John Buchanan | University of Technology Sydney (original) (raw)

Papers by John Buchanan

Curriculum perspectives, Jan 18, 2021

The International Education Journal: Comparative Perspectives, 2017

Universities encourage students to undertake international professional experiences (IPEs) so the... more Universities encourage students to undertake international professional experiences (IPEs) so they can add international and intercultural dimensions to their development. This paper adopts a theoretical backdrop of neo-colonialism to investigate the experiences of four Australian pre-service teachers who jointly undertook an IPE in Bandung, Indonesia. Analysis of their journal entries illustrates both how they struggled to make sense of their new cultural and organizational surroundings, and some new insights they gleaned. They were unprepared or under-prepared for the complexities of culture that they encountered. The paper also discusses the potential for IPE delegates to normalize typically ‘Western/Northern’ ways of learning and teaching, and puts forth some recommendations for future IPEs. It aims to prompt discussion on the current and potential value, and possible pitfalls, of such programs.

Teacher attrition comes at a professional, social and individual cost. The seeds of professional ... more Teacher attrition comes at a professional, social and individual cost. The seeds of professional contentment or discontent are potentially sown early in one's career. Of the considerable research into teacher attrition, and into the early years of teaching, little appears to have investigated the dual transitions into teaching, and out of teaching into another career, and into the possible links between the two. Reporting on research conducted in Australia, this paper investigates 22 ex-teachers' recollections from their transitions from pre-service to the workplace, and examines why some of these teachers became disillusioned or disimpassioned with the profession. Most, but not all of the respondents had taught in Australia. The paper does not attempt to provide definitive solutions to the problems of teacher attrition, but rather, to illustrate with flesh-and-blood examples, some of the dilemmas faced by early career teachers. From their position as ex-teachers, these interviewees look through the 'prism' of their teaching, to its early days and beyond. The paper looks in particular at: transition from pre-service to in-service contexts; recruitment; and casual/supply teachers.

I n Australia a number of initiatives-the National Consultation on Human Rights (nhrccc, 2009) an... more I n Australia a number of initiatives-the National Consultation on Human Rights (nhrccc, 2009) and the Australian Human Rights Framework (2010)-have acknowledged the importance of supporting education about human rights in schools. The Framework: encompasses a comprehensive suite of education initiatives to ensure all Australians are able to access information on human rights. This includes the development of human rights education programs for primary and secondary schools, the community and for the Commonwealth public sector (Commonwealth of Australia, 2010: 7). In an address to New South Wales (nsw) teachers in 2009, prominent human rights barrister Geoffrey Robertson argued strongly for the importance of human rights education: …. they [human rights] serve to show that privilege is an anachronism, that dogma is destructive, that freedom is a birthright and discrimination is a wrong that should never be suffered (Robertson, 2009) *This is a slightly edited excerpt of the 2013 research report by the same authors entitled Human Rights Education in the School Curriculum, published by the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Cosmopolitan Civil Societies Research Centre, Sydney, Australia. For the full report, go to this url: http://cfsites1.uts.edu.au/ccs/news/details.cfm?ItemId=35498.

The Australian Educational Researcher

The requirement for Australian initial teacher education (ITE) providers to administer a Teaching... more The requirement for Australian initial teacher education (ITE) providers to administer a Teaching Performance Assessment (TPA) highlights a tension between policymaking directives and academic independence. It has raised fears of entrenching simplistic notions of measurement and evidence into a professional field distinguished by its complex relationship with intellectual and academic labour. Drawing on focus group data and reflections of academics co-designing an Australian TPA, this study considers how intellectual labour intertwines with its operational field, wherein co-construction of knowledge, critical thinking, and reflection define both academic and teachers’ work. Our analysis explains how education academics, as principle-designers of an assessment instrument, might also negotiate the intellectual premise of a TPA within their own ITE programs. We find that Australia’s initial TPA policy framework has been mediated with ITE academics. This offers opportunities for buildin...

The Australian Universities' review, 2018

International professional experiences have long been esteemed by universities and pre-service te... more International professional experiences have long been esteemed by universities and pre-service teachers alike. This paper analyses the experiences of six academics who have supervised Australian pre-service teachers undertaking international professional experience (PE), with a view to better understanding the problems and prospects that they encounter during their overseas supervision. The respondents reported concerns about duty of care, blurring of relationship distinctions, and pre-service teachers' and the local supervising teachers' expectations. Using a narrative inquiry approach, this paper examines the interface between visiting academic supervisors or pre-service teachers, and the host culture, against a backdrop of globally normed, Western approaches to pedagogy. The paper also explores implications for support needed for international PE academic supervisors.

Practice, Progress, and Proficiency in Sustainability

This chapter reports on an external evaluation of a statewide Education for Sustainability progra... more This chapter reports on an external evaluation of a statewide Education for Sustainability program conducted in Australia. The Climate Clever Energy Savers Program, conducted by the NSW Department of Education and Communities, invited students in primary and secondary schools (from Years 3 to 10), to participate in projects with their teachers' support, aimed at reducing their school's electricity consumption and costs. The chapter describes the Program in the context of the importance of sustainability development, and the centrality of education in achieving this. The ongoing evaluation investigates outcomes of the school-based projects, as well as teachers' views on the available support. This chapter investigates three case studies of the Program, examining outcomes, commonalities and differences across these sites. It describes the use of the Sustainability Action Process as a framework for guiding projects' progress. The chapter concludes with implications for ...

Cosmopolitan Civil Societies: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 2018

As members of a global community, we cohabit a metaphorically shrinking physical environment, and... more As members of a global community, we cohabit a metaphorically shrinking physical environment, and are increasingly connected one to another, and to the world, by ties of culture, economics, politics, communication and the like. Education is an essential component in addressing inequalities and injustices concerning global rights and responsibilities. The increasing multicultural nature of societies locally, enhanced access to distal information, and the work of charitable organisations worldwide are some of the factors that have contributed to the interest in, and need for, understanding global development education. The project on which this paper reports sought answers to the question: to what extent and in what ways can a semester-long subject enhance and extend teacher education students’ understandings of and responses to global inequalities and global development aid? In the course of the project, a continuum model emerged, as follows: Indifference or ignorance ➝ pity and char...

Curriculum Perspectives

This paper reports on the findings of a research project which investigated how a sample of New S... more This paper reports on the findings of a research project which investigated how a sample of New South Wales government primary schools understand and implement the Australian Curriculum’s general capabilities. The project sought to identify specific factors which facilitated or hindered the degree to which primary school teachers implemented the GCs in their classrooms. Data were collected and analysed in the period leading up to the current COVID-19 pandemic and as such, do not address current contextual factors at play in schools such as remote teaching and learning. The project’s mixed method approach employed an online survey which attracted responses from 185 primary teachers and included an invitation to provide brief written responses. Further data were assembled through 36 interviews undertaken with teachers in 12 primary schools in both metropolitan and rural NSW. Analysis of the interview data was undertaken by using Biesta’s (2010) three functions of education — qualifica...

Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 2015

The transition from pre-service to in-service can be difficult for teachers. One means of looking... more The transition from pre-service to in-service can be difficult for teachers. One means of looking into the minds and hearts of such teachers is to elicit the metaphors they adopt for themselves. Previous studies have indicated that during this transition much of the confidence, idealism and optimism of teacher metaphors is displaced by bleak and defeatist visions. These changes are usually explained by 'praxis shock'-a result of unrealistic prior views of teaching and equally unrealistic workloads and challenges. This research project asks if metaphors might reveal more about preservice teachers' views and vulnerabilities, and help avert or mitigate problems encountered in the early years. Metaphors provided by one cohort of pre-service teachers were distinguished according to 'locus of pedagogy' (student-centred or teacher-centred) and 'degree of agency/efficacy' in an attempt to gauge perceptions of control in the profession. The results have implications for incoming teachers, teacher educators and the profession.

International Journal of Development Education and Global Learning, 2017

Increased migration of people(s), goods, ideas and ideologies necessitate global understanding, e... more Increased migration of people(s), goods, ideas and ideologies necessitate global understanding, empathies and responses on the part of teachers and their students. This paper investigates the effects on 100 primary pre-service teachers' understandings of and attitudes toward a semester-long course exploring, inter alia, global development. The research was undertaken in Sydney, Australia. Near-identical surveys were administered at the course's beginning and end, for comparison. Additionally, four students volunteered to participate in a focus group for further discussion. Students' understandings, including misunderstandings, are examined in the context of their future professional responsibilities and of the related literature. While attitudes to those in underdeveloped countries appeared generally empathetic, this was premised on relatively limited or inaccurate 'knowledge'. The paper questions the adequacy of compassion as a motivating factor in global develo...

Australian Journal of Environmental Education, 2016

The mandate for living sustainably is becoming increasingly urgent. This article reports on the C... more The mandate for living sustainably is becoming increasingly urgent. This article reports on the Climate Clever Energy Savers (CCES) Program, a student-centred, problem- and project-based program in New South Wales, Australia, aimed at enabling school students to identify ways of reducing their schools’ electricity consumption and costs. As part of the program, students apply for Department of Education and Communities funds to address issues of electricity usage, such as building or appliance modifications, or education campaigns. In particular, this article focuses on the systemic approach used to assist teachers and students in meeting the aims of the CCES program, the Sustainability Action Process (SAP). To ascertain the contribution and value of such a framework in achieving project outcomes and associated learning and attitudinal change, we investigated teachers’ and some students’ uses and opinions of the SAP via surveys (n= 434), 16 interviews, and analysis of documents such ...

Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 2018

As demands on the environment continue to intensify, it becomes increasingly urgent to act sustai... more As demands on the environment continue to intensify, it becomes increasingly urgent to act sustainably, responsibly and respectfully, to protect and restore environments. Digital technologies, including videoconferencing, mobile apps and virtual and augmented realities, can provide new ways of engaging students in environmental stewardship. Such technologies can pique student interest, while enabling them to capture experiences of local and distal environments, to collect data and share their findings with broader audiences. This article critically explores innovative, formal and informal learning practices in experiential environmental education approaches among schools, families and communities, such as citizen science projects. It draws on qualitative case study vignettes, as well as the authors' previous work and broader literature, to consider the potential and limitations of such technologies and approaches. The key question concerns how existing and emerging technologies might serve as bridges or barriers to apprenticing young people into globally-minded, environmentally responsible and respectful behaviours.

Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 2020

This paper reports on the implementation of a Teaching Performance Assessment (TPA), a component ... more This paper reports on the implementation of a Teaching Performance Assessment (TPA), a component of graduation recently introduced into the teaching workforce in Australia. The TPA typically requires graduates to demonstrate that they can plan, implement, assess and reflect on a series of lessons given to school students. This case study used grounded theory to analyse the initial implementation of a TPA at an Australian university, based on interviews, student focus groups, and a classroom readiness survey. We investigated the TPA's contribution to final-year pre-service teachers' learning and professional readiness. We conclude that the TPA, as a threshold task, is broadly beneficial to the profession and graduating teachers, and may strengthen professional bonds between schools and universities. We also warn of TPA-related fragilities and its potential to reinforce populist notions of 'teaching as telling' and to test surface-level quizknowledge to the exclusion of deeper, attitudinal learning outcomes.

Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 2018

Cosmopolitan Civil Societies: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 2009

Australia continues to develop as a multicultural society with levels of immigration increasing s... more Australia continues to develop as a multicultural society with levels of immigration increasing significantly over recent years as a result of government policies. More recently, the new period of financial turmoil, continuing threats from terrorism and environmental concerns, have all exacerbated the challenges of dealing with difference in our society. In response, schools continue to face the challenges of the impact of a range of different cultures, languages and religions among their student and school communities. How effectively schools deal with difference and how well they are supported in their endeavours to build culturally response classrooms is a perennial issue for both teachers and educators. A major challenge for teachers is to at a minimum, understand cultural differences as they manifest in their particular school settings and to draw on approaches that support student learning in culturally appropriate ways so to assist them to better realise their full potential....

Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 2014

The place of education for and about human rights within the school curriculum remains contested ... more The place of education for and about human rights within the school curriculum remains contested and this paper reports on the first national crosssectoral investigation of its place in Australian curricula and more specifically in national and state History curriculum documents. Opportunities for the inclusion of human rights based studies were examined across school learning stages, taking into account explicit and implicit, compulsory or elective, as well as curricular and extra-curricular dimensions. Given the continued importance of History as a learning area, there is a need to strengthen the available explicit and mandatory opportunities for students to learn about human rights issues, working closely with key teacher associations, non-government agencies and supportive networks, drawing on available educational technologies.

International Journal of Educational Research, 2013

Many countries report high attrition rates among beginning teachers. The literature cites many fa... more Many countries report high attrition rates among beginning teachers. The literature cites many factors that influence a teacher's decision to remain in the profession. These include remuneration, workload, support, administration and parents. It is unclear, however, which factors matter most to teachers and, consequently, where best to direct limited resources. This study uses Best-worst Scaling (BWS) and complementary experimental design methods to quantify the relative importance of these factors. The results suggest that improving student engagement, experiencing professional challenges and enjoying collegial support are the most important factors influencing teacher decisions to stay in the profession. Beginning teachers nominate remuneration, recognition, and external factors (e.g., class size; location) as playing a lesser role in their decision to remain teachers.

Curriculum perspectives, Jan 18, 2021

The International Education Journal: Comparative Perspectives, 2017

Universities encourage students to undertake international professional experiences (IPEs) so the... more Universities encourage students to undertake international professional experiences (IPEs) so they can add international and intercultural dimensions to their development. This paper adopts a theoretical backdrop of neo-colonialism to investigate the experiences of four Australian pre-service teachers who jointly undertook an IPE in Bandung, Indonesia. Analysis of their journal entries illustrates both how they struggled to make sense of their new cultural and organizational surroundings, and some new insights they gleaned. They were unprepared or under-prepared for the complexities of culture that they encountered. The paper also discusses the potential for IPE delegates to normalize typically ‘Western/Northern’ ways of learning and teaching, and puts forth some recommendations for future IPEs. It aims to prompt discussion on the current and potential value, and possible pitfalls, of such programs.

Teacher attrition comes at a professional, social and individual cost. The seeds of professional ... more Teacher attrition comes at a professional, social and individual cost. The seeds of professional contentment or discontent are potentially sown early in one's career. Of the considerable research into teacher attrition, and into the early years of teaching, little appears to have investigated the dual transitions into teaching, and out of teaching into another career, and into the possible links between the two. Reporting on research conducted in Australia, this paper investigates 22 ex-teachers' recollections from their transitions from pre-service to the workplace, and examines why some of these teachers became disillusioned or disimpassioned with the profession. Most, but not all of the respondents had taught in Australia. The paper does not attempt to provide definitive solutions to the problems of teacher attrition, but rather, to illustrate with flesh-and-blood examples, some of the dilemmas faced by early career teachers. From their position as ex-teachers, these interviewees look through the 'prism' of their teaching, to its early days and beyond. The paper looks in particular at: transition from pre-service to in-service contexts; recruitment; and casual/supply teachers.

I n Australia a number of initiatives-the National Consultation on Human Rights (nhrccc, 2009) an... more I n Australia a number of initiatives-the National Consultation on Human Rights (nhrccc, 2009) and the Australian Human Rights Framework (2010)-have acknowledged the importance of supporting education about human rights in schools. The Framework: encompasses a comprehensive suite of education initiatives to ensure all Australians are able to access information on human rights. This includes the development of human rights education programs for primary and secondary schools, the community and for the Commonwealth public sector (Commonwealth of Australia, 2010: 7). In an address to New South Wales (nsw) teachers in 2009, prominent human rights barrister Geoffrey Robertson argued strongly for the importance of human rights education: …. they [human rights] serve to show that privilege is an anachronism, that dogma is destructive, that freedom is a birthright and discrimination is a wrong that should never be suffered (Robertson, 2009) *This is a slightly edited excerpt of the 2013 research report by the same authors entitled Human Rights Education in the School Curriculum, published by the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Cosmopolitan Civil Societies Research Centre, Sydney, Australia. For the full report, go to this url: http://cfsites1.uts.edu.au/ccs/news/details.cfm?ItemId=35498.

The Australian Educational Researcher

The requirement for Australian initial teacher education (ITE) providers to administer a Teaching... more The requirement for Australian initial teacher education (ITE) providers to administer a Teaching Performance Assessment (TPA) highlights a tension between policymaking directives and academic independence. It has raised fears of entrenching simplistic notions of measurement and evidence into a professional field distinguished by its complex relationship with intellectual and academic labour. Drawing on focus group data and reflections of academics co-designing an Australian TPA, this study considers how intellectual labour intertwines with its operational field, wherein co-construction of knowledge, critical thinking, and reflection define both academic and teachers’ work. Our analysis explains how education academics, as principle-designers of an assessment instrument, might also negotiate the intellectual premise of a TPA within their own ITE programs. We find that Australia’s initial TPA policy framework has been mediated with ITE academics. This offers opportunities for buildin...

The Australian Universities' review, 2018

International professional experiences have long been esteemed by universities and pre-service te... more International professional experiences have long been esteemed by universities and pre-service teachers alike. This paper analyses the experiences of six academics who have supervised Australian pre-service teachers undertaking international professional experience (PE), with a view to better understanding the problems and prospects that they encounter during their overseas supervision. The respondents reported concerns about duty of care, blurring of relationship distinctions, and pre-service teachers' and the local supervising teachers' expectations. Using a narrative inquiry approach, this paper examines the interface between visiting academic supervisors or pre-service teachers, and the host culture, against a backdrop of globally normed, Western approaches to pedagogy. The paper also explores implications for support needed for international PE academic supervisors.

Practice, Progress, and Proficiency in Sustainability

This chapter reports on an external evaluation of a statewide Education for Sustainability progra... more This chapter reports on an external evaluation of a statewide Education for Sustainability program conducted in Australia. The Climate Clever Energy Savers Program, conducted by the NSW Department of Education and Communities, invited students in primary and secondary schools (from Years 3 to 10), to participate in projects with their teachers' support, aimed at reducing their school's electricity consumption and costs. The chapter describes the Program in the context of the importance of sustainability development, and the centrality of education in achieving this. The ongoing evaluation investigates outcomes of the school-based projects, as well as teachers' views on the available support. This chapter investigates three case studies of the Program, examining outcomes, commonalities and differences across these sites. It describes the use of the Sustainability Action Process as a framework for guiding projects' progress. The chapter concludes with implications for ...

Cosmopolitan Civil Societies: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 2018

As members of a global community, we cohabit a metaphorically shrinking physical environment, and... more As members of a global community, we cohabit a metaphorically shrinking physical environment, and are increasingly connected one to another, and to the world, by ties of culture, economics, politics, communication and the like. Education is an essential component in addressing inequalities and injustices concerning global rights and responsibilities. The increasing multicultural nature of societies locally, enhanced access to distal information, and the work of charitable organisations worldwide are some of the factors that have contributed to the interest in, and need for, understanding global development education. The project on which this paper reports sought answers to the question: to what extent and in what ways can a semester-long subject enhance and extend teacher education students’ understandings of and responses to global inequalities and global development aid? In the course of the project, a continuum model emerged, as follows: Indifference or ignorance ➝ pity and char...

Curriculum Perspectives

This paper reports on the findings of a research project which investigated how a sample of New S... more This paper reports on the findings of a research project which investigated how a sample of New South Wales government primary schools understand and implement the Australian Curriculum’s general capabilities. The project sought to identify specific factors which facilitated or hindered the degree to which primary school teachers implemented the GCs in their classrooms. Data were collected and analysed in the period leading up to the current COVID-19 pandemic and as such, do not address current contextual factors at play in schools such as remote teaching and learning. The project’s mixed method approach employed an online survey which attracted responses from 185 primary teachers and included an invitation to provide brief written responses. Further data were assembled through 36 interviews undertaken with teachers in 12 primary schools in both metropolitan and rural NSW. Analysis of the interview data was undertaken by using Biesta’s (2010) three functions of education — qualifica...

Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 2015

The transition from pre-service to in-service can be difficult for teachers. One means of looking... more The transition from pre-service to in-service can be difficult for teachers. One means of looking into the minds and hearts of such teachers is to elicit the metaphors they adopt for themselves. Previous studies have indicated that during this transition much of the confidence, idealism and optimism of teacher metaphors is displaced by bleak and defeatist visions. These changes are usually explained by 'praxis shock'-a result of unrealistic prior views of teaching and equally unrealistic workloads and challenges. This research project asks if metaphors might reveal more about preservice teachers' views and vulnerabilities, and help avert or mitigate problems encountered in the early years. Metaphors provided by one cohort of pre-service teachers were distinguished according to 'locus of pedagogy' (student-centred or teacher-centred) and 'degree of agency/efficacy' in an attempt to gauge perceptions of control in the profession. The results have implications for incoming teachers, teacher educators and the profession.

International Journal of Development Education and Global Learning, 2017

Increased migration of people(s), goods, ideas and ideologies necessitate global understanding, e... more Increased migration of people(s), goods, ideas and ideologies necessitate global understanding, empathies and responses on the part of teachers and their students. This paper investigates the effects on 100 primary pre-service teachers' understandings of and attitudes toward a semester-long course exploring, inter alia, global development. The research was undertaken in Sydney, Australia. Near-identical surveys were administered at the course's beginning and end, for comparison. Additionally, four students volunteered to participate in a focus group for further discussion. Students' understandings, including misunderstandings, are examined in the context of their future professional responsibilities and of the related literature. While attitudes to those in underdeveloped countries appeared generally empathetic, this was premised on relatively limited or inaccurate 'knowledge'. The paper questions the adequacy of compassion as a motivating factor in global develo...

Australian Journal of Environmental Education, 2016

The mandate for living sustainably is becoming increasingly urgent. This article reports on the C... more The mandate for living sustainably is becoming increasingly urgent. This article reports on the Climate Clever Energy Savers (CCES) Program, a student-centred, problem- and project-based program in New South Wales, Australia, aimed at enabling school students to identify ways of reducing their schools’ electricity consumption and costs. As part of the program, students apply for Department of Education and Communities funds to address issues of electricity usage, such as building or appliance modifications, or education campaigns. In particular, this article focuses on the systemic approach used to assist teachers and students in meeting the aims of the CCES program, the Sustainability Action Process (SAP). To ascertain the contribution and value of such a framework in achieving project outcomes and associated learning and attitudinal change, we investigated teachers’ and some students’ uses and opinions of the SAP via surveys (n= 434), 16 interviews, and analysis of documents such ...

Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 2018

As demands on the environment continue to intensify, it becomes increasingly urgent to act sustai... more As demands on the environment continue to intensify, it becomes increasingly urgent to act sustainably, responsibly and respectfully, to protect and restore environments. Digital technologies, including videoconferencing, mobile apps and virtual and augmented realities, can provide new ways of engaging students in environmental stewardship. Such technologies can pique student interest, while enabling them to capture experiences of local and distal environments, to collect data and share their findings with broader audiences. This article critically explores innovative, formal and informal learning practices in experiential environmental education approaches among schools, families and communities, such as citizen science projects. It draws on qualitative case study vignettes, as well as the authors' previous work and broader literature, to consider the potential and limitations of such technologies and approaches. The key question concerns how existing and emerging technologies might serve as bridges or barriers to apprenticing young people into globally-minded, environmentally responsible and respectful behaviours.

Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 2020

This paper reports on the implementation of a Teaching Performance Assessment (TPA), a component ... more This paper reports on the implementation of a Teaching Performance Assessment (TPA), a component of graduation recently introduced into the teaching workforce in Australia. The TPA typically requires graduates to demonstrate that they can plan, implement, assess and reflect on a series of lessons given to school students. This case study used grounded theory to analyse the initial implementation of a TPA at an Australian university, based on interviews, student focus groups, and a classroom readiness survey. We investigated the TPA's contribution to final-year pre-service teachers' learning and professional readiness. We conclude that the TPA, as a threshold task, is broadly beneficial to the profession and graduating teachers, and may strengthen professional bonds between schools and universities. We also warn of TPA-related fragilities and its potential to reinforce populist notions of 'teaching as telling' and to test surface-level quizknowledge to the exclusion of deeper, attitudinal learning outcomes.

Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 2018

Cosmopolitan Civil Societies: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 2009

Australia continues to develop as a multicultural society with levels of immigration increasing s... more Australia continues to develop as a multicultural society with levels of immigration increasing significantly over recent years as a result of government policies. More recently, the new period of financial turmoil, continuing threats from terrorism and environmental concerns, have all exacerbated the challenges of dealing with difference in our society. In response, schools continue to face the challenges of the impact of a range of different cultures, languages and religions among their student and school communities. How effectively schools deal with difference and how well they are supported in their endeavours to build culturally response classrooms is a perennial issue for both teachers and educators. A major challenge for teachers is to at a minimum, understand cultural differences as they manifest in their particular school settings and to draw on approaches that support student learning in culturally appropriate ways so to assist them to better realise their full potential....

Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 2014

The place of education for and about human rights within the school curriculum remains contested ... more The place of education for and about human rights within the school curriculum remains contested and this paper reports on the first national crosssectoral investigation of its place in Australian curricula and more specifically in national and state History curriculum documents. Opportunities for the inclusion of human rights based studies were examined across school learning stages, taking into account explicit and implicit, compulsory or elective, as well as curricular and extra-curricular dimensions. Given the continued importance of History as a learning area, there is a need to strengthen the available explicit and mandatory opportunities for students to learn about human rights issues, working closely with key teacher associations, non-government agencies and supportive networks, drawing on available educational technologies.

International Journal of Educational Research, 2013

Many countries report high attrition rates among beginning teachers. The literature cites many fa... more Many countries report high attrition rates among beginning teachers. The literature cites many factors that influence a teacher's decision to remain in the profession. These include remuneration, workload, support, administration and parents. It is unclear, however, which factors matter most to teachers and, consequently, where best to direct limited resources. This study uses Best-worst Scaling (BWS) and complementary experimental design methods to quantify the relative importance of these factors. The results suggest that improving student engagement, experiencing professional challenges and enjoying collegial support are the most important factors influencing teacher decisions to stay in the profession. Beginning teachers nominate remuneration, recognition, and external factors (e.g., class size; location) as playing a lesser role in their decision to remain teachers.

EURASIA Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 2019

As demands on the environment continue to intensify, it becomes increasingly urgent to act sustai... more As demands on the environment continue to intensify, it becomes increasingly urgent to act sustainably, responsibly and respectfully, to protect and restore environments. Digital technologies, including videoconferencing, mobile apps and virtual and augmented realities, can provide new ways of engaging students in environmental stewardship. Such technologies can pique student interest, while enabling them to capture experiences of local and distal environments, to collect data and share their findings with broader audiences. This article critically explores innovative, formal and informal learning practices in experiential environmental education approaches among schools, families and communities, such as citizen science projects. It draws on qualitative case study vignettes, as well as the authors' previous work and broader literature, to consider the potential and limitations of such technologies and approaches. The key question concerns how existing and emerging technologies might serve as bridges or barriers to apprenticing young people into globally-minded, environmentally responsible and respectful behaviours.

Teacher Development, 2018

This article examines and theorises the experiences of 12 primary pre-service teachers at an Aust... more This article examines and theorises the experiences of 12 primary pre-service teachers at an Australian university, undertaking a two-week professional teaching experience in Bangkok. This qualitative ethnographic study of our students' and to some extent our own experiences draws on interviews, questionnaires and observations from the students, as well as reflective notes from two participating supervisors, and set out to account for and understand the sources of the achievements and frustrations experienced by our pre-service teachers. The findings illustrate differences between the students' overseas experiences and Australian-based experiences. These differences include organisational structures, teacher mentoring, and cultural understandings, and the effects these had on the students. In particular, we distinguish the more readily observable structural nature of the schools in which the pre-service teachers were teaching, and the less visible cultural aspects that underlie these structures. We propose ways of helping students, as part of pre-departure briefings, to become more aware of these cultural underpinnings, with a view to helping them become more at ease negotiating intercultural workplaces.