Australian and International Journal of Rural Education
This special edition of Education in Rural Australia, celebrating the 25th anniversary of the fou... more This special edition of Education in Rural Australia, celebrating the 25th anniversary of the foundation of the Society for the Provision of Education in Rural Australia (SPERA), presents an opportunity to explore one of the few national projects investigating rural and remote teacher education. The study, Renewing Rural Teacher Education: Sustaining Schooling for Sustainable Futures is made even more relevant to the journal as four of the project team members have accepted responsibility for editing Education in Rural Australia, the only peer-reviewed academic journal in Australia concerned with rural, regional and remote education.
In this paper, we examine engagement with ‘the rural context’ in Australian education research, f... more In this paper, we examine engagement with ‘the rural context’ in Australian education research, focussing on the implications of the signifier ‘rural’—in terms of its inclusion or absence. A review of Australian research literature in rural education indicates that the term ‘rural’ and its synonyms are more often used to denote assumptions of a generalised and predetermined ‘context’ for research than to think about its meaning. We present our findings here and discuss the implications of the signifier ‘rural’ in the Australian research literature to argue that while educational policy-makers must attempt to think differently about the 'problem of the rural’, the field itself also needs to more fully develop the capacity to do this.
Australian and International Journal of Rural Education
Attracting and retaining effective education leaders and teaching staff for regional, rural and r... more Attracting and retaining effective education leaders and teaching staff for regional, rural and remote schools in Australia is a major sustainability and quality issue facing every State and Territory. It is also a major concern in pre-service teacher education, particularly for those universities which have a commitment to rural and regional areas. There is a strategic link between teacher education and the sustainability of rural communities with earlier suggestions (White & Reid, 2008, p. 1) highlighting that ―healthy rural communities may be supported via reform of the ways in which teacher education prepares graduates for teaching in rural schools. Likewise, the proposition is made in this paper that the relationship is importantly reciprocal and that, in turn, healthy rural communities and “successful rural schools†can inform and help reform teacher education and professional learning through the insights gathered into the ways in which rural education leaders and teachi...
A doctoral study of a program designed to provide access to secondary education for children from... more A doctoral study of a program designed to provide access to secondary education for children from a remote Indigenous community was completed in 2014 . This paper reflects on the ongoing commitment of members of this community to a partnership that uses interstate boarding schools as a means of educating their children. It reviews the original longitudinal study that sought the viewpoints of the students, families, community leaders, teachers and schools involved, and uses the resources of spatial theory and place-consciousness to argue the inadequacy of standardised understandings of success that are limited to measurable outcomes within short term policy cycles. Such views of success do not account for the effects of locational difference and disadvantage related to the intersection of health, education, and economic disadvantage that underpins ongoing national efforts to 'close the gap' between schooling outcomes for Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. While the experience of boarding schooling raises unique challenges for Indigenous students, as well as for the schools, teachers and non-Indigenous students who are also part of such programs, there is clear evidence that this form of education also presents valuable opportunities 'both ways', and that such partnerships may assist in efforts to decolonialise curriculum and schooling.
Inquiry into the affordances of a reflective focus on embodied practice in an undergraduate teach... more Inquiry into the affordances of a reflective focus on embodied practice in an undergraduate teacher education program investigated the use of digital recordings of pre-service teachers learning and practising ‘core practices’ of teaching over time. Using a case study from this inquiry, we argue that reflection on and repeated observation of digital video recordings of practice teaching can support preservice teachers to focus on and improve particular aspects of their practice. We suggest that within a practice-theoretical approach to teacher education, such recordings can effectively support continuing growth towards attainment of teaching competence and expertise, beyond the limitations of generic professional standards, and provide a basis for defensible judgments of teaching proficiency. As real-time complex representations, video recordings ensure that the non-linguistic and relational and affective dimensions of teaching can be evidenced and highlighted for reflection, thus op...
This is a report of the final phase of an ongoing study into the potential of professional portfo... more This is a report of the final phase of an ongoing study into the potential of professional portfolio development as a form of reflection and assessment within a 4-year BEd program for primary teachers. The project began in 1998 and since that time has tracked a small group of pre-service teachers working each year on the production of teaching portfolios that demonstrate their ongoing learning in a wide range of teaching competencies. Drawing on theories of human subjectivity formed in and through social practices, this research has examined how pre-service teachers have been both empowered and limited in their creation of individual, unique 'teaching selves'. In this final phase of the study, implementation of a culminating authentic assessment strategy roundtables is examined in relation to the goals of a pre-service teacher education program. In particular, there is a focus on how development of the pre-service teachers' professional knowledge and skills has been faci...
Team Members: Dr M. Gruppetta B.Teach. B.Ed. M.Ed. PhD, T. Mason B. Ed, C. Hatton B.A. DipEd M. E... more Team Members: Dr M. Gruppetta B.Teach. B.Ed. M.Ed. PhD, T. Mason B. Ed, C. Hatton B.A. DipEd M. EdL, P. Nanlohy B.Ed M.Ed. M Ed (University of Western Sydney); Dr E. Labone B.Ed. M.Ed PhD, Dr W. Moran B.Mus Ed M.Ed PhD (Australian Catholic University); and Professor J. Reid B.A. Dip.Ed PhD, Associate Professor M. Pietsch B.A. Dip.Ed M.Ed PhD and M. Bennet Dip. T Grad Cert Spec.Ed M.Spec.Ed (Charles Sturt University)
Peer‐review refereeing process: The conference committee for the annual conference of the Austral... more Peer‐review refereeing process: The conference committee for the annual conference of the Australian Teacher Education Association (ATEA) facilitates the review of all papers for admission to the conference. Abstracts for all papers presented are reviewed by the organising committee as to suitability for presentation as research at the annual conference, but full paper refereeing is optional. Only full, peer‐reviewed papers actually presented at the conference are published on the ATEA website.
Aims and ObjectivesTo explore women's experiences of working shiftwork in nursing whilst cari... more Aims and ObjectivesTo explore women's experiences of working shiftwork in nursing whilst caring for children.BackgroundIn nursing, almost 90% of Australia's practising nurses and midwives are women. Much of the research undertaken in the shiftwork area uses men as their sample and uses a quantitative methodology to achieve results. Little work has been undertaken that explores the experience of women working shiftwork whilst raising children.DesignHeideggerian Hermeneutic Phenomenological Design.MethodsSemistructured interviews were conducted with ten women who cared for children about their experience of shiftwork. Each interview was digitally audio‐recorded. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and thematically analysed. The interpretation used first Heideggerian phenomenology as a lens and then second research on women's work and gender roles to resituate the experience in context. Reporting rigour has been demonstrated using the COREQ checklist.ResultsTwo major t...
The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 2009
In this paper we report the findings of research that has examined, from first-hand accounts, the... more In this paper we report the findings of research that has examined, from first-hand accounts, the career pathways of Indigenous Australians who have studied to become teachers. We focus on one key aspect of the larger study: the nature and experience of initial teacher education for Indigenous student teachers. Elsewhere we have reported on aspects of their subsequent working lives in teaching or related fields. We focus here on participants' talk about teacher education, particularly with reference to the factors that have impacted positively and negatively on their identity formation as “Indigenous” students and teachers. As a research collective that comprises Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal teacher educators, and in the context of increased emphasis on university access following the Federal Review of Higher Education, we argue that it is time for government, universities and schools to listen and learn from this talk. In particular, we highlight in our participants' accou...
Attracting and retaining high quality teaching staff for rural and remote schools in Australia is... more Attracting and retaining high quality teaching staff for rural and remote schools in Australia is a major sustainability and quality issue for every State and Territory. It is also a major concern in pre-service teacher education, particularly for those universities that have a commitment to rural and regional areas. In 2008, the research team (above) received funding from the Australian Research Council for a three year study of schools and communities where sustainable practices around staff recruitment and retention had led to satisfaction from community members, parents, staff and bureaucracies: Renewing Rural Teacher Education: Sustaining Schooling for Sustainable Futures. The project has come to be known as TERRAnova (renewing Teacher Education for Rural and Regional Australia). The study was designed in order to identify the nature of successful teacher education and recruitment strategies that made making rural teaching an attractive and long-term career option at both primary and secondary levels. Our research hypothesis was that, just as ‗it takes a community to raise a child' in the words of the Nigerian proverb, it takes a community to keep a teacher. The set of Case Studies forms a key means of testing this hypothesis, allowing us to identify and describe features of particular schools and communities where the retention of staff appears to be a successful feature. This research has come at a time where nationally, we face a crisis in attracting and retaining teachers and other professionals to rural areas. There are repeated national projections of teacher shortfall which will affect all schools, with significant numbers of the current ageing teacher workforce expected to retire in the next five years. This shortfall will be most felt in rural schools and communities, as traditionally these are the schools identified as harder to staff. Australia's future depends upon each citizen having the knowledge, understandings, skills and values for a productive and rewarding life in an educated, just, and open society (MCEETYA Adelaide Declaration, 1999). High quality schooling is central to achieving this vision. Students in rural, regional and remote Australia have the right to an equitable and quality education, and it is an imperative for all education stakeholders to ensure that they have access to it. Share, Lawrence and Boylan (1994) argued that the Australian rural economy and rural education policies are inextricably linked, in that rural restructuring -notably significant demographic change -exert pressure on the availability and quality of education and training. Educational researcher has analysed data on rural economic change, arguing that in terms of rural schooling, a depth of resource in human, social, cultural and economic capital is crucial to sustainable community development (p. 22).
This paper describes the integration of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) skills a... more This paper describes the integration of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) skills and practices across the Bachelor of Education (Primary) program at the University ofNew England, Arrnidale. The program was reviewed and modified in the light of ICT competencies specified by the NSW Govemment. The aim was to ensure that all students gained experience in these cornpetencies throughout their pre-service teacher training. It was necessary to improve staff ICT competencies. Members of the Information Technology teaching team helped design activities and team taught with other staff mernbers. Reflections and feedback from staff indicated that the exercise increased staff and student ICT awareness and expertise and offered enhanced opportunities for students to gain ICT in authentic teachinglleaming contexts. 1. D. Watson et al. (eds.), Networking the Learner
The complex interconnection among issues affecting rural—regional sustainability requires an equa... more The complex interconnection among issues affecting rural—regional sustainability requires an equally complex program of research to ensure the attraction and retention of high-quality teachers for rural children. The educational effects of the construction of the rural within a deficit discourse are highlighted. A concept of rural social space is modelled, bringing together social, economic and environmental dimensions of (rural—regional) sustainability. This framework combines quantitative definitional processes with more situated definitions of rural space based on demographic and other social data, across both geographic and cultural formations. The implications of the model are examined in terms of its importance for teacher education.
Although there is significant interest in and productivity among teacher education researchers, a... more Although there is significant interest in and productivity among teacher education researchers, and considerable regard for Australian education research more generally (ARC 2008), Teacher Education as a research field is generally not wellregarded or well developed in Australia. Research efforts and effects in this particular area of education research consequently are diffuse. It is significant that AARE itself has only recently included a teacher education Special Interest Group (SIG). A survey of presentations at our own and other professional conferences, for instance, suggests there is a preponderance of small-scale studies that are not cumulatively knowledge-building or collectively coherent as a body of research that could function as a platform on which to build a strong research field. As a field of professional preparation, too, Australian teacher education is repeatedly positioned as inadequate in both public and professional commentary. Many institutions report increasing difficulty in attracting high-quality candidates to some initial teacher education programs, and there is public awareness of the lower entry requirements for teaching, compared with other, more prestigious professions. The Federal government's move towards national accreditation of initial teacher education programs serves to reinforce a general deficiency view of teacher education, and is suggestive of the attempted imposition of a standardised teaching professional who fits a prescribed, colour-by-numbers template of the Graduate Teacher. Yet it also establishes the need for robust theoretical re-conceptualisation of research-based teacher education practice, curriculum and pedagogy that will support the next generation of teachers (and teacher educators) as they deal with the effects of increasingly complex and diverse educational spaces. In 2009, as the incoming president of AARE, I was asked to write the foreword to the splendid collection of AARE Presidential Addresses produced by Bob Lingard and Trevor Gale. In reading through this collection, I was surprised at how few
The manuscript does not require the inclusion of a statement of ethics, as it is not reporting on... more The manuscript does not require the inclusion of a statement of ethics, as it is not reporting on research involving human participants. No institutional arrangements for the governance of ethics exist in the country/region in which the research was conducted (in this instance, contributors should provide a statement IN THE MANUSCRIPT indicating that they have fulfilled the technical requirements necessary to demonstrate the use of ethical procedures in researching human participants. Non-compliance with the inclusion of a statement addressing technical requirements of ethical considerations will result in the manuscript being immediately unsubmitted) OR ALTERNATIVE C: Ethical and/or other forms of approval had to be and were obtained for the research, for instance by an institutional ethics committee or government agency (details of this must be included IN THE MANUSCRIPT. Please ensure institutional names are deidentified for peer review purposes) There is also a series of options: OPTIONAL: Where and when appropriate, teacher education researchers are encouraged to explicitly address issues of ethics in their research, for instance with respect to professional learning, developing an ethical research culture, or forming a critical consciousness of their peers regarding relevant matters.
The Getting of Information Integrating CMC and postgraduate distance education Jo-Anne Reid Eliza... more The Getting of Information Integrating CMC and postgraduate distance education Jo-Anne Reid Elizabeth Stacey Colin Henry1 Deakin University Paper prepared for presentation in the Symposium: Graduate studies in education: innovation in postgraduate research and ...
In this presentation, I want to challenge you on the last day of this conference called Future ... more In this presentation, I want to challenge you on the last day of this conference called Future Directions in Literacy to think back over the past few days and to review and consider what you have heard. I ask you to reflect on the key messages you have taken from the ...
We believe that one of the reasons for the under representation of Indigenous teachers is due to ... more We believe that one of the reasons for the under representation of Indigenous teachers is due to what we are calling the 'impenetrability' of the dominant white culture of schooling, a racial imaginary that portrays the 'naturalness' of whiteness. Such an imaginary informs the ...
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