tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/teaching-954/articles
Teaching – The Conversation
2024-03-24T08:47:12Z
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/224754
2024-03-24T08:47:12Z
2024-03-24T08:47:12Z
Worried about how to support your child’s education? Here are four useful steps you can take
<p>Parents play a crucial role in supporting their children’s learning. Their involvement lays the foundation for success both inside and outside the classroom. This makes a parent’s consistent support and nurturing important at every stage of formal schooling, and even before that.</p>
<p>The key lies in creating a supportive and encouraging environment at home. </p>
<p>In the school environment, teachers tend to be instructional leaders. This means they often focus on the classroom process of teaching and learning. Together, however, parents and teachers can help boost a child’s learning by sharing educational responsibilities at home and in school.</p>
<p>Teachers often favour <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sylvie-Barma/publication/281244508_Understanding_Complex_Relationships_Between_Teachers_and_Parents/links/57347edd08ae298602debb02/Understanding-Complex-Relationships-Between-Teachers-and-Parents.pdf">traditional modes of parental involvement</a>. This includes having parents supervise school outings or raise funds for school activities. </p>
<p>But it’s possible to find a <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9780429494673/school-family-community-partnerships-joyce-epstein">middle ground</a> that harnesses the experiences of teachers and parents, and communicates expectations clearly. This would lead to <a href="https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/sbp/sbp/2018/00000046/00000011/art00003">three positive outcomes</a>: reduced misunderstandings, the development of mutual goals and establishing trust for the teacher-parent partnership.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-parents-and-teachers-can-make-school-a-happy-place-for-kids-53314">How parents and teachers can make school a happy place for kids</a>
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<p>For more than a decade, through the African Population and Health Research Center’s <a href="https://aphrc.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Endline-Report.pdf">Advancing Learning Outcomes and Transformational Change (ALOT Change) programme</a>, I have studied how parents’ involvement in education can advance learning outcomes. This can be done by monitoring children’s progress in school and helping them complete their homework. Knowing where their children are and who their friends are, and being available to offer insights on issues related to puberty, are also crucial. </p>
<p>To support a child’s educational journey, parents across all socioeconomic groups need to do four main things. First, they need to meet their <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0738059311000393">family obligations</a>, which include providing food, shelter and paying school fees. Second, they should provide a conducive environment for children to work on homework assignments. Third, parents need to motivate their children to <a href="https://aphrc.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Endline-Report.pdf">stay focused on learning and avoid peer pressure</a>. Finally, should the need arise, parents should seek support to be educated and empowered on how to help their children succeed in school.</p>
<h2>What to do</h2>
<p>To begin with, parents should meet their <a href="https://aphrc.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/GEC-Report.pdf">basic obligations</a> at home and collaborate at the community level. Ensuring children are fed and their fees are paid keeps them in school. Good nutrition <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8839299/#:%7E:text=The%20developing%20human%20brain%20requires,of%20exhibiting%20impaired%20cognitive%20skills.">improves cognitive function</a>, while paying fees <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1305014.pdf#page=12">boosts school attendance</a>, enhancing a child’s learning. Across all income groups, but particularly in low-income neighbourhoods, community collaboration enables parents to access the <a href="https://safesupportivelearning.ed.gov/training-technical-assistance/education-level/early-learning/family-school-community-partnerships">support and resources necessary for their children’s learning</a>. This could mean exchanging ideas with other parents, or getting access to career advisers and sports facilities. Collaboration at the community level provides <a href="https://cepsj.si/index.php/cepsj/article/view/89">social capital</a>. This creates opportunities for <a href="https://srcd.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/cdep.12165">bonding</a>, which promotes a child’s social adjustment. </p>
<p>Second, parents should provide their children with <a href="https://www.proquest.com/openview/9e3a9e802f80705150dceec414b8ed1c/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=41842">places to study, monitor their progress with homework and understand how they are progressing through various grades</a>. Spaces for study should be quiet and well-organised, but they don’t have to be at home. They can be <a href="https://aphrc.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Endline-Report.pdf#page=10">safe spaces within communities</a>, such as churches. Parents can get involved in monitoring their children’s progress by actively communicating with teachers and <a href="https://www.proquest.com/openview/9e3a9e802f80705150dceec414b8ed1c/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=41842">volunteering in schools</a>, both private and public. This allows parents to get involved in the planning, development and decision-making process of school activities for the benefit of their children.</p>
<p>Third, parents need to <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8057542/">provide young children with nurturing care</a> before they begin formal education. They should maintain this caring support throughout the basic education cycle. Parents play <a href="http://41.89.164.27/handle/123456789/1187">key roles as co-educators of their children</a>. This means going beyond just providing the resources needed for learning to supporting a child’s personal development. Parents can do this by encouraging their children to ask questions, which can be answered by their older peers or mentors. Children also need <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0033688219848770">sufficient playtime and sleep</a>. Parents should motivate their children to complete assigned school assignments by, for instance, shortening the time spent on domestic chores, especially for girls. They should also monitor and give guidance on homework where possible, and provide learning aids and materials for practical activities.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/education-in-kenyas-informal-settlements-can-work-better-if-parents-get-involved-heres-how-192149">Education in Kenya's informal settlements can work better if parents get involved -- here's how</a>
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<p>Fourth, I was part of a research team at the African Population and Health Research Centre that found that <a href="https://aphrc.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Endline-Report.pdf#page=9">giving parents access to counsellors</a> to guide them on how to support their children’s schooling improved education performances in informal settlements in Nairobi, Kenya. </p>
<p>Under this intervention, parents were taught what their role is as the first supporters of their children’s education. This role includes taking the time to understand their children, opening lines of communication, discussing sexual and reproductive health matters, and encouraging positive aspirations. The <a href="https://aphrc.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Endline-Report.pdf#page=16">results</a> included an improvement in children’s literacy. </p>
<p>When we asked pupils to explain the relationship between parental support and achievements in literacy and numeracy, <a href="https://aphrc.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Endline-Report.pdf#page=29">they reported a better understanding of mathematical concepts, enhanced ability to interpret mathematical problem statements and improvements in understanding algebra and composition</a>. One of the reasons for this outcome was that both parents and pupils were more open with each other. They shared their opinions, needs and actions.</p>
<h2>Expected outcomes</h2>
<p>Parental involvement in education empowers children to reach their full potential. It improves their academic performance, enhances their social and emotional development, and increases their motivation and engagement. Parental involvement tends to lead to better school attendance, positive behaviour and higher aspirations for future success. When parents take an active role in their children’s learning, it fosters stronger parent-child relationships, creating a supportive environment for academic growth and personal development.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/224754/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Benta A. Abuya, Research Scientist, APHRC receives funding from Wellsprings Philanthropic Fund. </span></em></p>
Studies show that teaching parents how to support their children can lead to improvements in literacy.
Benta A. Abuya, Research Scientist, African Population and Health Research Center
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/219482
2024-02-26T17:04:00Z
2024-02-26T17:04:00Z
Writing is a technology that restructures thought — and in an AI age, universities need to teach it more
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577645/original/file-20240223-30-anxfss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=170%2C166%2C2824%2C1724&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Today's undergraduates are plunged into a sea of texts, information and technology they have immense difficulty navigating, and artificial intelligence tools for writing aren't the solution. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.piqsels.com/en/public-domain-photo-frrbx">(Piqsels)</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In an age <a href="https://theconversation.com/artificial-intelligence-is-getting-better-at-writing-and-universities-should-worry-about-plagiarism-160481">of AI-assisted writing</a>, is it important for university students to learn how to write? </p>
<p>We believe it is now more than ever. </p>
<p>In the writing classroom, students get the time and help they need to understand writing as not only a skill, but what the language scholar Walter J. Ong called a “<a href="https://www.jbe-platform.com/content/books/9789027277183-tsl.21.22ong">technology that restructures thought</a>.”</p>
<p>“Technology” is not simply iPhones or spreadsheets — it is about <a href="https://blog.oup.com/2014/04/writing-as-technology/">mediating our relationship with the world through the creation of tools</a>, and writing itself is arguably the most important tool for thinking that university students need to master.</p>
<p>Perhaps not surprisingly, not everyone agrees.</p>
<h2>Role of university writing courses</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/opinion/views/2023/11/14/eliminate-required-first-year-writing-course-opinion">“Eliminate the Required First-Year Writing Course” </a> was the headline of a provocative article published in <em>Inside Higher Ed</em> in November.</p>
<p>In this article, a professor of writing studies, Melissa Nicolas of Washington State University, writes that while she has seen reason to question how efficient first-year composition courses are before now, “the advent of generative artificial intelligence is the final nail in the coffin.”</p>
<p>In her estimation, “learning to write and writing to learn are two distinct things.” First-year writing courses are “largely about learning to write, but AI can now do this for us. Writing to learn is much more complicated and is something that can only be done by the human mind.”</p>
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<img alt="A person seen writing." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577650/original/file-20240223-15016-9si2a3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577650/original/file-20240223-15016-9si2a3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=254&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577650/original/file-20240223-15016-9si2a3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=254&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577650/original/file-20240223-15016-9si2a3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=254&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577650/original/file-20240223-15016-9si2a3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=319&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577650/original/file-20240223-15016-9si2a3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=319&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577650/original/file-20240223-15016-9si2a3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=319&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">‘Good writing’ reflects intellectual engagement.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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<p>We take issue with this distinction. From the perspective of human learning and development, the grammatically correct prose produced by generative AI like ChatGPT is not “good writing” — even <a href="https://theconversation.com/chatgpts-greatest-achievement-might-just-be-its-ability-to-trick-us-into-thinking-that-its-honest-202694">if it is or seems factually correct</a> — if it does not reflect intellectual engagement with its subject matter. This is not to mention serious questions <a href="https://theconversation.com/unlike-with-academics-and-reporters-you-cant-check-when-chatgpts-telling-the-truth-198463">about the meaning of gaining insight</a> from digital data, issues surrounding data biases, and so on. </p>
<p>First-year composition and other writing courses are a <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/1179517">crucial part of the way university students are socialized into ways of communicating</a> that will benefit them far beyond their undergraduate years.</p>
<h2>Canadian versus American universities</h2>
<p>We propose another solution to the problem Nicolas raises of first-year composition courses being formulaic and outdated. Universities need to devote resources to expanding and improving writing programs, including first-year composition. </p>
<p>We especially need this in Canada, where, as <a href="https://summit.sfu.ca/item/36113">doctoral research carried out by one of the authors of this piece (Taylor Morphett) has shown,</a> first-year composition has traditionally been under-emphasized, and writing has only been taught in a piecemeal way.</p>
<p>When first-year composition courses began to develop at the end of the 19th century in the United States, <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/377982">in Canada the focus was on the fine-tuning of literary taste and the reading of canonical British literature</a>. </p>
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<img alt="Students seen sitting at a round table." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577658/original/file-20240223-16-anxfss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577658/original/file-20240223-16-anxfss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577658/original/file-20240223-16-anxfss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577658/original/file-20240223-16-anxfss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577658/original/file-20240223-16-anxfss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577658/original/file-20240223-16-anxfss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577658/original/file-20240223-16-anxfss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Writing education is often seen by universities as a remedial skill, something students should already know how to do.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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<p>The philosophies of education and approaches to teaching that developed from this early time are still present today in Canada. Writing education is often seen by universities as a remedial skill, something students should already know how to do.</p>
<p>In reality, much more writing instruction is needed. Today’s undergraduates are plunged into a sea of <a href="https://doi.org/10.15760/comminfolit.2018.12.1.2">texts, information and technology they have immense difficulty navigating</a>, and ChatGPT has made it harder, not easier, for students to discern the credibility of sources.</p>
<h2>Writing programs in Canada</h2>
<p>In writing courses, students can begin to see the critical variety and power of one of our best technologies: the human act of writing, a system of finite resources but infinite combinations. They learn to think, synthesize, judge the credibility of sources and information and interact with an audience — none of which can be done by AI.</p>
<p>Thankfully, some universities have taken the lead in making writing a cornerstone of undergraduate education. For example, the University of Victoria has a <a href="https://www.uvic.ca/humanities/student-resources/writing-requirement/index.php">robust academic writing requirement</a> for all students, regardless of their field of study. At the University of Toronto Mississauga, <a href="https://www.utm.utoronto.ca/isup/our-courses/isp100-writing-university-and-beyond#takeisp100">first-year students take an innovative for-credit writing course</a> that takes a “<a href="https://writingaboutwriting.net/about/history-and-mission/">writing-about-writing</a>” approach. In this program, undergraduates study writing as an academic subject itself, not just a skill. They learn about the importance, complexity and socially situated nature of academic writing. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A person seen writing with laptop open and pencil in hand." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577621/original/file-20240223-22-8ottxt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577621/original/file-20240223-22-8ottxt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577621/original/file-20240223-22-8ottxt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577621/original/file-20240223-22-8ottxt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577621/original/file-20240223-22-8ottxt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577621/original/file-20240223-22-8ottxt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577621/original/file-20240223-22-8ottxt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">In writing courses, students can begin to see the critical variety and power of one of our best technologies: the human act of writing.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/close-up-shot-of-a-girl-studying-in-the-library-9489766/">(Yaroslav Shuraev)</a></span>
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<h2>Needed at all universities</h2>
<p>All Canadian universities should make a beginning academic writing or communication course required for all undergraduates, along with discipline-specific upper-division writing courses focused on scholarly and professional genres in their fields. </p>
<p>Academic and professional writing is a second language for everyone: no one is born knowing how to properly cite sources or craft airtight business proposals. </p>
<p>We need dedicated writing programs to help students <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-intelligence-for-millennia-western-literature-has-suggested-it-may-be-a-liability-205913">understand and communicate complex concepts to a specific audience for a specific purpose</a> in rhetorically flexible ways, with an awareness of their responsibilities to a human community of readers.</p>
<h2>Skills and knowledge to make a difference</h2>
<p>Generative AI like ChatGPT cannot do this, because <a href="https://theconversation.com/gpt-3-new-ai-can-write-like-a-human-but-dont-mistake-that-for-thinking-neuroscientist-146082">it cannot know or “understand” anything</a>. Its <em>raison d'être</em> is to produce plausible strings of symbols in response to human prompts, based on data it has been trained upon.</p>
<p>We have knowledgeable and talented PhDs graduating in communication, applied linguistics, English, rhetoric and related fields whose expertise in these areas is sorely needed at institutions across the country. </p>
<p>If Canada wants to graduate domestic and international students with the skills and knowledge to make a difference in the world, we need to be training them in writing.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219482/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joel Heng Hartse receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. He is also president of the Canadian Association for the Study of Discourse and Writing/Association Canadienne de Rédactologie.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Taylor Morphett does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Undergraduate writing courses are about learning to think, synthesize and judge the credibility of sources — and interact with an audience.
Joel Heng Hartse, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Education, Simon Fraser University
Taylor Morphett, Instructor, English, Kwantlen Polytechnic University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/216218
2024-02-16T16:17:34Z
2024-02-16T16:17:34Z
Teacher apprenticeships may encourage more people into the profession – but greater change is needed to get them to stay
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575301/original/file-20240213-22-yu5twa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C7%2C4570%2C3437&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/group-primary-school-students-crowded-round-629766173">DGLimages/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/initial-teacher-training-census/2023-24">latest figures show</a> yet another failure to meet teacher recruitment targets in England. In eight of the past nine years there have been <a href="https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-7222/">too few people</a> entering the teaching profession in the UK. In 2023-24, only half of the targeted secondary trainee teacher places have been filled. </p>
<p>Current indications show that the government needs over 13,000 more secondary teachers to meet the 2023-24 teacher recruitment target – not to mention the hangover caused by previous years’ shortfall. And, of course, the shortage of teachers is being felt by schools. </p>
<p>Now the government has announced <a href="https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2024/02/04/teacher-degree-apprenticeships-how-they-work-and-when-to-apply/">teacher degree apprenticeships</a> as a new way to enter the profession. Prospective teachers can get a degree on the job, rather than needing a degree to apply for teacher training. </p>
<p>This strategy does have the possibility to encourage more people into teaching by reducing the barriers to training. However, it is unlikely to be the answer to the teacher supply deficit when factors such as heavy workload and stress are affecting how many teachers stay in the profession. In the academic year 2021-22, <a href="https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england">39,930 teachers</a> – <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/jul/05/the-task-is-impossible-three-teachers-on-why-they-are-quitting">nearly 9%</a> of the workforce in England – quit. </p>
<h2>Attracting teachers</h2>
<p>In recent years, the goverment’s strategy to attract teachers has focused on financial incentives. For example, a graduate who trains to be a secondary maths teacher can receive a tax-free scholarship of up to £29,000 while training, which is not repayable. </p>
<p>For those who have already trained to be a maths teacher there are <a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/early-career-payments-guidance-for-teachers-and-schools#full-publication-update-history">early career payments</a>, on top of their salary, if they remain as a teacher. For example, if someone trained in 2020 they will receive £5,000 in 2024. </p>
<p>But it’s clear that this approach is not working. In the academic year 2023-24, the government sought to recruit 2,820 new physics teachers, and offered training scholarships and bursaries worth up to £29,000 to attract them. But they only managed to recruit 484 people: just 17% of the target. </p>
<p>Bonuses like these <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-are-so-many-graduates-shunning-teaching-pay-but-not-bonuses-could-be-the-answer-216963">do not appear</a> to be a significant driver in people’s choice to become teachers. Yet it appears to be the main strategy used by the government for several years, with seemingly ineffective results. </p>
<p>The recent <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-teaching-apprenticeship-set-to-transform-pathway-to-classroom">government announcement</a> to introduce apprenticeships for those working in schools is a positive approach and will enable more routes into teaching. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1754452393264034223"}"></div></p>
<p>Teacher apprenticeships are not a new concept. The <a href="https://findapprenticeshiptraining.apprenticeships.education.gov.uk/courses/402">Learning and Skills Teacher apprenticeship</a> was introduced several years ago to train people to teach in England’s further education sector.</p>
<p>The government suggests that these new degree apprenticeships will create opportunities for a wider group of people. An important element of this strategy is to support teaching assistants – who are already familiarised with working in schools – to become teachers. This is logical. But it does assume that teaching assistants wish to become teachers, which is not necessarily always the case. </p>
<p>However, the recommendation of <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-teaching-apprenticeship-set-to-transform-pathway-to-classroom">40% time for study</a> and therefore 60% on-the-job training is a good start for addressing potential burnout as new apprentice teachers move into the profession. This is assuming it is adhered to, and that those on the apprenticeship do not need additional earning to supplement any loss of income due to reduced time at work. </p>
<h2>Working conditions and wellbeing</h2>
<p>A report from the <a href="https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-7222/">House of Commons</a> highlights that the average secondary school teacher works 49.3 hours a week; this is compared with an international OECD average of 41 hours per week. The average primary school teacher in England works even more: 52.1 hours per week. </p>
<p>It is no wonder that <a href="https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-7222/">more than half</a> of teachers in England feel their workload is unmanageable. Nor is it surprising that people working in education are subject to <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5fb41122e90e07208d0d5df1/Teacher_well-being_report_110719F.pdf">higher levels of stress</a> than other professions and are also likely to be disappointed with their occupation.</p>
<p>The Department for Education’s 2019 <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/teacher-recruitment-and-retention-strategy">Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategy</a> sought to address this for new teachers by guaranteeing 5% teaching relief in their second year of teaching. This means that new teachers have 5% fewer teaching hours per week compared to fully qualified teachers. </p>
<p>When considering the average teacher working hours in England are significantly higher than most comparable countries, though, to offer a 5% reduction for one year seems like the equivalent of putting out a bonfire with a cup of water. </p>
<p>In 2023, the government launched a teacher <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/workload-reduction-taskforce">workload reduction taskforce</a> to find ways to reduce teachers’ working weeks by five hours. It remains to be seen whether the taskforce’s final recommendations, due in March 2024, will lead to significant change. </p>
<p>Initiatives such as financial incentives and apprenticeships seek to address the symptom of the problem rather than the cause. Unless the teaching profession experiences a fundamental shift in working conditions for all we are likely to continue to see poor workforce satisfaction and teachers continuing to leave the profession. There is little point in training more teachers if they continue to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/jun/08/teachers-england-schools-figures-department-education-survey">quit the profession</a> in their thousands.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216218/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Corbett receives funding from the University of Portsmouth. He is affiliated with the Education and Training Foundation. </span></em></p>
In the academic year 2021-22, 39,930 teachers in England quit.
Stephen Corbett, Professor in Professional Development and Learning, University of Portsmouth
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/220045
2024-01-29T19:04:52Z
2024-01-29T19:04:52Z
60% of Australian English teachers think video games are a ‘legitimate’ text to study. But only 15% have used one
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568121/original/file-20240107-27-ot63a8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C38%2C5152%2C3368&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/closeup-of-white-sony-ps4-controller-HUBNTCzE-R8">Caspar Camille Rubin/ Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Are you worried about how much time your child spends playing video games? Do they “hibernate” for hours in their room, talking what seems like gibberish to their friends? </p>
<p>Fresh air and life away from gaming are undeniably important. But it may help to know <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0742051X23002664?via%3Dihub">our research</a> shows many English teachers are thinking seriously about how gaming applies in their classrooms – even if there are divided opinions about how to approach it. </p>
<h2>Video games and English education</h2>
<p>The global gaming industry <a href="https://olympics.com/en/news/ioc-president-thomas-bach-exploring-plans-to-create-olympic-esports-games">is huge</a> and continues to grow. It is tipped to be worth <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/07/gaming-pandemic-lockdowns-pwc-growth/">US$321 billion (A$477 billion) by 2026</a>. </p>
<p>While many gamers are over 18, we know video games are very important to young people’s <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17439884.2021.1936017">culture and identity</a>. In 2023, Bond University <a href="https://igea.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IGEA_AP2023_FINAL_REPORT.pdf">surveyed</a> 1,219 Australian households on behalf of the Interactive Games and Entertainment Association. It found 93% of 5-14 year-olds and 91% of 15-24 year-olds surveyed in Australia play video games. </p>
<p>More than fifteen years of <a href="https://research-repository.griffith.edu.au/bitstream/handle/10072/61222/88437_1.pdf">research</a> has also shown video games can also have <a href="https://www.acmi.net.au/education/school-program-and-resources/game-lessons/">educational benefits</a>. This includes developing problem solving and <a href="https://www.nzcer.org.nz/system/files/Critical%20literacy%20and%20games%20working%20paper.pdf">literacy skills</a>, creativity, team work and developing a critical understanding of their place in the world.</p>
<p>From an English teachers’ perspective, many video games have complex narrative scripts and plots and clear character development. They also typically require players to interpret cultural contexts and apply them. For example, games like <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/games/2023/may/12/nintendo-legend-of-zelda-tears-of-kingdom-launches-critical-acclaim">The Legend of Zelda</a> (first released in 1986 with multiple spin-offs) contain back-stories and plot-lines that are ripe for analysis. </p>
<p>However, these sorts of games (or texts) are still not valued in English curricula. Greater value is placed on studying favourite classics such as Shakespeare, John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway and other print-based literature. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A young person holds a gaming controller." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568123/original/file-20240107-27-tf6kwm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568123/original/file-20240107-27-tf6kwm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568123/original/file-20240107-27-tf6kwm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568123/original/file-20240107-27-tf6kwm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568123/original/file-20240107-27-tf6kwm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568123/original/file-20240107-27-tf6kwm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568123/original/file-20240107-27-tf6kwm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Video games such as The Legend of Zelda contain complex plots and characters.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/person-holding-black-game-controller-1563796/">Deeanna Arts/ Peels</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-why-the-legend-of-zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom-is-big-news-even-among-those-who-dont-see-themselves-as-gamers-205229">Here's why The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is big news – even among those who don't see themselves as 'gamers'</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Our research</h2>
<p>To better understand how teachers value digital games in their classrooms and how they use them, we surveyed 201 high school English teachers around Australia. They came from all school sectors. More than 60% of those surveyed had been teaching for at least ten years. </p>
<p>Our research found: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>58.6% of teachers surveyed believed digital games are a “legitimate text type”. This means they thought they can be taught in English programs alongside other texts such as plays, books and poetry. A further 27.4% were unsure and 14% of respondents said digital games were not legitimate texts </p></li>
<li><p>85% had not used digital games as a main or “focus” text for classroom study, with 74% having no plans to do so in the future</p></li>
<li><p>teachers with less experience were more likely to think they could use video games as a text for classroom study. For example, teachers who had used digital games with their students were 260% more likely to have 15 years or less experience </p></li>
<li><p>of those not using digital games as a focus or supplementary text, 23% reported limited knowledge of, and time to explore, how to use them in the classroom</p></li>
<li><p>80% of teachers had not received professional development on how to use digital games but 60% had independently read articles, books, or chapters about them.</p></li>
</ul>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/video-gaming-can-bolster-classroom-learning-but-not-without-teacher-support-190483">Video gaming can bolster classroom learning, but not without teacher support</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What does the curriculum say?</h2>
<p>The term “multimodal” appears more than 300 times in the Australian English curriculum. Multimodal means a text contains two or more modes, such as written or spoken text, video images and audio. </p>
<p>While digital games are indeed multimodal texts, the curriculum does not overtly name digital games (or video games) as an example of a multimodal text.</p>
<p>Perhaps unsurprisingly, only 30% of our respondents felt digital games were mentioned in the curriculum.</p>
<h2>Teachers in their own words</h2>
<p>In open-ended questions, teachers revealed strong and in some cases, polarised views about video games in their classrooms. Those who were positive, emphasised their ability to engage students. As one teacher told us: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I think digital games are the future of education […] a medium all students are familiar with, engage in, and enjoy. Students do not read books ‘en masse’ anymore, yet we as English teachers insist on dragging them kicking and screaming through texts they detest, whilst penalising them for playing the digital games they love. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Teachers also spoke of the rich, complex nature of some games. For example, they valued the way digital games have “multiple plot lines”, “connectivity between segments”, and “immerse students in worlds” as “active rather than passive” users of a text.</p>
<p>But some teachers also said video games hampered students’ creativity: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I am so over this stupid fixation. Digital games stymie imaginative writing and actually ‘flatten’ affect in the student’s ‘voice’. It comes to define their idea of writing and they regurgitate silly game stories that lack any emotional or creative flair.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>They also expressed strong concerns they were were not good for students (echoing similar, <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/05/31/1178977198/video-games-kids-good-limits">ongoing concerns</a> in news media), with one stating: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I really hate video games and I do not think they are healthy for kids […].</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A closeup of a computer keyboard." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568122/original/file-20240107-17-jrz2iz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568122/original/file-20240107-17-jrz2iz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568122/original/file-20240107-17-jrz2iz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568122/original/file-20240107-17-jrz2iz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568122/original/file-20240107-17-jrz2iz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568122/original/file-20240107-17-jrz2iz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568122/original/file-20240107-17-jrz2iz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Teachers in the study variously described computer games as the ‘future’ and a ‘stupid fixation’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/purple-and-black-computer-keyboard-74JeU2jfnfk">Syed Ali/ Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What does this mean?</h2>
<p>Our research shows digital games remain a contentious issue among English teachers. This suggests there needs to be clearer curriculum guidelines about their use in the classroom (rather than general references to “multimodal” texts). </p>
<p>It also suggests teachers need more professional development around video games, including their potential benefits as well as how to use them effectively and for critical understanding in their English programs. This will require practical resources and research-based examples. </p>
<p>We need students to be able to think critically when engaging with all types of texts. Especially those that feature so prominently in their lives. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/vacuuming-moving-house-unpacking-are-boring-in-real-life-so-why-is-doing-them-in-a-video-game-so-fun-214853">Vacuuming, moving house, unpacking are boring in real life – so why is doing them in a video game so fun?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220045/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laura Scholes has received funding from The Australian Research Council, Catholic Education, Qld, The Department of Education, Qld, and the Young and Well Cooperative Research Centre. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amanda Gutierrez, Kathy Mills, and Luke Rowe do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Many English teachers are thinking seriously about how gaming applies in their classrooms. But opinions are divided about how to approach it.
Amanda Gutierrez, Associate Professor in Literacy and WIL partnerships, Australian Catholic University
Kathy Mills, Professor of Literacies and Digital Cultures, Australian Catholic University
Laura Scholes, Associate Professor of Gender and Literacies, Australian Catholic University
Luke Rowe, Lecturer and Researcher (Science of Learning), Australian Catholic University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/220485
2024-01-23T13:30:11Z
2024-01-23T13:30:11Z
Three South African universities have new approaches to assessing students: why this is a good thing
<p>South African higher education faces many complex challenges rooted in the <a href="https://amnesty.org.za/research/broken-and-unequal-the-state-of-education-in-south-africa/">legacy</a> of <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/history-apartheid-south-africa">apartheid</a>. They include <a href="https://theconversation.com/pass-rates-for-school-leavers-in-south-africa-are-failing-students-and-universities-169876">the fact that many students</a> are unprepared for or excluded from higher education. Quality education is not available to all. It’s therefore difficult for many students to remain in higher education and eventually graduate. </p>
<p>The data points to two persistent trends. The first is that, according to 2018 figures, <a href="https://www.oecd.org/education/education-at-a-glance/EAG2019_CN_ZAF.pdf">69%</a> of young South Africans (20-24) were not enrolled in education programmes. </p>
<p>The second is that racial disparities remain in the profile of those enrolled at higher education institutions. In <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/1115545/student-participation-rates-in-south-africa-by-population-group/#:%7E:text=The%20source%20noted%20the%20following,%2C%20and%206.5%25%20were%20colored">2022</a>, black Africans, who make up the <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/1116076/total-population-of-south-africa-by-population-group/">majority</a> ethnic demographic in the country, accounted for only 5.5%. </p>
<p>The knock-on effect for young black South Africans is dramatic. The 2022 unemployment rate of young people (25-34) with a high school qualification was <a href="https://gpseducation.oecd.org/CountryProfile?primaryCountry=ZAF&treshold=5&topic=EO">40.7%</a>. In contrast, <a href="https://gpseducation.oecd.org/CountryProfile?primaryCountry=ZAF&treshold=5&topic=EO">75.3%</a> of those with a tertiary qualification were employed. </p>
<p>There are no simple or easy solutions to such challenges. However, educational assessment speaks to many of them. Assessment is the process of gathering, interpreting and using information to evaluate individuals’ knowledge, skills, abilities or performance. </p>
<p>Three South African universities – the <a href="https://cilt.uct.ac.za/projects/revising-ucts-assessment-policy">University of Cape Town</a>, <a href="https://sunrecords.sun.ac.za/controlled/C4%20Policies%20and%20Regulations/SU%20Assessment%20Policy_FINAL.pdf">Stellenbosch University</a> and the University of the Western Cape – recently approved new assessment policy documents. We were part of a group of University of the Western Cape academics <a href="https://journals.uj.ac.za/SOTL/index.php/sotls/article/view/334">who reviewed these documents</a>. Our main finding was that recent versions reflect global <a href="https://www.jisc.ac.uk/blog/what-is-the-future-of-assessment-and-feedback">shifts</a> in assessment thinking. </p>
<p>We found that previous assessment policy versions were more prescriptive and rigidly rules-based. They dictated what exactly should be done, for example, the examination rules and regulations. The new versions put students at the centre of the assessment process. In addition, they viewed assessment as a <a href="https://www.rpajournal.com/dev/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/SF.pdf">social practice</a>. </p>
<p>We conclude that this is an important shift. Viewing students as potential partners in assessment could be seen as a radical shift in power and responsibility. In emphasising students, and the realities of their diverse and <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africas-no-fee-school-system-cant-undo-inequality-178559">disadvantaged backgrounds</a>, assessment practices could make higher education more equitable in South Africa. </p>
<h2>Shifts from rules to real people</h2>
<p>Assessment is involved in university admission and selection processes. It influences curriculum design and benchmarking. It is used to ensure that the appropriate standards are met and maintained. It can help diagnose learning gaps and support student development. And, finally, assessment evaluates whether students have learned enough to graduate. </p>
<p>National statutory bodies set higher education standards, but universities develop their own policies and respond to new issues – such as COVID-19 and emergency remote teaching.</p>
<p>In the past, staff and the institution were very much at the centre. They enforced standards, their expertise was gospel and they were the authority on assessment decisions. </p>
<p>Previous policies focused on the more technical side of assessment, emphasising the importance of validity, measurement and judgement. While this focus is not necessarily “bad”, it is misplaced, as it largely ignores who the students are. </p>
<p>These policies dictated uniform rules that needed to be followed without consideration of student population diversity.</p>
<p>Our review shows that new policies adopted by the three institutions acknowledge the importance of the students and the need for their active involvement in assessment. The new policies re-centre students and their learning, which is relevant to the challenges of access, academic achievement, retention and throughput. </p>
<p>The University of Cape Town and the University of the Western Cape engaged students and other stakeholders in developing their new assessment policies. Stellenbosch University also stressed the need to build relationships between staff and students for mutual learning and improvement. Peer and team assessment were mentioned too. </p>
<p>In contrast to the previous rules-based approach, all three new policies put principles and values in the foreground. </p>
<p>For instance, they spoke of flexibility, including the use of technology among other modes of teaching and learning. We speculate that this may have been due, at least in part, to the rapid adaptations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Few in-person examinations took place in 2020 and 2021. </p>
<p>Values such as fairness and inclusivity were highlighted. For example, staff should feel free to assess students through work such as online presentations instead of relying only on traditional written examinations. And students should have more and varied opportunities to be assessed, for example extended deadlines, so as not to disadvantage or exclude them. </p>
<p>The universities also referenced their disability and language policies, acknowledging the diversity of their students. Bias or discrimination (ethnic, gender, linguistic) was unacceptable. Staff were to be culturally aware and contextually sensitive in their assessment practices. </p>
<h2>Impact will take time to judge</h2>
<p>The new policies emphasise the role of the people (staff and students) who practise, experience and are affected by assessment, and the differing contexts in which these take place. </p>
<p>This is encouraging because it acknowledges the need for equity, inclusivity and social justice in South African education.</p>
<p>But enthusiasm should be tempered. We reviewed only three out of 26 public universities. Institutions are free to update their policies – or not.</p>
<p>Also, it’s not known how well these policies are understood, accepted and implemented by staff, students and the public. It’s important for students, families and employers, as well as lecturers, to understand what students are expected to achieve, how they are being evaluated and what universities are doing to give them a fair chance of success. </p>
<p>The final caveat is that it will take time to see what impact the new approach will have on diversity, access, retention, throughput, academic achievement and employment.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220485/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Assessment is involved in many of the challenges facing higher education.
Danica Sims, Lecturer, University of Oxford
Rajendran Govender, Dean of Faculty of Education, University of the Western Cape
Samuel Lundie, Teaching and Learning Specialist, University of the Western Cape
Simone Titus, Associate Professor: Health Professions Education, Stellenbosch University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/215993
2024-01-08T19:16:50Z
2024-01-08T19:16:50Z
Year 9 is often seen as the ‘lost year’. Here’s what schools are trying to keep kids engaged
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563129/original/file-20231203-25-esyf9q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C40%2C5472%2C3596&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/blur-abstract-background-examination-room-undergraduate-641504728">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Each year in Victoria, <a href="https://assets.ombudsman.vic.gov.au/assets/Reports/Parliamentary-Reports/1-PDF-Report-Files/Investigation-into-Victorian-government-school-expulsions.pdf">thousands of students</a> disengage from school between the start of Year 9 and the end of Year 12. </p>
<p>Many are <a href="https://assets.ombudsman.vic.gov.au/assets/Reports/Parliamentary-Reports/1-PDF-Report-Files/Investigation-into-Victorian-government-school-expulsions.pdf">expelled or suspended</a>. Others simply <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0959475216302754?via%3Dihub">switch off in class</a>, skip lessons, or quit school to seek out different educational and training pathways.</p>
<p>Whatever the reason, many <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41297-023-00198-8">high school teachers</a> say something significant happens to school engagement levels <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF03216890">around Year 9</a>. </p>
<p>My <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41297-023-00198-8">research</a>, which involved working with Year 9 teachers in Victorian high schools, seeks to better understand what’s happening with student disengagement in this year level – and what can be done to change it.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/20-of-australian-students-dont-finish-high-school-non-mainstream-schools-have-a-lot-to-teach-us-about-helping-kids-stay-207021">20% of Australian students don't finish high school: non-mainstream schools have a lot to teach us about helping kids stay</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Lost, disengaged and ‘in never-never land’</h2>
<p>Year 9 (when a child typically turns 14 or 15) is a challenging year for a teenager, in part due to the maelstrom of puberty and adolescence. One Year 9 teacher told me students at this age see themselves</p>
<blockquote>
<p>as that in-between stage. ‘Am I a child? Am I an adult? What if I’m neither?’</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Students at this age often strongly feel they no longer fit in. These age appropriate but intense levels of introspection can make some students look at the repetitive and seemingly endless cycles of school tasks, tests and homework and wonder, “what’s the point?” As one research <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF03216890">paper</a> puts it:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>In Australia, Year 9 is widely seen as a problem, a time when young people disengage from school; and when curriculum and student identity often fail to cohere with each other.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Year 9 teachers <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41297-023-00198-8">described</a> this year to me as “the lost year”, where students often drift off to “never-never land”. One even said it was traditionally seen as “a waste of a year”. </p>
<p>This suggests an opportunity for schools to design their Year 9 curriculum to help these students see the relevance of school.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563233/original/file-20231204-17-npgt90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A boy puts his head on a desk." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563233/original/file-20231204-17-npgt90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563233/original/file-20231204-17-npgt90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563233/original/file-20231204-17-npgt90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563233/original/file-20231204-17-npgt90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563233/original/file-20231204-17-npgt90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563233/original/file-20231204-17-npgt90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563233/original/file-20231204-17-npgt90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Year 9 (when a child typically turns 14 or 15) is a challenging year for a teenager.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/portrait-young-high-school-student-bored-200191565">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Specialist Year 9 programs</h2>
<p>Some schools have implemented specialist programs for Year 9. Some have large-scale residential programs, where students live and learn away from home for extended periods. Other programs focus on students learning about and through their local communities.</p>
<p>In Ballarat, where I am based, about half the high schools have a substantial Year 9 program. The structure varies. Sometimes it’s just a one-day-a-week program combining in-school and out-of-school learning experiences. Other programs are conducted entirely offsite over the course of a term.</p>
<p>One case study I <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41297-023-00198-8">explored</a> was a Year 9 program at a school in regional Victoria. About 70% of students at this school fall in the bottom and bottom-middle quartiles of the Australian distribution of socio-economic advantage.</p>
<p>In my paper, I gave this program (which the school developed) the pseudonym “Renewal”. In Renewal, several learning areas (English, health and humanities) are taught together by a single teacher. Students are in the program for six out of 20 periods per week. </p>
<p>Having one teacher assigned to each class for the entire Renewal program allows them to build rapport and connection. As one teacher told us: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Students have come to me, their Renewal teacher, before they’ve gone to their tutorial teacher, before they’ve gone to their house leader, and said: ‘I’m feeling extremely overwhelmed, I’m having anxiety problems, I don’t know why, it’s freaking me out.’ </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Another told me the program allows students “to explore, investigate, ask questions about life issues that they wouldn’t normally ask a teacher.”</p>
<p>This rapport better positions the teacher to handle tricky issues with absenteeism, bullying and self-harm than teachers who see them less frequently.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563230/original/file-20231204-27-nzoi12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A boy in school uniform writes with a blue pen into an exercise book." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563230/original/file-20231204-27-nzoi12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563230/original/file-20231204-27-nzoi12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563230/original/file-20231204-27-nzoi12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563230/original/file-20231204-27-nzoi12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563230/original/file-20231204-27-nzoi12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563230/original/file-20231204-27-nzoi12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563230/original/file-20231204-27-nzoi12.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some schools are trying a new approach in an effort to keep Year 9 kids engaged.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/man-student-reading-writing-exam-stress-683610508">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A different approach</h2>
<p>Renewal combines classroom-based activities with camps, excursions, guest speakers and other specialist programmes. One exercise, for example, involves dropping the students off in the local town centre, where they have to complete a series of tasks on a trail.</p>
<p>In the Renewal program, the careers unit and mock job interviews are done at the start of the year to support students to get part-time employment.</p>
<p>Students are given more agency than a traditional approach would allow. School work might be done, for example, via essay-writing, painting, drawing, in the form of a radio interview or other formats.</p>
<p>As one teacher told me:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The kids have more opportunity in regards to choosing their own destination […] to be able to find their own learning.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>One teacher described a task where students write “a persuasive letter to the council […] about a health issue in the community, that they wanted funding for.”</p>
<p>Another relayed how outdoor tasks “fires up a different part of their brain”, saying:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>One of the teachers created this map where they had to go around and imagine if they were to sleep rough where they could sleep.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Teachers themselves also learn from the Renewal program. One said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I’m much more flexible. It’s probably something I should be focusing on, to bring into my other classes. Just allow a bit more time for things.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Resonating with students’ lives</h2>
<p>Schools with specific approaches to Year 9 are hearing positive responses from students via surveys and other feedback. One teacher from the Renewal program even noticed how:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Getting up, in front of the class and presenting is a big deal for a lot of people […] I find with Renewal it’s easier for me to get people up than it is [even] for my Year 11 class.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The success of Year 9 programs hinges on a tailored curriculum that resonates with students’ lives, taught by teachers dedicated to fostering strong connections.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/i-would-like-to-go-to-university-flexi-school-students-share-their-goals-in-australia-first-survey-193396">'I would like to go to university': flexi school students share their goals in Australia-first survey</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215993/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Josh Ambrosy is on the board of Outdoors Victoria, the state not-for-profit peak body. He runs professional development sessions related to Year 9 programs and other middle years curricula.
</span></em></p>
Year 9 teachers say students often drift off to ‘never-never land’. How can we do this tough but crucial year differently?
Josh Ambrosy, Lecturer in Education, Federation University Australia
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/217799
2024-01-04T20:02:40Z
2024-01-04T20:02:40Z
What do teachers do in the school holidays? They work, plan, and rest
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563566/original/file-20231205-23-ha900u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C5%2C3394%2C2280&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/woman-typing-on-keyboard-378797668">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many people believe teaching is an easy job involving short days and long holidays. Anyone working in the profession, however, will tell you this is not the truth.</p>
<p>They will tell you teaching is a rewarding job, but that teachers are <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00131881.2021.2013126">stressed</a> and <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-19-4464-2_2">overworked</a>. This has been made worse by a severe teacher shortage in recent years.</p>
<p>In fact, teaching is <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-18/the-staffroom-busting-the-myths-about-teachers/8808678">almost never a 9am to 3pm job</a>; a lot of “invisible” work happens before school drop-off and after pick-up time. And the school holidays, while allowing some much-needed rest for teachers, can also be a busy time for them, as they prepare for the term and year ahead.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563810/original/file-20231206-21-5dfu85.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A teacher chats to a dad and his son during a parent-teacher interview." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563810/original/file-20231206-21-5dfu85.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563810/original/file-20231206-21-5dfu85.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563810/original/file-20231206-21-5dfu85.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563810/original/file-20231206-21-5dfu85.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563810/original/file-20231206-21-5dfu85.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563810/original/file-20231206-21-5dfu85.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563810/original/file-20231206-21-5dfu85.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Teachers do lots of work, such as meeting parents, outside school hours.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/teacher-having-meeting-parent-schoolboy-2354102397">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-senate-inquiry-is-calling-for-a-new-behaviour-curriculum-to-try-and-tackle-classroom-disruptions-218695">A Senate inquiry is calling for a new 'behaviour curriculum' to try and tackle classroom disruptions</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>More than just teaching students</h2>
<p>Classrooms generally open around 8:30am and most teachers are at school well <a href="https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/news/education/what-teachers-really-six-week-1920872">before this time</a> to prepare for the day. They don’t get much of a rest throughout the school day – even their lunch “break” is often spent supervising children. </p>
<p>The job of a teacher involves much more than just teaching students. </p>
<p>After the school day, teachers can stay later to assist students who require extra help, and there are usually meetings several afternoons a week. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/give-hard-working-teachers-the-break-they-deserve-20091216-kxdx.html">Additional roles</a> are also expected at different times throughout the year. These include things like:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>coaching school sports teams</p></li>
<li><p>running and attending information nights</p></li>
<li><p>working on school camps</p></li>
<li><p>attending school fairs and discos</p></li>
<li><p>conducting parent-teacher interviews</p></li>
<li><p>organising and producing school concerts.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>After that, many teachers take student work home with them to <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/australian-teachers-work-longer-hours-than-those-in-most-oecd-countries-20190807-p52evu.html">mark at night and on weekends</a>, especially around report card season. </p>
<p>These non-teaching roles and responsibilities can all add up to teachers doing over 15 hours of <a href="https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/victorian-teachers-losing-out-on-18b-in-wages-due-to-unpaid-overtime/news-story/072424998fea66ff67bf4f4876c2b9f8">unpaid overtime</a> each week, on top of the 37-40 hours of work their positions require. </p>
<p>Consequently, teachers are often <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0742051X23001051">exhausted</a> when the end of a term arrives. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563564/original/file-20231205-30-6idb0f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A teacher rubs his eyes while looking tired." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563564/original/file-20231205-30-6idb0f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563564/original/file-20231205-30-6idb0f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563564/original/file-20231205-30-6idb0f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563564/original/file-20231205-30-6idb0f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563564/original/file-20231205-30-6idb0f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563564/original/file-20231205-30-6idb0f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563564/original/file-20231205-30-6idb0f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Teaching is almost never a 9am to 3pm job.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/young-male-teacher-classroom-2091957562">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Work over the holidays</h2>
<p>While most teachers have students in their classes for around 40 weeks a year, they are not just on holiday the rest of the time. Many teachers are busy beyond business hours and work during the holidays to meet the needs of children, parents, colleagues, leaders and system requirements. </p>
<p>Yes, teachers use this non-teaching time to rest and refresh themselves, but they also spend time doing all the tasks they don’t have time to do during the busy school terms.</p>
<p>This can include:</p>
<ul>
<li><p><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/07/myth-of-teacher-summer-vacation/397535/">planning and preparing</a> for the term ahead</p></li>
<li><p>designing curriculum-aligned learning tasks at the appropriate level for 25-30 different children and developing the required resources (such as activity cards and assignments)</p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-08-18/the-staffroom-busting-the-myths-about-teachers/8808678">marking</a> and providing feedback on student work</p></li>
<li><p>administrative tasks such as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/2017/aug/05/secret-teacher-working-holidays-devalues-profession">setting up and decorating classrooms</a>, <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0022185618801396">paperwork</a> and writing student support referrals</p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://www.academy.vic.gov.au/news/what-teachers-do-during-holidays">purchasing items</a> for the classroom</p></li>
<li><p>uploading data to various parent communication and reporting <a href="https://www.bodyandsoul.com.au/mind-body/wellbeing/what-5-teachers-are-actually-doing-on-their-6-week-holiday/news-story/3f5509e11e22ddc89c634dbd535a2742">platforms</a> </p></li>
<li><p>training and various <a href="https://theconversation.com/should-we-shorten-the-long-summer-break-from-school-maybe-not-92423">professional development</a> units</p></li>
<li><p>conducting <a href="https://cnalifestyle.channelnewsasia.com/commentary/commentary-teachers-have-12-weeks-holiday-each-year-fact-or-myth-285781">extra-curricular activities</a> such as summer school, holiday sports camps, and school trips.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>These things are not easily done while you are also teaching and managing the behaviour of 25-30 students, so many get pushed to the holidays.</p>
<p>Enjoying things like being able to go to the bathroom whenever they want is also a welcome change!</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564057/original/file-20231206-19-81ncfp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A young Asian man looks at a computer at night time." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564057/original/file-20231206-19-81ncfp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564057/original/file-20231206-19-81ncfp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564057/original/file-20231206-19-81ncfp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564057/original/file-20231206-19-81ncfp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564057/original/file-20231206-19-81ncfp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564057/original/file-20231206-19-81ncfp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564057/original/file-20231206-19-81ncfp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many teachers catch up on work at night or during their holidays.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/serious-asian-young-man-using-computer-431901334">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Resting, recovering and catching up on life</h2>
<p>And similar to people in other professions, teachers use their holidays to rest, recover and decompress. They catch up on things like sleep and Netflix and gardening and dentist appointments, and maybe go on a holiday with their family. </p>
<p>It should be acknowledged teachers generally <a href="https://www.bodyandsoul.com.au/mind-body/wellbeing/what-5-teachers-are-actually-doing-on-their-6-week-holiday/news-story/3f5509e11e22ddc89c634dbd535a2742">don’t get a choice</a> when they take their leave. They often cannot afford to travel with their families as their holidays are in the most expensive and most crowded times of year.</p>
<p>So while teachers may appear to get more holidays than most other professions, the reality is they are not actually on holiday for all of this time. </p>
<p>It is more a mix of flexible work from home, school-based meetings and preparation for the following teaching term, and some holiday downtime to unwind in between tasks. </p>
<p>Research shows many people <a href="https://www.aitsl.edu.au/research/spotlights/teaching-a-valued-profession">deeply appreciate</a> teachers’ dedication to our school communities. </p>
<p>However, there is work to be done to change widespread and incorrect perceptions about their work hours or holidays, which misrepresents and devalues the work they do.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/thank-you-for-making-me-feel-smart-will-a-new-campaign-to-raise-the-status-of-teaching-work-217362">'Thank you for making me feel smart': will a new campaign to raise the status of teaching work?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217799/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
While teachers may appear to get more holidays than most other professions, the reality is they are not actually on holiday for all of this time.
Vaughan Cruickshank, Program Director – Health and Physical Education, Maths/Science, Faculty of Education, University of Tasmania
Brendon Hyndman, Senior Manager – Research, Innovation and Impact, Brisbane Catholic Education; Associate Professor of Education (Adjunct), Charles Sturt University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/213540
2024-01-02T20:16:02Z
2024-01-02T20:16:02Z
How effective is fear as a teaching tool? How and what do we learn when we are scared?
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556736/original/file-20231030-25-tocxly.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C2%2C998%2C652&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many of us remember vividly being yelled at or feeling threatened by a family member, a teacher, or a boss. </p>
<p>Terrifying experiences often get imprinted in our memory; remembering frightening events is essential to avoid them in future. It is a normal reaction that promotes our <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10832548/">survival</a>. </p>
<p>This strong connection between fear and memory may lead us to think fear can be an effective learning tool. Research shows, however, fear can have <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s44159-023-00156-1">long-term negative consequences</a> for children and adults alike – and can actually make it harder to learn in meaningful ways. </p>
<p>Here’s what the research says about how and what we learn when we are scared.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/stand-back-and-avoid-saying-be-careful-how-to-help-your-child-take-risks-at-the-park-212969">Stand back and avoid saying 'be careful!': how to help your child take risks at the park</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>How fear affects children’s learning</h2>
<p>Fear is designed to protect us from <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s44159-023-00156-1">current and future danger</a>.</p>
<p>If children are faced with experiences that trigger fear, they learn to avoid new experiences – as opposed to exploring, engaging, and approaching the unknown with curiosity. </p>
<p>Consistent exposure to fear changes how the brain reacts to the outside world. Fear triggers a <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/40971979">stress response in the brain</a> and puts it in a state of alert; we become hyper ready to react swiftly and decisively to incoming threats.</p>
<p>This may be appropriate if, for example, you are confronted by an aggressive stranger. But such high levels of reactivity are not productive in learning environments like school, where we are asked to be open to new experiences and create innovative solutions. </p>
<p>In fact, the areas of the brain activated when we’re scared are different to those we use when thinking carefully <a href="https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/full/10.1146/annurev-psych-010814-015221#_i3">how to address a tricky problem</a>. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4774859/#:%7E:text=the%20prefrontal%20cortex%20can%20shut,inducing%20mental%20paralysis%20and%20panic.&text=further%20the%20physiology%20of%20acute,when%20the%20going%20gets%20tough.">Research</a> has shown the more primitive parts of the brain take over the activity of the prefrontal cortex, the brain’s “control centre”, when we’re in a state of fear. </p>
<p>This means planning, making sound decisions and using our existing knowledge becomes very difficult if we feel threatened or afraid.</p>
<h2>Children learn fear from the adults in their lives</h2>
<p>Adults play a critical role in the healthy development of fear responses by modelling reactions to unknown situations. They also provide (or fail to provide) safe environments that promote children’s exploration.</p>
<p>Fear can be easily learned from significant adults. Studies have shown both <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0005796701000134">toddlers</a> and <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2008-01363-018?doi=1">school-aged children</a> learn to avoid new experiences if their parents communicate or show signs of fear in reference to them. </p>
<p>Think, for instance, about how a child can learn to fear animals by seeing how their parents react to them. Or, for example, the way constant warnings to “<a href="https://theconversation.com/stand-back-and-avoid-saying-be-careful-how-to-help-your-child-take-risks-at-the-park-212969">be careful!</a>” may end up making a child too anxious to climb trees or take risks as they use play equipment.</p>
<p>Adult behaviours also affect the degree to which children feel safe to be themselves and explore the world with confidence. </p>
<p>Studies investigating the behaviours of parents have consistently shown harsh parenting (involving physical and verbal aggression) is related to <a href="https://bmcpsychology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40359-023-01046-0">poorer outcomes in children</a> including academic underachievement, higher levels of aggression and anxiety and poor peer relationships.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://ejop.psychopen.eu/index.php/ejop/article/view/2013">opposite is the case</a> for parents who, while providing structure and reasons for boundaries, are warm and encourage autonomy.</p>
<p>Teachers also play a pivotal role in the development of fear responses. Students are more likely to be motivated and function well in classrooms if teachers are “<a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2018-44922-001">autonomy-supportive</a>”. </p>
<p>This means teachers:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>have a curious and open attitude towards students’ interests</p></li>
<li><p>seek their perspective and offer choices</p></li>
<li><p>invite their thoughts, and </p></li>
<li><p>accept a range of emotions (from frustration, anger and reticence to playfulness, joy and curiosity).</p></li>
</ul>
<h2>How fear affects learning in adult life</h2>
<p>Many people who experience anxiety in adulthood have been exposed in their childhood to environments where they have felt <a href="https://www.aztrauma.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Adverse-learning-experiences-in-childhood-may-affect-the-ability-to-learn-through-the-lifespan.pdf">consistently threatened</a>.</p>
<p>These adults may end up avoiding taking on new tasks, considering multiple viewpoints, and responding to questions. These are all skills employers usually value.</p>
<p>Work environments that induce fear can also be counterproductive and stressful.</p>
<p>Research suggests when employees perceive their work environments as unsafe, they are more likely to experience <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/5/2294">burnout, anxiety and stress</a>. Stressful situations can also interfere with our ability to <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/npjscilearn201611">apply what we know flexibly to new situations</a>.</p>
<p>On the flip side, researchers argue that a trusting relationship between employees and their managers can affect workers’ willingness to show vulnerability and <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/smj.3051">take on tasks</a> that <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2005-15746-011">involve uncertainty</a>.</p>
<p>Researchers have also found positive relationships at work can encourage to <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.2189/asqu.2005.50.3.367">creativity in the workplace</a>, which makes work more interesting and enjoyable.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557631/original/file-20231106-21-9va95c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A scary boss looms over the staff at work." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557631/original/file-20231106-21-9va95c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557631/original/file-20231106-21-9va95c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557631/original/file-20231106-21-9va95c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557631/original/file-20231106-21-9va95c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557631/original/file-20231106-21-9va95c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557631/original/file-20231106-21-9va95c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557631/original/file-20231106-21-9va95c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Work environments that induce fear can also be counterproductive.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/cropped-shot-unhappy-senior-boss-standing-452661235">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>So, what do we learn when we are scared?</h2>
<p>Yes, we learn from fear. The question is: what do we learn?</p>
<p>In response to threats and hostility, we learn to avoid challenge and comply with external rules (instead of wondering how systems can be improved). We protect our feelings and restrict our thoughts to what is safe.</p>
<p>Is this the kind of learning that allows us to grow and develop? </p>
<p>More than ever, children and adults are required to collaborate in creative ways to address difficult problems. </p>
<p>This means dealing with uncertainty and accepting that sometimes we make mistakes or fail.</p>
<p>That requires safe and nurturing environments – not home, school or work settings that are ruled by fear.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213540/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Deborah Pino Pasternak has previously received funding from The Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>
In response to threats, we learn to avoid challenge and comply with external rules (instead of wondering how systems can be improved). We protect our feelings and restrict our thoughts to what’s safe.
Deborah Pino Pasternak, Associate Professor in Early Childhood Education and Community, University of Canberra
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/218695
2023-12-02T08:33:02Z
2023-12-02T08:33:02Z
A Senate inquiry is calling for a new ‘behaviour curriculum’ to try and tackle classroom disruptions
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563060/original/file-20231202-15-ishvmm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C25%2C5760%2C3785&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/close-up-photo-of-color-pencil-yt5e_nZ7CZ8">Markus Spiske/ Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A Senate inquiry <a href="https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/committees/reportsen/RB000063/toc_pdf/TheissueofincreasingdisruptioninAustralianschoolclassrooms.pdf">has found</a> Australian students need specific lessons in how to behave. </p>
<p>The inquiry, which has been looking at “increasing disruption in Australian school classrooms,” said education authorities should introduce a “behaviour curriculum”. </p>
<p>What else did the inquiry find? And what did it miss? </p>
<h2>What is this inquiry?</h2>
<p>The inquiry is being conducted by a Senate education committee, chaired by Liberal senator Matt O'Sullivan. It was set up in November 2022, following concerns about the levels of disruptive behaviour in Australian school classrooms. This has included evidence about both primary and secondary schools and government and non-government schools. </p>
<p>Australia has been slipping in the OECD’s “<a href="https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/f05bb3ee-en/index.html?itemId=/content/component/f05bb3ee-en">disciplinary climate index</a>”. Australian classrooms currently among the world’s most disorderly. On top of this, the percentage of surveyed Australian teachers feeling unsafe at work <a href="https://bridges.monash.edu/articles/report/Australian_Teachers_Perceptions_of_their_Work_in_2022/21212891">has increased</a> from 18.9% in 2019 to 24.5% in 2022. </p>
<p>There is obvious concern disruptive behaviour in schools is disadvantaging students and contributing to declining literacy and numeracy results in <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/education/alarm-bells-australian-students-record-worst-result-in-global-tests-20191203-p53gie.html">some international tests</a>. </p>
<p>On Friday the committee released <a href="https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/committees/reportsen/RB000063/toc_pdf/TheissueofincreasingdisruptioninAustralianschoolclassrooms.pdf">an interim report</a> with nine main recommendations. A final report is due when federal parliament returns in February 2024. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-classrooms-are-among-the-least-favourable-for-discipline-in-the-oecd-heres-how-to-improve-student-behaviour-202946">Australian classrooms are among the 'least favourable' for discipline in the OECD. Here's how to improve student behaviour</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What is disruptive behaviour?</h2>
<p>The committee noted there is no “clear definition” of disruptive behaviour, but generally it varies from low-level disruptions to more challenging behaviours. Low-level disruptions (which are more common) can include: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>talking unnecessarily and calling out without permission</p></li>
<li><p>being slow to start work or follow instructions</p></li>
<li><p>showing a lack of respect for staff and other students</p></li>
<li><p>not bringing the right equipment </p></li>
<li><p>using mobile phones when they are not allowed. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>More challenging behaviours include destruction of property, verbal abuse or threats, physical assaults, leaving school grounds without permission, tantrums and substance abuse.</p>
<p>As one teacher told the committee: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>[…] Staff have been hit. Staff have had furniture thrown at them; staff have had the windows next to their heads punched in. Staff are harassed. They have had their cars keyed. They have had their wallets stolen […].</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Why are we seeing this increase?</h2>
<p>While the committee notes the need for better data collection on this issue, Australian teachers are reporting an increase in disruptive student behaviour. They say this is making their jobs unreasonably stressful and prompting some to consider leaving the profession. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.waespaa.com.au">one group</a> representing the education support sector said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>People don’t want to keep working when they are always being hurt or are mentally exhausted, particularly when stress and mental health issues impacted other areas of their lives.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The committee heard there is likely to be a range of causes for these issues with disruptive behaviour influenced by student disability, socioeconomic factors and bullying or family trauma</p>
<p>Teachers are most concerned about low-level but frequent disruption, such as work avoidance. Although these behaviours are not dangerous, they occur so often they prevent teachers from teaching. Teachers report they don’t have the skills and training to tackle this behaviour. Meanwhile students are at risk of falling behind because their classes are constantly disrupted. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1554996892894896131"}"></div></p>
<h2>How are school’s coping?</h2>
<p>So-called “exclusionary disciplinary strategies” (such as suspensions and expulsions) are still commonly used in response to disruptive student behaviour.</p>
<p>This is a problem for two reasons. Firstly, students who are not at school are not learning. Secondly, students who are suspended or expelled are more likely to come from a disadvantaged background. </p>
<p>As the South Australian Commissioner for Children and Young People told the committee: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Exclusionary practices disproportionately impact Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people, children in out-of-[home] care, children living with disability and children experiencing poverty or homelessness.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>What did the report recommend?</h2>
<p>The report made nine recommendations, including:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>introducing a specific “behaviour curriculum” for schools - this would explicitly teach behaviour to help students understand their school’s behavioural expectations and values</p></li>
<li><p>providing more practical behaviour management training in teaching degrees </p></li>
<li><p>moving away from open plan classrooms (which can be noisy) to classroom designs that minimise distractions </p></li>
<li><p>clearer pathways for students to access medical, psychological, social or behavioural services if they need it.</p></li>
</ul>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1713741754682200491"}"></div></p>
<h2>What did the report get right?</h2>
<p>The report recognises the <a href="https://www.nifdi.org/resources/hempenstall-blog/405-literacy-and-behaviour.html">relationship</a> between students’ behaviour and their academic achievement. </p>
<p>There is solid evidence that <a href="https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/f05bb3ee-en/index.html?itemId=/content/component/f05bb3ee-en">academic skills and behaviour</a> are linked. This means students with low academic skills are more likely to exhibit disruptive behaviour and students who display disruptive behaviour may be more likely to fall behind academically. </p>
<p>This connection has been shown to be <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s42822-023-00149-y">strongest in literacy</a>. This is because students with <a href="https://www.edresearch.edu.au/resources/multi-tiered-system-supports-evidence-snapshot">low literacy skills</a> are continuously asked to use skills they do not have. </p>
<p>So, any measures to handle and protect against disruptive behaviour are welcome. </p>
<p>This can also help shift responses from reactive, punitive approaches to more educative ones, that hopefully keep students in classrooms and learning, rather than being sent home. </p>
<p>This can also also help address the <a href="https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/8401484/act-will-hold-inquiry-into-literacy-and-numeracy-after-equity-gaps-widen/">widening gap</a> in achievement between advantaged and disadvantaged students. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/open-plan-classrooms-are-trendy-but-there-is-little-evidence-to-show-they-help-students-learn-199591">Open-plan classrooms are trendy but there is little evidence to show they help students learn</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What did the report miss?</h2>
<p>The recommendations largely focus on improving training and professional development for teachers and on national actions related to school reform. </p>
<p>However, effective behaviour management in schools requires a <a href="https://mtss4success.org/essential-components">supportive school system</a>. This means there is enough funding, time and resources for planning, support teams, collaboration with parents and other professionals, and teacher coaching and mentoring. </p>
<p>So far, the committee is largely silent on this issue. But teachers cannot be expected to simply manage this on their own. </p>
<p>There are also concerns about the framing of this inquiry. In a dissenting report, the <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Education_and_Employment/DASC/Interim_Report/Australian_Greens_Dissenting_Report">Greens</a> argue:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>This inquiry should have started with the question ‘why are these students coming into school today feeling distracted, unheard or frustrated?’. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>If we are going to genuinely improve behaviour and disruptions at school, we do need to move from “fixing the blame” toward “<a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Patrick-Friman/publication/349251900_There_is_no_such_thing_as_a_bad_boy_The_Circumstances_View_of_problem_behavior/links/603e237a299bf1e0784d5f06/There-is-no-such-thing-as-a-bad-boy-The-Circumstances-View-of-problem-behavior.pdf">fixing the problem</a>”. This means not fixating on just teachers or students, but looking at the broad context of schools and their communities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218695/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Erin Leif currently receives funding from the Victorian Department of Education, the Victorian Department of Families, Fairness, and Housing, and the Western Australia Department of Education. Erin Leif is a volunteer board member of the Association for Behaviour Analysis Australia, Autism Pathways, and Behaviour Support Practitioners Australia. </span></em></p>
A Senate inquiry has found Australian students need specific instruction in how to behave.
Erin Leif, Senior Lecturer, Monash University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/218700
2023-11-30T17:21:21Z
2023-11-30T17:21:21Z
Why are school-aged boys so attracted to hateful ideologies?
<iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/a0e5db7e-fb55-4a8a-880e-00f8d5a0f2dc?dark=true"></iframe>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-572" class="tc-infographic" height="100" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/572/661898416fdc21fc4fdef6a5379efd7cac19d9d5/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p><em>In this episode of<a href="https://dont-call-me-resilient.simplecast.com/episodes/why-are-school-aged-boys-so-attracted-to-hateful-ideologies"> Don’t Call Me Resilient</a>, we look at the current rise of white supremacy and how that rise has filtered down into the attitudes of school-aged boys.</em> </p>
<p>Anecdotally, and in polls conducted by <a href="https://angusreid.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/2021.10.19_canada_school_kids_racism_diversity-1.pdf">Angus Reid</a> and the <a href="https://www.girlguides.ca/WEB/Documents/GGC/media/media-releases/Gender_Equality_Press_Release_Oct_2018.pdf">Girl Guides of Canada,</a> school-aged children are expressing concern about the sexist, homophobic and racist attitudes they are experiencing in their classrooms. And the research supports them: experts say <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-misogyny-influencers-cater-to-young-mens-anxieties-201498">the rise in far-right ideologies globally has impacted school-age students</a>. </p>
<p>Many experts point to Andrew Tate, the far-right social media influencer as one of the culprits. <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/online-misogyny-harrasment-school-children-b2314451.html">Teachers say he has a big presence in the classroom</a>. </p>
<p>On top of that, there’s been an exponential rise in antisemitism and Islamophobia in Canada that have also impacted the classroom.</p>
<p>Why are boys especially attracted to these hateful ideologies? As we near <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-continuum-of-unabated-violence-remembering-the-massacre-at-ecole-polytechnique-88572"> the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women on Dec. 6,</a> we spoke with to two experts who have been thinking a lot about this question.</p>
<p>Teresa Fowler is an assistant professor in the Faculty of Education at Concordia University of Edmonton whose research focuses on critical white masculinities. </p>
<p>Lance McCready is an associate professor in the Department of Leadership, Higher and Adult Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. His research explores education, health and the well-being of Black men, boys and queer youth, especially in urban communities and schools. </p>
<h2>Read more in The Conversation</h2>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-misogyny-influencers-cater-to-young-mens-anxieties-201498">How 'misogyny influencers' cater to young men's anxieties</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/act-tough-and-hide-weakness-research-reveals-pressure-young-men-are-under-74898">Act tough and hide weakness: research reveals pressure young men are under</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-schools-can-foster-civic-discussion-in-an-age-of-incivility-106136">How schools can foster civic discussion in an age of incivility</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/less-talk-more-action-national-day-of-remembrance-on-violence-against-women-108139">Less talk, more action: National Day of Remembrance on Violence Against Women</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/too-busy-for-the-pta-but-working-class-parents-care-104386">Too busy for the PTA, but working-class parents care</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-critical-race-theory-should-inform-schools-185169">Why critical race theory should inform schools</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Resources</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/aug/06/andrew-tate-violent-misogynistic-world-of-tiktok-new-star">Inside the violent, misogynistic world of TikTok’s new star, Andrew Tate</a> </p>
<p><a href="https://www.boyhoodinitiative.org">The Boyhood Initiative</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.gegi.ca">How to Advocate at School for Yourself or Someone You Love</a>, the first bilingual self-advocacy resource for K-12 students experiencing gender identity discrimination at school.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/667368/rebels-with-a-cause-by-niobe-way/"><em>Rebels with a Cause: Reimagining Boys, Ourselves and Our Culture</em></a> by Niobe Way</p>
<p><a href="https://therepproject.org/films/the-mask-you-live-in/">The Mask You Live In</a></p>
<p><a href="https://www.zinnedproject.org/materials/pedagogy-of-the-oppressed/"><em>Pedagogy of the Oppressed</em></a> by Paulo Freire</p>
<h2>Listen and follow</h2>
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<p><a href="mailto:DCMR@theconversation.com">We’d love to hear from you</a>, including any ideas for future episodes. </p>
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<p>Join the Conversation on <a href="https://twitter.com/ConversationCA">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/dontcallmeresilientpodcast/">Instagram</a> and <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@theconversation">TikTok</a> and use #DontCallMeResilient.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218700/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
Host Vinita Srivastava explores why racist, homophobic and sexist attitudes are increasingly showing up in school-age boys – and what we can do about it.
Vinita Srivastava, Host + Producer, Don't Call Me Resilient
Ateqah Khaki, Associate Producer, Don't Call Me Resilient
Jennifer Moroz, Consulting Producer, Don't Call Me Resilient
Kikachi Memeh, Assistant Producer/Student Journalist, Don't Call Me Resilient
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/217687
2023-11-28T19:13:08Z
2023-11-28T19:13:08Z
What should I give my child’s teacher at the end of the year?
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561803/original/file-20231127-25-xpm7i4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C44%2C5964%2C3916&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/happy-asian-student-with-teacher-in-classroom-5905609/">Katerina Holmes/Pexels</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As we approach the end of the school year, many families are thinking about what might be an appropriate gift to thank teachers. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, teachers are preparing for an inundation of scented candles, boxes of chocolates and pot plants as they head into a well-deserved summer break. </p>
<p>As a former high school teacher, I remember receiving plenty of these gifts. Most would sit in a drawer, or be quickly eaten and forgotten about. The pot plants often wilted. </p>
<p>If you are a cash-strapped parent or carer and wish to genuinely express thanks, how best can you do this, particularly in a cost-of-living crisis?</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/thank-you-for-making-me-feel-smart-will-a-new-campaign-to-raise-the-status-of-teaching-work-217362">'Thank you for making me feel smart': will a new campaign to raise the status of teaching work?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Write something</h2>
<p>It may seem simple, but take a few minutes out of your day and write something meaningful to thank your child’s teachers. </p>
<p>Also encourage your child to write or draw something that tells their teacher what difference they have made in their year. Ask them what made their teacher special, funny, caring or kind? </p>
<p>It could be something like, because of their support your child no longer struggles with maths, or now loves to read every day. Perhaps they have more confidence speaking in front of others or just loved going to school each day.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A candle burns in a glass jar, next to Christmas cookies." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561795/original/file-20231127-17-45duri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561795/original/file-20231127-17-45duri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561795/original/file-20231127-17-45duri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561795/original/file-20231127-17-45duri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561795/original/file-20231127-17-45duri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561795/original/file-20231127-17-45duri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561795/original/file-20231127-17-45duri.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Teachers are used to getting lots of scented candles and chocolates as end-of-year gifts.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/close-up-shot-of-a-lighted-candle-6101225/">Ronan Odintsov/Pexels</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Teachers want to know if they helped</h2>
<p>Teachers want to help young people and make a difference in their lives but this can be difficult to measure. Reports and test scores only reveal so much, they can show how someone has improved academically but this is only one part of positive changes teachers make. </p>
<p>As a new graduate I fondly remember getting a handwritten letter from a Year 9 student on the last day of term four. He was a difficult student. We were often locked in battle - he would call me out if I spelled a word wrong on the board or gave an incorrect fact about history. </p>
<p>Yet, at the end of the year he took the time to tell me what a great teacher I was and how he would miss me. Other teachers I spoke to have loved receiving personalised gifts, like hand-drawn pictures with quotes they would often say in class, delicious home-made cookies, letters of thanks, framed photos and messages that made them laugh. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A child sits on the floor, with coloured pencils and a notebook." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561799/original/file-20231127-17-a9lso1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561799/original/file-20231127-17-a9lso1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561799/original/file-20231127-17-a9lso1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561799/original/file-20231127-17-a9lso1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561799/original/file-20231127-17-a9lso1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561799/original/file-20231127-17-a9lso1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561799/original/file-20231127-17-a9lso1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Get your child to write or draw something for their teacher.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/crop-kid-sitting-on-floor-and-writing-in-notebook-3855553/">Sarah Dietz/ Pexels</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Refill a teacher’s cup</h2>
<p>We know teachers are under a huge amount of pressure and at the end of the year they need their cup to be refilled. </p>
<p>Research <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00049441221086654">tells us</a> teachers can feel undervalued and their work can be <a href="https://theconversation.com/school-principals-are-reaching-crisis-point-pushed-to-the-edge-by-mounting-workloads-teacher-shortages-and-abuse-201777">highly stressful</a>. We also know increasing <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-11-25/public-school-teachers-increasingly-want-to-leave/103142210">numbers are not sure</a> if they want to remain in the profession . </p>
<p>As a community we can tell teachers we care for them and understand their work can be hard. Tell teachers they matter, they are doing important work, they have inspired your child to love learning and will be remembered. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-new-database-of-teachers-on-screen-shows-they-are-often-portrayed-as-rule-breakers-losers-or-villains-217917">A new database of teachers on screen shows they are often portrayed as rule breakers, losers or villains</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217687/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Saul Karnovsky does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Take a few minutes out of your day and write something meaningful to thank your child’s teacher.
Saul Karnovsky, Senior Lecturer & Bachelor of Education (Secondary) Course Coordinator, Curtin University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/207202
2023-11-28T13:41:49Z
2023-11-28T13:41:49Z
Writing instructors are less afraid of students cheating with ChatGPT than you might think
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560814/original/file-20231121-15-b8y2le.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=31%2C0%2C6895%2C4296&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Many educators say they are worried about being unable to keep up with advances in AI.
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/robotic-hand-pressing-a-keyboard-on-a-laptop-3d-royalty-free-image/1479076594?phrase=AI%2Bwriting">Guillaume via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When ChatGPT launched a year ago, headlines flooded the internet about fears of student cheating. A pair of essays in The Atlantic decried “<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2022/12/openai-chatgpt-writing-high-school-english-essay/672412/">the end of high-school English</a>” and the <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2022/12/chatgpt-ai-writing-college-student-essays/672371/">death of the college essay</a>.“ NPR informed readers that ”<a href="https://www.npr.org/2023/01/26/1151499213/chatgpt-ai-education-cheating-classroom-wharton-school">everybody is cheating</a>.“</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Teen Vogue ventured that the moral panic ”<a href="https://www.teenvogue.com/story/chatgpt-plagiarism-cheating-students">may be overblown</a>.“</p>
<p>The more measured tone in Teen Vogue tracks better with preliminary findings from our 2023 survey that examined attitudes and feelings about artificial intelligence among college faculty who teach writing. Survey responses revealed that AI-related anxieties among educators around the country are more complex and nuanced than claims insisting that <a href="https://www.chronicle.com/article/the-end-of-the-take-home-essay">AI is outright and always bad</a>. </p>
<p>While some educators do worry about students cheating, they also have another fear in common: AI’s potential to take over human jobs. And as far as teaching, many educators also see the bright side. They say they actually enjoy using the revolutionary technology to enhance what they do.</p>
<h2>The survey</h2>
<p>Our 64-item survey included a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10494820.2019.1674887">scale of AI anxiety</a> and was conducted March 2-31, 2023. The 99 survey respondents included faculty, writing program administrators and others interested in the teaching of writing. More than 71% worked in the disciplines of English, writing or rhetoric, and the sample represented all types of institutions, from small liberal arts colleges to large research universities and everything in between. </p>
<h2>A complex picture of cheating concerns</h2>
<p>AI anxiety among writing instructors is complicated. While 89% of survey participants feared "misuse” by students, misuse means different things to different people. Specifically, less than half of respondents – 44% – were “concerned” or “very concerned” about students turning to AI to compose entire essays. Only 22% were “very concerned” about students relying on such technologies to “co-write” their essays without providing appropriate attribution.</p>
<p>Additionally, less than half – 42% – reported they were “concerned” or “very concerned” about the need to revise university honor codes and plagiarism policies in light of AI. And only 25% said their institutions should enforce increased plagiarism detection through apps and websites such as <a href="https://www.turnitin.com/">Turnitin</a>.</p>
<p>Regardless of whether respondents had deep worries or mild concerns, only 13% favored any ban on AI entirely in college courses and classrooms. Instead, instructors reported varying levels of anxieties about a range of issues, including learning how to use AI tools and job security.</p>
<p>As one participant wrote, “While I want students to compose original works in my writing courses, I see no reason to ban them from using AI tools at their disposal during the writing process.” </p>
<p><iframe id="pJqk9" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/pJqk9/2/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>Fears beyond cheating</h2>
<p>Survey participants had wide-ranging reactions to the prospects of AI replacing their jobs as writing instructors. At times, their feelings seemed conflicted, depending on the circumstances and conditions described in our survey questions.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://qz.com/1065818/ai-university">some critics have already suggested</a>, there is genuine fear about colleges using AI not as a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2019/sep/06/will-ai-replace-university-lecturers-not-if-we-make-it-clear-why-humans-matter">means to enhance the work of instructors</a>, but instead to replace them. </p>
<p>For instance, more than 54% of respondents “agreed” or “strongly agreed” that the prospect of AI technology replacing human jobs scared them. And 43% “agreed” or “strongly agreed” that they were anxious over the possibility of becoming unable to keep up with advances in AI techniques and products.</p>
<p>The anxiety among tenured and tenure-track faculty was significantly lower than that of adjunct instructors, graduate teaching assistants, instructors and administrative faculty and staff. This implies that college writing instructors who are most likely to fear losing their jobs because of AI are those who are most vulnerable anyway. </p>
<h2>The potential for using AI in writing instruction</h2>
<p>Despite their worries, many respondents reported being eager to use AI writing tools with their students. About 47% said they would “very likely” teach their students how to use AI in brainstorming and idea generation. In fact, some respondents fully embraced the technology as a teaching tool.</p>
<p>“I’m not anxious about AI,” wrote one respondent. “When the computer first entered the writing classroom, there was a fear that it would change writing instruction, which it did. We needed to figure out how to help students use the affordances computers offered. Now, few people would suggest teaching writing without a computer.”</p>
<p>Our survey results suggest that writing instructors see the potential for AI to do much more than write a paper for a student. Sixty-one percent said they were “likely” or “very likely” to use AI in drafting and revision, and 63% were “likely” or “very likely” to use AI to show students how to alter genre, style or tone in their writing.</p>
<p><iframe id="DqHL1" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/DqHL1/3/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>To be sure, 46% “agreed” or “strongly agreed” that teachers and students could grow dependent on AI. But only 20% “agreed” or “strongly agreed” that their own use of AI as a teaching tool would make students become dependent and cause their reasoning skills to deteriorate. </p>
<p>Now that ChatGPT has been available to students for a year, even the headlines in the news are beginning to reflect the opportunities it can offer in the classroom, in addition to the risks. The Washington Post highlighted “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/06/01/students-chatgpt-ai-tools/">all the unexpected ways ChatGPT is infiltrating students’ lives</a>” – including checking for grammar mistakes. The Wall Street Journal spoke to teachers who said they should <a href="https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/teachers-ai-classroom-schools-678d7d84">encourage students to learn how to use the tool</a> for its potential in their future jobs. And Time magazine reported on the <a href="https://time.com/6300950/ai-schools-chatgpt-teachers/">extra hand that ChatGPT gives to busy teachers</a> who are continuously making lesson plans. Clearly, students – and teachers – are using AI. The question now is how, why and for what purposes?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207202/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Troy Hicks is affiliated as an occasional consultant with Writable, a web-based platform to support writers and the teaching of writing which also includes an AI-enhanced revision assistant. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Ernst does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
A survey about college writing instructors’ fears and anxieties about AI demonstrates that student cheating isn’t their only concern. And in fact, many have embraced it as a teaching tool.
Daniel Ernst, Assistant Professor of English, Texas Woman's University
Troy Hicks, Professor of English and Education, Central Michigan University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/217917
2023-11-22T19:09:05Z
2023-11-22T19:09:05Z
A new database of teachers on screen shows they are often portrayed as rule breakers, losers or villains
<p>The federal and state governments’ new “<a href="https://www.bethatteacher.gov.au/">Be That Teacher</a>” campaign aims to boost enrolments in teaching degrees by raising the status of teachers. </p>
<p>It uses a diverse range of real teachers talking about the real impact they can have on students’ lives. It has been <a href="https://theconversation.com/thank-you-for-making-me-feel-smart-will-a-new-campaign-to-raise-the-status-of-teaching-work-217362">praised</a> for its authenticity, but <a href="https://blog.aare.edu.au/so-wrong-inspirational-campaigns-will-never-work-heres-why/">will it be enough</a> to meaningfully change the way we see teachers? </p>
<p>My new research looks at teachers in popular TV shows and films and finds they are often portrayed as losers or villains.</p>
<h2>Why status matters</h2>
<p>In previous research, I did a <a href="http://hdl.handle.net/11343/311698">meta-analysis</a> of almost 200 <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-wont-solve-the-teacher-shortage-until-we-answer-these-4-questions-203843">teacher retention</a> studies. This found social approval is strongly correlated with teachers’ intention to stay in the profession. </p>
<p>In other words, the more respect one’s friends and family have for teaching, the more likely that teacher will want to stay in the classroom. </p>
<p>I also surveyed more than 900 Australian teachers (across all school years) about their career decisions. Here I also found the social status of teaching in general society played an important role in how teachers felt about their jobs. </p>
<p>As an English teacher with seven years’ experience explained: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>It is very frustrating as a teacher being constantly misrepresented in the media. Much of the conversation is negative and condescending. This is very disheartening for teachers who work incredibly hard and withstand an enormous amount of pressure, stress and exhaustion.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1722803958970806465"}"></div></p>
<h2>The teachers on screen project</h2>
<p>If respect for the teaching profession is lacking, where do these perspectives come from? </p>
<p>We know the <a href="https://theconversation.com/no-wonder-no-one-wants-to-be-a-teacher-world-first-study-looks-at-65-000-news-articles-about-australian-teachers-186210">news media is one significant component</a> but it is not the only one. Another major source of society’s awareness and perceptions of teachers and teaching is mainstream film and television.</p>
<p>My project analyses the portrayal of teachers in film and television, with a focus on the characteristics of the teachers, the way they teach, and whether they stay in their school and the profession.</p>
<p>I have compiled a database of more than 300 teachers across more than 200 film and television series with a focus on the United States, United Kingdom and Australia over the last 25 years. My analysis so far reveals five trends.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ye4KFyWu2do?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The trailer for Dead Poets Society, the 1989 film starring Robin Williams.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/no-wonder-no-one-wants-to-be-a-teacher-world-first-study-looks-at-65-000-news-articles-about-australian-teachers-186210">No wonder no one wants to be a teacher: world-first study looks at 65,000 news articles about Australian teachers</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>1. Losers and liars</h2>
<p>In the 1989 film <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/jul/16/dead-poets-society-30-years-on-robin-williams-stirring-call-to-seize-the-day-endures">Dead Poets Society</a>, Robin Williams plays John Keating, a hero-like teacher who inspires students to love poetry and follow their dreams. </p>
<p>This is the exception rather than the rule. In my study, teachers are often characterised as losers or unlikable authoritarians.</p>
<p>The most popular films with teachers as the main character in the last 20 years have been 2003’s <a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/school_of_rock">School of Rock</a> where Jack Black’s character Dewey Finn shamelessly masquerades as a teacher to try and make money, and 2011’s <a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bad_teacher">Bad Teacher</a>. Here, Cameron Diaz’s Elizabeth Halsey despises her job and takes drugs.</p>
<p>On television, the <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0903747/">Breaking Bad</a> drama series features chemistry teacher Walter White (played by Brian Cranston) quitting to make more money cooking drugs. </p>
<h2>2. Abusive and incompetent</h2>
<p>When they are not struggling protagonists, teachers on screen are antagonistic characters. On average, teachers are unflatteringly portrayed as abusive, negligent, incompetent and loners. </p>
<p>For example, in the 2004 film <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0377092/">Mean Girls</a> Coach Carr (who is having illegal sexual relations with some of his students himself) gives a totally substandard sex education lesson.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Just don’t do it. Promise? </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Another concern is the overwhelming representations of teachers assaulting, grooming or having consensual yet inappropriate relationships with their students. This includes teacher Ezra Fitz in the popular series <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1578873/">Pretty Little Liars</a> (2010-2017), who <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/pretty-little-liars-addresses-its-statutory-rape-problem-but-not-in-the-way-we-hoped_n_5937f09ee4b0ce1e740956e6#:%7E:text=When%20they%20hook%20up%20in,he%20had%20sex%20with%20her.">knowingly has sex</a> with an underage student. </p>
<p>Teachers in my study who breach the <a href="https://www.aitsl.edu.au/standards">Australian Teaching Standards</a> outnumber those who do not by three to one. This includes failure to create and maintain supportive and safe learning environments, where teachers bully students or fail to prevent bullying by other students.</p>
<p>For example, Mr Gilbert of <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1716772/">The Inbetweeners Movie</a> (2011), is needlessly <a href="https://youtu.be/PXZREPFTjtE?si=2PEx8GdIh7jdmRNa&t=15">cruel and belligerent</a> to the young people in his care.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/U5xkxTfVLSA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Coach Carr teaches sex education to teenagers in Mean Girls.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>3. Not diverse</h2>
<p>Screen teachers are also predominantly single, white, middle-class women. White teachers outnumber teachers of other ethnicities by ten to one. </p>
<p>The Australian teaching workforce is <a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-teacher-workforce-has-a-diversity-problem-heres-how-we-can-fix-it-214564">predominantly white</a> and does not reflect the country’s diversity. We know <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/women-in-leadership/2013/nov/12/media-representation-matters">representation matters</a> (“if you can’t see it, you can’t be it”) so film and TV portrayals are not helping. </p>
<p>One positive finding is black teachers are almost always portrayed as hero teachers, such as Denzel Washington’s teacher-coach Herman Boone in 2000’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remember_the_Titans">Remember the Titans</a>. However, less than 10% of the black teachers on screen are women. Less than 1% of teachers in the database are of Asian, Indian, Middle Eastern or another ethnicity, combined.</p>
<h2>4. The good ones leave</h2>
<p>My data shows that if there are good teachers, they don’t stick around. In <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096697/">The Simpsons</a>, Lisa’s favourite teacher Mr Bergstrom (Dustin Hoffman) leaves her bereft with his departure. In Dead Poet’s Society, John Keating is sacked after a year. </p>
<p>LouAnne Johnson (Michelle Pfeiffer) is an arguably transformative teacher to a group of underprivileged kids in the 1995 film <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112792/">Dangerous Minds</a> but ultimately quits by year’s end. </p>
<p>This sends a message that good teachers can’t survive in the system, or are better off somewhere else. </p>
<h2>5. And they’re not necessarily that ‘good’</h2>
<p>Many “good” teachers on the screen are depicted as “saviours”, yet they are almost always unconventional with their teaching methods. </p>
<p>In the previous examples, Bergstrom, Keating and Johnson exhibit questionable behaviours. This includes not teaching the prescribed curriculum, not knowing the curriculum, focusing attention on just one student, seeing students outside of school and using coercive and inappropriate rewards. </p>
<p>As Bergstrom tells Lisa Simpson:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I’m sorry, Lisa. It’s the life of a substitute teacher. He’s a fraud. Today he might be wearing gym shorts, tomorrow he’s speaking French or pretending to know how to run a band saw or God knows what.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fKIiNCp8Nps?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A tearful Lisa Simpson tells Mr Bergstrom she is going to miss him.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A little help from Hollywood</h2>
<p>Hollywood of course misrepresents lots of professions. But you can’t ignore the power stories on screen have in influencing behaviour. </p>
<p>We have seen this in <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092099/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2">Top Gun’s</a> effect on <a href="https://screenrant.com/top-gun-us-navy-recruiting-applications-increase/#:%7E:text=The%20U.S.%20Navy%20set%20up,number%20of%20applications%20in%20years">naval recruitment</a> and the winery film <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0375063/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Sideways</a> leading people to drink <a href="https://winebusinessanalytics.com/sections/printout_article.cfm?content=61265&article=feature#:%7E:text=%22The%20Sideways%20Effect%22%20gained%20currency,data%20to%20support%20the%20claims">pinot noir at the expense of merlot</a>. </p>
<p>Would more positive screen portrayals of teachers help attract and retain teachers by improving their status in society? With <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/teaching-and-school-leadership/consultations/national-teacher-workforce-action-plan">schools struggling to find teachers</a>, it would certainly be another strategy worth trying. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-wont-solve-the-teacher-shortage-until-we-answer-these-4-questions-203843">We won't solve the teacher shortage until we answer these 4 questions</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217917/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hugh Gundlach does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
As Australia tries to raise the status of teaching, new research shows how mainstream film and TV portrayals are not helping.
Hugh Gundlach, Lecturer in Education, The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/217362
2023-11-09T19:10:24Z
2023-11-09T19:10:24Z
‘Thank you for making me feel smart’: will a new campaign to raise the status of teaching work?
<p>Federal and state governments have <a href="https://ministers.education.gov.au/anthony-albanese/press-conference-launch-be-teacher-advertising-campaign">just launched</a> a A$10 million advertising campaign to “raise the status” of teachers in Australia and encourage people to consider a career in school education. </p>
<p>Called “Be That Teacher”, <a href="https://www.bethatteacher.gov.au">the campaign</a> features emotive stories from eight real teachers who have positively affected their students’ lives and futures.</p>
<p>For example, Mr Wang, a maths teacher from Victoria talks about how a Year 10 student wrote him a note to say “thank you for making me feel smart for once”. Mrs Kentwell, a primary teacher from Queensland, spoke about holding the hand of a young blind student in a running race, while other students cheered him on. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The rewarding feeling you get from teaching is something I’ve never felt from any other job. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The campaign, by ad agency Clemenger BBDO, is running across social media, television, cinema, billboards and at bus stops and train stations until next April.</p>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-970" class="tc-infographic" height="400px" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/970/faf81edb338798f7890c663e55b06ade2d9261b3/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>Why do we need it?</h2>
<p>The campaign comes amid an ongoing teacher shortage crisis in Australia. Federal government <a href="https://ministers.education.gov.au/clare/teacher-workforce-shortages-issues-paper">modelling</a> has predicted a shortfall of more than 4,000 teachers by 2025. Last month, the New South Wales government <a href="https://www.nsw.gov.au/media-releases/public-school-teacher-shortages">revealed</a> a 42% drop in casual teacher numbers meant 10,000 lessons in the state were going without a teacher each day. </p>
<p>We also know the number of students enrolling in teaching degrees <a href="https://ministers.education.gov.au/clare/interview-abc-afternoon-briefing-1">has dropped 12%</a> in the past ten years. Of those <a href="https://ministers.education.gov.au/clare/commonwealth-bank-teaching-awards-presented-schools-plus">who do enrol</a>, only 50% finish the degree and 20% of those who graduate leave the profession within three years. </p>
<p>Australian studies have also told us teachers <a href="https://theconversation.com/jason-clare-has-a-draft-plan-to-fix-the-teacher-shortage-what-needs-to-stay-and-what-should-change-193834">do not feel valued</a> by the community, are <a href="https://theconversation.com/they-phone-you-up-during-lunch-and-yell-at-you-why-teachers-say-dealing-with-parents-is-the-worst-part-of-their-job-191256">abused and disrespected by parents</a>, and receive <a href="https://theconversation.com/no-wonder-no-one-wants-to-be-a-teacher-world-first-study-looks-at-65-000-news-articles-about-australian-teachers-186210">poor media coverage</a>. </p>
<p>Is this campaign the answer? Can advertising help solve Australia’s teacher shortage?</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-wont-solve-the-teacher-shortage-until-we-answer-these-4-questions-203843">We won't solve the teacher shortage until we answer these 4 questions</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Advertising can work</h2>
<p>There is evidence to show advertising can work. A clever way to demonstrate advertising’s value is to examine what happens in its absence. Our <a href="https://www.journalofadvertisingresearch.com/content/63/2/172">2023 study</a> showed, on average, brands experience a decline in sales when they stop advertising for more than one year.</p>
<p>But there are no certainties with advertising. So what increases the chance of a successful campaign? </p>
<p>Advertising <a href="https://www.journalofadvertisingresearch.com/content/61/3/247">works primarily</a> by creating and refreshing memories – in this case by establishing a link between “teaching” and “positive career option”. This heightens the chance teaching will come to someone’s mind when considering careers. The freshness of a memory (how recently they saw the ad) <a href="https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&u=unisa&id=GALE%7CA55533967&v=2.1&it=r&sid=bookmark-AONE&asid=0b6d994f">increases</a> the chances they will think of teaching.</p>
<p>This means the campaign should run while the shortage persists, to increase the chance it will be in potential students’ minds and particularly during the lead-up to university preference cut-off dates over the summer.</p>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-971" class="tc-infographic" height="400px" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/971/5234d229b05bea3bfa2eb0db2d206011da662797/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>Do the ads themselves work?</h2>
<p>The campaign gets an A on several factors.</p>
<p>The videos are beautifully crafted, capturing attention by using human faces, voices and authentic storytelling. All these elements improve the chances of campaign success by evoking an emotional response, which <a href="https://www.journalofadvertisingresearch.com/content/57/1/53">heightens memory retention</a>.</p>
<p>The “Who will you inspire?” tagline used in the campaign is also both emotive and memorable.</p>
<h2>The branding needs more work</h2>
<p>Beyond the ads, the Be That Teacher website contains information about pursuing a teaching career (how to do it, available scholarships and support). While the campaign can create a memory or pique someone’s interest, this information will help people decide if teaching is the career for them. </p>
<p>Here, the branding aspect (or identity) of the campaign needs more work. Be That Teacher is new to Australians and it needs to be more prominent in the videos and still images to stand out and capture attention. </p>
<p>Introducing the line “Be That Teacher” visually at the beginning of the ads and adding a verbal mention, rather than just at the end, <a href="https://www.journalofadvertisingresearch.com/content/52/2/146">heightens the chance</a> it will be processed and remembered. This is crucial if the campaign is going to push people to the website.</p>
<h2>Of course we also need more than ads</h2>
<p>Recruitment and retention issues in education are not new. Teachers report feeling <a href="https://theconversation.com/teachers-stress-isnt-just-an-individual-thing-its-about-their-schools-too-183451">overworked</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/its-great-education-ministers-agree-the-teacher-shortage-is-a-problem-but-their-new-plan-ignores-the-root-causes-188660">underpaid</a> and overly burdened by <a href="https://theconversation.com/this-is-like-banging-our-heads-against-the-wall-why-a-move-to-outsource-lesson-planning-has-nsw-teachers-hopping-mad-188081">administrative tasks</a>. </p>
<p>These are all complex issues and clearly, advertising will not be the sole fix to the teacher shortage (nor are governments <a href="https://theconversation.com/jason-clare-has-a-draft-plan-to-fix-the-teacher-shortage-what-needs-to-stay-and-what-should-change-193834">suggesting it will be</a>). </p>
<p>But with teachers so essential to Australia’s future, every effort should be made to build and retain our teaching workforce. Good advertising like this campaign can help generate more interest in the profession and provide a <a href="https://marketingscience.info/marketing-theory-evidence-practice/">gentle nudge</a> towards improving the status of this vital career. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-do-we-retain-teachers-supporting-them-to-work-together-could-help-216076">How do we retain teachers? Supporting them to work together could help</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217362/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Virginia Beal does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Federal and state governments have launched a $10 million advertising campaign to encourage more people to consider a teaching career.
Virginia Beal, Senior Marketing Scientist, Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science, University of South Australia
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/216180
2023-11-07T14:24:36Z
2023-11-07T14:24:36Z
South Africa’s universities aren’t training future civil servants for what the country needs
<p>Many analysts <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0975087818805888">blame</a> state capture – the corruption of the management of public affairs – for the weakening of state capacity in South Africa. A <a href="https://www.statecapture.org.za/site/information/reports">judicial commission of inquiry</a> into the problem laid it bare. </p>
<p>They say the COVID pandemic worsened the situation as public resources had to be redirected from developmental commitments to address the emergency. </p>
<p>The claim has merit. But it ignores the role played by a public administration education that is not fit for purpose. The universities responsible for producing the human capital needed for building state capacity must shoulder much of the blame.</p>
<p>Our experience in public administration in <a href="https://scholar.google.co.in/citations?user=7zP1Z-MAAAAJ&hl=en">academia</a> and <a href="https://www.africaleadership.net/fellows/class-x-xseed/busani-ngcaweni/">government</a> spans decades. We have wrestled with the question of why, after various policy and administrative reforms in post-colonial Africa, <a href="https://www.nwu.ac.za/sites/www.nwu.ac.za/files/files/calendar/2023/Building_the_gap_Poster-.pdf">state capability continues to be a challenge</a> for many countries.</p>
<p>In our view the biggest problem facing South Africa is that the training of current and future civil servants is not delivering what the country needs. That’s because the training:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>lacks the interdisciplinary approach needed to meet the country’s complex challenges</p></li>
<li><p>fails to grasp that technology will play a far greater role in the future </p></li>
<li><p>remains trapped in colonial theorisations. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>We say this taking our cue from business administration education.</p>
<h2>Self reflection</h2>
<p>After the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/money/topic/financial-crisis-of-2007-2008">2008 global financial meltdown</a>, British journalist Philip Delves Broughton published an article in <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ddece047-24b6-410c-98d6-01375ddad8af">The Times</a>, arguing that some Harvard-trained MBA graduates had played a leading role in creating the crisis.</p>
<p>The dean of the Harvard Business School subsequently called for <a href="https://www.npr.org/2009/05/17/103719186/business-schools-mull-over-blame-in-financial-crisis">“great introspection”</a>. Harvard’s courage in dealing with the question of its business education is an inspiring lesson on how to confront the flaws of teaching for other fields.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africa-has-a-plan-to-make-its-public-service-professional-its-time-to-act-on-it-187706">South Africa has a plan to make its public service professional. It's time to act on it</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Likewise, almost 15 years later, the South African Association of Public Administration and Management (<a href="http://saapam.co.za/">SAAPAM</a>) raised the issue of public administration education at its recent <a href="https://saapam.co.za/22nd-saapam-annual-conference/">22nd Annual Conference</a>. It asked: what do the schools and departments of public administration in South Africa teach? </p>
<p>This question is important because the quality of available talent determines what the state is capable of.</p>
<h2>Worrying trends in the teaching of public administration</h2>
<p>If public administration education is designed and delivered poorly, it sets a course for the systematic destruction of state capability. In many ways, this is what’s happening in South Africa. </p>
<p>Our analyses indicate that much of what is taught in public administration is not what the country needs to become a capable and <a href="https://www.etu.org.za/toolbox/docs/govern/state.html">developmental state</a>. The discipline is tangled up in its own “<a href="https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Cheikh-Anta-Diop%3A-The-social-sciences%2C-humanities%2C-Nabudere/6f0be17a0750d31349b3107bd5e1ff04639d2551">self-interpretive closet</a>”. This is despite the trend towards interdisciplinarity, where ideas and methods from different fields of study enrich each other to make sense of societal complexities and find solutions.</p>
<p>Public administration education does not appreciate the imperative of socioeconomic transformation for social and ecological justice, or the role of technology. It remains trapped in colonial teaching about systems and processes.</p>
<p>The “<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/25610815">grand narrative fiction</a>”, to borrow New Mexico State University professor David Boje’s phrase, that shaped curriculum development is that government should be run like a business. This is contrary to the <a href="https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/images/a108-96.pdf">constitutional principle</a> that public administration must have a developmental orientation.</p>
<p>In the 1980s, “<a href="https://scsr.pravo.unizg.hr/_download/repository/1-22.pdf">New Public Management</a>” become a staple diet pushed down the throats of students of public administration. It emphasised the economic value of efficiency and maximisation of output with minimum input costs. The <a href="https://theconversation.com/to-fix-south-africas-dysfunctional-state-ditch-its-colonial-heritage-99087">citizens are customers</a>.</p>
<p>The falsehood that government is like a business opened the way to governance by consultants. This, despite the notoriety of <a href="https://www.newswall.org/summary/do-mckinsey-and-other-consultants-do-anything-useful">“corporate consigliere[s]”</a> deluding managers with </p>
<blockquote>
<p>management gibberish and glossy charts while gorging on fat fees. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>They hollowed out the capacity of the state. All this occurred because of the void in the teaching of public administration. </p>
<h2>But what must be done</h2>
<p>The teaching of public administration must respond innovatively to the task of building a capable and developmental state. The way to do this may lie in forging strategic partnerships between academia, professional associations and government. It must aim to improve the talent pipeline for the state. </p>
<p>Universities are the citadel of originating ideas. Professional associations exist to inculcate a culture of professionalism that many lament is lacking in the management of state affairs.</p>
<p>Any effort towards human capital formation needs to start by creating an opportunity for these partnerships to evolve. Universities must shake off their autonomous posture and “ivory towering”. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/to-fix-south-africas-dysfunctional-state-ditch-its-colonial-heritage-99087">To fix South Africa's dysfunctional state, ditch its colonial heritage</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Government must outgrow its suspicion of universities and embrace evidence-driven policy practices. </p>
<p>Professional associations in the public sector should understand that they exist to pursue the public interest, not to create an elite class in the bureaucracy.</p>
<p>For far too long, collaborative efforts in the teaching of public administration have been a cursory pursuit bereft of strategic intent. This needs to change. They must be institutionalised.</p>
<p>The partnership we are calling for is not only for training interventions. It is also for re-imagining public administration education to be relevant to what the country needs. This must be grounded in the <a href="https://www.arcjournals.org/pdfs/ijhsse/v4-i5/5.pdf">African philosophy of humanism</a>, if the <a href="https://www.etu.org.za/toolbox/docs/govern/bathopele.html">“people first”</a> approach to statecraft is to have meaning. In other words, students of public administration need to be steeped in the orientation that <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZIX2C4YTuc">managing state affairs is about giving democracy a human face</a>.</p>
<p>Theories of the state and citizenship, and the principles of democracy, need to underpin the teaching of public administration too. Students must learn how to provide the public good in a way that creates a public value to satisfy public interests. And public administration as practical science must respond to the impediments to human progress in the 21st century: terrorism, global warming, an increasingly unstable global economy, and pandemics.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africa-since-1994-a-mixed-bag-of-presidents-and-patchy-institution-building-164795">South Africa since 1994: a mixed bag of presidents and patchy institution-building</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Another key aspect for consideration relates to the fourth industrial revolution technologies in public administration curricula.</p>
<p>Public administration needs to go beyond studying systems and processes, and the neoliberal logic associated with New Public Management. It must embrace interdisciplinarity.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216180/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mashupye Herbert Maserumule received funding from the National Research Foundation for his postgraduate studies. He is affiliated with the South African Association of Public Administration and Management(SAAPAM). He is the outgoing chief editor of the Journal of Public Administration and serves in the National Planning Commission. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Busani Ngcaweni is the Principal of the National School of Government.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert Nkuna is the Director-General of the Department of Planning, Monitoring, and Evaluation in the Presidency of South Africa.</span></em></p>
If public administration education is designed and delivered poorly, it sets a course for the systematic destruction of state capability.
Mashupye Herbert Maserumule, Professor of Public Affairs, Tshwane University of Technology
Busani Ngcaweni, Visiting Adjunct Professor, School of Governance, University of the Witwatersrand
Robert Nkuna, Professor of Practice, North-West University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/216076
2023-11-01T19:24:03Z
2023-11-01T19:24:03Z
How do we retain teachers? Supporting them to work together could help
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556029/original/file-20231026-21-cizo9b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=9%2C9%2C5997%2C3980&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-and-a-woman-having-a-conversation-inside-a-classroom-8466770/">Anastasia Shuraeva/ Pexels </a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australia is in the grips of a teacher shortage “crisis” <a href="https://ministers.education.gov.au/clare/speech-catholic-education-leaders-forum">according to</a> Education Minister Jason Clare. </p>
<p>Federal education department <a href="https://ministers.education.gov.au/clare/teacher-workforce-shortages-issues-paper">modelling</a> shows there will be a high school teacher shortfall of about 4,000 by 2025. Media <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-25/rural-teacher-shortage-hits-new-lows/100861556">reports suggest</a> shortages are already particularly bad in rural areas. </p>
<p>Clare <a href="https://ministers.education.gov.au/clare/speech-catholic-education-leaders-forum">says</a> one of the ways we will fix the shortage is by “increasing the number of people who stay on teaching”.</p>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0742051X23002172">new study</a> shows increasing opportunities for teachers to work together may keep teachers in their jobs. </p>
<p>Our research illustrates collaboration between teachers is linked to greater job satisfaction, as well as other benefits for teachers working in rural schools. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-wont-solve-the-teacher-shortage-until-we-answer-these-4-questions-203843">We won't solve the teacher shortage until we answer these 4 questions</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What does collaboration involve for teachers?</h2>
<p>Collaboration for teachers can include sharing teaching resources, discussing approaches to different classes and students and collaborating on common standards for student assessments. </p>
<p>But teachers often work in relative isolation of each other, as they are confined to their classrooms and assigned class groups. </p>
<p>According to a <a href="https://www.oecd.org/education/talis-2018-results-volume-ii-19cf08df-en.htm">2018 OECD</a> report, 28% of teachers around the world teach with another teacher in the same classroom at least once a month and 47% exchange teaching materials with others at least once a month. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/will-free-teaching-degrees-fix-the-teacher-shortage-its-more-complicated-than-that-213361">Will free teaching degrees fix the teacher shortage? It's more complicated than that</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Our research</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0742051X23002172">Our research</a> investigated what work factors are most relevant to teachers’ wellbeing. We also looked at whether there was a difference between teachers working in rural or metropolitan areas.</p>
<p>We examined two teacher wellbeing outcomes: job satisfaction and work strain. Job satisfaction represents whether teachers are happy working at their current school. Work strain measures whether teachers believe their job negatively impacts their mental and physical health.</p>
<p>Our study used the OECD’s <a href="https://www.oecd.org/education/talis/">Teaching and Learning International Survey</a>. This is the largest international survey about teachers and their working conditions. We used the most recently available data from 2018. Our sample included 3,376 high school teachers working in 219 schools across Australia.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1657487930229760001"}"></div></p>
<h2>Collaboration is linked to job satisfaction</h2>
<p>Our research showed teachers who reported more frequent collaboration with their colleagues also reported greater job satisfaction. This was true for teachers working in both rural and metropolitan schools. </p>
<p>This indicates working together with colleagues may help teachers to feel more satisfied with their job, no matter where they work. The results suggest the more teachers work together, the greater their job satisfaction.</p>
<p>Collaboration may help teachers feel connected with their colleagues and build positive relationships. It may also help teachers feel more competent and supported as part of a team.</p>
<h2>Rural schools</h2>
<p>Our research also found more frequent collaboration appeared to have other benefits to teachers in rural schools. </p>
<p>Rural teachers who had concerns about the relevance of the professional development their school provided were more likely to report their job negatively impacted their mental and physical health (in other words, they had higher work strain). </p>
<p>This is perhaps because teachers may find their work more difficult when they do not receive relevant professional development (new skills, approaches and ideas). </p>
<p>In rural schools, professional development can be harder to access because of distance and the availability of relieving teaching staff. With these existing barriers, it may be particularly detrimental to their wellbeing if professional development is then considered to be irrelevant.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A seated man with an open notebook talks to a woman who is standing holding a tablet." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556034/original/file-20231026-15-3hp187.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556034/original/file-20231026-15-3hp187.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556034/original/file-20231026-15-3hp187.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556034/original/file-20231026-15-3hp187.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556034/original/file-20231026-15-3hp187.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556034/original/file-20231026-15-3hp187.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556034/original/file-20231026-15-3hp187.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Professional development can be harder to access in rural schools.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-discussing-project-with-colleague-in-office-5324915/">Anna Shvets/Pexels</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Collaboration and professional development concerns</h2>
<p>Interestingly, our analysis revealed the link between irrelevant professional development and work strain was not present for rural teachers who collaborated more frequently with their colleagues.</p>
<p>This suggests more frequent collaboration may protect against the effects of irrelevant professional development on work strain. It may be collaboration can provide teachers with <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.3102/0034654315627864">informal learning opportunities</a> that help them to do their jobs better and feel less stressed about work.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-students-in-rural-areas-are-not-behind-their-city-peers-because-of-socioeconomic-status-there-is-something-else-going-on-207007">Australian students in rural areas are not 'behind' their city peers because of socioeconomic status. There is something else going on</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>How can teachers collaborate more?</h2>
<p>Our research suggests schools and school systems may want to encourage more collaboration, while also ensuring their staff are provided with relevant professional development. This could help teachers stay in their jobs. </p>
<p>To support teacher collaboration, international <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1747938X1500024X">research</a> says teachers need to work together in ways they find effective. This highlights the importance of listening to staff to understand their needs. </p>
<p>International <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13540602.2019.1639499">research</a> also suggests collaboration is most beneficial when teachers are given dedicated time at work to work together so it is built into their work hours, rather than an added extra. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-teacher-workforce-has-a-diversity-problem-heres-how-we-can-fix-it-214564">Australia's teacher workforce has a diversity problem. Here's how we can fix it</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>How do we encourage collaboration?</h2>
<p>Two evidence-based ways teachers can collaborate are <a href="https://epaa.asu.edu/index.php/epaa/article/view/5023">peer observations</a> and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19415257.2023.2178480">mentoring</a>. </p>
<p>These are both approaches that can happen without major disruption to classes.</p>
<p>Peer observations <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0742051X21000214">involve</a> a group of teachers observing each other teaching and then meeting to discuss their thoughts. These peer observations are <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0742051X17304225">designed to be supportive</a> and may help teachers gain a sense of professional community, boost morale and identify teaching practices that are particularly effective within their school’s context.</p>
<p>For teacher mentoring, teachers can be assigned a more senior or experienced member of the school to meet with and discuss their work experiences. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0742051X23002688">Research</a> shows it is important for mentors and mentees to feel as though they are both benefiting from the process. A mentee may benefit, for example, by thinking about their professional approaches in new ways, while mentors can also learn from listening to their mentee’s experiences. </p>
<p>In smaller and more remote schools, technology may be needed to help connect teachers with colleagues from other schools for both peer observations and mentoring.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216076/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Kingsford-Smith receives funding through a PhD scholarship from the University of New South Wales and the Australian Government. He also works part-time as a teacher for the NSW Department of Education. This research was conducted by Andrew in his capacity as a researcher. The views expressed in this article do not represent the views of the NSW Department of Education.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rebecca J Collie receives funding from the NSW Department of Education.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hoa Nguyen and Tony Loughland do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
New research shows how collaboration between teachers is linked to greater job satisfaction.
Andrew Kingsford-Smith, PhD Candidate in Educational Psychology, UNSW Sydney
Hoa Nguyen, Associate Professor, School of Education, UNSW Sydney
Rebecca J. Collie, Scientia Associate Professor of Educational Psychology, UNSW Sydney
Tony Loughland, Associate Professor in Education, UNSW Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/211669
2023-10-12T19:03:09Z
2023-10-12T19:03:09Z
Friday essay: a poet, a disciplinarian, an illiterate grandfather – writers reflect on the teachers who shaped them
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551636/original/file-20231003-29-zqq5eo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=27%2C0%2C4214%2C2835&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">We see the teacher lay out the tightrope ... as the young writer clenches their toes and steps out above the air.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Danilo Batista/unsplash</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>What does a writer’s education look like? Is it access to books, regular letter-writing, difficulty in childhood (war, illness, a brutal boarding school)? What talent or disposition primes the young writer for their training? In the push and pull of nature versus nurture, a key element is the right teacher, at the right time: the encouraging, goading or resistant pressure that nudges along the curious mind.</p>
<p>The essays in a new book edited by Dale Salwak, <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/au/writers-and-their-teachers-9781350272262/">Writers and their Teachers</a>, lead you to reflect on your own teachers, but one of the themes is that the writing teacher, in retrospect, takes many forms. </p>
<p>I recall Mrs Wagstaff, a dinner lady at my English primary school with dyed red curls and long fingernails, who occasionally read us stories on rainy lunchtimes. “See it in your mind’s eye,” she said to us, as we sat cross-legged on the carpet, 40-odd years ago. I did see it in my mind’s eye, and still do.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551657/original/file-20231003-19-odr3p8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551657/original/file-20231003-19-odr3p8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551657/original/file-20231003-19-odr3p8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551657/original/file-20231003-19-odr3p8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551657/original/file-20231003-19-odr3p8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551657/original/file-20231003-19-odr3p8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1159&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551657/original/file-20231003-19-odr3p8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1159&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551657/original/file-20231003-19-odr3p8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1159&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
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</figure>
<p>We all pick over stories of personal transformation in adulthood, the scenes and <em>dramatis personae</em> vivid across the years. Who was it who made the difference, and how? Writers and their Teachers reads as a collective <em>bildungsroman</em>, in which we come to understand the forces that shaped the adult writer. In this genre, the teacher or mentor is central, guiding the apprentice towards mastery.</p>
<p>Such transformations call for belief on the part of the teacher, and a spark of interest in the student. Salwak, in his introduction, quotes Ralph Waldo Emerson: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The whole secret of the teacher’s force lies in the conviction that men [and women] are convertible, and they are.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Here we witness 20 such conversions, from a young person with a desire, or perhaps only its flicker, to a life ablaze with language, ideas, images and story.</p>
<h2>Unlikely teachers</h2>
<p>Kenyan literary giant Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o names his illiterate maternal grandfather as his first writing teacher. </p>
<p>Ngũgĩ became his child scribe, reading aloud his grandfather’s letters until they represented perfectly what he wanted to say. This process not only taught him “the value of the written word and the revision necessary to make it read smoothly”, but crucially “the beauty of written Gĩkũyũ”, his mother tongue. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551629/original/file-20231003-25-nzpkdv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551629/original/file-20231003-25-nzpkdv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551629/original/file-20231003-25-nzpkdv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551629/original/file-20231003-25-nzpkdv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551629/original/file-20231003-25-nzpkdv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551629/original/file-20231003-25-nzpkdv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551629/original/file-20231003-25-nzpkdv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551629/original/file-20231003-25-nzpkdv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/2136347/ngugi-wa-thiongo/#:~:text=Ngugi%20wa%20Thiong%27o%20%7C%20Penguin%20Random%20House">© Daniel Anderson/Penguin Random House</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Ngũgĩ thrived at school, speaking, reading and writing in his first language, but in 1952, the colonial government banned African-run schools, and use of local languages became dangerous.</p>
<p>Ngũgĩ’s first books, including his classic of the Mau Mau rebellion, <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/a-grain-of-wheat-9780141186993">A Grain of Wheat</a>, were written in English, the language of the coloniser. In 1977, Ngũgĩ helped to write and stage a politically outspoken play with Gĩkũyũ speakers. </p>
<p>Imprisoned for over a year as a result, and surrounded by Gĩkũyũ “teachers” in the form of his guards, he wrote his first novel <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/314614/devil-on-the-cross-by-ngugi-wa-thiongo-introduction-by-namwali-serpell/">Devil on the Cross</a> (on toilet paper) in his first language. Ngũgĩ writes:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>So, it was a maximum security prison in Kenya which made me return to my roots, under the literary tutelage of my grandfather, Ngũgĩ wa Gĩkonyo, to whom I am eternally grateful. He was indeed my first literary teacher.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Few lessons in these essays are learned at such great personal risk, but many of the writers also credit unlikely teachers. The British detective novelist Catherine Aird moved as a child to a village in which she knew no one, and was struck down by that not unusual formative event in the biographies of writers, a long childhood illness. She worked her way through the contents of the village library, plunging into the Golden Age of detective fiction. Her family was also training her to appreciate a puzzle: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I lived in a household daily engaged in solving crosswords and with a keen (and wily) bridge player for a mother and a medical father who likened diagnosis to simple detection.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Aird paints a cosily macabre picture of the breakfast table, with her doctor father sharing his enthusiasm for forensics, recounting a gruesome local murder-suicide case in which he was advising the coroner. She even played assistant to his detective work, on one occasion sent upstairs in a house in which a man was </p>
<blockquote>
<p>found unconscious at the foot of his stairs to feel whether the bed was still warm and thus help establish when he had fallen. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Sometimes what the young writer needs to learn is how to navigate the wider world glimpsed through reading and writing. Michael Scammell, biographer of Solzhenitsyn and Koestler, spent two years as a copy boy at the Southern Daily Echo in Southampton, the first in his family to be educated to 16.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551335/original/file-20231002-15-jtqvk8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551335/original/file-20231002-15-jtqvk8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551335/original/file-20231002-15-jtqvk8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=868&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551335/original/file-20231002-15-jtqvk8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=868&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551335/original/file-20231002-15-jtqvk8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=868&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551335/original/file-20231002-15-jtqvk8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1091&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551335/original/file-20231002-15-jtqvk8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1091&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551335/original/file-20231002-15-jtqvk8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1091&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/438990.Solzhenitsyn?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=jOp7YlRQXq&rank=3">Goodreads</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/education-34538222">grammar school</a> boy in the English selective system, he had left his own world behind without a guide for the journey. The older journalist Anthony Brode, “giant of the newsroom”, a bohemian francophone, relaxed, cultured, product of a privileged education “taught me how to write – and live – in an unfamiliar environment”. </p>
<p>A book about education (particularly when the writer is British) is also a picture of class and a navigation of its boundaries. Tony’s home was a revelation: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Unlike my family’s small living room, where four of us huddled over a coal fire on wintry nights with the radio blasting, making it hard to read, Tony and Sylvia’s comfortable lounge was spacious and warm, and I had free run of their bookcases (there was no television, of course).</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In these shelves, Scammell discovered the fiction of Orwell, Wodehouse, Hemingway and Fitzgerald. Books, of course, are our other teachers. Later, Tony provided the connection via his publisher for Scammell to begin publishing translations, and he was on his way. </p>
<p>The friendships that emerge from such unequal beginnings are often long and distinguished by the generosity of the mentor. A gentle awe infuses several of the essays, that so much can be given with nothing asked for in return. As poet-critic William Logan writes on his unconventional professor David Milch (creator of NYPD Blue and Deadwood):</p>
<blockquote>
<p>there are debts that cannot be repaid because you do not possess the currency in which they were tendered.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Sir Vidia’s gifts</h2>
<p>The gift bestowed by V.S. Naipaul, Nobel laureate, on the younger writer Paul Theroux, was great, but ambiguous. Theroux writes:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>More than fifty years of writing about Naipaul and reflecting on his influence! Yet it is only in the last few years, the dust having settled, that I have re-examined our relationship and seen how complex it was, how important – how crucial – it was to my becoming a writer.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This is the final essay of the collection. Arranged as the pieces are in a journey through “School”, “College” and “Graduate School and after”, a growing sense becomes evident, as the writers recall themselves as adult mentees rather than as children, of their teachers as flawed human beings. This is perhaps difficult to avoid in Naipaul’s case, but for Theroux, Naipaul’s snobberies and imperiousness – and a 15-year break in their friendship – do nothing to undermine his significance. </p>
<p>When Theroux met Naipaul in Kampala in 1966, he knew no novelists and sought guidance. As Naipaul’s driver, escort and interpreter, he was able to observe at close quarters his utter seriousness about writing, and to receive its lessons in a terror-induced atmosphere of total concentration. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Mine was an animal alertness: no creature is more wired than an animal in unfamiliar surroundings – every faculty is twitchingly alight, every synapse engaged. I was fully awake in his presence and fearful of making a blunder.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551649/original/file-20231003-19-dx0b7m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551649/original/file-20231003-19-dx0b7m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551649/original/file-20231003-19-dx0b7m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=882&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551649/original/file-20231003-19-dx0b7m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=882&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551649/original/file-20231003-19-dx0b7m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=882&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551649/original/file-20231003-19-dx0b7m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1108&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551649/original/file-20231003-19-dx0b7m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1108&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551649/original/file-20231003-19-dx0b7m.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1108&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2972706-sir-vidia-s-shadow">Goodreads</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When this 30-year apprenticeship ended in rejection born of one of Vidia’s “foul moods”, Theroux saw it as liberation: “promotion to a higher rank”. He was now free to write his controversial memoir of their friendship, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/entertainment/books/1998/10/04/pen-pals-no-more/8abc5dd8-cb46-4b0a-bf7d-f97ca7277a6b/">Sir Vidia’s Shadow</a>. In the end, Theroux has no regrets. What “every aspiring person” needs, he tells us, is encouragement and belief.
“Naipaul did that for me: he alone told me what I was capable of doing.”</p>
<h2>House calls</h2>
<p>The form the mentor most usually takes in these pages is the school or university teacher, and it is often in the glimpse of them as something more than a teacher that they take shape. </p>
<p>J.M. Coetzee recalls Gerrit Gouws, a cane-bearing disciplinarian who taught the final stage of Worcester Boys’ Primary. One day Mr Gouws broke role to invite the young John to tea, who was amazed to learn that his teacher lived on the same housing estate as he did.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>As far as I was concerned, outside the classroom [teachers] might as well have had no lives. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Here and in other essays a teacher opens up the mysteries and possibilities of other people by revealing an existence beyond the borders of school. Historian and biographer Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina writes of her kind and imaginative teacher Mabel Morrill: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>we had no notion that she could even have a personal life that would interest us.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551652/original/file-20231003-29-586dxa.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551652/original/file-20231003-29-586dxa.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551652/original/file-20231003-29-586dxa.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=706&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551652/original/file-20231003-29-586dxa.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=706&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551652/original/file-20231003-29-586dxa.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=706&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551652/original/file-20231003-29-586dxa.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=888&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551652/original/file-20231003-29-586dxa.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=888&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551652/original/file-20231003-29-586dxa.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=888&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://gretchengerzina.com/about-gretchen-gerzina.html">Photo by Michael Benabib Slideshow</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Like Coetzee’s Mr Gouws, Mrs Morrill stepped out of the classroom and into her pupil’s life, calling at her house. She had noticed that Gretchen made her own clothes (the teacher taking the trouble to notice is a potent force in this book), and asked to be measured up for a dress, setting off a chain of connections which brought Mrs Morrill vividly into three dimensions. </p>
<p>When the young Coetzee visited his teacher for tea, he made his own discoveries, most improbably, that Mr Gouws had, “of all things,” a wife. What could all this be about? he wondered at the time, but sees now what such a moment always tends to mean: that the teacher views the pupil as an individual, worthy of interest, deserving of encouragement.</p>
<p>The memory also allows Coetzee to access, 70 years on, the significance of his being taught in English, and paid a small extra attention, by an Afrikaner. This teacher, across a social and cultural divide, taught students with more natural facility than himself “the ability to take sentences of the English language to pieces and put the pieces together again”.</p>
<p>Mr Gouws would have operated according to the teacherly hope that some of the children you meet in your years in the classroom will make the fullest use of what is offered. How well this gamble paid off in the case of the future Nobel prize winner who came to tea.</p>
<h2>Learning to read</h2>
<p>The exhilaration offered up by paying meticulously close attention to language is one of the gifts enumerated in Writers and their Teachers. Former British Poet Laureate Andrew Motion learned close reading from his poet-teacher Mr Way, who had been immersed in New Criticism at Oxford. This mainstay of mid-century literary studies, as Motion writes:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>concentrated rigorously on the text and paid little or no attention to biographical facts or historical context.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Motion grew in time to appreciate the connections between the poem and its world, but like many other writers who passed through an education system in thrall to this rigorous separation, the experience of encountering poetry in a “pure form” remained a foundational lesson.</p>
<p>Mr Way and his methods arrived in Motion’s life as balm after the brutalities of an English prep school. The pupil learned in his classes that the distilled nature of poetic language demands a focus approaching that which produced the work. </p>
<p>This discovery was joined by another: that language relies for meaning on sound as well as sense. Poetry became </p>
<blockquote>
<p>a forest of cadences and associations in which no interpretation can be “wrong” […] provided I’m able to explain and justify it.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The drama of education is that its transformations occur amid the difficulties of childhood and young adulthood. In this context, knowledge can feel like rescue.</p>
<h2>Words that change everything</h2>
<p>Biographer Carl Rollyson structures his essay around the life-changing comments his teachers made. Like others here, he suffered great difficulty in his young life, in this instance the loss of his father to cancer. </p>
<p>His chapter begins with the words of his English teacher James Allen Jones: “You read beautifully,” after he had recited a speech by Cassius in Julius Caesar. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>He put his hand on my arm when he said the words, and it was as if I had been reborn. Some teachers have that power: to move you with a voice that liberates you to be yourself. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>This liberating power is the true subject of this book. Again and again, we see the teacher lay out the tightrope and hold it taut, as the young writer clenches their toes and steps out above the air.</p>
<p>I paused reading to write to an old school friend about our English teachers at secondary school. When we were 16, our beloved English teacher Miss Quinn, wearer of bright silk suits tailored on her annual trips to Thailand, was replaced by a new teacher who was more austere, less of a friend to us. She had been a missionary, and seemed otherworldly, but it was she who wrote on a piece I wrote about early childhood, “You are a <em>real</em> writer.” </p>
<p>What do you do with that? Remember it in moments of uncertainty, and try to honour it.</p>
<h2>Full circle</h2>
<p>Students who liked learning often become teachers themselves. Novelist and poet Jay Parini recalls his college advisor Ed Brown, how impressed he was by him, how he came to imitate his clothes and manner. Even now, when he walks into a classroom, he thinks: “I’m Ed Brown today, reborn.” </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551631/original/file-20231003-15-n2lo07.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551631/original/file-20231003-15-n2lo07.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551631/original/file-20231003-15-n2lo07.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551631/original/file-20231003-15-n2lo07.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551631/original/file-20231003-15-n2lo07.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551631/original/file-20231003-15-n2lo07.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551631/original/file-20231003-15-n2lo07.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551631/original/file-20231003-15-n2lo07.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Margaret Drabble.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/60750.Margaret_Drabble">Goodreads</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The novelist Margaret Drabble, a graduate of Newnham College at Cambridge, found herself teaching in a very different institution, Morley College in Lambeth, established for the purposes of educating the working classes in a slum area. By 1969, when Drabble arrived, her classes were filled with young mothers, taking advantage of the creche facility and flexibility of curriculum:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>the majority of the group were young women like me, and together we explored the world of literature, making up our own syllabus and our own lives as we went along. I was my own student. We taught ourselves.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>These women of the 1970s were living out change, and Drabble was learning and teaching at the same time, as is the way of things. At the end of her essay, Drabble states simply: “We learn much from those we teach.” </p>
<p>The step into teaching is an important developmental stage in many writers’ journeys, as well, perhaps, as a partial repayment of one’s debt. </p>
<p>How in the end are writers made? The answers in this book are – to a degree – specific to certain contexts. For example, only four of the writers are women. As well, contributors tend to be of a certain age. If younger writers were asked about their education, perhaps we would see some essays on the teaching and mentorship taking place in writing centres and community organisations, that can lead to the airing of new voices.</p>
<p>Still, the deep experience of the contributors offers a long view, and makes for rich storytelling, textured by living histories of education, class and literature. What we learn is that it is a dual gift their guides bestow: demonstrating what is possible, offering the courage to reach for it. </p>
<h2>Work to do, but worth doing</h2>
<p>I recognise some of the paths these writers have walked, and yet there is no map to the writing life. Who were my teachers? At first, before school, someone taught me to read. Was it my parents? My recollection is that I taught myself, but no doubt there was more to it. </p>
<p>At school I was allowed to read ahead, wandering through the corridors in the quiet of lesson time – free and trusted – to access shelves outside the other classrooms.</p>
<p>In third year, lovely Mrs Rudra, who allowed the girls to wear her saris as a treat (how cool the silk felt on my skin), organised for me to exchange letters with a children’s author, Rosemary Manning. I had a terrifying teacher in fifth year but she had no problem with my nerdy habit of putting on plays for the other children. </p>
<p>My grandmother, throughout my childhood, insisted I was going to be a writer. This was my education. Strong nudges, provision of resources, a long leash. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551646/original/file-20231003-25-xdrm8k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551646/original/file-20231003-25-xdrm8k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551646/original/file-20231003-25-xdrm8k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551646/original/file-20231003-25-xdrm8k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551646/original/file-20231003-25-xdrm8k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551646/original/file-20231003-25-xdrm8k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551646/original/file-20231003-25-xdrm8k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551646/original/file-20231003-25-xdrm8k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lovely Mrs Rudra, who allowed the girls to wear her saris as a treat, organised for me to exchange letters with a children’s author.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/search/a-sari?page=3">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At the end of secondary school I encountered close reading in the form of the Practical Criticism exam (here is a poem: knowing nothing of its contexts, analyse it), but also in the forensic discussion of a single, two-word line – “Kill Claudio” – from Much Ado About Nothing. Our English group of five, plus Miss Yates, planting careful provocations, spent a whole class arguing delightedly about it. </p>
<p>Later, at Nottingham University, I stood marvelling with my friends outside the military-looking huts of the American Studies department, having spent an hour picking through William Stafford’s poem <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/42775/traveling-through-the-dark">Traveling through the Dark</a> with our lecturer, the gentle, patient, unpretentious Dave Murray, feeling the same exhilaration as after the Kill Claudio class. So few words, so much meaning, if someone showed you how to pay a special kind of attention. </p>
<p>I spent a summer on exchange in the States. At American universities, unlike in England, you could take creative writing classes. My teacher was the poet Susan Firer, who modelled the life of a person who lived in writing. </p>
<p>She told us about waking early to write and walk, about going to see other writers read when she was young. She was serious and kind, and left “nice"s dotted through my journal: small, sweet gifts. The desire to write was latent before this, a flicker; explicit from then on.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551648/original/file-20231003-15-rh8wt4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551648/original/file-20231003-15-rh8wt4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551648/original/file-20231003-15-rh8wt4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=689&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551648/original/file-20231003-15-rh8wt4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=689&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551648/original/file-20231003-15-rh8wt4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=689&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551648/original/file-20231003-15-rh8wt4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=866&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551648/original/file-20231003-15-rh8wt4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=866&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551648/original/file-20231003-15-rh8wt4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=866&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Gail Jones.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/121139.Gail_Jones">Goodreads</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Much later, I studied for a creative doctorate in Sydney, writing a novel, <a href="https://sydneyreviewofbooks.com/review/the-archeology-of-memory-hannah-and-emil/">a fictionalised account of the lives of my grandparents</a>, for my thesis. I submitted a section for workshopping. "Your grandmother is important to you,” the workshop leader said, “but why is she interesting to us?” </p>
<p>A fair question, which I found devastating, until I had tea with my supervisor, the novelist Gail Jones, to discuss the work in question. She paid this far from finished work a patient, brilliantly focused attention that was instantly cheering. “There is work to do,” I felt her saying to me, “but it is worth doing, and you are the person to do it.” </p>
<p>I teach writing now at university. You see a glint in students, as they transform uncertainly into whoever it is they are becoming. Some way into semester, one of them will peel off from the crowd to ask you about a future in writing. You have to tell them there is no money. You have to say there is no path.</p>
<p>You hope what you are also saying, in this moment, and when you stand in front of the class, week after week, talking about their writing and other people’s, is that it is worth it. If you love what words can do, why wouldn’t you want to live a life shaped by their potential?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211669/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Belinda Castles does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
What makes a great writer? A key element is the right teacher. Belinda Castles reflects on her own guides, as do authors such as Margaret Drabble, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o and Paul Theroux in a new book.
Belinda Castles, Lecturer in Creative Writing, University of Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/212334
2023-10-11T12:28:28Z
2023-10-11T12:28:28Z
Students understand calculus better when the lessons are active
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548688/original/file-20230917-23-1jd7a8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=31%2C312%2C5123%2C2983&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A new study found that college students better understand complex calculus concepts in active learning classes. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.ca/detail/photo/professor-talking-to-students-in-college-classroom-royalty-free-image/643999291">Hill Street Studios/DigitalVision via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>College students learn more calculus in an active learning course in which students solve problems during class than in a traditional lecture-based course. That’s according to a <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.ade9803">peer-reviewed study</a> my colleagues and I published in Science. We also found that college students better understood complex calculus concepts and earned better grades in the active learning course. </p>
<p>The findings held across racial and ethnic groups, genders and college majors, and for both first-time college and transfer students – thus, promoting success for all students. Students in the active learning course had an associated 11% higher pass rate. </p>
<p>If you apply that rate to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/0020739X.2013.798874">the current 300,000</a> students taking calculus each year in the U.S., it could mean an additional 33,000 pass their class.</p>
<p>Our experimental trial ran over three semesters – fall 2018 through fall 2019 – and involved 811 undergraduate students at a public university that has been designated as a <a href="https://sites.ed.gov/hispanic-initiative/hispanic-serving-institutions-hsis/">Hispanic-serving institution</a>. The study evaluated the impact of an engagement-focused active learning calculus teaching method by randomly placing students into either a traditional lecture-based class or the active learning calculus class. </p>
<p>The active learning intervention promoted development of calculus understanding during class, with students working through exercises designed to build calculus knowledge and with faculty monitoring and guiding the process. </p>
<p>This differs from the lecture setting where students passively listen to the instructor and develop their understanding outside of class, often on their own.</p>
<p>An active learning approach allows students to work together to solve problems and explain ideas to each other. Active learning is about understanding the “why” behind a subject versus merely trying to memorize it.</p>
<p>Along the way, students experiment with their ideas, learn from their mistakes and ultimately make sense of calculus. In this way, they replicate the practices of mathematicians, including making and testing educated guesses, sense-making and explaining their reasoning to colleagues. Faculty are a critical part of the process. They guide the process through probing questions, demonstrating mathematical strategies, monitoring group progress and adapting pace and activities to foster student learning.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/l7ch0Kf4NvM?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Florida International University made a short video to accompany a research paper on how active learning improves outcomes for calculus students.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p>Calculus is a foundational discipline for science, technology, engineering and mathematics, as it provides the skills for designing systems as well as for studying and predicting change.</p>
<p>But historically it’s been a barrier that has ended the opportunity for many students to achieve their goal of a STEM career. Only <a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/pcast-engage-to-excel-final_2-25-12.pdf">40% of undergraduate students</a> intending to earn a STEM degree complete their degree, and calculus plays a role in that loss. The reasons vary depending on the student. Failing calculus can be a final straw for some.</p>
<p>And it is particularly concerning for historically underrepresented groups. The odds of female students leaving a STEM major after calculus is <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0157447">1.5 times higher than it is for men</a>. And Hispanic and Black students have a <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-25304-2">50% higher failure rate than white students in calculus</a>. These losses deprive the individual students of STEM aspirations, career dreams and financial security. And it deprives society of their potentially innovative contributions to solving challenging problems, such as climate resilience, energy independence, infrastructure and more.</p>
<h2>What still isn’t known</h2>
<p>A vexing challenge in calculus instruction – and across the STEM disciplines – is broad adoption of active learning strategies that work. We started this research to provide compelling evidence to show that this model works and to drive further change. The next step is addressing the barriers, including lack of time, questions about effectiveness and institutional policies that don’t provide an incentive for faculty to bring active learning to their classrooms. </p>
<p>A crucial next step is improving the evidence-based instructional change strategies that will promote adoption of active learning instruction in the classroom.</p>
<h2>What’s next</h2>
<p>Our latest results are motivating our team to further delve into the underlying instructional strategies that drive student understanding in calculus. We’re also looking for opportunities to replicate the experiment at a variety of institutions, including high schools, which will provide more insight into how to expand adoption across the nation. </p>
<p>We hope that this paper increases the rate of change of all faculty adopting active learning in their classrooms.</p>
<p><em>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/research-brief-83231">Research Brief</a> is a short take on interesting academic work.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212334/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laird Kramer receives funding from the National Science Foundation.</span></em></p>
Collaborative work benefits calculus students, new research shows.
Laird Kramer, Professor of Physics, Florida International University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/214129
2023-10-10T22:22:37Z
2023-10-10T22:22:37Z
Reading disabilities are a human rights issue — Saskatchewan joins calls to address barriers
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551855/original/file-20231003-23-co45y4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C352%2C7249%2C4219&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Inquiries into how reading is taught across Canada join efforts in other countries to ensure educators are supporting students' rights to effective reading instruction. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/reading-disabilities-are-a-human-rights-issue-saskatchewan-joins-calls-to-address-barriers" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>As fall school routines settle down, for many families whose children struggle with reading, it could mean another year of stress and financial burden as they navigate school systems to advocate for support.</p>
<p>Findings in the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission’s (SHRC) <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/9977256/sask-human-rights-report-reading-disability-supports/">September 2023 report</a>, “<a href="https://saskatchewanhumanrights.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/EQUITABLE-EDUCATION-for-Students-Reading-Disabilities-Report-2023.pdf">Equitable Education for Students With Reading Disabilities in Saskatchewan’s K to 12 Schools: A Systemic Investigation Report</a>” capture the social and financial challenges faced by individuals and caregivers affected by dyslexia, and also the effects on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/dys.1531">mental health</a>. Families share difficulties they encounter in obtaining the necessary support and interventions in Saskatchewan school systems.</p>
<p>In 2020, the SHRC launched an investigation following a group complaint. Families of children diagnosed with <a href="https://dyslexiaida.org/dyslexia-at-a-glance/">dyslexia</a> alleged their children were discriminated against based on disability and were not provided access to equitable education. </p>
<p>The report summarizes <a href="https://www.ldac-acta.ca/downloads/pdf/advocacy/Education%20Implications%20-%20Moore%20Decision.pdf">legal precedents</a> outlining <a href="https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/canada/employment-social-development/migration/documents/documents/English/Statutes/Statutes/E0-2.pdf">government and school division</a> responsibilities relating to the education of students with disabilities, and calls for changes in teacher and student education. </p>
<h2>Multiple provinces investigating reading</h2>
<p>Saskatchewan isn’t the first province to consider children’s human rights and reading instruction. The Ontario Human Rights Commission released its “<a href="https://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/right-to-read-inquiry-report">Right to Read</a>” inquiry report in February 2022. An <a href="http://www.manitobahumanrights.ca/education/pdf/specialprojects/termsofreference.pdf">inquiry</a> in Manitoba is currently underway.</p>
<p>The Saskatchewan inquiry gained input from stakeholders including students, families, teachers, school administrators and other professionals via discussions, and also gathered input through surveys. One hundred and eighty-three people provided information through a parent/student survey and 293 people responded to a survey for educational and medical professionals. The inquiry also conducted a review of current research related to reading instruction.</p>
<p>The report identifies 17 recommendations for schools and school systems, the province’s education ministry and teacher education programs to consider, including issues related to classroom instruction, provincial curriculum and teacher preparation.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A school building." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551858/original/file-20231003-22-mj3a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551858/original/file-20231003-22-mj3a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551858/original/file-20231003-22-mj3a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551858/original/file-20231003-22-mj3a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551858/original/file-20231003-22-mj3a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551858/original/file-20231003-22-mj3a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551858/original/file-20231003-22-mj3a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Less than 70 per cent of Grade 3 students in Saskatchewan are reading at grade level.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Reading landscape in Saskatchewan</h2>
<p>It is estimated that <a href="http://ndl.ethernet.edu.et/bitstream/123456789/46482/1/13.Shane%20R.%20Jimerson.pdf#page=225">95 per cent of children</a> can develop word reading skills when provided with the right support. </p>
<p>Saskatchewan students consistently fall short. In the most <a href="https://www.saskatchewan.ca/government/government-structure/ministries/education#annual-reports">recent annual report from the</a> <a href="https://publications.saskatchewan.ca/api/v1/products/121656/formats/140952/download">Ministry of Education</a>, only 68 per cent of Grade 3 students are reading at grade level.
The SHRC report notes “because of marginalization and structural inequality,
racialized students, Indigenous students, Métis students, multilingual students and students from low-income backgrounds are at increased risk for reading difficulties.” The report calls for improvements to support all equity-deserving groups and consultation with Indigenous community members in education and learning.</p>
<p>Previous attempts to increase reading scores have been addressed by <a href="https://saskschoolboards.ca/wp-content/uploads/provincial-CYCLE-2-ESSP-Level-1-Matrix-and-A3-for-Web.pdf">the province</a>, however, provincial reading data remains relatively stable. </p>
<p>Current <a href="https://publications.saskatchewan.ca/api/v1/products/120477/formats/139300/download">Saskatchewan provincial education plans</a> don’t include specific actions and goals related to early reading proficiency. </p>
<p>This is despite wide recognition that reading proficiency in the early years is strongly related to <a href="https://www.nichd.nih.gov/sites/default/files/publications/pubs/nrp/Documents/report.pdf">later achievement</a> and <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED518818.pdf">graduation rates,</a> and is a critical period for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/87565641.2003.9651913">early intervention</a> to prevent and address reading difficulties.</p>
<h2>Reading instruction</h2>
<p>The SHRC report outlines two perspectives on reading instruction. “<a href="http://pamelasnow.blogspot.com/2017/05/balanced-literacy-instructional.html">Balanced literacy</a>” is the type of instruction common to Saskatchewan classrooms, guided by the provincial curricula and <a href="https://saskatchewanreads.wordpress.com/acknowledgements/">companion documents</a>. </p>
<p>This approach influences the types of books students read, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10573569.2013.857970">assessments</a> used to monitor reading development and <a href="https://nicolejosephlaw.com/evidence-based-reading-instruction/">intervention programs</a>. </p>
<p>As the Saskatchewan report notes, the approach is about balancing “the importance of comprehending the meaning of written language … <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/rev3.3314">with the acquisition of a range of skills and knowledges</a>.” These could include phonics lessons (how letters represent sounds). However, in practice, students are often taught that when they come to a word they don’t know they should guess, look at the picture, skip the word or think about what makes sense based on context.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A teacher seen with book and children." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551857/original/file-20231003-25-80kph1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551857/original/file-20231003-25-80kph1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551857/original/file-20231003-25-80kph1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551857/original/file-20231003-25-80kph1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551857/original/file-20231003-25-80kph1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551857/original/file-20231003-25-80kph1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551857/original/file-20231003-25-80kph1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Debates around best approaches to teaching reading have a long history.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>“<a href="https://dyslexialibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/file-manager/public/1/Spring%202019%20Final%20Moats%20p9-11.pdf">Structured literacy</a>” is an alternate approach. It <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0040059917750160">differs</a> from balanced literacy in that necessary skills for reading are taught explicitly. Students are introduced to these skills through a systematic progression from easier to more complex. </p>
<h2>Learning letter patterns</h2>
<p>This approach is recognized as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/19345747.2014.906010">more effective</a> than balanced literacy, particularly for students who are struggling to develop reading skills. Students learn to read from texts that contain words made up of letter patterns they have been taught. Instead of guessing or skipping unknown words, they are encouraged to sound them out using their knowledge of the letter-sound connections.</p>
<p>The report says many educators surveyed “believed the implementation of a universal, province-wide, scientific approach to reading would be better for students as well as teachers.”</p>
<p>This refers to following the most recent <a href="https://www.thereadingleague.org/what-is-the-science-of-reading/">scientific evidence</a> guiding structured literacy approaches. As one educator quoted in the report notes, this approach <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/87565641.2003.9651913">limits the number of students</a> who will require additional support.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/reading-struggles-dont-wait-to-advocate-for-your-child-130986">Reading struggles? Don't wait to advocate for your child</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The call for Saskatchewan to embrace a structured literacy approach was one of the most common themes to emerge from the inquiry. </p>
<h2>Updating curricula</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1529100618772271">Debates</a> around reading instruction have a long history. Growing interest in how reading is taught has led to <a href="https://www.shankerinstitute.org/read">legislative changes</a> in some U.S. states. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.bushcenter.org/catalyst/how-to-improve-our-schools/how-mississippi-reformed-reading-instruction">Mississippi</a> passed the Literacy-Based Promotion Act in 2013. In the state, significant funding is used for teacher training on science-based reading instruction, literacy coaches, screening and early interventions and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/06/education/learning/mississippi-schools-literacy.html">results</a> show that reading scores in the state have improved significantly.</p>
<p>The Saskatchewan report suggests updating provincial curricula, echoing a recommendation in the OHRC Right to Read. </p>
<p>Ontario responded with a new <a href="https://www.dcp.edu.gov.on.ca/en/curriculum/elementary-language">language curriculum</a> and a <a href="https://onlit.org/">literacy hub</a> to support educators in adopting a new approach to reading instruction. </p>
<p><a href="https://curriculum.novascotia.ca/sites/default/files/documents/resource-files/Six%20Pillars%20of%20Effective%20Reading%20Instruction.pdf">Nova Scotia</a>, <a href="https://curriculum.learnalberta.ca/curriculum/en/s/laneng">Alberta</a>, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/dominic-cardy-literacy-reading-gene-ouellette-mount-allison-new-brunsiwck-1.6732875">New Brunswick</a> and the <a href="https://www.fnsb.ca/literacy">First Nation School Board</a> in Yukon are also embracing instructional practices to include explicit and systematic instruction of foundational skills.</p>
<h2>Teacher preparation</h2>
<p>The SHRC commits to engaging with stakeholders. These include the faculties of education at the University of Saskatchewan and University of Regina. </p>
<p>Recently, <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/raising-readers-writers-and-spellers/202309/elite-universities-call-for-change-in-reading#">two top universities for teacher education</a> respectively in the United States (Teachers College, Columbia University) and Australia (La Trobe University), moved away from decades of instruction based on the balanced literacy model to align programs with current research. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.dyslexiacanada.org/en/blog/dyslexia-canada-applauds-new-shrc-report-for-championing-equity-in-education">Advocates</a> support the recommendations proposed in the report and view them as an important step for students with dyslexia. </p>
<p>The SHRC suggests this is an initial stage in continued collaboration with stakeholders to further address issues related to the educational rights of children in Saskatchewan.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214129/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrea Fraser does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
A report from the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission outlines government and school responsibilities for educating students with disabilities and calls for changes in reading instruction.
Andrea Fraser, Assistant Professor Faculty of Education, Mount Saint Vincent University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/214564
2023-10-08T19:27:01Z
2023-10-08T19:27:01Z
Australia’s teacher workforce has a diversity problem. Here’s how we can fix it
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552218/original/file-20231005-15-wt1ybu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C59%2C4962%2C3166&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australia’s teaching workforce does not reflect the diversity of the Australian community, a situation that has far-reaching implications for our education system. </p>
<p>As we outline in our <a href="https://education.unimelb.edu.au/mgse-industry-reports/report-7-seeing-ourselves-at-school">new research</a>, published today, teachers are predominantly Australian-born, female, and non-Indigenous.</p>
<p>Most hail from middle-class backgrounds with urban upbringings, and are less likely to have disabilities. </p>
<p>So why is this lack of diversity a problem? And what can be done to help overcome it?</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-has-a-plan-to-fix-its-school-teacher-shortage-will-it-work-196803">Australia has a plan to fix its school teacher shortage. Will it work?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Teacher shortages and student achievement</h2>
<p>Australia is in the midst of a <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-01-30/pandemic-exposed-australia-teacher-shortage-students-schools/101886452">teacher shortage</a>, which is affecting schools in unequal ways. </p>
<p>Schools in rural, remote areas, and those with higher levels of <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/school-agreement/report/school-agreement.pdf">disadvantage</a> have been shown to bear the brunt of this issue.</p>
<p>Our research suggests diversifying the teaching workforce can help address attaining and retaining teachers in schools and strengthen student outcomes across the board.</p>
<h2>Diversity makes a difference</h2>
<p><a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11115-021-00535-3">Research</a> shows teachers from minority groups, such as teachers of colour, can increase student achievement, especially for students from the same groups.</p>
<p><a href="https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=e064c83b3b8aefbb0e9b7d5d90c09faf96987df3">Evidence</a> also suggests teachers from minority groups often hold higher expectations for their minority students compared with <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2017-30813-012">majority teachers</a>. For example, Black teachers tend to have higher expectations than white teachers of Black students, and students respond to this with greater effort.</p>
<p>Teachers from minority groups can act as <a href="https://unimelbcloud-my.sharepoint.com/personal/agarner1_unimelb_edu_au/Documents/Jack%20Keating%20Policy%20paper%202023-/Conversation%20article/Griffin,%20A.%20(2018).%20Our%20stories,%20our%20struggles,%20our%20strengths.">role models</a> for people from similar backgrounds. </p>
<p>Teachers from minority groups can also act as <a href="https://journal.spera.asn.au/index.php/AIJRE/article/view/194">cultural “bridges”</a> to parents and students from these groups, fostering a sense of belonging and facilitating cultural understanding among students and colleagues.</p>
<p>Teachers from minority groups are also more likely to stay in hard-to-staff schools impacted the most during a staffing crisis. </p>
<p>For example, teachers from ethnic minorities are <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0741932517733047?journalCode=rsed">more likely</a> to teach and stay in schools with many minority students, and teachers from rural areas are more likely to teach and remain in <a href="https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/ruraleducator/vol43/iss3/1/">rural schools</a>.</p>
<p>So, how can we increase the diversity of the teaching workforce?</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552219/original/file-20231005-22-vut37x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552219/original/file-20231005-22-vut37x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552219/original/file-20231005-22-vut37x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552219/original/file-20231005-22-vut37x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552219/original/file-20231005-22-vut37x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552219/original/file-20231005-22-vut37x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552219/original/file-20231005-22-vut37x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552219/original/file-20231005-22-vut37x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Scholarships can help meet the costs of studying to become a teacher.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Grow-your-own programs</h2>
<p>One approach we examined in our new report is known as a “grow-your-own program”, which focus on would-be teachers already working in schools. This is where would-be teachers are given financial assistance by governments, and other support such as a mentor or study groups. Upon finishing the program, they become fully qualified teachers in their local school. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED613183.pdf">research</a> shows grow-your-own programs can increase teacher diversity and address staffing shortages. They can support people already working in hard-to-staff schools, such as teacher aides, to undertake teaching qualifications. </p>
<p>By recruiting people who already have ongoing connections with the community, grow-your-own programs produce graduates likely to take up and retain teaching positions in these communities. </p>
<p>New South Wales is currently trialling a <a href="https://education.nsw.gov.au/teach-nsw/get-paid-to-study/grow-your-own/grow-your-own---teacher-training-program">similar program</a> targeting teacher aides. The Northern Territory and Queensland also have targeted grow-your-own programs for Indigenous people.</p>
<h2>Teacher residency programs</h2>
<p>Teacher residency programs bring candidates into schools from the beginning of their training, where they are closely mentored by experienced teachers. </p>
<p>Candidates teach actively from the start while completing their teaching qualification.</p>
<p>These programs are usually focused on increasing the supply of teachers, rather than increasing diversity. </p>
<p>But since they allow people to earn an income and train at the same time, they can remove <a href="https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA256-1.html">barriers</a>, such as the costs of full-time study, for those from minority groups.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552220/original/file-20231005-15-2tfkbs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552220/original/file-20231005-15-2tfkbs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552220/original/file-20231005-15-2tfkbs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552220/original/file-20231005-15-2tfkbs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552220/original/file-20231005-15-2tfkbs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552220/original/file-20231005-15-2tfkbs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552220/original/file-20231005-15-2tfkbs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552220/original/file-20231005-15-2tfkbs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Teacher residency programs bring candidates into schools from the beginning of their training.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Targeted scholarships for teacher trainees</h2>
<p>Scholarships can help meet the costs of studying to become a teacher, and have been used for decades, although mostly without an emphasis on teacher diversity. </p>
<p>Australian departments of education already offer scholarships targeted to Indigenous secondary and university students who want to become teachers, or who are in teacher training.</p>
<p>We know these scholarships <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/10/10/262">do work</a> to support people into teaching and could be targeted to other minority groups as well. </p>
<h2>Building bridges between VET and teacher training</h2>
<p>Vocational education and training (VET) courses can be easier and cheaper to access than university courses. </p>
<p>For some students they feel like less of a cultural and financial “leap” than going to university. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.publicservicedegrees.org/college-resources/increasing-teacher-diversity/">Building pathways</a> between VET and teacher education courses can help diversify the teaching workforce. <a href="https://www.vu.edu.au/courses/graduate-certificate-in-education-eted">Victoria University</a> and Charles Darwin University offer good examples in Australia.</p>
<h2>Overcoming barriers</h2>
<p>Those wishing to become teachers in Australia already face several barriers. </p>
<p>One is a test known as the Literacy and Numeracy Test for Initial Teacher Education (<a href="https://teacheredtest.acer.edu.au/">LANTITE</a>), which aspiring teachers must pass. </p>
<p>While it’s important our teachers have strong literacy and numeracy skills, some people from diverse backgrounds can find tests <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1996-12938-001">threatening</a> and underperform. We need to consider whether there are alternatives that are equally valid. </p>
<p>School context and culture is also important. Encouraging a person from a minority group into teaching won’t help if the structures and cultures in the workplace don’t support them and cater for diversity. </p>
<p>School leadership, parents and students need to recognise that staff diversity strengthens the school, and support minority staff appropriately.</p>
<p>We need to make sure schools are places where diverse teachers feel valued and can flourish. </p>
<p>Policymakers and schools must recognise teacher workforce diversity is a key component of school quality.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-teachtok-is-helping-teachers-connect-with-their-students-on-tiktok-202240">How 'TeachTok' is helping teachers connect with their students on TikTok</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214564/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Suzanne Rice received funding from the Jack Keating Scholarship Fund to complete this research. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alice Garner was affiliated with the Victorian Department of Education between 2014 and 2019 when employed as a secondary school teacher. During this period she was a member of the Australian Education Union. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lorraine Graham does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Australia’s teachers are predominantly Australian-born, female, and non-Indigenous. Most hail from middle-class backgrounds with urban upbringings, and are less likely to have disabilities.
Suzanne Rice, Senior Lecturer, Education Policy and Leadership, The University of Melbourne
Alice Garner, Honorary Research Fellow, Melbourne Graduate School of Education, The University of Melbourne
Lorraine Graham, Professor of Learning Intervention, The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/213361
2023-09-13T04:06:08Z
2023-09-13T04:06:08Z
Will free teaching degrees fix the teacher shortage? It’s more complicated than that
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547936/original/file-20230913-19-qwbuzj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C27%2C6016%2C3971&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/1_CMoFsPfso">Joanna Kosinska/Unsplash</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Victorian Premier Dan Andrews has opened a new front in the national campaign to <a href="https://www.nsw.gov.au/media-releases/nsw-teachers-to-receive-largest-pay-rise-in-decades">attract and retain</a> teachers. Amid ongoing <a href="https://ministers.education.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/Teacher%20Workforce%20Shortages%20-%20Issues%20paper.pdf">teacher shortages</a>, Victoria <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-09-12/victoria-free-secondary-teaching-degrees/102844100">will offer fee-free education</a> for high school teaching degrees from next year. </p>
<p>This is similar to the <a href="https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/making-it-free-study-nursing-and-midwifery">free nursing degrees</a> Victoria announced in 2022 to create an “army of home-grown health workers”.</p>
<p>But is it going to fix the problem? </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/governments-are-making-nursing-degrees-cheaper-or-free-these-plans-are-not-going-to-help-attract-more-students-189547">Governments are making nursing degrees cheaper or 'free' – these plans are not going to help attract more students</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What was announced?</h2>
<p>On Tuesday, the Victorian government announced a <a href="https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/making-teaching-free-back-our-school-workforce">A$230 million teaching package</a>. </p>
<p>This includes scholarships to cover the costs of a high school teaching degree. Students will be required to work in Victorian government schools for two years after they graduate. This is expected to support about 8,000 “future teachers”. </p>
<p>There is a further $27 million to provide up to $50,000 in incentives for graduates to work in hard-to-staff schools, both in metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas. There is also $95.7 million to support and mentor first year teachers. </p>
<p>It’s an attractive package. But it’s very unlikely to address the core of the problem. That’s because access to tertiary study and incentives to relocate are not the <a href="https://theconversation.com/its-great-education-ministers-agree-the-teacher-shortage-is-a-problem-but-their-new-plan-ignores-the-root-causes-188660">root causes</a> of teachers shortages, particularly <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/epub/10.1177/00049441211066357">in rural and remote areas</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A student carries a stack of books." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547938/original/file-20230913-17-c5c0ko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547938/original/file-20230913-17-c5c0ko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547938/original/file-20230913-17-c5c0ko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547938/original/file-20230913-17-c5c0ko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547938/original/file-20230913-17-c5c0ko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547938/original/file-20230913-17-c5c0ko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547938/original/file-20230913-17-c5c0ko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Victorian government hopes to encourage an extra 8,000 students into the teaching profession.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/jCIMcOpFHig">Element5 Digital/Unsplash</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>History tells us to be cautious</h2>
<p>History suggests free degrees will not see a surge of students applying to study teaching. </p>
<p>There was free university education in Australia between 1974 and 1989. Yet 1996 analysis showed the reintroduction of fees under the Hawke government was accompanied by <a href="https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ527928.pdf">an increase in university access</a>, rather than a reduction in student numbers.</p>
<p>Greater access to tertiary education also didn’t make it easier to find teachers for hard-to-staff schools. A 2019 <a href="https://researchsystem.canberra.edu.au/ws/portalfiles/portal/52676956/Researching_the_schoolhouse.pdf">University of Canberra review</a> looked at 20 years of evidence around attracting and retaining teachers in rural and remote communities, including financial incentives. It found “we are no closer to solving this perennial issue”.</p>
<p>International evidence <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03054985.2020.1775566">is mixed</a>. It shows financial incentives can lead to an immediate increase in enrolments for teaching courses, but this tapers off quickly once the incentive is removed (as appears to be the case here at the end of 2025). </p>
<p>Research also suggests cash incentives can convince some students who are open to the idea of teaching, yet undecided, to enrol. But there is <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/12/11/767">little chance</a> it will bring people into the profession who don’t already value teaching. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Three people sit around a table with laptops, smiling." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547961/original/file-20230913-17-gqnccm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547961/original/file-20230913-17-gqnccm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547961/original/file-20230913-17-gqnccm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547961/original/file-20230913-17-gqnccm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547961/original/file-20230913-17-gqnccm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547961/original/file-20230913-17-gqnccm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547961/original/file-20230913-17-gqnccm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People with no interest in teaching are unlikely to be convinced by a free degree.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/g1Kr4Ozfoac">Brooke Cagle/Unsplash</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>It’s a question of motivation</h2>
<p>Like nursing, the motivation for pursuing a teaching career is driven by a <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780203119273-1/people-choose-teaching-career-paul-richardson-helen-watt">range of factors</a> largely unrelated to pure financial incentives. </p>
<p>Those who choose, and remain in, teaching beyond their first few years are <a href="https://bera-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/berj.3887">typically attracted</a> by the intellectual stimulation, social benefits of teaching and opportunity to have a positive impact on people’s lives.</p>
<p>Students motivated predominantly by financial incentives may well get a reality check when they encounter their first practical experience in a classroom, particularly in a hard-to-staff school. </p>
<p>Schools also need to be positive and safe places to work if we want to attract and keep teachers. In a December 2022 review, the Productivity Commission noted “<a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/school-agreement/report/school-agreement-overview.pdf">low value</a>” administrative tasks meant teachers were not spending enough time teaching. </p>
<p>There have also been repeated reports about <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/teacher-made-to-apologise-for-giving-child-improvement-strategies-20230815-p5dwqa.html">unreasonable expectations</a> and even abuse from parents, as well as student behavioural issues. </p>
<p>Unfortunately many teachers report their work is leaving them <a href="https://theconversation.com/school-principals-are-reaching-crisis-point-pushed-to-the-edge-by-mounting-workloads-teacher-shortages-and-abuse-201777">stressed and burned out</a> – and wanting to leave the profession. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/they-phone-you-up-during-lunch-and-yell-at-you-why-teachers-say-dealing-with-parents-is-the-worst-part-of-their-job-191256">'They phone you up during lunch and yell at you' – why teachers say dealing with parents is the worst part of their job</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>We need to look beyond teaching degrees</h2>
<p>It’s good to see almost $96 million in the package to support first year teachers’ transition into the profession through “extra preparation time, mentoring and other professional support”. </p>
<p>This is consistent with the <a href="https://www.education.gov.au/teaching-and-school-leadership/resources/national-teacher-workforce-action-plan">national plan</a> to address teacher shortages, released by federal and state education ministers in late 2022.</p>
<p>But we also need <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/epub/10.1177/00049441211066357">ongoing measures</a>. This includes professional and practical supports. </p>
<p>Adequate housing for teachers amid a housing affordability crisis <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13384-023-00621-z">remains a challenge</a>. The impracticality of being posted to a regional school without housing is self-evident.</p>
<p>Community and social connections <a href="https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte/vol45/iss5/2/">are also vital</a> for new teachers who move to non-metropolitan areas for work.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-wont-solve-the-teacher-shortage-until-we-answer-these-4-questions-203843">We won't solve the teacher shortage until we answer these 4 questions</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>More questions</h2>
<p>This package is an important and welcome response to teacher shortages. But it is unlikely to fix the problem and leaves us with some questions.</p>
<p>The funding is only for high school teachers. Could this attract students potentially interested in primary teaching and make primary school supply issues a greater problem? </p>
<p>The funding is only for enrolments in 2024 and 2025 and only for government schools. What happens in two years’ time? Could the package be extended to private and Catholic schools?</p>
<p>A two-year package with free degrees may seem like good politics (and it makes a good headline). But we need to look at the bigger picture and examine issues such as working conditions, professional development, and the way our society supports teachers so they can keep doing the essential work they do.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213361/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Kidson works in the National School of Education at the Australian Catholic University. ACU provides initial teacher education in Victoria.</span></em></p>
The Victorian government has announced a $230 million package to encourage an extra 8,000 ‘future teachers’ into the profession.
Paul Kidson, Senior Lecturer in Educational Leadership, Australian Catholic University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/211957
2023-09-05T15:05:31Z
2023-09-05T15:05:31Z
Ghana’s colonial past and assessment use means education prioritises passing exams over what students actually learn – this must change
<p>Formal education in the Gold Coast, now Ghana, was introduced during the 15th century when Europeans came to its shores to trade. Education was only accessible to children of women married to western traders, and it focused on teaching them how to read and write. The primary aim was to create an educated class to support and run colonial activities. </p>
<p>By 1882, Britain was established as the colonial power in the region. Educational opportunities were limited, and educational assessments served as the gatekeeper to education. They focused on academic knowledge and English proficiency. Results were used to select students for higher education and white-collar jobs. </p>
<p>The roots of this practice are still evident in Ghana’s education system. Students are streamed into three tiers of secondary schools, with disparities in educational resources across streams. </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0969594X.2023.2242004">recent study</a> explored the history of educational assessment in Ghana, and how colonisation and political accountability shaped the use of assessment information in schools. We observed that assessment has primarily served accountability purposes, obscuring its function of improving students’ learning. </p>
<h2>Influence of colonisation</h2>
<p>The colonial legacy of assessment still influences Ghana’s current testing practices, through a system that emphasises imperialist notions of merit and achievement.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.waec.org/">West African Examinations Council</a>, responsible for mandated tests in anglophone west African countries, including Ghana, was established by the British in 1950. Ghana’s assessment system still relies largely on this framework, as western universities require excellent scores on these tests for undergraduate admissions. Additionally, high-stakes examinations persist due to the pressure to meet global education standards through international comparisons of student achievement. </p>
<h2>Political accountability</h2>
<p>It is common for Ghanaians to measure the quality of education by the number of students who pass the national mandated testing. Student assessments are used as political performance indicators and tools for public policy and political accountabiltiy. For example, over the past five years, the government has <a href="https://www.graphic.com.gh/news/education/govt-spends-gh-68-5-million-to-procure-past-questions-for-shs-final-year-students-minister.html">invested</a> about US$5.8 million to buy past exam questions to assist students. </p>
<p>Teachers are also held accountable for students’ performance in national exams. As a result, they end up <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/20004508.2022.2110673">teaching with the primary motive</a> of preparing students for these tests. Educators and students focus on exam success rather than learning. </p>
<h2>Free schooling</h2>
<p>To support inclusive and equitable access to education and increase enrolment rates, Ghana introduced a free senior high school policy in 2017. Yet disparities in access to and enrolment in secondary education persist between children from different socioeconomic backgrounds.</p>
<p>Critics argue that the policy was hastily implemented for political reasons, lacking proper consideration of its long-term implications and costs. Others argue that the policy is a way to increase enrolment in secondary schools. </p>
<p>Importantly, its effectiveness is tied to students’ performance in the <a href="http://www.waecgh.org/bece">Basic Education Certificate Examination</a>. A student’s outcome on this examination also determines their placement in one of the secondary school streams via a computerised system.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ghanas-high-school-system-sets-many-students-up-for-failure-it-needs-a-rethink-182465">Ghana's high school system sets many students up for failure: it needs a rethink</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The policy mostly benefits students who pass the exam and qualify for placement. Those who come from low socioeconomic backgrounds or rural areas are often at a disadvantage. </p>
<p>Failing the exam hinders students from progressing to senior high schools or technical institutes in Ghana.</p>
<h2>Influence of high-stakes exam</h2>
<p>The high-stakes nature of large-scale assessments in Ghana’s education system fosters disengagement among poor students and teachers. </p>
<p>The focus on exams overshadows the intended learning goals of teaching and many other forms of assessment. Evaluation of teachers and schools is linked to student performance in tests. Teachers therefore tend to narrow their curriculum to what’s tested. This means:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>creativity and meaningful learning are eroded</p></li>
<li><p>some pupils struggle to master the curriculum content </p></li>
<li><p>there’s less teaching time for students with special needs </p></li>
<li><p>there may be unethical practices to ensure students pass. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>Students from low socio-economic backgrounds and those with special learning needs often find themselves marginalised by these assessments. Ultimately, the results of large-scale assessments segregate students into <a href="https://theconversation.com/ghanas-high-school-system-sets-many-students-up-for-failure-it-needs-a-rethink-182465">categories</a> of secondary schools, based on limited resources. </p>
<h2>Future directions and policy implications</h2>
<p>The principle of fairness implies that students’ progression shouldn’t rely on a single test score, as is the case in Ghana. To meet the country’s equity goals, the system should consider diverse indicators and assessments of student learning.</p>
<p>The educational access policies of Ghana provide an opportunity to reform assessments. They can shed their colonial roots and encourage high quality teaching and student learning. </p>
<p>Reformed policies should balance various forms and purposes of assessment, and provide teacher guidelines and professional development. </p>
<p>Transforming Ghana’s testing culture to one that supports meaningful learning and equitable educational outcomes is a considerable challenge. But it’s an essential one if the country is to reach equitable education for all.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211957/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Ghanaians measure the quality of education by examination scores.
David Baidoo-Anu, Researcher, Faculty of Education, Queen's University, Ontario
Christopher DeLuca, Associate Dean, School of Graduate Studies & Professor, Faculty of Education, Queen's University, Ontario
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/211650
2023-09-05T12:31:24Z
2023-09-05T12:31:24Z
I love swords, so I designed a course on how to use them to succeed in life
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544847/original/file-20230826-29838-e4gftt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=44%2C51%2C4230%2C2792&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Can knowing how to handle a sword help in other areas of life?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/woman-with-katana-black-background-royalty-free-image/185056501?phrase=samurai+sword&adppopup=true">by_nicholas/E+ via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Text saying: Uncommon Courses, from The Conversation" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499014/original/file-20221205-17-kcwec8.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
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</figure>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/uncommon-courses-130908">Uncommon Courses</a> is an occasional series from The Conversation U.S. highlighting unconventional approaches to teaching.</em> </p>
<h2>Title of course:</h2>
<p>“Samurai Swordsmanship”</p>
<h2>What prompted the idea for the course?</h2>
<p>When I was very young, I was intrigued by swords. Maybe that was a result of watching too many <a href="https://vimeo.com/1937576">sword scenes from Errol Flynn movies</a>. At any rate, the result was that when I was working on my bachelor’s degree, I began participating in European fencing, which is a style of competition using a foil – which is a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/sports/foil-sword">sword with a light, flexible blade</a> – or a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/technology/rapier-sword">rapier</a> with a protective tip. This style of competition is very popular and can be seen in the Olympics.</p>
<p>Then I saw a gentleman demonstrate techniques and movements with a samurai sword, a Japanese katana,
and I was instantly hooked. I began training in <a href="https://www.iaido.com/Iaido.html">iaido</a> – which is the art of unsheathing and using the Japanese katana.</p>
<p>The katana is a <a href="https://katana-sword.com/blogs/katana-blog/who-invented-the-katana">sword developed during the Kamakura period</a> – from 1185 to 1333 – and it became my passion. The idea for this course came from my desire to share this passion with others.</p>
<h2>What does the course explore?</h2>
<p>The most obvious subject covered in the class, which I teach at the University of Tennessee, involves the various techniques of using the sword. The techniques are from iaido and are centuries old.</p>
<p>In this course, bokken are used to practice the techniques. Bokken are wooden training tools which are used to ensure the safety of beginning practitioners. The techniques taught in this course are very close to the same techniques that the samurai trained with hundreds of years ago. But, in addition, the course delves into the mental and emotional aspects of iaido.</p>
<p>Iaido is about maintaining mental and emotional balance in the midst of turmoil. This course explores some of the strategies that enable the student to achieve that mastery over themselves. A good example of that would be the use of positive self-affirmations. For instance, if we were to look at ourselves in the mirror and think to ourselves, “I am overweight and out of shape,” we are programming ourselves to have a negative self-image. By using positive self-affirmations, we change that observation of self to, “I am working toward being in the kind of shape that I want to be in.” We are then programming ourselves to have a more positive self-image because we are improving. The self-image that we program into ourselves has a large influence on our daily interactions with the world around us. </p>
<h2>Why is this course relevant now?</h2>
<p>In our modern culture, people often maintain an extremely fast pace. Information and stimuli bombard us at a rate never seen before, and it can be overwhelming. Being able to maintain a sense of calm and inner peace in the midst of this maelstrom is key, and a very real challenge. Iaido is centered around achieving and maintaining that balance. </p>
<h2>What’s a critical lesson from the course?</h2>
<p>The martial arts are so much more than a recreational pursuit. If used properly, lessons learned from martial arts can be applied in a peaceful, nonviolent manner every day, allowing us to achieve our true potential.</p>
<h2>What materials does the course feature?</h2>
<p>Research has shown that when students process information <a href="https://www.rasmussen.edu/degrees/education/blog/types-of-learning-styles/">in different ways</a>, they are <a href="https://www.educationcorner.com/the-learning-pyramid.html">more likely</a> to <a href="https://nap.nationalacademies.org/read/10129/chapter/8#118">retain the information</a>.</p>
<p>Based on that, in this class the students see the techniques performed, then they perform the techniques, and then they sketch and describe the techniques. This provides an opportunity to not only process the information multiple times but to process the information in multiple ways.</p>
<h2>What will the course prepare students to do?</h2>
<p>At the end of this course, students should have a good foundation in samurai swordsmanship, specifically iaido.</p>
<p>Essentially, iaido is about helping students learn how to find peace and harmony within themselves and how to maintain a calm and peaceful manner when faced with a stressful situation. </p>
<p>The students will learn realistic swordsmanship as well as self-defense techniques. Also, students will receive the benefits from the physical workout as well as an appreciation for a holistic approach to a healthy lifestyle.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211650/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lancing C. England Ed.S. holds a 9th Degree Black Belt in Satori-Ryu Iaido, under the instruction of Dale S. Kirby Sr., the founder. </span></em></p>
A former fencer who fell in love with the samurai sword explains how learning to wield the weapon can help people stave off trouble in other areas of life.
Lancing C. England, Instructor, University of Tennessee
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/209305
2023-08-14T12:23:35Z
2023-08-14T12:23:35Z
The same people excel at object recognition through vision, hearing and touch – another reason to let go of the learning styles myth
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542202/original/file-20230810-22046-z0l1ej.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=57%2C2%2C1432%2C895&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Teachers want to connect with students in ways that help them learn.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://flic.kr/p/MPreq6">Government of Prince Edward Island</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The idea that individual people are visual, auditory or kinesthetic learners and learn better if instructed according to these learning styles is <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2023.1147498">one of the most enduring neuroscience myths in education</a>.</p>
<p>There is no proof of the value of learning styles as educational tools. According to experts, believing in learning styles amounts to believing in astrology. But this “neuromyth” keeps going strong.</p>
<p>A 2020 review of teacher surveys revealed that <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2020.602451">9 out of 10 educators believe students learn better</a> in their preferred learning style. There has been no decrease in this belief since the approach was debunked as early as 2004, despite efforts by <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1539-6053.2009.01038.x">scientists</a>, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/04/the-myth-of-learning-styles/557687/">journalists</a>, <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-problem-with-learning-styles/">popular science magazines</a>, <a href="https://poorvucenter.yale.edu/LearningStylesMyth">centers</a> <a href="https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/learning-styles-preferences/">for teaching</a> and <a href="https://youtu.be/rhgwIhB58PA">YouTubers</a> over that period. A <a href="https://www.worklearning.com/2006/08/04/learning_styles/">cash prize</a> offered since 2004 to whomever can prove the benefits of accounting for learning styles remains unclaimed. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, licensing exam materials for teachers in 29 states and the District of Columbia <a href="https://www.educationnext.org/stubborn-myth-learning-styles-state-teacher-license-prep-materials-debunked-theory/">include information on learning styles</a>. Eighty percent of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1475725719830301">popular textbooks</a> used in pedagogy courses mention learning styles. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-90792-1_6">What teachers believe can also trickle down to learners</a>, who may falsely attribute any learning challenges to a mismatch between their instructor’s teaching style and their own learning style. </p>
<h2>Myth of learning styles is resilient</h2>
<p>Without any evidence to support the idea, why do people keep believing in learning styles?</p>
<p>One possibility is that people who have <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2023.1147498">incomplete knowledge about the brain</a> might be more susceptible to these ideas. For instance, someone might learn about distinct brain areas that process visual and auditory information. This knowledge may increase the appeal of models that include distinct visual and aural learning styles. But this limited understanding of how the brain works misses the importance of multisensory brain areas that integrate information across senses. </p>
<p>Another reason that people may stick with the belief about learning styles is that the evidence against the model mostly consists of studies that have failed to find support for it. To some people, this could suggest that enough good studies just haven’t been done. Perhaps they imagine that finding support for the intuitive – but wrong – notion of learning styles simply awaits more sensitive experiments, done in the right context, using the latest flavor of learning styles. Despite scientists’ efforts to improve the reputation of <a href="https://www.insidescience.org/news/when-scientists-find-nothing-value-null-results">null results</a> and encourage their publication, <a href="https://frontlinegenomics.com/a-negative-result-is-positive-for-science/">finding “no effect” may simply not capture attention</a>.</p>
<p>But our recent research results do in fact contradict predictions from learning styles models.</p>
<p><a href="http://gauthier.psy.vanderbilt.edu/isabel-gauthier/">We are</a> <a href="https://jasonc.how/">psychologists</a> who study individual differences in perception. We do not directly study learning styles, but our work provides evidence against models that split “visual” and “auditory” learners. </p>
<h2>Object recognition skills related across senses</h2>
<p>A few years ago, we became interested in why some people become visual experts more easily than others. We began measuring individual differences in visual object recognition. We tested people’s abilities in performing a variety of tasks like matching or memorizing objects from several categories such as birds, planes and computer-generated artificial objects.</p>
<p>Using statistical methods historically applied to intelligence, we found that almost 90% of the differences between people in these tasks were <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/rev0000129">explained by a general ability we called “o”</a> for object recognition. We found that “o” was distinct from general intelligence, concluding that <a href="https://theconversation.com/people-vary-a-lot-in-how-well-they-recognize-match-or-categorize-the-things-they-see-researchers-attribute-this-skill-to-an-ability-they-call-o-182100">book smarts may not be enough to excel in domains</a> that rely heavily on visual abilities. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469066/original/file-20220615-9175-6vr9hj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="images of abstract objects, a chest X-ray, four versions of a prepared food and four imaginary robots" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469066/original/file-20220615-9175-6vr9hj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/469066/original/file-20220615-9175-6vr9hj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=581&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469066/original/file-20220615-9175-6vr9hj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=581&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469066/original/file-20220615-9175-6vr9hj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=581&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469066/original/file-20220615-9175-6vr9hj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=730&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469066/original/file-20220615-9175-6vr9hj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=730&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/469066/original/file-20220615-9175-6vr9hj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=730&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Examples of tasks that tap into object recognition ability, from top left: 1) Are these two objects identical despite the change in viewpoint? 2) Which lung has a tumor? 3) Which of these dishes is the oddball? 4) Which option is the average of the four robots on the right? Answers: 1) no 2) left 3) third 4) fourth.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Isabel Gauthier</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Discussing this work with colleagues, they often asked whether this recognition ability was only visual. Unfortunately we just didn’t know, because the kinds of tests required to measure individual differences in object perception in nonvisual modalities did not exist.</p>
<p>To address the challenge, we chose to start with touch, because vision and touch share their ability to provide information about the shape of objects. We tested participants with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1167/jov.22.14.3260">a variety of new touch tasks</a>, varying the format of the tests and the kinds of objects participants touched. We found that people who excelled at recognizing new objects visually also excelled at recognizing them by touch.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542197/original/file-20230810-15-gp9ykf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="images of hand touching 3D printed spaceships" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542197/original/file-20230810-15-gp9ykf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542197/original/file-20230810-15-gp9ykf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=240&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542197/original/file-20230810-15-gp9ykf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=240&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542197/original/file-20230810-15-gp9ykf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=240&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542197/original/file-20230810-15-gp9ykf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=302&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542197/original/file-20230810-15-gp9ykf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=302&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542197/original/file-20230810-15-gp9ykf.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=302&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In a task measuring haptic object recognition ability, participants touch pairs of 3D-printed objects without looking at them and decide if they are exactly the same.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Isabel Gauthier</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Moving from touch to listening, we were more skeptical. Sound is different from touch and vision and unfolds in time rather than space. </p>
<p>In our latest studies, we created a battery of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2023.105542">auditory object recognition tests</a> – <a href="https://jasonc.how/oa_demo/">you can test yourself</a>. We measured how well people could learn to recognize different bird songs, different people’s laughs and different keyboard sounds.</p>
<p>Quite surprisingly, the ability to recognize by listening was positively correlated with the ability to recognize objects by sight – we measured the correlation at about 0.5. A correlation of 0.5 is not perfect, but it signifies quite a strong effect in psychology. As a comparison, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heritability_of_IQ">mean correlation of IQ scores</a> between identical twins is around 0.86, between siblings around 0.47, and between cousins 0.15.</p>
<p>This relationship between recognition abilities in different senses stands in contrast to learning styles studies’ failure to find expected correlations among variables. For instance, people’s <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.98.1.238">preferred learning styles do not predict performance</a> on measures of pictorial, auditory or tactile learning.</p>
<h2>Better to measure abilities than preferences?</h2>
<p>The myth of learning styles is resilient. <a href="https://advances.asee.org/opinion-uses-misuses-and-validity-of-learning-styles/">Fans stick with the idea</a> and the perceived possible benefits of asking students how they prefer to learn.</p>
<p>Our results add something new to the mix, beyond evidence that accounting for learning preferences does not help, and beyond evidence supporting better teaching methods – like <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2020.100314">active learning</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/cogs.13047">multimodal instruction</a> – that actually do foster learning.</p>
<p>Our work reveals that people vary much more than typically expected in perceptual abilities, and that these abilities are correlated across touch, vision and hearing. Just as we can expect that a student <a href="https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543042003359">excelling in English is likely also to excel in math</a>, we should expect that the student who learns best from visual instruction may also learn just as well when manipulating objects. And because cognitive skills and perceptual skills are not strongly related, measuring them both can provide a more complete picture of a person’s abilities.</p>
<p>In sum, measuring perceptual abilities should be more useful than measuring perceptual preferences, because <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ase.1777">perceptual preferences consistently fail to predict student learning</a>. It’s possible that learners may benefit from knowing they have weak or strong general perceptual skills, but critically, this has yet to be tested. Nevertheless, there remains no support for the “neuromyth” that teaching to specific learning styles facilitates learning.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209305/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Isabel Gauthier receives funding from the National Science Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jason Chow does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The idea that each person has a particular learning style is a persistent myth in education. But new research provides more evidence that you won’t learn better in one modality than another.
Isabel Gauthier, David K. Wilson Professor of Psychology, Vanderbilt University
Jason Chow, Ph.D. Student in Psychological Sciences, Vanderbilt University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/209235
2023-07-24T20:09:35Z
2023-07-24T20:09:35Z
‘What would I say to the face of a student?’ Why some teachers are giving feedback via video
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538658/original/file-20230721-25-ojh79r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5356%2C3573&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Karolina Grabowska/Pexels</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It is really <a href="https://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/1821/2909">important</a> for students to see the human side of their teachers. They need to see them as real and caring people. </p>
<p>This helps students feel like they belong in the classroom, whether in real life or virtually. Building stronger student-teacher connections can also <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03075079.2021.1894115">increase</a> their motivation and self-confidence with their studies. </p>
<p>Feedback is a <a href="https://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-and-learning/professional-learning/teacher-quality-and-accreditation/strong-start-great-teachers/refining-practice/feedback-to-students">key component</a> of learning. </p>
<p>We know feedback can evoke <a href="https://jpaap.ac.uk/JPAAP/article/view/529">emotional responses</a> from students. Unfortunately, the design and delivery of assessment feedback is often <a href="https://theconversation.com/universities-are-failing-their-students-through-poor-feedback-practices-86756">very impersonal</a>. Perhaps students get a single mark or grade, or a few isolated comments. </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2022.2155610">study</a> looks at how teachers are using video feedback to humanise the feedback process. We spoke with ten university teachers from countries including Australia, Aotearoa/New Zealand, Canada, the United Kingdom, United States, Oman and South Korea. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-do-i-find-my-childs-school-report-so-hard-to-understand-207831">Why do I find my child's school report so hard to understand?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What is video feedback?</h2>
<p>Video feedback can be <a href="https://er.educause.edu/blogs/2021/2/back-to-feedback-basics-using-video-recordings">provided</a> in three ways: via a “talking head”, screen recording or both. </p>
<p>Talking head feedback is simply a recording of the teacher speaking to the camera. Screen-recorded feedback consists of a recording of the teacher’s computer screen, which enables the teacher to go through an assignment or piece of work on their screen. </p>
<p>Using both means the inset of the teacher is displayed within the screen recording. </p>
<h2>How long has it been around?</h2>
<p>Video has played a part in education since the 1960s, but using it to provide feedback was <a href="https://www.idunn.no/doi/full/10.18261/ISSN1891-943X-2012-02-02">relatively uncommon</a> until about a decade ago. </p>
<p>Our research looks at video feedback for university students, but it can be used at all stages of education, from as young as primary school. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="A woman sits on a couch, looking at her laptop, patting a cat." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538664/original/file-20230721-33880-qf0m3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538664/original/file-20230721-33880-qf0m3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538664/original/file-20230721-33880-qf0m3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538664/original/file-20230721-33880-qf0m3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538664/original/file-20230721-33880-qf0m3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538664/original/file-20230721-33880-qf0m3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538664/original/file-20230721-33880-qf0m3p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Video feedback can be used for all ages and stages or learning.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sam Lion/Pexels</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The steady increase in online learning and the most recent shifts to emergency remote teaching saw more teachers use video to complement written feedback, and to establish or maintain feelings of closeness. </p>
<p>Students have also reported being <a href="https://www.teqsa.gov.au/guides-resources/resources/sector-updates-and-alerts/foundations-good-practice-student-experience-online-learning-australian-higher-education-during-covid-19-pandemic">more reliant</a> on their assignment feedback in online learning than in face-to-face modes of study. </p>
<p>Previous research has shown students <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11528-021-00665-x">like receiving</a> video feedback. They say it feels <a href="https://doi.org/10.53761/1.16.4.6">more conversational, friendly and personal</a>. Research has also shown educators have noted <a href="https://der.monash.edu/technology-mediated-assessment-feedback/#why">enhanced</a> student engagement and improved marking efficiency and quality.</p>
<p>Our research digs deeper into why it can work.</p>
<h2>Using video to provide clear, kind and personalised feedback</h2>
<p>Some of our interviewees were motivated to use video feedback, based on their own experiences as students. As Ishaan* told us: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I received feedback, as an undergraduate 20 years ago, and I just looked at it and think I didn’t learn anything from my submissions […] and it kind of pissed me off.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Teachers also used videos to demonstrate to students that they had really looked at their work. And so they could see their work through the eyes of their teacher. </p>
<p>Anthony, a health educator, uses video feedback because it gives students the feeling that </p>
<blockquote>
<p>we are [together], you are sitting here with me although you are not really, and we are going through [the assignment]. </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>What should feedback do?</h2>
<p>Feedback is not about telling a student they are “wrong” or “right”. Our interviewees wanted students to think beyond mere grades or marks. </p>
<p>They said they wanted their feedback to help students be creative and critical in their learning and provoke self-reflection. As Alannah told us, she wanted to empower students to “solve their own problems and get insight into their own gaps”. </p>
<p>They said they wanted students to be open and receptive to feedback, so they could make use of it. As Marisol explained:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>feedback should be ‘feeding-forward’ somewhere or having some value that students see is going to influence the future assignment.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1588170534461775872"}"></div></p>
<h2>Video can show and tell</h2>
<p>Our interviewees said video helped them to give better, more specific feedback. This included being able to show examples and be empathetic in their language. </p>
<p>As Anthony explained: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>It’s not a case of being pejorative and saying this is no good […] Sometimes it’s just a matter of saying ‘I can see what you’ve tried to do. Here’s another way you could have done it that would have done what we wanted to do’.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Interviewees recognised students could view feedback as harsh or impersonal when teachers focuses on correction. But video can feel more like a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1466-769X.2003.00128.x">face-to-face conversation</a>. Marisol noticed how her written comments naturally emphasised students’ errors. In contrast, with video feedback, she imagines:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>the student watching me. I have the feeling of ‘What would I say to the face of a student?</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>But video alone is not enough</h2>
<p>Our interviewees stressed that video feedback still needed to be underpinned by good design.</p>
<p>They said the feedback process would be improved if it was more interactive. As Otto said, it should be “more like a conversation […] more frequent but less big”. Marisol said there should be opportunities for students to reply. </p>
<p>Interviewees also talked about the need for assignments to connect or <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2021.1968338">build on one another</a>, so students can use the feedback from one assignment to the next and make comparisons with their own previous work. </p>
<p>While video feedback is now <a href="https://help.canvas.yale.edu/a/920472-submitting-audio-video-feedback-to-a-student">built in</a> to most online learning platforms, <a href="https://apo.org.au/node/97751">one in five</a> Australian households only access the internet through a phone. As Farah acknowledged, video feedback may not be not feasible for all students and educators. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>We have poor connection in some areas. And some students, they don’t have internet connection. </p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-need-to-change-the-way-universities-assess-students-starting-with-these-3-things-203048">We need to change the way universities assess students, starting with these 3 things</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What next?</h2>
<p>Our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2022.2155610">findings</a> should encourage schools and universities to incorporate video into their feedback. </p>
<p>Not only can it engage and encourage students to learn, but it can do so with <a href="https://ijet.itd.cnr.it/index.php/td/article/view/1241">care</a>, <a href="https://teachinginhighered.com/podcast/a-pedagogy-of-kindness/">kindness</a>. </p>
<p><em>*names have been changed</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209235/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This study was derived from the author's Master of Education minor thesis at Deakin University. The project team included Professor Rola Ajjawi and Dr. Jessica Holloway. </span></em></p>
A study interviewed university teachers to see how they are using video feedback to humanise their feedback to students. But this kind of feedback can be used for much younger students as well.
Ameena L. Payne, Doctoral Candidate, Deakin University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.