Secondary Beginning Teacher\u27s Preparedness to Teach Literacy and Numeracy: A Survey

This paper reports the findings of an Australia-wide survey conducted as part of a national teacher education research project that explored the preparation of teachers to teach literacy and numeracy in Australian schools (Louden, Rohl, Gore, Greaves, McIntosh, Wright, Siemon & House, 2005) 1. The project included various phases of inquiry, beginning with a desk audit of teacher education program characteristics and an international literature review (Gore & Griffiths, 2002), that drew on literature published in English in the last few decades. The issues identified in the literature review guided the construction of a set of national focus groups that targeted early years, primary and secondary teachers and teacher educators. Data from the focus groups informed three nationally representative questionnaire surveys, the purpose of which was to determine the preparedness of new graduates to teach literacy and numeracy to a range of school students. A survey was designed for each of the following three groups: senior school staff, primary beginning teachers and secondary beginning teachers

Better beginnings: A Western Australian State Library initiated family literacy project

Better Beginnings is an early intervention family literacy program that has been developed by the Public Library Services Directorate, at the State Library of Western Australia. Its stated purpose is to provide positive language and literacy influences for children in their first three years of life. The program is thought to be the first of its kind in Australia and has recently been taken up by another Australian Territory State. A fully evaluated pilot of Better Beginnings commenced in January 2004 in Gosnells, Mandurah, Midland, Carnarvon, Halls Creek and Kalgoorlie and in September was extended to include Armadale, Rockingham, Bayswater, East Pilbara and Ashburton. The program will be expanded state-wide during the next four years to a range of communities that represent diverse geographical, social, cultural and economic contexts. The State Government\u27s continued financial commitment along with that of Local Government and funding from the Rio Tinto WA Future Fund will enable Better Beginnings to be rolled-out to communities across Western Australia commencing in 2005/06

Prepared to teach : an investigation into the preparation of teachers to teach literacy and numeracy

Teacher education in Australia is a large and diverse enterprise. There are more than 400 programs in 36 universities, enrolling a total of about 35,000 preservice teachers (DEST, 2003). The labour market for newly graduating teachers, pattern of entry to teacher education, the range of courses offered, the place of literacy and numeracy in those courses, and the provision of school experience influence the quality of beginning teachers\u27 literacy and numeracy teaching

Supporting students with learning difficulties in a school of the air

This project was funded by Edith Cowan University and the Centre for Inclusive Schooling (Department of Education, formerly Education Department of Western Australia) as an Institute for the Service Professions Collaborative Grant. It was carried out in order to examine the following questions: • What are the ways in which identification, assessment and teaching processes make provision for students with learning difficulties who are enrolled in a School of the Air? • In what ways do Support Officers Learning Difficulties support these children, their home tutors and their teachers

Profiling ESL children: How teachers interpret and use national and state assessment frameworks: Volume 1: Key issues & findings

The three volumes which make up this study describe in detail how a number of teachers in different school situations in different parts of Australia undertook the assessment of young children\u27s development of English as a second language. Most of the teachers worked in pre-primary to Year 3 classrooms where the majority of the children were aged between five and eight years. The majority worked in a mainstream context in which the number of children speaking English as a second language (ESL) varied from more than half the class to two or three students. About a third of the teachers whose assessment practices we studied worked in classrooms in which all the children came from homes or communities in which languages other than English were the main means of co.mmunication. A minority of the teachers acted as ESL specialists who provided support to mainstream teachers often throughout the primary years. Over half the teachers in the study had undertaken some form of professional development focused upon working with ESL children..

The Heart and Design Project: Meaningful Work in the Contemporary Design Practice

Creative ThesisThe human desire to have a meaningful life is universal. A meaningful life is recognized as one that creates purpose and has heart-felt connections (Heintzelman, King, & Anderson, 2014; Maslow & Langfeld, 1943). This heuristic-style study and subsequent project examines the interconnected relationship between designers, the practice of design, and meaningful work. For individuals who make their living as designers, creating a meaningful practice often conflicts with the profit-minded, machine-like organization of business. This research explores a contemporary movement in business that humanizes traditional corporate systems to expand profit-minded purpose to include beneficial social and environmental causes. The central objective for the Heart and Design project is to put heart into the practice of design. For the purpose of this project, heart represents fulfilling human connections and the joy and satisfaction that result from contributing to society in ways that make it better. A fulfilled designer can contribute effectively with meaningful purpose to the entire creative and strategic process. The Heart and Design project theorizes that, instead of limiting the design process to making an idea marketable, design can make the idea itself better. The extended effects of this project application add value to the designer’s practice and corresponding business