Waiting in line: African refugee students in Western Australian schools

This study has been commissioned by the Westralian Association of Teachers English to Speakers of Other Languages (WATESOL) to determine the perceptions and expectations of those stakeholders involved in the education of African refugee children. To do this study first a literature review was undertaken in order for the researchers to determine how much information was available and to improve their understanding of the subject matter. It appears that there is a growing body of research in Australia investigating the social, psychological and educational needs of African refugees, particularly those who have faced trauma (Earnest, IIousen, & Gillieatt, 2007; 2004). Then a mainly qualitative study was undertaken which included focus groups and individual interviews to elicit information from the main stakeholders in the care and education of African refugee children. In addition, a questionnaire was distributed to ESL and mainstream teachers to elicit more general information. Overall there were 117 participants in the research study, including Parents and caregivers; teachers (ESL and mainstream); school deputy principals; ethnic education assistants; a youth worker and officers from the Graylands ESL Resource Centre (for details see section entitled Resources); the Mirrabooka Migrant Resource Centre and another non-government support agency. The data were analysed and the main issues that emerged are presented in the attached report

Creating books in communities: A book making program with families in a remote community in Western Australia

This article describes the needs analysis, implementation and outcomes of a pilot program aimed at creating books with families in ways that represent their language and culture. Creating Books in Communities is part of Better Beginnings, a state-wide program, developed by the State Library of Western Australia, for children and their families, that aims to develop literacy skills through fostering a love of books and language. Literature about the importance of recognising and valuing home languages and culture in supporting early literacy learning and the impact of family literacy programs is explored to provide a background to the program. The process of Creating Books in Communities is described in detail—it involves collaboration between librarians, early childhood partners, and community based artists working with families to produce a high-quality book. The impact of the program is explored through the voices of all the participants, revealing a number of positive family and community outcomes. We conclude the article by identifying six key factors related to the success of the program, which can be used as guidelines for implementation of the program both nationally and internationally

Tackling Talk Through Action Learning

Tackling Talk Through Action Learning was a collaborative project involving teachers in both metropolitan and rural independent schools in Western Australia and a team of researchers from Edith Cowan University. The research was sponsored by the Association of Independent Schools of WA (AISWA) through its literacy funding. The teachers who volunteered to be involved in the project were guided in their investigation of the teaching and assessment of oral language based on an understanding of their students\u27 oral language needs in the broader community. The teachers investigated how language is IJSed in their local area and what communication skills their students would need to participate successfully within their communities in the future. Following this investigation, teachers designed teaching and assessment strategies to meet their students\u27 specific oral language needs and implemented these strategies

Tackling talk : teaching and assessing oral language

Tackling Talk was a collaborative research project sponsored by several bodies: the English Teachers Association (ETA), the Australian Literacy Educators\u27 Association (ALEA) through Quality Teacher Program funding and the Association of Independent Schools of WA (AISWA). A team of researchers from the Centre for Applied Language and Literacy Research (CALLR), Edith Cowan University, guided teachers from the public and independent sectors through an action research program involving online/ electronic materials, professional development sessions and personal mentoring. Some 49 teachers from 28 schools from both metropolitan and regional districts of Western Australia were involved in the project

Indonesian teachers’ implementation of new curriculum initiatives in relation to teaching writing in lower primary school

This paper reports an investigation of teachers’ implementation of a new Indonesian curriculum, the Kurikulum Tingkat Satuan Pendidikan (KTSP), meaning school-based curriculum. The specific context chosen was the teaching of writing in Year 2 in the primary schools of Makassar City, Indonesia. The teachers’ implementation was examined through the lens of the KTSP’s key constructivist-based concepts. Using qualitative methods, the study found that the teachers’ implementation of the new writing curriculum reflected a traditional view of teaching, despite the intent of the KTSP to move away from this approach to one that better reflected a constructivist approach. The study also revealed that the inconsistencies between the intentions of the KTSP and the basic competencies it mandated discouraged the teachers from changing their teaching and assessment practices. These findings have important implications for the development of policy and practice regarding the implementation of existing and future curricula in Indonesia and elsewhere

“Portray cultures other than ours”: How children’s literature is being used to support the diversity goals of the Australian Early Years Learning Framework

Catering for diversity within birth to 5-year-old settings continues to be an on-going concern for policy makers and educators worldwide. This research contributes to discussion on the value of children’s literature in achieving international principles of diversity and, in particular, the Principles, Practice and Outcomes outlined in the Australian Early Years Learning Framework. The article considers the selection and use of children’s literature related to diversity, as well as what influences these processes. Seventeen educators from five long day care centres located in or near the Perth metropolitan area participated in the study. Data were drawn from interviews and a book audit. The findings revealed educators had limited understandings of the role of literature in acknowledging and valuing diversity and rarely used it to promote the diversity-related outcomes of the EYLF. The key challenges which emerged from the findings concerned beliefs of educators, professional learning and the application of the EYLF in practice

Correction to: “Portray cultures other than ours”: How children’s literature is being used to support the diversity goals of the Australian Early Years Learning Framework

The article “Portray cultures other than ours”: How children’s literature is being used to support the diversity goals of the Australian Early Years Learning Framework, written by Helen Adam, Caroline Barratt-Pugh and Yvonne Haig, was originally published electronically on the publisher’s internet portal (currently Springer- Link) on 20 January 2019 without open access. With the author(s)’ decision to opt for Open Choice the copyright of the article changed on 30 August 2019 to © The Author(s) 2019 and the article is forthwith distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creat iveco mmons .org/licen ses/by/4.0/), which permits use, duplication, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made. The original article has been corrected

Learning by doing with shareable interfaces

New technologies, such as multi-touch tables, increasingly provide shareable interfaces where multiple people can simultaneously interact, enabling co-located groups to collaborate more flexibly than using single personal computers. Soon, these technologies will make their way into the classroom. However, little is known about what kinds of learning activities they will effectively support that other technologies, such as mobile devices, whiteboards, and personal computers, are currently unable to do. We suggest that one of the most promising uses of shareable interfaces is to support learning through exploration and creation. We present our work on DigiTile as a case study of how shareable interfaces can enable these forms of learning by doing. We demonstrate how DigiTile supports collaboration, present a field study on its learning benefits, and show how it can fit into a larger computing ecology

Enabling Group-Based Learning in Teacher Education: A Case Study of Student Experience

“Teacher education ill prepares pre-service teachers for the classroom.” Research conducted in a teacher education program at Edith Cowan University (ECU) responded to this criticism. This longitudinal case study selected group work (i.e., group-based learning) to investigate the quality of its teacher education program. Phase one explored teacher educators\u27 perceptions of group-based learning. Phase two explored preservice teachers\u27 perceptions and experience of group-based learning. This phase used student ‘voice’ (i.e., through focus groups, confirmed field notes, summary sheets) to convey their ideas and experiences when studying in a group and/or implementing group-based learning in the classroom. This paper discusses phase two findings which show the importance of consistency and coherence in understanding group-based learning principles and practices, and the broad ‘conditions’ and ‘actions’ that enable meaningful learning. The research has enabled ECU teacher educators to enhance the quality of the teacher education program

Enabling Group-Based Learning in Teacher Education: A Case Study of Student Experience

“Teacher education ill prepares pre-service teachers for the classroom.” Research conducted in a teacher education program at Edith Cowan University (ECU) responded to this criticism. This longitudinal case study selected group work (i.e., group-based learning) to investigate the quality of its teacher education program. Phase one explored teacher educators\u27 perceptions of group-based learning. Phase two explored pre-service teachers\u27 perceptions and experience of group-based learning. This phase used student ‘voice’ (i.e., through focus groups, confirmed field notes, summary sheets) to convey their ideas and experiences when studying in a group and/or implementing group-based learning in the classroom. This paper discusses phase two findings which show the importance of consistency and coherence in understanding group-based learning principles and practices, and the broad ‘conditions’ and ‘actions’ that enable meaningful learning. The research has enabled ECU teacher educators to enhance the quality of the teacher education program