Direct instruction: It\u27s not \u27back to basics\u27

Research indicates that direct instruction has a large effect on student learning, so it is time that all educators understood exactly what it is and is not. The author looks at certain types of teaching practices and the effects these have on students\u27 achievement. Many teachers and teacher educators hold the view that facilitatory teaching - which includes so-called discovery learning, student-centred learning, problem-based learning and constructivist teaching methods - is superior and preferable to direct instruction, which has connotations of traditional teacher-centred learning. The author refutes this view. His and others\u27 work in the area of effective teaching has clearly demonstrated that the best teachers create and manage a learning environment that is both student-centred and teacher-directed. A key aspect of direct instruction is feedback, which shows students what they can and cannot do. For the teacher its main function is to inform her or him of the individual progress of each student and to inform a judgment for the teacher of his or her effectiveness to identify what needs to be done to improve student achievement. We now live in an age of evidence and teachers need to ask some hard question about what they do, why they do it, how they do it and what effects it has on student learning and development. [Author abstract, ed

Middle Schooling: What\u27s The Evidence?

Is middle schooling more effective than the traditional primary to secondary school structure? What happens in schools is more important than how they are arranged

International patterns of teacher discontent

This article reports the results of research into the career motivation and satisfaction of a sample of over 3,000 teachers and school administrators in four countries: Australia, New Zealand, England, and the USA. Using the participants\u27 own words, we explore the effects on educators of recent international educational change, understood here as a subcategory of more general social trends. Bourdieu\u27s concepts of the Right and Left Hands of the state are used to interpret the experience of teaching in a climate where, while more is expected and demanded of schools, and schools and teachers are scrutinised as never before, educational resources have become scarcer, and the status and image of teaching as a profession has declined

Workshop: Enhancing the Training of Mathematics and Science Teachers

All governments are investing in improving STEM education. There is significant activity underway across the country in schools and education systems, by industry and universities to lift student engagement and attainment in STEM and to support teachers to improve student outcomes. The Chief Scientist’s report Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics: Australia’s Future highlighted the trends that our system is grappling with including the declining performance of Australian students against international benchmarks and the decline in participation in senior secondary sciences and advanced mathematics. As acknowledged in The National STEM School Education Strategy, reversing the trends in STEM performance will take time and considerable, collaborative effort. But what of the role of Universities in addressing this challenge? In 2013, 12 million dollars of federal grant funding was awarded to five major projects over three years that committed to take a lead role in Enhancing the Training of Mathematics and Science Teachers (ETMST). These projects sought to identify where significant change and impact can be made - going beyond traditional approaches that have involved providing more content, method and resources, and reconceiving what is possible through renewed collaborations between practising scientists, mathematicians and teacher educators - as we prepare the next generation of our nation’s science and mathematics teachers. http://www.olt.gov.au/maths-and-science-teachers Objectives Discuss shifts in higher education practice that can effect and support change through our preparation of the next generation of mathematics and science teachers nationally Explore key findings and implications of Enhancing the Training of Mathematics and Science Teachers projects nationall

The New England Award: A Case Study of the Context, Development, Implementation and Outcomes of the New England Award in its first two years

This was a case study of the context, development and implementation of the New England Award (NEA) and an evaluation of the outcomes in its first two years of operation. The NEA was introduced at the University of New England (UNE) in 2004 for on-campus students. Its primary aim was to support UNE's Graduate Attributes Policy through the promotion and recognition of extra-curricular achievement as a means by which the UNE graduate attributes may be developed. A secondary aim of the Award was to promote the special UNE on-campus experience. The objective of the study was to make a recommendation to the university administration about whether the program should continue to be funded beyond the initial pilot period. I was the leading figure in the establishment of the NEA and its first manager and as such played a pivotal role in its development and implementation. ... The study was essentially an interpretive one within the constructivist paradigm. Action research was chosen as the most effective methodology because of my close relationship with the subject of the study and the need for evaluation and change during its rapid development and implementation. The views were sought of ten groups of stakeholders selected according to their differing associations with the NEA. They were the first two cohorts of NEA graduates; NEA graduates one year after graduation; students who commenced the NEA but did not complete it; the providers of the extracurricular activities; senior university staff; employers of students; and student participants in one example of each of the three NEA activity categories of extracurricular learning and training; preparation for employment; and community contribution. Other data sources included an interview with the Vice-Chancellor of UNE plus student journals, related correspondence and meeting minutes, and my project diary. The final product of the study is a portfolio of work, the components of which vary in genre according to the intended audience and purpose of each

Stress ocupacional e alteração do Estatuto da Carreira Docente português

Este estudo foi realizado com 1162 professores, tendo como objetivo analisar a experiência de stress e a síndrome de “burnout”, antes a após a alteração do Estatuto da Carreira Docente em Portugal. Assim, foram efetuadas duas avaliações em momentos temporais distintos, assumindo-se um plano transversal de recolha de dados (2004/2005, n=689 e 2008/2009, n=473). O protocolo de avaliação incluiu medidas de fontes de stress (Questionário de Stress nos Professores, Gomes, Silva, Mourisco, Mota, & Montenegro, 2006) e de “burnout” (Inventário de “Burnout” de Maslach – Versão para Professores, Maslach, Jackson, & Leiter, 1996; Maslach, Jackson, & Schwab, 1996, Adaptação de Gomes et al., 2006). Os resultados indicaram que a experiência de stress e de “burnout” aumentou entre as duas avaliações, verificando-se em 2008/2009 aumentos em áreas relacionadas com as pressões de tempo/excesso de trabalho e com o trabalho burocrático/administrativo e, inversamente, diminuições em áreas relacionadas com as diferentes capacidades e motivações dos alunos. Quanto à predição da síndrome de “burnout”, não se verificaram alterações substanciais nas variáveis preditoras nos dois momentos. Em síntese, os resultados indicaram aumentos nas exigências profissionais dos professores, mas não se pode afirmar que tal se deva às alterações do Estatuto da Carreira Docente uma vez que não observámos alterações no stress associado à carreira docente.(undefined

Participation as Post-Fordist Politics: Demos, New Labour, and Science Policy

In recent years, British science policy has seen a significant shift ‘from deficit to dialogue’ in conceptualizing the relationship between science and the public. Academics in the interdisciplinary field of Science and Technology Studies (STS) have been influential as advocates of the new public engagement agenda. However, this participatory agenda has deeper roots in the political ideology of the Third Way. A framing of participation as a politics suited to post-Fordist conditions was put forward in the magazine Marxism Today in the late 1980s, developed in the Demos thinktank in the 1990s, and influenced policy of the New Labour government. The encouragement of public participation and deliberation in relation to science and technology has been part of a broader implementation of participatory mechanisms under New Labour. This participatory program has been explicitly oriented toward producing forms of social consciousness and activity seen as essential to a viable knowledge economy and consumer society. STS arguments for public engagement in science have gained influence insofar as they have intersected with the Third Way politics of post-Fordism

Walking the walk : the need for school leaders to embrace teaching as a clinical practice profession

Concurrent Session Block

Feedback on feedback

Look at learning or mastery in the fields as diverse as sports, the arts, languages, the sciences or recreational activities and the research evidence is clear: great teachers give great feedback. Quality teaching and student performance are key matters of concern to educators everywhere. We know from a vast range of studies that the teacher is the major in-school influence on student achievement. How we improve teacher effectiveness and lift student achievement can, however, seem daunting. In this article the author focuses on teacher-student feedback and suggests that schools begin the professional conversation with eight questions: (1) what are the present approaches? (2) Are the methods and criteria clear? (3) Do the students understand what is meant by feedback? (4) Is the feedback to students effective? (5) Is the feedback focused, comprehensive and improvement-oriented? (6) How does feedback to students relate to parental feedback? (7) How can teachers provide students with improved feedback? (8) How will the school know if it works? What evidence is needed? The answers to these questions will provide an important foundation for improving the quality of teaching and student achievement. Feedback is, however, only one part of the equation: it is not a substitute or remedy for poor teaching. [Author abstract, ed

Teachers make a difference

Steve Dinham looks at the most important school-based factor influencing a student’s learning: high-quality teachers like you