WAIER
The premier institute for educational research in Western Australia
The deadlines have been extended for the WAIER Research Grant, WAIER Fogarty Postgraduate Research Prize and Early Career Award, now all due Friday 22nd July. Please see the respective pages for more information and to submit your nomination.
Gregory Hine (University of Notre Dame Australia) and Sandra Herbert (Deakin University)
A well-established claim is that teacher education programs are pivotal in the professional preparation and formation of pre-service secondary mathematics teachers (PSMTs). Despite this claim, there appears to be a lack of understanding of how best to prepare PSMTs for the profession.
The purpose of this study was to examine and monitor changes over time in PSMTs’ views about approaches to teaching mathematics in secondary schools, before and after undertaking mathematics teaching methods courses (including practicum teaching). These views included their perceived readiness to teach secondary mathematics, as well as an indication of their likelihood to use particular teaching approaches for mathematics.
For this study, PSMTs at two Australian universities were surveyed before and after they undertook their respective teaching methods courses, and interviewed upon course completion. Overall, survey data did not indicate a significant change in PSMTs’ views of readiness to teach mathematics from either university (N = 61 pre-survey, N = 34 post-survey).
An analysis of interview data revealed that PSMTs did not feel ready to teach secondary mathematics, with their emphases focused on two areas where improvement was needed. The areas requiring improvement were their mathematical content knowledge and mathematical pedagogical knowledge. Nevertheless, nearly half of the interviewees reported feeling confident to teach mathematics to lower secondary classes (Years 7-10). Despite these concessions, all interviewed PSMTs outlined at least one area where they had experienced professional growth since commencing a teacher education degree.
Issues in Educational Research, 32(2), 533-554. http://www.iier.org.au/iier32/hine.pdf
Paul Gardner & Sonja Kuzich – Curtin University, School of Education
Over several decades, a preoccupation with reading has dominated the literacy debate in primary education. One-sided discussions around literacy not only neglect to consider the symbiotic relationship of reading and writing, but marginalise writing as a worthwhile subject for research. Increasingly, primary teachers are using commercial writing programs as a means of scaffolding the writing curriculum. However, using NAPLAN results as a benchmark, standards of writing have consistently deteriorated over the last decade. Starting from the premise that teachers need to be confident writers in order to teach writing, this study surveyed the writing practices of First Year Primary and Early Childhood Education (ECE) B.Ed. students on entry to university.
Findings show that although student teachers write regularly, they most frequently write short, informal digital texts, rather than the text types common to the primary English curriculum. Over fifty percent of students had not written a story or poem in over two years, and in some instances, it was more than a decade. It is suggested that insufficient recent experience of writing the text-types they will teach on graduation may be a factor contributing to falling standards of writing. International studies show this phenomenon is not restricted to Australia.
The study recommends that writing should be given a higher profile in Initial Teacher Education (ITE) through a ‘knowledge in praxis’ approach in which student-teachers are positioned as writers who learn about writer agency and compositional processes as ‘insiders’.
The study is followed by a second paper, yet to be published, in which students reflect on their experiences of learning about writing after being immersed in this ‘knowledge in praxis’ approach.
An investigation of the writing experiences of pre-service teachers, Issues in Educational Research, 32(2), 513-532 http://www.iier.org.au/iier32/gardner.pdf
Our Archivist Roger Atkinson recently found evidence that WAIER has been in operation since at least 1936 with the following excerpt uncovered from the West Australian newspaper on Wednesday 6 May 1936 pg 20.
The 2022 WAIER Forum will commence with a panel discussion. The panel members (below) will discuss a range of global and local issues around education research. We welcome the panelist’s insights with what will be a thought-provoking discussion.
Jeffrey Brooks is the Head of School at Curtin University.
His research focuses on sociological, organisational and equity dynamics of educational leadership practice and preparation. Most recently, that has led him to explore how school leadership influences (and is influenced by) social justice, racism, globalisation and extremism. Jeff’s research has taken place in the United States, Australia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines.He is the recipient of two J. William Fulbright Scholarships to study educational leadership for social justice, in Thailand and the Philippines. Jeff believes that high-quality research, culturally relevant teaching and proactive leadership for social justice can improve children’s lives and educational experiences- nothing is more important. He also believes strongly that it is his responsibility as an educator to create professional opportunities for students, educators and other scholars.
Dr Libby Jackson-Barrett is a Senior Lecturer and researcher for Kurongkurl Katitjin, Centre for Indigenous Australian Education and Research and the School of Education at Edith Cowan University. Working in the tertiary sector for 20 years, Libby’s research interests include exploring factors that promote and develop successful outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in education. Libby has a particular interest in culturally relevant and critical pedagogy, culturally responsive practices in teaching and working alongside Aboriginal peoples and communities and Indigenous education issues. Libby’s current research is On Country Learning. On Country Learning research is breaking new ground in Aboriginal education, receiving recognition as an Innovative Pedagogical approach in the Early Years for the Asia Pacific Region by ARNEC. Libby completed her PhD: On Country Learning: Towards a Culturally Responsive Pedagogy for Aboriginal Education in 2021 and is now exploring new research ideas connected to On Country Learning in Boorloo. As the Associate Dean Academic for Kurongkurl Katitjin, Libby leads the teaching team in the Aboriginal education units for the undergraduate and post graduate pre-service teachers studying across early childhood, primary and secondary teaching degrees.
Glenn Savage is an Associate Professor at the University of Western Australia. Glenn is a leading researcher and public commentator on education policy. His recent book, ‘The Quest for Revolution in Australian Schooling Policy’ (Routledge 2021), provides a detailed history of schooling reform in the Australian federation and offers a strong critique of standards-based reform. Glenn currently leads an Australian Research Council project that is examining the role of parents and community members in school decision-making. In late 2022, Glenn will serve as a visiting fellow at Durham University’s Institute of Advanced Study, where his research will critically examine reforms that seek to revolutionise education through the introduction of “21st Century models” of schooling.
Gabbie Stroud is a freelance writer, novelist and recovering teacher. Her critical commentary of Australia’s education system was published in Griffith Review’s Edition 51 Fixing The System. Links to the essay went ‘viral’ on social media and the essay was viewed 24 000 times within the first two weeks of publication. Teacher is Gabbie’s memoir, expanding on that essay and bringing readers into today’s challenging classrooms. Her follow up book, Dear Parents, challenges parents and caregivers to reframe their perception of our education system and to reconsider the purpose of schooling. Gabbie is a passionate advocate for change in Australia’s education system and has been a guest on The Drum, Conversations with Richard Fidler, Studio 10, Sunrise, Sixty Minutes and Q&A.
In remembering International Women’s Day, WAIER celebrates the role of Feminist researchers. Many pioneer Feminist researchers drew attention to the fact that much so called ‘objective’, empirical research has been conducted by men on men. In the main, male researchers have been white and middle class, coming from the global North. Not only has male-centric research rendered women researchers ‘invisible’, it also distorts reality by excluding women’s perspectives. Such research has been justifiably critiqued as epistemologically flawed. ‘Man-stream’ science assumes ‘a detached knower’ who frames neutral questions and value-free findings and analysis (Wiggington & Lafrance, 2019). Feminist researchers, no matter their discipline, have been united around the construction of inclusive research methodologies and the promotion of women’s perspective of the world. One key theoretical perspective in feminist research is ‘standpoint theory’, which frames knowledge as being situated in one’s social position, which influences how the world is experienced. Feminist researchers have also drawn attention to the fallacy of the ‘detached’ neutral researcher, and have called on all researchers to acknowledge how their own subjective positions impinge on views of ‘reality’.
Further Reading – Britta Wiggington and Michelle Lafrance’s article which formed the basis of this piece can be accessed at:
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0959353519866058
Wigginton, B. & Lafrance, M.N. (2019) Learning critical feminist research: A brief introduction to feminist epistemologies and methodologies. Feminism & Psychology. September 2019. doi:10.1177/0959353519866058
