The Including Studies of Asia in Curriculum professional development program : who's doing it and why?

This paper aims to provide a general overview of the cohort of teachers who undertook a major professional development program Including Studies of Asia in Curriculum in South Australia in 2000. As the program was the principal vehicle for introducing South Australian teachers to Studies of Asia, ensuring its ongoing relevance was critical. The only source of data about the program itself was an earlier national evaluation based on the 1995 deliveries of the primary version in most states and territories. What was needed, therefore, was an up-to-date picture, based specifically on the contexts and needs of South Australian teachers. Accordingly, participants were invited to complete a 'Participant Profile'. This study examines participants' responses, including their motivations in undertaking the program. Based on the responses, the course was able to be adapted for subsequent delivery, and advanced training courses were developed in line with the needs of the target group. [Author abstract

Going all the way : a life history account focusing on a teacher's engagement with studies of Asia.

What would prompt a primary school teacher in late career and from the Australian cultural mainstream to become interested in the societies and cultures of Asia and then to expand that interest into a personal and professional life focus? Through a life history approach, this paper recounts a teacher's journey from childhood, to becoming and working as a teacher, to initial inclusion in her late career of Asia-related aspects in her teaching and learning program, to extensive professional development in studies of Asia, culminating in a formal postgraduate study pathway. The teacher's story illustrates the complexity, the changing nature and uniqueness of individual teacher identity, thereby reinforcing Goodson's view of a teacher as 'an active agent making his or her own history'. The story also demonstrates the value of the life history approach in showing how personal and professional influences interact to determine how teachers think, what they value, and what they choose to do at any given time - including why they actively engage with particular professional learning programs