AbstractsTechnology: moving from no to yes
Volume 70
Number 6, May 2013
Some teachers remain reluctant to adopt technology in their classrooms. Tech-friendly teachers can encourage such colleagues to so adopt by suggesting 'easy-to-do first steps' which offer clear benefits for students' learning. One area in which teachers may make simple and effective use of online tools is in the engagement of students in reading and the improvement of their reading skills. For example, students may be required to use technology to develop and demonstrate their understanding of a passage of online text by highlighting key passages, or adding marginal comments. Another application of ICT is to facilitate the use of video in the classroom. The article lists a range of tools that serve as alternatives to Youtube, and other tools that enhance its use. Computer projectors and digital document cameras offer alternatives to transparencies and overhead projectors. Free blogging software offers a powerful way to encourage students to write, and demand little effort from the teacher. The teacher may create a class blog organised around a topic being studied in class, with students adding their own posts linking to the coursework they have completed on it, and commenting on peer contributions. A number of organisations offer online environments designed for student contributions. Examples include Library Thing for book reviews; the history site Timelines, on which students may add comments about past events; and the New York Times Student Opinion site, on which students 13 years old or above may comment on news stories. Other tools again offer feeds of new articles on a given topic, or aggregate news items into 'personalised newspapers'. A further set of tools is designed to help struggling readers. The subject area of geography is served by The Google World Wonders project, Google Street View for virtual field trips, while Stay.com allows students to organise their own virtual trips. A number of history-related sites offer animated maps, activities and animations, with audio support. There are also more general ways to encourage teachers to adopt technology, such as sharing one's own potentially relevant challenges and solutions, and developing deeper professional relationships with peers. KLA Subject HeadingsTechnological literacyTeaching and learning Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Professional development Performance and development as a driver of teacher and school improvement: lessons from the field
Number 130, April 2013
Teacher quality has received growing attention internationally. The OECD has been prominent in calling for the use of education standards as a way to improve teacher performance, and this concept has been adopted by AITSL in its Australian Teacher Performance and Development Framework. The Framework notes the need for teachers to receive feedback from varied sources, including student-performance results, observation of classroom practice, and responses received during collaboration with peers. The paper describes the teacher performance and development processes at five schools, captured as case studies by AITSL. At all these schools, teachers were involved in the processes. The processes were long-standing, having operated for at least two years. The processes enjoyed 'general if not complete support' from staff. The processes related directly to teaching practices. Teachers' classroom practice was de-privatised, opened to 'internal professional scrutiny'. The processes were initiated internally to each school, and driven by school leaderships. They all aligned to system requirements but went beyond those requirements. The starting point for these processes was not the development of individual performance plans for teachers, as is commonly the case for schools; rather, for each school the first step in establishing effective processes was to 'determine what good teaching looked like'. In some cases, criteria for good teaching were drawn from the schools' understanding of AITSL standards, the NSW Quality Teaching Framework or DEECD's e5 instructional model in Victoria. In two cases, schools' criteria were generated internally. A subtle but crucial feature of the processes was their focus on, and integration into, the practical application of teaching in concrete situations, rather than 'teacher performance decontextualised from the work'. The school leaderships driving these processes did not ignore teachers' non-teaching responsibilities, but these responsibilities were managed so as not to interfere with the focus on improving teaching practice. Formative feedback on teaching was another crucial characteristic of school processes. Feedback derived from classroom observations, student surveys, collaborative evaluation of student-achievement data, and from conversations with leaders and peers. KLA Subject HeadingsProfessional developmentTeacher evaluation Teaching and learning Educational planning Educational evaluation Teachers connecting with teachers
Volume 35
Number 1, 2013;
Pages 32–34
Teachers often have the potential to offer each other a great deal of professional advice and inspiration. St Aidan’s Anglican Girl’s School decided to make use of this potential by setting up a Great Ideas of Teaching (GIFT) committee and inviting teachers to join. Meeting monthly and open to both primary and secondary teachers, the committee was commissioned to generate ideas and suggest resources for teaching and teacher professional learning. Initially participants discussed issues of immediate significance to them, such as the use of ICT in the classroom and how to motivate disengaged students. They then decided to focus on particular topics each term. The first of these focus topics was how best to select students for group work. Individual committee members were assigned to interview other school staff and also students. The interviews were recorded on video. The committee also researched literature on the topic. A GIFT webpage on the school intranet presented the teacher interviews, a montage of student comments, professional readings and a ‘soap box discussion’ on the issue. Findings were also distributed through a newsletter distributed electronically and in print. Professional networking has increased throughout the school, and includes links between junior and senior school staff. Another initiative at the school, discussed and endorsed by GIFT, was the setting up of ‘pedagogical rounds’ allowing teachers to observe and discuss effective teaching. GIFT has maximised the use of the school’s professional learning budget by making efficient use of in-house resources. KLA Subject HeadingsProfessional developmentTeaching and learning Educational planning Educational evaluation Will my mum see this?: an exploration of video-assisted self reflection in the primary classroom
Volume 35
Number 1, 2013;
Pages 20–23
It is now well established that teachers and preservice teachers benefit from being able to discuss their teaching with those who have observed their classroom practice. A project has now examined whether the same process of self-reflection might be of benefit to primary students. The Inhouse Inquiry Project is a partnership between the Catholic Education Office (CEO) Lismore and the Centre for Children and Young People at Southern Cross University. For the project students in a year 6 class were asked to complete a survey immediately following a typical science lesson. The survey asked them to reflect on the quality of the lesson content and its delivery, their own learning, and their own classroom behaviour. A week later they viewed part of a videotaped recording of the lesson, after which they completed a second survey similar to the first. The second survey also asked students to think about the process of reflection in which they were engaged. The process was later repeated for two subsequent lessons, on ‘reading groups’ and then on religious education. During these three cycles students became increasingly detailed in their descriptions of behaviours that has helped or disrupted their learning during class. Initially their descriptions of disruptive behaviour focused on other students, but as the project progressed they began to reflect on their own behaviours and how they may have disrupted the learning of peers. The students’ classroom teacher observed that students were increasingly aware of how they were perceived by other students, and how these perceptions differed from those that they had imagined. Approximately one quarter of the students indicated ways in which they might alter their classroom behaviour, or the way they approached learning, in response to viewing the video clips. The proportion of students responding in this way remained relatively constant during the three cycles of the project, but the ideas that this minority of students articulated became increasingly detailed as time went on. Within this group there was a substantial majority of girls over boys. KLA Subject HeadingsProfessional developmentSchools Multimodal responses to literature in years 5–8: the Other worlds project
Volume 20
Number 3, October 2012;
Pages 52–64
The Other worlds project has provided resources to help students and teachers make use of Web 2.0 authoring tools for the creation of fiction and non-fiction in the middle years. The article authors – a consultant with the Priority Schools Program, and teachers in Western Sydney schools – describe how Other worlds resources were created by project participants at three schools, for use in years 5–8 English classes. The resources were used by the teachers' own students to plan, compose and publish their own multimodal texts. During the project, students were strongly engaged by the opportunity to write for authentic purposes to a wider online audience. There was concern, however, that students' online publishing could become 'digital busy work' without significant scaffolding from teachers. Participating teachers were therefore offered a sequence of steps to ensure purpose and rigour in students' work. The initial steps in this sequence called on teachers to analyse student-work samples; set a specific learning focus, eg 'use of vivid adjectives' during descriptive writing; create a writing task and model text via a Web 2.0 tool; and create an assessment rubric incorporating multimodal elements. Later steps called on teachers to provide students with supportive resources and to encourage students individually and collaboratively to edit and refine the multimodal texts they had created. Most multimodal texts are 'compressed narratives with a highly persuasive intent'. Teachers were encouraged to explore the nature of such texts with students, and to teach students explicitly about relevant aspects of narrative and of visual literacy, and discuss techniques used to persuade. An unanticipated outcome of the project was the opportunity it gave participating teachers to develop themselves as writers. The project involved the use of various Web 2.0 tools: Animoto, Glogster Edu, Mixbook, Museum Box, Prezi, ReadWriteThink and Storybird. The article describes the authors' individual experiences using some of these tools, and links to some of the resources created during the project. KLA Subject HeadingsMultimodal learningMultimedia systems Teaching and learning New South Wales (NSW) Socially disadvantaged A bold new math class
Volume 70
Number 6, March 2013;
Pages 28–31
The Khan Academy provides resources that facilitate new approaches to the teaching and learning of mathematics. The article describes how these resources have been applied at two US schools: Summit San Jose, a charter school, and Eastside College Preparatory, an independent school targeted to students who would be the first in their family to progress to tertiary education. The Khan Academy is usually associated with the videotaped lectures it offers. However, it also provides practice exercises, hints for students, and a knowledge map. When students are learning individually they can select the mix of these resources that works best for them, and can change the mix at any time. Students are also empowered by being able to access real-time data on their own academic progress, and to review the learning strategies that have proven most effective for them on any given topic. Such individual learning means that students develop at very varied rates: they may be years above or below their formal academic year level. At Eastside the idea of students moving at their own pace is now ingrained. However, more advanced students have proved willing to assist the less advanced, generating a good atmosphere while also assisting their own learning. Individual learning also encourages students to take responsibility for their own academic development, preparing them for higher studies and working life. Teachers are also able to use The Khan Academy resources flexibly, organising learning at the whole-class, small-group or individual levels according as they deem best. Several class groups may also be combined in one learning area. Key Learning AreasMathematicsSubject HeadingsMathematics teachingTeaching and learning Individualised instruction Video recordings in education Elearning Secondary students' mathematics homework beliefs and behaviours: a pilot study
Volume 32
Number 3, October 2012;
Pages 48–60
Homework is advanced as a means to strengthen school-home links, teach students to take personal responsibility and manage their time well. Detractors argue that homework fosters anxiety and resentment, generates tension in the home, and reduces time for recreational activities that are needed for physical, emotional and social wellbeing. A study has examined secondary students' beliefs and behaviours regarding maths homework. Researchers surveyed students in years 7–10 at one comprehensive metropolitan secondary school. The survey was sent to 256 students and was completed by 189 (110 boys and 79 girls). The study looked for evidence of possible disconnection between students' beliefs and behaviours about maths homework, and potential reasons for such disconnection. It also looked at how gender and self-concept may influence students' beliefs and behaviours. The study found that the students generally had positive views about the value of maths homework and the benefits of hard work. Despite these positive beliefs, four factors worked to block students from completing maths homework: 'general reluctance to do hard work', the academic difficulty of maths, competing demands on their time at home, and the perception of maths as boring. The results point to the need for homework to consist of quality tasks that can be accessed by all students. One way to implement this approach is to assign individual students different homework depending on their particular learning needs. The study also identified two groups particularly at risk of negative homework behaviours: boys, particularly when struggling with difficult homework; and students of either gender who had low self-concept (self-esteem in relation to the situation at hand). Both groups would benefit from a study-skills program that helps them study and revise, and minimise distractions in the home environment. Key Learning AreasMathematicsSubject HeadingsHomeworkMathematics teaching Secondary education How teacher turnover harms student achievement
Volume 50
Number 1, February 2013;
Pages 4–36
A number of studies have found a correlation between high turnover and low achievement, but this does not demonstrate a causal relationship; high turnover and low achievement may both be simply effects of a deeper, underlying cause. In fact, recent management literature has challenged the assumption that high teacher turnover works against student academic achievement. Proponents of this line of thought argue that turnover can result in better person-job matches and introduce new ideas. They also suggest that improvements can be achieved if the quality of new appointees surpasses that of those who are departing. A number of studies have found that less beneficial teachers are more likely to leave a school than high-performing peers, even in disadvantaged schools. Nevertheless, there are reasons to doubt the argument that turnover assists student achievement. Little research has been conducted as to the quality of teachers who replace departing teachers in a given school. There is, however, research to suggest that disadvantaged schools struggle to attract new teachers and 'end up hiring inexperienced and less-prepared teachers'. More generally, the issue does not depend only on the 'compositional' factor of the quality of individual teachers coming or going. It is also depends on the extent to which staff changes disrupt the school community and collegiality and trust between staff, how much organisational knowledge departs with those who leave, the financial cost of hiring new staff, and the burden of mentoring new staff, which tends to fall heaviest on the most effective teachers. A study has estimated the causal effects of teacher turnover on over 850,000 New York City students in grades 4 and 5. The study uses 'a unique identification strategy and two classes of fixed-effects regression models' to produce 'the cleanest estimates to date for a direct effect of teacher turnover on student achievement'. The study found that teacher turnover works to diminish student achievement throughout the school, even among students of teachers who remain, due to its generally disruptive impact. It also found that this causal impact was most pronounced in schools with more low-performing and black students. KLA Subject HeadingsTeachers' employmentTeaching profession Schools Science aspirations, capital, and family habitus: how families shape children's engagement and identification with science
Volume 49
Number 5, October 2012;
Pages 881–908
Evidence indicates that students' attitudes to the study of science are formed mainly between the ages of 10 and 14. Evidence also suggests that at age 10, students' interest in science is generally high, with little gender difference, but children's attitudes and aspirations regarding science have diverged substantially by age 14. The article reports on a study in England examining the influence of families in shaping students' science-related aspirations. It also examines how family factors may interact with gender and ethnicity. Researchers interviewed 78 parents and 92 grade 6 students, drawn from 11 schools representing a wide range of demographic profiles and regions. The study was part of a larger longitudinal study, the ASPIRES project. It was also informed by Bourdieu's concept of habitus, which asserts that people's social environment leads them to internalise certain dispositions which go on to shape the way that they makes sense of the social world. The results of the study suggest that parents' attitude to science played an important role in their children's aspirations concerning science, and was more influential than parents' general involvement in their child's schooling or their general aspirations for their children. Family responses to science, as they appeared in everyday life, eg through TV, books and casual conversation, were more important than 'structural' factors such as ethnicity. In the middle-class families, habitus, social capital and the child's identification with science aligned in favour of science, making science a more 'natural' area for study and potential careers than was the case for working-class families. Key Learning AreasScienceSubject HeadingsParent and childTeaching and learning Science There are no Conferences available in this issue. |