Behavioral Impacts Associated With Students With Disabilities in Australian Schools

This chapter explores the link between students with disabilities, the behaviours they exhibit, the impact this has on their schooling, and the impact upon others. The author's school has a population of about 1,000 students, of whom over 10 percent have verified disabilities. According to Education Council (2016), data regarding the number of students with disabilities is inconsistent between schools in Australia's states and territories, however, there are schools throughout Australia that have large numbers of students with verified disabilities. This is reinforced by the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (2018) where in 2017 there were about 18.8 percent of Australian school students with a verified disability. It is not surprising, therefore, that these statistics are concerning and research continues to be a priority. Identifying appropriate pedagogies and more effective management strategies for these students will benefit them, their families, and the community, and contribute to solving pressing issues in these students' lives.

Fire as Unruly Kin: Curriculum Silences and Human Responses

Humans have ambiguous relationships with fire. The ability to control fire has been part of shaping human development and human society as well as the characteristics of Australian ecosystems, but bushfire is also a threat to all forms of life. The chemical process of combustion is also complicit in the Anthropocene and climate change, which threatens life as we know it. The current Australian curriculum generally ignores fire, and this needs reconfiguring. In this chapter we disrupt the traditional curriculum and argue for becoming-with fire as a pyro-pedagogy for teaching and learning with this unruly kin.

Teaching Secondary Geography

Geography is not only the study of the surface of the planet and the exploration of spatial and human - environment relationships, but also a way of thinking about the world. Guided by the Australian Curriculum and the Professional Standards for Teaching School Geography (GEOGstandards), Teaching Secondary Geography provides a comprehensive introduction to both the theory and practice of teaching Geography. This text covers fundamental geographical knowledge and skills, such as working with data, graphicacy, fieldwork and spatial technology, and provides practical guidance on teaching them in the classroom. Each chapter features short-answer and 'Pause and Think' questions to enhance understanding of key concepts, and 'Bringing It Together' review questions to consolidate learning. Classroom scenarios and a range of information boxes are provided throughout to connect students to additional material. Written by an author team with extensive teaching experience, Teaching Secondary Geography is an exemplary resource for pre-service teachers.

The case for a sub-element ‘measuring matter’ within the Australian national numeracy learning progression

Australia has a National Numeracy Learning Progression (NNLP) that is strongly aligned with the Australian Curriculum: Mathematics. This article examines how a sub-element within this progression could be impacting students’ learning of Science. This sub-element is firmly based on Mathematics education research as to how students build their understanding of geometric measurement (the structure of length, area and volume). Mathematics educators subsequently researched children’s measurement of mass and included it within the same sub-element of the NNLP. The contexts in which mass and volume are measured in Mathematics are different to those used in teaching Science. This article presents two studies that used variation theory and task-based interviews of children in Years 5 and 6, to explore their thinking about mass and volume in a Science context. The findings suggest that mathematical constructs in geometric measurement could be constraining the development of scientific ideas about matter. This research has implications for furthering the development of the NNLP to encompass scientific aspects of measuring matter.

The Comparison of Education System in Australia and Indonesia

The education system is a method for directing the educational process. All aspects of learning must be regulated by the educational system. Because each country has a unique system, it is necessary to compare the education system in Indonesia to that of other countries in order to assess and evaluate it. This paper aims to explain and analyze differences in educational systems; and comparing the basic education curricula in Indonesia and Australia. This research is conceptual. Data collection methods are books, the internet, and journals. The study analysis was carried out by collecting and analyzing information about the education system in Indonesia and Australia. The results of the study show that: (1) Australia requires children to study for 10 years, while in Indonesia for 12 years, Australia holds a NAPLAN test and Indonesia holds a NE, and teacher qualifications must be undergraduate in Australia and Indonesia; (2) differences in the education system, among others, the level of material difficulty, assessment, rewards, learning atmosphere, teaching staff, education staff, and religious subjects; and (3) the curriculum in Indonesia has a relationship between education, customs, arts, and religions, meanwhile, the Australian curriculum is designed to support students to be successful, active, well-off and knowledgeable.

Secondary Curriculum Literacy and Teacher Word-Knowledge: Further Findings from a Western Australian ITE Cohort Study

The Australian Government, in its Professional Standards for Teachers and Australian Curriculum framework, requires that all secondary teachers actively teach the specific literacy of their learning area. Yet achievement of that goal hinges on teachers having first acquired the pre-requisite literate competencies during their own schooling. There are reasons to doubt that this is the case for some graduate teachers, which means attempts to raise standards in schools are beset by a troubling circularity. Here we illustrate the problem with further findings from a Western Australian ITE Cohort Study (n=393), focussing this time on the word knowledge of secondary teaching graduates. Our analysis suggests that some secondary ITE students carry shortcomings from their own schooling that may hamper their ability to teach word knowledge or to self-correct. Current training and resources may thus have limited efficacy for some graduating teachers, placing limits on what can be achieved in schools. We consider the implications for literacy policies and for initial teacher education at secondary level.

Teaching Secondary History

Teaching Secondary History provides a comprehensive introduction to the theory and practice of teaching History to years 7–12 in Australian schools. Engaging directly with the Australian Curriculum, this text introduces pre-service teachers to the discipline of History. It builds on students' historical knowledge, thinking and skills and offers practical guidance on how to construct well-rounded History lessons for students. From inquiry strategies and teacher- and student-centred practice, to embedding the cross-curriculum priorities in planning and assessment, this text supports the learning and development of pre-service History teachers by connecting the 'big ideas' of teaching with the nuance of History content. Each chapter features short-answer and Pause and think questions to enhance understanding of key concepts, Bringing it together review questions to consolidate learning, classroom scenarios, examples of classroom work and a range of information boxes to connect students to additional material.