| ISBN 978-1-927151-39-6 |
This monograph is designed to highlight areas of research strength found at The University of Auckland’s Faculty of Education. The chosen theme of this volume, “Changing trajectories of teaching and learning”, encompasses the Faculty’s strong research presence in ongoing teacher learning and in raising student achievement, particularly in lower decile schools and in the area of literacy. It also encompasses the Faculty’s role in enhancing teaching and learning through researching quality teacher education and social work education. This volume consists of two invited lead chapters, one each by Professors Stuart McNaughton and Helen Timperley. Each of these contributes to our conceptualisation of notions of trajectories of learning for students and teachers respectively. The final chapter by Dr Mei Lai, also an invited piece, addresses issues of sustainability of interventions to change trajectories of achievement, issues clearly vital for the ability to maintain and further improve teaching and learning beyond the length of any teaching or research intervention.
In addition to these invited chapters, there are 11 chapters that approach the notion of changing trajectories from a number of different viewpoints theoretically and empirically and in terms of the particular issue, level and area of education addressed. They include research related to considering teaching as inquiry, the fraught issue of retention of students (in this case tertiary), the mentoring of new teachers, questions related to the impact of new technology in teaching and learning, and scholarly pieces in the fields of health literacy, literacy in secondary English, mindfulness in social work and the case of drama as it contributes to teacher education and vocational programmes. The research the chapters report occurred in schools, teacher education programmes and social work preparation. Together, these provide provocation for teachers, tertiary educators, policy-makers and researchers as they seek to further address inequities in progress and achievement and improvements in teaching and learning across fields and age groups.
