Strengthening Learners’ Perspectives in Professional Standards to Restore Relationality as Central to Teaching

Australian teacher standards have effects on what is thought about teachers’ work. Just as teacher standards give expression to some characteristics of quality teaching, so too do students’ views if solicited and made public, yet the archive of teaching standards pays little attention to learners’ perspectives. This paper uses a theoretical framework informed by Foucauldian discourse analysis to contribute to a critical deliberation of how the diminished account of learners’ perspectives sidelines the relational aspects of teaching and learning which are thus placed as inferior—as having a low ranking—in this pervasive standards-driven policy arena. In this qualitative study, exploring discourses circulating in young people’s views of teaching accomplishment can advance understanding of these “silences or blind spots” in teacher standards by unearthing subjugated knowledges to contribute to the (re)articulation of a relational view of standards. This has important implications for the work of teacher-educators, who must go beyond the current teacher standards

Conceptualising An Approach To Clinical Reasoning In The Education Profession

An increasing number of teaching qualifications are underpinned by the concept of clinical practice (Alter & Coggshall, 2009; McLean Davies et al., 2013) and draw on clinical education research in the health professions. Teaching as a clinical practice profession is an emergent approach in teacher education. Clinical practice is not a wholesale shift in approach; rather it is a change in perspective that has the capacity to create changes in thinking about learning and teaching. The concept of clinical reasoning presented in this paper is offered as a key element in teacher education that requires greater emphasis. By moving away from apprenticeship and craft frameworks of teaching that were prevalent in teacher education (Hoffman-Kipp, Artiles, & Lopez-Torres, 2003), this approach to clinical reasoning can produce teachers who are better able to articulate their reasoning for pedagogical choices drawing on both school-based and research-based evidence so as to improve their own teaching and improve the teaching of others

Elaborating a Model for Teacher Professional Learning to Sustain Improvement in Teaching Practice

: Effective professional learning is acknowledged as a key lever to improve teacher practice. However, many studies report significant variation in the effectiveness of the types of programs on offer. Recently, there has been a move from the traditional single-event, passive approach to more collaborative and ongoing forms of professional learning. Interestingly, researchers have paid little attention to understanding the experience of professional learning from the teachers’ viewpoint. This research sought to develop this understanding by following the attitudes and behaviours of a group of secondary teachers as they participated in an ongoing professional learning program. This professional learning program tracked teachers as they participated in workshops and then applied the learning to their classrooms. Our results suggest five interacting characteristics that contributed to improvements in teaching practice. These findings underpin the development of a process model of professional learning, that we call the Iterative Model of Professional Learning (IMPL)

Exploring Change and Continuities in Internationally Mobile Pre-Service Teachers’ Conceptualisations of Effective Teaching

: This qualitative study investigates the changes and continuities in conceptions of teaching and learning from course commencement to course completion for a group of international pre-service teachers undertaking a two-year Masters-level degree in Initial Teacher Education (ITE). Data were collected through a series of graphic elicitation activities and ranking tasks at baseline and endpoint. Findings indicate that there was: a growing emphasis on student engagement and its linkages to student learning; a shift from viewing teaching as the transfer of knowledge to learning as an active process; and a more developed repertoire of professional language to explain what is valued and why. This study provides valuable insights into international pre-service teachers’ evolving conceptions of teaching and learning. These findings suggest that international pre-service teachers need many opportunities to interrogate and refine their understanding of teaching and learning and how this applies to the contexts in which they will teach

Assessment in Geography and History

B1 - Research Book Chapter

Keys to geography : essential skills and tools

Contents: 1 Working with maps. 2 Working with topographic maps. 3 Working with photographs. 4 Working with statistics and graphs. 5 Working with diagrams. 6 Working with technology. 7 Putting it all togethe

Improving understanding of accomplished teaching in school geography through an examination of learners' perspectives

Important insights for improving teaching (Rudduck, McIntyre, & ESRC Teaching and Learning Programme, 2007) are available by attending to the perspectives of students (Flutter, 2007) as they can give coherent views about their learning. Using a qualitative approach, the perspectives of students, (Groundwater-Smith, 2005) are analysed to canvas their views of accomplished geography teaching. Thirty-seven students ranging from Year 7 to Year 12 in eight schools in three Australian states were interviewed using post lesson video-stimulated recall. Interview data were open coded allowing the categories to emerge. This study found that several features emerged which positively influence student learning. These were interactive teaching, contextualising learning to develop students' geographical imagination, inclusion of collaborative learning in geography, and using classroom space/spatiality effectively.12 page(s

School Geography’s Critical Role for a More Sustainable Future: Powerful Knowledge and Praxis

In this theoretical article we draw on the concepts of powerful knowledge and powerful pedagogies to argue that the school geography curriculum is key to developing structured teaching programmes for students to extend their knowledge and actions for a sustainable future. We argue that geography education uniquely opens up opportunities for action with its focus on place-based, sensory and multimedia experiences, that centre on students’ schools and their communities. This article posits that, although important, merely identifying geographical powerful knowledge is not enough, teachers must also incorporate geographical “powerful pedagogies”. Geography, as a discipline, holds a critical role when it comes to sustainability and education for the future as it makes the links between people and the environment clearly visible. Yet for Geography to be a discipline that empowers students to navigate their current and future life-worlds, it must encompass action through fieldwork and incorporate dialogue between students, teachers, experts and the public that focus on perspectives and possibilities for praxis—action for the good of humankind. This article situates geography education in the powerful knowledge debate by offering a new synthesis of theories connecting curriculum, practice architectures and praxis/action for the future

Creating the Conditions for Geographic Conceptual Development in Post-Primary Students through Collaborative Guided Inquiry

This paper explores the potential for a collaborative guided inquiry task to stimulate geographic thinking using core geographic concepts of ‘location’, ‘distance and direction’, ‘scale’, ‘symbols’, ‘relative location’ and ‘slope and topography.’ The guided inquiry began with a visit to a park, with students then applying geographic thinking to redesign the park in a way that optimised utility for various user groups. The data generated included student work samples and video recordings of student groups as they worked through the task. The results show that the task design facilitated a deeper understanding of geographic concepts, including spatial relationships, connections and interactions. Furthermore, the collaborative nature of the task prompted students to use skills of explaining, negotiating and justifying their decisions. A critical feature of this analysis is the role that the teacher has in providing specialised guidance to support geographic thinking based on the needs of each group. The study highlights the value of practical, real-world experiences in geography education to learn, discuss and explore geographic concepts, enabling development of critical thinking, reasoning and problem-solving skills

The Permeable Classroom

B1 - Research Book Chapter