Faculty of Education - Research Publications
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ItemNo Preview AvailableThe Language of Character Strengths in Early Childhood(International Positive Psychology Association, 2019)Early Childhood is fertile ground for the implementation of positive education through character strength research. A major focus and positive outcome of early childhood education, globally, is the development of pre-school children’s wellbeing (OECD, 2017). Strong psychological wellbeing for children is emergent and enables capitalization on learning opportunities, positive engagement and relationships. (Marbina et al, 2015; Pollard & Lee, 2003; Ryan & Deci, 2000; Ryff, 1989). Positive psychology can be authentically applied in formative pre-school years, but there are few evidence-based interventions for educators. The language of VIA Character Strengths is a developmentally appropriate and effective method. This intersection of literature and action research offers practical, evidence informed strategies. Explicit, formalised and planned teaching of character strengths as a language enables teachers to directly engage with children, build wellbeing literacy and deeper knowledge (Hattie, 2008; Page & Tayler, 2016). Wellbeing literacy, as the vocabulary, knowledge and skills to maintain or improve wellbeing (Oades, Slade & Jarden, 2017), can be activated through character strengths language in early childhood. VIA has been used utilised with adults and adolescents however early childhood has received little attention (Niemic, 2013; Park & Peterson, 2004, 2006; Shoshani, 2018). Opportunities for discussion, innovation and research exist.
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ItemChallenges and Opportunities for a STEM Interdisciplinary Agenda(SPRINGER INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHING AG, 2019-01-01)There are increasing calls for the teaching of STEM within inter-disciplinary settings, as a way of engaging students in authentic tasks and innovation. However there have been concerns raised about the impact of inter-disciplinary curricula on mathematics learning particularly, with a concomitant need to conceptualise how mathematics might productively interact with other disciplines in STEM settings. This chapter explores cases of interdisciplinary STEM activity that arose as part of two major Australian STEM professional learning initiatives. It focuses on the variety of curriculum structures that occurred, the challenges for schools and teachers in implementing such structures, and teacher perceptions of their experiences including student engagement. Cases of inter-disciplinary tasks/investigations are presented to explore the different ways in which mathematics is transacted, and to develop a set of principles that should govern the inclusion of mathematics in inter-disciplinary settings. The cases show evidence of increased engagement and enthusiasm of students for STEM project and investigative work, but indicate the challenge for teachers of generating productive and coherent mathematics learning in inter-disciplinary settings. The results also point to institutional and systemic barriers to the wider take-up of interdisciplinary STEM activities.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableAn artful experiment: The Child+Adult Art Response Project(InSEA, 2019)The Melbourne Graduate School of Education's (MGSE) 'Child+Adult Art Response Project' (C+AARP) involves child and adult artists visually responding to the provocation of INSIDE/OUTSIDE, with each artwork shared as a cross-generational art encounter. This iteration of the project invites middle years primary children in Victoria, Australia partnering with preservice secondary artist-teachers at MGSE, The University of Melbourne to voice personal concerns and feelings, exploring the inside self in relation to the outside world, and creatively exploring public ideas about global, national and local issues. This paper performs the intergenerational artist dialogues afforded by C+AARP, dialogues that rupture traditional notions of teacher/student-adult/child power dynamics, agency, creativity, artist relationships and knowledge transformation.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableAustralian Examples of Evidence-based School Development(European Educational Research Association (EERA), 2019)Australia, like many countries, has a history of colonisation and extensive controlled and humanitarian immigration, with country prosperity partly tied to continued population growth. The last seventy years has seen migration move from an Anglo-Celtic emphasis to include, in succession, an emphasis on migrants from Europe, Asia and Africa. In this presentation we provide several perspectives on evidence-based school development in this changing context. The first focus is on national school-wide improvement initiatives and two programs are described. IDEAS (Innovative Designs for Enhancing Achievements in Schools), is an extensive and on-going school improvement project that has developed a framework for establishing professional learning communities to improve school outcomes (e.g. Crowther, Ferguson & Hann, 2009). PALL (Principals as Literacy Leaders) is an on-going research, school improvement and professional learning program focussed on improving literacy in schools through providing principals with literacy and leadership knowledge to support teachers to improve student reading performance (Dempster, Townsend, Johnson, Bayetto, Lovett & Stevens, 2017). The second perspective explores the state level through considering work at the Melbourne Graduate School of Education in terms of evidence-based teacher training through the development of a clinical teaching model, and evidence-based school improvement through the Science of Learning Schools Partnership Initiative which utilises a cycle of inquiry approach to develop an important learning focus; in 2019 the focus is on using student voice to inform school improvement (solcnetwork.com/solnos2019). The final perspective is at the school level, where the development of a school formed from the closure of three failing schools is explored, with particular attention paid to the role of critical friends in this improvement process (Gurr, Drysdale, Longmuir & McCrohan, 2018). A flier describing the programs will be provided to session participants so that the presentation can focus on the key ideas arising from consideration of these programs.
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ItemValidating the ILETC’s Teacher Transition Pathway(The University of Melbourne, 2019)Demonstrating the validity of findings in order to ensure credibility is a key juncture in any research (Creswell & Miller, 2000). At this stage of the Innovative Learning Environment & Teacher Change (ILETC) project, what was important was to undertake procedures to validate inferences (Hammersley & Atkinson, 2007) drawn from the ILETC Phase 1 data. Specifically, this related to the temporal dimensions and Grand Themes initially identified through Phase 1, and subsequently conceptualised as the Teacher Transition Pathway (ILETC, 2017). The project team leveraged the collective expertise gathered in Transitions18 research symposia in Phoenix, USA, and Copenhagen, Denmark, to undertake a series of validation processes. This chapter describes the data collection methods used for validation, along with results obtained. Comparison is made between the two venues. Implications for the next stages of the project are discussed.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableTransitions 2018: Continuing the conversation(Melbourne Graduate School of Education, The University of Melbourne, 2019)