Mary Dixon

Globalisation and international higher education : contested positionings

This article stems from recent policy research involving participants in an international higher education program. Story lines of the program from Thai and Australian policy makers and policy actors are interpreted from a poststructural stance. Through the multiple and shifting positionings of the participants, agency and identity within this globalised space is constructed and reconstructed. The study contributes constructions of the relationship between globalisation and international higher education previously obscured by the apparent domination of the neoliberal discourse. Possibilities for international higher education as constructive of globalisation are encountered in these policy readings.

Appearing pedagogy: from embodied learning and teaching to embodied pedagogy

In this paper images are used to support the conceptualisation and recognition of embodied pedagogy. Analysis of data gathered during an arts-based teaching project in pre-service teacher education revealed the presence of an embodied pedagogy and supports the further deployment of embodied teaching and learning in teacher education. Embodied pedagogy includes embodied teaching and embodied learning but is conceptualised through ‘pedagogy as relational’ – between teaching and learning and between teacher and learner. Through image this paper presents traces of embodied pedagogy from the classroom. These tracings of embodied pedagogy in classrooms defy baseline certainty and instead assert Benjamin’s thesis that knowledge can only ‘stand up’ through multiplicity, through all acts of knowing.

Employment Pathways, Mobility and Retention of Graduate Teachers

The relationship between the quality of teacher education and the employability and retention of graduate teachers in schools has received increased attention from policymakers and researchers in the current context of educational reforms (Barber and Mourshed in Shaping the future: how good education systems can become great in the decade ahead. McKinsey and Company, Singapore, 2009; Bransford et al. in Preparing teachers for a changing world: what teachers should learn and be able to do. Wiley, San Francisco, 2005; TEMAG in Action now: classroom ready teachers. Australian Government, Canberra, 2014).

Studying the Effectiveness of Teacher Education

The previous chapter outlined the complicated political context of contemporary teacher education. Sustained international scrutiny has seen many influential stakeholders (including Government ministers and accreditation bodies) voice concerns about the outcomes that can be linked to teacher education and, more specifically, the extent to which various teacher education programs produce ‘quality’ teachers who are, in turn, defined by their ability to impact positively upon student achievement.

Learning between schools and hospitals – young people and a curriculum of (dis)connection

As noted in other papers in this volume, a group of health and education researchers and practitioners came together to further develop their understanding of the situation of young people, who were clients of The Royal Childrens Hospital Education Institute in 2007 in Melbourne, Australia. The resultant research project, funded by the Australian Research Council Linkage Grant, aimed to understand young peoples perspectives on who they are and what matters to them in relation to education connectedness, identity, social relationships, and experiences with professionals. The project team was aware of the persisting patterns of relationships between the hospital, schools, young people, and their families. They were also cognizant of the heavy emphasis in the research and professional literature on evidence from relevant family adults and from health and education professionals. The intention of this project was to put the young people at the centre a study with the stories they told through word and image. Identity issues and school connections framed the analytical work. Thirty-one adolescents dealing with chronic illness participated in this longitudinal qualitative study for a 3-year period of their lives. Given the apparently active role of teachers and health professionals in the lives of these young people, the researchers wanted to include the various relevant adults to see what coherence or lack of coherence existed in the categories, emphases, and values they expressed compared with those of the young people. The researchers have had to determinedly keep their focus on the data from the young people and not be seduced by the familiar and readily accessible data from these professionals. Nonetheless, this data set does provide a ‘curriculum conversation’, which is profitably read behind the stories of the young people and in the foreground of new pathways of curriculum construction. It is this data which informs the work reported in this paper and which has led the researchers to resist the rhetoric of currently held story lines in this field, to see beyond the present hierarchies of power over relevant ‘knowledges’, to maintain a dual focus with the young people at centre stage and the professionals as ‘walk ons /extras’ and to argue for a ‘curriculum of connection’ between young people and the relevant education and health professionals. These issues are readily engaged in arguments for change through the interweaving of larger discourses of inclusivity, curriculum, and policy. This paper works those intersections in the everyday positionings of professionals and young people.

How Well Equipped are Graduates to Meet the Requirements of the Diverse Settings in Which They are Employed

While there is a well-rehearsed international literature that points to the difficulties, many graduates face upon entering the profession, and the impact of external forces such as stakeholders’ perceptions of the role of teachers in the context of education reform, the SETE project uniquely frames an Australian evidence base of perceptions of the effectiveness and preparedness of graduate teachers. The evidence that was gathered for the first key research question affirms that teacher education is a complex and multifaceted endeavour.

Learning Teaching and Doing Teaching in New Hybrid Spaces

In many countries, government concerns about global economic competitiveness are driving large-scale reforms agendas designed to address perceived problems of teacher quality and the effectiveness of teacher education, both of which, it is argued, are critical to understanding and addressing falling economic competitiveness. The situation is often ‘imagined’ as needing neoliberal policies incorporating greater deregulation and market competition.

What Characteristics of Teacher Education Programs Are Most Effective in Preparing Teachers to Work in a Variety of Schools

As discussed in Chap. 4, research on preparing teachers for varied and diverse classroom settings has increased over recent decades. This research focus has developed, at least in part, to address a particular critique of teacher education preparation and adequate staffing of schools. Aubusson and Schuck (Teacher Development 17(3), 322–333, 2013) note that one of the issues with this critique is that ‘there appears to be a shortage of quality teachers who are able to teach in diverse and challenging environments’ (p. 323).

Teacher beliefs in ‘testing’ times: a lesson from Singapore

International benchmarking and national testing of students at all levels of schooling have provoked teachers to critically reflect on their place in this endeavour. Many of the curriculum and pedagogical approaches associated with this type of assessment and accountability conflict with long-held beliefs about the role of teachers and the work of schooling. Singapore is recognised for significant achievement in the international schooling arena and also has a long history of national testing. This study draws specifically on positioning theory to investigate teacher beliefs and positioning in these times. A large qualitative research project located in Singapore sought the ways experienced teachers positioned themselves and their work as they negotiated multiple and sometimes conflicting discourses of teaching. A rigorous process was used to elicit teacher beliefs and resultant teacher positions.

Initial Teacher Education and Assessment of Graduates in Australia

In this chapter we discuss the impact of recent standards-based legislation and implementation in Australia designed to improve the quality of teacher education and examine the ways in which teacher educators are assessing graduates in relation to beginning teacher standards, the evidence they are using within the context of accreditation of their programs, and the impact this is having on the teacher education curriculum. We report on research into the implementation and evaluation of an authentic teacher assessment approach being used in one Australian university and argue that such an approach not only empowers pre-service teachers but also teacher educators.