Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemInvestigating the growth of teacher knowledge on teaching reading through a professional development program( 2007)This thesis is an investigation of the growth and development of teacher knowledge on teaching reading to students with reading difficulties. The effect of a professional development program was examined to achieve the aim of this study. Thirty preschool and elementary school teachers volunteered and attended a 10-day professional development seminar that focused on understanding the processes in learning to read, identifying and remediating reading difficulties. The teachers' subject matter knowledge and pedagogical knowledge were tested using two separate tasks, before and after the professional development seminar. The data were analysed using both quantitative and qualitative data analyses procedures. The results indicate that a professional development seminar can significantly raise both teachers' subject matter and pedagogical knowledge on teaching concepts and procedures that research had earlier identified as essential for teaching reading. The results of investigating subject matter knowledge at pre-testing showed that there are clear gaps in what teachers know from what they should know. Particular concepts were identified to form part of what teachers know and concepts that are unknown to the teachers. The investigation of the growth of this knowledge showed that there are concepts that are more readily learned compared to others. The audit of teachers pedagogical knowledge at pre-testing revealed that teachers knew procedures that are consistent with the recommended teaching procedures for teaching literacy to students with literacy learning difficulties. The investigation of the growth of this teacher knowledge showed that there are teaching procedures that teachers have effectively learnt from the seminar. The investigation of the relationship between how teachers learn concepts for subject matter knowledge and procedures for pedagogical knowledge showed no relationship using statistical analyses. However, through qualitative analyses, the evidenced showed that the terms that teachers used on the instrument for investigating pedagogical knowledge revealed a strong relationship with subject matter knowledge growth. The teachers at post-testing showed a tendency to use concepts in literacy learning that they did not know at pre-testing. The evidence from this study lends support to notion that teachers learn new subject matter knowledge and pedagogical knowledge in an integrated manner. From this study, recommendations for the development and implementation of professional development programs for teaching reading are drawn. The value of a solid knowledge base for such recommendations is underscored. Recommendations are also made with regards to improving efforts to investigating teacher knowledge as a means to improve educational practice.
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ItemThe relationship between teacher professional development and the ability to teach academically gifted children: a multiple case study( 2000)The launch of the Bright Futures policy and Australia's gifted education history suggest a need to study Victorian gifted teacher professional development outcomes. The literature implicates the utility of professional development in building identification skills, instructional expertise and positive attitudes towards gifted children. A few studies in gifted education also converge with the general literature to suggest the provision of environmental support together with professional development. There is a dearth however, of accompanying research and theoretical models in gifted education relevant to professional development outcomes. Research in general education has located a new paradigm combining both aspects of professional development and environmental support. In this study the same paradigm was used to examine the results of professional development under the Bright Futures policy. Reflective of the policy's lack of structure in implementing professional development, there were variations in outcomes. It also was found that unsuccessful outcomes often were linked to elements of professional development and/ or environmental support which tell short of the paradigm's recommendations. Similarly, successful cases closely reflected the paradigm's recommendations for professional development and environmental support. The overall findings would therefore support the adoption of the study's paradigm in gifted education. The application of findings as applied to research and future professional development practice are also discussed.
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ItemTeacher professional learning in an online community: the experience of the NQSF pilot project( 2004)During 2002, the National Quality Schooling Framework Pilot Project (NQSF) established an online environment designed to support the implementation of school improvement initiatives in selected schools across Australia. Part of the NQSF Pilot Project included the provision of computer mediated communications tools which aimed to foster participation by teachers and school leaders in an online learning community to support teacher professional learning through collegial, reflective sharing of practices. This study explores the extent to which an effective online community developed during the Pilot Project by examining in detail the experiences of a sample of NQSF participants. The particular focus of the study is an examination of the extent and nature of participation of a number of teachers and school leaders in the NQSF online community. It describes the positive and negative influences on the use of the NQSF online environment, and reports on the impact on the professional learning and other school-based practices of 13 teachers and school leaders whose experiences cover a range of behaviours within the NQSF online environment. The findings suggest that schools participating in the NQSF Pilot Project did not have a strong culture of collegial, reflective sharing of practice and that most teachers had limited experience in using computer mediated communications tools, both of which acted as a barrier to teachers participating in the NQSF online community. Further, without a well-defined sense of commonality and a perceived need or purpose and without a critical mass of meaningful responses to discussions that were initiated, teachers and school leaders were less likely to allocate time to be an active contributor to the online community. The findings indicate that the NQSF online community required further time and facilitation to progress beyond a pre-birth phase of development within the six-month time frame of the project. The findings of this research could inform the design and development of future versions of online teacher professional development environments created to facilitate professional dialogue and reflection through online communities. Further, the findings of this study could provide insight into the types of organisational, structural and cultural support mechanisms that may need to be considered within schools so that online teacher communities designed to support teacher professional learning through collegial sharing and reflection may achieve their objectives.