The phrase 'teacher quality' is "judgmental, simplistic.. and undermining of real teacher professionalism", argued Melbourne high school English teacher, Peter Job, recently. The current debate about 'teacher quality' portrayed teachers as "static commodities like cars or vegetables", he observed. Instead of 'teacher quality', he advocated the discussion should be instead … [Read more...] about Teaching Quality – Discovering the Teacher’s Role in Learning
Education
History of Teaching Children to Read
"The almost exclusively scientific orientation of current reading policy and pedagogy is profoundly limited", argues Professor of Education at Charles Sturt University, Bill Green. "It needs to be supplemented by a more critical, cultural, historical perspective. One which takes account of more than a so-called best practice or the singular method". Professor Green, along … [Read more...] about History of Teaching Children to Read
Book Review: Secularism or Democracy? by Veit Bader
This is a comprehensive book that explores issues of religion and state such as what role should religions have vis-a-vis the state, the role of secularism in government and society and how the state can deal fairly with the various religions. The author, Veit Bader, is an emeritus professor of sociology and philosophy at the University of Amsterdam. This is an academically … [Read more...] about Book Review: Secularism or Democracy? by Veit Bader
The Emergence of Anzac Day
Each year Australians and New Zealanders observe Anzac Day on 25th April. ANZAC Day is a day when Australians and New Zealanders remember their war-dead and the terrible suffering soldiers endured while carrying out what they were ordered to do. 25th of April was chosen for Anzac Day in recognition of the day when Australian and New Zealand troops landed on the shores of … [Read more...] about The Emergence of Anzac Day
Know Your Database
If you are interested in reading more about digital humanities, check out my other blog at http://stumblingfuture.wordpress.com Over the last week I finally got a chance to try out the tools that Wragge (aka Tim Sherratt) has devised to mine digitised historic Australian newspapers accessed through Trove. This post is about the results of applying his tools. If you want to do … [Read more...] about Know Your Database
