Graduate teachers’ sense of belonging anchored in experiences of preservice internships and employability

Within initial teacher education (ITE), there is a complex and dynamic relationship between the theoretical content delivered within university settings and the practical components experienced within schools. Strengthening the nexus between the two represents the ongoing work of teacher educators and an ongoing challenge for pre-service teachers. Extended teaching internships (e.g., of 12 months duration) provide opportunities to develop pre-service teachers’ knowledge through classroom application. These extended professional experience components are justified through how they facilitate entry into the profession and support graduate teachers’ traction within the early career phase – an outcome commonly referred to in Australian policy and public discourse as being ‘classroom-ready’. This mixed-methods research presents findings from an examination of a year-long internship. Through surveys and interviews, graduates shared their experiences and perspectives of what they gained from their involvement. Drawing on conceptual tools of community of practice and pillars of the Framework of Conditions Supporting Early Career Teacher Resilience, the analysis identified participants’ sense of belonging and employability as regular and significant outcomes of the internship. Participants reported feeling a sense of belonging to their internship school colleagues and to teaching, explaining this as an influential factor to graduate employment, early career traction and pathways that carried them beyond the early career phase. These findings have implications for the priorities and outcomes pursued through extended internships, especially during a time where employment-based internships are burgeoning. Further long-term research is needed to understand the extent of impact of extended internships on career trajectories and continuity

Pre-service teachers’ experiences of learning grammar to support EAL/D learners

In South Australia, pre-service teachers require a sound knowledge of grammar to deploy the Learning English: Achievement and Proficiency (LEAP) Levels, an assessment, monitoring and reporting tool designed to inform programming and planning for English as an Additional Language and Dialect (EAL/D) students. However, research shows that many pre-service teachers do not have strong Metalinguistic Awareness (MA). In response, a series of five videos was produced to explicitly teach pre-service teachers the grammar needed to deploy LEAP, titled: A beginner’s guide to functional grammar. This article reports on the experiences of those pre-service teachers working with these instructional videos. Quantitative data were gleaned from pre- and post- quizzes that sought to test pre-service teachers’ (n=28) knowledge of grammar. Overall, the scores on the pre- and post-quiz results demonstrate a statistically significant difference, with a marked increase of five-point-five points on a 28-point scale following their engagement with the videos. Ultimately, this article reports on the success of teaching strategies used to increase pre-service teachers’ knowledge of certain areas of grammar, and points to future directions for working with and supporting EAL/D students through LEAP

Digital badges: Pinning down employer challenges

Digital badges hold considerable potential for employers and recruiters, as they evidence accomplishments of skills and competencies at a more granular level than a traditional degree certificate. Badges are a validated, online graphical representation of an achievement, which is accomplished by undertaking criteria-based learning activities. Despite the established educational benefits of badges in higher education, limited research has been conducted into employer awareness, acceptance, and use of digital badges in recruitment practices. To address this research gap, a mixed method study combining quantitative and qualitative data collection was conducted before and during the COVID-19 health pandemic. Approximately 700 employers were emailed and invited to complete the initial survey and 73 responded. One of the major survey findings is that 97% of respondents were unfamiliar with the concept of digital badges. Significantly, however, despite the lack of employer awareness there was no widespread resistance to the concept of badges, but a strong appeal for further clarification of their value, credibility, and security. Analysis of the data reveals stronger partnership working, between the higher education sector and employers, is pivotal to establish effective digital credentialing systems. Recommendations for higher education institutions have emerged from this study, which aim to balance pedagogical digital badge practice with employer needs. Such synergies are crucial to address the changing skills agenda, to prepare students to thrive in physical and virtual work environments. Given the paucity of research in this field, further studies are warranted, to investigate the impact of digital badges on the employer community

“Physically present, but emotionally present, too”: Graduates of Colour developing emotional intelligence as student employees

Despite a robust body of literature related to how institutions of higher education help prepare students for the workforce after graduation, little research has explored the lived experiences of Students of Colour as they reflect on their undergraduate employment as it relates to their development of marketable skills. Moreover, no studies have engaged with Graduates of Colour to understand whether they developed emotional intelligence as undergraduate student employees. To fill a considerable gap in the literature, this qualitative study, framed by Salovey and Mayer’s (1990) model of emotional intelligence, explored the undergraduate student affairs (student support) employment experiences of 12 Graduates of Colour (now professionals) to understand how they developed emotional intelligence to be more successful employees and leaders in their respective workplaces. The findings suggest Graduates of Colour developed all four tenets of emotional intelligence during their undergraduate employment experience, with direct impacts on their work in their careers. Implications for research and practice in universities are discussed

Persona & Parrhesia: Research Notes on the Dialectics of the Real

If reality is socially established through practices that, directly or indirectly, depend on communication and therefore on some notion of truth, the idea of a post-truth communicative regime or “age” may seem not only bizarre but also worrying. The dissolution of the real, announced by the prophets of postmodernism in the form of either a “perfect crime” or a “liquid reality”, has been interpreted as the effect of the crisis of truth and legitimation that Jean-François Lyotard (1982) referred to with his notions of “performativity” and “legitimation by force”. From this perspective, reality depends upon truth, and the possibility of truth depends, in turn, on configurations of power that seem too elusive and ephemeral to be effectively engaged with in either theory or practice. In this paper, I mobilise the notions of parrhesia and persona in an effort to establish an alternative standpoint from which to discuss the epistemological and ontological implications of the postmodern condition and the crisis of truth associated with it. The main point can perhaps be summarised in the idea that, if the new regime of truth (or post-truth) relies on persona expressing the roles/characters compatible with it, the notion of parrhesia may gain a critical relevance for the normative evaluation of these personas and the social implications of their truth. Famously reintroduced by Michel Foucault (1999) in his analysis of truth and its discursive conditions, the notion of parrhesia has a heuristic potential that has not been fully exploited. While challenging the social construction of reality on practical grounds in fundamental ways, the digitalisation of social life also presents theoretical challenges, some of which can be addressed by the reconceptualisation of parrhesia in relation to the social role of the persona rather than the individual. In my paper, I present some preliminary research notes in this direction

Conceptualising Fan Persona

The entanglement of identity and performance within fandoms have been central components of fan studies, whether these fans are focused on sports, music, film, television, literature, celebrity, or something else. Their shared interest and investment in the fan object provide fans with common ground on which to build a collective identity, while the fan object can be a rich source of identity markers, from logos and colour schemes to moral values and philosophical positions. As argued by Busse and Gray in The Handbook of Media Audiences (2011, p. 426), being a member of a fandom facilitates “a particular identity that affects and shapes its members in ways beyond shared media consumption”.In this issue, we invited scholars to bring understandings of identity from fan studies into conversation with ideas of a strategic performance of self, extending existing work on fan personas from both within the Persona Studies journal and beyond. By doing so, we wished to explore how a ‘fan persona’ might be utilised by fans for specific purposes or in different interactions, or to frame individual perspectives, beliefs or interpretations within collective spaces

The Cyborgian Fairytale: Posthuman Hybridity in Young Adult Science Fiction

A complex blend of both biological and mechanical parts, the cyborg stands as a symbol for posthumanist philosophies. Originally conceived by Donna Haraway in her essay “A Cyborg Manifesto” (1985), the cyborg offers a critique of the dualistic humanist power structure and marks a shift towards a new posthuman ontology. As such, texts for young adults have the potential to unsettle the boundaries between human and non-human. Marissa Meyer’s Cinder (2012), a retelling of the fairytale Cinderella, presents teen readers with a relatable cyborg protagonist, Cinder, whose narration highlights oppression within her own fictional world and consequently reveals current inequalities within our own society. However, Cinder’s representation of heteronormative gender roles reveals that even texts that feature posthuman cyborg protagonists may inadvertently perpetuate the traditional power imbalance between the fairytale prince and the damsel in distress. 

Using cognitive behaviour therapy-based techniques for decreasing foreign language speaking anxiety and increasing confidence among EFL students: An intervention study

Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) is a common and proven way to treat anxiety. In language learning settings, CBT has been shown to remedy students’ anxiety and help them actively engage with a new language. However, research is inconclusive on how to best approach CBT-based interventions for language learning, and how to cater to students’ specific needs. To determine how to best develop CBT-based activities for the foreign language classroom, this study adapted a number of validated tools and activities to a Japanese university context to determine how students experience foreign language anxiety (FLA), and how a CBT-based intervention can remedy it. This qualitative intervention study describes the use of a questionnaire which includes scenarios that gauge how students experience FLA, and how they describe and manage their emotions. CBT-inspired activities were then implemented as an intervention with 87 students in 4 classes to help them reduce FLA, feel more positive about their skills, and become more confident about speaking English in class. At the beginning of the courses, a majority of respondents (N=69) reported having negative emotions regarding the questionnaire scenarios. After the CBT-based intervention, reflection journal questions and a final questionnaire showed that the intervention helped students develop a more positive view of their speaking abilities, especially with regard to making mistakes. This study shows how CBT activities can be developed and adapted to specific language learning contexts and provides recommendations for future practice

Developing allied health collaborative practice capability for contemporary healthcare landscapes: serendipitous and deliberate

Collaboration is key for success across multiple industries, including healthcare settings. In order to prepare students for contemporary and future healthcare landscapes, there is scope for higher education to embrace development of a range of capabilities for collaboration, including those that might be less visible and hard to measure. Using practice theories as a lens, this research explored collaboration in healthcare landscapes as ‘collaborative practice.’ Our research focussed on the preparation of allied health students for collaborative practice. As key contributors to collaborative models of healthcare, allied health professionals comprise a wide range of health professions, come from diverse origins and have a relatively flat hierarchical structure. This qualitative research informed by philosophical hermeneutics explored perceptions of allied health academics and students as people deeply entrenched in higher education and its role in enhancing employability. Our research found that capabilities for allied health collaborative practice are currently being deliberately and serendipitously developed. Deliberate development occurred across teaching strategies of case and problem-based learning and simulation-based scenarios. Serendipitous development largely occurred as part of work integrated learning (WIL). Use of practice theories highlighted how capabilities for collaborative practice, including the less-visible capabilities, can be more intentionally developed in allied health higher education. Educators and WIL supervisors are invited to reflect on their own practice and the roles they play in intentionally developing these capabilities with and for students. Further, including capabilities for collaborative practice as part of allied health registration and practice thresholds may help bring them into focus

Using 'Me in a Minute' to promote skills in articulating employability strengths

Evidence indicates that undergraduate students value the Me in a Minute video strategy as a mechanism for developing employability articulation skills. However, an in-depth analysis of students’ ability to create a Me in a Minute video that effectively articulates employability strengths has not been conducted. An assessed Me in a Minute module (assignment) was implemented in a third-year capstone subject within undergraduate non-specialist health science degrees to support students in developing their employability articulation skills. Module assessments included a preparatory mid-semester self-evaluation, a Me in a Minute video, and an end-semester reflection consisting of Likert-scale and open-ended responses. This study aimed to determine students’ ability to create an effective and professionally delivered Me in a Minute video, as well as student perceptions of their employability skills and the module activities. Student work (preparatory evaluation task, video and reflection) was analysed quantitatively and qualitatively. Mid-semester, students highly rated their discipline knowledge and skills, as well as their transferable skills and personal attributes. Analysis of videos showed that students had aptitude for drawing on relevant experiences but generally struggled to substantiate their claims with tangible evidence. Less than half of the videos were assessed to be professional artefacts. Despite these findings, students highly valued the module and felt the activities supported them in developing their ability to articulate employability strengths. In conclusion, the Me in a Minute video strategy is perceived positively by health science students, but further support is needed to help them develop skills in evidencing achievements and professional presentation