Implicit STEM ability beliefs predict secondary school students' STEM self-efficacy beliefs and their intention to opt for a STEM field career

Despite the widely accepted view that low self-efficacy beliefs negatively influence students' intention to opt for a STEM field oriented study or career path, it remains unclear how to effectively stimulate these beliefs in students who do seem to have the ability and motivation to opt for a STEM career. A suggestion from previous literature is that students' implicit beliefs about the malleability of their learning ability can have a major impact on their self-efficacy beliefs, and, importantly, that these implicit beliefs are malleable themselves. Even though this relation between implicit beliefs, self-efficacy, and STEM field aspirations has been suggested multiple times, there is no empirical evidence to support this claim. The goal of the current study was to examine whether implicit beliefs about the malleability of STEM ability are associated with secondary school students' intention to opt for a STEM field bachelor's degree, using a Structural Equation Modelling approach. Furthermore, we examined the mediating role of STEM-oriented self-efficacy beliefs on the relationship between implicit ability beliefs and STEM intention. We used a Likert-type questionnaire, consisting of subscales to measure ability beliefs, self-efficacy, and intention to opt for a STEM degree of secondary school students in their fifth grade (n = 483). Results showed that there is a positive relation between implicit STEM ability beliefs and the intention to opt for a STEM field bachelor degree, and that this relation is partly mediated by self-efficacy beliefs. Incremental STEM ability beliefs predicted positive self-efficacy beliefs and increased STEM intention. These findings provide a foundation for a novel approach to stimulate and motivate students for the STEM field, namely by stimulating incremental beliefs about their STEM ability.     

Perception shapes experience: The influence of actual and perceived classroom environment dimensions on girls’ motivations for science

The classroom environment influences students’ academic outcomes, but it is often students’ perceptions that shape their classroom experiences. Our study examined the extent to which observed classroom environment features shaped perceptions of the classroom, and explained levels of, and changes in, girls’ motivation in junior secondary school science classes across two school terms. Girls have been found to feel less capable than boys and to under-participate in science classrooms, even though their achievement levels are similar. Four teachers and five of their classrooms of students (N = 52) reported their perceptions of the classroom environment, and trained observers rated the ‘actual’ classroom environment. Students also completed questions regarding their motivations for science at both time points. Hierarchical linear modelling showed that students’ perceptions of classroom structure were very important and exerted significant influence on science motivations. All of the six observed classroom dimensions affected students’ extrinsic utility value, via perceptions of structure. Other classroom dimensions showed particular patterns of relationship with motivations. Teachers’ perceptions of the classroom environment were often more positive than those of the students, which is congruent with previous research. The findings have implications for retaining girls in science and, thereby, addressing the gender gap in science-related vocations.     

Primary school puberty/sexuality education: student-teachers' past learning,present professional education,and intention to teach these subjects

Primary school teachers are often tasked with puberty/sexuality education for students who are undergoing sexual maturation at ever-earlier ages. This study explores the changing trajectories of the pre-service learning and teaching of primary school puberty/sexuality education at an urban university, including student-teachers' childhood learning, professional pre-service studies, and technological educational future. Biographical narratives and a theoretically based conceptual and diagnostic framework are used to analyse the views of fourth-year Bachelor of Education student-teachers about their own primary school puberty/sexuality education, their present university professional education for teaching these subjects, and their intentionality to teach them to future Grade 6 school students. Results show that these student-teachers intend to replicate their own primary school learning experiences. Pre-service professional education appears to have failed to operationalise the contemporary learning and teaching of puberty/sexuality education that would allow a new generation of more effective knowledge and pedagogies to be implemented.     

Could Australia have its own teacher professional standards for teaching relationships and sexuality education?

In many countries, there are no professional standards determining attributes, praxis, effectiveness and evaluation for teachers of relationships and sexuality education in schools. However, in the USA, a new set of pre-service teacher preparation standards has been developed for sexuality education and health. Australia has a set of generic teacher professional standards, but none specifically designed for teachers of relationships and sexuality education. This study aims to explore the possible development of such specific education professional standards for Australian teachers, by comparing and contrasting the knowledge, skills, and competencies exemplified in the prospective USA preparation standards with those in existing generic Australian teacher standards at graduate level. The analysis points to common areas of suitability, competencies, and effectiveness that could help pre-service/initial teachers, in-service teachers, and teacher educators find appropriate and relevant benchmarks for the teaching of timely and comprehensive relationships and sexuality education. The findings show structural similarities, content consistencies, and helpful commonalities in both standards’ sets, comprising seven USA teacher preparation standards, and seven Australian teacher professional standards. Such information may be useful for teachers and educators wishing to generate professional standards for the teaching of relationships and sexuality education in Australia.     

Assessing primary school student-teachers’ pedagogic implementations in child sexual abuse protection education

Teacher-educators need ways of assessing the adequacy of university curriculum and the extent to which student-teachers meet learning objectives. One potentially useful tool is Anderson and Krathwohl’s (Addison Wesley Longman, New York, 2001) theoretical framework, which can be applied to assess student-teachers’ knowledge types and their cognitive processes in critical pre-service curriculum areas such as child sexual abuse and personal safety. This study aims to illustrate the use of Anderson and Krathwohl’s framework in assessing student-teachers’ learning of pedagogies in relation to child sexual abuse and personal safety. Participants were a final year cohort of 122 Bachelor of Education (Primary School) students at an Australian university. Student-teachers’ essays regarding the pedagogical practices that they would implement in teaching about child sexual abuse and personal safety were content analysed using Anderson and Krathwohl’s framework. Pedagogies identified by the student-teachers were unevenly distributed across the cells within the theoretical framework. Well-represented pedagogies tended to reflect mid-level cognitive processes (those of understand, apply, and analyse), and low to mid-level knowledge types (those of factual, conceptual, and procedural). Under-represented were pedagogies reflecting higher-level cognition such as creating (in all four knowledge types) and evaluation (of factual and conceptual knowledge). The findings provide a basis for assessing the adequacy of current university teacher-education curriculum structures. Student-teachers’ understandings of under-used theoretical and pedagogical strategies can be identified as a guide to enhance their cognitive processes and knowledge dimensions. This study illustrates a method that has applicability as a diagnostic and assessment tool across a wide range of pre-service teacher education curriculum areas.     

Responding to parental objections to school sexuality education: a selection of 12 objections

Sexuality education for school‐aged young people is a crucial component of all quality education systems. It prepares young people for participation in society as responsible, mature and community‐minded citizens. Most contemporary school education curricula generally aim to enhance young people's knowledge, skills and understandings of the world, and of their rights as human beings and citizens of nations. The current sexuality problems of many young people are the opposite of these; namely, ignorance, lack of skills, misunderstandings, and loss of rights, as well as unnecessary fear and shame about themselves and others. Many young people do not receive any sexuality education at all, and frequently parents have been found to be unsatisfactory providers of sexuality education for their offspring. Schools, then, become the logical place to provide this. Nowadays, the earlier maturing of girls and boys provides a further persuasive argument for quality sexuality education in all schools. The absence or erosion of school‐based sexuality education through ignorance, fear or unreasoned response helps support ignorance about sexual behaviours, increased rates of unwanted pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections, and the cruel loss of life opportunities for young people. The present paper responds to 12 parental objections to school sexuality education, by providing research facts and evidence‐based reasoned arguments to them.     

School-based reproductive health and safety education for students aged 12–15 years in UNESCO’s (2009) International Technical Guidance

Globally, adolescents aged 12–15 years are making sexual and reproductive decisions of profound significance for their future, often based on misguided, inadequate or dangerously wrong information. Very few countries provide evidential and comprehensive education about puberty, sexuality, and reproductive health and safety to children and young adolescents at school, when it is most effective and beneficial. UNESCO has produced a culturally applicable framework for such education, with the primary aim of reducing sexual risk behaviour and sexually transmitted infections including HIV/AIDS. This study analyses the 2009 International Technical Guidance for its appropriateness, relevance and contemporaneity to this young teenage cohort, who are at most risk of the consequences of ignorance.     

Can MOOCs enhance sexuality education?

There is a revolution taking place in teacher/learner/technology relations. At primary, secondary and tertiary education levels, teachers and students are being confronted by new technologies, new pedagogies, new relationships in teacher-student roles, as well as reconsiderations about how information is to be learned. The growth of information technology and its permeation into schools and universities and in the wider world for adults and older people, is quickly becoming ubiquitous. At the same time, and again at all levels, education for relationships, gender, sexuality and reproductive health has never been more urgently needed. Universities provide pre-service teacher education, but very few include courses on learning and teaching in sexuality education. This paper aims to provide an analysis of whether sexuality education pedagogies, using MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses), might enhance or detract from competent, in-person delivery of professional quality sexuality education, to people of all ages. Possible advantages and/or disadvantages that characterise MOOCs are identified for the teaching and learning of sexuality education.     

The educational experiences of Australian high school dropouts who return to school

This research examines the experiences of Australian high school dropouts once they have re‐entered high school. Using a survey in three Australian states of 1,233 re‐enterers aged 15 to 24 years it examines their enrolment process, their educational experiences, their difficulties and concerns, and their perceptions of services provided in the new educational institution they re‐enter. The data show that the majority of re‐enterers are enrolled in innovative high schools. Almost half are enrolled in Grade 12, are full‐time and attend day classes only. They are most frequently enrolled in four to six subjects; English, Maths and Science are the most popular. Reentry students generally hold quite positive attitudes to existing forms of assessment and credentials, and hold moderately positive attitudes towards their institution. Most re‐entry students believe they are working hard and performing well, and are confident of future success in their studies. They believe that their institution is supportive of their attempts to return to study, and regard their institution's services and facilities as good, rather than excellent. Implications are discussed for the quality of re‐entry students’ educational experience aimed at optimizing their satisfaction, performance and persistence