The concept of "advanced skills" for vocational education and training (VET) teachers is a little-debated topic in the discourse about quality in Australian VET, yet arguably what makes for a "good" VET teacher ought to be a prominent issue. There has however, been some sporadic interest in the topic with Mitchell, in…

This study focuses on two preservice teachers who experienced significantly different mentoring relationships in their two placements during a one-year teaching degree in a university in Western Australia. Data were collected through three rounds of semi-structured interviews, reflective journals and classroom observations. The findings indicated…

Research indicates an increased enrolment of students in Australian universities who are deaf or hard of hearing. However, research relating to these students' professional practicum experiences in schools as pre-service teachers of secondary education is limited, with no account of a deaf or hard of hearing pre-service teacher in the Health and…

This paper explores the successful mentoring of Timor-Leste early years teachers by Australian teachers to expand their knowledge and practice of child-centred play-based pedagogy. The mentoring programme for the Timorese teachers occurred through an extended visit to a school in Victoria, Australia, for eight weeks to work with mentor teachers in…

The research reported on in this paper is a qualitative case study of secondary school teachers' interpretations of how they work with a component of the Australian national curriculum, the seven "general capabilities." The case study of four secondary school teachers utilized teacher interviews eliciting via descriptive analysis how…

Differentiating writing instruction has been a puzzling matter for English teachers when it comes to teaching creative writing to high potential and high performing (HPHP) students. The lack of differentiation in creative writing pedagogy for HPHP students in Australia is due to two major issues: (1) teachers' lack of high-level linguistic and…

This paper reports on the current experience of one higher education institution in Australia embarking on the path towards mainstreaming online learning opportunities by providing three complementary academic development initiatives that can inform strategies undertaken by other institutions internationally. First, an academic development program…

That the quality of teachers' knowledge has direct impact on students' engagement and learning outcomes in mathematics is now well established. But questions about the nature of this knowledge and how to characterise that knowledge are important for mathematics educators. In the present study, we examine a strand of "Specialised Content…

Almost every higher education institution is challenged to develop increasing numbers of staff to teach online or blended modes of learning. The process needs to be rapid, cost-effective and lead directly to practical outcomes. From our experience, we had little time, opportunity or the need to start from scratch, and we chose to adopt and adapt a…

This paper discusses the results of a three-year mixed methods study into the effectiveness of a mathematics education unit. This was written for both pre-service primary education students and re-training in-service teachers, to prepare them for the teaching of pre-algebra and early algebra. The unit was taught rom 2013 to 2015 inclusively in a…

No literature exists on English teaching efficacy or self-efficacy or on pre-service teachers' English teaching self-efficacy and its relationship to pre-service teacher education. This project addressed this conceptual and methodological gap in current teacher efficacy research literature. Five pre-service English teachers in their final year of…

Teacher education students confront the challenging task of acquiring a unique and complex set of skills during their courses. These skills are acquired through the study of education theory together with practical experience in the classroom. Perhaps one of the most important skills that students quickly need to develop is that of reflective…

Peter J. Anderson and Bernadette Atkinson teach Indigenous and Traditionally Education in a Global World as a fourth year unit in the Faculty of Education at Monash University, Clayton. This paper is a self reflective piece of work where they discuss the use of graduate attributes relating to Indigenous Education, put forward by the Australian…

Evidence is mounting that values education is providing positive outcomes for students, teachers and schools (Benninga, Berkowitz, Kuehn, & Smith, 2006; DEST, 2008; Hattie, 2003; Lovat, Clement, Dally, & Toomey, 2010). Despite this, Australian pre-service teacher education does not appear to be changing in ways necessary to support…

Without support for the development of leadership talents and the chance to climb the career ladder, many teachers will leave the teaching sector in search of other career opportunities that will provide an outlet for their interests and talents. Coaching is potentially a way to help teachers fulfill, support and encourage their leadership…