Planning mathematics learning sequences as a team is becoming increasingly common in Australian primary schools and is often referred to as "team planning" or "collaborative planning." The purpose of this article is to illustrate how a multi-age Year 5 and 6 primary school teaching team, authors Scott, Rai and Kristyn, grappled…

This paper reports on the findings from a study investigating the provision of outdoor loose parts materials for upper primary school aged children. Conducted in Queensland, Australia, the study focused on loose parts materials as cultural tools, following the sociocultural argument that tools mediate activity and outcomes. The findings suggest…

This study explored the consultation practices of Learning Support Teams (LSTs) in three NSW primary schools engaged in learning and wellbeing support for diverse students. An organisational ethnographic case study approach was used to explore behaviour, language and interactions within the school sites. Participants included learning support…

Teacher collaboration continues to be deeply grounded within effective professional development. Teacher teams, where small groups of teachers work together in teaching and learning, have become progressively more popular and are considered one of the most effective approaches to improvement and growth. However, teacher teams are situated within a…

Effective teamwork is integral to the functioning of many professions. Employers desire work-ready graduates who have developed the so-called 'soft skills' involved in teamwork. One way for students to practise and gain feedback on their team skills is through team-based assessment tasks. The TeamUP Rubric was developed to teach and assess five…

At a basic level, it makes sense to involve pre-service teachers in school-based experiences (SBE) as a way of preparing them for the teaching profession. Little is known, however, about how SBEs might prepare pre-service teachers as future teachers of particular learning areas. The purpose of this study was to explore the impacts and highlight…

The phrase 'next practice' was coined to indicate a shift from the notion of best practice to thinking more broadly about the needs of future learners and the ways in which teaching practice might align to support these needs. In understanding what next practice means for the classroom, this study was particularly interested in examining how…

At the turn of this century, expectations for learning mathematics by students with Down syndrome were low. Research and practice continued to indicate considerable difficulty with number and calculation (Bird & Buckley, 2001). Unfortunately, most authors extrapolated difficulty with number to difficulty with mathematics in general, even…

The process of planning mathematics lessons is complex and presents challenges for teachers, specifically in their Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching (MKT). In this paper, I describe findings from case study research in which a Year 1 teaching team engaged in professional reading and used a specific planning proforma to enhance their MKT.…

There is growing consensus that the process of planning mathematics lessons is as complex as teaching them, yet there is limited research on this. This paper reports on one aspect of a project examining issues in primary teachers' mathematics planning. The results, taken from a questionnaire completed by 62 primary teachers, indicate that when…

Background: The aim of the present study was to conduct a preliminary empirical evaluation of the KooLKIDS program, a school-based intervention that utilises a combination of whole-of-class and individual sessions for young children with early onset antisocial behaviour. Method: Trained facilitators delivered the 13-session program to a completer…

This article describes the need for, and the structure and contents of, a reading program to help support children disadvantaged by reading difficulties. The program, delivered by trained and supported volunteers, lasts for 15 weeks. It uses a novel dual approach which aims to improve students' reading skills and simultaneously enhance their…

Colleen Vale makes the case for professional learning teams collaborating together to improve their teaching and hence children's achievement. In this article she describes how this may be done. Along the way the teachers explored the idea of equivalence and the common conceptions and misconceptions held by children in their classes.

Early intervention (EI) for children with physical disabilities is advocated as a means of enhancing child outcomes and family functioning. The issues confronted by service providers in delivering this support have received relatively little attention. The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of the experiences of frontline EI staff…

Literate practice in the arts encompasses both aesthetics and creativity. It is also multimodal in nature and often collaborative. This article presents data collected from a small multi-age school, with children from Prep to Year 7, during their preparation for an end-of-year show. The children had studied the topics of conservation and…