The design of initial teacher education courses is to provide pre-service teachers with skills, processes and knowledge about the practice and profession of teaching. This allows graduate teachers to best service the learning needs of future students. A disposition of inquiry in relation to ongoing teacher learning is a significant aspect of…

This paper emerged from a larger project about Australian high performance school age athletes self-identified problems in balancing their academic and sporting lives. Teachers of student-athletes are ideally placed to observe stresses faced by these students, but little is published about teacher perspectives on this topic. A qualitative analysis…

This study contributed new findings to the construct of meaningful work (MW) and negative impacts on MW. In other professional samples, finding meaning in work has been shown to be an effective buffer when facing workplace adversity. However, prior investigation has neither identified nor explored the specific sources and mechanisms of meaningful…

Students' experiences with homework started the moment they enter the schooling system, yet very little is known about how students view homework. In this work, science students' views of homework, and the factors or experiences that have influenced their views of homework are explored. The participants for this work were 34 secondary school…

The practicum is internationally recognised as a valuable component of teacher education. It is an opportunity for pre-service teachers to develop teaching skills in authentic ways and pursue professional inquiry into practice. While extensive research has been conducted into the practicum generally, little research focuses on the practicum…

There is growing interest in the effectiveness of practitioner research for promoting teachers' professional learning. It is important to determine if and why practitioner research is effective for teachers, however, it is also necessary to determine what support they need to develop research skills to design and implement practitioner research.…

The aim of this study is both to determine the perceptions of pre-service science teachers towards the concepts of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial characteristics and to investigate the perceptions of pre-service science teachers regarding transferring the entrepreneurial characteristics to students. This study is designed as a qualitative…

Taking a sociocultural approach to understanding the phenomenon of learning to teach, this study examined the extent to which seven pre-service teachers, in their final year of a Bachelor of Education course in a regional Australian university campus, identified personal, professional and contextual aspects as significant influences on learning to…

In this study teacher educators' beliefs concerning primary geography education have been investigated and compared with primary school teachers' beliefs. In this study 45 teacher educators and 489 primary school teachers completed a questionnaire, and nine teacher educators have been interviewed as well. It has been found that teacher educators…

This paper explores the work of "becoming exceptional" amongst a group of preservice teachers taking part in the National Exceptional Teaching for Disadvantaged Schools program (NETDS). The NETDS program is directed towards mentoring and supporting outstanding preservice teachers to transition into the schools where they can make a…

Discrimination against LGBT individuals remains widespread across Australia. Since schools continue to promote regimes of heterosexuality and cis-normativity, teachers have a crucial role in creating contexts in which LGBT young people feel accepted and safe. Drawing on North's (2006) work on social justice and Connell's (2012) discussion of…

Governments and their policy decisions inevitably influence the pedagogical practices of teachers. There have been considerable curriculum changes and national reforms in Australia with the implementation of two very different national curricula documents in the early childhood sector in the last decade. The political landscape in Western…

Two studies were conducted to investigate the evolution of 71 Swiss vocational teachers' classroom management as a result of the inputs of a teacher education program, and to identify the factors that encouraged or impeded teacher change. Study 1 consisted of a longitudinal survey, and Study 2 of interviews. Longitudinal analyses were performed…

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…

Young people entering homelessness often do so while still at school. This study explores Australian teachers' and other student support staff perspectives of the experiences of students who are running away from home, the barriers to student help-seeking, and how local youth services can best support secondary schools to provide necessary…