Effective mentoring for the next generation of early childhood teachers in Victoria,Australia

From reading the research literature, it is evident that making the transition from pre-service teacher to beginning teacher is a challenging experience. New to the profession teachers can experience self-doubt and feelings of anxiety about meeting expectations. What is valued at the start of their career is support, especially if it is ongoing and tailored to their needs. In this paper, I present data from the first mentoring programme for new to the profession early childhood teachers in Victoria, Australia – the State-wide Mentoring Program for Early Childhood Teachers (SWMP) (2011–2014). I provide an overview of this mentoring programme highlighting aspects considered most effective in supporting beginning early childhood teachers. I propose that developing a mentoring programme incorporating respectful, responsive, reciprocal and reflective elements, can enhance both mentor’s and mentee’s professional development and professional identity. The impact of this programme is evidenced by the voices of the mentors and mentees involved.     

The economics of bonded service: The case of graduate secondary teachers in Victoria,Australia

In the six Australian states the main form of recruitment of teachers for government schools has been through the award of teacher scholarships or studentships to entrants to teacher training. The teacher trainees in return have bonded themselves to undertake a period of teaching. The object of this paper is to measure some of the costs and benefits of the scheme that has operated in the state of Victoria.A range of present values of the cost of training a cohort of male university entrants and the subsequent salary bill in teaching of the survivors have been estimated with the aid of a Markov chain model. The estimates are based on data on survival in training and in teaching. and salary and allowance data at the turn of the decade Alternative estimates were made of the salary bill at higher salary rates which might be offered in place of the studentship scheme and which could be considered likely to yield at least as large a quantity of teaching service. Even under the tight labour conditions at the end of the sixties the studentship scheme appeared to be a very expensive method of recruitment. When consideration is given to other costs and benefits in teaching and to society generally the case against the studentship appears even stronger.An earlier and more detailed version of this paper was given at the Third Conference of Economists, Economic Society of Australia and New Zealand, Adelaide, May 1973: it is based on Burke (1972, Ch. 10). Tables of estimates and accompanying methodological notes are available from the author. I am grateful to C. Selby Smith and Gary P. Sampson for comments on early drafts.     

Junior secondary science education in Australia and the reform for public understanding of science: The case of the state of Victoria

Aspiration is currently a prominent concept in higher education policy debates. However, reference to this concept is often made in terms of low socio-economic status (SES) students simply lacking aspiration, which schools and universities must work to instill. In contrast to this potentially deficit view, this paper draws on Appadurai's notion of the ‘capacity to aspire’, which reframes aspiration as a cultural category rather than an individual motivational trait. It discusses the proposition that low SES students do have substantive aspirations, but may have less developed capacities to realise them. Bourdieu's theories of cultural capital, habitus and field provide a supplementary theoretical framework, which draws attention to the complex relationships between socio-cultural background and life-world experiences that inform students' and families' dispositions toward school and their capacities to aspire to higher education.     

澳大利亚维多利亚州学校本位学徒制浅析

澳大利亚维多利亚州学校本位学徒制在培训时间、运行流程、利益相关者职责、理论与实践学习等方面具有独特性。借鉴维多利亚州学校本位学徒制的经验,全面推动我国现代学徒制发展,需要加强顶层制度建设,完善现代学徒制相关政策,树立以人为本的教育理念,维护学生权益,健全学历证书和职业技能等级证书互通互认机制。     

Some ideas for Chinese teachers of English in tertiary education

INTRODUCTIONJustasstudentswillthinkandtalkinEnglishwhentheymeetaforeigner,theymayalsoforgetabouttheirmother.tongUewhenenteringaclassroomthathasanexoticat-mosphere.Thereforeapurposefuldecorationoftheclassroombecomesindispensable,asistheuseofcertainteachingaids.Assoonasstudentsentertheclassroonl,theyenteranatmosphereinwhichuseofEnglishfeeIsnatural.ThatiswhatiscalledtheIIculturalislandeffectwhichencouragestheillusionofbeingintheforeigncountry.Suchaclassroomreducestheinterferenceofthenati…     

Some temporal factors affecting conditional discrimination

Pigeons acquired a serial conditional discrimination in which the onset of one of two colors (the instructional cue) on the center key preceded the onset of a white light (the trial cue) on one of two side keys. An autoshaping preparation was employed, in which food was delivered depending upon the color-side combination. Five groups of birds were studied at instructional cue durations of either 30 or 60 sec, and trial cue durations of 3, 6, or 12 sec. These temporal parameters allowed for different ratios of the instructional stimulus duration (I) to the trial stimulus duration (T), while keeping the absolute duration of the instructional stimulus constant, and for different absolute durations of the instructional stimulus, while keeping the I/T ratio constant. These manipulations were studied with either a 30 or a 60-sec cycle (the interval between the onset of the intertriai interval and the offset of the trial cue), thus permitting examination of the cycle duration to trial duration ratios as well. The results showed that the larger the value of I relative to that of T, the greater the final level of accuracy; this implicates the I/T ratio as a controlling variable. In contrast, the larger the cycle duration (C) relative to T, the greater the rate of responding to the trial stimulus, which is consistent with previous findings in autoshaping studies. These results suggest that whereas the C/T ratio directly influences response rate, the I/T ratio affects accuracy in a serial conditional discrimination.     

对澳大利亚维多利亚州外语教学的调查

本文是对澳大利亚维多利亚州外语教学的调查报告。调查的内容主要涉及教师的教、学生的学两方面：其中教师教学包括教材选择(教学内容)、教学方法及班级规模、课时；学生学习包括学习兴趣、选课方式、学习目的、作业、考试、外语的使用等方面。调查发现，澳大利亚教师可以自由选择教材，学生可以自行选择他们想学的语言等。另外，学生的学习负担也比较轻。由此建议增加我国外语教师与学生的课程自主权。     

澳大利亚TAFE教育与学术教育师资队伍建设的比较与启示

比较分析了澳大利亚TAFE教育与学术教育师资队伍在教师准入机制和条件、教师在岗培训、教师工作要求和教师聘用4个方面的异同,总结了职业教育师资队伍特点,并提出加强我国职业教育师资队伍建设的建议。     

澳大利亚的融合教育支持体系——维多利亚州的模式

本文以维多利亚州为例,概括、分析了澳大利亚融合教育的法律、政策框架和发展趋势,分析了维多利亚州以“教和学”为核心的服务体系、“一体化”的融合教育服务模式和跨学科的专业服务模式,讨论了融合教育发展与普通教育体系变革之间的深刻联系.     

How parental and school responses to choice policies reconfigure a rural education market in Victoria,Australia

Market principles now dominate the education and social policies of many Anglophone countries, including Australia, but articulate differentially within specific contexts. Existing historical legacies, local economic and social conditions, and geographical settings interact with federal and state funding and transport policies to shape the nature of regional education markets and the choices families make in a rural school market in Australia. Through two school case studies, this article explores the effects of policy shifts on parental choice and student movement within a regional Victorian community. Informed by policy sociology, the article views the policy as a dynamic, often ad hoc process with contradictory effects. It indicates how an ensemble of federal and state funding and conveyancing policies enable some schools to develop marketing practices that reconstruct the local education market to their advantage through the introduction of transport and flexi-boarding policies. It demonstrates that education markets are not confined to urban settings and that while choice is not a new phenomenon in this rural area, federal and state funding and transport policies have reconfigured local markets and intensified the market work undertaken by schools and parents with, in this instance, unequal effects on the provision of schooling in a rural region.     

Philosophy,philosophy of education,and the education of teachers

The role of philosophy of education has become seriously blurred with constant cries for practical and immediate answers. The nature of the discipline is such that when practical solutions are demanded of it, it loses its vitality. Philosophy is an intellectual and contemplative exercise; it is a true activity of leisure, one which needs to be enjoyed for its own sake. This intellectual and contemplative activity is of service to the practical concerns of education because choice, action, and judgment — the concerns of the practical realm —depend upon intellectual knowledge. Philosophy of education is, therefore, an essential discipline in the education of the student-teacher.     

澳大利亚维多利亚州校本财政改革述评

校本财政是当前世界基础教育财政改革的一个重要发展趋势，澳大利亚维多利亚州的校本财政改革是这类改革中具有代表性的改革之一。文章首先介绍了澳大利亚维多利亚州校本财政改革的政策背景，然后详细分析了校本财政改革的原则与拨款公式，以及各方对改革的评价，最后从比较的视角提出了对我国基础教育财政改革的几点启示。     

研究型大学参与教师教育的优势、问题及对策

研究型大学参与教师教育不仅顺应国际发展趋势,也是我国教师教育改革深入发展的必然要求。研究型大学凭借其强大的学科优势和教育资源优势参与教师教育。尽管目前还存在着一些问题,但通过建立制度保障体系,合理定位,形成办学特色,加强与中小学、师范院校及其他高等学校的沟通与合作等途径与方法,研究型大学可以为促进我国教师教育改革和发展,培养高水平、高质量的教师做出应有的贡献。