The Curious Schools Project: Capturing Nomad Creativity in Teacher Work

The Curious Schools project is a teacher professional learning initiative that aims to provide an insight into – and resource for – creativity in Tasmanian schools. It offers an alternative to conventional models of teacher professional learning by engaging teachers in multi-modal methods of documenting and reflecting on their work as the basis for an online community of practice and public showcase for creativity in education that takes place ‘behind the scenes’. The authors, as coordinators of the project, describe the rationale behind the project and the ways it embraced discourses and practices of curiosity as a means of making visible the creativity of teachers and classrooms. Drawing on the concept of nomadology in the work of Deleuze and Guattari, as well as diverse scholarly perspectives on curiosity, the authors describe how the Curious Schools Project sought to capture the ‘nomad creativity’ of teacher work via a process of documentation and question-seeking that countered complexity-reduction in teacher professional learning and sustained teacher curiosity in their work. Reflecting on an evaluation of its 2013 pilot, the authors suggest that the project’s explicit emphasis on curiosity avoided limiting conceptualisations of creativity in education and will inform future plans to more appropriately document and support the processes of emergence in teacher professional learning. The digital site for the project is available at http://www.utas.edu.au/education/curious-schools

Achieving Teacher Professional Growth Through Professional Experimentation and Changes in Pedagogical Practices

To facilitate the professional learning of teachers and bring about changes in pedagogical practices, it is necessary to understand the process by which teachers grow professionally. Professional growth can be achieved when teachers work together to engage in professional experimentation and see results in terms of salient outcomes for their students. This paper reports on a study of teachers’ pedagogical practices as they introduced adaptations to focus on personalising students’ learning in mathematics. Two cases are presented to demonstrate how teachers in two schools used student mathematics test data to determine students’ strengths and needs, in order to personalise learning experiences. The findings highlight how shared responsibility and purposeful use of student data can lead to positive professional growth for teachers and improved learning outcomes for students

Achieving Teacher Professional Growth Through Professional Experimentation and Changes in Pedagogical Practices

To facilitate the professional learning of teachers and bring about changes in pedagogical practices, it is necessary to understand the process by which teachers grow professionally. Professional growth can be achieved when teachers work together to engage in professional experimentation and see results in terms of salient outcomes for their students. This paper reports on a study of teachers’ pedagogical practices as they introduced adaptations to focus on personalising students’ learning in mathematics. Two cases are presented to demonstrate how teachers in two schools used student mathematics test data to determine students’ strengths and needs, in order to personalise learning experiences. The findings highlight how shared responsibility and purposeful use of student data can lead to positive professional growth for teachers and improved learning outcomes for students

I probably have a closer relationship with my internet provider: Experiences of belonging (or not) among mature-aged regional and remote university students

While fostering a sense of belonging among university students is an objective of many universities, the landscape of belonging is complex and multifaceted. It is worthy of deeper interrogation, particularly for “non-traditional” students. This article draws on data from a national mixed-methods study that explored proactive ways of supporting the mental wellbeing of mature-aged students in regional and remote Australia. One of the overarching findings was students feeling invisible, misunderstood and undervalued. While this theme was relevant for many participants, it was also the case that other participants reported feeling visible, known and a sense of belonging. These inconsistencies prompted us to conduct further analyses of the quantitative and qualitative data, which were collected from a cross-sectional online survey of 1,879 mature-aged undergraduate students in regional and remote Australia and 51 interviews. We employed Yuval-Davis’s analytical framework for the study of belonging. In the quantitative analyses, several variables were found to have a significant association with inclusion/connection/belonging. They included: study mode; socio-economic status; having a diagnosed mental health condition; and supports. In the qualitative analysis, we explored students’ experiences in greater depth to gain insights into why some students experience belonging and others do not. Connections and relationships with university staff; familiarity with university systems and places; and feeling included and “part of” a subject/course/campus manifested in students feeling understood, known and a sense of belonging. Due to certain entrenched institutional approaches, in many cases, students’ experiences fell short of the supportive and caring learning communities that pedagogical approaches advocate

Teacher professional learning in large teaching spaces : An Australian case study

While researchers broadly agree on what enables and constrains teacher professional learning, reconfigured large teaching spaces potentially create new processes and content for this learning. In this paper we draw on six years of study of teacher adaptation to these settings in 10 schools in regional Australia to identify the nature of, and key influences on, this learning. Our analyses are based on a theoretical framing of relational agency illustrated in two case studies of sustained teacher interventions. We found that teachers' professional learning (TPL) in these contexts entailed learning new roles, developing new practices, and understanding the warrants for these practices. TPL was enabled by (a) extensive improvisation and intensive collaboration; (b) opportunities for teachers to observe teacher practices in other schools, and customise them for their own schools; and (c) extended partnerships between teachers and researchers

“Shining a Light” on Mature-Aged Students In, and From, Regional and Remote Australia

This article shines a light on a little-known cohort of higher education participants, mature-aged students in, and from, regional and remote Australia – the focus of a National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education mixed-methods study. Notable patterns were found in the quantitative data; for instance, compared to their metropolitan counterparts, higher proportions of regional and remote students were older, female, from low socio-economic status areas, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, and studied online and/or part-time. The presentation of four vignettes from the interviews uncovers the stories behind the numbers, revealing students’ diverse and complex circumstances; two of the students shared experiences of facing systemic obstacles, while the other two described receiving invaluable institutional support. The obstacles can be attributed to systems designed for “ideal”, “implied” and “traditional” students, and entrenched attitudes that privilege some “types” of students over others and limit the aim of full participation for all students

Fluid Methods to Make Sense of an Unknown: An Emergent Grounded Theory Study of Cultural Wellbeing

What is an appropriate structure for reporting a study of educators' perceptions of cultural wellbeing, following an interpretive paradigm, and a grounded theory methodology

Vodne mreže međusobne povezanosti: plovni putevi kao mjesta učenja i poučavanja

Despite the ever-growing body of knowledge about human impacts on river and coastal ecosystems, and the need to work towards sustainable futures, young children’s participation in environmental action initiatives in aquatic habitats remains low. This signifies an urgency for educators to support young children’s relationship with freshwater and marine environments, so they can acquire the skills and dispositions to become “agents for change” for the environment. Guided by Deleuzian ideas of being and becoming, and ecologies of knowledges, this paper considers three exploratory case studies from England, the United States and Australia that investigated early childhood teachers’ practices of using waterways as pedagogical sites. Data were collected through ethnographic methods of observations and interviews. Findings revealed that early childhood teachers viewed such habitats as spaces where action initiatives for sustainability can be conceived and incorporated as “webs of interconnectedness” into the curriculum. We conclude this study has the potential to expand understandings of under-utilized pedagogical spaces, such as natural water and marine habitats, where adults and children have permission to learn together to cultivate a more intimate relationship with the earth.Unatoč sve većem broju informacija o utjecaju ljudi na riječne i morske ekosustave te potrebi za radom na održivoj budućnosti, sudjelovanje djece u akcijama za zaštitu vodenih staništa i dalje je skromno. Iznimno je važno da odgojitelji potiču odnos djece rane i predškolske dobi prema slatkovodnom i morskom okolišu kako bi mogli steći vještine i dispozicije da postanu „pokretači promjena“ za okoliš. Pod vodstvom Deleuzovih ideja o bivanju i postajanju, kao i ekologija znanja, u ovom se radu razmatraju tri istraživačke studije slučaja iz Engleske, Sjedinjenih Američkih Država i Australije koje su istraživale načine na koje su se odgojiteljji koristili plovnim putovima kao mjestima učenja i poučavanja djece rane i predškolske dobi. Podaci su prikupljani etnografskim metodama promatranja i intervjua. Rezultati su pokazali da su odgojitelji takva staništa promatrali kao prostore na kojima se inicijative za održivost mogu osmisliti i uvrstiti u kurikul kao “mreže međusobne povezanosti”. Zaključujemo da ovo istraživanje ima potencijal povećanja razumijevanja nedovoljno iskorištenih pedagoških prostora, kao što su vode u prirodi i morska staništa, gdje je odraslima i djeci dopušteno da zajedno uče kako bi njegovali intimniji odnos prema zemlji

Wellness Impacts of Social Capital Built in Online Peer Support Forums

The study reported in this paper sought to explore whether and how social capital resources were generated on online peer support mental health forums, and how they were used by rural users to influence mental health outcomes. Interviews with rural users of three Australian online peer support mental health forums were analysed to identify interactions that accessed social capital resources and mental wellness outcomes that flowed from these. Analysis drew on a model of simultaneous building and using of social capital to uncover the nature of the social capital resources present on the forum and how they were built. Findings show that forums were sites for building ‘knowledge resources’ including archives of users’ experiences of navigating mental illness and the mental health service system; and ‘identity resources’ including a willingness to contribute in line with forum values. The knowledge and identity resources built and available to rural users on the forums are facilitated by forum characteristics, which can be viewed as affordances of technology and institutional affordances. Operation by trusted organisations, moderation, a large network of users and anonymity created a safe space that encouraged reciprocity and where users exchanged information and social support that helped them maintain better mental wellness