Jim Butler

Professional Development: Practice as Text, Reflection as Process, and Self as Locus

This article considers the issue of practising educators continually learning to perform more effectively. The emphasis is on professional development as a self-directed rather than an externally prescribed process. The requirements and outcomes of the former are very different from the latter. The educator is addressed as the reader of the practice text. Through this reflective action, the practitioner manages the development of the ‘self’ within the educational community, thus making an important contribution to its enhanced performance. The assumption is that the educator is always in the process of ‘becoming’ what is required by the ever-changing parameters of the learning context

Two Models of Educational Assessment

Abstract Many educational developments in recent decades pose a serious challenge to the traditional scientific measurement model that has dominated assessment practices. The scientific measurement model has led to an over‐emphasis on statistical tests and the reification of single measure test scores. The educational developments that challenge the scientific measurement model include problem‐based learning, newer understandings of cognition, and the rise of performance assessment. These developments reflect widespread attempts by educators to reform assessment practices so as to encourage more effective learning. As a result, a new model of educational assessment, which we call the judgemental model, is emerging. The basic assumptions, features and appropriate uses of these two assessment models are compared and contrasted by referring them to a three‐level conceptual model of education, training and assessment for workplace performance.

The learning context within the workplace: as perceived by apprentices and their workplace trainers

In the last decade in Australia there has been a significant emphasis placed on vocational education and training. More recently within this context there has been renewed interest in apprenticeship training which has both formal learning (in a technical and further education college), and informal learning (in the workplace) components. This article, which draws on the perspectives of both apprentices and their workplace trainers from six industrial sites, is focused on the extent to which apprentices and their workplace trainers perceived the workplace to be a learning context. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected and analysed. The findings of the study indicated that, in a context where production is valued over learning, a number of effective learning processes are underdeveloped and undervalued.

Teacher professional development: An australian case study

ABSTRACT An empirical exploration of a professional development project is described. Within the activities of the project, professional growth was sought through a reflective process coupled with action learning. The focus was on individual teachers’ knowledge, values, beliefs, assumptions and goals. The outcome for the majority of the teachers was an enriched understanding of the role of the self in teaching and an orientation to professional development that was meaningful and enduring. In the broader context the project sought to extend Stenhouses position in this manner: curriculum development implies teacher development implies self‐development.

Contextualising the trajectory of experience of expert, competent and novice nurses in making decisions and solving problems

The clinical practice of nurses has been successfully studied during the past two decades and much of the discussions pertaining to clinical practice have focused on the clinical decision making skills of expert nurses. The process, which governs the clinical decision-making, involves making clinical judgments concerning a patients health status. How nurses make clinical judgments is not exactly known although clinical knowledge, critical reflection, past experience and intuition all play a role in making such judgments. This paper is about the clinical reasoning skills and decision-making of expert, competent and novice nurses. Through the course of this research it has become evident that the trajectory of experience is central to developing clinical knowledge. The findings debunk the myth that more clinical hours will per se increase the level of nursing expertise. A point worthy of consideration when structuring clinical learning is that the context of experience should become the guiding principle facilitating nursing expertise.

The learning context within technical and further education colleges as perceived by apprentices and their workplace supervisors

Technical and Further Education Colleges are the main providers of formal vocational education in Australia. This article investigates the perceived contribution of these Colleges to the development of skilled trade-persons. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected from apprentice trade-persons and their workplace supervisors. The study shows that these Colleges do provide an important context that promotes vocational learning for apprentice trades-persons. The major strength of TAFE is the opportunity to practice with teacher feedback, without the press of production. In this context their skills improved and they learnt aspects of their trade that were not learnt in the workplace. The significance of these results is that TAFE colleges are perceived to provide ‘workplace learning’ that is not available to apprentices in particular workplaces.

Aboriginal studies and the science curriculum: Affective outcomes from a curriculum intervention

The study of Aboriginal culture in schools is supported by an increasing number of educators and government committees. However, in the absence of substantial research evidence, it has been difficult to propose justifiable curricular recommendations. The results of this exploratory study suggest that student attitudes towards Aborigines and Aboriginal culture can be improved by a science program which features an Aboriginal Studies component. Further, it is suggested that there is scope for the development of up-to-date curriculum materials and more comprehensive studies.

Learning in the restructured workplace: a case study

Workplace restructuring implies people changing roles, leading to the deskilling of people who must learn their way back to competence. Reports the case of a person learning in a new role. The conceptual framework for the analysis is the Dreyfus model of skill development. Shows the model to be effective both for research and for individuals to understand their own development. The results enrich the understanding of workplace learning, in particular the manner in which people can be helped to learn a new role.

The impact of assessment changes on the science curriculum a descriptive account

ConclusionQueensland has adopted an achievement-based system of certification and instruction. Put simply, the traditional assumptions that the capacity to learn can be demonstrated by measuring the speed of learning, and that knowledge can be simply transferred from the teacher or the textbook to the student—have been deliberately dropped. This has created a home for the science education research dealing with the significance of prior concepts in science teaching. The teachers are on the move towards the goal.

Forging the visions: senior school science education across Australia

In Australia, education is the responsibility of each of the six states and two territories. Consequently there are significant differences between the science curricula offered by these eight educational authorities. This research analyses the educational significance of these curricular variations. A five‐level categorization of curriculum was used as the framework for the analysis. These five levels extend from the statement of the vision for the learning of science to the assessment of learning. The goal of the analysis was to determine the individual visions and whether they were consistently expressed in the syllabus documents published by the authorities. The study was restricted to physics, biology and chemistry in the senior school. The conclusion is that there is a richness of curriculum design within Australia and much can be learnt from the implicit curriculum experiment that is being undertaken with Australian school students.