Policies and practices refer to the officially mandated statements, guidelines, values and prescr... more Policies and practices refer to the officially mandated statements, guidelines, values and prescriptions that both enable and constrain early career teacher wellbeing. Early career teacher resilience and wellbeing is enhanced when systems’ policies and practices show a strong commitment to the principles and values of social justice, teacher agency and voice, community engagement, and respect for local knowledge and practice.
ABSTRACT This book addresses one of the most persistent issues confronting governments, education... more ABSTRACT This book addresses one of the most persistent issues confronting governments, educations systems and schools today: the attraction, preparation, and retention of early career teachers. It draws on the stories of sixty graduate teachers from Australia to identify the key barriers, interferences and obstacles to teacher resilience and what might be done about it. Based on these stories, five interrelated themes - policies and practices, school culture, teacher identity, teachers’ work, and relationships – provide a framework for dialogue around what kinds of conditions need to be created and sustained in order to promote early career teacher resilience. The book provides a set of resources – stories, discussion, comments, reflective questions and insights from the literature – to promote conversations among stakeholders rather than providing yet another ‘how to do’ list for improving the daily lives of early career teachers. Teaching is a complex, fragile and uncertain profession. It operates in an environment of unprecedented educational reforms designed to control, manage and manipulate pedagogical judgements. Teacher resilience must take account of both the context and circumstances of individual schools (especially those in economically disadvantaged communities) and the diversity of backgrounds and talents of early career teachers themselves. The book acknowledges that the substantial level of change required– cultural, structural, pedagogical and relational – to improve early career teacher resilience demands a great deal of cooperation and support from governments, education systems, schools, universities and communities: teachers cannot do it alone. This book is written to generate conversations amongst early career teachers, teacher colleagues, school leaders, education administrators, academics and community leaders about the kinds of pedagogical and relational conditions required to promote early career teacher resilience and wellbeing. http://www.springer.com/education+%26+language/learning+%26+instruction/book/978-981-287-172-5
Throughout this chapter it is argued that young people themselves are the 'purest witnesses&#... more Throughout this chapter it is argued that young people themselves are the 'purest witnesses' to what's happening and what works best for them in their schools. The authors draw on the experience of Jacinta, one of the participants from a larger ethnographic study of outer metropolitan high schools in Perth, Western Australia, to better understand how young people navigate the dynamics and complex demands of classrooms. Jacinta's experience sheds light on the ways in which schools are becoming increasingly irrelevant and inhospitable places for some of society's most vulnerable and marginalised young people. The authors contend that far too many young people like Jacinta are being failed by society and excluded from the benefits of education. At the same time, Jacinta captures the sense of hope and optimism that many young people have for their imagined futures and it is this sense of agency that creates new possibilities for education based on the values of democracy, social justice, trust, respect and care for all
This paper describes the early beginnings and some preliminary theorising of the complexities inv... more This paper describes the early beginnings and some preliminary theorising of the complexities involved in obtaining a clearer understanding of schooling for young adolescents in regional and rural settings. We explain how our thinking is developing around ways to approach some case study schools and "their communities that are advancing on the idea of learning as a form of regional and rural engagement. The central theoretical construct is how educational 'capacity building' that engages young people works against the prevailing trend of increasing numbers of young people leaving school prematurely. This construct is illustrated by reference to the complex and diverse situations and needs of young people in the Kwinana/Rockingham area of the Fremantle-Peel Education District in Western Australia.
Policies and practices refer to the officially mandated statements, guidelines, values and prescr... more Policies and practices refer to the officially mandated statements, guidelines, values and prescriptions that both enable and constrain early career teacher wellbeing. Early career teacher resilience and wellbeing is enhanced when systems’ policies and practices show a strong commitment to the principles and values of social justice, teacher agency and voice, community engagement, and respect for local knowledge and practice.
ABSTRACT This book addresses one of the most persistent issues confronting governments, education... more ABSTRACT This book addresses one of the most persistent issues confronting governments, educations systems and schools today: the attraction, preparation, and retention of early career teachers. It draws on the stories of sixty graduate teachers from Australia to identify the key barriers, interferences and obstacles to teacher resilience and what might be done about it. Based on these stories, five interrelated themes - policies and practices, school culture, teacher identity, teachers’ work, and relationships – provide a framework for dialogue around what kinds of conditions need to be created and sustained in order to promote early career teacher resilience. The book provides a set of resources – stories, discussion, comments, reflective questions and insights from the literature – to promote conversations among stakeholders rather than providing yet another ‘how to do’ list for improving the daily lives of early career teachers. Teaching is a complex, fragile and uncertain profession. It operates in an environment of unprecedented educational reforms designed to control, manage and manipulate pedagogical judgements. Teacher resilience must take account of both the context and circumstances of individual schools (especially those in economically disadvantaged communities) and the diversity of backgrounds and talents of early career teachers themselves. The book acknowledges that the substantial level of change required– cultural, structural, pedagogical and relational – to improve early career teacher resilience demands a great deal of cooperation and support from governments, education systems, schools, universities and communities: teachers cannot do it alone. This book is written to generate conversations amongst early career teachers, teacher colleagues, school leaders, education administrators, academics and community leaders about the kinds of pedagogical and relational conditions required to promote early career teacher resilience and wellbeing. http://www.springer.com/education+%26+language/learning+%26+instruction/book/978-981-287-172-5
Throughout this chapter it is argued that young people themselves are the 'purest witnesses&#... more Throughout this chapter it is argued that young people themselves are the 'purest witnesses' to what's happening and what works best for them in their schools. The authors draw on the experience of Jacinta, one of the participants from a larger ethnographic study of outer metropolitan high schools in Perth, Western Australia, to better understand how young people navigate the dynamics and complex demands of classrooms. Jacinta's experience sheds light on the ways in which schools are becoming increasingly irrelevant and inhospitable places for some of society's most vulnerable and marginalised young people. The authors contend that far too many young people like Jacinta are being failed by society and excluded from the benefits of education. At the same time, Jacinta captures the sense of hope and optimism that many young people have for their imagined futures and it is this sense of agency that creates new possibilities for education based on the values of democracy, social justice, trust, respect and care for all
This paper describes the early beginnings and some preliminary theorising of the complexities inv... more This paper describes the early beginnings and some preliminary theorising of the complexities involved in obtaining a clearer understanding of schooling for young adolescents in regional and rural settings. We explain how our thinking is developing around ways to approach some case study schools and "their communities that are advancing on the idea of learning as a form of regional and rural engagement. The central theoretical construct is how educational 'capacity building' that engages young people works against the prevailing trend of increasing numbers of young people leaving school prematurely. This construct is illustrated by reference to the complex and diverse situations and needs of young people in the Kwinana/Rockingham area of the Fremantle-Peel Education District in Western Australia.
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