The authors outline the potent relationship between continuing professional development (CPD), teacher efficacy, and student learning outcomes in the context of a major reform of middle years teacher work in Queensland, Australia. The authors explore core features of effective teacher CPD, including content focus, active learning, coherence,…

It is generally assumed that in order to teach mathematics effectively, middle years teachers ought to have a high degree of knowledge of mathematics and confidence in their ability to do the mathematics as well as self-efficacy to teach it. This study examines the content knowledge, mathematics confidence and self-efficacy of 99 graduate-entry…

This article presents a reflective analysis of an outreach programme called the Digital Divas Club. This curriculum-based programme was delivered in Australian schools with the aim of stimulating junior and middle school girls' interest in computing courses and careers. We believed that we had developed a strong intervention programme based on…

Proportional reasoning, the ability to use ratios in situations involving comparison of quantities, is essential for mathematical competence, especially in the middle school years, and is an important determinant of success beyond school. Research shows students find proportional reasoning and its foundational concepts difficult. Proportional…

Prospective middle school pre-service teachers' knowledge and affect in Australia has had little empirical research. In this study, 108 graduate entry pre-service teachers were surveyed for their knowledge of middle years' mathematics, confidence, and self efficacy at the commencement of a mathematics curriculum course. It was found that their…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of an Australian health promoting schools (HPS) project to identify key features of the concept of resilience and how it can be used in a school setting to develop and strengthen protective factors in young people, as a mechanism for improving social functioning and reducing involvement in…

There has been a lot of media attention about 'out-of-field' teaching, but much of it does not capture the complexities of the term or account for the range of knowledge, experience, and attitudes relevant for teaching mathematics in the middle years. In this paper we report on a survey conducted to better understand the diversity of the…

It is well accepted and understood amongst the mathematics education community that numeracy is the responsibility of all teachers, across all levels of schooling. However, the way numeracy is understood and actioned across the Early Childhood, Primary and Secondary contexts is different. This paper reports on a case study of secondary school…

The experiences of regional and rural teachers supporting students on the autism spectrum in their classrooms often differ from those of their metropolitan counterparts. Interventions designed for metropolitan settings may not work the same way in regional and rural classrooms, and teachers outside major centres may encounter challenges in…

The International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement's (IEA) mission is to enhance knowledge about education systems worldwide, and to provide high-quality data that will support education reform and lead to better teaching and learning in schools. In pursuit of this aim, it conducts, and reports on, major studies of student…

This study analysed students' attitudes towards school and the relationship between these attitudes and reading performance. Using a sample of 57,572 Year 7 and 9 students from 306 Victorian government schools, the analysis combined two de-identified data sets -- students' responses to the Student Attitudes to School Survey and their performance…

Early adolescence marks a developmental period during which there is a window of opportunity to explicitly teach and make a significant difference in a young person's development of social and emotional competencies (SECs). All students can benefit from the inclusion of SECs and failing to develop such SECs can result in poor outcomes in several…

As the disparity between educational standards and reality outside educational institutions is increasing, alternative learning infrastructure are challenging traditional modes of teaching. This study was based on an experiment with middle school pupils, pre-service teachers and college lecturers. The aim of this study was to examine the extent to…

This study reports on a three-year group randomized controlled trial, the Cyber Friendly Schools Project (CFSP), aimed to reduce cyberbullying among grade 8 students during 2010-2012. In each year, 14-15 year old student "cyber" leaders acted as catalysts to develop and implement whole-school activities to reduce cyberbullying-related…

The potential for music programs to promote psychosocial wellbeing in mainstream schools is recognised in both policy and research literature. Despite this recognition, there is a dearth of consistent research evidence supporting this link. Authors attribute this lack of consistent evidence to limitations in the areas of research design and…