bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Student Teacher as Researcher: Accepting Greater Responsibility for Learning about Teaching
Authors: Loughran J. John
Published: March 2013

Student teachers' learning about teaching can be substantially enhanced through teacher preparation if a student teacher as researcher stance is adopted. Through this approach, student teachers can develop more meaningful and sustained ways of focusing on their learning about teaching by extending reflection into more systematic inquiries into practice. In so doing, the value and intent of student teachers as researchers can be a most empowering outcome. However, such an approach requires teacher educators to trust that student teachers can (and should) accept more responsibility for their own learning about teaching. This paper examines one way of developing a student teacher as researcher approach in teacher education that (hopefully) helps to challenge the more traditional role of teacher educators directing student teachers' learning about teaching.
Positive Interventions for Children with Chronic Illness: Parents' and Teachers' Concerns and Recommendations
Authors: Shiu Shiona
Published: March 2013

Schools today are faced with increasing numbers of students with chronic illness. Medical advances, which improve health and prolong life, and increased incidence levels among some illnesses have led to this increase. Children with a chronic illness are more likely to encounter academic, social and emotional difficulties. The challenge facing educators and families is to ensure that these children receive and maintain a quality education. Understanding the complex issues surrounding the delivery of educational services for this body of students enables more insightful programming and planning to ensure that these students have equal access to the same educational outcomes as other students. Five hundred (25 per cent) Department of Education and Training schools across New South Wales were randomly selected to participate in a study examining parents' and teachers' perceptions of educational services for students with chronic illness: 232 teachers and parents responded with completed surveys. This paper examines both concerns and recommendations, and considers how these issues can be tackled.
Discourses of Schooling in Contemporary Malaysia: Pedagogical Practices and Ethnic Politics
Authors: Joseph Cynthia
Published: March 2013

This paper examines the notion of schooling and draws on the experiences of Malaysian teenage schoolgirls in contemporary postcolonial Malaysia. Using a critical approach to understandings of schooling, the author unpacks the links between the macro, micro and the personal in examining these girls' negotiations with discourses of schooling. The intra and inter ethnic dynamics between the Malay, Chinese and Indian collectivities problematises the notion of schooling in contemporary Malaysia. The author examines the markers of the discourses of schooling as manifested in the narratives of these girls. These include the pedagogical practices of streaming and ranking, the politics of ethnic identification and the ‘Chineseness’ in the school ethos.
Imagining Instructions: Mental Practice in Highly Cognitive Domains
Authors: Ginns Paul
Published: March 2013

This article reviews recent empirical investigations of imagination or mental practice in highly cognitive, realistic educational domains such as mathematics or learning computer applications. While mental practice has been a standard tool in training schedules devised by sports psychologists for several decades, with its efficacy studied experimentally in a multitude of sports, there has been little corresponding research in the education or training research literature. Recent research has demonstrated that mental practice can be incorporated effectively when learning non-motor, complex cognitive skills. Experimental studies are reviewed showing ‘imagining’ worked examples, paired with practice questions, enhances learning for more experienced learners, but study activities are more appropriate for students less experienced in a given domain. Interactions of the imagination effect with cognitive load effects are also discussed. Possible directions for mental practice research in education are proposed.
State Differences in Achievement among Secondary School Students in Australia
Authors: Marks Gary N. , Cresswell John
Published: March 2013

A number of recent national studies of student achievement in secondary school have reported differences between the Australian states and territories. State differences are often viewed as insubstantial or as simply reflecting sociodemographic factors, or differences between the states in the grades or ages of the students sampled. In this article, we show that state differences are larger than generally assumed and cannot be attributed to socioeconomic and demographic factors. Generally, student achievement in reading, mathematics and science are higher in New South Wales than the other states, once demographic and grade differences are taken into account. Of concern, is the increased likelihood that students from Queensland, Victoria and Tasmania have in only reaching the lowest OECD proficiency level in reading. We conclude that state differences are meaningful and do have policy implications.
‘Silly, Soft and Otherwise Suspect’: Doctoral Education as Risky Business
Authors: McWilliam Erica , Lawson Alan , Evans Terry , Taylor Peter G.
Published: March 2013

This article investigates how certain doctoral practices come to count as scandalous and with what effects on universities. To do so, it engages with a number of recent media allegations that relate to doctoral practice in Australia and elsewhere. The analysis of these allegations is developed in terms of three broad categories, namely allegations of silliness in relation to thesis content, allegations of softness in relation to entry, rigour and assessment, and allegations of suspect conduct and/or credentials. The impact of such allegations on university governance is then addressed.
Towards an Ethics of Engagement in Education in Global Times
Authors: Christie Pam
Published: March 2013

Starting from the observation that patterns of educational inequality are widely known but largely invisible in public debates on education, this article argues for the importance of an ethics of education which challenges simple acceptance of ‘things as they are’. It suggests possibilities for working with discourses of ethics, rights and citizenship in contingent and strategic ways, and argues for the importance of engaging ethically across difference in current global times. It proposes three interrelated dimensions for an ethics of engagement in education: an ethics of commitment to intellectual rigour; an ethics of civility; and an interhuman ethics of care.
Motivating Boys and Motivating Girls: Does Teacher Gender Really Make a Difference?
Authors: Martin Andrew , Marsh Herb
Published: March 2013

We explore the impact of student gender, teacher gender, and their interaction on academic motivation and engagement for 964 junior and middle high school students. According to the gender-stereotypic model, boys fare better academically in classes taught by males and girls fare better in classes taught by females. The gender-invariant model suggests that the academic motivation and engagement of boys and girls is the same for men and women teachers. We also examine the relative contribution of student-, class-, and school-level factors, finding that most variation was at the individual student level. Of the statistically significant main effects for gender, most favoured girls. In support of the gender-invariant model, academic motivation and engagement does not significantly vary as a function of their teacher's gender, and in terms of academic motivation and engagement, boys do not fare any better with male teachers than female teachers.
Involvement of Fathers in Primary School Activities
Authors: Fletcher Richard , Silberberg Simone
Published: March 2013

A telephone survey investigated the level of father involvement in primary schools in a regional area of New South Wales. Hypotheses tested were: (a) that the level of mother involvement is higher than that of fathers, and (b) that fathers are primarily involved in gender stereotypical activities. The survey also aimed to provide a benchmark for programs aimed at increasing the level of father involvement in primary schools. Out of a possible 52 public primary schools, 43 participated. The results confirmed the hypotheses: principals estimated that only one-fifth of volunteers at the schools were male, and sports, outdoor activities and security were the preferred areas of involvement.
Globalisation, Responsibility and Virtual Schools
Authors: Russell Glenn
Published: March 2013

The intersection of globalisation and information technology influences ethical positions and notions of responsibility within businesses and in distance education for school students. As the spatial and temporal distance between student and teacher increases, and is mediated by computers, there have been changes to the ways in which individuals and groups are able to share responsibility for students' learning. Virtual schools can be seen as the most recent implementation of distance education modes which have used predecessor technologies to educate students for many years. This new learning environment prompts a reconsideration of accepted practices, including questions of how responsibility should be apportioned.
The Impact of Paid Work on the Academic Performance of Students: A Case Study from the University of Canberra
Authors: Applegate Craig , Daly Anne
Published: March 2013

This article uses data collected from a survey of students at the University of Canberra to test the effects of paid employment on the average grade obtained in second semester, 2002. The results show that students who do well at school also tend to do well at university and that private study improves grades. Missing classes had a negative effect on grades. Paid employment did not have a large effect on grades. Our results show that some paid employment improves grades slightly, but working more than twenty-two hours per week has a negative effect.
Motivational Goals and School Achievement: Lebanese-Background Students in South-Western Sydney
Authors: Suliman Rosemary , McInerney Dennis M
Published: March 2013

There is a general belief that Lebanese-background students in Australia do not usually perform well at school. This study examines the school achievement of Lebanese-background students and the major motivational factors related to their achievement. A total of 271 Year Nine students (117 Lebanese-background and 154 non-Lebanese background) in three high schools in southwestern Sydney completed the Inventory of School Motivation and the Facilitating Conditions Questionnaire and this information was used to examine the students' motivational profiles and the salience of motivational and other background variables in predicting school achievement.

The study indicates that the Lebanese-background group is lower on variables which predict both their English and Science results, such as their valuing of education, and their perceived family and teacher support. The strongest predictors for achievement for the Lebanese-background group were competition, social concern, recognition, and token reward; however, these variables were not the strongest motivators for the students of Lebanese background. The variable most strongly valued by the Lebanese-background group was power, and that was found to be negatively related to their school achievement.

The significance of these findings is that the Lebanese-background group does not strongly value the positive predictors for school achievement and attention needs to be paid to enhance these among this group; and that the Lebanese-background group shows higher levels of the negative predictors and hence attention needs to be given to diminish the students' negative perspectives which predict lower academic performance.
Models of Policy Development in Aboriginal Education: Issues and Discourse
Authors: Beresford Quentin , Gray Jan
Published: March 2013

The education of Aboriginal children in Australia has been extensively examined and reviewed. Missing from this investigative activity, however, is the attempt to critically conceptualise the current approaches to the delivery of education for this highly disadvantaged group. There are two main aims behind this paper. Firstly, it devises a framework of seven discrete models of Aboriginal education to guide policy and practice. Secondly, the paper investigates the extent to which the official discourse reflects an understanding of these models. Finally, some thought is given to implications for government flowing from an understanding of the models, especially in the areas of improving policy development and official review.
Vocational Subject-Making and the Work of Schools: A Case Study
Authors: Yates Lyn
Published: March 2013

The rhetoric of the new vocationalism is about creating a new type of person: an enterprising, flexible, portfolio-oriented, lifelong learner. The rhetoric of contemporary Australian government policy is that schools should be more vocational. This article focuses on schooling and a case study of a site where two vocational ‘dual accreditation’ subjects are being taught. It argues (a) that different visions of schooling and vocational knowledge are evident at different levels of the system, but also between teachers involved in the same formal structure and between students within the same classes; (b) that the dual assessment regimes observed here embody not only different epistemologies, but different imputed identities of the learner-worker; and (c) that class and gender attributes matter but are not adequately acknowledged in the new agendas for school. The article illustrates ambiguities in what teachers and students are expected to do, and, in particular, a mixture of different ideas about what knowledge counts and what attributes are valued within the school-based vocational subjects.
‘Like an Iceberg Floating Alone’: A Case Study of Teacher Stress at a Victorian Primary School
Authors: Burchielli Rosaria , Bartram Timothy
Published: March 2013

This paper presents the case study of a culturally diverse, inner suburban, primary school located on a government housing estate. We report on high levels of stress amongst the teachers at the school and find evidence of professional bureaucratic conflict. Two main findings are reported. First, that teacher stress is attributed to a combination of factors: the unique school characteristics which are not fully acknowledged by the governing bureaucracy; the ensuing professional-bureaucratic conflict resulting from a lack of acknowledgment and inadequate resourcing; and importantly, tensions relating to professional values and standards. Second, that stress can be somewhat ameliorated by the use of proactive teacher and whole-school responses, and that further reduction of stress requires a systemic response.
Curriculum Construction: A Critical Analysis of Rich Tasks in the Recontextualisation Field
Authors: Macdonald Doune , Hunter Lisa , Tinning Richard
Published: March 2013

Within Education Queensland's recent ‘new basics' curriculum initiative, Education Queensland developed 20 transdisciplinary learning and assessment tasks for Years 1 to 9, called ‘rich tasks’. This paper critiques two of the rich tasks that were most closely aligned to knowledge and skills within the health and physical education learning area. To do so we draw on Bernstein's (1996) theory of the social construction of knowledge. Through this framework we analyse how two rich tasks recontextualise the discourses from the primary field in the production of the highly-valued healthy citizen. We argue that these particular rich tasks do not fully realise the tenets of the new basics agenda and, more broadly, of contemporary physical activity and health discourses. We conclude that, for curriculum artefacts to be meaningful, curriculum makers must be informed by closer attention to the primary field of knowledge.
Teaching for Gender Justice
Authors: Keddie Amanda , Mills Martin
Published: March 2013

Since the mid 1990s ‘boys' as an equity concern have come to dominate the gender and education agenda in many countries. This has been particularly the case in Australia where substantial funding has been invested in research to investigate boys' issues, into a federal parliamentary inquiry into boys' education and into schools that have a particular focus on improving boys' education. The discourses that work to construct boys as an equity concern have had differing impacts upon teachers' philosophies and practices in relation to boys' education. In this paper we locate two teacher stories within the context of broader gender equity discourses in Australia. Against a backdrop that attempts to articulate the primary concerns of two secondary teachers in relation to effectively teaching boys, the stories explore implications for gender justice that can be associated with, on the one hand, an affirmative approach, and on the other, a transformative approach to issues of boys and schooling.
Gender Differences in Educational Achievement to Age 25
Authors: Gibb Sheree J. , Fergusson David M. , Horwood L. John
Published: March 2013

Gender differences in educational achievement were examined in a cohort of 1265 individuals studied from birth to age 25. There was a small but pervasive tendency for females to score better than males on standardised tests and to achieve more school and post-school qualifications. The differences could not be explained by differences in cognitive ability as males and females had similar IQ scores. Teacher ratings of classroom behaviour revealed that males were more prone to inattentive, restless and distractible behaviours and aggressive, antisocial and oppositional behaviours than females. When the associations between gender and measures of educational achievement were adjusted for teacher ratings of classroom behaviour the gender differences were reduced substantially. These results suggest that one approach to reducing gender differences in educational achievement lies in improving classroom behaviour.
Developing Indicators for a New ERA: Should we Measure the Policy Impact of Education Research?
Authors: Watson Louise
Published: March 2013

The Australian government has announced its intention to measure the quality of research in Australian universities under the Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) initiative. The process for measuring research quality through the ERA is still being developed but the government has proposed that ‘a suite of indicators appropriate to difference disciplines' (Carr, 2008b) is likely to be used and is seeking public input through a consultation process. Using Weiss's (1979) seven models of research utilisation, and Husén's (1994) constraints on policy-makers, this article identifies the many ways in which education research influences policy. The author proposes that the uses of education research should be acknowledged in a research quality assessment process such as the ERA. If the policy influence of education research is not recognised under the new ERA, there is a risk that a narrow suite of indicators will be developed that does not capture the breadth and complexity of education research's impact on policy.
Unfinished but Not Yet Exhausted: A Review of Australian Middle Schooling
Authors: Prosser Brenton
Published: March 2013

The state of Middle Schooling in many Western countries has been described as under threat, at a crossroads and like a wasteland. Within Australia, it has also been claimed that the past generation focus on Middle Schooling is unfinished and exhausted. But a Middle Schooling movement continues in Australia that provides examples of a way out of a state of arrested development. This article explores the Australian situation in the light of past literature and research, before detailing the potential contributions of a current Australian Research Council project in the area of Middle Schooling. The article argues that, while Middle Schooling may be down in many nations, it is far from down and out, and an Australian perspective has much to offer the Middle Schooling movement internationally.
Social Class, Identity and the ‘Good’ Student: Negotiating University Culture
Authors: Pearce Jane , Down Barry , Moore Elizabeth
Published: March 2013

Through the use of narrative portraits this paper discusses social class and identity, as working-class university students perceive them. With government policy encouraging wider participation rates from under-represented groups of people within the university sector, working-class students have found themselves to be the objects of much research. Working-class students are, for the most part, studied as though they are docile bodies, unable to participate in the construction of who they are, and working-class accounts of university experiences are quite often compared to the middle-class norms. This paper explores how working-class students see themselves within the university culture. Working-class students' voices and stories form the focus of this paper, in which the language of ‘disadvantage’ is dealt with and the ideologies of class identity explored.
Attendance, Achievement and Participation: Young Carers' Experiences of School in Australia
Authors: Moore Tim , McArthur Morag , Morrow Ros
Published: March 2013

Schools play an important part in the lives of children and young people who have caring responsibilities for a family member with an illness, disability, alcohol or other drug problem or mental health condition but many of these ‘young carers’ report difficulty in attending, achieving and participating in education. This qualitative research project aimed to gather young carers' views about school, the challenges they face in engaging with education and their peers, and ways that the system might better support others like them. It found that significant caring responsibilities, a lack of appropriate and responsive support services to meet family needs and a lack of awareness and understanding within the education system significantly reduced young carers' capacity to fully engage with their learning. Young carers in the study called for more assistance in caring for their relatives, more flexibility and responsiveness to their home lives within the design and delivery of education, and better processes for identifying and responding to the challenges they encounter in participating in the life of the school community.
Career Pathways of Science, Engineering and Technology Research Postgraduates
Authors: Giles Marnie , Ski Chantal , Vrdoljak Davorin
Published: March 2013

Suitably qualified scientists and engineers are essential for research and development, innovation and, in turn, the growth of the economy. Science, engineering and technology skills are therefore necessary for Australia to remain competitive in a global market. This article reports findings from a nationwide study investigating the career pathways of science, engineering and technology research postgraduates. The study found that one-third of science, engineering and technology postgraduates travelled overseas to secure employment due to a lack of job security and poor generic ‘employability’ skills. Gender discrimination in these traditionally male-dominated fields was experienced to a far greater degree by women than by men. The study identified the need to explore further the links between industry and academia and to invest strategically in science, engineering and technology in higher education to create opportunities for early career researchers.
Curriculum Policy in South Australia since the 1970s: The Quest for Commonality
Authors: Collins Cherry , Yates Lyn
Published: March 2013

This article is drawn from a study of curriculum policy thinking and agendas in Australia over the past four decades, and sets out to describe and discuss some particular emphases and agendas in South Australia at that overarching curriculum policy level. It argues that, although significant changes are apparent over that time, in South Australia there has been also an evident continuity of perspective that persists through a number of different iterations of policy and national agenda, and that also explains something of the path curriculum policy has taken. The paper identifies three ongoing concerns: a prioritising of social justice; a focus on the individual student and his or her development; and a quest for a commonality of curriculum provision with an alternative to academic subjects as its core foundation. Over the period studied, an important aspect of the quest for commonality is a move away from a conception of the secondary curriculum as primarily being about students acquiring content knowledge to one of students being able to manage procedural knowledge and act in particular ways.
Junior Secondary Students' Perceptions of Influences on Their Engagement with Schooling
Authors: Sullivan Peter , Mornane Angie , Prain Vaughan , Campbell Chris , Deed Craig , Drane Sue , Faulkner Michael , McDonough Andrea , Smith Caroline
Published: March 2013

Various explanations and solutions have been proposed over the last decade in relation to the implications of students' apparent lack of engagement with middle years schooling in Australia. This article reports on responses to a questionnaire by 333 Year 8 students (aged about 13, in the second year of high school) on perceptions of factors relating to their engagement with the academic curriculum. While the majority of students reported a strong sense of the importance of, and opportunities in, schooling, and saw English, mathematics and science connected to those opportunities, this orientation was not matched by corresponding positive engagement with these same subjects. There was diversity in the responses of students, and it is recommended that schools take steps to identify individual students' perceptions of factors influencing their engagement, and where appropriate, deal with those perceptions.
Art Education and the National Review of Visual Education
Authors: Lee Alan
Published: March 2013

The recently completed review of visual education, First we see, makes recommendations that contrast sharply with most traditional forms of art teaching in Australian schools. Although the review implicitly stands against a narrow conception of a visual education founded on artistic and aesthetic concerns, I argue that the concept of ‘visuacy’ that the review offers as a complement to literacy and numeracy is misconceived as an educational objective. Theories of art education today derive from a history of ideas about creativity and self-expression, while classroom practice is dominated by the uncritical imitation of the contemporary adult art world. The confusion of values shows most acutely in the way visual arts education culminates at Year 12 level with students being recruited into a large-scale art competition that lacks an educational justification even though it wins wide public approval.
The Enduring Appeal of ‘Learning Styles’
Authors: Scott Catherine
Published: March 2013

Individualism is the dominant value system in Western cultures and, as such, it affects the conduct of every aspect of human endeavour, including education. One of the most enduring effects on education has been the search for individual differences that can explain and predict variation in student achievement, with the hope that pedagogical methods can be designed that will capitalise on these. ‘Learning styles’ remain a popular choice for filling this role and the number of models of learning styles on offer continues to proliferate. Research conducted over the last 40 years has failed to show that individual attributes can be used to guide effective teaching practice. That ‘learning styles’ theory appeals to the underlying culture's model of the person ensures the theory's continued survival, despite the evidence against its utility. Rather than being a harmless fad, learning styles theory perpetuates the very stereotyping and harmful teaching practices it is said to combat.
Connecting Intellectual Projects in China and Australia: Bradley's International Student-Migrants, Bourdieu and Productive Ignorance
Authors: Singh Michael
Published: March 2013

Ignorance is a potentially powerful conceptual tool for analyses of pedagogies for internationalising Australian education. Ignorance typically has a negative connotation but, in this paper, knowledge and ignorance are seen as intermingling productively, with ignorance stimulating the production of knowledge, in turn creating new fields of ignorance. Bourdieu's work is illustrative of and contributes to analysis of this complex interplay of knowledge and ignorance. Pedagogically, teacher ignorance may engage international students from China in connecting intellectual projects between Australia and their homeland.
Regenerating Rural Social Space? Teacher Education for Rural—Regional Sustainability
Authors: Reid Jo-Anne , Green Bill , Cooper Maxine , Hastings Wendy , Lock Graeme , White Simone
Published: March 2013

The complex interconnection among issues affecting rural—regional sustainability requires an equally complex program of research to ensure the attraction and retention of high-quality teachers for rural children. The educational effects of the construction of the rural within a deficit discourse are highlighted. A concept of rural social space is modelled, bringing together social, economic and environmental dimensions of (rural—regional) sustainability. This framework combines quantitative definitional processes with more situated definitions of rural space based on demographic and other social data, across both geographic and cultural formations. The implications of the model are examined in terms of its importance for teacher education.
Coping with the Threat of Closure in a Small Finnish Village School
Authors: Karlberg-Granlund Gunilla
Published: March 2013

Working in a small school threatened with closure creates a certain kind of teacher vulnerability. By analysing one teacher's story, this article contributes to understanding how teachers cope with the external and internal challenges of teaching and leadership in small rural schools. Research about teachers' work in a small village school in Finland, where about 100 schools have been closed each year, explores how discovery of and reflection on the solid moral base of being a teacher may contribute to and promote the teacher's endurance during times of change. A teacher validates pedagogical thinking and practical knowledge into a contextual, temporal and moral interpretive framework. In doing so, a teacher evaluates the choice to remain in the same school for almost all their career and reveals reasons for staying—a topic that is of interest in research about retaining teachers in rural areas.
‘Go Boldly, Dream Large!’: The Challenges Confronting Non-Traditional Students at University
Authors: Munro Lyle
Published: March 2013

This article examines the challenges facing non-traditional university students—and to a lesser extent their lecturers in ‘the stretched academy’—who are increasingly enrolling in university courses in Australia and elsewhere. The article looks at this issue from the perspective of non-traditional students at a regional campus in Victoria. These students include many from disadvantaged backgrounds and those who do not conform to the conventional idea of the Australian university student. Typically, for most of the postwar period, the traditional university student was a recent graduate from high school with good grades and enrolled full-time. Most importantly, such students came predominantly from high socio-economic backgrounds that equipped them with the kind of cultural capital that provides a head start in the academic environment. By contrast, non-traditional university students of the last two decades or so are a much more diverse cohort consisting of large numbers of full-fee-paying international students, older, mature-age students studying mainly on a part-time basis by distance education, and increasing numbers of domestic students who only in recent times have aspired to a university education. Many of these latter students are ostensibly full-time but in reality spend more time in paid part-time jobs than they do on campus. These ‘student-workers’ are the main focus of this article because it is the dual role of the undergraduate as worker and scholar that is of concern to university personnel especially in the context of the widening participation agenda of the federal government. Such students are compelled to support themselves in term-time employment, which inevitably affects their commitment to study and consequently their academic prospects. The article concludes with the suggestion that slogans such as those in the title are misleading if they are not accompanied by financial incentives and a more inclusive curriculum that acknowledges the study-work challenges facing non-traditional university students.
Teachers' Views on the Impact of Classroom Management on Student Responsibility
Authors: Roache Joel , Lewis Ramon (Rom)
Published: March 2013

This article examines teachers' views of their management styles, classified as either ‘coercive’ or ‘relationship’ -based, for 145 primary and 363 secondary school teachers in Victoria, Australia. It finds that management that combines punishment with aggressive and hostile behaviour can exacerbate misbehaviour and increase student distraction. In contrast a combination of rewards and punishments, set in a context of discussion, validation of appropriate behaviour, involvement and trust, will encourage student responsibility and reduce misbehaviour. This study seeks to extend upon a 2001 study that reported generally similar findings from the reports of 3500 students attending the same schools as the teachers whose views are reported in this article. The discussion considers the most effective management strategies for reducing student misbehaviour and distraction, comparing both students' and teachers' views, as well as techniques that increase student responsibility and protection of rights, emphasising techniques and strategies that involve the use of recognition and rewards.
An Australian Science Curriculum: Competition, Advances and Retreats
Authors: Aubusson Peter
Published: March 2013

Science schooling enjoys high status. Scientific capability is perceived as critical in underpinning economic success in advanced societies. Science achievement, at all levels, has become a global competition in which nations want to be seen to triumph. Governments periodically pay close attention to science education with a view to ensuring it does its work for our society and that we perform in the international contest. This is a mixed blessing, because, while it provides occasional injections of funds, it also brings intrusive scrutiny, criticism and demands for change. Typically there are calls for better science, more scientists and a more scientifically literate society. Consequently, from time to time, ideal outlines for school science are generated for translation into curriculum. This article briefly locates the Australian science curriculum in this broad context of science education. It then reports analyses of conversations with leaders in science education research from five Australian states. These explore curriculum development and implementation, strengths and weaknesses of the Australian science curriculum, and missed and realised opportunities. This leads to a conclusion that describes alternative future school science scenarios.
Can History Succeed at School? Problems of Knowledge in the Australian History Curriculum
Authors: Gilbert Rob
Published: March 2013

Successful curriculum development in any school subject requires a clear and established set of elements: agreed and widely appreciated goals; effective criteria for the selection of important knowledge content; and an explicit and well-integrated explanatory base for authentic problem-solving related to the subject goals. The article shows that the history discipline faces particular challenges in meeting these requirements. The diversity of approaches to history complicates the task of establishing consensus around a clear set of goals. Its association in popular discourse with facts and narrative predisposes history to a descriptive approach, and is not helpful in clarifying the foundational ideas on which historical explanation is based. The article considers each of these issues and the extent to which they are resolved in the development of the Australian history curriculum. It concludes that these issues remain a challenge that could put at risk high-quality curriculum outcomes in history.
The Philosophical Vacuum in Australian Education
Authors: Balson M.
Published: March 2013

As we look upon life so we teach. What we believe, the loyalties to which we hold, subtly determine the content and the method of our teaching. Each of us has a philosophy whether or not he has thought it through and definitely phrased it. Everything we say and do as well as what we think reflects that philosophy.
The New England Diploma in Education Student: 1968–70
Authors: Lett W. R.
Published: March 2013

A survey of trainee teachers' attitudes to teaching and to training is reported for a three-year sample of trainees at the University of New England. Retrospective attitudes to teaching indicate that only a third of intending teachers have a definite wish to teach at the time of recruitment and at the time training commences. At the conclusion of training about half plan to leave teaching as soon as possible. Sex differences in attitudes and MTAI scores are reported. The need for a training format to deal with trainee attitudes is stressed, and the unseasonability of recruitment policies is explored as an aspect of negative attitudes in trainees.
The Reliability, Discrimination and Difficulty of Word-Knowledge Tests Employing Multiple Choice Items Containing Three, Four, or Five Alternatives
Authors: Hogben Donald
Published: March 2013

The multiple-choice item found on standardized and teacher-made tests typically requires the examinee to choose among either four or five alternative answers. The present study offers some evidence favouring three-option over four-option items.

Word knowledge tests containing three, four, and five-option items were developed and administered to pupils in ten upper primary classes from schools in the Adelaide metropolitan area. In each of the classes, item discrimination was better and reliability was higher for the three-option test compared to the test employing four-option items. The five-option test was also superior to the four-option test. Differences between the three and five-option tests on reliability and item discrimination were not significant.
The Occupational Background of Intending Teachers
Authors: McKevitt Owen , Douglas Graham
Published: March 2013

Knowledge of occupational origins from which teachers are recruited may influence decision-making by recruitment officers. For administrators, it may provide guidelines to understanding teachers' perceptions of their role, of students and the school. The authors examined occupational origins of bonded students proceeding, in 1970 and 1971, to the University of Western Australia through Secondary Teachers' College. Data show that teaching attracts, especially, sons and daughters of teachers, along with those of a limited number of other workers also categorized by the Commonwealth Bureau of Census and Statistics as ‘professional, technical and related workers’. Teaching apparently fails to attract even moderate numbers from homes of other important professional workers, including medical and dental practitioners, lawyers, non-pharmaceutical chemists, physicists, geologists, biologists, veterinarians and agronomists.
An Economic Approach to Teacher Loss and Retention
Authors: Smith C. Selby
Published: March 2013

In the late 1960's the imbalance between the supply and demand for teacher services was fundamental to the problems of Australian education. This article outlines an analytical framework which helps in understanding some important features of that imbalance.

The paper comes to three main conclusions: that high levels of teacher resignation were probably a rational response to the conditions governing their recruitment and the level and career structure of their earnings; that if resignation rates for teachers are to be reduced in a full employment labour market, changes are required in their salary structure and career prospects; and that the statistical data available on a consistent national basis are seriously inadequate for satisfactory economic analysis.
Coercion and Teaching
Authors: Hobson P. R.
Published: March 2013

The question this paper attempts to answer is whether coercion can ever be a method of teaching. After an analysis of the concepts of coercion and teaching, it goes on to argue that coercion can never be a method of “teaching that” or “teaching how to” (i.e. teaching facts or skills) but can on occasion be a method of “teaching to” (where this involves the teaching of habits or dispositions). The latter has implications for moral and social training in early childhood. The only exception to these conclusions arises in the unusual case of teaching about coercion itself where special considerations apply.

In general, then, the conclusion is that coercion and teaching are fundamentally distinct processes because they have different aims and only coincide in those cases where the aim of the teacher is simply to produce certain behaviour in the learner regardless of whether this involves knowledge or skill.
The Politics of Education: Development and Literature, Problems, Possibilities
Authors: Harman G. S.
Published: March 2013

The politics of education is a very new field of research specialization, both in education and political science. The main developments to date have been in the United States, but there is a growing interest in the field in a number of countries including Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand. As with any new field, the politics of education faces a variety of problems. But on the other hand it promises not only to increase our understanding of educational and political systems but to provide substantial help in tackling current pressing problems in education, particularly in the areas of educational management and decision-making processes.
The Effect of a Single Success or Failure Experience on Test Anxiety: A Replication
Authors: Stanton H. E.
Published: March 2013

One hundred and seventy-eight form 1 high school students completed the Test Anxiety Scale for Children [TASC] and the Self-Concept Scale for Children [SCSC] both before and after taking a vocabulary test. Half the students experienced success in this test; the other half experienced failure. Comparison of students' TASC scores indicated that the success group recorded a lower test-anxiety score on the posttest than they had done on the pretest, while the failure group's TASC score had shown an increase. No such change was observed when SCSC scores were compared. The implications of these findings are discussed.
Effect of Prequestions on Control of Attention in Written Instruction
Authors: Watts Graeme H.
Published: March 2013

It was predicted that varying the kind of prequestion asked would differentially affect the inspection behaviour of students reading a given passage. Primary school pupils (80 5th and 6th graders) read a short passage after being asked either a specific, general, or integrative question. A no-question control group also read the passage before all subjects attempted a multiple choice test. Consistent with previous findings, a specific prequestion most effectively focussed attention on particular points. General prequestions ostensibly referred the reader to more of the passage, but it can be inferred from test data that there was no advantage from this spread of attention unless the extra information was organized or ‘integrated’. The results were interpreted in terms of control of attention to critical stimuli.
The Effects of Practice Teaching on Professional Self-Image
Authors: Coulter Frank
Published: March 2013

The effects of initial practice teaching on the self-conceptions of 50 Monash University Diploma in Education students were measured over a pretest—posttest interval of five weeks. Significant declines were recorded on three of the four dimensions of professional self-image measured: orderliness, happiness and warmth. No declines were recorded for aspirational or ideal self, or for actual self. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to investigate whether declines in professional self-image were associated with a number of factors which contributed to the degree of difficulty associated with the initial practice teaching assignment. Grade level and subject area taught, each accounted for a significant proportion of the variance in posttest scores when other variables were held constant.
Attitudes and Abilities of Co-Operative Students
Authors: Davie Robert S. , Russell James K.
Published: March 2013

The extensive development of co-operative (sandwich) education overseas is compared to the slight Australian experience. The claim, that the integration of academic and work experience required in such courses, materially assists students in achieving greater development is investigated by surveying students and ex-students, employers and academic staff and by analysis of academic performance.

By comparison with the full-time student, the co-operative student is seen to gain in social and academic maturity and in technical preparedness for his role as a graduate. Analyses of examination results over a nine year period show a significant improvement, after exposure to industrial experience, both by comparison with the previous performance and by comparison with equivalent full-time student performance. It is concluded that the wide-scale adoption of co-operative programes in Australia is highly desirable and that government support for their introduction should be made available.
Observations of Problem-Solving by Engineering Students
Authors: Lewis W. P.
Published: March 2013

The educational objectives of professional courses at tertiary level are usually stated in terms of (a) imparting knowledge and (b) developing problem-solving skills. In engineering, however, little empirical research has been undertaken into the problem-solving skills of either students or professionals.

The paper examines the responses of second and third year engineering students in the University of Melbourne to a number of open-ended exercises which tap problem-solving skills in engineering design. The results show two major features of interest. First, an extremely wide variety of student response was observed, and secondly, there was little correlation between the students' problem-solving skills and their academic record. The educational implications of these findings are discussed.
Open Education: Characteristics, Definition Difficulties, Evaluation Issues and Problems
Authors: Hogben Donald
Published: March 2013

There is no agreed-upon systematic theory upon which open education rests. Nevertheless, in spite of the variation in style and practice that does exist, it is possible to identify certain assumptions and beliefs about children and about learning that generally characterize the position.

An attempt is made to clarify the notion of open education and to contrast it with other orientations by drawing upon recent overseas writing and research. Research comparing ‘open’ and ‘traditional’ classrooms is described, the findings and some criticisms discussed.

Some of the theoretical issues and practical problems associated with curriculum evaluation in general are explored, and the implications for the evaluation of open education programs touched upon.