The authors of this paper are academic developers in an Australian university. In this paper, we discuss the outcomes of a small pilot study about value tensions; completed to inform a larger research project about the possibilities of making collaborative collegiality an explicit aim of a curriculum review. After interviewing four course leaders,…

This paper presents a reflection on the methodology used for a qualitative longitudinal study of the teaching of Modern Greek (Greek) in Western Australia under the Seconded Teachers from Greece Scheme (STGS). The study, a first of its kind, addressed an area of need in the teaching of Greek, investigating the perspectives of the key stakeholders…

Teaching responsive to the needs of students with learning disabilities (LD) can be provided through understanding students' conceptions and their ways of learning. The current research, as a case study based on qualitative design, aimed to investigate the conceptions of students with learning disabilities with regard to the different…

This article explores the perceptions of deputy principals of formerly segregated township schools in South Africa on the concept of distributed leadership. In the apartheid dispensation, school leadership style was hierarchical and centralised on the principal, but now distributed leadership has gained global attention because it allows different…

University-based enabling programs (EPs) provide a tertiary pathway for up to twenty percent of undergraduate enrolments at Australian universities. Attrition from these programs and the resulting costs to students, universities and society at large is an important issue deserving research attention. This research project aimed to investigate the…

Professional experience is a critical aspect of teacher education. Therefore, the feedback given to teacher education students during this time is critical for their professional learning. However, the strong support in research and practice for formative assessment in the classroom has not always translated to feedback given on professional…

Understanding the nature of science (NOS) is one of the challenging objectives in science education due, in part, to the complex relationship between religion and science. This study examines how NOS teaching affects the perception of the NOS amongst religious, as compared to secular, students. The participants included 205 religious and secular…

Australia's teacher Professional Standards require teachers to demonstrate proficiency in Aboriginal pedagogy, history and perspectives. This paper will outline their introduction and the concern that teachers may feel about implementing them. It discusses the findings of a study investigating a group of primary teachers' perceptions of their…

Over the last two decades, psychological capital has gained prominence in the literature on positive organisational behaviour. However, further investigation is still needed in relation to this issue, particularly in the context of educational organisations. Accordingly, this study aimed to examine the contributing and damaging factors relating to…

Stimulated by my encounter with the strange term "hegemony"--a dominant ideology that is largely invisible to its adherents--I (first author) recently "returned" to my experiences of being in a secondary school chemistry class. Drawing on contemporary educational research paradigms, I designed an arts-based critical…

Since Rwanda decided that from 2009 English will be the sole medium of instruction from upper level primary school onwards, motivation for learning English has become an especially important issue. Therefore this study investigated motivation for Rwandan primary and secondary school students to learn English. The study was carried out in Nyagatare…

Physical sciences education comes with high expectations for learners to be successfully placed in tertiary institutions in related fields, and developing countries' aspirations to develop advanced and specialised skills to drive economies. However, some of the prevailing instructional strategies in science classrooms work to marginalise learners.…

Many overseas trained teachers migrate to Australia in search of different lifestyles. In their endeavour to find suitable teaching positions in public secondary schools, overseas trained teachers often confront multiple challenges. This study explored the different issues that 12 overseas trained teachers experienced before obtaining a teaching…

In this paper we describe the experiences of 64 unit coordinators across 15 Australian universities, gathered during 2011/2012 as part of an Office for Learning and Teaching (OLT) project. Our intention was to gain insight into how unit coordinators (academics who coordinate a discrete unit of study) perceive their role as leaders of learning in…

This paper presents the early findings from a study that addresses the topic of mature age professionals making a career change into the secondary teaching profession by undertaking a postgraduate coursework initial teacher education program. The paper specifically addresses the factors that affect the decision for mature age professionals to make…