Academic literature on the topic 'Teachers Victoria Melbourne Attitudes'

Research highlights that early childhood teachers (ECTs) hold varied opinions on the value of superhero play (SP) to young children’s learning and development. This study sought to investigate how ECTs in Victoria are responding to superhero play, and to examine the beliefs that underpin their responses. Interviews were conducted with eight ECTs from the Bayside area in Melbourne. The study revealed that while the majority of the teachers interviewed responded to children’s superhero play in a variety of ways, there were a number of barriers to supporting superhero play in early childhood education and care settings. This paper concludes by identifying the value of ECTs engaging in critical reflection to ensure that their responses to superhero play are based on professional knowledge that is informed by theory and research.

This paper shows that bilingual education has a long tradition in Australia. In the 19th century, primary and secondary schools operating German-English, French-English or Gaelic-English programs, or ones with a Hebrew component, existed in different parts of Australia. The most common bilingual schools were Lutheran rural day schools but there were also many private schools. They believed in the universal value of bilingualism, and some attracted children from English-speaking backgrounds. Bilingual education was for language maintenance, ethno-religious continuity or second language acquisition. The languages were usually divided according to subject and time of day or teacher. The programs were strongest in Melbourne, Adelaide and rural South Australia and Victoria. In Queensland, attitudes and settlement patterns led to the earlier demise of bilingual education. The education acts led to a decline in bilingual education except in elitist girls or rural primary schools and an increase in part-time language programs. Bilingual education was stopped by wartime legislation. It is intended that bilingualism can flourish unless monolingualism is given special preference.

Student Evaluation of Teaching (SET) results play an important role in academic staff performance evaluation, but also in promotion processes. However, there is much evidence to suggest that the SET used in most universities across the Anglosphere has traditionally penalised female academics. As universities manage the recovery phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, they will also need to take into account the effect of remote teaching on the validity of student evaluation data. Given SET are critical to promotion success, it is important to then understand the gendered effect of remote teaching on student evaluations. We aimed to evaluate how intrusions of family life, academics’ home environment and competence with remote teaching technology of female academics were viewed by students and if there were noticeable differences in SET data. We analysed 22,485 SET data over 2019 (pre-COVID, face-to-face teaching) and 2020 (COVID-lockdowns, remote teaching) for female and male academics, matched with student gender, in the multidisciplinary First Year College at Victoria University, Melbourne Australia. Our results showed that there were no differences in the score ratings for teacher gender. However, the qualitative data showed that whilst overall there were overwhelmingly positive comments for both male and female teachers, there was an increase in the negative comments on teaching style by male students toward their female teachers during remote teaching and overall more comments relating to attitude. We speculate that this would have a negative impact on the confidence of teaching-intensive female academics hindering their leadership aspirations and career progression in academia.

Des English was a person of great charm, innovation, and inner strength. His early death at the age of 44 in 1977 came as a bitter blow not only for his family but for the many teachers and parents he had influenced and guided in respectively providing and in seeking educational opportunities for children with disabilities. Des grew up in a small town in Victoria called Donnybrook, north of Melbourne. He was educated by the Marist Brothers at Kilmore College, and in the 50’s trained as a primary teacher at Geelong Teachers College, from which he gained an extension of one year to study as a Special Teacher at Melbourne Teachers College. His first appointment was as an Opportunity Grade teacher at North Melbourne State School. His talent for leadership surfaced early and in his second appointment he became Principal of Footscray Special School for children and adolescents with intellectual disability. Throughout the rest of his career he gained one promotion after another to the Principal positions at Ormond, Travencore and St. Alban’s Special schools. I was fortunate to work as a deputy principal with him throughout his last two appointments.

This paper aims to observe how the Australian COVID-19 restrictions influenced higher education, teachers’ and students’ lives. Before the pandemic, the higher education sector was the largest serviced based sector in Australia and overly depended on international students’ fee income. The academic year of 2020 started as usual with 141703 higher education enrolments of overseas students, mainly students from Asia. However, they did not arrive due to the strict border closure. Travel restrictions were put in place from China from 1 February 2020, later from other countries worldwide. That significantly affected international students' travel from Asia directly before the start of the new academic year. Consequently, many institutions have transitioned from campus-based courses to online delivery. Besides, numerous academic lecturers and professional staff have been invited to the expression of interest in a voluntary and, of course, involuntary redundancy program. Most vacant positions have been frozen, and various saving programs have been implied. Owing to the toughest rules and strictest restrictions, Australian borders remained closed for over 600 days. Melbourne was under six lockdowns totalling 265 days since March 2020, which resulted in the author’s experience of three semester-long remote teaching at one of the biggest and most prominent universities in Melbourne without any personal contact with international students. The author lived and worked in Melbourne during the COVID-19 era, so this study is based on her perspectives and experiences extended with a wide empirical evaluation of secondary data about the Australian academic sector between 2020 and 2021.

AbstractThe inclusion of children with disabilities into the regular education classroom has resulted in many studies on teacher attitudes. Current research has examined teacher beliefs about inclusion, their concerns, and issues pertaining to their ability to cater effectively for children with disabilities in their classrooms. Despite this, there appears to be little research investigating potential associations between teacher attitudes and beliefs toward inclusion, their education levels, and teacher training. This study investigated the attitudes and beliefs of 36 general and special education/early intervention teachers in Victoria. Results of the study show that teachers with higher educational qualifications in special education were more positive about inclusion.

This year marks the first decade of operations for the Gene Technology Access Centre (GTAC). The decade has seen a grassroots initiative by a small group of eminent research scientists and dedicated personnel from the University High School in Melbourne grow into a specialist education centre in cell and molecular biology that attracts over 6000 students and their teachers each year. GTAC has not only refocused student and teacher attention on the interdisciplinary nature of contemporary biology, but has also highlighted how a ?centre model for learning?, based upon collaboration and partnerships, can exist within ?the school system? and meet the needs of students and teachers from across Victoria and beyond.

Purpose The purpose for this paper is to share jurisdictional knowledge on local law-making theory and praxis, an area of law not well represented in the literature despite its involvement in day-to-day life. Design/methodology/approach The paper not only shares knowledge about the local law-making process in Melbourne, Australia, but also explores attitudes to local law-making gathered through semi-structured interviews from a sample of relevant stakeholders. Findings The paper reports on findings from a study undertaken in Melbourne, Australia. Stakeholder perceptions and attitudes were canvassed regarding local law-making in the areas of land use planning and waste management. Overall, stakeholders were satisfied that Melbourne is a robust jurisdiction offering a fair and transparent local law-making system, but they see scope for more public participation. Research limitations/implications The findings suggest that even though the state of Victoria offers a fair and transparent system of local law-making, there is still significant scope for more meaningful involvement from the community, as well as space for more effective enforcement of local laws. The stage is set for greater cross-jurisdictional reciprocal learning about local law-making between cities. Originality/value This paper offers meaningful and utilitarian insight for policy and law makers, academics and built environment professionals from relevant stakeholders on the operation and transparency of local law-making.

There is limited evidence suggesting the underlying reasons for the use of complementary and alternative medicines (CAMs) by people with HIV/AIDS, or individual attitudes and beliefs about the use of CAMs. Using focus groups and a survey with 151 individuals attending the HIV Clinics at The Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, we aimed to provide insights into factors that influence the use of CAMs among people living with HIV/AIDS. Roughly half (49%) of the participants had used CAMs to manage their HIV/AIDs. Users of CAMs utilized a wide range of treatments in managing their condition, but costs of the CAMs meant that users were not necessarily able to use them as much as they might have liked. Use of CAMs was based on a desire to find something beneficial rather than on being dissatisfied with conventional medicine. Further research is needed into (a) the effects of CAMs and (b) the enhancement of communication and collaboration between patients, doctors and complementary medicine practitioners.

This thesis examines the perceptions of lecturers, graduates and employers of personal and interpersonal skills development in an accounting degree at Victoria University. The development of personal and interpersonal skills in students in higher education has been the focus of discussion amongst accounting educators, accounting practitioners and the accounting profession for many years. There is a general consensus on what skills are necessarily sought to ensure success within the accountancy profession but very few previous studies on how those personal and interpersonal skills are being developed. This research study presents a research framework which emphasises the complex interrelationships between an accounting curriculum, accounting lecturers, accounting graduates and employers of graduate accountants and their perceptions of how personal and interpersonal skills are developed. A case study approach, combining archival, qualitative and quantitative methods, is used to investigate how a Bachelor of Business Accounting degree in one Australian university facilitates personal and interpersonal skills development. The case study results indicate that the curriculum, as the vector for skills development, has both explicit and implicit references to skills outcomes. Graduates� perceptions of many of the personal and interpersonal skills considered in this study are closely related to the curriculum findings. However, there appears to be a lack of convergence between lecturers� perceptions, the curriculum and graduates� perceptions. Employers generally agree that graduates display most of the personal and interpersonal skills, albeit at a low level, in the workplace. There are curriculum implications arising from the results of this research for accounting academics who design and develop accounting programs where the value of graduates� personal and interpersonal skills are acknowledged. As a first step, academics need to improve accounting curricula by explicitly integrating personal and interpersonal skills in their subjects. Communicating to students the explicit nature of personal and interpersonal skills development and making them aware is the next step.

Through a longitudinal study of one teacher's science teaching practice set in the context of her base school, this thesis records the effects of the structural and policy changes that have occurred in Victorian education over the past 6-7 years - the 'Kennett era'. Initially, the purpose of the study was to investigate the teacher's practice with the view to improving it. For this, an action research approach was adopted. Across the year 1998, the teacher undertook an innovative science program with two grades, documenting the approach and outcomes. Several other teachers were involved in the project and their personal observations and comments were to form part of the data. This research project was set in the context of a single primary school and case study methodology was used to document the broader situational and daily influences which affected the teacher's practice. It was apparent soon after starting the action research that there were factors which did not allow for the development of the project along the intended lines. By the end of the project, the teacher felt that the action research had been distorted - specifically there had been no opportunity for critical reflection. The collaborative nature of the project did not seem to work. The teacher started to wonder just what had gone wrong. It was only after a break from the school environment that the teacher-researcher had the opportunity to really reflect on what had been happening in her teaching practice. This reflection took into account the huge amount of data generated from the context of the school but essentially reflected on the massive number of changes that were occurring in all schools. Several issues began to emerge which directly affected teaching practice and determined whether teachers had the opportunity to be self-reflective. These issues were identified as changes in curriculum and the teaching role, increased workload, changed power relations and changed security/morale on the professional context. This thesis investigates the structural and policy changes occurring in Victorian education by reference to documentation and the lived experiences of teachers. It studies how the emerging issues affect the practices of teachers, particularly the teacher-researcher. The case study has now evolved to take in the broader context of the policy and structural changes whilst the action research has expanded to look at the ability of a teacher to be self-reflective: a meta-action research perspective. In concluding, the teacher-researcher reflects on the significance of the research in light of the recent change in state government and the increased government importance placed on science education in the primary context.

This research project examines perceptions and attitudes towards science of a group of Technical and Further Education students studying Beauty Therapy at Victoria University. Many members of this group displayed a high level of science anxiety as described by Mallow, (1978). They lacked confidence in their science ability and were very anxious about passing the science units in their Beauty Therapy courses, despite having successfully passed science subjects at school. Previous observations on Beauty Therapy students showed that most succeeded in their science units but still lacked confidence in their ability to apply their knowledge. The science units in Beauty Therapy are complex and require a detailed knowledge of Human Biology, Anatomy, Physiology, Skin Biology, Cosmetic Chemistry, and Microbiology. The participants in the study were interviewed using a semi-structured interview working together with a questionnaire to establish background information. The probes covered the participants’ experiences in science at school together with their attitudes towards science and influences from other areas. The aim was to identify factors which undermined the confidence of these participants. The interviews were recorded and the transcripts were analysed for themes using a progressive coding process. The themes were grouped into clusters. The study showed clearly that the participants’ confidence in their science ability was undermined by their school experiences in science. It related to attitudes and pedagogies employed by a particular science teacher in their secondary school. Participants described enjoying science previously. Particular aspects identified were an inability to get help when they needed it; the use of sarcasm or derogatory remarks to discourage questions; boring lessons mostly composed of copying notes from the board or textbooks; lack of relevance and a lack of enthusiasm displayed by the teacher. This led to a situation where participants dreaded their science lessons and in some cases truancy.

The steady decline of students’ competency in mathematics has become known as the “Mathematics Problem”. Researchers identified that the level of student engagement is one of the most important factors affecting the academic performance of mathematics students. Strong link between students’ attitudes towards the use of technology for learning mathematics and their achievements also has been identified by recent studies. The mathematical problems have a multidimensional source and are initiated from the students’ personal characteristics and attitudes. Thus attitude is important educational concept about learning mathematics with technology. The association between student engagement and the use of ICT suggests that a positive attitude toward the use of ICT in learning mathematics is an important outcome in itself, especially when ICT is used. Student engagement can be influenced by a plethora of factors. These factors include student personal characteristics, learning experiences, perceptions, three aspects of engagement (cognitive, affective and behavioural) and attitudes towards the use of technology in learning of mathematics. This study is aimed at further investigating the factors that might be affected by the use of ICT with two major purposes: (1) to investigate the complex interrelationships between students’ demographic factors, mathematics confidence, access to technology outside university, confidence with technology, perception towards the use of technology for learning and attitude towards learning mathematics with technology, cognitive, affective and behavioural engagement; and student achievement and (2) to determine if the use of ICT impacts on the level of student engagement and achievements in mathematics.

While recognising the complexity of inclusive educational policy for teachers, this thesis argues that a constructive approach for future action may be accomplished by drawing on teachers’ own accounts of significant characteristics contributing to effective inclusion. Accordingly, it is proposed that an understanding of the realities constructed by teachers involved in inclusive practice provides imperatives for future action. In particular, this study explores the finer structures of changed pedagogy, professional development of teachers and the vision of quality education for all that underpin the fabric of inclusive schooling. Furthermore, the study suggests that the focus on teachers’ own accounts or voice provides a major resource with which to theorise and analyse the actuality of inclusive practice and to help overcome barriers to success. In examining the work realities of teachers involved in inclusive education this thesis reports on the results of an empirically grounded and theoretically informed enquiry of the major educational reform of including students with disabilities into regular classroom settings. The case study site for this investigation included two schools, within the State of Victoria, Australia. Primary evidence generated through this study suggests that teachers’ work is a vital contributing factor to successful inclusion, despite the overpowering emphasis on additional funding within the political construction of policy implementation. However, teachers’ existing professional expertise and their professional development needs have not been a key focus of policies directed at sustaining the changed political culture required by inclusion. Drawing on relevant research literature and research evidence, this study argues against the political reductionism of both liberal pluralism and systems theory approaches that have dominated State policy action in inclusive education. In contrast the evidence presented in this thesis suggests the need to reconsider and revalue the knowledge and expertise generated by the education policy actors in this field, namely classroom teachers and school administrators involved in institutional planning and practice. It is these knowledgeable education workers who really influence policy implementation. The significance of this research is that the ‘insiders’ are presented as potentially important drivers shaping the mechanisms for educational reform. For this reason the framework of this study centres on the communicative infrastructures within existing institutions (schools) and the policy actors (teachers) who come together to formulate issues and professional directions. Therefore, the review of the research literature sets out to identify key theories and evidence pertaining to the teachers’ knowledge and learning communities. Literature on the importance of individual and collective agency is reviewed and situated in terms of the debates over the communicative action and life worlds of teachers at the sites of inclusive education reform. In turn, this provides a pathway for establishing the secondary evidence concerning what is currently known about the life worlds of teachers where change engages with struggles over ideological totality, elitist political agendas and the actualities of educational reform. Transcending critical and interpretive paradigms of educational research, capturing teachers���� voice on the complexities of inclusive education, the study moves beyond critical analysis of the way policies construct, or fail to construct, institutions and individuals within them. Inclusion is viewed through the life worlds of teachers involved in integration and inclusive programs, and situated within the context of their communicative actions. Data was generated through unstructured interviews where there was an emphasis on informal contexts and open communication that was free from system distortion. Communicative interaction was then expanded through a second semi-structured interview for the purpose of validation of the data and for testing the researcher’s construction of received messages. In addition feedback regarding emergent themes and representative quotes was also requested from participants. In this study the situated meaning of teachers’ work as an expression of policy-in practice was explored in relation to the textual framing created by State policy, institutions (schools) and teachers’ own skills and knowledge. The major perceptual elements for this research focus on the interrelation between these policy contexts, the paradigm that frames teacher’s professional knowledge and the pathways and processes for teaching and learning to occur.
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Australia’s education system is undergoing major reform with the staged introduction of the Australian Curriculum starting in 2010. One of the learning areas designated for development in the Australian Curriculum is Health and Physical Education (HPE). The aim of this study is to examine the understandings, attitudes and intentions of regional HPE teachers in relation to the Australian Curriculum: Health and Physical Education (AC:HPE). A qualitative research method based on narrative inquiry has been used to gather data to provide a depiction of regional secondary school HPE teachers during the initial implementation phase of the AC:HPE. This study is significant in that it occurs at a unique time in Australia’s education system with the realisation of the nation’s first national curriculum. Furthermore, this study will contribute knowledge to an area of HPE research that has received little scholarly attention in the past, using a research methodology that is not usually associated with the discipline.

This thesis seeks to make a contribution to the debate about the role of ICT in education, by exploring schooling and pedagogical perspectives, identifying elements demanding systemic attention and defining a vision that is relevant and challenging to Australian education. Examining the notion of what e-confidence means for students, teachers, school leaders and schools enables a consideration of what strategies can be deployed for achieving this in all Australian schools.

This chapter shows how the online environment is used to promote quality teaching within a research project conducted by the Assessment Research Centre at the University of Melbourne. The project investigates how teacher teams use assessment data to inform teaching decisions and extensive efforts are made to check their learning through performance assessment procedures that monitor their discipline and pedagogy skills development. Teachers from the project are involved in a professional development course. The ways in which they adopt the knowledge, skills, and attitudes addressed by the course are tracked, along with assessment data from their students. The online environment is used to deliver the professional development course and to deliver online assessments for students and teachers. The authors are careful to ensure that the online experience for both teachers and students reinforces the ideas of the project. These include the notions of developmental approach rather than deficit, evidence rather than inferential decision making and collaboration rather than isolation.

The Australian Catholic University (ACU National at www.acu.edu.au) is a public university funded by the Australian Government. There are six campuses across the country, located in Brisbane, Queensland; North Sydney, New South Wales; Strathfield, New South Wales; Canberra, Australian Capital Territory (ACT); Ballarat, Victoria; and Melbourne, Victoria. The university serves a total of approximately 27,000 students, including both full- and part-time students, and those enrolled in undergraduate and postgraduate studies. Through fostering and advancing knowledge in education, health, commerce, the humanities, science and technology, and the creative arts, ACU National seeks to make specific and targeted contributions to its local, national, and international communities. The university explicitly engages the social, ethical, and religious dimensions of the questions it faces in teaching, research, and service. In its endeavors, it is guided by a fundamental concern for social justice, equity, and inclusivity. The university is open to all, irrespective of religious belief or background. ACU National opened its doors in 1991 following the amalgamation of four Catholic tertiary institutions in eastern Australia. The institutions that merged to form the university had their origins in the mid-17th century when religious orders and institutes became involved in the preparation of teachers for Catholic schools and, later, nurses for Catholic hospitals. As a result of a series of amalgamations, relocations, transfers of responsibilities, and diocesan initiatives, more than twenty historical entities have contributed to the creation of ACU National. Today, ACU National operates within a rapidly changing educational and industrial context. Student numbers are increasing, areas of teaching and learning have changed and expanded, e-learning plays an important role, and there is greater emphasis on research. In its 2005–2009 Strategic Plan, the university commits to the adoption of quality teaching, an internationalized curriculum, as well as the cultivation of generic skills in students, to meet the challenges of the dynamic university and information environment (ACU National, 2008). The Graduate Diploma of Education (Secondary) Program at ACU Canberra Situated in Australia’s capital city, the Canberra campus is one of the smallest campuses of ACU National, where there are approximately 800 undergraduate and 200 postgraduate students studying to be primary or secondary school teachers through the School of Education (ACT). Other programs offered at this campus include nursing, theology, social work, arts, and religious education. A new model of pre-service secondary teacher education commenced with the introduction of the Graduate Diploma of Education (Secondary) program at this campus in 2005. It marked an innovative collaboration between the university and a cohort of experienced secondary school teachers in the ACT and its surrounding region. This partnership was forged to allow student teachers undertaking the program to be inducted into the teaching profession with the cooperation of leading practitioners from schools in and around the ACT. In the preparation of novices for the teaching profession, an enduring challenge is to create learning experiences capable of transforming practice, and to instill in the novices an array of professional skills, attributes, and competencies (Putnam & Borko, 2000). Another dimension of the beginning teacher experience is the need to bridge theory and practice, and to apply pedagogical content knowledge in real-life classroom practice. During the one-year Graduate Diploma program, the student teachers undertake two four-week block practicum placements, during which they have the opportunity to observe exemplary lessons, as well as to commence teaching. The goals of the practicum include improving participants’ access to innovative pedagogy and educational theory, helping them situate their own prior knowledge regarding pedagogy, and assisting them in reflecting on and evaluating their own practice. Each student teacher is paired with a more experienced teacher based at the school where he/she is placed, who serves as a supervisor and mentor. In 2007, a new dimension to the teaching practicum was added to facilitate online peer mentoring among the pre-service teachers at the Canberra campus of ACU National, and provide them with opportunities to reflect on teaching prior to entering full-time employment at a school. The creation of an online community to facilitate this mentorship and professional development process forms the context for the present case study. While on their practicum, students used social software in the form of collaborative web logging (blogging) and threaded voice discussion tools that were integrated into the university’s course management system (CMS), to share and reflect on their experiences, identify critical incidents, and invite comment on their responses and reactions from peers.