This seminar will explore the global challenges of out-of-field teaching with insights on retraining, school contexts, and teacher learning.
This seminar is a joint initiative of Deakin University’s Mathematics, Science, Environmental and Technology Education (MSET-Ed) and Transforming Professional Lives, Learning and Leadership (TPLLL) research groups.
The problem of successfully retraining out-of-field teachers (OOFT) in mathematics and the importance of mathematical worldviews for their training
Professor Günter Törner, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany
Professor Günter Törner is a senior professor from Germany who has conducted research in mathematics, but is also internationally renowned for his research contributions in mathematics education and is active as a researcher. In 2010, he was the first mathematician in Germany to draw attention to the fact that mathematics is being taught in all schools and many grade levels by people who have not been trained at university. He has collaborated with Linda Hobbs through research on out-of-field teaching in mathematics. In Germany, the growing shortage of mathematics teachers must be addressed even as the profession itself is becoming less and less attractive. This presentation will focus on the problem of further teacher training for teachers teaching mathematics OOF.
Supporting out-of-field teachers: context of school communities
Dr Carly Sawatzki, Deakin University
In this short presentation, Dr Carly Sawatzki will share findings from recent contract research initiatives that have aimed to develop and support out-of-field teachers to teach mathematics, numeracy, and finance content more effectively. Braun et al.’s (2011) four contextual dimensions―external contexts, material contexts, situated contexts, and professional contexts―will be drawn upon to examine the specific and dynamic ways that school communities have responded to these system-initiated policies and programs. Implications and future directions for policymakers and teacher educators will be explored.
Teaching what we don’t know — or learning as we teach?
Associate Professor Brendan Hyde, Deakin University
From an alternative perspective, Associate Professor Brendan Hyde will share findings from a joint project between Deakin University, University of Notre Dame Australia, and the National Catholic Education Commission into the phenomenon of out-of-field teaching in religious education (RE) in regional and rural areas of Australia. Data from this project will be drawn upon to show that, in spite of the challenges faced (many of which are similar to the challenges faced in teaching other subjects out-of-field), teachers teaching RE out-of-field demonstrate a sense of epistemic humility, learning as they teach.
