Laureate Professor Jennifer Gore

Delivering effective professional development (PD) at scale necessitates a careful balance between program integrity and local adaptation. Drawing on qualitative case study data, this paper explores tensions in the implementation of a successful PD program, Quality Teaching Rounds, within two contrasting school communities in New South Wales, Australia. Using the theoretical distinction between ostensive and performative aspects of implementation, we demonstrate how even slight surface-level adaptations to the program can have profound consequences for teacher learning. We argue that scaling efforts must attend to the underlying mechanisms of effective PD, not just its design, if benefits are to be realised.

While international research has demonstrated that ability grouping is inequitable, Australian research has often overlooked equity concerns, predominantly focusing on studying the benefits of grouping for students perceived to have high ability, especially in mathematics. This paper investigates the effect that mathematics ability grouping has on senior secondary mathematics participation for low and middle grouped students in New South Wales, Australia. We drew on interviews about mathematics participation with 85 students and 22 mathematics teachers from 11 government high schools. Our thematic analysis of these data identified that secondary school grouping practices often serve to entrench student interest and/or performance from primary school. This has consequences for many students, with a differentiated curriculum in Years 9 and 10 precluding low and middle grouped students from participating in high-level mathematics when they reach senior secondary school. These findings raise serious equity questions about the current push in Australia for universities to re-introduce high-level mathematics as a prerequisite to entering certain degrees. We argue that stakeholders need greater awareness of the consequences of ability grouping and that those seeking to lift post-compulsory mathematics participation should be targeting primary and early secondary school.

Articulations of effective teacher professional development (PD) consistently foreground a focus on curriculum content and how best to teach it. Consequently, when teachers work together on pedagogy they typically work with colleagues who have similar specialisations, focusing on a specific subject or part of the curriculum. Arguably, however, pedagogical practices cut across grades and subjects, which signals the possibility of effective PD that includes diverse teachers. In this paper, we analyse the impact of a pedagogy-focused approach to PD called Quality Teaching Rounds (QTR), recently tested under randomised controlled trial conditions. Drawing on post-intervention interviews with 96 teachers and leaders at 24 schools in NSW, Australia, we demonstrate that QTR generated fresh insights about pedagogy and students, enhanced collegiality and led to ongoing professional collaboration, even though it does not abide by the general consensus that effective PD should be content-focused. We argue that pedagogy-focused PD, using QTR, is an important mechanism for improving teaching on a large scale, not just for this grade or subject, but for teaching in general. With a global push for better teaching as foundational to improved student outcomes, building teaching capacity across the entire teacher workforce remains a challenge. QTR offers a way forward.

The COVID-19 pandemic produced widespread disruption to schooling, impacting 90% of the world¿s students and moving entire school systems to remote and online learning. In the state of New South Wales, Australia, most students engaged in learning from home for at least eight weeks, with subsequent individual and intermittent school closures. However, while numerous claims have circulated in the popular media and in think tank reports, internationally, about the negative impacts on learning, there is limited empirical evidence of decreased student achievement. Drawing on data from more than 4800 Year 3 and 4 students from 113 NSW government schools, this paper compares student achievement during 2019 and 2020 in a sample of matched schools to examine the effects of the system-wide disruption. Somewhat surprisingly, our analysis found no significant differences between 2019 and 2020 in student achievement growth as measured by progressive achievement tests in mathematics or reading. A more nuanced picture emerges when the sample is examined by dis/advantage (ICSEA) and Year level. The Year 3 cohort in the least advantaged schools (ICSEA < 950) achieved 2¿months less growth in mathematics, while the Year 3 students in mid-ICSEA schools (950¿1050) achieved 2¿months¿ additional growth. No significant differences were identified for Indigenous students or students located in regional locations. These results provide an important counter-narrative to widespread speculation about alarming levels of ¿learning loss¿ for all students. While the lower achievement growth in mathematics for Year 3 students in lower ICSEA schools must be addressed as a matter of urgency to avoid further inequities, most students are, academically, where they are expected to be. Our findings are a testament to the dedicated work of teachers during the 2020 pandemic to ensure that learning for most students was not compromised, despite unusually trying circumstances.

The quest to improve teaching on a wide scale is an enduring challenge globally. Yet demonstrable improvement in teaching quality is both elusive and slow. In this essay, I explore some of the complexities that contribute to the slow pace of change, including: the slippage between teachers and teaching as the object of improvement; the poorly defined concept of good teaching; the difficulty of demonstrating improvement in teaching; institutional constraints on improvement efforts; the growing web of marketing; and conflicting conceptions of professional development itself. Using my ongoing work on Quality Teaching and Quality Teaching Rounds, I illustrate how we have addressed these matters to produce measurable and sustainable effects. Finally, I elaborate the key principles of our approach, while acknowledging the challenges of wide-scale improvement, given the institutional and discursive character of the field.

Importance: Cardiorespiratory fitness is an important marker of childhood health and low fitness levels are a risk factor for disease later in life. Levels of children's fitness have declined in recent decades. Whether school-based physical activity interventions can increase fitness at the population level remains unclear. Objective: To evaluate the effect of an internet-based intervention on children's cardiorespiratory fitness across a large number of schools. Design, Setting, and Participants: In this cluster randomized clinical trial, 22 government-funded elementary schools (from 137 providing consent) including 1188 students stratified from grades 3 and 4 in New South Wales, Australia, were randomized. The other schools received the intervention but were not included in the analysis. Eleven schools received the internet-based intervention and 11 received the control intervention. Recruitment and baseline testing began in 2016 and ended in 2017. Research assistants, blinded to treatment allocation, completed follow-up outcome assessments at 12 and 24 months. Data were analyzed from July to August 2020. Interventions: The internet-based intervention included standardized online learning for teachers and minimal in-person support from a project mentor (9-10 months). Main Outcomes and Measures: Multistage 20-m shuttle run test for cardiorespiratory fitness. Results: Of 1219 participants (49% girls; mean [SD] age, 8.85 [0.71] years) from 22 schools, 1188 students provided baseline primary outcome data. At 12 months, the number of 20-m shuttle runs increased by 3.32 laps (95% CI, 2.44-4.20 laps) in the intervention schools and 2.11 laps (95% CI, 1.38-2.85 laps) in the control schools (adjusted difference = 1.20 laps; 95% CI, 0.17-2.24 laps). By 24 months, the adjusted difference was 2.22 laps (95% CI, 0.89-3.55 laps). The cost per student was AUD33 (USD26). Conclusions and Relevance: In this study, a school-based intervention improved children's cardiorespiratory fitness when delivered in a large number of schools. The low cost and sustained effect over 24 months of the intervention suggests that it may have potential to be scaled at the population level. Trial Registration: http://anzctr.org.au Identifier: ACTRN12616000731493.

The key premise of professional development (PD) is that learning to teach continues throughout teachers¿ careers. And yet, experienced teachers are often portrayed in media and public policy as resistant to such learning and afraid of change. This paper seeks a more nuanced understanding of why experienced teachers might resist the prospect of PD by investigating their responses to an innovative research-based collaborative approach known as Quality Teaching Rounds (QTR). We chronicle a story of change, from initial reservations to deep engagement and professional renewal. Analysis of before-and-after interviews with 25 mid-to-late career teachers from 20 primary and secondary schools in New South Wales, Australia, revealed that three features of QTR were critical to teacher turnaround: the time afforded teachers to refocus on quality teaching; time to observe teaching and learning and be observed; and processes founded on trust in and respect for teachers. In essence, QTR inspired teachers to embrace the opportunity to enhance their individual and collective practice, and they were rejuvenated in the process. Accordingly, we argue that the problem of professional development uptake among experienced teachers may lie less in ageist assumptions about their resistance to change than in the nature of the PD on offer. When PD is meaningful, intellectually engaging, safe, and collegial, experienced teachers are eager to participate.

Teacher professional development (TPD) programs are increasingly using video recordings of teaching practice to develop teacher capacity and foster student learning. However, consensus has yet to be reached about how to utilize video recordings in TPD for physical education (PE) teachers. We used semi-structured interviews and evaluations of PE teachers¿ written reflective statements to investigate how they reacted as they engaged with different video material and external facilitators during a TPD program. Teachers believed video-based reflection on their own teaching, rather than viewing others¿ practice, was the most useful, even though both forms of analysis produced a similar depth of reflection. PE teachers also benefited from dialogue with external facilitators during the TPD program. These results highlight the importance of researchers, teachers, and facilitators delivering and participating in TPD collaboratively and focusing on strategies that may increase the depth of teacher reflection on their own practices, which is considered a first step toward changing classroom practice and improving student outcomes.

Girls¿ underrepresentation in high-level post-compulsory mathematics is a longstanding issue of concern in many Western nations, with innumerable efforts to increase their participation producing little impact. In this paper, we shed new light on girls¿ underrepresentation through a post-structural feminist investigation of mathematics teachers¿ discursive constructions of high-level senior secondary mathematics students. Our analysis of semi-structured interviews with 22 Australian mathematics teachers revealed gendered views that serve to exclude many students from the high-level mathematics student category. Most concerning was their recurring naturalised construction of successful high-level mathematics students as endowed with the right, invariably male, brain. In so doing, teachers repeatedly closed off the possibility of success to those lacking such a ¿mathematics gift¿, effectively ¿counting girls out¿. We argue that increasing girls¿ participation in mathematics requires moving beyond current efforts to raise female interest and confidence to, more profoundly, disrupt enduring discourses of male superiority in mathematics.

Sports participation and elite sporting success are fundamental to Australian culture and a prominent source of national pride. As sport is a major part of day-to-day living in Australia, it is not surprising that many young people aspire to careers as sportspersons. While such aspirations are often dismissed as fanciful and unattainable, the reality is that a higher proportion of Australians participate in the workforce as sportspeople than in careers as mining engineers, surgeons, optometrists or barristers. Indeed, little is known about aspirations for sports careers. Drawing on data from a 4-year longitudinal study involving 6492 Australian school students in Years 3¿12, we sought to understand the extent to which young Australians aspire to a career as a sportsperson and the extent to which these aspirations are evenly distributed across demographic categories. Our findings suggest that not only was sportsperson the most popular occupational category, but this interest was heavily shaped by social and cultural markers of difference. Logistic regression analysis revealed that significant predictors of interest in a career as a sportsperson were being male, Indigenous, from high socioeconomic background, and attending advantaged schools. Far from sport¿s reputation as the great equalizer, accessible to all, these results demonstrate that aspirations for a career as a sportsperson largely reflect the status quo of sports participation in Australian society and wider inequalities. Given the growing number of careers in professional sports and the value sport holds in the lives of Australians, we argue that aspirations for careers in sport should be treated seriously, and that disrupting current patterns in who aspires to careers as sportspeople is vital. It will require access for a more diverse range of students to the kinds of social resources and networks that nurture their capacity to aspire.

Research on young people's aspirations and their capacity to aspire to higher education has proliferated in recent decades, however, very little attention has been paid to the creative arts. Diversity in the arts remains a persistent issue in many nations, and repeated attempts to promote diversity in the Australian arts community have had limited impact, suggesting the need for new approaches. Drawing on data from a 4-year longitudinal study of students from ages 8 to 18 (n¿=¿6,492) in government schools, we examine school students' aspirations for careers in the arts. Arts-related careers were popular among students, yet we found a distinct lack of diversity among those aspiring to such careers. Using logistic regression analysis we found that being female, high achieving, from an English-speaking background, possessing high cultural capital, and attending advantaged schools were significant predictors of interest in the arts, suggesting the likely reproduction of existing patterns of participation. We argue that initiatives within schools are essential to disrupting these patterns and building the capacity of a more diverse range of students to aspire to careers in the arts.

Objectives: Students from lower socio-economic status backgrounds continue to be under-represented in medical education. Although various initiatives have been implemented by universities to widen participation, their effectiveness and their timing remain contentious. Prior studies have primarily focused on students already on a medical pathway, with little analytical attention given to the aspirations of primary and secondary school-aged students. The aim of this study was to identify the characteristics of students who express early interest in medicine and ascertain the degree to which diversification of the future medical student cohort is indicated. Methods: As part of a longitudinal study of educational and occupational aspirations (2012¿2015), students in Years 3¿12 (n¿=¿6492) from government schools in New South Wales, Australia, completed an annual online survey. Their individual responses were linked with prior academic achievement and demographic data. Logistic regression models were used to examine the significance of student- and school-related variables as predictors of interest in medicine. Results: Significant predictors were: being in the early years of secondary school, possessing high cultural capital, coming from a language background other than English, being female, and perceiving oneself as ¿well above average¿ relative to peers. Socio-economic status was a significant predictor when examined independently, but not when all variables were considered in the full regression model. Conclusions: For medical schools seeking to widen participation, this study underscores the importance of recognising the intersection of other factors with socio-economic status and how they contribute to students¿ aspirational biographies. If medical schools are to select from a more diverse range of applicants, recruitment strategies must take into account the discursive positioning of the discipline. Sustained outreach into primary and secondary schools may be critical to interrupting the current social reproduction of medical schooling.

The role of ¿academic partners¿ working alongside teachers is an increasingly complex and sometimes controversial one. This article explores the role of academic partners in Educational Action Research, reporting on data from a larger study conducted in New South Wales, Australia. Schools involved in the study had received targeted government funding between 2006 and 2010 to conduct school-based action learning projects employing action research. As part of the funding, the schools had been provided with external support from university-based academic partners, who supported individual school teams in the completion of their projects. Here we focus specifically on the role of the ¿academic partner¿. Data were obtained via semi-structured interviews with academic partners themselves, with the project¿s state coordinators who oversaw the project, and with teachers who had worked with the academic partners over the course of their school-based projects. Participants in the study identified significant benefits for both teachers and academics engaging in co-inquiry, but findings also suggest that the role of academic partner is increasingly complex, multifaceted and sometimes under-supported. When there is ¿good fit¿ between academic partners and schools and when structures are in place to support academic partners in their work, the academic partner role in schools can contribute to sustained educational change. In this article we discuss the crucial antecedents, enablers and constraints which ensure that academic¿school partnerships enrich learning for both academics and teachers, building mutual capacity.

The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a continuing professional development (CPD) intervention in producing changes in physical education (PE) teaching practice and PE teaching quality by generalist primary school teachers when the CPD addressed the use of a game-centred approach. A cluster randomized controlled trial was conducted in seven primary schools in the Hunter Region, New South Wales, Australia. One year six teacher from each school was randomized into the Professional Learning for Understanding Games Education (PLUNGE) intervention (n = 4 teachers) or the 7-week wait-list control (n = 3) condition. The PLUNGE intervention (weeks 1¿5) used an instructional framework to improve teachers¿ knowledge, understanding and delivery of a game-centred curriculum, and included an information session and weekly in-class mentoring. The intervention was designed to enhance content and pedagogical knowledge for the provision of pedagogy focused on a broad range of learning outcomes. Teaching quality was assessed at baseline and follow-up (weeks 6 and 7) via observation of two consecutive PE lessons using the Quality Teaching Lesson Observation Scales. Linear mixed models revealed significant group-by-time intervention effects (p < 0.05) for the quality of teaching (effect size: d = 1.7). CPD using an information session and mentoring, and a focus on the development of the quality of teaching using a game-centred pedagogical approach was efficacious in improving the quality of PE teaching among generalist primary school teachers.

International concern about ¿alarming¿ levels of childhood obesity has seen a proliferation of interventions filtering into school physical education programmes that are designed to influence children's health practices and attitudes. This article addresses one such obesity-prevention intervention, the Global Children's Challenge¿, a 50-day pedometer-monitored event, aimed at children and involving their parents and teachers. Our research problematises the effects of the GCC pedometer exercise regime. We demonstrate how the pedometer measurement imperative made available in the GCC not only enables exercise to be measured for potential health benefits but also makes available tools inextricably linked with antagonistic body relations that could propel some students into a self-monitoring world dominated by numbers. We illustrate how the emphasis on measurement allows for comparisons (dividing practices), self-surveillance and surveillance of others in the formation of particular kinds of subjectivities. This study of the discursive construction of student subjectivities in the GCC took place in one strategically chosen Australian primary school. In-depth interviews were conducted with one teacher, four Year-6 students and a parent of each child in order to produce rich contextual data. Foucauldian concepts of power, knowledge and ¿technologies of self¿ underpinned the study and Gore's methodologies for analysing ¿techniques of power¿ and ¿regimes of truth¿ were used to explore the functioning of power and the formation of subjectivities in the GCC. Our analysis suggests a need to move away from the constraining construct of measurement in the primary physical education (PE) classroom and promote self-reflective mindful physical activity rather than telling students when, where and how to move their bodies.

In this paper, we explore the divide between academics and teachers over the production and use of knowledge. Teachers' views (pre-service and inservice teachers from both Australia and the United States) on educational research are utilized to better understand and [re]vision this divide. These teachers overwhelmingly dismissed academic research on the grounds that it is not practical, contextual, credible, or accessible. Using these challenges as a starting point, we examine the way relations of power, particularly in terms of discursive and material conditions, bind the views and practices of both teachers and academics. This analysis suggests that the education of teachers is a crucial site for restructuring the relationship between teachers and academics.