in their early childhood and primary experiences. Two themes emerged:
Pedagogy and Foundational Knowledge. These primary students found the idea of developing curriculum based
on observations and interests rather than mandated Syllabus outcomes, challenging. Also, they found the role of
play and parent-teacher relationships in early childhood and primary to differ. Students also noted a lack of
foundational developmental theory, specifically in the birth-two period, in their teacher education course, and
expressed the idea that younger children are discretely different from older children, rather than seeing
development as a continuous process.
The findings of this study support others who have found that early childhood and primary education courses
differ in focus (Lickess, 2008; Surman, Ridgway & Edwards, 2006). Implications of these findings for teacher
education courses and children’s transition to school are discussed. Essentially, primary pre-service teacher
education programs should focus on helping students gain skills in building sustainable relationships with
parents, particularly as they transition to school (Dockett & Perry, 2007). Additionally, a stronger focus on early
development, incorporating observations of children into programming and hands-on experience interacting with
young children may benefit primary-trained educators.
- 76 -
Swimming (not drowning) in the data stream: Using Moodle Logs as a formative assessment tool
Tony Loughland
University of Sydney
Email: tony.loughland@sydney.edu.au
Presentation format: Roundtable
This paper arises from sustained dialogue undertaken in the context of the University of Sydney / North Sydney
Demonstration School strategic partnership, in particular my work with a robust and lively reading group titled
"Focus on Feedback", held bi-weekly with teachers over 10 weeks. While there is an explicable set of
interrelated industrial and historical reasons why the Academy does not do formative assessment well, this
reading group foregrounded the pedagogical difficulty involved in modelling one set of teaching practices in one
institutional setting whilst mandating a different set in another. As course coordinator for the major primary
graduate-entry program at the University of Sydney I also regularly drown in a wash of opinion and satisfaction
data derived from Units of Study Evaluation in between my attendance and presentations at collegial research
seminars on methodological rigour and the importance of triangulating data.
With these somewhat conflicting vectors of thought in mind, I examined the feedback cycle at work in my own
teaching. My need was for a meaningful and robust, but also cost and time efficient source of process data
around my students learning. With a school-based, research partner, I designed a professional experiences
subject for third year B.Ed students in Moodle, an open-source (non-proprietary) course management system
(CMS) used extensively in educational settings. Like most virtual learning environments, Moodle offers a single
front-end web portal that integrates and provides access to a wide variety of web applications and content. While
this digital management dimension of Moodle represents an important value-added service for institutional users,
it was the even richer vein of educational data in the raw log files kept by Moodle that was of interest.
This paper, then, is a theoretically informed "how to" paper; how to unpack the log files of your CMS using
Excel. The choice of application is important because I want my practice to also capacity build at the school end,
and Microsoft Office is a DET and independent school standard. The great appeal of the Moodle data set is its
defined scope, size and self-evidential nature: Moodle’s secure access delimits the participants, the data sets tend
to be large enough to determine meaningful patterns and they are a record of what students have done, “not what
they say they might, or would, do; not what they were prompted to say; not what they thought they did.”
(Nicholas & Huntington, 2003, p.391).
- 77 -
What expert teachers do
John Loughran
Monash University
Email: John.loughran@education.monash.edu.au
Presentation format: Paper Presentation
Research aims or questions
Despite the proliferation of views in the research literature, understanding what teachers’ professional
knowledge really is, what it looks like and, how it might be interpreted and implemented through classroom
actions is exceptionally difficult (Berry, Clemans, & Kostogriz, 2007). This paper offers one way of responding
to that situation.
Research context
Because knowledge of our practice is tacit, it is often misunderstood (Feiman-Nemser, 2001; Korthagen, 2004;
Polanyi, 1966). This presentation will offer one way of conceptualizing professional knowledge so that it might
offer insights into how that knowledge can be developed and refined through teacher preparation and be carried
forward as a vision for professional growth in teaching.
Methodology
This study uses a conceptual framework through which a language of teaching and learning is used to frame the
manner in which professional practice might be envisaged, developed and refined. Through the use of that
language, theoretical underpinnings and practical examples of practice are able to be used to illustrate what
knowledge of practice looks in action. The framework is encapsulated through deeper considerations of teaching
and learning (both theoretically and practically) to better conceptualize the notion of pedagogy (Loughran,
2006).
Data
The framework is built around a language of teaching and learning that includes: Prior knowledge; Processing;
Linking; Translation; Synthesizing; and, Metacognition (Loughran, 2010). In each case, theoretical aspects of
the language is used to shape understandings of teaching procedures that become the data sets on which analysis
and examplars are highlighted.
Findings
In the actions teachers (and teacher educators) take to facilitate student learning, they are continually developing
their professional knowledge of practice. This paper will illustrate how articulating professional knowledge
requires a shared language from which genuine meaning, application and value to teaching can be derived. In so
doing, teachers and teacher educators can come to recognize, develop and cultivate their knowledge of practice
in ways that creates a new vision for the professional growth.
- 78 -
The importance of critical thinking: multicultural awareness practice in teacher preparation classroom
Meg Lu
National University of Tainan
Email: mlu@mail.nutn.edu.tw
Presentation format: Roundtable
Multicultural awareness and critical thinking are important for teachers in present days. Teachers might not have
such perspectives in respecting diversity, if they were not taught during their pre-service training. This study
took place in a teacher preparation course, multicultural education. 14 students were enrolled in the class. We
carry out a Socratic circles method in the classroom discussion time. This activity intended to increase academic
and social skills of students. After 10 times of practice, students’ academic skills in the areas of reading
comprehension, reflection, critical thinking, and participation are incorporated and improved. Students also gain
practice in various social skills, such as conflict resolution and community building skills.
- 79 -
An arts-based relational framework for the investigation of teaching practice
Donna Mathewson Mitchell
Charles Sturt University
Email: dmmitchell@csu.edu.au
Presentation format: Roundtable
This paper presents an art-based relational framework for teaching practice. The aim of the framework is to
provide a schemata to investigate teaching as a complex relational activity. Based on a Bourdieusian theory of
practice (!977, 1984), the framework draws on notions of practice architectures (Kemmis and Grootenboer
2007) and framing and reframing (Grosz 2008), while applying concepts of connoisseurship and criticism
(Eisner 2005). Represented within a matrix structure, the framework identifies, constructs and relates concepts
implicated in teaching practice. Being structurally stable, while allowing for interactivity and dynamism, the
framework avoids linear modes of thinking and facilitates multi-faceted explorations that develop skills in
“connoisseurship” (Eisner, 2005) and enable dialogue through “educational criticism” (Eisner, 2005). Such
forms of thinking allow for the private and public consideration of elements of teaching as objects of inquiry
within broader sets of relations that recognize the determining power of context. Application of the relational
framework to construct, reflect upon and observe teaching practice provides pre-service teacher education and
teacher professional learning, with a structure and a process that potentially develops and refines skills in
connoisseurship and criticism as part of a developing artistry. The consideration of teaching as artistry suggests
the development of a continuing and evolving body of work that is self-sustaining and extending.
Within this presentation, the explanatory power of the relational framework will be outlined in relation to its
theoretical development and its potential application within initial teacher education, professional learning and as
a research tool. The flexibility of the framework as a dynamic schemata will also be illustrated.
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“You revert back to the easy”: Is co-constructive teaching practice too difficult?
Heather McRae
University of Waikato
Email: h.mcrae@waikato.ac.nz
Presentation format: Roundtable
The new New Zealand curriculum document reaffirms co-construction, also known as “negotiating the
curriculum” (Boomer, Lester, Onore & Cook, 1992), as an approach to teaching and learning. This paper draws
on the findings of an interpretive study into co-construction in a secondary school (Mansell, 2009) to explain
why some teachers do not find it easy to make co-construction a habitual aspect of their practice. Research in
New Zealand secondary schools (Bishop, Berryman, Cavanagh et al., 2007) demonstrates that transmissive
models still dominate teaching, and this suggests that attempts by teacher education in this country may not have
been successful in encouraging graduates to use a range of teaching approaches when they become secondary
teachers. They “revert back to the easy”.
Over the period of a year, seven mathematics teachers and one art teacher, and their students, attempted to coconstruct aspects of the classroom curriculum. Methods of data collection included classroom observation,
interviews with teachers and groups of students, audiorecording and various forms of documentation. Principles
and methods of constructivist grounded theory were used to analyse the data. This foregrounded the voices and
interpretations of the participants. Given the parallels between senior secondary school and tertiary contexts (a
prescribed curriculum and high stakes assessment), the experience of these secondary teachers and students may
assist teacher educators in their work with prospective teachers.
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Working the field of Teacher Education Research
Jane Mitchell & Jo-Anne Reid
Charles Sturt University
Email: jmitchel@csu.edu.au & joreid@csu.edu.au
Presentation format: Roundtable
At the ATEA conference in 2009, a number of interested teacher education researchers met to discuss ways in
which we could collaborate to design and implement a large-scale research intervention that could be seen to
further the interests of teacher education and teacher education research across Australia.
There was acknowledgement that considerable research in the field of teacher education is small scale and
located within one institution. Developing a large scale and cross institutional project would provide an
important and necessary complement to much of the existing literature. The ATEA 2009 discussion confirmed
both interest and commitment to establishing a collective research undertaking within and across Australian
faculties of education.
Subsequently, at AARE in 2009, we scheduled a follow-up workshop at which a significant number of
participants agreed to work together. The promised publication of the Draft National Standards for Teachers
formed a focus for an initial collaborative study. The standards are represent an important document for all
teacher education programs for the ways in which they may be used as part of program accreditation and because
they may provide the goals toward which pre-service teachers’ learning is directed and the means by which
graduates will be registered. These draft standards were released for consultation in March 2010.
In order to base our responses to these national standards at a course and curriculum level we designed an online
survey that will assist us to clearly identify the degree to which final year Australian student teachers rate their
courses in terms of their success in meeting the proposed draft National Standards for Teachers. Results of this
survey will allow individual universities and teacher educators as a collective to: determine the strengths and
weaknesses of particular forms of teacher education in relation to the draft standards; argue from a strong
evidence base that current programs may/not need to be altered significantly for these draft National Standards
for Teachers to be met; and reflect on the efficacy of the draft national standards as a tool for program
improvement.
All teacher education students in their last year of their degree in all Australian universities were invited to
complete a 15 minute survey of 44 questions, designed to cover all domains and indicators of the proposed draft
National Standards for Teachers, and 4 additional questions asking students to indicate:




Overall satisfaction with their initial teacher education course
Aspects of staffing, teaching, organisation and student support that could be enhanced by the
Collective;
Specific areas within courses that require improvement; and
Particular strengths of initial teacher education courses.
In this workshop we present the results of this survey and invite interested colleagues to join with us in
interpreting the results, and framing responses in terms of public advocacy for teacher education, the
development of evidence-based research agendas to address student feedback, and informed directions for course
renewal.
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Playing it real in a virtual context and preparing teachers for rural contexts: Developing sustainable
connections to university
Karen Noble¹, Michelle Turner¹ & Katie Lechy²
1. University of Southern Queensland
2. Morven State School, Queensland
Email: karen.noble@usq.edu.au
Presentation format: Paper Presentation
For teachers from within the early childhood education and care sector, working with children and families in the
current societal context has become increasingly problematic (Gardner, 1999, 2003; Prout, 2003a, 2003b). From
one standpoint, research has indicated that much of the difficulty associated with working in this field is
symptomatic of the uncertainty, discontinuity and insecurity characteristic of the post-modern condition
(Hulqvist & Dahlberg, 2001; Jenks, 1996a, 1996b; Lyotard, 1984; Prout, 2003a, 2003b). As authors of this
paper, whilst we agree with this particular standpoint, it can be argued that the aforementioned perspective can
be seen as an over-simplification of the problems in the ECEC field. While the characteristics of the postmodern condition may be considered to be at the heart of some of these problems, the complexities of current
policy reform, the demands of neo-liberal approaches to the provision of care and education (Ball, 2003; Beck,
1999; Hulqvist, 1998; Popkewitz, 2000; Rose, 1999, 2000), as well as a lack of understanding of current contexts
for children and their families compound the present state of play across the sector (Moss, 2003; Prout, 2003a).
Thus, new demands are evident for teachers in the ECEC field in relation to both personal and professional skill
development. Therefore preparation for understanding the impact these contexts have on their identity
development is critical to evaluating pre-service educator’s university experiences in contract with the reality of
the rural practice context.
On the grounds that learners view and interpret new information and experiences through their existing network
of knowledge, experience and beliefs (Huberman, 1993; Desforges, 1995; Fosnot, 1996; Richardson, 1997), the
project’s design acknowledges and anticipates that the beginner teachers’ experiences will be shaped, in part, by
what they ‘bring’ to those experiences, including their initial choices to enter the profession, and their prior
conceptions and expectations about teaching and initial teacher preparation (Hollingsworth, 1989; Wideen et al.,
1998). In this case study, juxtaposition between preconceptions and expectations of pre-service teacher
education and early experiences as beginning teacher in a rural Australian context are explored and the key
research questions guiding data interrogation include:

What are the connections between your initial expectations about becoming a teacher and commencing
your university studies and the reality of teaching in a rural context?

How has this influenced or shaped your professional identity and learning?

How has the rural context impacted upon the manifestation of the curriculum, impacting your
professional decisions and development?

How do you use the knowledge, skills and abilities developed at University in your professional context?

What have you learned about yourself as an individual as well as you as a professional? What will you
do differently now as an outcome of your professional learning thus far?
A model of critical reflection is used to interrogate the data from interviews and facebook postings over a 2 year
period. Key themes emerged and these relate to the concept of teacher identity, the role of relationships, a sense
of agency, the notion of relevance, and the central presence of emotion. In this paper these themes are presented
as core features of the experience of ‘becoming a teacher’.
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Care and teacher education for a sustainable future: A critical survey of the literature
Paul Pagliano
James Cook University
Email: Paul.Pagliano@jcu.edu.au
Presentation format: Paper Presentation
The research focus of this literature survey is to critically investigate the relationship of care to teacher education
for a sustainable future. The challenge for teacher education for a sustainable future is to ensure graduating
teachers are ecologically literate insofar as they understand the need for change to a sustainable way of living
and teaching, have the will, capacity and knowhow to put it into action and are ready, willing and able to affirm
sustainable actions in others, particularly their students. The goal therefore is to establish the conditions under
which caring-for a sustainable future can flourish. According to Noddings (1992) care theory provides the
infrastructure for ethical decision-making in education. Care is central to the cultivation of a caring society and a
necessary pre-condition ‘for’ education as well as an essential ingredient ‘in’ education. This is because it
bestows nourishment for a sustainable future. Care starts at home where we learn to care-about through the
experience of being cared-for and continues into education. Care is most often identified by pre-service teachers
as their principal reason for choosing to study education, their motivation to become teachers. Care in education
involves receptive attention, motivational displacement and mutual gain. It has four components, namely:
modelling, dialogue, practice and confirmation. For teacher educators to be able to model, dialogue, practice and
confirm a pre-service teacher’s “better-self”, they too must feel like they work in a caring environment, one
where their supervisors care about them, want the best for them and are invested in their success. This paper
questions whether neoliberal instrumental forms of teacher education that use prescriptive standards, dominant
accountability measures and micromanagement strategies risk over-focusing on education for the head but offer
little more than benign neglect for the heart and soul, the homeland of education for a sustainable future.
- 84 -
A Model of Empowerment – From Teaching to Understanding to Conservation
Fraser Power & Christine Robertson
Ergon Energy, Queensland
Email: fraser.power@ergon.com.au & christine.robertson@ergon.com.au
Presentation format: Innovation Showcase
The Senegalese Ecologist, Bada Dioum, is quoted as saying “In the end we will conserve only what we love. We
love only what we understand. We will understand only what we are taught.” Sustainability of resources is
becoming a key focus for many communities and organisations across Queensland. Anecdotally it is suggested
that consumers find energy-use the most difficult, of the resources, to understand and therefore conserve.
Australian-wide energy use/climate change attitude and behaviour surveys, (ATA, 2007; Gardner & Ashworth,
2007) indicate raised awareness of energy use increased understanding of energy consumption which enables
effective reductions in energy consumption. It was noted that consumption reduction was relatively easy to
implement once its misuse by wasteful habits or low efficiency appliances was acknowledged and understood.
For the energy industry itself to be financially, environmentally and socially sustainable we need our customers
to use electricity conservatively. It is therefore in Ergon Energy’s interests to help customers across our region to
understand their usage and the implications arising from that usage. Ergon Energy has been developing proactive
engagement programs to provide the necessary empowerment of communities for the benefit and sustainability
of all. Our future generations are recognised as being the key to the uptake of energy-use behaviour change.
Ergon Energy has recognised that “one size does not fit all” with providing meaningful energy education to
customers not only between but also within communities.
Showcasing Ergon Energy’s innovative approach to energy education this paper provides details and results of
the different strategies adopted for the empowerment of different groups which includes: leveraging cultural
values in indigenous communities; enabling students to lead energy conservation change at school and at home;
and providing teachers and administrators with the skills and tools to be the facilitators of change.
- 85 -
Is Flexibility Sustainable? the impact of intensive teaching practices upon teacher educators
Leonie Rowan
Griffith University
Email: l.rowan@griffith.edu.au
Presentation format: Paper Presentation
Teacher education faculties throughout Australia have long been under pressure to maximize their student
numbers (and thus their income) by offering increasingly flexible modes of delivery designed to appeal to the
widest possible domestic and international markets. This has given rise to a range of practices including teaching
periods that often span the entire year (or go well beyond the traditional 5 days a week/two semesters a year
academic calendar) and short, intensive or compressed courses designed to ‘fast track’ graduation.
Much of the literature related to intensive teaching is focused on identifying students’ experiences, outcomes and
levels of satisfaction. High levels of student satisfaction with an intensive teaching experience are, in turn, often
used to justify the continuation (and expansion) of compressed modes of delivery. Such a focus, however, fails
to draw attention to the impact that the actual day-to-day practices associated with intensive teaching has upon
the academics undertaking the work. As part of an ongoing study into the impact of intensive teaching upon
academic practice and academic identity, this paper investigates quantitative and qualitative data drawn from
students’ evaluations of three different teacher education courses, each of which was delivered in an intensive or
flexible delivery mode. The paper draws upon the resources of discourse analysis to identify what students
clearly and consistently identify as the key features of a ‘quality’ intensive experience, and highlights the
implications this has for those engaged in designing and delivering these experience. From this basis, the paper
argues that the nature, range and scope of activities which are increasingly represented as natural and normal
within student centred discourses about quality intensive teaching are not, in fact, sustainable in a context that
makes multiple demands upon academics: demands which go well beyond the boundaries of teaching.
- 86 -
Improving the Quality of Teaching and Learning: Lessons Learned as a Teacher Educator
Tom Russell
Queen’s University at Kingston
Email: Tom.Russell@QueensU.CA
Presentation format: Paper Presentation
Despite the rhetoric of change and the eternal quest for improvement in the quality of teaching and learning in
schools and in universities (Bain, 2004), teacher education structures tend to be remarkably stable and similar
across state and national boundaries. Returning to the secondary school classroom 20 years ago dramatically
altered my perspectives on teacher education and set me on course to participate in the self-study of teacher
education practices (Loughran, Hamilton, LaBoskey, & Russell, 2004). Data are drawn from self-studies of my
own practices in a method course and in practicum supervision, leading to significant improvements in both
formal evaluations and personal satisfaction. Now in my 33rd year as a teacher educator, I have developed from
these data a list of lessons learned that were far from obvious to me when I naively began my first year of
teaching people to teach. This paper presents 15 lessons learned as a teacher educator and discusses each in the
context of recent teacher education literature (Darling-Hammond, 2006; Hebert, Morris, Berk, & Jansen, 2007;
Loughran, 2006). To illustrate, three of the lessons are as follows:
1. Learning to think pedagogically is at the core of learning to teach
2. Each teacher candidate takes a unique set of messages from the shared experiences of an education
course.
3. Despite rhetoric to the contrary, the practicum is not a setting for experimentation and risk-taking. The
more appropriate setting is the teacher education classroom, where the teacher educator can explicitly
demonstrate experimentation and risk-taking.
These lessons provide valuable talking points for both new and experienced teacher educators who are
concerned to improve their own teacher education practices, with a view to improving the quality of
teacher candidates’ learning and the quality of their subsequent teaching.
- 87 -
The new national history curriculum: We can’t change history…can we?
Peta Salter
James Cook University
Email: Peta.Salter@jcu.edu.au
Presentation format: Roundtable
The revision of history is not a new phenomenon. Indeed, there are strong arguments for revisiting
interpretations of the past that may be subject to change in response to new evidence or perspectives. The
revision of history has often been linked to nationalism and ideas of historical and cultural identity. Similarly,
the new national history curriculum, especially in regards to two of its key cross-curriculum dimensions;
‘Indigenous perspectives’ and ‘Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia’, draws a strong parallel with the
transformation of the Australian national identity from ‘monoculture’ to ‘multi-culture’. The national
curriculum also makes the subject of history a discrete, mandatory subject from prep to Year 10.
This paper critically explores the sustainability of the knowledge and skills this ‘new history’ requires. The
inclusion of Indigenous Perspectives and Asia literacy has made the two key areas seemingly strange
bedfellows: with similar concerns regarding the problematising of cultural politics, challenging Eurocentric
curriculum and the complexities of cross-cultural understanding, yet competing for space as discrete bodies of
knowledge. Furthermore, the sustainability of both Asia literacy (NALSAS, 2001) and Indigenous perspectives
(Gray 2008) initiatives are questioned due to slow progress and outcomes plateaus.
There are also substantial absences in dialogue regarding skills and critical evaluation of how the ‘new history’
will be catered for in teacher education. Using curriculum documents and a review of history teacher education
at a regional university, this paper explores notions of sustainability and status of history as a subject itself in
need of attention in teacher education. It then identifies and discusses the challenges for teacher-educator
programs to equip graduates to realise the curriculum needs of ‘new history’.
- 88 -
Constructive collaboration: Using learner biographies in per-service teacher education
David Saltmarsh
Macquarie University
Email: david.saltmarsh@mq.edu.au
Presentation format: Roundtable
The emergence of new pedagogic approaches focusing on learning rather than teaching, for example
Kalanzis and Cope’s (2008) ‘New learning’, has encouraged the use of narrative, biographical and
autobiographical, auto-ethnographic, reflective and collaborative techniques in a pre-service teacher
education programs. This paper reports on a collaborative assessment activity used in an introductory
unit of study in a pre-service teacher education program. Graduate students completing a one-year
Graduate Diploma of Education take this unit at a Sydney university. The question addressed in this
paper is, what makes a Collaborative Learner Biography an effective element in a teacher preparation
program? The study was conducted by analyzing interviews with participants who had completed the
unit and considering the submitted Learner Biographies. This approach firstly allowed students manage
a large amount of the content presented the unit by encouraging them to actively considering the details
of their experiences as learners. Secondly, it encouraged the pre-service teachers to reflect on their
childhood learning from an adult perspective, leading some students to a deeper understanding of their
motivations to teach and subject preferences. Thirdly, it was discovered that through this exercise
students sought and developed strategies for dealing with discrimination, promoting inclusion and
providing effective classroom management.
- 89 -
Moving forward & giving back: Making the change to teaching
David Saltmarsh & Anne McMaugh
Macquarie University
Email: david.saltmarsh@mq.edu.au
Presentation format: Paper Presentation
Recent trends in teacher recruitment have seen an emphasis placed upon the recruitment of
professionals from other fields or new graduates from disciplines other than education (Teach for
Australia, Teach First UK). There appears to be little Australian educational research about the
perceived qualities these candidates might bring to the teaching profession, coupled with limited
understanding of the characteristics of the current pre-service population. Much of the current research
evidence about the characteristics of teachers is based on international evidence or US indices of
occupational status, with fewer examples detailing the Australian context. This research suggests that
for teacher education programs to be sustainable, the changing demographic of pre-service teachers and
the motivations of students enrolling in teaching programs must be understood in order to effectively
engage students and prepare them for teaching. Unlike previous research on career change teachers,
this research is informed by the ANU4 rankings of occupations: an Australian socioeconomic index
that links education, occupation and income. This study analyzed the responses of 79 pre-service
teachers enrolled in undergraduate and graduate programs at a Sydney university. Self-reported
motivation for teaching as a career path revealed that while some pre-service teachers saw teaching as
an opportunity to “give something back to the community” others considered themselves to be moving
into an occupation of a higher status: higher than the occupations of their parents and higher than their
previous employment. While this the sample size is relatively small it showed that the proportion of
women entering increased with age. The occupational statuses (ANU4 rankings) of students and their
parents was also cross-referenced with the age groups of the students revealing that, in both cases, the
older the student the higher the status was likely to be and the more highly motivated than their peers to
teach.
- 90 -
Research oriented school engaged teacher education
Michael Singh
University of Western Sydney
Email: m.j.singh@uws.edu.au
Presentation format: Paper Presentation
This paper will report on the Research-Oriented School Engaged Teacher Education (ROSETE) Program, which
in a partnership between the Ningbo Municipal Education Bureau (China), the Western Sydney Region, NSW
Department of Education and the Univeristy Western of Sydney. The ROSETE Program focuses on world
education research, specifically the worldly education of beginning teacher-researchers – through the
transnational exchange of theoretical knowledge between Australia and China about education, teaching and
learning. Through practices of teacher-as-researcher the ROSETE Program foregrounds the role of bilingualism
(and multilingualism) and Chinese knowledge in the processes of teacher education and researching school
education, moving towards developing a model for increasing both-ways knowledge flows between the nations
of the Asia Pacific region.
- 91 -
Preparing preservice teachers to step up to the new Australian mathematics curriculum: The
challenges and successes
Kerry Smith
James Cook University
Email: kerry.smith@jcu.edu.au
Presentation format: Roundtable
The Australian Curriculum: Mathematics (ACARA, 2010) emphasises that mathematics learning
must go beyond the development of mathematical knowledge to include four ‘proficiency’ strands
of understanding, fluency, reasoning and problem solving. These proficiency strands have been
built into the curriculum in an attempt to ensure “proficiency in mathematics skills is developed
and becomes increasingly sophisticated over the years of schooling” (p. 2). Hence, teacher
educators’ role is to ensure preservice teachers become proficient mathematicians who can
effectively communicate the ‘how and why’ of mathematical ideas in ways that make it easy for
others to understand. However, research (e.g. Anderson & Bobis, 2005; Cavanagh, 2006) reveals
that teachers are often unsure what thinking, reasoning and working mathematically looks like in
practice. Aware of this gap in knowledge, abilities and language needed for mathematical
proficiency, the first year subject, Numeracy in Education (Klein, 2009), was designed to help
preservice teachers experience firsthand a pedagogical structure that would facilitate effective
representation, justification and communication of mathematical ideas.
This research investigated and analysed through a qualitative content data analysis (Lankshear &
Knobel, 2005) preservice teachers’ reflective discussion board comments and student feedback
forums to determine the success of the subject in preparing them to step up to the demands of the
new curriculum. The findings revealed that inquiry-based learning, when structured, supports
personal sense-making in ways that some preservice teachers constructed new and meaningful
knowledge about the ‘how and why’ of mathematics, or in some cases they reported that their
existing understandings became more sophisticated. The comments revealed that structured inquiry
and personal sense-making appeared to increase preservice teachers’ competence and confidence to
teach mathematics effectively. The data will inform teacher educators and researchers, policy
makers, and teachers in planning for the future.
- 92 -
Changing the face of the Scottish teaching profession? Refugee teachers speak out
Geri Smyth
University of Strathclyde
Email: g.smyth@strath.ac.uk
Presentation format: Paper Presentation
The Refugees Into Teaching in Scotland (RITeS) Project has been funded by the Scottish Government since
2006 to offer support and guidance to refugee teachers in Scotland. The project is consistent with Scottish
Government aims of widening access to the teaching profession and of moving towards a position in which the
ethnic mix of the teaching workforce better reflects the population of Scotland. We currently work with over
300 teachers who have arrived in Scotland as refugees and are seeking to re-enter their previous profession in
their new home. A research study aligned with the RITeS Project took place from 2007-08, funded by the West
of Scotland Wider Access Forum. The research was managed by a multi-partner group of researchers from
Higher and Further Education Institutions, Local Authorities and professional bodies.
Through in-depth interviews with a sample of refugee teachers in the West of Scotland, the research project
explored key differences in educational systems, curricula and pedagogies between countries of origin and
Scotland.
This paper focuses on the findings from the interviews, analysing experience, expertise, differences and
similarities and barriers faced by refugees attempting to move into teaching in Scotland, as well as exploring
their hopes for the future. The paper argues for the importance of overcoming such barriers in order to enable a
more linguistically and culturally diverse teaching profession in Scotland. Although the paper draws from the
specific context of teaching in Scotland, it also demonstrates relevance to wider international issues of migration,
diversity, and globalisation.
- 93 -
Flexible teaching and learning in teacher education: Prospects, barriers, and opportunities.
Richard Taffe
Charles Sturt University
Email: rtaffe@csu.edu.au
Presentation format: Roundtable
An increasing feature of modern university teaching is the availability of a range of tools that allow teaching to
be presented and accessed in innovative ways. Incorporating these tools into our practice is at the heart of more
flexible approaches to teaching and learning like ‘blended learning’. The impetus for such change is partly
technological – new technological tools are enabling teachers to supplement, extend, and overcome temporal
restrictions associated with traditional practices. The driver for change is also pedagogical – traditional practices
can be enhanced by a range of new tools that allow, for example, better monitoring of learner understanding,
improved presentation of concepts, easier dialogue between teachers and students. Finally, teaching more
flexibly responds to an increasing need from students to engage with the learning program on their own terms, in
their own time, and in their own place.
This presentation is designed to lead participants on a round table discussion of the highs and lows, prospects
and pitfalls of attempting to redesign the curriculum of teacher education for a more flexible delivery and
consumption.
- 94 -
Transforming Malaysian teacher education for a sustainable future through student-centred learning
Tengku Sarina Aini Tengku Kasim, Dale Furbish & Philippa Gerbic
Auckland University of Technology
Email: dtc7350@aut.ac.nz, dale.furbish@aut.ac.nz & philippa.gerbic@aut.ac.nz
Presentation format: Paper Presentation
For sustainable education to exist, educators must shift their approaches from transmissive forms to
transformative learning approaches (Sterling, 2001). In Malaysia, recent Ministry of Education policies have
encouraged the introduction of student-centred learning approaches for tertiary teacher training programmes
(Ratnavadivel, 1999). These policies are substantially affecting teacher education programmes throughout the
country as approaches for developing skills, knowledge, character, and vision in teacher education students who
will contribute to a more sustainable future by adopting such transformative learning approaches in their own
classrooms. The intent of the Ministry of Education policies is to encourage interdisciplinary, higher-order
thinking skills, active learning, inquiry-oriented, and technology-rich learning.
However, the shift toward student-centred learning is not universally embraced (Ismail & Alexander, 2005).
Nowhere in the Malaysian tertiary curricula has the implementation of student-centred learning been fully
implemented.
The proposed paper to be delivered at the Annual Conference of the Australian Teacher Education Association
examines student-centred learning models as an alternative to traditional Malaysian teacher-centred learning
models for promoting sustainability among student teachers. The paper will report on the preliminary results of
research on a Malaysian university teacher education programme. A qualitative approach was adopted to
examine teaching practices in a Malaysian teacher education programme from both the lecturers’ and students’
points of view. Results show that teacher educators and education students generally hold very positive views of
student-centred learning. Implications of these findings are discussed with respect to educational research and
practice. This paper will also outline the aspects of student-centred learning, discuss issues arising from the
adoption of this approach, and describe the challenges of implementing the student-centred learning in teacher
education programmes in Malaysia.
- 95 -
Sustainable professional identities: Holding together both certainty and uncertainty in the transition from
pre-service teacher to practicing teacher.
Louise Thomas
Australian Catholic University
Email: Louise.Thomas@acu.edu.au
Presentation format: Roundtable
This paper draws from a study into early childhood teachers’ professional identity constructions. The research
focused on ways in which teachers’ talk of professionalism and ethics contributes to professional identity
construction, and the discourses available to early childhood teachers in this talk. The data are four Queensland
early childhood teachers’ professional life history narratives recounted through a series of conversational
interviews with each participant. The teachers spoke about professionalism and ethics, and they struggled to
locate themselves as professionals, as they drew on a number of dominant discourses available to them. These
discourses were located and mapped through analysis of the participants’ talk about relationships with parents,
colleagues and authorities. Through a genealogical analysis of the narratives the research rendered as
problematic universal and fixed notions of what it is to be an early childhood professional. Genealogical
analysis enabled multiple readings of the ways in which the participants’ talk held together certainties and
uncertainties; comfort and discomfort, as they recounted their experiences and spoke of early childhood
expertise, relational engagement and ethics.
The research presented in this paper suggests ways to support pre-service teachers to both engage with and resist
normative processes and expectations of professional identity construction that privilege certainty of and comfort
with professional expertise. It makes an argument for new possibilities for pre-service teachers to think, speak
and construct professional identities that include both certainty and uncertainty; comfort and discomfort. This
paper argues that these seemingly oppositional terms can be held together in tension, with an insistence that both
are necessary and true. The use of provocations offers tools through which pre-service teachers and teacher
educators can access new positions associated with certainties and uncertainties in professional identities. These
new positions call for work that supports experiences of ‘de-comfort’ – that is, experiences that enable preservice teachers to make the transition to professional practice with an acceptance rather than a fear of
uncertainties and discomfort that are a part of expertise, professional relationships and ethics.
- 96 -
Sustainable and effective primary teacher training under a trimester program in Papua New Guinea.
Brian Tieba
University of Goroka
Email: briant@uog.ac.pg
Presentation format: Roundtable
Primary teacher training in Papua New Guinea (PNG) has been faced with constant changes to policies and
practices. This paper explores the sustainability of quality primary teacher training in shortened periods rather
than longer periods. The McNamara Report (1989) identified that two years of primary school teacher training
was insufficient to adequately prepare students for the roles they would play as classroom teachers upon
graduation. These recommendations were made as are result of a study by Avalos (1987) involving beginning
primary school teachers. It was therefore endorsed by the Teacher Education Board of Studies (1990) to move
the two years teacher training to three years beginning in 1991. However, in 2001 a policy change was made to
the length of teacher training from three years to two years. This paper investigates the sustainability and quality
of teacher training in two years by asking if shorter periods of time instead of longer periods of time for teacher
training prepares student teachers well to face the challenges that await them.
This study analyses semi-structured interviews with lecturers and students in colleges and departmental staff at
headquarters. Documents were searched to establish similarities and differences between colleges. These were
done on locations at the seven primary teachers colleges and headquarters. The results of this research are
alarming. Both students and staff express that the two years trimester program is too short for effective and
sustainable teacher training. It is argued that during the two years of teacher training there is too much content
covered in less time making staff and students to work over time. It seems that two years of teacher training in
PNG is ill preparing students to face challenges than making students to be confident and competent new
practitioners. To change this current practice may require yet another policy change.
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Sustaining Indigenous Teachers in School Landscapes
Bruce Underwood
University of South Australia
Email: bruce.underwood@unisa.edu.au
Presentation format: Roundtable
This paper details a project to support female Indigenous teachers working in remote schools in the Anangu
Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands (APY Lands), South Australia.
These Indigenous teachers having spent most of their lives working for their community, family and school have
reached a turning point in their careers.
Are they too tired to continue working in schools or are the roles they inhabit no longer challenging? Has the
school landscape changed or have the teachers changed?
Using narratives gained from conversations with Anangu teachers from the APY Lands the issue of how to
sustain Indigenous teachers in remote schools is investigated. Most importantly the voices of the Indigenous
teachers tell the story.
The application of the ideas generated from the Indigenous teachers has implications for the way remote schools
are staffed and for the way in which Teacher Education institutions prepare teachers for remote schools. More
importantly there are implications here for the way in which Indigenous teachers are treated in remote schools.
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Preparing assessment capable teachers: First steps in a national project
Bill Ussher¹, Beverley Cooper¹, Mary Hill², Alison Gilmore³ & Lisa Smith⁴
1. University of Waikato
2. University of Auckland
3. Canterbury University
4. University of Otago
Email: bussher@waikato.ac.nz
Presentation format: Forum
Teacher educators from four universities around New Zealand are collaborating to investigate how assessment
capability is developed in student teachers over the course of their teacher education programme. The project
aims to identify the beliefs and understanding of pre-service teachers in relation to assessment for learning at
entry and exit from their undergraduate progammes. A further aim is to provide recommendations to inform
teacher education programmes in assessment. Data are being generated over three years through surveys of the
student teachers, individual student case studies and interviews with teacher educators. The presentation will
provide information about the project and detail initial findings from the entry survey.
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The Bachelor of Elementary Education (BEED) Student Teachers' Teaching Performance of the College of
Teacher Education, University of Northern Philippines
Necy Cesaria Vaquilar-Romo & Sixto Forneas
1. University of Northern Philippines
2. Vigan City, Ilocos Sur, Philippines
Email: necyromo@yahoo.com
Presentation format: Roundtable
The College of Teacher Education in the University of Northern Philippines prepares outstanding
future educator exemplified through their commitment to integrity and ethics, effective communication,
and self-leadership as prescribed by the Code of Ethics of Professional Teachers.
Student teaching is a college-supervised instructional experience; usually the culminating course in the
university/college undergraduate education. Examples of programs include Bachelor of Elementary Education
(BEEd), Bachelor of Secondary Education (BSEd), Bachelor of Science in Industrial Education, and Bachelor of
Library and information Science (BLIS) though the latter does not go in a teaching profession. Student teaching
is required for students who are not yet certified to teach.
Performance begins in the classroom. To a degree one's performance can be discerned by how well a
student does in a class. Their success rests on not only in teacher’s ability to effectively teach a subject,
be it English or something other, but just as importantly, rests also upon their shoulders! Their
willingness to take advantage of your services and those being offered at the school that you work for is
paramount.
This study looked into the teaching performance of the Bachelor of Elementary Education (BEEd) student
teachers of the College of Teacher Education, University of Northern Philippines, School Year 2009-2010. It
tried to look to the level of teaching and academic performance of the student teachers. It also sought the level of
academic performance of and mastery of their subject matters and determined its significant relationship
between the level of teaching performance and academic performance. Same is true was done to their level of
teaching performance and their mastery of subject matter; and their academic performance and mastery of the
subject matter.
The study made use of the descriptive survey method of research that described and analysed the teaching
performance pointed out by the student teachers. Mean was used to describe the level of academic and teaching
performance of the respondents Percentage and frequency counting was used to describe the mastery of the
subject matter while the Pearson Product Moment of Correlation was used to determine the relationship between
the academic and teaching performance; the mastery of subject matter and the teaching performance; and the
academic performance and mastery of the subject matter. The significance of the correlation coefficient was
tested at the .05 probability level.
After the conduct of the study, it was found out that the student teachers’ academic performance was VERY
Good. Most of them have a 94 percent mastery of the subject matter. Teacher’s Personality got the highest mean
rating among the different criteria and Questioning Skills tend to be the lowest among them but still fell on a
VERY GOOD descriptive rating.
With regards to the result of the student teachers’ assessment, it came out that there is no significant relationship
between the teaching performance and their academic performance. Furthermore, the result between the teaching
performance and their teaching performance; academic performance and mastery of subject matter, also bear no
significant relationship.
It is therefore recommended that after finding out the teaching performance of the student teachers’ questioning
skills need to be enhanced. Their communication skills should be improved. They should be helped in
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articulating their ideas and thinking process. Promote risk-taking and problem solving. Encourage convergent
and divergent thinking. Their academic performance descriptive rating of VERY GOOD should reflect on their
performance on the forthcoming Licensure Examination for Teachers (LET).
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Disciplinarity, performativity, subjectification, practice: Four concepts for understanding the work of teacher
education in relation to the formation of teacher identities.
Melissa Vick and Elizabeth Starrenburg
James Cook University
Email: Melissa.Vick@jcu.edu.au & Elizabeth.Starrenburg@jcu.edu.au
Presentation format: Paper Presentation
A substantial body of work addresses the role of pre-service teacher education [PSTE] in the early formation of
‘teacher professional identities’ (Korthagen, 2004; Beijaard, Meijer & Verloop, 2004; Dam & Blom, 2006).
However, there is a substantial and growing body of literature that is sharply critical of the use of the concept of
‘identities’ as a basis for understandings and programmes of action in a range of domains of social practice
(Connell, 2010; Namaste, 2005; Sachs, 2001). This paper briefly reviews these arguments and suggests ways
they may be relevant to pre-service teacher education. It argues that the logic of an identity-building focus leads
to a focus on the teacher’s decontextualised sense of self, and away from a recognition of social context shaping
both student engagement and relevance frameworks, and from the important role these play in shaping
appropriate pedagogy and curriculum.
It then outlines three other concepts that might provide ways to understand the work and effectivity of PSTE:
disciplinarity (Foucault, `1977, 1988), performativity (Butler, 1990, 1993; Vick & Donovan, forthcoming) and
subjectification (Davies, 2006), and practice (Connell, 2010). It explains how each of these concepts might be
understood in relation to PSTE through discussion of what are, in effect, historical case studies, evidenced from
archival data from teacher education in earlier twentieth century Britain and Australia.
It argues that in-so-far as contemporary education programs aim to cultivate professional teacher identities as a
basis for teacher professional practice, the basis they seek to establish for novice teachers’ professional practice
is deeply problematic. In particular, it argues that building professional capacity on ‘teacher identity’ is unlikely
to be able to sustain the passion and commitment to pursue issues such as sustainability and social justice) In
this view, therefore, the cultivation of professional identities in pre-service teachers does not provide a basis for
a robust and sustainable professional engagement.
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Individual resilience and professional sustainability
Noelene Weatherby-Fell¹ & Brian Kean²
1. University of Wollongong
2. Southern Cross University
Email: noelene@uow.edu.au & brian.kean@scu.edu.au
Presentation format: Roundtable
A diagnosis of epilepsy is all encompassing. It affects the ability of the individual to be recognised and be
considered worthy as a member of society. The continued use of the labels of ‘disease’ and ‘handicap’ evidence
the reality of stigma and discrimination that still endures. Resilience is evident in the coping strategies of these
individuals daily.
Despite concerted campaigns designed to inform and change the attitudes of society, many children are
misunderstood and handled inappropriately. Studies today confirm that up to 30% of teachers in some countries
still associate epilepsy with insanity. For many, the concept of fear leads to prejudice which flows on to stigma
and discrimination. This situation cannot be sustained in contemporary times.
Where can we, as a society and a community of learners of knowledge, unlearn the attitudes and behaviours that
disable those who are disempowered by virtue of a diagnosis, and then learn to accept and appreciate those with
diverse abilities? The answer may be found in our schools – the places long understood and accepted to be
venues for learning, for academic knowledge and for the preparation of the young to take their place as citizens
in our world.
Teachers are increasingly viewed to be leaders, with accrediting and registering bodies setting their expectations
through explicit professional teaching standards. It is vital that teacher preparation both empowers and enables a
positive difference, and impacts on the injustices that occur as a result of miscommunication and ignorance.
Using a critical social research methodology, this paper outlines how a review and interrogation of particular
instances, educational policy, critical history and the media portrayal of epilepsy has informed recommendations
for educational policy, teacher education and teacher action, educational curriculum and the need for broader
education and understanding in society.
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Student involvement in teacher professional learning
Bruce White¹, Alan Barnes¹, Mike Lawson², Wendy Johnson³ & Chris Roberts⁴
1. University of South Australia
2. Flinders University
3. Glenunga International High School
4. Streaky Bay Area School
Email: Bruce.White@unisa.edu.au, Alan.Barnes@unisa.edu.au, mike.lawson@flinders.edu.au,
wendy.johnson@gihs.sa.edu.au & chris.roberts@streakybas.sa.edu.au
Presentation format: Roundtable
The importance of the teacher in student learning has been well researched (Darling-Hammond, 2000) but the
role of the student to inform teacher learning, does not appear to be clear and research in the area can be
problematic (Ludtke, 2009). The student role can be in the form of student evaluations and action research type
projects, but this paper will look at a slightly different, more direct role. The paper will examine a process that
occurred at two South Australian schools which involved students actively participating in identifying what their
needs were and communicating this to the teaching staff. The process was supported by a group of University
researchers independent of the schools. The research group collected data from the whole student body on their
perceptions of what helps their learning via an online survey and then worked with the student leadership to
identify key issues from this data to present to the staff; the process used in the two schools was similar but not
identical.
Data was collected from teachers and students and used to examine the effectiveness of the process. The
teacher’s responses to the process were collected via a feedback sheet after the presentation at the schools and a
number of staff members were interviewed. The students were surveyed again and asked what differences they
had noticed in the teachers practice. The results indicated that overall the teachers were very supportive of the
approach and felt that having the information coming directly from the students was quite challenging and
motivating. The students commented on a number of changes but were concerned that there were inconsistencies
in the implementation of change.
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An alternative model of placing pre-service teachers: Responding to a partnership agenda
Simone White
Deakin University
Email: swhite@deakin.edu.au
Presentation format: Roundtable
The National Partnership Agreement on Improving Teacher Quality aims to deliver ‘system-wide reforms’
through targeting critical points in the teacher ‘lifecycle’ to attract, prepare, place, develop and retain quality
teachers and leaders in schools and classrooms (Council of Australian Governments, 2008, p.4). These reforms
clearly have implications for the ways in which university and schools work together to build effective
relationships for teacher preparation and education.
The School of Education at Deakin University has responded to this reform by piloting a new model of
professional experience embedded in the Master of Teaching course design. This model which places pre-service
teachers in teams and to a whole community cluster of schools, endeavours to more closely align pre-service
education and in-service professional learning and education as well as prepare beginning teachers to be not only
classroom ready but also able to respond to school and community needs. While the model is still in an early
pilot phase, this paper provides a conceptual framework that underpins the design and then examines three key
questions;



What are the features of an effective school-university partnership model?
What are the systemic, institutional and professional conditions that are favourable to initiating and
sustaining an effective school-university partnership model?
What does an alternative model of school-university partnership offer pre-service, in-service and teacher
educators?
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A place for rural teachers: celebrating a community sense of knowing their own rural social space
Simone White, Joanne Reid, Bill Green, Graeme Lock, Maxine Cooper & Wendy Hastings
Deakin University
Email: swhite@deakin.edu.au
Presentation format: Paper Presentation
Attracting and retaining high quality teaching staff for rural and remote schools in Australia is a major
sustainability and quality issue for every State and Territory. It is also a major concern in pre-service teacher
education, particularly for those universities which have a commitment to rural and regional areas. In 2008, with
funding from the Australian Research Council, a three year study of schools and communities where sustainable
practices regarding staff recruitment and retention were identified began: Renewing Rural Teacher Education:
Sustaining Schooling for Sustainable Future. The project has come to be known as TERRAnova [renewing
Teacher Education for Rural and Regional Australia]. The TERRAnova team has worked across six Australian
states in a study that was conceived as a national partnership between teacher education researchers whose preservice programmes produce graduates for positions in rural and remote schools.
One aspect of this project has sought to discover the nature of successful strategies for preparing, attracting and
retaining high quality teachers for rural and remote schools through the exploration of successful rural
community case studies. While previous papers (see White, Reid, Green, Lock, Hastings & Cooper, 2009) have
highlighted initial findings of a smaller sample of case studies, this paper summarises the findings of all
completed twenty case studies conducted across Australia. The paper builds on initial data, which highlighted
three key themes of sustainability, leadership, mentoring and community renewal. In addition themes such as the
emergence of developing school-university partnerships to sustain the rural workforce, the need for creative
enterprise as important work of rural teachers and a community practice of ‘recreating place’ that acknowledges
and celebrates knowing their own rural social space are explored.
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Pre-Service Teachers’ Preparedness for Sustainability Education- a Case Study
Kimberley Wilson & Helen Boon
James Cook University
Email: kimberley.wilson@jcu.edu.au & helen.boon@jcu.edu.au
Teacher education is a vital first step in embedding education for sustainability in Australian schools (Australian
Government 2009). Research indicates that tertiary programs for teachers do little to prepare teachers for
teaching education for sustainability (Ferreira, Ryan & Tilbury, 2007; Tilbury & Cooke, 2005).
Within this nationwide context, the School of Education at James Cook University is focusing on embedding
sustainability across the curriculum in Bachelor of Education courses. A foundational sustainability subject is
being offered for the first time in 2010. This subject provides an introduction to principles and practices of
sustainability education, highlighting interrelationships between topics related to climate change, energy, water
and biodiversity.
The aim of the reported here was to ascertain first year Bachelor of Education students’ level of knowledge of
issues underpinning sustainability, using a questionnaire based on prior research (Taylor, Kennelly, Jenkins &
Callingham, 2006) and the PISA international survey of secondary students’ environmental and geophysical
science knowledge (OECD, 2006).
Using descriptive and inferential statistics, results indicate that this sample of 155 first year pre-service teachers
report lower awareness of relevant sustainability issues compared to the fifteen-year-old Australians surveyed by
OECD (2009). Results were not significantly different across pre-service teacher age groups (17-19, 20-26 or
26+ years) although there were some significant differences in males and females. Performance in the
knowledge questions of the survey showed some interesting variations by question and age group, indicating
perhaps a range of exposures to learning activities. These are compared to previous studies’ findings.
While the results of this study were primarily intended to inform and support the initiative to embed
sustainability education across the Bachelor of Education degree at James Cook University, they might hold
wider relevance for those interested in the process of embedding sustainability in pre-service teacher programs
nationally.
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Teacher Education for Sustainability (EfS): drivers and blockers to embedding EfS across a primary
teacher education course.
Sue Wilson
Australian Catholic University
Email: sue.wilson@acu.edu.au
Presentation format: Paper Presentation
During a 2008 study tour to Ontario, embedding Education for Sustainability (EfS) into teacher education was
discussed with UNESCO Professor Charles Hopkins. This grounded the following research in an international
perspective (Australian Government Department of the Environment and Heritage, 2007; United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 2009).
The paper summarises a participatory action research project at an ACT university, which identified drivers and
barriers to embedding Education for Sustainability across primary teacher education programs. The results were
informed by student responses to EfS in a science education unit.
The project involved a mixed-methods approach and was based within an action research framework. Data were
gathered through document audits, a self-efficacy student survey, and student and lecturer focus groups.
The research investigated the current teaching of EfS, informed by curriculum documents (ACT Department of
Education and Training, 2007). Unit outlines were analysed to identify principles of sustainability (Australian
Government Department of the Environment and Heritage, 2005) and relevant content. Lecturer focus groups
discussed understandings of sustainability and EfS, current practices and factors that impacted on embedding
EfS across courses.
The unit outline audit identified a foundation of existing EfS principles and content across units. Some lecturers
were unaware of the extent to which they already addressed EfS. Students described successful learning
outcomes, but differed in levels of confidence towards teaching sustainability. Lecturers identified a range of
societal and personal drivers and blockers to embedding EfS. However, lack of time was considered the biggest
blocker. The analysis demonstrated the complexity of the situation.
The project demonstrated the key role education plays as a tool for sustainable living. Embedding EFs across
teacher education courses can be facilitated by a commitment to sustainable values, identification of
sustainability concerns and appropriate knowledge and skills. Therefore, it is vital to ensure that relevant
understandings of teacher educators are developed.
This project was funded through the Australian Research Institute in Education for Sustainability (ARIES).
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Teacher education and government in new times: A Bernsteinian analysis of changing relations
Lew Zipin & Marie Brennan
University of South Australia
Email: Lew.Zipin@unisa.edu.au & marie.brennan@unisa.edu.au
Presentation format: Paper Presentation
Recent decades have seen the rise of neoliberal rationales that gain sway in government ideologies, policies,
practices and organisational forms. These shifts inevitably affect the ways and means of Australian teacher
education programs, which interact in significantly coupled relation with governments – particularly with state
departments of education. Our paper analyses these shifting relations and effects, bringing to bear conceptual
tools from the work of Basil Bernstein (1990), applied to experiential accounts of the authors based on their
years in teacher education programs (both authors), and a state education department (the second author). We
focus on what Bernstein calls knowledge recontextualising processes, occurring in two domains, or fields, of
different but inter-active function: (1) the pedagogic recontextualising field (PRF), located mainly in teacher
education programs; and (2) the official recontextualising field (ORF), located mainly in government
departments. The argument proceeding from our analyses is that the relation between PRF and ORF has shifted
from one of reasonable conversance, with congruent assumptions about knowledge and educational purposes, to
one of stronger distinctions and power tensions. That is, government bureaucracies, suffering senses of declining
control under normalising discourses of ‘globalisation’ (Rizvi & Lingard), compensate by exerting more
muscular domination over teacher education programs. The shift in relation is not just of degree but also kind,
power-driven by a qualitatively transformed ORF which puts less value on useful purposes of knowledge in the
domain of schools, as it increasingly values knowledge as a means of governance regulation – or management –
of school and university domains. We thus argue that Bernstein’s ‘official (knowledge) recontextualising field’
might now justifiably be renamed the ‘official (knowledge) managing field. With illustrative accounts, we
examine some of the characteristic dynamics of this relational shift.
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