Student evaluation of teaching is a commonly accepted means of obtaining feedback on the quality of university teaching. However, its usefulness in contributing to improved teaching performance is dependent on the extent to which staff respond to and apply the information obtained in this way. This paper reports the results of a project designed to extend the application of student evaluations by using them as the basis for staff development. Survey ndings from 87 staff and 127 students indicate the priorities for academic and course development perceived by each group. Booklets based on these perceived needs were developed by collaborative staff-student groups and made available to enable staff to improve their teaching in response to student evaluations.
Allegations that the most able simply intend to leave teaching were challenged by qualitative and quantitative data collected from 147 prospective teachers completing their credentialling diploma. A conceptual framework combining personal construct and social learning theories modelled the influences of personal, academic and social factors on intended persistence. A single line version of the repertory grid elicited reasons for intended persistence or withdrawal which were coded into 11 categories supported by the literature. A multiple classification analysis showed that those who were confident of promotion and who were committed to and satisfied by teaching intended persisting. While the findings were less clear for psychological constructs and for academic and social integration, some of the best prospective teachers intended staying for at least five years. The course itself was well received.
The language environment of the classroom is a mutually constructed reality created by the teacher and students involved in that particular context. It is understandable that classroom observers on a once-only visit misinterpret, misunderstand, or overlook meanings being made by teachers and students. But teachers and students in their own classrooms can also misinterpret or overlook meanings being made by their companions in learning. By examination of examples taken from transcripts of classroom language in a variety of high school content areas, classroom practitioners can be alerted to communication situations in which learning and understanding have been lost. This chapter reports research on classroom discourse in Australian high schools, and the implications of the findings for teachers. Misunderstanding of each others' communication can occur for both teachers and students. The misunderstandings of students encountering unfamiliar or ambiguous subject-specific language are wellknown, as are the difficulties of students who are not at home with school language and its style of presentation. While these problems for students in understanding and expression have been explored in the past, such problems still continue to be overlooked, as indicated by examples taken from the transcripts. Less well documented is the ability of students to appear to be learning through engaging in classroom discourse while merely play-acting learning. Such students have an awareness of how classroom discourse operates which enables them to present a persuasive facade of understanding. In reality, all they understand is how to interact plausibly in classroom discourse. Some strategies for appropriate teacher-response to this range of misunderstandings are discussed.
The Educational Programme for Unemployed Youth (EPUY) is a federal government scheme which assists the states to run courses for unemployed school leavers. The Queensland course, ‘Skills for Working and Living’, takes sixteen weeks. Participant observation provides an ethnographic look at one of these programmes at the Brisbane Catering College. From the time allocation by course planners, personal development was not officially considered crucially important, though it was to the teachers who were predominantly women. The staff were part time, consisting of Technical and Further Education, College of Advanced Education and temporary teachers. The fifteen students (seven girls and eight youths) ranged in age from 14 to 19 years. The course is selectively described in terms of two central events: the first two weeks; and the final weeks before graduation. A positive group climate developed only very slowly because of various constraints. However, the students reported increased feelings of self‐worth and personal effectiveness and they acknowledged staff friendliness and perseverance. During the course and within a month of its completion, eight of the unemployed got jobs. Such schemes deserve encouragement.
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