Surveying the technology landscape: Teachers' use of technology in secondary mathematics classrooms

For many years, education researchers excited by the potential for digital technologies to transform mathematics teaching and learning have predicted that these technologies would become rapidly integrated into every level of education. However, recent international research shows that technology still plays a marginal role in mathematics classrooms. These trends deserve investigation in the Australian context, where over the past 10 years secondary school mathematics curricula have been revised to allow or require use of digital technologies in learning and assessment tasks. This article reports on a survey of mathematics teachers' use of computers, graphics calculators, and the Internet in Queensland secondary schools, and examines relationships between use and teachers' pedagogical knowledge and beliefs, access to technology, and professional development opportunities. Although access to all forms of technology was a significant factor related to use, teacher beliefs and participation in professional development were also influential. Teachers wanted professional development that modelled planning and pedagogy so they could meaningfully integrate technology into their lessons in ways that help students learn mathematical concepts. The findings have implications not only for resourcing of schools, but also for designing professional development that engages teachers with technology in their local professional contexts. [Author abstract

Learning as identity and practice through involvement in online moderation

For teachers working in a standards-based assessment system, professional conversations through organised social moderation meetings are a vital element. This qualitative research investigated the learning that occurred as a result of online moderation discussions. Findings illustrate how participating in social moderation meetings in an online context can support teachers to understand themselves as assessors, and can provide opportunities for teachers to imagine possibilities for their teaching that move beyond the moderation practice

Students' perceptions of schooling in a senior secondary education system

Through the voices of students and teachers at an elite coeducational private school and a school situated in a low socio-economic area, this article explores the potential consequences for students of school alignment or misalignment with the structural imperatives of the broader Queensland senior secondary education system. Although the schools are situated within the same system, the achievement expectations and practices of the two schools were vastly different. Moreover, the structuring features of the private school 'field' aligned more closely with the official processes and expectations of the Queensland assessment regime than did those at the other school. School differences in the students' understandings of and investments in their education were observed in relation to differences in school practice

Teachers' reinterpretations of critical literacy policy: Prioritizing praxis

Recent conservative reviews of Australia’s national English curriculum argue for a return to less critical approaches to English language education and a stronger emphasis on traditional, functional approaches to provide adequate English learning experiences for school-age students. This neoliberal shift poses a threat to adolescent learners from varied cultural and linguistic backgrounds because it demands second language learning without critical engagement with the political, social and cultural conditions that the learners are experiencing. The authors argue that newly arrived English as an additional language (EAL) learners need opportunities both for academic skills development and critical engagement with the new conditions of their lives. The authors use critical discourse analysis to highlight the historical dilution of critical literacy across iterations of state curricula in Australia, and the ways teachers mediate and mitigate the curriculum changes in lessons for EAL students. The findings indicate that while critical approaches to second language education are under threat at the policy level, teachers are continuing to promote them through contextualized, contingent, and at times, covert, classroom practices. The detailed description of these practices demonstrates the ongoing commitment of teachers to the power of critical engagement to enhance the lives of their EAL students.</p

The portrayal of John Curtin as Australia’s war time Labor Prime Minister

This chapter analyses the way in which school history textbooks represent the Australian Prime Minister John Curtin, following the outbreak of war with Japan in 1941. It examines the policy change, when Curtin was offering the US to the Australian public as a new source of hope, fostering public resolve, and claiming a leadership role for Australia in Pacific war. Curtin’s leadership at this time has since been considered by many historians as a turning point in Australia’s international relations; for he made explicit that Australia’s plans to draw closer to the US due to the demands of war, was not the end of ties with Britain. Curtin was one of the few leaders who could challenge Winston Churchill and his military policy towards Australia, especially when he asked Churchill for the return of his divisions, fighting Rommel in North Africa to Australia. It is not possible to include every facet or controversy about Curtin’s decision making during World War 2. Historical narratives depicting Curtin’s efforts to pursue Australia’s national interest addresses the hermeneutical challenge of providing sufficient context and guiding questions for students to interpret historical sources in the context of their time and for them to avoid judging Curtin and his decision making from an ahistorical present