Navigating the muddy waters of the research into single sex class-rooms in co-educational middle years settings.

Establishing single sex classes within co-educational sites is an option that schools are again exploring. To date Australia has experienced three waves of interest in establishing single sex classes, the first focused on equitable education opportunities for girls, the second centered on boys' literacy and engagement and this current wave focuses on perceived difference between the sexes in co-educational classrooms. With the intersection of middle schooling movement, focusing on learner centered classrooms and current educational agendas aimed at improving student performance and measurable learning outcomes, it is understandable that schools are exploring such student grouping options. However, after thirty years of international research into the efficacy of single sex classes in co-educational settings, the results still remain unclear. This paper navigates the 'muddy waters' of this body of research and suggests a framework to help guide school communities through the decision-making process associated with considering single sex classes

Preparing to teach: Perceptions of graduate entry teacher education students

International reviews of teaching and teacher education have highlighted the importance of quality teachers in improving the outcomes of students. Teachers may enter the teaching profession through a variety of pathways. Currently in Australia, one pathway is through graduate entry teacher education programs in which people who already hold university degrees outside of education can undertake one-year formal teacher preparation programs. It may be argued that graduate entry teachers value add to the teaching profession as they bring with them a range of careers and wealth of experiences often beyond those of teachers who enter the profession through traditional four-year Bachelor of Education programs. This paper reports on a study that investigated the preparedness to teach of a group of graduate entry teacher education students as they prepared to exit from university and enter the teaching profession. The study concluded that this group of graduating teachers perceived that the field experience components in their formal teacher education programs contributed most to their beginning professional learning. The study revealed also that this group of graduating teachers sought further professional learning opportunities in the canonical skills of teaching. These findings may be used to inform the design of future teacher education programs

A way forward to managing the transition to professional practice for beginning teachers

The high attrition rate of beginning teachers in Australia and overseas is well-documented. This trend is easily understood as many beginning teachers enter the profession with little support or mentoring (Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST), 2002; Herrington & Herrington, 2004; Ramsey, 2000). Continual calls for more comprehensive approaches to teacher induction in which universities and employing bodies share the responsibilities of the transition to professional practice (House of Representatives Standing Committee on Education and Vocational Training, 2007) have, to date, largely been ignored. This paper reports on a trial project conducted at a university in south-east Queensland, Australia that addresses these shortfalls. The aim of the project is to facilitate and support the development of high quality teachers and teaching through an extended model of teacher preparation. The model comprises a 1+2 program of formal teacher preparation: a one-year teacher education course (the Graduate Diploma in Education), followed by a comprehensive two year program of workplace induction and ongoing professional learning tailored to meet graduate and employer needs. This paper reports on graduating students’ perceptions of their preparedness to teach as they transition from the Graduate Diploma in Education program to professional practice. The study concludes that innovative programs, including university-linked, ongoing professional learning support for teacher education graduates, may provide the way forward for enhancing the transition to practice for beginning teachers

Contesting lost ground for the middle years in Australia: Using the case study of Queensland

Over the past twenty years Australia has witnessed an extraordinary rise of the middle year’s movement. In more recent years, however, there is concern that middle years has fallen from the mainstream education agenda (Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth, 2011). At a national level, evidence of this fall can be seen in the new national curriculum frameworks where reference to middle years is significantly absent, such as The Shape of the Australian Curriculum Version 2.0, (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, 2010). Evidence of the fall at a state level can be seen in Queensland Government’s 2015 commencement of junior secondary, rather than middle years, as outlined in A Flying Start for Queensland children: Why year 7 will be part of high school from 2015 (Queensland Government, 2011a). This announcement came after the Queensland government had undertaken an extensive consultation period exploring the possible uptake of middle years at a systemic level. While some may argue that middle years practices can be seen to be embedded in both the national curriculum and the junior secondary reform – it is the fact that middle years practices and philosophies are implicitly embedded (hidden) rather than being made explicitly and systematically mainstreamed (broadly accepted), that causes us grave concern. As such, we argue that this is clear indication that the middle years are being marginalized from the overarching educational agendas in Australia

Committed Teachers, Passionate Teachers: The Dimension Of Passion Associated with Teacher Commitment and Engagement.

Teacher commitment has been identified as one of the most critical factors for the future success of education and schools (Huberman, 1993). Teacher commitment is closely connected to teachers’ work performance and their ability to innovate and to integrate new ideas into their own practice, absenteeism, staff turnover, as well as having an important influence on students’ achievement in, and attitudes toward school (Firestone, 1996; Graham, 1996; Louis, 1998; Nias, 1981; Tsui & Cheng, 1999). The traditional view of teacher commitment considers it to refer to external referents. However, there is a growing body of literature that draws a strong connection between teacher commitment and the very intimate element of passion for the work of teaching (Day, 2004; Elliott & Crosswell, 2001; Fried, 1995). This paper first discusses the traditional view of teacher commitment and then uses the findings from an Australian study to investigate the idea that an individuals’ personal passion for teaching is central to their on-going commitment to, and engagement with the profession. The level of teachers’ commitment is considered to be as a key factor in the success of current educational reform agenda as it heavily influences teachers’ willingness to engage in cooperative, reflective and critical practice. Thus, the findings of this paper are particularly significant for school leaders as they engage teachers in school initiatives and educational reform, and teachers themselves as they struggle to find a balance between the personal and the professional

Investigating pre-service teachers' perceptions of their preparedness to teach

The experiences of transition to the teaching profession have a significant impact on a teachers’ potential length of career, feelings of professional efficacy and the quality of performance in the classroom (Gore & Thomas, 2003). While the transition to practice is characterized by much expectation and excitement, it also a time of stress and uncertainty for many beginning teachers. As such, it is important to investigate this period of transition for beginning teachers. This paper explores graduate teachers perceptions of their personal ‘preparedness to teach’. The group is graduating from one Australian university, and the data is captured at the end of their teacher preparation programs,before they take up positions in schools. These graduating pre-service teachers are from one year graduate entry programs that include individual programs of early years, middle years and senior years. The key findings indicate that this group of graduating pre-service teachers are already engaged in some level of reflective practice and are actively seeking further professional learning to improve the practical aspects of their classroom teaching

What's missing in teacher education? A middle years perspective

Recently in Queensland a group of concerned educators raised a key question: What is missing in teacher education? The group of teacher educators, teachers, educational consultants and other significant stakeholders met in Warwick to interrogate the nature of teacher education with a view to reshaping the key constructs in the field for the future. It was agreed at this meeting, as it has been elsewhere, that there is a serious need to rethink pre-service teacher education programs in Queensland. Major employing authorities are currently engaging in curriculum and pedagogical reform. Further, the intensification of teachers' work has reached a point where all teacher education authorities are cognisant of the increasing numbers of teachers who are struggling to contend with what is expected of them from a myriad of stakeholders

Transitioning to practice across the professions: some lessons from the teaching profession

Across the professions, there is strong interest in the transition between graduation and early stages of professional practice. Our initial literature search revealed that this period of transition is significant to professions that include nursing, vets, midwives, financial planners, lawyers, occupational therapists, doctors as well as our particular area of interest - teachers. This importance is easy to understand for in these applied fields new graduates need to be competent in applying and synthesizing their theoretical content knowledge on a daily basis, often with limited supervision and mentoring (Goetz, Tombs & Hampton, 2005). As such, this transition period is of critical importance to the individual and their feelings of competence and early profession learning. An added layer for graduates in these professions during this transition/probation period is that they are also expected to have well-developed 'soft skills' such as communication, problem solving, and teamwork (Oblinger & Verville, 1998; Rao & Sylvester, 2000) in order to be effective in their roles

Student relationships: Democratic classrooms

Democratic classrooms are learning environments that move students from being mere “tourists,” to active and engaged “citizens” with a voice in their own learning community (Frieberg, 1996). The positive impact of creating a democratic learning environment on both academic learning and behavioural outcomes is well documented within the literature (Birch & Ladd, 1997; Deiro, 1996; Murray, 2002; Murray & Pianta, 2007; Pianta, 1999). The key question seems to be: How can this be achieved while still maintaining a classroom that is well managed, effective and inclusive of all learners? Historically, most classroom environments were founded on strong hierarchical structures that relied heavily on teacher control and authority. Democratic classroom models have moved to include students as collaborative partners in the learning environment and aim to involve students in classroom decisions such as: the establishment of classroom rules and expectations, their own learning and behaviour, classroom processes and planning for curriculum and assessment (Pryor, 2002, 2004). In such classrooms, the focus is on quality working relationships both between teacher and student and student with fellow students. In this chapter we will discuss the theoretical frameworks that support democratic classrooms and how these can be successfully applied to classroom practice