Faculty of Education - Research Publications
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ItemNo Preview AvailableLearning with and from: positioning school students as advisors in pre-service teacher education(Taylor & Francis, 2016)This article reports on an innovative pedagogical approach within the Learning Partnerships program in which school students help to ‘teach the teachers’ within pre-service teacher education. Classes of school students join with classes of pre-service teachers to provide input on how teachers can enhance school students’ engagement and wellbeing. The article draws on data collected from 125 students (aged 13–16) and 120 pre-service teachers in these workshops. Findings generated from a mixed methods study combining pre-workshop focus groups (n = Students: 38, Teachers: 33) and post-workshop focus groups (n = Students: 69, Teachers: 15) and post-workshop surveys (n = Students: 96; Teachers: 101) demonstrated that the workshops were mutually beneficial for both students and pre-service teachers. Participants found that workshopping together enhanced their belief in the possibility of positive student–teacher relationships. The pre-service teachers reported greater confidence in communicating with young people about the issues that affect student engagement and wellbeing. The school students reported that they were more willing to use teachers as a source of help. Implications include the need for increased attention to a ‘third space’ for learning in teacher development which provides opportunity for learning with and from young people about how to foster their engagement and wellbeing.
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ItemNo Preview Available‘Building Positive Expectations’: Literacy interventions with vulnerable youth in teacher education(Acer Press, 2014-06-01)The Parkville Juvenile Justice Precinct has become an invaluable learning opportunity for secondary teacher candidates studying for a Master of Teaching qualification. As part of the Parkville College tutoring program, selected teacher candidates work with the College students once a week in a structured small-group tutoring environment where they focus on targeted literacy activities and critical thinking. Many of the students in the College have diverse learning needs, due to ‘highly interrupted’ schooling histories and often coming from backgrounds where significant trauma has taken place. They come with emotional, physical and behavioural challenges, which can make teaching and learning difficult. However, this targeted teaching program has already proven its value for these students, as they demonstrate improved literacy skills, self-worth and positive outlooks. The benefits for teacher candidates includes harnessing skills in facing ‘dynamic environments’ that will feature throughout their careers, and overcoming any stereotypes they may have attributed to vulnerable or disadvantaged young people. Prior to beginning the program, candidates are initiated with safety briefings and provided with information about the College students, including their backgrounds and specific learning needs. Throughout the duration of the program, candidates are asked to provide regular feedback on the current program, and offer suggestions for future programs and how they can be better facilitated. College staff are at hand to provide support for the candidates, offering advice on individual student needs, and to demonstrate a therapeutic approach to classroom management, which is vital to engaging these students. At the completion of the program, candidates were asked if they would like to continue to help by providing ‘ongoing tutoring’. More than one-third responded positively, highlighting the difference this program makes in the lives of the candidates that participate, and the students that they work with.
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ItemUnderstanding temporality and future orientation for young women in the senior year(Taylor & Francis Ltd, 2017)This article considers how time is imagined, lived, and desired in young women’s lives as they undertake their final year of secondary school studies in Melbourne, Australia. It argues that economic and competitive imperatives have intensified for many young people in recent times, manifesting in an educational apparatus that increasingly defines the parameters of success and achievement in terms of self-regulation and personal responsibility, and that this is particularly pronounced for young people as they prepare for, and aspire towards tertiary pathways. This article draws upon interviews and a-synchronous ‘blog’ posts from two young women who participated in a year-long study of young people enrolled in their final year of secondary school studies. It suggests that the intensification, compression, and control of time in educational discourse around the senior year plays a powerful role in self-making for young women in particular.