Abstract
Our final issue for 2023 includes two articles focusing on issues in the fields of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), followed by an investigation of relationships between students’ mobility and their academic and behavioural outcomes, and a study of the preferences of parents for different approaches and activities used during periods of emergency remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The first article by Kathryn Ross, Shanika Galaudage, Tegan Clark, Nataliea Lowson, Andrew Battisti, Helen Adam, Alexandra Ross, and Nici Sweaney presents an analysis of four senior secondary science courses delivered across the states and territories in Australia (Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Science, and Physics). The authors examined curriculum documentation for each science course with the aim of comparing male and female representation within the courses using mentions of scientists by name as well as the context of the mention as their measures of representation. 1 The results of this comparison were quite disheartening, with a clear gender bias evident in the syllabuses – only one unique mention of a female scientist. The authors argue that such a narrow representation of scientists is likely to contribute to continued low engagement of women in scientific fields and lower enrolments in science courses at schools among female students. Examples of female scientists and their contributions to the development of their fields abound, so why aren’t they represented in curriculum materials?
Amy MacDonald, James Deehan, and Paige Lee report on the results of their study examining relationships between the different levels of qualification held by early childhood educators and their beliefs about mathematics education for babies and toddlers (children under the age of 3) in our second article. Early childhood educators (mostly working in long day care centres) responded to seven Likert-type items about the perceived benefits of mathematics education for very young children and were asked at what age they believed young children begin exploring various mathematical ideas such as counting, shapes, patterns, and matching. Analysis of responses from 466 educators indicated that most educators held strong, positive beliefs about mathematics education for very young children, but that there were significant differences between educators without Bachelor level qualifications and those with Bachelor and post-graduate qualifications in terms of when they believed children develop their mathematical ideas. The authors conclude that these findings are further evidence of the benefits Bachelor level teaching qualifications for early educators may have in supporting mathematics education in the early years and beyond.
The next article by Jacqueline Gannon, Charley Budgeon, and Ian Li reports on analysis of administrative data from the Western Australian Department of Education. Using information about changes to enrolment, scores from the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN), and records of school suspensions, the authors examined associations between student mobility and academic and behavioural outcomes for students in government (public) primary schools. Their results indicated an association between mobility and academic outcomes – students with higher mobility had lower participation in NAPLAN and received lower scores, on average, when they did participate compared to students who did not move as often – but found no association between student mobility and school suspensions. The authors provide suggestions for extension of their research as well as recommendations for addressing the academic, and potentially social, disadvantage students may face when changing school multiple times.
In the final article for this issue, Matt Bower, Jennifer Lai, Penny Van Bergen, Lucie Hobson, and Rebecca Stephens report on their study of parent perceptions of online and remote learning designs that were employed during COVID-19-related school closures. From August to October 2021, the second major period of school closures in Australia, parents were invited to respond to a questionnaire about their experiences supervising their students’ learning at home. Analysis of the 351 complete responses indicated that digital creativity tasks, such as creating posters, videos, or writing essays, were associated with lower levels of parental stress, lower levels of student difficulty with learning at home, and greater capacity to work independently (as reported by their parents). Interestingly, parent perceptions of student learning were higher when more paper-based activities were assigned. Insight into parent perceptions of and preferences for different learning activities may be important in planning for any future home-based learning, as well as supporting collaboration between parents and educators more generally.
This issue concludes with a review by Alison Bedford of the book Empowering Teachers and Democratising Schooling: Perspectives from Australia, edited by Keith Heggart and Steven Kolber.
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