AbstractsGovernance and accountability
Volume 33
Number 2, 2008;
Pages 52–53
Independent schools’ boards need to have accountability processes in place that allow them to meet their governance responsibilities without undue interference in school management functions. The fiduciary role of boards is to develop monitoring and reporting mechanisms through which school leaders can manage the school’s tangible assets. A good example of such monitoring is the creation of a compliance checklist report. Such a report requires the school executive to sign monthly statements that demonstrate that they have complied with their statutory and policy obligations during that period. Boards should also apply financial and non-financial key performance indicators (KPIs) which can alert them, for example, to suspicious anomalies in school income. Having effective fiduciary policies frees boards to play strategic and generative roles, as outlined in an earlier Independence article by Professor Robert Chait (see previous abstract in Curriculum Leadership). The current article includes a table listing 12 characteristics of effective boards, adapted from the work of Dr Robert Andringa. The characteristics include links with the school’s ‘moral owners’ such as the relevant church bodies; a board handbook listing its policies, linked to those for the school executive; a selection of board members to acquire a good mix of skills; and a range of measures relating to the separation of boards from the school’s management. KLA Subject HeadingsLeadershipSchools finance Schools School leadership Educational planning Educational evaluation Educational accountability Educational administration Characteristics of sustainable use of technology in education
Volume 30
Number 3, 2008;
Pages 33–34
Market research from education.au indicates that while the great majority of educators use ICT at work, only about one-quarter apply it in a way that improves student learning. Schools and other educational bodies commonly have individuals or small groups who use ICT innovatively, but often there are no measures in place to spread these pathbreakers' approaches throughout the school. Such generalisation is likely to occur only when the following characteristics are in place. The school leadership needs to be committed to the use of ICT as a means to improve student learning rather than as an end in itself. A key part of the leadership role is to develop a teaching and learning plan to implement ICT effectively. The plan must start from students’ learning needs and styles, involve the entire school community, and establish targets. The school needs champions – individual staff willing to experiment and push ahead – supported by the leadership, but also mentors who have credibility with other teachers and are able to assist them in the classroom context. Educators need the chance to discuss ICT and teaching with peers, through access to networks such as those provided by edna.edu.au. Educators also need access to a compilation of resources on teaching and learning strategies. Finally they need good ICT infrastructure. Infrastructure issues are currently being dealt with at government level, however it should be noted that technologies valuable for teaching and learning are sometimes relatively cheap and accessible, such as video cameras and open source software. KLA Subject HeadingsProfessional developmentMentors School leadership Teaching and learning Computer-based training Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Why the intercultural matters to language teaching and learning: an introduction to the ILTLP program
Volume 43
Number 1, November 2008;
Pages 4–6
Intercultural language learning takes as a starting point a ‘peopled’ view of language in which the dynamic, creative, culturally grounded nature of language is emphasised. In this framework, language use is always considered in the context of human interaction, and culture is seen not as a set of facts or behaviour but as the perspective through which people communicate and interpret meaning. Teaching and learning are the processes of increasing awareness of how this communication takes place. The Intercultural Language Teaching and Learning in Practice (ILTLP) project was implemented in all Australian States and Territories in 2006–2007. The project, one of the largest Australian Government-funded professional learning programs ever to take place, was devised by the University of South Australia’s Research Centre for Languages and Cultures (RCLC) and involved 400 primary and secondary language teachers in a research and professional learning program. The first phase of the project comprised a two-day workshop in Adelaide covering current theory in intercultural language learning. Teachers then returned to their schools to conduct classroom-based research, supported by project leaders. The program’s goals were to broaden teachers’ understanding of intercultural language teaching and learning; tease out the implications of such a framework for classroom teaching; explore appropriate assessment techniques; and cultivate an investigative stance in teachers, such that they were able to observe, document and actively influence change in their classrooms. The program resulted in a collaborative professional network and a set of resources for professional learning that are available online. Discussion papers on the project’s development and an external evaluation report are also available. Key Learning AreasLanguagesSubject HeadingsLanguages other than English (LOTE)Language and languages Australia Sport and recreation, and young refugeesJune 2008;
Pages 53–55
Sport and recreation activities, when combined with other forms of community support, can have a strong positive impact on the settlement and wellbeing of refugee children. There have been several recent government initiatives targeting sport and recreation for refugee children, however their effect was unclear until the Playing for the Future report, compiled by the Centre for Multicultural Youth Issues (CMYI), was published in 2007. The report acknowledges the trauma and loss that refugee children experience, but also the resources and strengths that young refugees bring to their new host country. Organised sport and recreation can help to build trust, community understanding and civic participation, as well as having therapeutic benefits. For the best results, sport and recreation initiatives need to occur in conjunction with measures to improve education, employment, housing and health services for newly settled refugees. They should also focus on new skills rather than on competition, and can extend beyond sport to hip-hop, cooking, storytelling and life skills programs. Barriers to participation include the often once-off, unsustained nature of some initiatives, a lack of inclusive programs and practices, and inadequate access to public transport or facilities. The report’s recommendations include the creation of a dedicated funding stream for sport and recreation; introduction of a small grants scheme to support individual participation; appropriately resourcing bicultural workers; and improving access to community recreational facilities. While sport and recreation programs should not be seen as a ‘cure-all’, they have great potential to benefit the young people in Australia’s refugee community. Key Learning AreasHealth and Physical EducationSubject HeadingsRefugeesSport School is about more than tests1 December 2008;
Page 11
The author was a principal at a disadvantaged school in the US state of Virginia for four years, and had previously worked as a principal in Victoria. The Virginia school students’ results, formerly very low, rose high enough during her incumbency to satisfy accreditation requirements for the school. The school was therefore presented as a success story, but she was nevertheless dismayed by her experiences. During her tenure the curriculum was centrally controlled and was bound ever more tightly to what was to be tested. The school district required individual teachers to cover specific content at a prescribed pace. The effect was to prevent the teachers from responding to emergent interests among the students. A stringent testing regime introduced several problems. A significant amount of teaching time was diverted from content to ‘test-taking skills’. This shift most likely improved numerical results for the school district but was unlikely to help students in the long term. The high stakes testing meant that students as young as Grade 2 undertook after-school classes, and generally resulted in high levels of stress among students. The testing regime also created temptations for educators to assist students improperly during examinations or by ‘fiddling with returns’. The test results were subject to arcane statistical manipulation inaccessible to educators, further distancing them from the assessment process. The cost of the testing program led the state's education department to focus on relatively cheap multiple choice questions, which can be readily processed, and to neglect the assessment of creative thinking skills which are harder to measure. Australia should not follow the US system, which spends more on each student than most developed nations but generates academic results below the OECD average in all tested areas. KLA Subject HeadingsSocially disadvantagedTeaching and learning Victoria United States of America (USA) Curriculum planning Assessment Educational evaluation The importance of questioning, and questions for consideration in programming for intercultural language learning
Volume 43
Number 1, November 2008;
Pages 13–17
Questioning has long been considered an important technique for deep learning. More recently, the technique has begun to be considered essential in intercultural language learning. Questioning is excellent for increasing teachers’ and students’ awareness of sociocultural features in interaction. The Intercultural Language Teaching and Learning in Practice (ILTLP) project, a professional learning initiative for Australian language teachers, used questions as feedback for its participating teachers. After an introductory workshop, teachers designed and implemented their own intercultural language programs. Project team members supported the teachers’ efforts through an extensive dialogue and feedback process. Most questions the team posed to teachers related to the intended learning outcomes and gains for students. Many teachers had proposed objectives that were general and decontextualised, so their feedback questions asked them to consider increasing the specificity of outcomes and tailoring programs to individual class and school contexts. Teachers were encouraged to clarify the ‘take-home message’ of each class and to consider how meaningful the material might be to students. Another theme revealed in feedback questions was the need for teachers to fully articulate the thinking behind their learning programs. For example, a teacher who concentrated on discrete topics such as ‘celebrations’ might be encouraged to explain how this material encouraged students to explore the ways in which customs and traditions are embedded in language. Teacher feedback questions also concerned the explicitness of links between language and culture. Intercultural language lessons actively encourage students to make comparisons between the target culture and their own, and even to consider what the study of language reveals about language in general. The different notions of time in Indonesian and English, for example, or the formal registers and politeness markers in many European and Asian languages, form excellent starting points for more in-depth language and culture teaching. Key Learning AreasLanguagesSubject HeadingsLanguages other than English (LOTE)Language and languages Assessment in intercultural language learning
Volume 43
Number 1, November 2008;
Pages 20–22
Assessment is the least-developed area of intercultural language learning. It is particularly challenging in this paradigm because the intercultural approach foregrounds the importance of interaction, making assessment techniques such as traditional written tests inappropriate. The approach emphasises the importance of self-reflection and the ability to navigate intercultural encounters, skills which are also complicated to assess. Previous approaches to assessing cultural knowledge have often treated culture as a collection of facts to be learned, with knowledge about the target culture assessed separately from linguistic knowledge. Attitudinal tests and cultural awareness tests have also been used, but these methods tend to overgeneralise and decontextualise cultural knowledge. Assessment in intercultural language learning must observe the student in their capacity as ‘performer’ as well as ‘analyser’ of interactional experiences. It is not possible to reduce the great variability in social contexts down to a list of items to be learned. Therefore it is necessary for assessment to address students’ own engagement and their contextualised understandings of cultural material. This demand can be difficult for teachers, especially those who are still constrained by traditional psychometric assessment methods. Intercultural assessment techniques are currently being explored, and will foreground both students’ performance and their interpretation ability, or ‘how they explain the intercultural to themselves’. Peer feedback and self-assessment will also play a role, as will a strong focus on interaction across a range of contexts, such as interviews, journals, conferences and narratives. Assessment will focus on students’ understanding of the language–culture relationship, their ability to analyse and explain that understanding, and their capacity to apply it when they are presented with an intercultural situation. Key Learning AreasLanguagesSubject HeadingsAssessmentLanguages other than English (LOTE) Language and languages New technologies and self leadership
Volume 33
Number 2, 2008;
Pages 74–77
Email and the mobile phone have had a major impact on school principals. These devices have an undoubted value for work and personal life but if used excessively they can have a negative effect. The capacity that mobile phones provide for an immediate response at all times takes time away for the reflection that was embedded in previous communication technology. Emails too allow for instant responses and can therefore generate expectations of an immediate reply. Accommodating this expectation can distort work priorities or prompt ill-considered responses. Some principals deal with this expectation by setting up an automated reply promising a personal response at a later date. Principals can deal with the high volume of emails by restricting public knowledge of their own email address; by having messages filtered by a personal assistant, a measure which also helps to keep the PA up-to-date with developments; or by checking and considering emails on a laptop before reaching the office. Principals may ask staff not to copy them into emails unless their own response as school leader is required. KLA Subject HeadingsCommunicationInformation and Communications Technology (ICT) School leadership School principals Leadership Education and the path to purpose
Volume 68
Number 1, Autumn 2008;
Pages 61–63
Currently the greatest problem in education is student disengagement. Many students do not see the meaning in schoolwork, and do not grasp the connection between work at school and their life goals and aspirations. This sense of meaninglessness ultimately has social and psychological costs, including feelings of emptiness, boredom, apathy, anxiety and general dissatisfaction. It is seldom acknowledged that the students who are most stressed at school are those who are disengaged, not those who are working hard with a well-defined purpose. Too narrow a focus on test results prevents broader, fundamental questions about the purpose and use of academic knowledge from being addressed. Schools must be sure to deal with the ‘why’ question for all the material they teach. For example, a preliminary consideration of the ethical issues around cloning makes microbiology material far more interesting and relevant for students. Extracurricular activities such as art, music, sport, drama and language are also essential for developing students’ passion and engagement in non-academic pursuits. Disengagement has considerable negative flow-on effects on civic participation and political engagement, making it an issue that needs to be urgently addressed. Sparking students’ imagination and helping them to value their own efforts is an important contribution schools can make to the shape of the future social and political landscape. KLA Subject HeadingsEducation aims and objectivesMusic and physical play: what can we learn from early childhood teachers in Kenya?Autumn 2008;
Pages 2–5
Sharing teaching practices across cultures is an excellent way to introduce fresh approaches and broaden the scope of classroom teaching. Research based on Kenyan early childhood practice has suggested that music and physical play have substantial benefits for children. Researchers noticed the high level of outdoor physical activity in Kenyan schools, and especially the active and enthusiastic participation of the teacher in class songs and games. Kenyan teachers make use of music and songs for a range of purposes. Some songs are intended to support students’ emotional development, for example one in which the class forms a circle and children take turns to dance in the centre while the others sing about what a good child they are. This teaches children to be proud of themselves in a healthy way, as well as to compliment and support others who are doing a good job. Other songs indirectly teach lessons about friendship and teamwork, waiting and patience, turn-taking, and gentle touching or hand-holding. Songs are also used to develop counting and mathematical skills and to reinforce messages about personal safety and autonomy. The Kenyan teachers modelled singing and dancing that was loud and joyful, demonstrating to students that activity, energy and play are valued in the adult world. This practice contrasts with the common Western teacher practice of standing and watching while children play. Previous research suggests that the opportunity to participate in activities that use the voice loudly may be particularly beneficial for boys. Other Kenyan teacher practices include learning some words in each child’s language or dialect to make them feel welcome in the classroom, using song and dance in language learning, and including songs and games about the importance of starting things slowly, continuing them energetically, and completing them successfully. KLA Subject HeadingsMusicPlay Physical education Kenya Moving beyond the page in content area literacy: comprehension instruction for multimodal texts in science
Volume 62
Number 2, October 2008;
Pages 153–156
Non-print forms of representation, such as demonstrations, pictures or audiovisual material, are as important as written texts in the science classroom. To be understood they require that students know and apply certain comprehension strategies. Some print-based strategies, such as skimming or highlighting key phrases, may not be appropriate for multimodal texts; however, strategies such as predicting, monitoring one's own comprehension, making inferences, finding the main ideas, making text-to-text connections and seeking clarification are equally valid for print and non-print texts. Teachers should always consider the affordances and limitations of any model they use, and should encourage students to do so as well. Having students compare two or more different representations of the same concept is helpful in demonstrating that all representations are incomplete versions of reality. Students can also study different types of representations and consider which they find most effective, and then use this insight when designing their own representation of the concept. For example, they might find that a website with moving images is better for representing phases of the moon than a website with stationary images. When sharing their own representation with the class, they can discuss the affordances and limitations of the model they have devised. Understanding the nature of scientific modelling and representations is invaluable for today’s students, since digital, multimodal texts are proliferating and rapidly changing in form and design. A lesson plan that explores these issues in detail is available. Key Learning AreasScienceSubject HeadingsScienceLiteracy Science literacy There are no Conferences available in this issue. |