Archive for December 23rd, 2008

A University of New England lecturer has been recognised as one of the State’s best. Dr Ingrid Harrington, from UNE’s School of Education, has received one of the four Quality Teaching Awards for 2008 to be given to university teachers across NSW.

‘Teaching can be stressful and full of challenges,’ Dr Harrington said, ‘but to be recognised by your peers as doing a good job is the highest form of compliment. It also rebuilds your faith that hard work is rewarded.’

The NSW Minister for Education and Training and The Australian College of Educators, NSW Branch, Quality Teaching Awards recognise the State’s most outstanding teachers from government and non-government schools, TAFE colleges, early childhood organisations and universities.

In presenting the awards at a recent ceremony, the Minister for Education and Training, Verity Firth, highlighted the teachers’ exceptional level of commitment to excellence and student achievement.

‘The awards recognise the teachers’ tireless efforts, and are an opportunity to say “Thank you!” for their dedication to our students,’ Ms Firth said. ‘The award recipients share essential qualities that make them excellent teachers: they each personalise the learning of their students and set high expectations for them, inspiring their students to achieve their best while at the same time teaching their subject with deep knowledge and enthusiasm.’

Dr Harrington, who is an expert in behavioural management, believes the attributes of a quality teacher are varied. ‘You need to know your stuff, have an understanding of where students are coming from, be non-judgemental, and, as the teacher, be prepared to learn in the classroom each day,’ she said. ‘You also need to be able to create an effective learning environment where students feel safe and secure and know it’s OK to make mistakes.’

Dr Harrington (pictured here with her award certificate) has worked at UNE for six years. She teaches behavioural management to third and fourth-year students and is a member of the University’s Special Education Team, which is based in the School of Education. ‘You don’t have to go to one of the big universities in the city to be taught by the best and most recognised academics,’ she said. ‘UNE offers students a first-class education degree. It’s fantastic to see young students transformed into professional teachers after four years of studying.’

She began her teaching career in 1997 at the University of Canberra as a guest lecturer on behavioural management. In 2000 she worked on a research project at James Cook University and Education Queensland, funded by a grant from the Australian Research Council, which examined the participation and retention of boys in schools. Her findings were later used by the Queensland State Government to develop policies that underpinned the teaching of boys.

Along with the other recipients, Dr Harrington was selected by the NSW Branch of the Australian College of Educators on the basis of three references, a professional portfolio and in-class observation, and interviews with students, parents and teaching colleagues.

‘The testing was extensive and rigorous,’ she said, ‘but the awards show teachers who are working tirelessly – often in tough conditions – that you can be recognised for doing a good job.’

Federation, the landing at Gallipoli, and 9/11 – all memorable moments, but were they actually turning points for Australia?

The answer is outlined in a controversial new history book, co-edited by Dr David Andrew Roberts, a Senior Lecturer at the University of New England.

Turning Points in Australian History (2008, UNSW Press) is a book with a difference. It aims to provoke passionate discussion on Australia’s history and provide more than just a list of important historical events.

‘We want Australians to re-examine certain moments, and re-evaluate their idea of a “turning point”, Dr Roberts said. ‘In some instances, the effects of these events have been greatly exaggerated and the iconic moment isn’t actually as important as popularly thought.’

Turning Points in Australian History is co-edited with Dr Martin Crotty from the University of Queensland. Across 17 chapters, leading historians and commentators reflect on events ranging from the closure of the land bridge between mainland Australia and Tasmania 14,000 years ago, through to the horrific events of September 2001.

‘Gallipoli was strategically insignificant in the broader picture of the Great War,’ Dr Roberts explained. ‘Federation is something of a lacklustre affair and easily forgotten. And the 1967 Referendum was a crucial moment in the inclusion of Aboriginal peoples in an Australian nation but was hardly a turning point in the achievement of Aboriginal rights.’

In contrast, the book flags the release of the contraceptive pill and the opening of the Australian Institute of Sport as events that helped to shape our nation, even though they were not met with much fanfare at the time.

Turning Points in Australian History is also intended as a response to the attack on the way History is taught in schools and universities. ‘In his final years, former Prime Minister John Howard said there was a loss of any clear, structured narrative,’ Dr Roberts recalled. ‘He said the national story had become a “fragmented stew of themes and issues”. What Mr Howard essentially wanted was for history to be taught through the memorising of facts and dates, presenting the past as a largely uncomplicated and mostly triumphant, self-justifying story of national achievement.’

‘We want to provide an important reminder to those wanting to impose a universal history curriculum for our school kids,’ he added, ‘and a lesson for all Australians wishing to understand their nation’s past: history is never simple or straightforward, and it always resists attempts to make it so.’

Contributors to the book include UNE historian Dr Erin Ihde and former UNE scholars Professor Iain Davidson (now at Harvard University) and Dr Frank Bongiorno (now at King’s College London). ‘UNE’s Australian History course has the reputation of being the best in regional Australia,’ Dr Roberts said. ‘We are very active in research, and engaging with communities outside of the normal channels of academic life.’

Turning Points in Australian History follows the same editors’ controversial and acclaimed Great Mistakes of Australian History (2006, UNSW Press).