The school principal is responsible for transmitting mission, vision, and values in and out the school, with a stronger, clearer emphasis for the success and well-being of students. Competency standard is defined as a guide that names the behaviours expected for the directions to do an effective job in their schools. This article presents the…

This paper describes an action research project to develop online, self-access listening resources mirroring the authentic academic contexts experienced by graduate university students. Current listening materials for English as an Additional Language (EAL) students mainly use Standard American English or Standard British pronunciation, and far…

The current research examines the effect of two methods of vocabulary training on reading fluency and comprehension of adult English as second language (ESL) tertiary-bound students. The methods used were isolated vocabulary training (bottom-up reading) and vocabulary training in context (top-down reading). The current exploratory and…

The history and current state of Chinese teaching in Australia has largely been determined by two key factors: first, the country's policy on languages, and in particular its policy regarding foreign language education; and second, its immigrants and overseas students from Chinese-speaking countries and regions. Beginning in the 1980s, Chinese…

The Melbourne International School of Japanese (MISJ) is a supplementary Saturday school which offers Japanese language and mathematics taught in Japanese from kindergarten to senior secondary level. Classes are scheduled on Saturdays from 9am to 3pm and approximately half of the program is dedicated to mathematics. While mathematics education…

In this article the authors will outline and describe the recent implementation of Unified English Braille (UEB) in Australia's complex school systems. The New South Wales Department of Education and Communities (NSW/DEC) played a leading role in the process. The education sector at all levels in Australia appears to have embraced the introduction…

The use of handheld CAS technology in undergraduate mathematics courses in Australia is paradoxically shrinking under sustained disapproval or disdain from the professional mathematics community. Mathematics education specialists argue with their mathematics colleagues over a range of issues in course development and this use of CAS or even…

This paper examines how students in a third year management unit at a university of technology in Australia evaluate the usefulness of film as a tool for developing a deeper understanding of the theoretical leadership effectiveness model developed by Robbins (1997). The study reviews the range of studies describing the use of films in teaching…

The present article attempts to show how important and easy it is to use authentic material in the classroom. However, the teacher who copies news reports from the Internet may infringe the copyright law. The article offers a comparative analysis of copyright laws in Common Law countries and the EU countries in relation to fair use. The article…

In this article the authors report on the use of a scaffolding pedagogy (Gibbons, 2009), informed by systemic functional linguistics, to support the writing of English language learners in middle years curriculum learning. They focus on the work of one teacher and her English class across the first 18 months of a longitudinal design-based literacy…

Texts in Aboriginal English (AE) and creole varieties have been created by Indigenous and non-Indigenous writers for a range of purposes. In this paper, we focus on materials created in and for five educational contexts, and investigate the orthographic or spelling systems developed in each setting. Choices about orthography are guided by…

This paper describes a study aimed at assessing the ability of report templates to help students learn key concepts during undergraduate laboratory classes. The report templates were designed so that a set of assessment questions led the students through the logical steps required to perform the laboratory exercise and to calculate the required…

This study analysed the extent to which student-led inquiry is supported by fieldwork booklet design. Roberts' (2003) framework for learning through inquiry was used as lens for analysing the presence of student-led inquiry in the design of nine fieldwork booklets. Observations of teaching practice from two fieldwork activities were also analysed…

Having trouble finding the right app? In this article, Kevin Larkin discusses the difficulties teachers encounter when searching the App Store for high quality, appropriate apps that support students' mathematical learning. Kevin provides a useful link to a collection of over 100 app reviews.

This paper examines the impact of supplementary web-based materials on students' academic performance in a first-year economics unit at university. In particular, the paper considers the impact of students' usage of the unit's webpage, voluntary on-line discussion board, voluntary on-line quizzes and voluntary on-line homework questions on their…