In fateful moments: The appeal of parent testimonials when selling private tutoring Australia's private tutoring market is expanding in a context where parents' trust in school personnel as educational experts is vulnerable. Simultaneously, a parentocratic logic is nudging parents to infuse the resources at their disposal into their pedagogic work in order to achieve the educational outcomes that they wish for their children. However, little is known about the specific strategies that private tutoring suppliers are using to attract prospective parents. This paper reports on a study of 160 parent testimonials published on the websites of 16 private tutoring suppliers in Australia. Drawing on Giddens' concept of 'fateful moments' and Bauman's work on the persuasion of the peer example, together with tools of critical discourse analysis, we argue that parent testimonials use emotional appeals to construct private tutoring as a resolution to parents' fateful moments. In addition, we speculate that this emotional footing resonates with the pedagogic preferences of the dominant Australian middle classes.
Teacher education is broadly seen as a policy problem in that it has failed to produce sufficient ‘classroom ready’ teachers. One accountability measure that has been introduced in Australia to address this purported problem is the capstone teacher performance assessments (TPAs). All Australian pre-service teachers must pass this hurdle assessment to be eligible for teacher registration, and all teacher education providers must provide evidence of the effectiveness of their programmes in producing classroom ready teachers to maintain accreditation. The research presented in this article investigated the experiences of a consortium of teacher educators from four Australian universities that implemented a nationally endorsed TPA known as the quality TPA (QTPA). Intelligent professional responsibility was used to consider the experiences and possibilities for educators working in a policy context characterised by increasing accountabilities. Our findings suggest that the introduction of the TPA in Australia created momentum for building collaborative national teacher education partnerships with a focus on improving programme quality and graduate readiness to teach. Our data illustrate how the introduction of a TPA policy mandate in Australia created an external accountability context that allowed for teacher educators to bolster the quality of teacher education programmes from within.
The Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children (LSIC; also called Footprints in Time) is the only longitudinal study of developmental outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children globally. Footprints in Time follows the development of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children to understand what Indigenous children need to grow up strong. LSIC involves annual waves of data collection (commenced in 2008) and follows approximately 1,700 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children living in urban, regional, and remote locations. This LSIC Primary School report has been produced following the release of the twelfth wave of data collection, with the majority of LSIC children having completed primary school (Preparatory [aged ~5 years] to Year 6 [aged ~12 years]). Primary schools play a central role in supporting student learning, wellbeing, and connectedness, and the Footprints in Time study provides a platform for centring Indigenous voices, connecting stories, and exploring emerging themes related to the experience of Indigenous children and families in the Australian education system. This report uses a mixed-methods approach, analysing both quantitative and qualitative data shared by LSIC participants, to explore primary school experiences from the perspective of children, parents and teachers. Analyses are framed using a strengths-based approach and are underpinned by the understanding that all aspects of life are related. The report documents a range of topics including teacher cultural competence, racism, school-based Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education activities, parental involvement, engagement, attendance, and academic achievement.
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