Collaboration of Teacher Education and Child Disability Health Care: Transdisciplinary Approach to Inclusive Practice for Early Childhood Pre-Service Teachers

The purpose of this paper is to describe the collaborative efforts between an Early Childhood Teacher Education Program and a Child Disability Health Care Program to incorporate a transdisciplinary model in the preparation of early childhood teachers in inclusive practice. Recent studies suggest essential components of teacher preparation in early childhood inclusion include: helping students construct a positive image of inclusive practice, incorporating a family-centered approach, and collaborating and relationship building across disciplines (Campbell et al. 2003; Pretti-Frontczak et al. 2002 and Able-Boone et al. 2002). In this paper, we describe the collaboration between the University of Michigan-Dearborn Early Childhood Teacher Education Program and Oakwood Health Care Center for Exceptional Families to co-teach and mentor early childhood pre-service teachers as they create a family-centered event for children with disabilities and their typically developing peers in a natural environment. Researchers analyze student reflection papers about the family-centered event for evidence of new learning about child disability and inclusive practice. The reflections demonstrate the power of the students’ active role in creating and implementing family-centered activities in a collaborative context. Other key reflective components include rewards and challenges in creating inclusive contexts, integral role of families in supporting child relationships in natural settings, and collaboration and teaming.     

Elegant and Democratic Values: How Will the New English Universities Gel?

This paper examines the respective cultures of universities and polytechnics under the former 'binary' system and goes on to consider the implications of this pattern for the development of the new unitary system. It is concluded that a 'plurality of missions and cultures' will emerge alongside the movement for an elite to a mass higher education system. The importance of a concern for quality in the learning experience of students and what this should mean in practice is put forward as a unifying factor in this diversity.     

Rearranging pigeonholes: interrupting the ethnic hierarchy of a school's workforce

Increasing the cultural and linguistic diversity of the teaching workforce in Australia was a key recommendation of the House of Representatives Standing Committee Inquiry into Teacher Education in their report, Top of the Class (written by L. Hartsuyker Hartsuyker, L. 2007. Top of the class: Report of the inquiry into teacher education, (Report by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Education and Vocational Training) Canberra, Australia: The Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia.  [Google Scholar]). The report reflects findings from national and international research that support the need to increase the diversity of the teaching profession as a means to improve student outcomes, particularly given the increasingly diverse make-up of student populations. The Hartsuyker Report also notes, as a “national concern”, the relatively low enrolment of World English-speaking (WES) students in Australian teacher education courses and calls for targeted funding by the federal government for further research into why this is the case (as discussed by J. Han and M. Singh in 2007 Han, J. and Singh, M. 2007b. Getting World English speaking student teachers to the top of the class: Making hope for ethno-cultural diversity in teacher education robust. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 35(3): 291–309. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] [Google Scholar]). This paper seeks to add to current research on the attraction and retention of WES students into Initial Teacher Education (ITE) programmes in Australia. It does so by relating some of the key findings from a case study of three WES Education Assistants, originally from Malaysia, who retrained to become teachers through an ITE programme at an Australian university. Significantly, as a result of a partnership developed between a school and a university, they entered the programme through an alternative access course, were awarded Recognition of Prior Learning for their work experience, and were able to remain in their community while studying externally. They were also provided ongoing mentoring support by the teaching staff and myself as programme co-ordinator. This paper aims to add to current research in this field by identifying the key driving and restraining forces that impacted on their ability to become teachers via an Australian ITE programme.     

Stereoscopy in Static Scientific Imagery in an Informal Education Setting: Does It Matter?

Stereoscopic technology (3D) is rapidly becoming ubiquitous across research, entertainment and informal educational settings. Children of today may grow up never knowing a time when movies, television and video games were not available stereoscopically. Despite this rapid expansion, the field’s understanding of the impact of stereoscopic visualizations on learning is rather limited. Much of the excitement of stereoscopic technology could be due to a novelty effect, which will wear off over time. This study controlled for the novelty factor using a variety of techniques. On the floor of an urban science center, 261 children were shown 12 photographs and visualizations of highly spatial scientific objects and scenes. The images were randomly shown in either traditional (2D) format or in stereoscopic format. The children were asked two questions of each image—one about a spatial property of the image and one about a real-world application of that property. At the end of the test, the child was asked to draw from memory the last image they saw. Results showed no overall significant difference in response to the questions associated with 2D or 3D images. However, children who saw the final slide only in 3D drew more complex representations of the slide than those who did not. Results are discussed through the lenses of cognitive load theory and the effect of novelty on engagement.     

Teachers’ views on effective classroom management: a mixed-methods investigation in Western Australian high schools

Teachers’ views about teaching, learning and school experiences are important considerations in education. As the central participants in classroom interactions, students and teachers naturally have strong views about what it takes to manage learning and surrounding behaviours effectively. With this in mind and because we believe that ignoring the thinking of either of these stakeholders would be to the detriment of teaching and teacher education, we focused on hearing and understanding teachers’ voices about teaching, learning and classroom management. Our aim was to further clarify teachers’ perspectives on how educators create quality learning environments as well as gathering their views of various disciplinary interventions, their perceptions of challenging students and their sense of efficacy for classroom management in order to inform both policy and practice in teacher education. A survey was conducted with 50 secondary school teachers to capture their views on their classroom experiences. Follow up interviews with teachers identified by students as effective in their classroom management provided consistent reports that effective classroom managers build positive relationships with their students, manage their classrooms by establishing clear boundaries and high expectations, and engage students in their learning.