Australian Journal of Education

Can history succeed at school? Problems of knowledge in the Australian history curriculum

Rob Gilbert — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 21:12:30 PST

Successful curriculum development in any school subject requires a clear and established set of elements: agreed and widely appreciated goals; effective criteria for the selection of important knowledge content; and an explicit and well-integrated explanatory base for authentic problem-solving related to the subject goals. The article shows that the history discipline faces particular challenges in meeting these requirements. The diversity of approaches to history complicates the task of establishing consensus around a clear set of goals. Its association in popular discourse with facts and narrative predisposes history to a descriptive approach, and is not helpful in clarifying the foundational ideas on which historical explanation is based. The article considers each of these issues and the extent to which they are resolved in the development of the Australian history curriculum. It concludes that these issues remain a challenge that could put at risk high-quality curriculum outcomes in history.

National curriculum: A political-educational tangle

Marie Brennan — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 21:12:30 PST

Recent moves in Australia to institute a national curriculum emanated from federal governments of ostensibly different political persuasions in the period from 2003, building on developments that go back over 25 years. This article traces continuities and new developments, meditating on two questions: whether the current moves are politically likely to move along federalism in Australian education and whether the current approach to national curriculum is educationally sound. Lack of infrastructure to support teachers and schools, lack of necessary feedback loops into policy and development, and lack of appropriate evolving and specified relationships among levels of government may well undo all the important educational work on national curriculum. On the educational front, the overcrowding of specified content, its specification at age levels, and the disjuncture between content, assessment and pedagogies do not bode well for providing practicable and wellresourced support for teachers. But, given other national partnerships and work on federalising many spheres (including theAC two big spending areas still under states’ control: health and education), it may be that national curriculum is a project whose time has come. If so—and this is still not certain—it signals major shifts in the governance of curriculum and particularly has implications for the role of teachers in the core of their work.

An Australian science curriculum: Competition, advances and retreats

Peter Aubusson — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 21:12:29 PST

Science schooling enjoys high status. Scientific capability is perceived as critical in underpinning economic success in advanced societies. Science achievement, at all levels, has become a global competition in which nations want to be seen to triumph. Governments periodically pay close attention to science education with a view to ensuring it does its work for our society and that we perform in the international contest. This is a mixed blessing, because, while it provides occasional injections of funds, it also brings intrusive scrutiny, criticism and demands for change. Typically there are calls for better science, more scientists and a more scientifically literate society. Consequently, from time to time, ideal outlines for school science are generated for translation into curriculum. This article briefly locates the Australian science curriculum in this broad context of science education. It then reports analyses of conversations with leaders in science education research from five Australian states. These explore curriculum development and implementation, strengths and weaknesses of the Australian science curriculum, and missed and realised opportunities. This leads to a conclusion that describes alternative future school science scenarios.

Building a knowledge structure for English : Reflections on the challenges of coherence, cumulative learning, portability and face validity

Mary Macken-Horarik — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 21:12:28 PST

A curriculum is a knowledge structure outlining what is to be learned in what order. The Australian curriculum for English emphasises creation of a ‘coherent’ and ‘cumulative’ ‘body of knowledge about how the English language works’, with learning that is ‘portable and applicable to new settings across the school years and beyond’ (National Curriculum Board, 2009, p. 9, emphasis added). But what happens when those charged with implementing curriculum cannot agree on ‘what counts’? This article reflects on key differences between stakeholders about disciplinarity in English, drawing on sociological categories of Bernstein and Maton. The fourth challenge facing implementation is ‘face validity’. The creation of a viable knowledge structure for English makes it crucial that teachers and professional bodies find it acceptable. The article concludes with a heuristic figure for representing key parameters of knowledge structure in English and a proposal for interrelating these so as to optimize implementation of the curriculum in Australian classrooms.

The Australian mathematics curriculum: A move forward or back to the future?

Bill Atweh et al. — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 21:12:28 PST

The release of the Australian curriculum: Mathematics has generated considerable debate in the education community. Some educators warn that this debate has centred on mathematical content and skills, setting the conditions for a ‘back to basics’ movement in line with the political rhetoric that accompanied the national curriculum development. But the Shape of the Australian curriculum: Mathematics document contains a commitment to provide a futures-oriented curriculum. This article provides a critical analysis of the released curriculum document in the light of these claims. It questions whether the direction taken in the curriculum demonstrates a futuristic view of mathematics education. It considers whether the document is aligned with a national focus on education for citizenship, identified in past government declarations on education as the basis for the development of the national curriculum, and the role of technology in teaching mathematics based on decades of theorising and research in this area.

The Australian curriculum : Continuing the national conversation

Bill Atweh et al. — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 21:12:27 PST

The purpose of this article is to identify some key areas of the Australian curriculum that remain sites of struggle and contestation. We propose that there remain a number of contentious points in relation to the national curriculum. These points relate variously to the content and form of the curricular documents; assumptions about knowledge, learning, teaching and assessment; questions about the aims and rationale of these documents; and whether the documents deal with wider economic, cultural and technological changes. These points set the scene for a continuation of the conversation about the national curriculum and provide a framework for considering the issues raised in the remaining five articles in this Special Issue on the Australian curriculum.

Editorial

Glenn Rowley — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 21:12:26 PST

The shades of grey of cyberbullying in Australian schools

Wendy Goff — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 20:45:04 PST

This article explores the effects of cyberbullying in relation to a school’s duty of care. By examining the impact of cyberbullying through an increasingly common scenario, it becomes apparent that the strategies for Australian schools in maintaining their duty of care may be unclear and uncommunicated. Findings suggest that Australian law in its current form has failed to keep up with the advances in technology and does not effectively deal with the problems surrounding cyberbullying, both within society and within our schools. Such findings suggest that this lack of direction within Australia could be potentially detrimental to the perceptions of the value and use of the internet both within Australian schools and within Australian households, and support the need for global unity in the development of risk management strategies to deal with this growing phenomenon.

‘Good for kids’: Children who have been homeless talk about school

Tim Moore et al. — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 20:45:03 PST

Children who experience homelessness are at risk of poor health and well-being, and negative social outcomes. They are often exposed to stressful life events, such as domestic violence, parental mental health difficulties and family breakdown. Although many experience difficulties in remaining engaged in school, children report that schools can provide them with a sense of belonging and can help them and their families to link with supports to assist them through their homeless experience. This article reports on a study with children who had experienced homelessness with their families and discusses their thoughts on homelessness and school. It highlights some of their difficulties and worries, but identifies some opportunities for support.

Digital natives? New and old media and children’s outcomes

Michael Bittman et al. — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 20:45:03 PST

The current generation of young children has been described as ‘digital natives’, having been born into a ubiquitous digital media environment. They are envisaged as educationally independent of the guided interaction provided by ‘digital immigrants’: parents and teachers. This article uses data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) to study the development of vocabulary and traditional literacy in children aged from 0 to 8 years; their access to digital devices; parental mediation practices; children’s use of digital devices as recorded in time-diaries; and, finally, the association between patterns of media use and family contexts on children’s learning. The analysis shows the importance of the parental context in framing media use for acquiring vocabulary, and suggests that computer (but not games) use is associated with more developed language skills. Independently of these factors, raw exposure to television is not harmful to learning.

Teachers’ views on the impact of classroom management on student responsibility

Joel Roache et al. — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 20:45:02 PST

This article examines teachers’ views of their management styles, classified as either ‘coercive’ or ‘relationship’ -based, for 145 primary and 363 secondary school teachers in Victoria, Australia. It finds that management that combines punishment with aggressive and hostile behaviour can exacerbate misbehaviour and increase student distraction. In contrast, a combination of rewards and punishments, set in a context of discussion, validation of appropriate behaviour, involvement and trust, will encourage student responsibility and reduce misbehaviour. This study seeks to extend upon a 2001 study that reported generally similar findings from the reports of 3500 students attending the same schools as the teachers whose views are reported in this article. The discussion considers the most effective management strategies for reducing student misbehaviour and distraction, comparing both students’ and teachers’ views, as well as techniques that increase student responsibility and protection of rights, emphasising techniques and strategies that involve the use of recognition and rewards.

‘Go boldly, dream large!’: The challenges confronting non-traditional students at university

Lyle Munro — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 20:45:01 PST

This article examines the challenges facing non-traditional university students—and to a lesser extent their lecturers in ‘the stretched academy’—who are increasingly enrolling in university courses in Australia and elsewhere. The article looks at this issue from the perspective of non-traditional students at a regional campus in Victoria. These students include many from disadvantaged backgrounds and those who do not conform to the conventional idea of the Australian university student. Typically, for most of the postwar period, the traditional university student was a recent graduate from high school with good grades and enrolled full-time. Most importantly, such students came predominantly from high socio-economic backgrounds that equipped them with the kind of cultural capital that provides a head start in the academic environment. By contrast, non-traditional university students of the last two decades or so are a much more diverse cohort consisting of large numbers of full-fee-paying international students, older, mature-age students studying mainly on a part-time basis by distance education, and increasing numbers of domestic students who only in recent times have aspired to a university education. Many of these latter students are ostensibly full-time but in reality spend more time in paid part-time jobs than they do on campus. These ‘student-workers’ are the main focus of this article because it is the dual role of the undergraduate as worker and scholar that is of concern to university personnel especially in the context of the widening participation agenda of the federal government. Such students are compelled to support themselves in term-time employment, which inevitably affects their commitment to study and consequently their academic prospects. The article concludes with the suggestion that slogans such as those in the title are misleading if they are not accompanied by financial incentives and a more inclusive curriculum that acknowledges the study–work challenges facing non-traditional university students.

The big fish Down Under: Examining moderators of the ‘big-fish-little-pond’ effect for Australia’s high achievers

Marjorie Seaton et al. — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 20:45:00 PST

Big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLPE) research has demonstrated that academic self-concept is negatively affected by attending high-ability schools. This article examines data from large, representative samples of 15-year-olds from each Australian state, based on the three Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) databases that focus on different subject domains: reading (2000), mathematics (2003) and science (2006). The overarching research question is whether the size or direction of the BFLPE is moderated by any of a total of 67 moderators (for example ability, study methods, motive, social constructs and Australian states) that were considered. The data showed consistent support for the BFLPE across all Australian states for all three databases. None of the constructs examined moderated the BFLPE and this finding was consistent across states. In conclusion, the BFLPE is remarkably robust in Australia and the study findings generalised well across Australian states and across all moderators investigated.

Editorial

Glenn Rowley — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 20:44:59 PST

Coping with the threat of closure in a small Finnish village school

Gunilla Karlberg-Granlund — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 17:41:44 PDT

Working in a small school threatened with closure creates a certain kind of teacher vulnerability. By analysing one teacher’s story, this article contributes to understanding how teachers cope with the external and internal challenges of teaching and leadership in small rural schools. Research about teachers’ work in a small village school in Finland, where about 100 schools have been closed each year, explores how discovery of and reflection on the solid moral base of being a teacher may contribute to and promote the teacher’s endurance during times of change. A teacher validates pedagogical thinking and practical knowledge into a contextual, temporal and moral interpretive framework. In doing so, a teacher evaluates the choice to remain in the same school for almost all their career and reveals reasons for staying—a topic that is of interest in research about retaining teachers in rural areas.

Women principals in small schools in South Africa

Jacky Lumby et al. — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 17:41:44 PDT

South Africa presents a distinctive and varied context in which to explore the experience of women principals. The article draws on a larger data set to explore the interplay of gender and school size in seven schools with 200 students or fewer. From this study, we conclude that gender remains a potent influence on the career and experience of women, but that it is influenced by other factors such as poverty, race, language and the size of the school. Small schools offer women a less competitive path to the principalship, but may also maroon them in a low-paid, low-status and extremely challenging role. In this context some women attempt to neutralise gender by denying its impact; others try to unsettle it by creating social capital from female attributes stereotypically viewed as limiting, such as a maternal approach to leadership. They may thereby only embed further the negative view of women’s leadership capacity.

Resourcing change in small schools

Michelle Anderson et al. — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 17:41:43 PDT

The theme of this article is the challenge that school leaders face in creating the conditions for learning in small schools. We draw on the concepts of ‘social capital’ and ‘social entrepreneurship’ to identify tensions and possibilities for school leaders in a case study of a small rural school as they seek to find resources for school–community change. We found that the nature of social challenges increasingly demands that leaders adopt creative ways to counter social disadvantage. School leaders need to rethink existing resources and harness new opportunities for themselves and their communities with implications for the knowledge and skills required of principals and others in schools. The case study demonstrates that leadership for learning requires alternative ways of thinking about and accessing resources to support change for improvement.

Village schools in England: At the heart of their community?

Carl Bagley et al. — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 17:41:42 PDT

Recent debates within UK rural studies have stressed the shifting interplay of economic, social, political and cultural forces, with a concomitant blurring as to what constitutes rural living, rural spaces and even rural occupations. This article situates the rural school within this social, cultural and political landscape and attends to the frequently heralded discursive policy conviction that ‘local schools are at the heart of many rural communities’. The research applies an inclusive model of ethnography, drawing on participant observation, interviews and documentary analysis, to facilitate a multifaceted engagement, and holistic exploration of the role and place of the village school in two contrasting English rural localities.

Improving the small rural or remote school: The role of the district

Simon Clarke et al. — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 17:41:41 PDT

There is a robust body of work highlighting distinctive challenges encountered by leaders of small schools in pursuit of school improvement but this work has focused on the school as the unit of change and neglects the role of the district. As the district potentially influences what principals know and how they use their knowledge, this article examines how districts provide professional support for principals of small schools in rural or remote environments. The article identifies from the literature features of effective districts in supporting change and improvement in their schools. A case study is then presented of one district in Western Australia. This district’s magnitude and remoteness yield rich insights into strategies assisting principals to enhance performance and vitality of rural or remote schools and their communities. Finally, suggestions are made for strengthening these strategies referring to the new model of supporting schools on the cusp of its implementation in Western Australia.

Small schools, big future

R John Halsey — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 17:41:40 PDT

Historically, small schools have played a very important role in the provision of schooling in Australia. Numerically, using an enrolment of 200 or less, small schools represent approximately 45% of the schools in Australia. Population growth and the consequences of this, in particular for food production, water and energy, mean that the significance of small schools is likely to increase into the future, because many small schools are in rural areas where the ‘basics for life’ are produced, managed or extracted. This in turn has implications for how small schools are valued and resourced by governments and policy-makers. Research undertaken in 2010 is used to identify potential major improvement in the preparation and support of leaders for small schools, given the importance of leadership to the effectiveness and impact of schooling.