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This paper reports on a study conducted into how one cohort of Master of Teaching pre-service visual art teachers perceived their learning in a fully online learning environment. Located in an Australian urban university, this qualitative study provided insights into a number of areas associated with higher education online learning, including that of assessment, the focus of this paper. Authentic assessment tasks were designed within the University's learning and teaching framework of constructive alignment and were sequenced across the three semesters of the visual art program. Analysis of data collected through a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews revealed that participants largely held very positive attitudes about the suite of online assessment tasks, particularly in light of (a) the collaborative learning that took place, (b) the nature, structure and sequence of the tasks, and (c) the ways in which the tasks contributed to their workplace readiness.

This paper documents students' observations and perceptions of their respective teachers' "performance" within the context of four year nine English classrooms. Drawing upon student interview data--and signalling researcher observations on occasion--it identifies key themes pertaining to the performances of the teachers. Specifically, it addresses the students' perceptions of the qualities or characteristics of their teachers, and the sets of practices employed by the teachers; and the students' views of the types of learning activities with which--and the classroom contexts within which--they were expected to engage. The paper identifies those teacher performances deemed by students to be "effective" and "ineffective" and the constitution of these performances, and draws conclusions as to what we, as educators, might learn from the students with regards to effective teach-er/ing practice. Finally, it is noted that while this paper draws specifically upon student observations and perceptions of English teachers' performances, these offer valuable insights for all teachers--teachers of all subjects and across all sectors of education.

This paper reports on an Australian University's support program to prepare its first year international pre-service teachers (IPSTs) for professional placement. The aim of the program was to address some of the practicum challenges experienced by the IPSTs. A case study was undertaken to investigate the effectiveness of the program. Ten international students enrolled in the Master of Teaching program were participants of this investigation. Data was collected through a questionnaire administered post-program and non-participant observation. The findings indicated that the program was beneficial towards inducting IPSTs to the Australian school context and contributed towards their confidence, communicative skills, and ability to link theory and practice.

In view of the minimal attention pronunciation teacher preparation has received in second language (L2) teacher education, this study examined the cognition (i.e. beliefs, thoughts, attitudes and knowledge) development of 15 student teachers during a postgraduate subject on pronunciation pedagogy offered at an Australian tertiary institution. Findings revealed that, as a result of taking the subject, student teachers' cognition shifted from teaching individual sounds (i.e. segmentals) to favouring a more balanced approach to pronunciation instruction. That is, teaching the melody of the English language (i.e. suprasegmentals) was seen as important as teaching segmentals. Non-native speakers' self-perceived pronunciation improvement, an increase in their awareness of their spoken English, and native/non-native collaboration played critical roles in facilitating participants' cognition growth. The findings also showed that cognition development is a complex process. The paper concludes with recommendations for preparing L2 teachers to teach English pronunciation in their classroom contexts.

The need to diversify digital communications for a global twenty-first century has prompted many theorists to reimagine literacy teaching and learning. Although the new Australian curriculum acknowledges multimodality and multimodal texts, professional learning continues to privilege print-focused literacy. Utilizing a multiliteracies' and community of practice framework, this study scaffolded seven primary school teachers in critical and collaborative professional learning. A case study explored the teachers' evolving perspectives and knowledge work during monthly meetings in a multiliteracies book club. Drawing on a qualitative approach, this paper focuses on how the teachers, who were based in regional Western Australia, problematized conceptual and contextual issues. More broadly, the discussion highlights how the teachers perceived and (re)negotiated contradictory constructions of literacy and professional learning. Findings suggest that generating scaffolded spaces for-and-with teachers is important for innovation in professional literacy learning.

This paper investigated the stress levels of first-year education students who undertake teaching practicum and theory units during their first year of teacher education program. First, 139 first-year and 143 other years' education students completed the PSS-10 scale, which measures perceived level of stress. Then, 147 first-year education students completed an online questionnaire to identify the particular stressors in their learning experience. The first-year education students had significantly higher stress levels than other years' education students, (p < 0.01). Contributing stressors included academic work commitment; completing placement and related performance assessments in schools and at university; having a good understanding of the requirements of professional teaching, such as classroom management, and working with mentor teachers; and conflicting work and family commitments. These findings provide greater understanding about the stressors experienced by first-year education students and usefully inform ways to help this group achieve their study and career goals.

Teacher education students confront the challenging task of acquiring a unique and complex set of skills during their courses. These skills are acquired through the study of education theory together with practical experience in the classroom. Perhaps one of the most important skills that students quickly need to develop is that of reflective practice. It is only through a critical and detailed analysis of their performance that strengths and weaknesses can be ascertained and addressed. Video has been used as a tool in teacher education for many years and provides a means by which a teaching episode can be captured more permanently to be used as a point of reference for reflection. This paper discusses the concept of reflection and examines the use of video to enhance the development of these reflective practice skills in a cohort of Graduate Diploma of Education students. Students indicated that that the use of video, in conjunction with written feedback from teachers, had enhanced their capacity to reflect on their teaching skills.

In this paper the authors report on an exploratory investigation into the use of disequilibrium and difference of opinion in decision-making in schools, based on the experiences of Master of Education students in their own university. From examples provided by the participants the authors identify the factors that contribute to the positive use of difference of opinion, and those that limit or constrain its use. They then discuss the implications of the findings for the curriculum of the degree in which the participants are enrolled.

The meaningful integration of technology in teaching and learning is consistently called for in all sectors of education. Recently it has appeared as a key tenet for achieving what has been termed as personalising learning. Personalising learning, a concept that addresses a range of current best-practice approaches with an added emphasis on ICT and the voice of individual learners, is becoming more prevalent in both general discussion, and in some countries, in policy regarding education. If its prevalence continues to grow, teacher educators need to consider how they too can incorporate personalising learning approaches in their courses to ensure graduate teachers are equipped with the necessary skills and knowledge to implement personalising learning approaches in their own classrooms. This paper considers the components of personalising learning and describes one approach to creating a technology-infused learning environment that has been trialled in the tertiary sector. The key focus of this trial was the effective integration of technology as an enabler of personalising learning. Findings indicate that meaningful student learning experiences can be achieved through a personalised approach which also supports the emerging tenets of effective, pedagogical use of ICT for learning. These findings led to a model of Technology for Personalising Learning (TPL) which is presented as a planning framework through which personalising learning with technology can be achieved in higher education. (Contains 1 table and 1 figure.)

This paper describes an investigation of Australian early childhood teachers' sustainment in their profession, focussing on those factors which enhance professional commitment, job satisfaction and occupational motivation. Utilizing qualitative methodology this study also identified key factors early childhood teachers consider crucial to sustaining engagement in teaching, while coping with the daily demands of their work and the implementation of mandated educational change. In particular, this study found early childhood teachers' students, work colleagues, educational setting and attitudes, beliefs and pedagogical practice contributed to their sustainment, as did their ability to maintain personal well-being and a life-work balance.

This paper reports on a study that sought to uncover and explore the beliefs female secondary pre-service teachers held about teaching and being the teacher as they entered into their teacher education programs. The results indicated that for the participating teacher candidates it was their prior teachers in their intended subject who most informed how they saw themselves in the role as the teacher. Specifically, those secondary teachers who sought critical thinking in them as students impacted upon this teacher-role identity the most. Implications highlight the lack of research on females in secondary education and the importance in-service teachers play in shaping those who may or may not become the teachers of tomorrow.

This paper reports on the perceptions of teacher education student of the value of using digital tools to analyse video-based information on the practice of teachers in classrooms. This strategy was employed to address a dilemma in providing sufficient exposure to real examples of good classroom teaching to link theory with practice. The use of video of teachers in action could augment their practicum experience in schools but this required efficient and effective access to appropriate video material. For this purpose, the use of digital tools in a system called LessonLab was successfully implemented in an introductory unit focussed on learning theories at Edith Cowan University. Data collected using a survey of students and focus group discussion indicated that for almost all the students the experience was valued and the system operated effectively.

Reflective journals have been used widely in teacher education programs to promote reflective thinking (Freidus, 1998; Carter & Francis, 2000; Yost, Senter & Forlenzo-Bailey, 2000). Smyth (1992) advocated that posing a series of questions to be answered in written journals could enhance reflective thinking. It was for this reason that reflective responses to directed questions were introduced in 2002 and subsequently in 2003 in the Bachelor of Education 4th year primary internship program at the University of Western Sydney, Australia. The internship program provided a sustained ten-week period of time in a school that afforded student teachers the opportunity to examine their practice in an authentic setting of teaching. This paper reports on the process undertaken to assist internship students to understand the reflection process and their responses to reflective questions. These responses are analysed in relation to the internship students' professional learning using a framework described by Dietz (1998).