Quality Teaching Conference

Tuesday 18 January 2005

More than 500 teachers and educators from across the state will meet in Newcastle this week for the 'Pedagogy in Practice 2005' conference to share ideas about enhancing the quality of curriculum, pedagogy and assessment through the work they do with students and with colleagues.

A central focus of the conference will be the NSW model of pedagogy, Quality Teaching, developed by the University's Associate Professor James Ladwig and Professor Jennifer Gore in consultation with the NSW Department of Education and Training.

Quality Teaching is a research-based framework that emphasises the intellectual quality and significance of learning experiences and the quality of learning environments in helping all students to achieve high outcomes from schooling.

Conference spokesperson, Professor Jennifer Gore says "The Quality Teaching model is now widely used among NSW public schools, for planning and programming, critical reflection on classroom practice and investigating student engagement, in a range of settings from small isolated rural communities to large inner city high schools with large numbers of students from non-English speaking backgrounds."

"The conference provides an important opportunity for teachers and other educators to meet and share their knowledge and experiences in working with the NSW Quality Teaching model," says Professor Gore.

The Keynote speakers at 'Pedagogy in Practice' are Dr Bruce King from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Professor Allan Luke from Nanyang Technological University and the University of Newcastle's Associate Professor James Ladwig.

These internationally renowned researchers will share lessons from research on educational leadership and school reform in the US, Singapore and Queensland and will draw important parallels between their work and that in which of NSW educators are currently engaged.

Professor Jennifer Gore will lead a presentation by a research team from the University of Newcastle outlining initial findings from a major study designed to explore relationships among teacher learning, the quality of pedagogy, and the quality of outcomes for all students.

Guest speaker Martin Babakhan, leading meteorologist and lecturer, will share work he has been doing with undergraduate teaching students at the University of Newcastle, to demonstrate the ways that students are integrating their understanding of the weather and climate to create valuable lesson plans for use in primary class.

'Pedagogy in Practice 2005' is supported by the University of Newcastle and the New South Wales Department of Education and Training and is convened by the Professional Learning in Education research group.

The 'Pedagogy in Practice' Conference will run from Wednesday 19 January to Thursday 20 January 2005 at Newcastle City Hall.

To organise interviews with other speakers contact Wendy Amosa on (02) 4921 5974.