Teachers' Work

Privatising public education: are we there yet?

Daniel Couch, Kay-Lee Jones, Helena Cook, Christoph Teschers, Nesta Devine — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +1200

Shaping of andragogy for an immigrant teacher-educator in Aotearoa

Tahera Afrin — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +1200

Teaching is a complex process. The shaping of the process varies in individuals. One example of such is explained here which would demonstrate that beliefs and practice revolve around each other within the local and individual contexts. This reflextion narrates an early childhood teacher educator’s journey of understanding and applying practices of adult teaching in Aotearoa New Zealand. I analyse and describe the factors that contribute to the philosophy and practices that characterise my understanding of teaching adults.

Creating authentic remote work integrated learning: A new approach using HyFlex classrooms

Sandra Barnett — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +1200

This article reflects on the experience of a multi-disciplinary teaching team delivering an applied project course in a business master’s program. This capstone course was developed to address industry and government expectations for work-ready graduates. In the course students act as consultants for business clients, completing a project over two semesters to recommend solutions for real business issues. The focus of this article is on the innovative delivery of the course utilizing newly built HyFlex technology-enabled classrooms and how this multimedia technology presented opportunities and learnings for future work-integrated learning (WIL) courses.

Playing to our strengths: An Appreciative Inquiry approach to appraisal

Debbie Ryder, Teresa Huggins, Shelley Sugrue — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +1200

ABSTRACT

Appraisal processes are a requirement for professionals working in the education sector. Often appraisal processes do not focus on strengths, rather, it becomes a process of meeting pre-determined requirements. This article takes a strength-based approach to appraisal and discusses a study which pilots the use of an Appreciative Growth Cycle process. The study focused on the growth of future professional practice within an organisational team. An Appreciative Inquiry methodology (Cooperrider & Srivastva, 1987) guided the study. The purpose of the study was to trial the feasibility and application of the Appreciative Growth Cycle process for its possible use across a wider organisational context. The research question therefore that drove the study was: In what ways might the use of an Appreciative Growth Cycle process be applied within a wider organisational context?

Trauma Informed ECE Practice in Aotearoa New Zealand

Lucy Wood — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +1200

This research overview outlines the catalyst for a proposed research project which stems from an interest in trauma and its effects, particularly in early childhood. It argues that there should be a stronger focus on Trauma Informed Practice in Aotearoa New Zealand, with two foci-firstly in ITE programmes, empowering graduating kaiako with the tools to support tamariki who have trauma through pedagogical practice, so that they can work in collaboration with external services rather than relying on them. Secondly, with the creation of a model to measure trauma which is designed for use in Aotearoa New Zealand, takes into consideration te Tiriti o Waitangi, the history of colonisation in this country and the specific needs of Māori.

Educational Resilience Amidst COVID-19: Global Insights and Strategies

Ziwei Wang — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +1200

This research overview investigates the global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on education, focusing on challenges encountered during the shift to online learning. Drawing insights from studies in New Zealand, Oman, Malaysia, and Germany, the overview explores diverse experiences of educators and students. The abrupt transition to online learning revealed significant challenges, as indicated by various studies. Opportunities for positive changes in education systems are emphasized, advocating for a reimagining of education through innovative practices. This literature review identifies practical and effective strategies for online education, including fostering a sense of community, providing personalized support and feedback, accommodating divers e-learner needs, and considering the learning environment and cognition. Insights from various studies underscore the importance of these practices in overcoming challenges and improving online education quality.

The conundrum of care in the construction of professional identity

Bin Wu, Nesta Devine — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +1200

The notion of 'professional' is built on a concept of traditionally male professions and patriarchal social orders. ECEC (early childhood education and care), however, is a female-dominated field characterised by its unique caring practice that is more salient when working with infants and toddlers. This study investigates how a group of Australian early childhood preservice teachers presented themselves professionally on Instagram, in relation to respective infant (0-2) and kindergarten (3-5) practica. Data were drawn from focus group discussions about how the participants shared their practicum experiences on social media, Instagram. The paper is guided by Foucault’s concepts of technologies of the self and self writing. The findings reveal two thematic narratives: 1) in the context of the kindergarten placement, the posts constitute a journey of continuous improvement against all odds. 2) In contrast, the infant placement experiences evoke a sense of struggle and renunciation. The paper concludes with implications for further study beyond the Australian context.

Border Crossing: Supporting factors of collaboration across sectors in one Kāhui Ako/Community of Learning

Tiffany Williams — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +1200

In theory, collaboration is a key component of education in Aotearoa New Zealand. In practice, however, cross sector collaborative relationships are not so easily established or maintained, even when collaboration is ‘mandated’ through government policy. This research explores the perspectives of nine teachers from one Kāhui Ako/Community of Learning (Kāhui Ako), who discussed the successes and challenges they experienced when collaborating across sectors. With commitment to collaborative work, the research participants were able to cross the borders that exist within and extend beyond the education sectors, exploring exciting new frontiers of leadership and learning. The teachers’ experiences were analysed using a social learning theory lens, highlighting the complex nature of cross-sector collaboration. It is hoped this research will support other education communities to evaluate the effectiveness of their own collaborative endeavours.

The enactment of distributed leadership in secondary schools in Aotearoa New Zealand

Greg Sharland, Kate Thornton — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +1200

School leaders have a significant impact on student outcomes (Grissom et al., 2021; Leithwood et al., 2020); however, there has been a shift from viewing school leadership as the actions of an individual, to seeing leadership as a collaborative endeavour, including in New Zealand (Youngs, 2020). The traditional heroic model of leadership is making way for a new leadership paradigm which considers leadership as the actions of many rather than the few (Spillane 2005) and promotes the construct of distributed leadership. This research study, using an interpretive qualitative design, focused on the experiences of secondary school principals in their attempts to distribute leadership. Moreover, the study aimed to connect principal’s interpretations of distributed leadership with their practice of the construct. The findings highlight the challenges in defining and enacting distributed leadership. Nine recommendations for principals who are considering distributed leadership as a tool for effectively distributing leadership and improving student outcomes are presented. These are designed to provide principals with a starting point when considering distributed leadership and to stimulate further discussion on the topic.

Testing Understanding by Design

Giorgio Ostinelli — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +1200

Understanding by Design (UbD) is a well-known curricular methodology aiming at leading students to develop deep understanding of the arguments proposed by teachers. Through a path including stimulating questions, student motivation, deepening of the argument, reflection, design and assessment of authentic performances, the students develop a broad understanding of the learned argument. While there is plenty of articles describing various experiences in classrooms and schools showing the benefits of UbD, rarely this methodology has been the object of experimental or quasi-experimental studies. A research conforming to quasi-experimental criteria has been performed in a Swiss vocational school, where three groups of students have been submitted to teaching based on UbD principles (the first two) and to a more traditional teaching approach (the remaining one). The argument was the study of mathematical Relations and Functions. The results, collected during one school year, showed that the first two groups outperformed the third one and that the effect lasted at least for one school year. Since the teacher remained the same, it is likely that the outcome can be attributed to the use of the methodology.