Faculty of Education - Research Publications
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ItemPencil or Keyboard? Boys’ Preferences in Writing(Nova Southeastern University, 2020)Handwriting is an important subject in primary schools, especially in the Early Years. The importance of writing skill is now seen as a debate with the increasing demand on children to learn technology skills to help them with 21st Century learning—how to write on the keyboard effectively. The topic is important because handwriting is an essential life skill to have with or without technology. In this study, I looked at the importance of both in the context of the qualitative case studies in three schools in Melbourne, Australia. The aim of the research is to explore how do students understand the learning of handwriting and keyboarding in schools? This qualitative case study employed a Thematic Analysis approach in which the central intention was to understand the lived experience of six Year 6 boys across three schools and their attitudes to writing and technology. In this article, I addressed the importance of teaching handwriting to primary school students, especially in the first four years of their school life from Foundation to Year 3. The findings suggest that teachers should continue explicitly teaching handwriting to their students despite the heavy reliance on technology in today’s lifestyle.
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ItemYouth Transitions(Oxford University Press, 2022)The transitions young people make from school to work or further study have become increasingly complex, fragmented and non-linear over the past two decades. In part this is because economic and political forces have enabled the boundaries between school and work to become blurred: many high-school students are now engaged in the labour force part-time and many who have left high school can only find casual work rather than full-time employment. Young people undertaking further study at university are also often balancing this with a part-time job. In addition, an increasingly precarious labour market demands from young people and young adults a lifelong learning approach to be successful in the employment spere of their lives. As a result, the pathway from school to work is not a simple one-way street or linear process. Many young people may decide at a later stage to re-enter education or training, and many may change direction completely after making their initial career and /or study decisions. All of the decisions that young people make during this transitional process tend to have long-term consequences: for themselves, for their families and communities, and, in a broader sense, for the economy and society.
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ItemRaising the bar: Using assessment to target teaching and support high expectations for students with additional learning needs.( 2021-01-21)An invited keynote presentation to discuss how to use empirical, developmental assessment, such as the SWANs and ABLES tools, to inform the targeted teaching of students with intellectual disability and/or autism.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableDeveloping a framework for the application of self-regulated learning (SRL) to classroom instruction( 2021-11-28)Australian Association for Research in Education Conference
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ItemNo Preview AvailableApplying empirical learning progressions for a holistic approach to evidence-based education: SWANS/ABLES(Australian Council for Educational Research, 2021-08)Learning progressions have become an increasing topic of interest for researchers, educational organisations and schools as they can describe the expected pathway of learning within a content area to allow for targeted teaching and learning at all levels of ability. However, there is substantial variation in how learning progressions are developed and to what extent teachers can use them to inform their practices. The ABLES/SWANS tools (Students with Additional Needs/Abilities Based Learning and Education Support) are an example of how an empirical learning progression can be applied to support teachers’ ability to not only target teaching to a student’s zone of proximal development (Vygotsky, 1978), but also to plan, assess, and report on learning. Across Australia, these tools are used to help of thousands of teachers of students with disability to make evidence-based teaching and learning decisions and demonstrate the impact of their work with students. This approach, which scaffolds student achievement towards goals informed by an empirical learning progression, combined with reflective teaching practices, can help teachers to develop their capacity as professionals and provide the most effective teaching and learning for every student, regardless of the presence of disability or additional learning need.
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ItemEthics in neoliberalism? Parental responsibility and education policy in Chile and Australia(SAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD, 2022-09)This article questions the diverse and, in some cases, contradictory ethical forms present in contemporary neoliberal policy frames. In particular, we analyse the demands of responsibility – as a form of ethical commitment – requested of parents by education policies in the contexts of Chile and Australia. Assuming neoliberalism as a contextualised and multivocal form of governing, we applied a policy sociology approach to study the ethical implications for parents of two recent educational reforms developed in the national contexts of this research. Our analyses show that the emerging demands on parents for responsibility in the educational field exceed univocal forms of individual responsibilisation, encompassing expressions of responsibility that respond to collective and public goals.
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ItemThe governing parent-citizen: dividing and valorising parent labour through school governance(Taylor and Francis Group, 2022-09-03)Internationally, major policy reforms seek to deepen parent and community engagement in schools. Whilst pervasive in policy documents, however, discourses surrounding ‘parent engagement’ are often elastic and imprecise, ultimately gaining meaning through the technologies of governance that shape policy enactments in schools. In this paper, we argue that contemporary schooling reforms are constructing a new ‘governing parent-citizen’ through which the parental labour of social reproduction is being extended, valorised and rearticulated. We examine how one major reform movement in Australia is articulating new roles for parents and community members in schools: the Independent Public Schools (IPS) initiative in Western Australia. Our analysis demonstrates the intensive policy intervention required to produce this new form of parental labour and the subsequent divisions of labour it is producing.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableTeaching Music with ICT in Australia during COVID and beyond: A preliminary investigation(Australian Society for Music Education (ASME), 2021)While the pandemic COVID-19 has impacted our daily lives, it has also impacted education settings across the globe. Since March 2020, workplaces and classrooms in Australia have undergone significant changes due to ongoing lockdowns, and government restrictions regarding returning to sites of teaching and learning. In this paper we report on some initial findings from our ethically approved study Re-imagining the future: Music teaching and learning, and ICT in blended environments in Australia. The study investigates the move to remote (online) learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this research we explore the types of pedagogies music teachers used in blended teaching and learning environments, and the shift towards ICT during 2020 and in 2021. By employing a mixed method approach an anonymous Qualtrics online survey was employed in which teachers were asked to reflect on their experiences and indicate the various technologies, environments, and strategies for teaching and developing wellbeing that were used during this time. Purposive sampling was used to collect data from music educators in Australia. Key Australian professional music associations were approached to participate in the study who consented for their membership to participate. As part of an ongoing study, we only present preliminary data gathered between March–June 2021. Using thematic analysis, we discuss emerging trends and themes in relation to the many and varied ways that music teachers employed ICT through blended modes. We report on initial findings that unpack some of the music teaching described across learning environments and contexts. Teachers’ use of various software, tools, and innovative pedagogies necessitated by the pandemic add to the body of knowledge, highlighting how the pandemic impacted ‘music(k)ing and the need to use blended teaching. The study also revealed some of the experiences that have altered and reshaped approaches to music teaching. Implications for further research and considerations for teacher training will be discussed. As the pandemic continues, further research will play a significant role in influencing shifts in teaching practice across Australia during COVID-19 and beyond.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableAn investigation of creative music pedagogies used in a Graduate Music Teaching program during COVID-19.(APSMER, 2021-09-18)This presentation is based on a research project that employed a qualitative methodology to examine students’ responses via an online survey. It looks to consider the benefits and challenges of enacting creative pedagogical approaches in the tertiary context and examine emerging educational practices with regard to twenty-first century learning and technology. Underpinning this research was the intention of exploring how creativity practices were employed to realise twenty-first century capacities, incorporating technology that looked to provide deeper and more profound learning experiences, while developing self-reflection reflection, growth and sustainability. The project will examine which type of teaching methods, content delivery, and online learning found addressed their needs in a creative (unique) way as they used Canvas and Zoom for their lessons across many subjects. This report explores the delivery of a tertiary degree in Music Teaching, specifically addressing the following areas: • Curriculum design, delivery and assessment, • Entrepreneurial approaches to learning through student centred activity, • Online learning, student access, self-regulation and self-assessment, • Learning environments (including online and technology-based practice) that mirror global change, capacities and expectations. Using a qualitative methodology, students were invited to complete a series of items that consisted of open-ended questions. These asked participants to indicate the teaching and learning activities and delivery modes they had found to be the most suitable for them as part of their study in Music Teaching degree program. Data were analysed thematically to derive an understanding of the learning experiences that they found most useful. This presentation will provide an overview of the emerging findings related to the key areas of the study, along with small examples of activities that were used in classes and were found to be valuable for the students during this time. It will highlight the need to be both responsive and adaptive with the use of technologies when teaching in an online environment, considering the ongoing needs students, organisation of resources, as well as purposeful teaching and learning experiences. Although much of the data is specific to the COVID-19 scenario, the recommendations provided are applicable more broadly to teaching in various contexts and will assist all teachers. Importantly, these can be considered more broadly for application in music education across the different learning experiences, i.e., performance, composition, musicology and aural.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableSustainability in the online environment: Australian music teacher’s perceptions and use of software during the pandemic.( 2022-04-07)Presentation at the Sempre MET-TMOHE joint Online conference. Hosted by the University College London.