Self-efficacy has been associated with benefits to everyday life such as resilience to stress and adversity, healthy behaviours, improved performance, and academic achievement. Research into self-efficacy development is scarce in early childhood, yet self-efficacy is associated with numerous skills and competencies taught in the early years of…

Technology can play a pivotal role in mathematics education. Qualitative methods were used to report on how a Year 1-2 teacher incorporated "Conveyance technology" (iPads), to support the teaching and learning of mathematics through student reasoning and problem-solving. The study was conducted in Australia. A single case was chosen,…

This article considers how teachers' encounters with a newly built learning space are complicit in the practices performed in that space. It builds on previous research into the relationship between learning spaces and pedagogical change by highlighting the acoustic aspects and how they were perceived by teachers in a primary school. Over two…

Understanding how children demonstrate creativity assists educators in designing learning experiences that foster this key competency. Frameworks such as the "A-E of Children's Creativity" assist in the analysis of children's creativity, presenting their creative thinking characteristics as five connected processes: agency, being…

Teachers have the ability to influence a child's sense of belonging and peer relationships in the classroom which are important for a child's social development. Currently, little is known about the ways in which they do this. Vygotsky's concept of the social situation of development and Hedegaard's model for learning and development were used to…

A key question concerning educational researchers is how to promote students' self-regulated learning (SRL) in regular classrooms. We address this question by examining the beliefs and practices of a primary school teacher who supported students' SRL by employing an experiential learning approach. We gathered data throughout an 11 weeks long…

All students should have access to learning experiences that help them make sense of important mathematical concepts. This study highlights teacher actions for consolidating student learning during teacher-lead discussion in the early years. We report on a case study of a Year 1 teacher involving a lesson observation. Highlights of the lesson…

The Australian government funded the West Australian project 'Reporting Values to Parents' as part of 'The Values in Action Schools Project' (2009). The two aims of the qualitative study were to develop a common values language supported by observable behaviours and an appreciation that values education is fundamental to schooling. Teachers used…

Engaging students in a challenging (cognitively demanding) task and launching a mathematics lesson with a task before instruction are two characteristics of a reform-oriented approach to mathematics instruction often considered together. The authors systematically contrasted teaching with challenging tasks using a task-first lesson structure with…

This paper examines the outcomes of a 4-year implementation of a mathematics program (Representations, oral language and engagement in Mathematics: RoleM) for Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island students' learning of mathematics across the first 4 years of primary school (Foundation--Year 3). It specifically aims to determine how…

Against a backdrop of advocacy for interdisciplinary STEM curricula, this paper explores the design principles underpinning a three-year longitudinal research project that develops and evaluates interdisciplinary mathematics and science learning sequences involving multiple teachers and student cohorts across the primary school years. The research…

The current investigation systematically contrasted teaching with cognitively demanding (challenging) tasks using a task-first lesson structure with that of a teach-first lesson structure in a primary school setting (Year 1 and 2). The findings indicate that there is more than one way of incorporating challenge tasks into mathematics lessons to…

Contemporary learning in Australia necessitates that students develop the capability to play an active role in their own learning. Yet, the student's role as an active agent in the learning process has not been fully examined. Drawing on the notion of assessment as generations informed by conflicting theoretical viewpoints, this paper explores how…

One of the challenges facing teacher educators is providing our pre-service teachers (PSTs) with authentic experiences that cross the boundaries between Initial Teacher Education (ITE) and the classroom. An additional challenge facing the mathematics teacher educator, is addressing and deepening PSTs' mathematical content knowledge (MCK), which…

Ten years ago, six teachers established a program of literacy intervention and professional learning in remote northwestern Australia based on the Reading Recovery principles. This group of teachers was determined to learn what had to happen in order for them to make a difference with students and then to make it happen. Their work led to getting…