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Secondary visual arts education provides learners with opportunities to develop critical thinking, and their creative potential, as part of their personal growth. This development happens when visual arts teachers actively integrate creative pedagogies to target creative thinking in learners. Ghana's 2019 National Pre‐tertiary Curriculum Framework has added creativity as one goal for all learners. This research study explores teachers' perceptions and use of creative pedagogies as part of implementing this creativity into their teaching. A multi‐site qualitative case study was conducted in government secondary schools within Sekondi‐Takoradi, Ghana, and data were gathered from interviews and participant observations. The 16 cases specifically examined creative pedagogies in practice in the secondary visual arts programme, as the subject of visual arts is commensurate with developing creativity. The study revealed that teachers' pedagogical perceptions of developing creativity do not align with the actual pedagogies they employ, with teachers being observed to emphasise teacher‐centred pedagogies. It is suggested that the integration of creative pedagogies should be contextualised in Ghana's secondary visual arts programme, in order to support teachers to meet the goal of creativity development for all learners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This participatory action research case study describes how one secondary school aimed to improve staff culture. Although pre-test data showed the school as performing consistently well in terms of their organisational health, the school chose to implement a line management intervention over 12 months to target three low-rating factors: appraisal and recognition, professional growth, and supportive leadership. Quantitative evaluation showed that while the improvement strategy had no effect on the intended targets, there were unanticipated effects on other factors. Staff reported a mixture of positive and negative effects from the intervention; however, a core issue was its impact on teachers' workloads. Participants reported burnout and stress as a consequence of school leaders driving continuous change. This case study argues that quality school improvement needs to be supported by a clear vision, with due consideration and attention to sustainable work practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the known affordances of Arts-Based Research Practice within the international education environment, its use remains relatively uncommon in Western Australia. The reasons for this are likely the contested nature of quality criteria by which Arts-Based Practice is evaluated as well as the challenges associated with the dissemination of research findings. Mixed-methods research is increasingly recognised as an appropriate and practical approach for education phenomena, and within this domain, inquiry that combines traditional qualitative and arts-based strategies offers the education researcher advantages that are not readily available through other approaches. As professional artists and researchers we share our experiences in employing our visual arts specialism within a qualitative approach. Our focus for inquiry was a "Digital Sabbath" intervention (a practice of regularly unplugging from all technology/devices with the aim of increasing social connectedness and mitigating stress) with seven early career visual arts teachers whose voices and experience of the digital disruption might otherwise have remained silenced. The importance of the study was both that we trialed a well-being intervention, but also that we innovated our methodological research repertoire by combining traditional and contemporary elements of the Qualitative paradigm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Thesis by Publication is garnering increasing interest across nations and disciplines. However, more needs to be learned about institutional and supervisory support for this thesis mode to ensure that doctoral candidates pursuing this approach enjoy the best possible outcomes. This paper draws on data from 246 recent successful doctoral candidates who took part in the 2018–2019 PhD candidates' motivations, experiences, and opinions of the thesis by/with publications study. Findings suggest that perceived institutional support may be more common than supervisory support, and initial institutional support may be eclipsed by ongoing support. Findings suggest that more can be done to support students intending to embark on Thesis by Publication at induction, and that high quality supervisory support can be perceived as integral to candidate success in most cases. However, high dependence on supervisory support paired with comparatively limited institutional support can place workload pressure and increased accountability on supervisors, and may raise ethical implications that require close consideration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research compared the process of disciplinary literacy acquisition of students who experienced two different pedagogical approaches to learning science, technology, engineering and mathematics through astronomy (STEM-A). The objective of this study was to explore the impact of a digital storytelling (DST) educational technology intervention in a STEM-A context on the process of disciplinary literacy acquisition of students who were learning English as a foreign language (EFL). The research was designed as a type IV case study with a sample of 30 students from Kyrgyzstan aged between 12 and 16 years. Data were collected from written responses to the astronomy diagnostic tests (ADT), which were coded against the structure of the observed learning outcomes (SOLO) and analysed using the analysis of variance (ANOVA) with repeated measures on the occasion of testing. Data from the Australian sample, native speakers of English, (N = 328) were used as a baseline. The results showed a positive effect of the DST intervention on EFL students' astronomy disciplinary literacy acquisition. The research contributes to the body of knowledge on educational technology by exemplifying how the DST teaching intervention could bridge the gap between EFL and non-EFL students' disciplinary literacy acquisition in STEM areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Australian case study explored the implementation of strategies to support the development of a positive school culture among whole school staff. A participatory action research approach was used to involve leadership staff in the development of a mixed method assessment of the school organisation. Baseline data from the School Organisational Health Questionnaire (n = 28) and qualitative data from focus groups (n = 15) were collected and presented to the leadership team who identified four foci for the study: appraisal and recognition, participative decision-making, professional growth and supportive leadership. After a range of interventions, findings from both post-test surveys (n = 22) and qualitative data (n = 30) suggested a change in leadership style was a key factor of school cultural change across all factors. The case study highlights a number of visible strategies that were employed to increase morale and improve staff wellbeing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 'responding' strand of the Australian visual arts curriculum promotes twenty-first century learning skills through students' analytical engagement with artworks and artists. Assessing students' experiences and engagement is one strategy to improve teaching and learning in responding. However, there are no validated, subject-specific student engagement instruments for teachers to use. This study sought to develop a student self-report diagnostic instrument that provides information on past experiences with visual arts and factors affecting both cognitive and psychological engagement, with implications for improving teaching and learning. The instrument was piloted with 266 Year 10 to 12 students, as responding has an approximate 50% assessment weighting in the Australian visual arts course for senior school students. This paper reports on the exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses conducted in the development of the instrument. It adds to the body of knowledge on developing engagement instruments, recognising that student engagement in secondary education is context-dependent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to international benchmarks [Thomson, S., Wernert, N., O'Grady, E., & Rodrigues, S. (2017). TIMSS 2015: Reporting Australia's results. Retrieved from Camberwell, Victoria: www.acer.edu.au/timss], Australia's science education is still in decline and so the need for further investigation into preservice teachers is warranted. Utilising data from a broader mixed methods doctoral study [Norris, C. M. (2017). Exploring the impact of postgraduate preservice primary science education on students' self-efficacy. Retrieved from http://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/2040], this paper investigates the type of science learner entering into postgraduate preservice primary teacher education and how different learner types influence teacher self-efficacy and their effectiveness to teach science [Bleicher, R. (2009). Variable relationships among different science learners in elementary science-methods courses. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 7(2), 293-313. doi:10.1007/s10763-007-9121-8]. In this study, data was derived from a modified STEBI-B questionnaire and focus group discussions that provided a deeper insight into the survey data. Participants (N = 274) were from a one-year Australian Graduate Diploma of Education Primary (GDEP) program. Bleicher's (2009) research on 'science learner types', which included Fearful, Disinterested, Successful and Enthusiastic learners, was used as a theoretical framework to categorise the participants. The study identified a new type of learner (Not Clearly Identifiable, n = 68), located in the middle of the other four categories, where individuals' attitudes and beliefs towards science had changed due to life experiences between secondary school and their GDEP program. Statistical analysis showed science learner types did influence participants' science teaching self-efficacy (STSE), giving suggestions for how this may affect tertiary teacher education courses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study draws on student engagement factors to examine the relationship between students’ non-school-based arts experiences on their intrinsic motivation and self-efficacy to participate in visual arts responding tasks. Visual arts responding in the curriculum includes learning about artists and artworks, decoding art and making critical judgements, and is important in building twenty-first century learning skills such as critical thinking and communication. A total of 266 Year 10 to 12 students from 18 schools in Western Australia (WA) participated in the quantitative research, which explored outside-school arts engagement as well as cognitive and psychological engagement factors in their current year of secondary schooling. The findings showed that while being an art consumer appears to impact on intrinsic motivation and self-efficacy, producing art as a hobby outside of school does not appear to do so. The research raised questions about links between practice and theory, and how to promote students’ engagement in responding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While considerable research explores the phenomenon of early-career teacher retention, surprisingly few studies report long-term intervention strategies that attempt to resolve this issue. For context, the paper briefly describes one exception, a seven-year longitudinal project involving over 170 secondary teachers that provides mechanisms to help teachers remain positively active in the workforce. It focuses specifically on an issue that potentially hinders the full impact of such intervention studies - developing a robust instrument capable of measuring teacher retention interventions over time. This paper specifically reports on the exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses conducted to validate the TAP tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the findings of a qualitative research study on student teachers’ perceptions of sustainability, specifically influenced by ecological citizenship and political solidarity. Research was conducted with 18 Graduate Diploma of Education (Primary) student teachers at one university, as they only have one year in which to train as teachers. A clear conceptualisation of Education for Sustainability is required for teachers to effectively implement the Australian Curriculum, which has sustainability as a cross-curriculum priority. Subsequently, Education for Sustainability is a key issue for teacher education and particularly within the short Graduate Diploma course. The findings showed that student teachers’ perceptions of sustainability are shaped by aspects of ecological citizenship and political solidarity, and are informed by the local context. The findings also showed that the student teachers were moving from a more environmentally-centred conception of sustainability to a definition that included the other pillars of economic and socio-political sustainability. This article concludes with an argument for integrating the complex concepts of ecological citizenship and political solidarity within teacher education, so that student teachers graduate with the appropriate content knowledge to explore global citizenship and the ecological space with their future primary students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Science Teacher Efficacy Belief Instrument has been a widely reported measure of teachers' personal efficacy and outcome efficacy beliefs. This pilot study examined if the instrument could be amended for use in The Arts learning area. A small cohort of 110 Graduate Diploma of Education preservice teachers participated in the pilot. Factor structures were examined through confirmatory factor analyses. The model displaying best fit consisted of six items measuring outcome expectancy and 10 items related to teaching efficacy. Measuring self-efficacy is important as many teachers who teach the Arts in Australia and internationally are not subject specialist teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Primary teachers may facilitate children’s first formal experiences of drama, and as such, one Western Australian University was motivated to explore the experiences of its Bachelor of Education primary pre-service teachers. By investigating the experiences of pre-service teachers, the University academic staff could determine the prior experiences of drama on entering and graduating their teacher education course and hypothesise about the learning experiences these teachers may require during their time at university. Approximately 20% of both first and fourth-year students participated in a mixed methods study involving a questionnaire and follow-up semi-structured interviews. The researchers found positive drama experiences led to increased self-efficacy in teaching, and learning using drama. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article "Arts engagement outside of school: Links with Year 10 to 12 students' intrinsic motivation and self-efficacy in responding to art" written by Julia E. Morris was originally published electronically on the publisher's internet portal (currently SpringerLink) on 28 March 2018 without open access. With the author(s)' decision to opt for Open Choice, the copyright of the article changed on 30 November to © The Author(s) 2018 and the article is forthwith distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, duplication, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The primary research output of a contemporary doctoral journey is no longer limited to a traditional thesis. Amongst other possibilities, current doctoral candidates may choose to produce a Thesis by Publication (TBP). However, very little is known about the factors shaping doctoral candidates' decisions to adopt a TBP approach during their doctoral journey. This paper reports on quantitative and qualitative data collected in 2018 and 2019 from 246 recent doctoral graduates from Australian universities who completed a TBP. It reports on data exploring when candidates made the decision to select this option, who influenced their decision, and their reasons for choosing the TBP approach. We found that candidates typically adopted a TBP approach early, strongly influenced by their supervisors, to meet vocational, promotional and process goals. The study has implications for administrators, supervisors and candidates in selecting the thesis mode that suits the unique needs of each candidate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the current field of doctoral education, there is a range of possible approaches presented to doctoral candidates. The Thesis by Publication (TBP) is an option increasingly offered by universities around the world and adopted by candidates in diverse fields. As the approach gains in popularity in response to the demands of modern academia, there is a need to better understand the limitations and possibilities associated with completing a TBP. This paper reports on a survey of 246 recently conferred doctoral candidates from Australian universities, who shared their personal experiences of successfully completing a TBP, with particular focus on the challenges and benefits. The challenges of ensuring thesis cohesion, time pressures, managing the publishing journey, and issues with supervisory and/or university support emerged as notable recurring themes. Positives included efficiency, accessibility and dissemination of findings, feedback, skills for research, career and reputation, emotion and motivation, and ease of examination. These findings have associated implications for candidates seeking to make informed choices about the approach that best suits their needs. They can also inform supervisors desirous of supporting students to harness the benefits and overcome the challenges of the TBP, and support institutions in the provision of informed and responsive guidelines and training opportunities for TBP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The thesis by publication (TBP) is an increasingly popular approach to doctoral education that sees candidates publishing their research during their candidature, and including these outputs in their final thesis submission. Responsive to the realities of modern academia, a TBP provides doctoral candidates with opportunities to engage in the scholarly publication process, and to build their research portfolio. As the TBP gains further traction in many fields and countries, there is a need to better understand the skills and attributes needed to complete a TBP successfully. This paper draws on the views of 246 recent doctoral graduates of Australian universities to identify the skills and attributes they felt supported their success. Their responses have implications for the development and refinement of institutional policies and programs that are sensitive to the needs and experiences of doctoral candidates seeking to publish during candidature and create a TBP. As editors, peer‐reviewers, and publishers see a growing influx of papers sole‐ or co‐authored by doctoral candidates in response to the trend toward TBP, they may find themselves involved in supporting students to develop the skills and attributes needed to successfully publish during candidature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]