Emotions and Casual Teachers: Implications of the Precariat for Initial Teacher Education.

It is the norm for the casual teaching precariat to experience insecure labour conditions requiring an additional skill set to teachers with stable employment. As more beginning teachers than ever before commence work in casual employment – often a tenuous and unsupported transition into the profession - it is beholden on teacher educators to re-think aspects of their preparation. Four teacher educators undertook ‘memory work’ based on their previous experiences as casual teachers. Content analysis of follow up focus group discussions stressed the emotional and challenging nature of casual teaching, for both novice and experienced teachers. Findings from this small study, as well as previous research on casual beginning teachers and casual teachers, provide significant insights that have ramifications for initial teacher education, highlighting the importance of the emotional practices of teachers

Virtual Provision for Gifted Secondary School Students: Keeping the Best and Brightest in the Bush

This evaluative research, using a mixed methods case study approach with triangulated design, investigated the perceived value of a virtual academically selective secondary school provision for Years 7–10 (age 12–16 years) that operated in Western NSW Region from 2010 until 2014. Students replaced regular curriculum study in the areas of English, mathematics and science at their local stategovernment- funded bricks-and-mortar school, with study that was conducted online with a cohort of academically gifted students from across similar schools in Western NSW Region. Perceived value by students and staff in the virtual provision as well as perceived value by parents and local state-government-funded secondary school Principals was positive, with students reporting a strong sense of belonging to the gifted cohort as well as their local school cohort, an improved skill-set to meet 21stcentury learning requirements and the capacity to harness their full potential through development of enabling skills such as organisation and study skills. Academic achievement of the virtual provision cohort in national or state-wide standardised tests matched those of metropolitan selective secondary school counterparts in literacy, numeracy and science understanding. All stakeholders agreed that the virtual provision did not suit all gifted learners, only those who were autonomous learners or were motivated to learn in a lightly supervised environment and who held a positive academic self-concept and as such were comfortable not being first in their class all the time. Some students found the challenge of many academically-able peers overwhelming as they had been the outstanding pupil all their school life. Unexpected benefits reported by parents of the students in the cohort included their choice to stay in employment in the regional, rural or remote areas, or to delay or abandon their plans to send their child to a metropolitan boarding school as their gifted childʼs learning needs were being met by the virtual provision. This decision added to the social fabric of the rural communities and their local school. Teachers in the virtual provision reported being re-invigorated in their career by having a virtual staffroom of like-minded peers who embraced challenge, were curriculum specialists in their area and endorsed technology-enhanced learning. This research contributes to the growing field of knowledge about the suitability of virtual school provisions for gifted secondary school students in rural, regional and remote settings. Keeping the best and brightest students and teachers in the , along with their families, is essential to ensuring dynamic and vibrant rural, regional and remote communities

The Engagement of Metacognition During Critical Literacy Discourse by Young Talented Readers

While little empirical research has focused on talented readers, so too is little known about the relationship between metacognition and critical literacy. This mixed method qualitative study addresses both of these gaps in the research literature. One premise inspiring this study has been the declining performance of Australia's top-end reading scores in international assessments over the past decade. A recent media release by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) highlighted this disturbing trend from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) conducted every three years by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) with the finding that 'Australia's overall performance declined by 13 score points from 2000 to 2009. The decline (in reading) is primarily among higher achieving students' (Masters, 2010, online). In 2004 a review of the literature on talented readers by Reis et al. found much of it to be primarily anecdotal in nature with little research showing how to challenge and meet the learning needs of this group. With a better understanding needed of the self-systems that enable advanced reading skills clearly needed, this study used observations to explore the metacognitive processes adopted by young talented readers during critical literacy activities as compared with their typical peers. This study had a dual focus. First, to find out if critical literacy requires the employment of metacognitive strategies for successful analysis, understanding and critiquing of texts; and second, to discover if young talented readers are more adept at employing metacognition than their same-age peers, when interacting with critical literacy discourse

Opening the doors of possibility for gifted/high-ability children with learning difficulties: Preliminary assessment strategies for primary school teachers

The traits linked to gifted children with learning disabilities (twice-exceptional) are diverse and complex. Identification of these children can be hindered by a combination of factors, including variations in teacher knowledge and experience, inconsistencies in the visibility of high abilities coexisting simultaneously with one or more learning disabilities, and also the lack of a practical assessment tool. This mixed-methods study addresses the need for such a tool and other assessment strategies that primary school teachers can implement in the preliminary exploratory stage of identifying possible twice-exceptional children. In this process, the focus centres on learning strengths and difficulties. The first phase of the Study focused on procedures leading to the development and trialling of a comprehensive and useful teacher checklist questionnaire (TCQ). Its comprehensiveness was developed through reviewing research-based characteristics, anecdotal lists and teacher perceptions. Section A of the TCQ is based on the six natural-ability Domains found in Françoys Gagné's Differentiated Model of Giftedness and Talent (DMGT 2.0; 2008) or, more recently, his Expanded Model of Talent Development (EMTD, 2013). Section B has three familiar categories of learning difficulties known within the context of the primary school. In the trialling phase, ten teacher participants trialled the TCQ and ranked the selected children in their classes on every item in the nine categories. Overall, qualitative and quantitative analyses suggest promising trends in the preliminary investigation into the TCQ's internal reliability, validity and practical usefulness. In the second phase, six child participants were selected for case studies to determine whether other assessment strategies supported the findings of the TCQ. The results from Interviews with each child, a Parent/Teacher Questionnaire, a non-verbal intelligence test (Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices), and a Think-aloud protocol, affirm the worthiness of the TCQ, but variations in results suggest the importance of its inclusion as part of a comprehensive assessment protocol

Initial Teacher Preparation for Teaching Students with Exceptionalities: Pre-service Teachers\u27 Knowledge and Perceived Competence

This research study surveyed 100 undergraduate teacher education students in a regional university in Australia, explored self-reported perceptions of their knowledge about students with exceptional needs, and their competence to be effective educators of these students in an inclusive classroom. Additionally, we included a measure of general attitude toward teaching in an inclusive classroom. What made this exploratory study atypical was broadening the concept of ‘exceptionality’ to the inclusion of items related to students with physical and cognitive challenges, superior academic gifts and those deemed to be twice exceptional. The results were unexpected in that teachers’ age, parental status and exposure to units of study in special and inclusive education did not differentiate their knowledge, perceived competence, or general attitude

Differentiation in an Australian Multigrade Classroom

In a multigrade classroom, learners have very different learning needs because of the range of ages and backgrounds in the class. Teachers therefore need to know how to differentiate student learning activities to cater for this range of needs. Differentiated learning needs to be planned for learners within a grade as well as between grades. Differentiated lessons planned for one grade can be used for learners in other grades when suited to their learning needs. This chapter will first look at defining the multigrade classroom, and then at how to differentiate learning for three groups of learners: those who are working below expectation, those who are working at a level commensurate with their age expectations, and those who are working beyond expectations. Finally, examples will be given of how to differentiate individual lessons

Taming the 'Many Headed Monster': Metacognition, self-regulation and the new NSW English syllabus

Understanding how students direct their individual learning has received growing interest among educational practitioners in recent years. Researchers agree that metacognition is an essential key to successful learning (Alexander, Carr and Schwanenflugel, 1995; Armbruster, 1983; Dinsmore, Alexander, and Loughlin, 2008; Efklides, 2001; Magno, 2010; McCormick, 2003; Paris and Winograd, 1990; Schneider, 2008; Schraw and Moshman, 1995; Shavinina, 2009; Tariconne, 2011; Whitebread, Bingham, Grau, Pino Pasternak, and Sangster, 2007). As Australia prepares to roll out the Australian Curriculum, there appears to be growing concern in the wider community (Pyne, 2014) about how the curriculum will prepare our students to live and work in a very different and globalised world

Australian Aboriginal peoples and giftedness: A diverse issue in need of a diverse response

For over thirty years sporadic research has attempted to address the underrepresentation of Aboriginal students in gifted programs. What emerges from the literature is the need for cultural understanding, flexibility and sensitivity when dealing with definitional issues of giftedness, and cultural inclusivity when designing talent development programs that respond to the particular needs of gifted learners from Aboriginal backgrounds. This article will explore these issues and highlight the need for schools to value the funds of knowledge Aboriginal students bring to their classrooms, which in turn will allow for more appropriate identification protocols and programs to be put in place for these students

Digital learner presence and online teaching tools: higher cognitive requirements of online learners for effective learning

Abstract This article explores digital learner presence in various higher education degrees in a regional institution in NSW, Australia. Several tools used for online teaching are explored through individual research projects in relation to the learner’s presence with the tool being used. It was found that a variety of online teaching tools provided student presence and were effective for learning. Blogs, discussion boards, wikis and 3D virtual worlds were used to engage students in their learning. Herewith, the authors point out those that are more successful than others

Creative Use of Digital Technologies: Keeping the Best and Brightest in the Bush

Gifted students have been provided the opportunity to study three core subjects through an academically selective virtual high school in western NSW, Australia. At the same time these students continue to attend their local public high school for their other subjects. This article presents the mechanisms that have provided this opportunity, and describes successes and challenges. Students are located across 385,000 km² and meet online through web conferencing to engage in real time. They are also able asynchronously to access study materials in an online repository