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Smooth transitions through the early years of education are recognised as pivotal to later personal and academic success. However, for children considered outside the mainstream, these transitions can provide extra challenge for them, their families and educators. This paper reveals the findings of two qualitative studies investigating early years' transitions. The first study focused on the transition of children with disabilities into early childhood education and care (ECEC) centres; the second explored transition to school for emergent bilingual children. These studies highlight 'strengths-based' perspectives (Perry, Dockett, & Petriwskyj, 2013), wherein participants are understood as experts in their own lives bringing strengths as well as challenges to the new context. Despite the differences in participants, timing and methods, key themes were evident across the studies: parent perceptions of transition; educator attitudes; and home/centre or home/school relationships. These themes are significant to all educational transitions for children considered outside the mainstream.

This paper introduces the context and design of an institutional educational development grants program, Jindaola, which reflects an Aboriginal way towards reconciling Indigenous and non-Indigenous Knowledges in the Australian higher education curriculum. The program is unique in two ways: it foregrounds the voice of Aboriginal local Knowledge Holders in the design and implementation of the program; and, rather than focussing on embedding predefined 'packages' of Indigenous Knowledges and pedagogies into curricula, the approach adheres to Aboriginal methods for conducting business and maintaining knowledge integrity, by taking interdisciplinary teams of academics on a journey towards what we are calling 'curriculum reconciliation'.

The provision of mobile technologies in higher education has unquestionably opened possibilities for how we design learning environments. Opportunity arises to explore mobile design features not only for engaging students but also for how we support and develop university teachers. This chapter explores pedagogic principles of designing an online learning environment for the professional development of teachers. Specifically, this chapter looks at programs that enhance teaching and learning skills and capacities for sessional teachers, those on casual, contractual or part-time employment, who play a crucial role at the coalface of student learning. Two cases are presented that demonstrate different, yet complimentary design features of online programs. These cases utilize flexible spaces and enable sustainable opportunities for engagement by promoting greater access and support for sessional teachers' professional learning.

The face of early childhood education continues to change. In Australia, the national early childhood guidelines, Early Years Learning Framework (2009) and the National Quality Framework have articulated and defined the work of early years' educators in a range of areas, including literacy. Both frameworks state that their aim is to maintain the focus of the Development Strategy provide all Australian children with an educational foundation to support them throughout their lives. In this climate, and some years after the implementation of these guidelines, it seems timely to examine the literacy programmes, practices and perspectives of prior-to-school environments as they prepare children to transition to the early years of primary school. This paper reports on the findings of a study that aimed to explore the nature of literacy programmes, practices and perspectives, and in particular how such programmes support educators and children in one prior-to-school setting, as they prepare to transition to the first year of formal schooling. Analysis of the experiences offered in prior-to-school centres revealed a number of learning experiences that illustrated Bernstein's notion of visible and invisible literacy learning pedagogies. It was found that viewing these learning experiences along a continuum from invisible to visible pedagogical practices was a useful framework for categorising the range of experiences in which the children engaged. It is suggested that such a continuum would be a useful framework for both prior-to-school and kindergarten teachers to better support children as they transition across settings. However, we must add a caveat, namely, that such a framework should not lead to increase pressure on prior-to-school settings to increase 'visible pedagogical practices' in order to 'teach' literacy skills.

Academic teaching staff are often required to complete a compulsory learning and teaching program for probation. Until recently, the University of Wollongong has offered such a course to their probationary staff which aimed to enhance teaching practice within the institution. However, there was no expectation of further development of learning and teaching practice following probation. During 2014 a new program was developed. The Continuing Professional Development for Learning and Teaching program - CPD (L&T) - is underpinned by a framework of teaching criteria emanating from an extensive review of institutional, national and international benchmarks. For CPD (L&T) certification, staff may submit a portfolio of evidence to demonstrate achievement of criteria within the framework. Within this framework staff can submit portfolios at various stages of their career. These portfolios are peer reviewed by experts in learning and teaching from within the institution. A support program for the development of teaching practice includes online modules, face-to-face workshops, open online resources and special interest groups. A team-based curriculum design (TBCD) approach was adopted in the development of CPD (L&T). By engaging staff, academic and professional, from across the institution, teams worked toward a collective outcome, encompassing the expertise within the university. Data was collected during the design and deployment of program resources as team members reflected on the experience of a TBCD approach. This paper explores the TBCD approach to designing a professional development curriculum through team members' reflections and contributes to extending understandings of various models of TBCD in higher education.

The higher education (HE) sector in Australia is in a state of flux due to a range of social, political and economic factors. Increased competition, greater student diversity, tautening of industry exigencies, reduced funding, and rapid technological advances are key drivers of change in this environment. Within this period of transformation, HE institutions remain steadfast in maintaining quality teaching and learning practices. Challenges are therefore presented on the traditional role and function of the teaching academic, creating opportunities to explore how staff can be better prepared to teach into the new era of HE. Professional development for learning and teaching is one approach that can support staff to enhance teaching practice. Professional development programs however that fail to meet the contemporary needs of HE or consider the academic's professional requirements, may be at risk of becoming extraneous. A move towards a more flexible approach to professional development may be necessary to meet these requirements to provide appropriate, timely support for teachers. This paper problematises approaches to professional development which adopt a 'one-size-fits-all' model and introduces a new, innovative program Continuing Professional Development (Learning & Teaching) (CPD [L&T]) at the University of Wollongong . The CPD (L&T) model supports the professional development of all teaching staff - from casual teacher to professor level, academic and professional staff. The model is externally referenced and features self-nominated activities for accreditation. CPD (L&T) enables multiple, ongoing methods of engagement across a professional's teaching career, supporting a new, You-topic vision of professional development in learning and teaching.

The first year of university is a critical period for student engagement. Crucial to smooth transition is how teaching staff support new students in their first year experience (FYE). However, across higher education institutions, staff receive varying levels of professional development, and often, little explanation of how to translate theory into practice. In 2014, at Wollongong University, a new professional development framework was developed to assist teaching staff across the university to translate transition principles into effective curriculum practices. The framework identifies six moments in any first year curriculum where students experience their first contact with different academic elements and highlights how staff can better engage students in these moments. This framework can be applied by teaching staff across the higher education context from tutor to lecturer and whole of course co-ordinator. Run as a pilot FYE module in 2014, in 2015 the framework continues to be used for curriculum renewal across the university.

World-wide peer learning programs support students in their transition to university. Peer leader support is distinctive, being closer to the learning experience or transition encountered. This paper explores transition into the first year of university through the reflections of peer leaders. It outlines two synergetic programs at the University of Wollongong (UOW): one supporting high school students in the early stages of transition to university (In2Uni); and the second supporting enrolled university students (PASS). Focus groups were conducted to elicit the voices of leaders reflecting on their own transition and experiences of mentoring peers through transition. The findings suggest peer leaders assist transitioning students to confront change; develop strong social networks; make connections within and across curriculum; and learn how to learn in the new academic context. It was found that peer leaders valued peer support in their own transition (or wished for it) and saw its ongoing significance for others in transition.

Successful transition to school has been found to be a key factor in later school success. Despite this, there have been few studies conducted which explore the lived experiences of children and their families in this critical period, and fewer that have focused on emergent bilingual children in an English-medium context. This inquiry aimed to reveal the lived experiences of three emergent bilingual children and their families as they made the transition to school, with particular reference to their home literate practice and preparation for school. This study focused on the ways the child-participants negotiated their language and literacy capital from the home context, as well as their identities as learners, in the classroom with peers and teachers. This qualitative study is informed by a Symbolic Interactionist framework. Symbolic Interactionism centres on meaning making as a social co-construction (Reynolds & Herman-Kinney, 2003). Pivotal to this framework is the notion of negotiation of identity (Denzin, 1989). Using a Narrative Inquiry design, data were drawn from family conversations with the child-participants and their families; interviews with each child’s teacher; classroom observations conducted over the first term of Kindergarten (the first year of compulsory schooling in New South Wales, Australia); artefacts gathered from the homes and classrooms; and reflexive researcher journaling. In order to bring together the many parts of this mosaic, that is each narrative, a number of lenses were employed to view the collected data. These lenses were critical, allowing the ‘voices, feelings, actions and meanings of interacting individuals’ to be heard (Denzin, 1989, 83). The three narratives presented are restoried from the view point of the home, the parents and the children. Other voices are also heard, significantly, the teachers’. Opening up the home lived experience of bilingual families provides insight into the literate activity and preparations for sc

Amidst commissioned research reports and policy reforms in literacy education, this paper examines research reported in the 2000–2005 archive of the Australian Journal of Language and Literacy (AJLL). This focus arises from the selective inclusion of literacy research in recent literacy education policy reform documents in Australia and overseas and the exclusion of other research, including research from this AJLL 2000/5 archive. Given the high national and international standing of AJLL, we felt it was timely and important to engage in a retrospective mapping exercise with this collection of research and critically examine its relationship to literacy education policy. So doing forms part of our broader concerns about connections between literacy research, policy and practice.