Tasha Riley

Australian teachers voice their perceptions of the influences of stereotypes, mindsets and school structure on teachers’ expectations of Indigenous students

Abstract Research demonstrates that teachers’ expectations of students have long-term effects on students’ educational, occupational, health and well-being outcomes. In this Australian-based study, teachers were invited to explore the questions Do teachers have different expectations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students? Why/why not? The findings provide insight into how teachers perceive the expectations of other teachers in relation to Indigenous learners and highlight the underlying assumptions of those perceptions. Teachers also provide valuable insight into what they feel is needed to address these issues. Recommendations are made to enhance pre-service teacher education and professional development to better support those working with Indigenous learners.

Using Bayesian statistical modelling as a bridge between quantitative and qualitative analyses: illustrated via analysis of an online teaching tool

Abstract Bayesian methods provide a more general approach to statistical analysis that mathematically includes Null Hypothesis Significance Testing (NHST) and classical statistical modelling as special cases. This expanded, Bayesian, approach provides several benefits, which we illustrate using a case study about decision-making by teachers. We focus on a relatively unexplored topic: the way in which a Bayesian approach provides a “bridge” between qual/quant methods. We highlight five bridges, illustrated using the case study: (1) visualization of the conceptual framework, (2) generalization via randomization and alternatives, (3) stories for interpretation, (4) computation that is flexible, and (5) continual learning, through priors. This work illustrates these bridges using a case study on a digital tool that wove together: a behavioural study to investigate decision-making, with an inbuilt perceptual component to probe rationale for specific decisions, and an interview component. A mixed method was therefore a natural choice for integrating learnings across these data sources, collected using a single online tool. Thus, the digital learning sphere provides a context for raising awareness of the potential that the Bayesian statistical paradigm offers researchers who wish to connect qual/quant methods. In conclusion, mixing-in Bayesian with qualitative not only innovates on methodology. It also reshapes the ontology, epistemiology and axiology: providing a common ground for qual/quant methods, as a basis for better communication; redefining what quantitative method is, what it can achieve, and how it is done – particularly within a mixed method framework.

Principals as Literacy Leaders with Indigenous Communities (PALLIC) building relationships: one school’s quest to raise Indigenous learners’ literacy

In 2011 to 2012, 48 schools in the Northern Territory, South Australia and Queensland participated in the Principals as Literacy Leaders with Indigenous Communities (PALLIC) project. Central to this project was the establishment of positive working relationships between school principals and Indigenous community leaders in order to improve Indigenous literacy rates. Professional development in leadership skills and effective literacy instruction was provided through five professional learning modules. Participants worked together to create an action plan to support the literacy achievement of Indigenous students in their schools and communities. This article presents a case study of one participating school in Northern Queensland that successfully utilised the PALLIC framework to facilitate leadership actions and activities between Indigenous community and school leaders in order to form productive partnerships for the teaching of reading. In particular, the case study highlights the way that school leaders and Indigenous leaders established shared leadership and shared ways of learning in the school for reading outcomes of Indigenous students.

The uncomfortable teacher-student encounter and what comes to matter

ABSTRACT This article offers insights around how a posthumanist framing might allow us to know our teaching practices, performances and identities otherwise. Influenced by Baradian philosophy and the work of Sara Ahmed, it uses an ethico-onto-epistemology to conduct a diffractive rendering of the affective experiences of three female teaching academics (the authors) as they encounter uncomfortable teacherly moments in the course of their daily work. By repositioning emotions as both material objects and powerful (re)constitutive forces, they are placed at the very centre of teaching practices, performances, identities and teacher-student relationships. From here they function to redistribute agency through such things as words, past experiences, shared histories and bodily responses. This approach extends scholarly research in Higher Education settings beyond conventional humanist ontologies to examine the ways that power shapes the very surface of bodies as well as worlds.

Exceeding Expectations: Teachers’ Decision Making Regarding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Students

Although Indigenous and non-Indigenous teachers, administrators, and educational policy makers have made efforts to improve Indigenous educational outcomes, slow progress limits the opportunities available to Indigenous learners and perpetuates social and economic disadvantage. Prior Canadian studies demonstrate that some teachers attribute low ability and adverse life circumstances to Indigenous students, possibly influencing classroom placement. These findings were the catalyst for an Australian-based study assessing the influence students’ Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander status had upon teachers’ placement decisions. Teachers allocated fictional students to supplementary, regular, or advanced programs. Study findings revealed that teachers’ decisions were based upon assumptions regarding the perceived ability, family background, and/or life circumstances of Indigenous learners. The research tool designed for this study provides a way for teachers to identify the implications of biases on decision making, making it a valuable resource for teacher educators engaging in equity work with preservice teachers.

Deciding factors: do factors beyond achievement influence teachers’ student placement decisions?

Since teachers’ decisions potentially have consequences for learners’ future educational and life opportunities, it is imperative to determine the basis of teachers’ decision-making in order to determine whether it is discriminatory. This study combines qualitative and quantitative methods towards a multi-school, multi-region study of Australian teachers in order to consider if student placement decisions made about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander learners are influenced by factors beyond academic ability.