Optimising the learning of gifted aboriginal students

[Abstract]: According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation's (2000) 'Education for All' goals, all students are entitled to opportunities to fulfil their potential. This implies that appropriate programs need to be in place for all children, especially gifted Aboriginal students. Accordingly, this means that all educational institutions in Australia have an obligation to provide involvement and commitment opportunities for all gifted and talented Aboriginal students in meeting their basic learning needs. This goal is not being achieved within Australia. Gifted and talented Aboriginal students have been identified as the most educationally disadvantaged group in the Australian education system (Sydney Morning Herald, 2004). Education for Aboriginal learners varies throughout the states of Australia. While New South Wales has provided excellent modelling of accommodating for inclusion of gifted Aboriginal students, in Queensland the lower representation of Indigenous students in gifted programs suggests inappropriate facilitation. This discussion paper compares and contrasts New South Wales and Queensland gifted Indigenous educational policy, exploring the issues of appropriate identification and programs for gifted Aboriginal students, Aboriginal learning styles and the role of the classroom teacher in accommodating these students

Thinking differently about infants and toddlers: Exploring the reflections of future Australian early childhood teachers in Australia

In Australian early childhood teacher education programs, there appears to be a greater focus on the age group of kindergarten children compared to that of infants and toddlers (Garvis, Lemon, Pendergast and Yim, 2013). As a consequence, pre-service teachers may have little opportunity to interact and learn about this important age range. This paper reports on the incorporation of videos of young child and educator interaction into early childhood teacher education programs at one Australian university. The cohort of pre-service teachers (18) were asked to think in a structured way about the videos with the help of a reflective template, which challenged them to apply higher order thinking with regard to the scenarios presented. As a culminating point of the template, the pre-service teachers were asked to create a reflective practice question to improve their professional practice. In this study, the reflective questions were analysed using content and pronoun analysis. Findings suggest that the pre-service teachers were focused on the continuity of learning of young children, personal skill development and social emotional development. To a lesser degree reflections explored working with families. The pronoun of ‘we’ also appeared as the most likely response on personal reflective questions. This suggests the future teachers had already positioned themselves within the group of early childhood teachers, indicating a strongly developed professional identity

The Normative Approach of the Catholic Tradition in the Ethical and Religious Directives for Resolving Ethical Dilemmas Regarding Medical Technology

The dissertation engages the Catholic Tradition enunciated in the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services to provide a normative approach for resolving ethical dilemmas regarding pivotal breakthroughs in medical technology. This normative ethical approach has two components: a normative framework for Catholic health care ethics that adopts practical ethical principles as enunciated in the Ethical and Religious Directives (Chapter 2) and secular decision-making models in organizational and clinical ethics that are consistent with the Catholic Tradition (Chapter 3). At the end of the theoretical analysis in these chapters, the conclusion to Chapter 3 explains how this normative approach reflects the Catholic Tradition on Natural Law. This normative approach is then applied to significant ethical dilemmas regarding a variety of pivotal issues that deal with medical technology: reproductive technologies (Chapter 4), regenerative technologies (Chapter 5), and end-of-life technologies (Chapter 6). The conclusion of each of these practical chapters applies the Natural law approach of the Catholic Tradition to offer an ethical critique of each topic based on the Ethical and Religious Directives

What is the Role of the Arts in a Primary School?: An Investigation of Perceptions of Pre-Service Teachers in Australia

The arts are an important compulsory subject area in Australian schooling. In 2014, the Australian National Curriculum for the arts is scheduled for implementation. While the arts may be a compulsory subject area and expected to be taught in classrooms by primary school teachers, current perceptions held by teachers may be different to the view held in the Australian National Curriculum. This paper explores the views of pre-service teachers, who will be future primary school teachers. Through the use of a survey, data was collected from two Australian universities to develop an understanding of what pre-service teachers think about the role of the arts in a primary school. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics. Findings provide perceptions about the role of artists in schools, visiting arts galleries, current arts engagement in their own lives and confidence levels to teach the arts. Suggestions are provided for teacher education providers, curriculum developers and policy advisors about ways to support and enhance positive perceptions of arts in primary schools throughout Australia

Listening to the Voices of Education Professionals Involved in Implementing an Oral Language and Early Literacy Program in the Classroom

This paper explores teachers’ and teacher assistants’ self-efficacy of delivering PrepSTART, a classroom based, oral language and early literacy program for five-year-old students. In the current study, speech pathologists developed, provided training and monitored program implementation. Teachers and teacher assistants (n = 17) shared their experiences of delivering PrepSTART through a series of focus groups. A content analysis was conducted to determine key themes in participant responses. These themes were then analysed in relation to the four self-efficacy components (mastery, experience, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion and emotional arousal). Differences in levels of understanding about oral language development, communication between professionals, and the importance of building networks emerged as key themes. An improved understanding of the self-efficacy of professionals regarding the implementation of oral language programs will further facilitate the interdisciplinary approach that is needed to promote early academic success for students

Pre-Service Student-Teacher Self-efficacy Beliefs: An Insight Into the Making of Teachers

Pre-service teacher education programs play an important role in the development of beginning teacher self-efficacy and identity. Research suggests that this development is influenced by the ‘apprenticeship of learning’. However, there remains limited research about the self-efficacy beliefs and identity construction of beginning pre-service teachers entering teacher training, and the impact of the education programs on the development of these attributes. This paper reports on the first phase of a longitudinal study that investigates beginning teacher pre-service teachers’ views of what it is to be a teacher. In 2010, the Teacher Sense of Efficacy Scale (Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy, 2001) was administered twice (start and end of the year) to beginning pre-service teachers enrolled in three programs: the Graduate Diploma of Early Childhood Education; Graduate Diploma of Education - Primary; and the Graduate Diploma of Education – Secondary. Identity data in the form of text and visual representations of the teachers was also collected. This paper focuses on the results from the self-efficacy scale, highlighting the similarities and more notable contrasts in individual perceived ratings of teacher self-efficacy. Implications for further research are shared

Storying music and the arts education: the generalist teacher voice

For students in Years 1-10 in Queensland, Australia, The Arts (hereafter referred to as 'arts') is one of eight Key Learning Areas in the core curriculum. Yet, while arts - comprising five strands including music - is a mandatory component of the curriculum, implementation varies widely. This occurs for a range of reasons, one of which is the common practice that generalist teachers are allocated delivery of the arts programme in their teaching load. Furthermore, research reveals that music and the arts are frequently considered to be the 'frills subject' in a school's timetable, often the first to be removed from the timetable when time is short and the first to feel the impact of budget cuts, including the engagement of specialist arts educators (Russell-Bowie, 2004). This study highlights the gap between policy rhetoric for music and the arts and the pedagogical reality in generalist classrooms. Using a narrative informed case study methodology, a story constellation derived from a beginning generalist teacher and a school principal is revealed. The discussion which follows provides a focus, through the generation of key values statements derived from the data, on the tensions this beginning teacher has experienced in his practice as a teacher responsible for teaching music and the arts, juxtaposed with a similar narrative of the school principal

Instructional Technology in Business Education: An Examination of Online Learning Styles

Management education has rapidly adapted to recent technological advances with initiatives ranging from Web-based degrees conferred by online schools to hybrid courses offered on traditional campuses. Despite the substantial growth in these programs, however, the field’s understanding of the effects of these initiatives is rela- tively limited as only a few management education researchers have empirically investigated the actual use of in- structional technologies. The present study adds to the developing empirical literature by examining Web log server data generated by undergraduate students enrolled in a Management Information Systems course where an online Learning Management System (LMS) was used to complement a traditional classroom environment. We adopt a comprehensive model of student learning to guide the pursuit of two research questions: 1) How do students use online instructional technologies? and 2) What effect does such usage have on student learning? Our findings indi- cate that distinct usage patterns are reflected in how students actually use instructional technologies and that there are gender differences in these patterns. These findings illustrate the potential role of online learning styles in the consideration of the effects of instructional technologies on student learning

A Descriptive Study of Early Childhood Education Steering Documents in Finland, Sweden and Australia around Language Immersion Programmes

Being able to speak different languages is important in today’s global world to allow communication and understanding. Countries may vary in how they support early language learning with immersion programmes. This paper specifically explores the steering documents in Finland, Sweden, and Australia for children attending early childhood education settings (children aged birth to five years). A content analysis was used to explore patterns. The descriptive comparison allows similarities and differences across the countries to emerge. As a result, a table describing the different immersion and monolingual approaches in respective country is presented. The paper concludes with a broader discussion on steering documents in early childhood education in regards to young children’s rights to learning languages and attending different immersion programmes within early childhood.Peer reviewe

Modeling Living Shorelines in a Wave Tank: Quantifying Wave Attenuation to Find the Most Effective Shoreline Restoration

Source: ICHE Conference Archive - https://mdi-de.baw.de/icheArchiv