Creating Culturally Respectful Primary Schools: Enhancing Relationships through Strategic Professional Learning. A critical issue facing Australian school communities is how to best support teachers to build sustainable whole school approaches to respecting cultural diversity in times of increasing tension about Australia's multiculturalism. This project will investigate an innovative professional learning program to build teacher capacity to help children to think about and respond to differenc ....Creating Culturally Respectful Primary Schools: Enhancing Relationships through Strategic Professional Learning. A critical issue facing Australian school communities is how to best support teachers to build sustainable whole school approaches to respecting cultural diversity in times of increasing tension about Australia's multiculturalism. This project will investigate an innovative professional learning program to build teacher capacity to help children to think about and respond to differences constructively and to creatively problem solve ways to meet diverse needs. Outcomes will include policy and practice recommendations for the national education sector policy about how primary schools can contribute to wider social cohesion through the development of inclusive and culturally respectful school communities.Read moreRead less
Strengthening Standards of Teaching through Linking Standards and Teacher Learning: The Development of Professional Standards for Teaching School Geography. This research project will advance the Commonwealth Government's social and economic agenda by addressing the national strategy to raise the quality of teachers and the status of teaching. In seeking to improve the practice of geography teaching in schools, it will also address, albeit indirectly, the national research priority of achieving ....Strengthening Standards of Teaching through Linking Standards and Teacher Learning: The Development of Professional Standards for Teaching School Geography. This research project will advance the Commonwealth Government's social and economic agenda by addressing the national strategy to raise the quality of teachers and the status of teaching. In seeking to improve the practice of geography teaching in schools, it will also address, albeit indirectly, the national research priority of achieving an environmentally sustainable Australia. Teaching standards and associated professional learning resources that can enable improvement of this practice are an important tool for teachers in both metropolitan and rural settings, Australia-wide. This project addresses a significant need to contribute to the development of ways of bridging the gap between teaching standards and teacher learning.Read moreRead less
Enhancing Wellbeing and Learning in Middle Years Classrooms. Meaningful engagement in schooling promotes academic learning, social emotional wellbeing and healthy futures for young people. Achieving the positive engagement of all adolescent students in schooling is a significant educational challenge for Australia. This research project recognises that strong, caring and positive teacher-student relationships are critical to student engagement in Middle Years classrooms. The project will inve ....Enhancing Wellbeing and Learning in Middle Years Classrooms. Meaningful engagement in schooling promotes academic learning, social emotional wellbeing and healthy futures for young people. Achieving the positive engagement of all adolescent students in schooling is a significant educational challenge for Australia. This research project recognises that strong, caring and positive teacher-student relationships are critical to student engagement in Middle Years classrooms. The project will investigate the application of an evidence based framework of strategies and a professional learning model to support teachers in the promotion of positive learning relationships. The project will trial measures that could increase teacher capacity to promote learning and wellbeing through positive relationships.Read moreRead less
Improving middle years mathematics and science: The role of subject cultures in school and teacher change. Student disengagement with mathematics and science in the middle years of schooling, and the low retention rates into these areas in upper years, is of national concern. This project investigates the role of mathematics and science knowledge, and school subject cultures, in mediating change processes in the middle years. It builds on a highly successful change model developed for science te ....Improving middle years mathematics and science: The role of subject cultures in school and teacher change. Student disengagement with mathematics and science in the middle years of schooling, and the low retention rates into these areas in upper years, is of national concern. This project investigates the role of mathematics and science knowledge, and school subject cultures, in mediating change processes in the middle years. It builds on a highly successful change model developed for science teaching and learning in Victoria to investigate how generic conceptions of teacher pedagogy
and school change intersect with subject matter knowledge and traditions in the closely related areas of mathematics and science. The findings will inform future school change projects.Read moreRead less
Maximising Sucess in Mathematics for Disadvantaged Students. This project aims to identify strategies that teachers can use to overcome the obvious disadvantage some school students experience in learning mathematics. Currently working class and Indigenous students in Australian schools are performing very much worse than their peers in mathematics. Some currently recommended teaching strategies may be actually exacerbating this disadvantage. This project will identify the factors contributing t ....Maximising Sucess in Mathematics for Disadvantaged Students. This project aims to identify strategies that teachers can use to overcome the obvious disadvantage some school students experience in learning mathematics. Currently working class and Indigenous students in Australian schools are performing very much worse than their peers in mathematics. Some currently recommended teaching strategies may be actually exacerbating this disadvantage. This project will identify the factors contributing to the lack of success of these students, and offer strategies that teachers can use to ensure that students from disadvantaged backgrounds have the same opportunities to learn mathematics as other students.Read moreRead less
The role of representation in learning science. School science is a core area for the future prosperity and health of Australia. Poor student attitudes to science and low involvement in post compulsory science are of national concern. This project, by taking a fresh perspective on key learning issues in middle years science, when student attitudes and future plans are being forged, has the potential to lay the groundwork for more successful learning, increased retention into post compulsory scie ....The role of representation in learning science. School science is a core area for the future prosperity and health of Australia. Poor student attitudes to science and low involvement in post compulsory science are of national concern. This project, by taking a fresh perspective on key learning issues in middle years science, when student attitudes and future plans are being forged, has the potential to lay the groundwork for more successful learning, increased retention into post compulsory science, and enhanced public science literacy. By focusing on effective and innovative pedagogies and assessment strategies the project has the capacity to enhance science students' capacity for innovation, potentially laying the groundwork for increased productivity in the longer term. Read moreRead less
Learning by Design: Creating pedagogical frameworks for knowledge building in the 21st century. Our aim is to facilitate and support a generational change of teachers precipitated by the departure of the baby-boomers. The research will investigate the ways in which 'middle-years' teachers design, record and enact their curriculum, searching for evidence of a relationship between pedagogical choices and learner outcomes. From these investigations, and drawing on the theory of Multiliteracies, a t ....Learning by Design: Creating pedagogical frameworks for knowledge building in the 21st century. Our aim is to facilitate and support a generational change of teachers precipitated by the departure of the baby-boomers. The research will investigate the ways in which 'middle-years' teachers design, record and enact their curriculum, searching for evidence of a relationship between pedagogical choices and learner outcomes. From these investigations, and drawing on the theory of Multiliteracies, a tool will be developed to prompt more mindful and context-appropriate pedagogical choices, while encouraging teachers to document and share their practices. This will result in a body of rigorous and shareable knowledge and know-how, potentially improving opportunities and educational outcomes for all Australian students.Read moreRead less
Indigenous Teachers: Understanding their Professional Pathways and Career Experiences. There is an urgent need to understand the nature of the professional experience of Indigenous teachers in Australian schools. This project will produce significant new knowledge about the career experiences of former and current Indigenous educators, about the prior life experience of Indigenous teachers beginning their careers in NSW and Victorian schools, and in-depth case studies of their first three years ....Indigenous Teachers: Understanding their Professional Pathways and Career Experiences. There is an urgent need to understand the nature of the professional experience of Indigenous teachers in Australian schools. This project will produce significant new knowledge about the career experiences of former and current Indigenous educators, about the prior life experience of Indigenous teachers beginning their careers in NSW and Victorian schools, and in-depth case studies of their first three years as teachers. It will provide vital information for state and federal education and teacher education policy formation, contribute to social theory with regard to institutional racism, 'whiteness' and Australian education and advance methodologies for research about Indigenous issues.
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Mental Health First Aid Training for Teachers: Development, Evaluation and Dissemination. The project aims to provide teachers with training that will assist them to recognize mental health problems which are developing in students and to take appropriate action so that the student gets professional help.
Values in mathematics and science education: mapping the relationships between pedagogical practices and student outcomes. Mathematics and science in schools both involve the teaching of values. Some value outcomes are intended by the teachers and are explicitly taught, particularly in science, while other values are only implicitly present in classroom practices, as is typically the case with mathematics. What is not yet known is what values students learn from different teachers and from their ....Values in mathematics and science education: mapping the relationships between pedagogical practices and student outcomes. Mathematics and science in schools both involve the teaching of values. Some value outcomes are intended by the teachers and are explicitly taught, particularly in science, while other values are only implicitly present in classroom practices, as is typically the case with mathematics. What is not yet known is what values students learn from different teachers and from their practices, and how these learned values impact on student engagement with these subjects. This project will explore the relationships between the values embedded in the pedagogical practices of primary and secondary teachers of mathematics and science, and student values outcomes.Read moreRead less