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Managing the teaching-research-creative practice nexus is a concern for everyone working in higher music education, particularly those involved with the supervision and mentorship of graduate students and early career academics. This paper takes as its subject the new Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA), drawing examples from research frameworks elsewhere to identify some of the pertinent issues facing music educators and their students. The findings from a series of surveys and short interviews suggest that the formal recognition of artistic research remains largely dependent on the articulation of that research into traditional academic language. Furthermore, the increasing focus on research as a form of revenue generation highlights the separation of research and teaching and the lessening of academic autonomy. The paper argues that a balance can be achieved only with a fundamental, systemic shift that recognises the new knowledge and innovative methodological approaches within artistic research and, equally, within the scholarship of teaching. (Contains 1 table.)

In the context of increasing linguistic and cultural diversity in Australian schools, it is important to consider the value of students' multilingual resources for learning. This paper reports on an ethnographic case study conducted in an Australian metropolitan secondary school where the student body represented more than 40 cultures and languages, yet where the broader structures of education were dominated by a monolingual orientation. The study draws data from student artefacts, student focus groups, a staff questionnaire, and staff interviews to reveal the ways in which multilingual students and their teachers construct and enact language policy at the classroom level. Key themes to emerge from the data included students' application of multilingual resources for individual and collaborative learning and the way multilingualism and related practices, such as translanguaging, were valued by students. Additionally, the data illustrated teachers' situated approaches ranging from a resistance towards multilingual practices, through to active construction of a multilingual classroom. Teachers' approaches which facilitated students' use of their own linguistic resources for learning, and how these approaches were negotiated within a context otherwise dominated by monolingual pedagogies will also be discussed in the paper.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that many schools in rural areas, do not operate classroom music programs due to a shortage of qualified staff and with access to tertiary music education rapidly diminishing in regional Victoria, there is little indication that the situation will improve. This paper reports on a mixed methods research project that shows numbers and types of music programs operating in rural primary schools and universities, then how music teachers perceived their roles and undergraduate preparation for music teaching. The findings show that tertiary specialist music education has all but disappeared from regional Victoria. Principals are struggling to find staff to teach music in their schools and only a small percentage of responding music teachers were qualified specialists. Pre-service training in music is seen to be lacking in both quantity and quality and teachers are highly critical of the placement of music within the Arts Key Learning Area particularly when it comes to reporting. The article concludes that despite the arts' inclusion in the new "Australian Curriculum", Victorian primary schools students will not have equality of access to music education until there is an increase in status/funding of music education and accordingly, in the number of music teachers being educated. (Contains 4 figures and 3 tables.)

Citizenship education in Australia is embedded throughout the school curriculum. Despite a coherent policy context for the inclusion of citizenship and civic education at all levels of schooling, the links between education and civic minded citizens are tenuous. This paper explores these connections by drawing on the views of participants in an international community service program between Western Australia and Tanzania. By situating the interview data in relation to the policy goals, the paper argues that the current policy framework "sanitises" the political nature of modern citizenship. The results from this study demonstrate that students have little understanding of the connections between the civic, the social and the political realms of citizenship. These results suggest that the current policy context does not adequately prepare young people to position themselves in the political realm.

In 2009, the then State Minister for Education in New South Wales, Verity Firth, announced a plan to introduce bilingual education in four primary schools across the state for the National Asian Languages and Studies in School Program (NALSSP) priority languages: Chinese, Indonesian, Japanese and Korean. This paper reports on one aspect of a larger project undertaken by the researchers to examine how the schools, teachers, parents and children in the four schools experienced the implementation of this program and how they viewed the success or otherwise of the program at the end of the first two years of policy implementation. This paper focuses on reporting the perceptions of teachers (the bilingual teachers themselves, the support (classroom and assistant) teachers and senior executive teachers at each school) in relation to the implementation of this innovative and challenging model of languages education in the Australian context. The findings indicate that implementation of such programs is challenging, and that to succeed teachers need support to collaboratively plan, to develop their understandings of bilingual styles of teaching, and that a whole school approach to such a program facilitates smoother implementation.

This paper is situated in the re-visioning ethos that has been part of the genealogy of multicultural education. In the context of teacher education, the authors ask: where to now? In this paper, they reflect on their design and delivery of a new undergraduate unit offered by the School of Education, University of Western Sydney. The unit attempted to work through ideas of "cosmopolitanism" as a way of rethinking diversity education for the twenty-first century. The paper offers a critical review of multiculturalism in teacher education and examines theories associated with cosmopolitanism in the education context. The authors examine the ways in which a "cosmopolitan imagination" might have relevance in contemporary contexts of diversity in Australia, and particularly in the western and south-western Sydney region in which they teach. (Contains 8 notes.)

Reliance on teacher assistants (TAs) in mainstream schools to support students with disability and learning difficulties is an increasing trend in Australia. In 2011, over 80,000 TAs were employed costing approximately $3billion per annum [DEEWR. 2012. Job Outlook. Accessed June 2013. http://joboutlook.gov.au/default.aspx]. This paper reports on the employment procedures and practices that affect TAs working in four mainstream schools in Australia. Using data gathered from a qualitative case study conducted over three years, the study found that TAs and teachers have minimal understanding of the TA role. In addition, TAs have limited understanding of employer expectations, education department system policies, the TA career structure and school policies. Existing procedures and practices, both at the education department system level and at the individual school level, exclude TAs from accessing information afforded to other school staff. As a result, TAs work alone and often fail to provide effective support to both students and teachers. It is recommended that school leaders improve employment conditions for TAs at both system and school levels to ensure that students and teachers receive maximum benefit from employing TAs.

Recognition of human rights on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity and intersex status by the United Nations has led to the development of new policies concerning homophobia and transphobia in educational contexts. This paper examines new Australian education policies impacting gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (GLBTIQ) teachers. A policy review uncovered a range of protections for GLBTIQ teachers in contexts such as the State of Victoria, alongside restrictions. Experiences of policy discussed in pilot study data from surveys of 63 Victorian GLBTIQ teachers, and in-depth interviews with nine Victorian GLBTIQ teachers, revealed that GLBTIQ teachers were relatively unaware of the protections available to them, compared to their awareness of protections for students. Many teachers were out as lesbian or gay to some staff members but fewer had come out to students. Teachers in religious schools had more difficulties, causing some to leave the sector. Further promotion of protections and more research are recommended.

The purpose of this study was to provide guidance to policy-makers about the standards that might be appropriate for accrediting teacher education programmes. The study was commissioned by the Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT), a statutory body established in 2001 by the Victorian state government with responsibility for the registration (licensing) of teachers and the accreditation of teacher education programmes. The study investigated the characteristics of effective initial teacher education programmes, as reported by teachers who have just finished their first year of teaching. A survey instrument was distributed in 2004 to all registered teachers who had graduated from their teacher education programme in 2002, taught in 2003 and were now one month into their second year of teaching in 2004. In total, 1147 teachers returned completed questionnaires, from all universities in the state. Teachers who reported that they were well prepared to meet the demands of their first year of teaching were more likely to have completed courses that gave them deep knowledge of the content they were expected to teach, and how students learned that content, as well as skill in: diagnosing students' existing levels of understanding of the content; planning activities that would promote further development of understanding; and assessing the extent to which development had taken place. The paper concludes with implications for accreditation policy. (Contains 1 figure, 9 tables and 4 notes. Tables showing significant variation between teacher education courses in different universities are appended.) [Support for this study was given by Victorian Institute of Teaching.]

This paper discusses how the management of educational change can be affected by the fundamental beliefs about the formation and communication of knowledge that stakeholders bring to the process of implementing change. A curriculum change designed to embed vocational education into the senior years of secondary schooling was investigated from the perspective of the teachers, principals and consultants (the implementers) whose task it was to implement policy derived from the Australian National Training Agenda. The practitioners' impressions were sought regarding a range of matters including their expectations, experiences and perceptions of management strategies supporting their work. Using a qualitative approach that included a purposefully designed questionnaire, the study gathered data from structured and unstructured questions and post-script interviews. The data from the study indicated that continuation of the initiative was uncertain in many sites, despite its popularity with students and teachers. The most prominent criticisms related to resources and staff development. Respondents reported inadequate access to, or provision of, industry standard equipment and facilities, ongoing professional development for teachers and financial support. The belief systems of administrators did appear to influence the management strategies that underpinned implementation. Judged against current theorising, these strategies were not as efficacious as they might have been.

Discusses the teaching of European languages and less commonly taught languages at all educational levels in Australia. Reference is made to multilingualism and language instruction in other countries. (AM)