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Attracting, preparing, and sustaining quality teachers in early education. This project aims to address the chronic shortage of early childhood teachers in Australia, which is compromising quality and return on investment in early education. The project expects to generate new understandings about this specialist teacher workforce through an innovative, ecological, longitudinal design that will track early childhood teachers’ career trajectories and develop a world-first tool to assess early chi ....Attracting, preparing, and sustaining quality teachers in early education. This project aims to address the chronic shortage of early childhood teachers in Australia, which is compromising quality and return on investment in early education. The project expects to generate new understandings about this specialist teacher workforce through an innovative, ecological, longitudinal design that will track early childhood teachers’ career trajectories and develop a world-first tool to assess early childhood teacher quality. Findings are expected to inform policy— including the Australian Government-endorsed 10-year national Workforce Strategy and the Australian Government's Early Years Strategy— to support the future sustained supply of a quality early childhood teacher workforce and improve outcomes for young children.Read moreRead less
Examining play-based approaches to teaching and learning in early childhood education and care. Children's learning in pre-school settings is important to their current and later educational success. This project offers a significant opportunity to examine how teachers teach, and children learn, through different approaches to play. It is anticipated that the conceptually-sustaining approach to play will support children's learning outcomes more so than other forms of play. Knowing about this ap ....Examining play-based approaches to teaching and learning in early childhood education and care. Children's learning in pre-school settings is important to their current and later educational success. This project offers a significant opportunity to examine how teachers teach, and children learn, through different approaches to play. It is anticipated that the conceptually-sustaining approach to play will support children's learning outcomes more so than other forms of play. Knowing about this approach to play will help teachers better understand the relationship between teaching, play and learning, instead of focussing only on play and learning. This will also help the field interpret the forthcoming Australian Early Years' Learning Framework, which advocates for the role of play in early childhood education.Read moreRead less
Learning about social and moral values for active citizenship: Educational policy and practice in early education. It is economically sound to invest in quality early education programs to ensure productive engagement for individuals in society. In particular, the early years are considered to be a significant period for learning moral and social values necessary to ensure a tolerant and cohesive society. This study will provide an evidence base for how educational policy and practice, informed ....Learning about social and moral values for active citizenship: Educational policy and practice in early education. It is economically sound to invest in quality early education programs to ensure productive engagement for individuals in society. In particular, the early years are considered to be a significant period for learning moral and social values necessary to ensure a tolerant and cohesive society. This study will provide an evidence base for how educational policy and practice, informed by teacher beliefs, do (or do not) support children's moral and social learning about active citizenship.Read moreRead less
Risky spaces: Children experiencing governance across school, home and community sites. Children's lives are being increasingly governed through adult policy and practices designed to protect children, but about which children themselves have hitherto had little say. This project invites young children to account for their experiences in managing risky spaces in everyday interactions at school, home and community. Risky spaces refer to those potentially dangerous social, political and economic ....Risky spaces: Children experiencing governance across school, home and community sites. Children's lives are being increasingly governed through adult policy and practices designed to protect children, but about which children themselves have hitherto had little say. This project invites young children to account for their experiences in managing risky spaces in everyday interactions at school, home and community. Risky spaces refer to those potentially dangerous social, political and economic sites of childhood. This is the first Australian project to investigate children's understandings of these matters. Outcomes will inform national educational and social policy directions and provide strategies for educators and human service providers working with young children and their families.
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Managing Risk in Primary Schools: Teachers' Professional Identity and Work Practices. This study seeks to investigate the ways that primary school teachers' identities and practices are being shaped in the context of differing State government mechanisms for risk management in relation to the care of children. The study will identify appropriate risk response conduct as it is understood by teachers from government and non-government schools in rural and urban locaions in Queensland and New South ....Managing Risk in Primary Schools: Teachers' Professional Identity and Work Practices. This study seeks to investigate the ways that primary school teachers' identities and practices are being shaped in the context of differing State government mechanisms for risk management in relation to the care of children. The study will identify appropriate risk response conduct as it is understood by teachers from government and non-government schools in rural and urban locaions in Queensland and New South Wales. It will then analyse these data to show how risk response practices are impacting on pedagogic work and professional identity,including any context-specific variations that may exist in such practices.Read moreRead less
Enhancing quality in long day care: Investigating professional beliefes and practices of child care workers. The Commonwealth Government's National Agenda for Early Childhood recognises the importance of quality of staff in children's services to ensure overall program quality. This research focuses on the vocational training for child care workers. It advances knowledge about how contextual and personal factors contribute to the development of epistemological beliefs about teaching in early ed ....Enhancing quality in long day care: Investigating professional beliefes and practices of child care workers. The Commonwealth Government's National Agenda for Early Childhood recognises the importance of quality of staff in children's services to ensure overall program quality. This research focuses on the vocational training for child care workers. It advances knowledge about how contextual and personal factors contribute to the development of epistemological beliefs about teaching in early education that enables child care workers to become more critical and reflective practitioners. The research recognises the directions of the National Strategy for Vocational Education and Training, 2004 -2010 which emphasise that vocational education needs to provide skills and knowledge which enhance employability and lifelong learning.Read moreRead less
Becoming numerate with information technologies in early childhood education. This project will create a detailed model of teaching and learning in numeracy using information technologies (IT) that will act as springboards for action for Australian teachers. It will investigate and document the ways in which numeracy can be learned through IT to produce students who are more technologically aware. Resulting data will inform the research and educational community about the cognitive and social as ....Becoming numerate with information technologies in early childhood education. This project will create a detailed model of teaching and learning in numeracy using information technologies (IT) that will act as springboards for action for Australian teachers. It will investigate and document the ways in which numeracy can be learned through IT to produce students who are more technologically aware. Resulting data will inform the research and educational community about the cognitive and social aspects of young children learning numeracy using IT. In this way the findings will be of strategic importance for planning education opportunities to produce citizens of the 21st century.Read moreRead less
Interacting with knowledge, interacting with people: web searching in early childhood. This study investigates the extent of pre-school children's Web searching, what they access and in what social contexts. Findings will inform educators and families about Web use for socially interactive learning and knowledge-building.
Emotional Transitions: Exploring Professional Transitions of Science Teachers. Research most needed to inform policy and practice for improving teacher education and the retention of new-science teachers is that which captures the experiences and development of the new teacher, particularly in the critical transition period from university to full-time work in schools. This period is fundamental to becoming a satisfied and effective teacher. Our study contributes significantly to national concer ....Emotional Transitions: Exploring Professional Transitions of Science Teachers. Research most needed to inform policy and practice for improving teacher education and the retention of new-science teachers is that which captures the experiences and development of the new teacher, particularly in the critical transition period from university to full-time work in schools. This period is fundamental to becoming a satisfied and effective teacher. Our study contributes significantly to national concerns for quality-teacher education by providing new insights into the emotions and identities of transitioning-science teachers in practice. The proposed study also models innovative procedures that can enrich subsequent longitudinal studies of teacher transitions and impact of teacher-education programs.Read moreRead less
Young student's generalisation in arithmetic and algebra: patterns and mathematical structure. The ability to generalise is at the heart of the development of most computer based mathematical models, models utilised to assist us in addressing our National Research Priorities. The short fall of scientists and mathematicians is a national concern. These issues begin at an early age. Presently, increasingly more young students are making minimal progress on numeracy measures and consequently failin ....Young student's generalisation in arithmetic and algebra: patterns and mathematical structure. The ability to generalise is at the heart of the development of most computer based mathematical models, models utilised to assist us in addressing our National Research Priorities. The short fall of scientists and mathematicians is a national concern. These issues begin at an early age. Presently, increasingly more young students are making minimal progress on numeracy measures and consequently failing to engage in higher levels of mathematics. The basis for this problem is experiential. This research promotes in-depth understanding of how young students generalise mathematics in the early years, thus allowing them access to the powerful ideas of algebra, leading to improved outcomes in mathematics. Read moreRead less