Raymond Albert Joseph Brown

Negotiating Pedagogic Dilemmas in Non-traditional Educational Contexts : An Australian Case Study of Teachers’ Work

This chapter draws on the work of Vygotsky (see Daniels, 2001; van der Veer and Valsiner, 1991) and Bernstein (2000) to examine the pedagogic dilemmas in teachers’ work as they attempt to re-engage learners with school knowledge in non-traditional education contexts. Mainstream schooling has failed the students who attend these educational contexts. Consequently, the emphasis on relevant curriculum, fl exible implementation, inter-agency collaboration, life-skills development and readiness for work aims to provide an alternative or nontraditional context designed specifi cally to meet the needs of these students (de Jong, 2005; de Jong and Griffi ths, 2006).Recent policy promotes systemic reform in education through devolving responsibility to those who work within schools and promoting school-to-school relationships as a means of fundamentally shifting the organisation of schooling and the administration of the school. This chapter argues that devolution has introduced a new phase in the institution of schooling in which ever more articulated, complex and differentiated forms of administration accompany increasing complexity, but not necessarily transformation, of the instructional core. The chapter explores the connections between modalities of professional authority in the school as organization and schooling as a societal institution. The explanatory framework put forward takes relations of power and control as central to the construction of a pedagogic relationship operating between schools, establishing one organisation in the role of transmitter and another in the role of acquirer. This is a novel elaboration of the work of Basil Bernstein which has hitherto been constrained to analyses of pedagogic formation within schools rather than between them. The conceptualisation of these developmental relationships between schools as pedagogic relationships is also novel and opens a pathway to generalisable explanation rather than local description.

Professional identity pathways of educators in alternative schools: the utility of reflective practice groups for educator induction and professional learning

Working with young people in alternative schools poses particular challenges for the professional identity of educators. This research explored educator identity and development in practice in a network of alternative schools re-enfranchising young people. There was a focus on educator induction in the study. Different ways of being an educator were required in order to re-engage young people facing multiple complexities in their lives. A three-stage design experiment methodology was employed to investigate how ways of working, valuing and professional learning influenced educator identity and development. Iterative cycles of reflection embedded in the methodology allowed practitioners’ perspectives to influence the design of enhanced induction processes, leading to the prototyping of reflective practice groups as an induction strategy. Findings provide insights into the influence of reflective practice on educator identity and development in relation to two overarching themes synthesised in thematic analysis of interview data: relationships, and changing perspectives through reflection.

Modelling pillars of Catholic school identity: an Australian study

Abstract Within a paradigm of building identity from a perspective of continuity and discontinuity, a model of Catholic school identity is developed from the integration of applied research with perspectives from Post Conciliar Magisterium documents. The integration of data confirmed the significance of core factors, nominated as pillars, and incorporating Faith, Learning, Community, Leadership and Formation concepts as foundational to Catholic school identity. Cross-tabulation of the nominated pillars confirmed their validity with the initial data pools and offered additional insight as to their overall priority within and across the applied and theoretical data. Outcomes permitted a discussion of the dynamism of the pillars, comparability across sources, the interdependence of themes within each of the pillars, the generation of a model and the nomination of processes of integration to explain the overall interdependence of the data. The pillars, together with their associated themes, were advanced as offering a mental model to nurture meaning, assess change and build strategy within the dynamic system of the Catholic school.

The art of holding complexity: a contextual influence on educator identity and development in practice in a system of alternative ‘flexi’ schools

The art of holding complexity is the ability to face conflict and other life challenges through collaboration, self-awareness and flexibility rather than through control and coercion. Holding complexity is a key theme identified in a research project exploring educator identity and development in practice in a system of alternative or ‘flexi schools’ in Queensland, Australia. Flexi schools support young people to create positive education pathways after experiences of failure and/or exclusion from conventional schooling. This paper explores the concept of holding complexity and how educators develop this capacity in their work. Design experiment methodology was used to explore how ways of working and professional learning in flexi schools influenced educator identity and development and how induction needs of new staff could be addressed. Educators enfranchising young people in flexi schools face challenges that require different ways of working that are young person-focused; that shift power dynamics and require adults to adopt a position of co-learner and facilitator. Holding complexity enables educators to support young people who face multiple issues that impinge on their ability to engage in conventional schooling. Induction and professional learning programs emphasising the art of holding complexity assist flexi school educators in their work with young people.

Exploring the Relationship Between Mathematical Modelling and Classroom Discourse

This chapter explores the notion that the discourse of the mathematics classroom impacts on the practices that students engage when modelling mathematics. Using excerpts of a Year 12 student’s report on modelling Newton’s Law of Cooling, this chapter argues that when students engage with the discourse of their mathematics classroom in a manner that promotes the communication of ideas, they employ mathematical modelling practices that reflect the cyclical approaches to modelling employed by mathematicians.

Actualising Potential in the Classroom: Moving from Practising To Be Numerate Towards Engaging in the Literate Practice of Mathematics

International and national curriculum documents, such as The Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action on Special Needs Education (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), 1994) and the Teaching and Learning Mathematics: The Report of the Expert Panel on Mathematics in Grades 4–6 in Ontario (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2004), acknowledge that access to mathematical knowledge is the right of all students. Documents such as the Principles and Standards for School Mathematics (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 2000) and A National Statement on Mathematics for Australian Schools (Australian Education Council, 1991), resonate this acknowledgement by highlighting that mathematical knowledge develops within classrooms that assist all students to make informed, numerate decisions in a balance of situations ranging from the everyday to the purely mathematical.

Leadership and identity in the Catholic school: an Australian perspective

This article explores the nature of leadership as expressed in literature and workshop commentary on the identity of the Catholic school within an Australian context. Employing a qualitative methodology, data from workshops designed around school mission were compared and integrated with data from texts of selected Post Conciliar documents on the Catholic school for the purpose of gaining insights on identity. Within the identified theme of ‘school’ in the two bodies of narrative, the dimension of leadership was explored in its practical nature. The discussion of findings identifies the diversity of leadership practice, its dynamic relationship with the ecclesial community of the school and the desirability of an integrative image to capture this diversity and relationship. The article concludes that leadership within the Catholic school can be imagined as a response to Baptism and as such be sacramental in nature as it manifests itself as sign and instrument of the life of Christ.