Editorial

Welcome to the first issue of the Australian Journal of Education in 2021 which, hopefully, sees the world in a better place as regards COVID-19 than when we were writing this editorial at the end of 2020. As usual, this issue provides thought-provoking reading with three articles having a focus on teachers and four with a focus on doctoral and Indigenous research.

In a timely and important discussion for teachers, Sandra Noakes and Sarah Hook explore the extent to which authorities that employ teachers, or govern teacher conduct in Australia, seek to control teacher behaviour on social media (SM), and in particular teachers’ personal use of SM. Social media, in this study, is defined as behaviour or comment on SM which does not occur while the teacher is at work and does not use the employer’s technology. The authors divide problematic use of SM into three categories and argue that employers have valid reasons for attempting to control behaviours in the first two categories – where the teacher denigrates their employer or makes complaints about their employment or where the teacher engages in inappropriate conduct towards those at their workplace – because these relate directly to the professional obligations of teachers. Behaviour in the third category – where the teacher’s conduct on SM has no direct link to their employment, but may damage the employer’s reputation if the teacher’s connection to their employer is known because the teacher’s SM profile identifies their employer – is the focus of the rest of the article. As regards this third category, the authors examine current Australian case law relating to control of teacher behaviour and comment on SM and discuss the lawfulness of SM policies that purport to control conduct of teachers. Such purported control may be open to legal challenge, and the authors conclude that where the line between a teacher’s professional and personal life is blurred, so too is the line between what can and cannot be regulated by these policies.

Next, Vaughan Cruickshank, Brendon Hyndman, Kira Patterson and Paul Kebble argue that while teachers of all subjects face challenges, teaching a marginalised subject such as Health and Physical Education (HPE) can result in additional challenges. Using survey items developed in cooperation with Australian Council for Health, Physical Education and Recreation (ACHPER), the authors investigate which challenges are the most difficult for Australian HPE teachers and whether or not the difficulty varies according to teaching experience and student age. From responses by 88 attendees of the 2017 ACHPER Tasmania state conference, challenges concerning time, curriculum, planning and assessment, and others’ perceptions of HPE are identified as the most difficult for all teachers, across primary, secondary and senior secondary classes, and regardless of teachers’ years of experience. Differences between primary and secondary school HPE teachers emerge with primary teachers ranking isolation within their schools as a significantly greater challenge than do secondary or senior secondary HPE teachers. In contrast, senior secondary and secondary HPE teachers rank student engagement/motivation as a significantly greater challenge than primary school HPE teachers. Differences related to teaching experiences are such that more experienced HPE teachers – that is those with more than 11 years of teaching experience – rank ‘students with special needs’ as a significantly lower challenge compared with those who have less teaching experience. The authors call for future research that emphasises strategies that all HPE teachers can use to address these challenges in their professional lives.

Clarence Green reports on a study with a very practical outcome for teachers of children who are starting school. The study focuses on productive vocabulary – words children use to express themselves – as arguably the second strongest predictor of reading comprehension in the early years, after decoding skills. Hence, knowledge about the productive vocabulary of children who are starting school is particularly important for teaching and equity reasons. Not only does it help teachers to make decisions about which words to select for usage in the classroom but it also helps to address differences in the extent of productive vocabulary between children who start school having had a large variety in terms of exposure to language through their families and their resources. In this article, Clarence Green analyses the oral language produced by more than 800 children under the age of five to arrive at a structured list of about 2800 words. The list categorises words into groups that the large majority of young children produce to groups of words used by relatively few children, enabling teachers to select words depending on the chosen pedagogical purpose.

As regards doctoral education, the Thesis by Publication (TBP), in which candidates produce a series of related research articles or papers rather than a longer monograph, is an approach which is garnering increasing interest. Based on data from 246 recent successful doctoral candidates who participated in the 2018–2019 PhD candidates' motivations, experiences, and opinions of the thesis by/with publications study, Shannon Mason, Julia Morris and Margaret Merga report on the common support practices experienced by candidates undertaking a TBP, focusing on three areas of inquiry – initial institutional support, ongoing institutional support and supervisory support. Responses to questions about the initial institutional support they received indicate a mix of experiences – 30% of participants give a positive response, just under 40% a negative response, with one-third of candidates remaining neutral. Responses to questions regarding ongoing institutional support are more positive, with a wider range of supports being received over the later stages of candidature compared to initial stages. Participants show the highest levels of positivity to supervisory support questions, with few participants dissatisfied with the supervisory support they receive. Hence, more can be done to support students intending to embark on TBP at induction, argue the authors, and that high-quality supervisory support can be perceived as integral to candidate success. The authors caution, however, that 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 as the TBP approach expands.

As part of her doctoral education, Tracy Woodroffe has developed Indigenous presentation feedback as an Indigenous methodology which can assist with systematising the comments and suggestions associated with the presentations of research at academic conferences and seminars. The methodology involves three main steps, namely Writing through an Indigenous lens, Talking and observing and Listening. Writing is primarily about Indigenous epistemology and connections with the topic of study, aimed at an Indigenous and a non-Indigenous audience while maintaining an Indigenous viewpoint. Talking and observing occur during the presentation of what has been written previously and include the explaining of the research while observing verbal and non-verbal cues and reactions. Listening, as the third step, involves the interpretation of all verbal and non-verbal cues and contributions as well as the furthering of understanding of the presentation contents and concepts as a result of contributions to discussions – frequently by various Australian and international Indigenous audience members assisting to explain concepts to non-Indigenous audience members.

On the topic of Indigenous methodologies, the article by Stacey Coates, Michelle Trudgett and Susan Page reports on the development of a theoretical framework together with first insights from the Walan Mayiny: Indigenous Leadership in Higher Education project funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC). The theoretical framework builds on Indigenous Standpoint Theory and Institutional Theory to guide the project which seeks to review, compare and evaluate the roles and responsibilities of Indigenous leaders across Australia, and compare them with senior Indigenous higher education roles across New Zealand, Canada and the United States. The project collects information through interviews with recruiters, senior Indigenous leaders and Executives, Indigenous academic staff, senior First Nations leaders and analyses of universities’ Indigenous Education Statements and Strategic Plans. Although the recruitment and conduct of interviews are still ongoing, participants, so far, are from universities across all Australian States and Territories and reflect all leadership and academic staff levels as well as the diversity of higher education institutions in terms of belonging to the ‘Group of Eight’ (Go8) universities, the ‘Australian University Technology Network’, the ‘Innovative Research Universities’ and ‘Regional Universities’. Preliminary analyses of job title positions of the Indigenous Pro Vice-Chancellor role reveal a variety of emphases whereby ‘strategy’ is the most frequent role specification and ‘research’ the least frequent specification.

As part of the larger Foundation of Sport in Indigenous Communities (FOSIC) study, Dorothea Dumuid, Rachel Wilson, Timothy Olds and John Evans explore the impact of participating in organised sports on academic performance in reading and mathematics by children with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander backgrounds. In this final article of this issue, the authors use data from the Kinder (K) cohort of the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children (LSIC) about children’s participation in organised sport from the age of six to nine years and link it to academic performance as measured by the National Assessment Program Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) as well as the Progressive Achievement Tests (PAT) in Mathematics and Reading. Linear modelling analyses are conducted, controlling for children’s age, sex and socio-economic status. Results show a positive effect on mathematics but not reading performance when children participate in organised sport for four consecutive years compared to less participation, equating to between two and seven months of learning in mathematics.

With such a breadth of topics, we’re sure our readers will find something of interest. Happy reading!