Libertarian Curricula – Science and Culture Wars vs. University Maths Teacher Training

Recently in Australia, Alan Tudge, the Minister of Education in an embattled ruling LNP conservative coalition, approaching an election, proposed changes to maths teacher training at universities in Australia with an emphasis upon ‘explicit instruction’ versus the more contemporary ‘constructivist approach’ of building knowledge and self learning.

The report is quite unclear on what the evidence is for the need to introduce regressive steps for teaching methodology; based upon supposed correlations with headline test scores including PISA and text analysis of subject or course descriptions, to count how often key words e.g. constructivism occur, but not actual classroom observations?

In short, explicit instruction is teacher centred and directed while constructivist approach is learner centred allowing deep experiential understanding.  Nonetheless, both styles are acceptable depending upon the situation e.g. the UK RSA Cambridge TEFLA or CELTA, for the teaching of English as a foreign language, uses both, and more.  

This is exemplified in the PPPP model Preview, Present, Practice and Produce when used in a lesson starts teacher centred with explicit instruction (or direction), includes much student to student interaction, then moving towards more constructivist methods to finish with student centred production and formative ‘testing’ of individuals to judge outcome, or not.

However, support for changes comes from a report produced by the Sydney based CIS Centre for Independent Studies which is part of the Koch Network’s global Atlas Network of think tanks; another think tank in Melbourne, the IPA Institute of Public Affairs, informs often any climate science denying LNP government, and on libertarian socio-economic policies.

The CIS according to Sourcewatch is described as neoliberal and socially conservative, coincidentally was founded by a maths teacher to replicate, now another Koch linked economics think tank, the IEA in the UK which supported Brexit.  

As explained below the report writers have unclear higher qualifications to research, evaluate and propose methodological solutions to improve maths teaching and student outcomes; the report validity was questioned by various experts.

Anything Koch, IPA, CIS and LNP related generally includes strong antipathy towards universities and higher education, research, gender studies, LGBT, CRT, teaching, learning and science, especially climate science, and later the same networks were linked by DeSmog UK to Covid resistance to related science, vaccinations and measures to protect society.

This has been discussed previously in blog titled Climate Confusion, Astroturfing, Pseudo-Science, Population Movement and Radical Right Libertarians.  The aim appears to be neutralisation of competitive and other threats e.g. regulatory, round big business or large corporate entities, especially fossil fuels and related.

What are the outcomes of explicit teacher instruction?

Firstly it precludes peer to peer learning, like word of mouth is trusted, and is a valid way of learning, includes the ‘school of life’.

Secondly it suggests rote learning, and avoids the higher level skills according to Bloom’s Taxonomy beyond simply know, understand and apply, but higher level skills of analysis, evaluation and synthesis.

More deeply, the roots of radical right libertarian socio economic ideology, whether economics of Adam Smith, on population with Thomas Malthus, or Galton on eugenics, is to keep a major part of any society, especially voters, unenlightened on climate science, higher education and now Covid science to maintain 18th or 19th century power relationships favouring the more deserving ‘top people’ over less deserving society.

Final outcome would involve the ‘hidden curriculum’ that explicit instruction would encourage and condition i.e. a teacher is a figure of authority in imparting knowledge or facts while students are not required to apply higher level skills.

Encouraging a return to master serf relationships and not questioning authority.

From The Campus Morning Mail of Stephen Matchett:

‘Tudge warns teacher education faculties (again) November 29, 2021

For the second time in a month the Education Minister has warned education faculties the “Government will use the full leverage of the $760 million it provides” if they continue to use teaching methods he does not approve of.

Last week Mr Tudge criticised a “constructivist approach” in initial teacher education maths courses, as opposed to “explicit instruction,”(CMM November 26). In October, he warned that “ideological resistance” in teaching training limits the use of explicit instruction and phonics.

The ITE peak body did not respond to what could be a threat and might be a promise from the minister on math teacher training, with the Australian Council of Deans of Education declining to comment on Friday.

However, the Media Centre for Education Research did issue a statement, quoting Macquarie U maths education academics, Dũng Trần, Michael Cavanagh and Rebecca Bull commenting on the Centre for Independent Studies report which informed Mr Tudge’s new statement. They questioned some claims and suggested some of its evidence was not “robust,” adding “we would welcome a more comprehensive discussion about the intricacies of effective mathematics teaching.”

Summary of the report is here:

‘Policymakers have increasingly looked to improvements in Initial Teacher Education (ITE) as key to overcoming declining education outcomes.

The analysis in this paper validates this concern and places a specific lens on ITE for beginning mathematics teachers.

Despite clear evidence of the efficacy of explicit instruction, it is not practiced consistently and regularly in Australia’s mathematics classrooms. The analysis shows that high-performing countries more frequently apply the principles and priorities consistent with explicit instruction.

An analysis of ITE courses for beginning mathematics teachers finds a lack of emphasis on explicit instruction. This significantly contributes to insufficient implementation of evidence-based practice — particularly explicit instruction — in Australian schools.

For Australian students’ mathematics outcomes to improve, ITE must improve with it. For this reason, ITE providers require clear and unambiguous expectations for genuinely incorporating evidence-based practices into their mathematics ITE courses.

Some examples of practices that teachers should be able to demonstrate on completion of mathematics ITE include:

• Clear teacher demonstrations that recognise implications of cognitive load.
• Guided, scaffolded practice opportunities that allow students to students to verbalise.
• Immediate corrective feedback to clarify and confirm students’ progress.
• Spaced and interleaved practice to facilitate cumulative review of content.’

The full report ‘Failing to teach the teacher: An analysis of mathematics Initial Teacher Education’

Glenn Fahey, Jordan O’Sullivan, Jared Bussell   25 November 2021 | AP29

The writers of the report above have indirect expertise and unclear qualifications e.g. Fahey is economics, whilst the other two, Sullivan and Bussell are apparently teachers but have no qualifications listed, simply a general biography on the CIS website.

Related links of interest, articles and blogs:

Covid Misinformation – Gut Instinct & Beliefs vs. Science & Critical Thinking

Covid-19 Climate Science Vaccination Misinformation PR and Astro Turfing

Eco-System of Libertarian Think Tanks and White Nativism in the Anglosphere

Conspiracy of Denial – COVID-19 and Climate Science

Anglosphere – Radical Right Libertarian Socioeconomics and Authoritarianism

Think tanks’ call for ‘freedom’ really promises authoritarianism

International Student Academic Integrity System

International students studying at Australian universities and elsewhere are coming under scrutiny due to both real or perceived issues of academic integrity whether round IELTS and other English tests, students’ real English level, copying, ghost writing and assessment design to ensure quality cohorts.

In one’s experience the issue with academic integrity in universities is lack of awareness and/or willingness to address ghost writing, sub-optimal enrolment processes, heavy assessment loads for instructors, students lacking academic integrity flying under the radar, limits to how much TurnitIn can detect (duplication only), core tutoring/lecturing staff unable to manage the same and related assessment issues.

A simple process for commencing students, in addition to compulsory foundation communication subjects based upon English for Academic Purposes, follows:

Benchmark all new students from the start with a simple assessable written response to questions of academic integrity (compare this back to their English test scores), core unit instructors must be trained in detecting and/or resolving issues via regular academic integrity workshops, students must only use suggested sources (including library URLs), assessment rubrics must reflect academic integrity, suspect students must submit assessment drafts and/or present their ideas via a brief ‘viva’ and finally, avoid issue of students sitting and failing exams badly, that clearly show existing academic issues (after assessment items have already been successful due to ‘ghost writing’).

From Campus Morning Mail:

‘“Name and shame” students who cheat says den Hollander

Universities can’t stop all the cheats but they can make it harder for them

Former Deakin U VC Jane den Hollander urges universities to identify students who cheat.

“We should name and shame because that’s the best way to learn that there’s no fun in this and there’s no gain,” she told a conference on the new academic integrity law, convened last week by study-support provider (and CMM advertiser) Studiosity.

Graduating students need to know, “that everyone around them who is graduating is just like them, they have worked really hard and they deserve what they are getting.

“The fear and the irritation that happens in communities when they know someone’s cheated to get that high distinction is one of the most corrosive things that we deal with in classrooms,” she warned.

Professor den Hollander also argued universities need to give staff  training, “to do assessment properly,” to make it harder for students and cheating services, “some of the simplistic ways we do our assessment are not going to withstand those people.”

But the task is suppression, not eradication, “I think making it harder for cheats rather than trying to catch the cheats is the way to go and bring those numbers down, because we need to operate for the 99 percent or the 95 percent who genuinely want to learn.”

As to the new law; “I don’t think legislation deters anyone if they genuinely are pressured or otherwise predisposed to be dishonest. But it does make it aware for everyone else how hard it is and perhaps stop some people doing it. We need to educate our students … to make it harder for them to go down the slippery path where it appears to be easy.”’

For more blogs and articles about academic integrity, assessment, copying, course design, CPD continuing professional development, curriculum, instructional design, international education, international student, student plagiarism and university teaching skills click through.

E-Learning for University Students in Africa

E-learning maybe the solution for increased affordable access to effective education across the world as an organic extension of distance learning, open university and on campus study using ‘FLIPPED learning model’, dependent upon digital resources and communication.

African University Study via E-Learning (Image copyright Pexels)

For many parts of Africa it is a solution to limited or no access, from Deutsche Welle:

The importance of studying at home for a degree: E-learning in Africa

Many young Africans dream of a higher education. But they often don’t have the means: colleges are often far away and accommodation is expensive. Online universities and e-learning may provide a viable solution.

Lectures with compulsory attendance were not an option for Alida Tapsoba. The 29-year-old from Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, has to earn a living and therefore needs to be in control of when she works and when she studies. With this in mind, she decided to take an online course. “But I was also afraid. I wasn’t sure if I could do it,” the journalism student told DW. “You have to be well organized to deliver the assignments on time — especially if you work extra hours.”

Alida Tapsoba said her choice is rather expensive. She spends a lot of money on internet access. She needs to download large files, which is time-consuming and costly. Rebecca Stromeyer knows the problem well. She said that in many African countries, internet access is considerably more expensive than in Germany. Stromeyer is the founder of e-Learning Africa, an annual conference which attracts experts in the field to network and exchange information in a pan-African context.

No digital infrastructure

Internet access varies much across the continent. “Kenya is a pioneer, even in rural areas,” said Stromeyer. In the Central African Republic, by contrast, only a few people can accesss the internet. “Conditions are not yet so ideal that everyone in Africa can complete an e-learning program,” said Stromeyer. She adds that governments need put more efforts into developing the infrastructure.

“Nevertheless, the need to develop e-learning was much stronger in Africa than in Europe,” said the communications technology expert. And it is not restricted to university studies. The school system often does not work, especially in rural areas. There is a lack of teachers and textbooks. Stromeyer advocates using the internet for education in schools as well, although she believes that students learn better at school than they do online.

Flexible and individual

Tony Carr, from the Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching at the University of Cape Town in South Africa, begs to differ: “Sitting in a lecture hall with 600 other students is much like taking a degree by correspondence. Online interactions can be much warmer and personal. They can bring students closer together than a course requiring attendance.”

Flexibility is another advantage. Young people can also save on accommodation costs by staying at home and not having to rent a room in another city. They can tailor their studies to fit their needs, focus on the skills they believe to be most important and take courses they would not otherwise have access to.

Alida Tapsoba is a case in point. She dreams of working abroad as a journalist. She could not find the master’s course she was looking for in her home town. But a renowned journalism school in Paris had just what she wanted.

South Africa’s pioneers

The University of South Africa (UNISA) pioneered distance learning on the continent. When it was founded in the 1940s it offered only degrees by correspondence. Today, it is on its way to full digitalization. By its own account, it is Africa’s largest distance learning institution.

Tony Carr refers to a research paper into online studies in Africa, which compared different countries between 2011 and 2016. It showed that South Africa was the pioneer in e-learning, followed by Angola, Nigeria and Tunisia. According to Carr, this growth goes hand in hand with internet access, income levels and the increase of the middle class in the countries mentioned.

Generally speaking, Anglophone countries lead the field, Stromeyer said. But there is a growing number of initiatives in French-speaking West Africa. Ivory Coast founded the state-run Universite Virtuelle de Cote d’Ivoire four years ago. “An outstanding institution,” said Stromeyer. “It had the advantage of being able to learn from the mistakes of others.”

High demand in African countries

Many employers still believe that online studies are worth less than degrees that require a physical presence. “They believe that the courses are shorter and that less content is conveyed,” said Stromeyer. “This is not true. The need for e-learning is great in Africa, where an above-average number of young people live. Traditional universities and student accommodation are often overcrowded.” Stromeyer recommended a mixture of online and attendance studies, since young people also have the need to socialize and be part of a community.

The main thing is to gather in-depth information about online courses and providers, Tony Carr pointed out. An online university can be located anywhere, and can circumvent the national accreditation system. Experts recommend asking precisely which degree can be obtained and whether it is recognized in your own country or abroad.

 

For more articles and blog posts about adult learning, andragogy, business training, course design, CPD Continuing Professional Development, e-learning in higher education, ID Instructional Design, international students, MOOCs, Online Education, Pedagogy and Program Design, click through.

 

Study Advice for Starting University

Following is an article from The Conversation Australia with five tips for starting out at university including support services, time management, reading literature, plagiarism or academic integrity and personal responsibility.

‘Five top tips to succeed in your first year of university

February 25, 2019 6.15am AEDT

How to Study at University (Image copyright copyright Pexels).

This week, thousands of new students from around the country will be starting their first year at university. For many students and their parents, transitioning to university is an exciting but daunting experience. Here are five tips to help students succeed in their first year.

1. Find support services

All universities offer student counselling, mental health, sexual health, disability services, careers centres, accommodation and financial support.

One of the first places to look for these services is on your university’s website under the heading, Current Students. Students should also attend presentations during orientation week, ask their tutors and course coordinators or contact their student centre to get more information.

 

The best way to get information is to talk to other students….

 

2. Manage your time well

Learning how to juggle social and academic commitments is one of the most difficult challenges for new students. One of the best ways to manage study workloads is to draw up a semester plan. This can take the form of a timeline or calendar.

Students should start by entering in all assignments and exams on their semester plan and then work backwards to allocate time for researching, draft planning, proofreading and checking references…..

 

3. Keep up-to-date with readings

One common theme across different faculties is that a good assignment is one where arguments have been debated and claims supported by evidence. In order to do this well, students need to do the weekly readings assigned in their individual courses.

You also need to read beyond the required list. Lecturers are not interested in students’ personal opinions. They’re interested in students’ opinions that are informed by evidence. That is, supported by the readings and research the student has done….

 

4. How to avoid plagiarism

Learning how to reference reading sources correctly, to avoid plagiarism, is an essential skill. At the start of semester, most students have to complete online modules which explain the complexities of academic integrity.

Students caught plagiarising risk failing a course or being expelled from their degree. What this means for students is everything you read which has informed your thinking must be included in your reference list.

 

5. Enjoy university life!

If you’re not happy with your course or subjects, you should get advice from your faculty. Students are expected to take responsibility for their own learning progress, but you should still talk to your lecturers about any concerns.’

 

For more blogs and articles about academic integrity or copying and plagiarism, critical thinking and soft skills click through.

 

University Education – Student Teacher Tutors or Professors?

Interesting article from The Conversation regarding university tutorial teaching or tutoring quality, students or academics?  The glib answer would be neither form of pedagogy, in fact ‘andragogy’ for adult learners shows that many should be learning together as students, not through teacher centred direction.

Student Tutorial Teachers or Professors? (Copyright image Pexels)

‘Research shows students are as good as professors in tutorial teaching

February 19, 2019 5.23pm AEDT

Professors and graduate students are at opposite ends of the university hierarchy in terms of experience, qualifications and pay. But at many universities, both do the same job: they teach tutorials offered in parallel with lectures.

Our research explores whether it makes sense for professors to teach tutorials – and we found it doesn’t. They are no more effective as tutorial instructors than students.

This finding implies that universities can reduce costs or free up professors’ time by asking students to teach more tutorials.

Measuring instructors’ effectiveness

We conducted a survey about tutorial instruction in OECD universities. Our results show that tutorials are used in 63% of OECD universities. At 25% of these institutions, tutorials are taught by students, 29% by professors and 46% by a mixture of the two.

Using professors to teach small groups is expensive, and reducing costs is a central concern given the increases in tuition fees and student debt.

We have studied the costs and benefits of using tutorial instructors with different academic ranks, using data from a Dutch business school that offers four key features. First, tutorials are taught by a wide range of instructors, ranging from bachelor’s students to full professors. Second, the school’s dataset is large enough (we observe more than 12,000 students) to give us enough statistical power to detect even small differences between instructors.

Third, at this business school students are randomly assigned to instructors of different academic ranks, creating a perfect experiment for seeing whether academic rank matters. Finally, we were able to supplement these already excellent data with measures of students’ satisfaction with the course, and students’ earnings and job satisfaction after graduation, for some of these students. This is important since instructors might matter in many ways and we need to cast a wide net to capture a range of student outcomes.

Students just as effective

Overall, our results show that lower-ranked instructors teach tutorials as effectively as higher-ranked ones. The most effective instructors – postdoctoral researchers – increase students grades by less than 0.02 points on a 10-point grade scale compared with student instructors. The differences between all other instructor types, from student instructor and full professor, is smaller than that.

Full professors are also no better than student instructors in improving students’ grades in the next related course or job satisfaction and earnings after graduation. We do, however, find that higher-ranked instructors achieve somewhat better course evaluations, but these differences are small.

These findings are counter-intuitive. Yet they are consistent with the general findings in primary and secondary education that formal education does a poor job at predicting who teaches well.

What could be the reason why all the extra qualification and experience of professors does not translate into better results for their students? The content of tutorials might be adjusted in a way that students can easily teach them. Further, lower-ranked instructors may compensate for their lack of experience by being better able to relate to students and being more motivated.

Key implication

The implications of our findings are obvious. Universities can free up resources by not asking their most expensive staff to do a job that students can do equally well. We show that the business school we study can reduce the overall wages they pay to tutorial instructors by 50% if they only employ student instructors.

There are, of course, reasons why universities might not want to exclusively rely on student instructors. Students might not be able to teach some more technically advanced master’s courses. There might be some research-inactive but tenured professors whose most valuable use of time is tutorial teaching. And, as with other research that rely on data from one institution, future studies need to show whether our results hold in other universities as well.

But even if these studies uncover some benefits to students of being taught by a professor, we would be surprised if these are worth the extra costs.’

 

Unclear what is quality teaching and learning? Higher education or universities put great importance upon narrow and high-level specialised knowledge exemplified by a doctorate, i.e. content or subject matter expert. Further, the vocational Certificate IV of Training & Assessment TAE40116 is included on many job descriptions as a desirable teaching qualification and meanwhile ‘real world’ experience can be ignored by institutions and/or embellished by the beholder (unlike the ID points system, all factors are not taken into account).

Related issues here, theory of teaching and learning, pedagogy (for children) is cited but for adults we should be speaking about andragogy.  Andragogy of adult education focuses upon adults’ need for knowledge, motivation, willingness, experience, self-direction and task-based learning.

Good instructional or learning design for adult centred learning:

• broad and deep needs analysis based on learners’ knowledge, expertise and real skill gaps
• motivated when they have input and some control over learning, activities and outcomes
• participate in learner centred activities, interaction and social learning
• opportunities to contribute knowledge, expertise and reflect on their business practice
• contribution to and management of learning activities through tasks and problem solving; post course too.

A more complete qualification is the UK Cambridge RSA CELTA or TEFLA, especially behavioural theories fitting ‘andragogy’, including teaching skills, and dealing with significant numbers of adult students for whom English is not their first language.

Another issue to emerge has been that of ‘ID Instructional Design’ on behalf of university teachers, but not based upon subject matter or teach/learning skills (when ID is implicit for any competent teacher).

Finally, explaining in terms of cost (cutting or savings) may seem mercenary when high fees are now the norm for most students.