Robert John Parkes

Embedding evidence-based practice in pre-service teacher preparation

In this study, the authors sought to establish the differential effects on achievement of embedding evidence-based practice in the design of an inclusive education teacher preparation course. Embedded design involves creating self-repeating patterns in the instructional design of a course by expressing essential design features at multiple levels in the teaching and learning experience. The results indicate that pre-service educators attained a mastery level knowledge of the course content that covaried with the application of the embedded design principle. The authors also found a statistically significant difference in student achievement as a function of the teaching approach (cooperative learning, peer-assisted learning, or self-study) employed as part of the embedded design process. The findings are discussed within the context of building more rigorous teacher preparation programs and the role of embedded design in pre-service inclusive education.

Reading History Curriculum as Postcolonial Text: Towards a Curricular Response to the History Wars in Australia and Beyond

Abstract This article is concerned with theorizing a curricular response to what has become known in Australia as the “history wars” (Macintyre & Clark, 2003). The central debate in the history wars is over the representation of the colonization of Australia. Because History curriculum serves as an apparatus for the social (re)production of national identities, the importance of school history as a battlefield in the “history wars” should not be underestimated (Clark, 2003). This article explores as a case study the emergence of and political backlash against a critical History curriculum in the state of New South Wales, Australia, during the decade prior to the millennium. The case, reflecting similar debates over History curricula in Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom, provides a useful starting point for reconceptualising critical approaches to History as curriculum. Reading History curriculum as a postcolonial text, it is argued that what have remained uncontested in the struggle for histories have been the representational practices of “history” itself, and that attending to representation opens new possibilities for school History as critical pedagogic practice.

Can schools realize the learning potential of knowledge management

Abstract: In this position paper, reservations are presented regarding the potential of knowledge management (KM) as it is currently applied to the learning and teaching activity of schools. We contend that effective KM is contingent upon the explication of a deep and shared understanding of the learning and teaching process. We argue that the most important transactions in schools, those related to learning and teaching, are frequently the least explicated. Further, where such explication does occur, it is rarely specific enough to generate the kind of meaningful data required to make timely improvements in the learning experience of individual students. Our intent is to inject a cautionary note regarding current conceptualizations of KM in education and to focus the KM discussion on potentially more valid applications in school settings. We offer strategy and examples that can be employed to address the reservations described herein as well as build the kind of professional culture of practice in schools that is more conducive to effective KM.

In the shadows of the mission: Education policy, urban space, and the 'colonial present' in Sydney

This paper is concerned with enduring histories and micro‐geographies of the (post)colonial Australian nation, played out through contemporary connections between Aboriginality, inner Sydney and educational policy change. This paper traces the ‘racialization’ of space and place in the Sydney inner city suburb of Redfern, including the Aboriginal‐‘owned’ residential area commonly known as the Block; it then outlines aspects of an educational policy change in inner Sydney, specifically the relationship of policy proposals to the positioning of Aboriginal people; and, last, focuses on connecting the notions of Aboriginality and space to educational policy change through Derek Gregorys idea of the ‘colonial present’. It explores how the idea of the ‘colonial present’ as ‘performance of space’ might help to understand the racialisation of the inner city and education policy discourses. It concludes that the ‘colonial present’ is a way of understanding how the ‘racialisation’ of the inner city and education policy discourses can, on the one hand, ‘reaffirm’ deficit views of Aboriginal people as irredeemably ‘Other’ and as ‘failure’, yet, on the other hand, can however precariously mobilize undo colonial enclosures.

Concepções em mudança do pensamento histórico no ensino da história: um estudo de caso australiano

Muitos paises vivenciaram conflitos em torno do conteudo do seu curriculo de historia e tiveram debates sobre a importância relativa de habilidades (pensamento historico) versus conteudo (conhecimento historico). A Australia nao e uma excecao. Este artigo busca contribuir para as discussoes sobre a importância do pensamento historico no ensino da Historia explorando as concepcoes em mudanca de pensamento historico nos curriculos de historia de New South Wales (NSW) (o mais populoso estado da Australia, que evoluiu de uma antiga colonia britânica e tem uma ininterrupta tradicao de ensino de historia no ensino medio, e um curso adicional ao ensino obrigatorio, que e unico no pais). Recentemente, a historia se tornou um tema obrigatorio em todas as escolas australianas, desde o primeiro fundamental ate o ultimo ano da escola obrigatoria (F-10), pela primeira vez desde a federalizacao dos estados australianos (1901), quando se determinava constitucionalmente que o curriculo era uma responsabilidade do Estado. Este artigo mapeia as formas cambiantes e a importância relativa do pensamento historico como um resultado explicito do ensino de historia nos curriculos de historia de NSW, desde o seu surgimento no curriculo de historia eletivo da decada de 1970 ate a explicitacao nas ementas de NSW para o Curriculo “nacional” obrigatorio australiano. Ele tambem explora a natureza e o significado do curso adicional “senior” de historia posterior a escola obrigatoria de NSW, uma opcao para os alunos de historia no ano final nao obrigatorio de escolarizacao. Este curso adicional incorpora em grande medida o estudo da historiografia, exigindo dos alunos que apliquem suas intuicoes meta-historicas numa investigacao historiografica original, ancorando teoria historica complexa numa experiencia de ser historiador. Defendemos que esta atitude de incorporar a historiografia no curriculo expande a nocao do que constitui o pensamento historico no ensino de historia. Assim, concluimos com a reflexao sobre o que esses diferentes modos de conceituar o pensamento historico significam para a funcao social e educacional da historia, e quais implicacoes eles sugerem para o ensino da historia. Palavras-chave: Ensino da Historia; Pensamento Historico; Australia.

Written language intervention approaches: A brief review

Abstract SLPs working in schools are often asked to work on oral and written language of children with communication impairments. This paper discusses evidence for three major approaches to written language intervention: traditional pen and paper intervention and two different types of computer-based learning (CBL). The traditional pen and paper intervention has been found to be successful when it incorporates language-based and explicit instruction; however, difficulties with spelling and legibility can decrease its effectiveness. The word-processing software approach has a small body of supporting evidence, but it does not provide explicit instruction for the development of vocabulary and punctuation. Writing prompt software has a small, promising body of evidence supporting its use. More research into the use of writing prompt software for written language intervention is warranted.