57 research outputs found
Sh-h-h-h : Representations of perpetrators of sexual child abuse in picturebooks
Childrenâs picturebooks dealing with the topic of child sexual abuse first appeared in the early 1980s with the aim of addressing the need for age-appropriate texts to teach sexual abuse prevention concepts and to provide support for young children who may be at risk of or have already experienced sexual abuse. Despite the apparent potential of childrenâs picturebooks to convey child sexual abuse prevention concepts, very few studies have addressed the topic of child sexual abuse in childrenâs literature. Based on a larger study of 60 picturebooks about sexual child abuse published over the past 25 years, this paper critically examines eight picturebook representations of the perpetrators of sexual child abuse as a way to understand how potentially dangerous adults are explained to the young readers of these texts
Teaching in a nutshell: navigating your teacher education program as a student teacher [Book Review]
Teacher education programs bridge the interests of two worlds - the world of educational theory and the world of teaching practice. Despite teacher educatorsâ best attempts to convince pre-service teachers that theory and practice are linked, it is often during their practicum placements when pre-service teachers claim that their ârealâ learning takes place. It is also on practicum when students teachers face (and are surprised by) the âextensive decision-making role of the teacher, the emotional aspects of teaching, and the sheer volume of workâ (p.4). Kosnick and Beckâs new book Teaching in a Nutshell utilises the authorsâ extensive research with beginning teachers to help students ânavigateâ their way through their programs. Identifying what they have found in their research to be the seven key priorities for teachers, each chapter follows a helpful structure beginning with an overview of current thinking in the priority area, followed by a case study of a beginning teacher showing how s/he implements the strategy..
'They Don't Know Us, What We Are': An Analysis of Two Young Adult Texts with Arab-Western Protagonists
Since 9/11, when Arabs in the West found themselves under suspicion, the way Arabs could be portrayed in Young Adult fiction has become complicated. This paper will look at two examples of this fiction to explore the difficult position characters in these texts now find themselves in. The short story 'Alone and All Together' (Geha 2002) is written by an Arab-American author. In it, Labibeh and her sister must negotiate their relationship with America both by maintaining their Arab identification in the days after 9/11 whilst at the same time proving that they are real and loyal Americans. Similarly, in the Young Adult novel Does My Head Look Big in This (Abdel-Fattah 2005) authored by a self-proclaimed 'Australian-born-Muslim-Palestinian- Egyptian-choc-o-holic' writer, a young Muslim girl must contend with racism and misunderstanding at her private school in Melbourne when she decides to wear the hijab. As in the first text, she too must prove her status as a 'normal' Western girl while at the same time proudly maintaining her commitment to Islam. This delicate balance does not come easily for any of these characters, nor is it without sacrifice as the protagonists negotiate their cultural identities in acceptable ways
Performing Difference: Young Adult Fiction Post September 11
Ethnicity and race in children's books about September 1
Steering (towards a post Apology Australia) without a rudder
After Kevin Ruddâs Apology to Indigenous Peoples after his election as Prime Minister in 2008 the climate was hopeful with many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women (and non-Indigenous women, too) breathing a sigh of relief that the disastrous effects of White Australiaâs government policies had at last been symbolically, publicly and officially acknowledged. There was also, though, skepticism about the ârealâ change this Apology might have for Indigenous Australians. Many of us wondered if the Apology would make any difference at all in the ârealâ world, where the gaps between non-Indigenous and Indigenous Australians is still so glaringly apparent in areas such as health, education, housing and employment
Addressing quality teaching in hard-to-staff settings: The exceptional teachers for disadvantaged schools project
This Exceptional Teachers for Disadvantaged Schools (ETDS) project sets out to design a new model of Australian teacher education responding to recent demands for quality education in low SES and disadvantaged schools. The project moves teacher education from the âmissionaryâ (Larabee, 2010) or deficit (Comber and Kamler 2004; Flessa, 2007) approaches, towards a focus on notions of quality and academic excellence. Rice (2008, p.1) argues for a need to place more of the âvery best teachers into the most challenging schoolsâ, yet the problem is not merely one of training more teachers, for disadvantaged schools already receive disproportionate numbers of beginning teachers (Connell, 1994; Vickers & Ferfolja, 2006). Rather, Grossman and Loeb (2010, p. 245) argue the problem centers on the common practice of â[p]lacing the least experienced teachers with the most needy studentsâ. This paper reports on the first year trial of the project. The ETDS project is at present, the only mainstream Australian teacher education model that targets cohorts of academically high achieving pre-service teachers with the overt aim of preparing graduates of the program to teach in disadvantaged schools. At the end of its first year, the ETDS program graduated 20 new teachers, each of whom had over the previous 18 months engaged with a specialized curriculum and carefully monitored/scaffolded practicum placements in disadvantaged schools around Brisbane, Australia
Teacher Education and the Targeting of Disadvantage
This paper outlines the Exceptional Teachers for Disadvantaged Schools (ETDS) project which began in June 2010 with the aim of developing and documenting an Australian university-based teacher education program specifically focusing on the preparation of high quality teachers for the disadvantaged school sector. ETDS constitutes a novel model of teacher education targeting disadvantaged schooling in that the selection of participating pre-service teachers has been based on their proven academic performance over the first 2 years of their 4-year Bachelor of Education degree. ETDS has established a modified curriculum that better supports the on-campus training of this cohort while also targeting the role of field experience within partner disadvantaged school settings. This paper offers a rationale for the model, unpacks its various phases and provides a justification of the modelâs selection criteria based on high academic achievement
Exceptional teachers for disadvantaged schools
This article reports on the first year of the Exceptional Teachers for Disadvantaged Schools project, a teacher education approach designed to prepare high quality teachers for low socio-economic schools. The Exceptional Teachers for Disadvantaged Schools (ETDS) project is an innovative way to prepare high-quality teachers for employment in low-SES schools. The program, based at Queensland University of Technology (QUT), offers a specialised curriculum, designed to equip high-achieving pre-service teachers for work in the schools that need them most. Selected pre-service teachers at QUT are invited to take part in the trial course, based on their academic performance over the first two years of their four-year Bachelor of Education degree, and on a demonstrated commitment to social justice. These participants undertake a modified version of QUT's B Ed on-campus curriculum. They have their practicum/field experience at one of a range of disadvantaged schools throughout Queensland which have agreed to partner with QUT in the program. In the past, teacher education for disadvantaged schools has been described as applying a 'missionary' or deficit model (Larabee, 2010; Comber and Kamler, 2004; Flessa, 2007). The principals of schools participating in the ETDS react strongly against such an approach, and have explicitly asked project staff not to send them anyone who 'thinks they can save the world'. The ETDS project has moved well away from such a model, towards a position that is explicitly centred on notions of academic excellence. The project is now at the end of its first trial year
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