Big ideas, sometimes referred to as key, core, fundamental or threshold concepts, are widely applicable concepts at the heart of disciplines that are or have been central and influential for their fields. Attention here is particularly directed to meta-concepts common to sister disciplines in the sciences. "Learning thresholds",…

This paper attempts to move beyond a critique of historically dominant ways of thinking about teaching and learning relationships to offer a conceptualization of relational pedagogy from a theological perspective. It offers commentary on the potential of relational pedagogy for Christian faith-based schools informed by the scholarship of German…

To support international students better, Australian institutions have called for the internationalization of the curriculum. Internationalization is defined as the integration of international or inter-cultural dimensions into the teaching, research, and service functions of higher education institutions. However, the process of…

The ideas and philosophies of preservice secondary music teachers (PSMTs) are formalized in their tertiary education years. In these years, PSMTs must reconcile the expectations, beliefs, and values espoused by their lecturers, tutors, and other significant people from their past. PSMTs have accumulated various musical experiences through prior…

The development of culturally and social inclusive curricula is an important aspect of teaching geography. In countries such as Australia with a history of colonial oppression and dispossession the need to acknowledge Indigenous history and peoples in teaching is vital. This paper reports on the lessons learned from being part of the Indigenous…

The globalisation of higher education and the resultant increase in the cultural and linguistic diversity of the student body has cast the spotlight on English language proficiency as never before. How universities best assess applicants' linguistic suitability for their future degree studies, set appropriate proficiency thresholds, and put in…

Partnership in higher education has gained prominence over recent decades, but recent studies have identified a lack of research exploring how partnership practices unfold in specific disciplinary contexts. This article explores how a transdisciplinary approach can be used to better understand and facilitate student-staff partnerships where staff…

Cultural hegemony permeates society and is spread through social institutions. These institutions socialize people into the norms, values and beliefs of the dominant social groups. Moreover, cultural hegemony is spread and perpetuated through education in the form of compulsory education, a national curriculum, national assessments, as well as the…

This article explores the perceived disconnect between informal and formal musical knowledge, through a focused case study which aligned students' informal knowledge with aspects of the formal curriculum. The upper high school or senior secondary student participants had a background in the creation and performance of popular and contemporary…

In February 2020, the Ministry of Education asked the New Zealand Council for Educational Research (NZCER) to examine the curriculum-levelling construct that sits at the heart of The New Zealand Curriculum (Ministry of Education, 2007). A key goal of the research was to investigate, whether-- and if so, how--the construct helps (or hinders)…

This paper uses a trial audit of history programs undertaken in 2011-­2012 to explore issues surrounding the attainment of Threshold Learning Outcomes (TLOs) in an emerging Australian national standards environment for the discipline of history. The audit sought to ascertain whether an accreditation process managed by the discipline under the…

The decision by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) to develop language-specific curricula marks an important shift for the teaching and learning of languages in Australia. This decision brings with it a number of important considerations in developing language-specific curricula. It is necessary, for example, to…

Aligning curricula and assessment with the skills required by employers and, more recently, government standards is easier said than done. Through detailing a case study in failure to incorporate required graduate attributes into a postgraduate accounting programme, we explore the tensions among competing interests within Australian universities…

This paper presents an example of constructive alignment in practice. Integrated technology supports were deployed to increase the consistency between learning objectives, activities and assessment and to foster student-centred, higher-order learning processes in the unit. Modifications took place over nine iterations of a second-year Marketing…

A particular view of literacy is proposed, as comprising three intermeshing dimensions: the operational, the cultural, and the critical. The significance of the school subjects as specific contexts for learning and meaning is discussed. A case is made for a strategic emphasis on writing in school learning. (Author/MLW)