A book developed by staff at The University of Queensland Ipswich Campus is set to shape the future of middle years schooling in Australia.
The Campus’ Education (Middle Years of Schooling) Program Director Dr Donna Pendergast and Director of Education Dr Nan Bahr have partnered to share their expertise to write and edit Teaching Middle Years: Rethinking curriculum, pedagogy and assessment, which focuses on middle years of schooling within Australia.
As former teachers, Dr Pendergast and Dr Bahr bring with them a wealth of practical experience, knowledge and understanding of both the schooling and tertiary education sectors, with a particular focus on the middle years of schooling.
Dr Pendergast has been on the cusp of the education reform in middle years of schooling since its inception in Australia, and has developed Degree, Graduate Certificate and Masters courses in middle schooling.
Dr Bahr was a leader for the visualization and development of the first dedicated middle years of schooling in Australia with Dr Pendergast and has authored several international papers on the topic.
The Bachelor of Education (Middle Years of Schooling) program, which is led by Dr Pendergast, has been heralded as being at the cutting-edge of middle years of schooling education by government, education and community sectors within Australia.
Dr Pendergast said the book filled an urgent need expressed by all sectors of education in Australia.
“Teaching Middle Years: Rethinking curriculum, pedagogy and assessment is a valuable resource for school administrators and teachers, academics and pre-service teachers in their quest to successfully develop middle years of schooling curriculum, pedagogy and assessment to meet the needs of today’s young people,” Dr Pendergast said.
“Until now, the best available scholarly books dedicated to the middle years of schooling were those written for an American audience.”
“While Australian schools, universities and education systems have made good use of the international literature; it is time for teachers, principals, academics and student teachers to have access to more relevant and meaningful Australian material.”
Dr Pendergast said Teaching Middle Years: Rethinking curriculum, pedagogy and assessment was also a valuable reference tool for schools to guide their efforts with the current middle years of schooling reforms.
Available from the second week of July, the book will be the main textbook for Education students at the Ipswich Campus next semester, as well as other universities across the country.
Published by Allen & Unwin, Teaching Middle Years: Rethinking curriculum, pedagogy and assessment will be launched on Friday, July 8, at the Australian Teacher Educators Association Conference, to be held at the Gold Coast next week.
Media: Dr Donna Pendergast at the School of Education (0419 772 168)
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