Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemThe pedagogy of engagement: classroom management vs. facilitating learning( 2019)This thesis explored the way upper primary teachers think about student engagement and how they operationalise the concept within their classrooms. Student engagement has been frequently linked to academic success, and improving the engagement of students continues to be a priority for policy makers and practitioners alike. Despite an abundance of research, it remains questionable whether researcher conceptions of student engagement adequately represent the way teachers experience the concept. Teachers' perspectives on student engagement and their engagement-related practices were investigated over two studies using an exploratory sequential mixed methods design. In Study One, in-depth interviews were conducted with 16 teachers to explore their beliefs about student engagement in learning. Teachers described six qualitatively different forms of engagement and disengagement, as well as a complex process for facilitating student engagement within lessons. A typology of engagement and a pedagogical framework for engaging students were proposed based on the findings. Study Two sought to test the validity of the typology as a representation of teachers' descriptions of student engagement and its usefulness in coding teachers' engagement-related interactions within observed lessons. Four teachers were interviewed and four lessons observations for each teacher were conducted. In addition, 72 students within those classrooms were surveyed to explore their perceptions of aspects of the learning environment, including their understanding of teacher expectations for student engagement. Qualitative analysis of interview and observation data revealed that teachers varied in their expectations for student engagement within lessons, their views on the role of peers in student engagement, and in the frequency with which they intervened within lessons to facilitate different forms of student engagement. Quantitative analysis of survey data suggest that students in different classrooms perceive different expectations for how they will engage in learning experiences. A model is proposed for thinking about the pedagogy of student engagement, providing an alternative vantage point from which to explore the concept, one that is grounded in the real-life experiences of teachers facing the ongoing challenge of engaging students in classroom learning experiences.
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ItemContemplative practitioners, becoming teachers: a study of the implications of contemplative practices for teacher professional becoming( 2019)This thesis explores the implications of contemplative practices for beginning teachers, focusing on issues of identity, being and becoming. In the current neoliberal context, teaching is primarily conceived in terms of decontextualised standards of practice. As a result of this, the question of the ‘who’ of the teacher remains neglected. Contemplative practices, as practices of awareness and self-inquiry, are taken as an avenue to re-open questions of the teacher-self. The purpose of this inquiry is to bring further theoretical clarity and empirical grounding to scholarship regarding contemplative practices and the teacher. It extends existing work by presenting a rich theorisation of the teacher-self, and by exploring contemplative practices defined inclusively, beyond the current preoccupation with mindfulness. The study was guided by the question: What are the implications of contemplative practices for teacher professional becoming? To respond to the research question an exploratory, qualitative, multiple case-study was conducted, informed by Heidegger’s hermeneutic phenomenology, Schatzki’s theory of social practices, and aspects of Buddhist philosophy. Seven beginning teachers with an existing commitment to contemplative practice were recruited and participated in interviews, metaphoric drawing, school-based fieldwork, and shared researcher-participant meditation over the period of one year. Study participants engaged in a range of contemplative practices, which were associated with a variety of altered experiences of time, space, self and world. These practices and experiences were woven into forms of identity work, via which participants imagined themselves as teachers in a context characterised by uncertainty and in-betweenness (theorised here as liminality). Participants identified various forms of overlap, harmony, and friction between the worlds of teaching and contemplative practices. Beyond being a technique of self-care, contemplative practices played both a constructive and deconstructive role with respect to teacher identity. As constructive, contemplative practices inflected the purposes of teaching, and also grounded the cultivation of virtues (including calm, compassion and curiosity). As deconstructive, contemplative practices of self-inquiry facilitated a loosening of the habitual aspects of the self, which I conceive as un-becoming. This work culminated in the phenomenon of presence—an aware, responsive and connected mode of being—which, at times, was inhibited by the social and institutional structures of education. The interpretation of the empirical material shows how contemplative practices have significant implications for beginning teacher identity and practice. They operate as nodes of stability within the liminal spaces of teacher professional becoming. However, paradoxically, they emphasise that the un-making of the teacher-self may be just as important as the making of the teacher-self, captured in the notion of professional-becoming-as-un-becoming. Overall, the findings suggest that educational policymakers and school leaders assessing the value of mindfulness need to be aware of the broader web of practices to which it is historically and philosophically related. The findings also suggest substantial opportunities for the integration of aspects of contemplative practice, as supporting forms of reflection and radical reflexivity, into teacher education and professional development. However, there remain a range complex issues which need to be addressed in doing so.
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ItemInvestigating teachers’ knowledge, practice and change following an oral language professional learning program( 2018)Language and literacy are increasingly topics of educational and public health interest, and research suggests that these skills are significantly impacted by early educational experiences. Crucially, there is wide agreement that teaching quality is a key determinant of student achievement. In a series of three studies, the knowledge and classroom practices of early years’ teachers, and teachers’ self-perceived and measured changes that occurred during and following a sustained oral language professional learning program were explored. These investigations were informed by Desimone’s (2009) model of professional development and Hoy and Miskel’s social system model for schools (2008). In Study 1, the knowledge of language constructs and associated self-rated ability of 78 Victorian teachers was measured. Consistent with a number of earlier Australian and international studies, teachers’ explicit and implicit knowledge of basic linguistic constructs was limited and highly variable. Despite rating their skills and knowledge as either moderate or very good, the collective knowledge of this cohort was found to be limited and variable. A statistically significant correlation was found between total self-rated ability and experience teaching the early years of primary school, but no relationship was found between self-rated ability and overall performance on knowledge items, indicating that participants’ knowledge was not well calibrated. In Study 2, the feasibility of a novel approach to collecting teacher talk data was investigated, as was the application of an existing framework to describe talk. This approach was then applied to measure change in 12 teachers’ talk over the course of the professional learning program. Over the course of the professional learning program teachers used proportionately more talk that explained strategies that students could use to support their language and literacy learning, and this increase was sustained 12 months later. The aim of Study 3 was to describe the observed and self-perceived changes in knowledge, practice and beliefs of teachers who participated in the professional learning program, and whether change was adequately accounted for by current models of professional development. In three case studies it was illustrated that despite participating in the same sustained professional learning program, teachers’ growth in knowledge was variable. Change in self-rated ability was influenced by observed student outcomes (which teachers attributed to change in their practice). In one case, professional growth was restricted by factors within the school environment. Conclusions drawn from this body of research are that (i) oral language is rarely disaggregated from early literacy and lacks visibility in the early years of primary school, (ii) teachers’ knowledge of language and literacy is variable, often limited and poorly calibrated, and (iii) the construct of teacher cognition and theoretical models of teacher practice change can and should inform the design and implementation of professional learning.
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ItemMy Italian kindergarten: an investigation of preschool language teaching( 2016)While early natural second language acquisition often produces high levels of bilingual competence, second language learning in institutional settings is far less successful. One response has been to lower the starting age for second language instruction to preschool, but there has been limited research to date into pedagogy for language teaching tailored to early childhood education settings. This study takes an analytic autoethnographic approach to investigating teaching in a play-based bilingual program. Situated in an Italian-English kindergarten program in Melbourne, the study is an inquiry into microprocesses of second language teaching. The Bilingual Turn in education and second language research seeks to acknowledge multilingual realities, suggesting reconsideration of assumptions about language separation in education, recommending bilingual practices such as translanguaging and responsible code-switching, and proposing the adoption of Usage-Based Linguistics as a theory of second language development. This study examines records of enacted bilingual teaching using practitioner reflection, and theoretical resources drawn from the perspective of the Bilingual Turn. The project takes up two related facets of teacher language use, with one focus on English use and issues of language separation and alternation, and the other focus on Italian use and formulaic language in routines. The study finds teaching practices that maximise target language exposure may be a higher priority than language separation. On the other hand, while it may be valid to adopt intentionally bilingual teaching strategies in some settings, the learning context must be considered. Analysis of formulaic language use in routines identifies ‘scripted’ routines as a pedagogical strategy used to add frequency to opportunities for Italian language interaction in a manner compatible with a Usage-Based Linguistics approach to piecemeal repertoire building.
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ItemCreative practice, value, and the teaching of art and design in higher education( 2014)Despite the current emphasis on creativity in education, the teaching of art and design in universities is an underresearched area of higher education. Those who teach within university art and design disciplines are most often artists and designers with their own active and vibrant creative practices. Yet the connection between the teaching of art and design and the creative practices of the artists and designers who teach in those programs is not well understood. This thesis is an attempt to articulate this area. Contemporary higher education, a space currently experiencing much change due to the force of economics and policy in Australia and internationally, is the contextual background for this research. Within this context, the academic disciplines of art and design and those who teach within them are considered in light of their creative practices as artists and designers, and the value of this practice. I began with the premise that there is value in the teaching of art and design, and from the creative practices of artists and designers who teach in these disciplines; therefore, this thesis focuses on articulating the nature of this value rather than arguing for its existence. To research this topic, a qualitative methodology was used, with Australian art and design academics as participants. Qualitative methods involving two phases included semistructured interviews, class observations, visual data, participant journals, and field notes. Value theory was the main theoretical lens used for analysis, in addition to theories of embodied and tacit knowledge, and creativity. Analysis highlighted that participants model and draw from creative practice in teaching of art and design, conceptualise research in a variety of ways, struggle to balance their two professional worlds of creative practice and teaching, and seek the support of university leadership. Value, value disconnects, and tensions became apparent. In addition, research highlighted that dual values are at play: those of participants and those of universities. The research found the value that artist/designer-academics contribute from their creative practices to the teaching of art and design is primarily instrumental in nature because it is a means towards obtaining something else: enabling and assisting students to create works of art and design. I argue that this value encompasses three key areas in the teaching of art/design: the modelling of professional art/design practice, the ability to draw from various creative practices, and the mentoring of art/design students. In addition, artist/designer-academics contribute value in the form of their creative practice to the research agendas and outputs of universities. Each of these areas is contingent upon support and leadership within universities. Recommendations outlined suggest a way forward. This thesis is based in the experiences, views, and voices of its participants: those with active art and design practices who teach in university art and design programs. It also takes into account the realities of contemporary higher education, disciplinary cultures, creative practice, and notions of value in articulating the nature of the value contributed from the creative practices of artists and designers to the teaching of art and design.