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1. 1st birthday of the School of Education blog
One year ago, on February 22nd 2010 the School of Education launched its new Blog, 21st Century Learning. We felt that we needed to have an immediate way for our staff to contribute useful ideas into the education community, in ways that publishing in academic and professional journals cannot do. Once each fortnight on this blog site different academics from the school provide a posting of around 700 words on a contemporary education issue or practice, usually derived from recent research. In response, readers are able to comment on these posts or on the comments of others, subscribe to receive email notices about new posts, and forward posts they like to others. 21st Century Learning can be accessed from the School Home Page on the UWS web site.
So, what have we achieved in the last year? As EdNews goes to press, we have posted 28 short articles on the site. Some of our most popular posts to date have been “21st Century learning ... the teacher librarian and the school library”, “If you like the teacher, you’ll ‘get’ maths more”, “The importance of children feeling valued for who they are”, “How a primary school teacher used blogEd with his class”, and “Teachers for a Fair Go: Exemplary teachers in low SES schools”. We are committed to fortnightly posts in 2011, as we are receiving very positive feedback that the blog is highly useful, well organised, searchable, and effectively deals with current and ‘future’ educational issues.
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2. School of Education Inaugural Professional Experience Partnership Awards 2010
The inaugural 2010 UWS Professional Experience Partnership Awards were held in November last year. In total 250 awardees and colleagues attended the ceremonies including John McGregor, the Acting Regional Director DET for Western Sydney. During this event, Associate Professor Steve Wilson, Head of the School of Education at UWS, was pleased to be able to recognise and reward those educational settings that have consistently engaged with and supported the students of UWS in their professional experience. He stated:
“UWS teaching and education degrees aim to give students the skills and confidence they need to hit the ground running right from their first day on the job…An important way of gaining these skills and confidence is by doing professional experience, and UWS is thankful for all the schools that open the doors to their classrooms and give trainee teachers the extraordinary benefit of real practical experience with high quality guidance from teachers.”
Awards were presented to the teachers and principals who have provided outstanding service in mentoring UWS students. 190 teachers were recognised as ‘Mentor Teachers’, while 6 principals/senior teachers were recognised as ‘Lead Mentor Teachers’ of the University of Western Sydney.
The School of Education plans to conduct the awards again this year and it is possible a new category of awards recognising institutions (such as schools and centres) will be awarded- subject to a decision about criteria. We sincerely hope to see you there.
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Steve Wilson presents award to
Rick Cobban from Condell Park High School |
Academic and teaching colleagues in Fair Go for the Get Go
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3. Primary Education: Course research project
Fair Go from the Get Go is an exciting research project currently underway in the Primary Education Program. The project involves academic staff co-researching with 10 teachers, who are in the early stage of their career. These teachers are currently teaching in 4 primary schools in the south west of Sydney and, are distinctively committed to making a positive impact on the social and academic outcomes of students from low socio-economic backgrounds. The aim of the project is for the teachers to participate in action research that involves professional learning in pedagogy and the Key Learning Areas. Fair Go from the Get Go is the third phase of the UWS Fair Go Project (ARC funded) which focuses on the ways classrooms can encourage greater levels of student engagement and so enhance academic outcomes. The first phase of the study included action research into student engagement that led to the publication School Is For Me. The second phase was case studies of 30 exemplary engaging teachers of students in poverty.
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4. Latest Technology for School of Education
The School of Education is actively engaged in the notion of “Next Practice” in education. This concept centres on personalised learning, leadership by practitioners and innovation. ICT is a key element in Next Practice. A number of strategic activities have been introduced into our school with the aim of developing innovative and creative uses of ICT in our teaching programs. A range of new technologies has recently been purchased and upgraded to support these activities. They include:
• A rollout of 50 netbook computers for student use;
• The installation of nine IWBs across our two teaching campuses;
• The installation of a connected classroom at each of our teaching campuses;
• The development of a pilot-to-pilot ubiquitous access for a tutorial group in each of our three Master of Education teaching courses (at home, at UWS and at the site of students’ Professional Experience placements);
• Our teaching and professional staff now have access to iPod touches for teaching and administrative purposes;
• Enhancing the online teaching portal used by staff and students;
• Expanding the Wi-Fi access for staff and students in our teaching spaces;
• Commencing the publication our 21 Century Learning blog; and
• Developing a digital media repository of classroom practices and teacher interviews as video clips for use by staff and students in learning activities.
Coming issues of EdNews will highlight particular successes, lessons learnt and results of our own action research and research projects around ICT in Next Practice. In addition, our blog will host an ongoing conversation about ICT and other important issues associated with Next Practice.
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5. 1st anniversary of new Early Childhood programs
In 2010, UWS initiated two new Early Childhood Education programs. One program is the Bachelor of Social Science (Pathway to Early Childhood Teaching). This program is designed as a broad inter-disciplinary program for school leavers and non-recent school leavers. The degree equips students with foundation knowledge in the areas of languages and linguistics, English and social science as well as educational studies. It provides a wide base for understanding issues in the complex, culturally diverse and ever-changing social environments and educational contexts of the 21st century. This course articulates with the Master of Teaching (Birth- 12 Years) for graduates wishing to obtain a teaching qualification for prior to school and primary school.
A second course we now offer is the Bachelor of Education (Birth - 5 Years). This course provides graduates of the Diploma of Children's Services, or equivalent, the opportunity to extend their learning and qualifications and obtain a four year university early childhood teaching qualification appropriate for working as an early childhood teacher in preschool and long day care services. Students can complete the course 3 years of full time study, or the equivalent part-time, to obtain a four-year early childhood teaching qualification for long day care and preschool graduates of the Bachelor of Education (Birth - 5 Years). They then meet the undergraduate requirements necessary to enter the Master of Teaching Primary postgraduate course and can obtain a Birth-12 qualification with an additional year of study.
These courses have been very well-received by students because they find them a good mix of theory and practice and also appreciate the multifaceted nature of the content they are learning. To find out more about our early childhood courses, visit Our Early Childhood Program page.
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6. Outstanding Award for Professional Experience given to Secondary Program team
Late last year we received the wonderful news from the Australian Teaching and Learning Council (ALTC) that our application for an ALTC Award for University Teaching for our submission Beyond institutional walls: Community engagement in secondary teacher education, has been selected to receive a 2010 Award for Programs that Enhance Learning. The ALTC congratulated the secondary team on the quality of the submission they presented to nominate for this award. The Award was presented by Senator the Hon Christopher Evans, Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Jobs and Workplace Relations, at a ceremony on Tuesday, 16 November 2010 at Parliament House, Canberra. The award was given to UWS academics Anne Power, Loshini Naidoo and Susanne Gannon, for the variety and efficacy of projects that comprise the highly successful Professional Experience 3 strands in the secondary program. This was the first time staff in the School has been recognised with an ALTC Award, which is at the highest level of ALTC honours. This award puts the icing on the cake for the wonderful year we had last year in which our academic staff continued to be recognised at the highest levels for the quality learning and teaching that we provide to our students. This award continues a wonderful tradition of Carrick and ALTC recognitions quality learning and teaching for staff in the School of Education over recent years.
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Loshini Naidoo, Susanne Gannon and Anne Power receive our ALTC Award in Canberra
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Research students in the SNAP program |
7. New Support Network for Arabic Postgraduates
The Support Network for Arabic Postgraduates (SNAP) develops quality research skills and knowledge for international higher degree research students from Saudi Arabia in a small group environment with academic staff and an Arabic speaking tutor. At the 2006 Census Arabic was the fourth most spoken language (with Cantonese) in Australia. Of the total number of Arabic speaking people nationally, 46% reside in the communities in the Greater Western Region of Sydney. As a consequence, many international students from Arabic speaking backgrounds are attracted to the region and UWS. SNAP supports the research programs of these international students as well as local students from Arabic speaking backgrounds. There are a range of research projects under way including the technological, linguistic and cultural challenges of 21st Century learning and teaching in the Middle East, Turkey and Australia. SNAP is also a vehicle for a concentrated research program on globalising pedagogies with a specific focus on the influences of culture and the Arabic language on the academic exchange of knowledge.
For further information contact Associate Professor Carol Reid or Dr Katina Zammit
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8. Contact us
Contact details for the School of Education.
Office Locations
Building 4, Bankstown Campus
Building J/K, Penrith Campus (Kingswood)
Postal Address
School of Education
University of Western Sydney
Locked Bag 1797
Penrith South DC NSW 1797
Australia
Newsletter contributions:
Contact ednews@uws.edu.au
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Editor: Joanne Orlando, University of Western Sydney, School of Education.
Designer: Jorge Reyna, University of Western Sydney, School of Education.
Copyright © 2011 University of Western Sydney ABN 53 014 069 881 |
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