In recent times, some research which includes student perspectives has been undertaken on understanding the relationship between language and writing. This paper aims to render more visible the perspective of a recent doctoral student on what still appears to be taken for granted in producing doctoral dissertations. Drawing selectively drawing on the work of Edward Said and Judith Butler, it is argued that the use of language and writing in relation to the production of doctoral dissertations is not neutral but, rather, is contoured performatively by different cultural norms and practices. In particular, language and writing are embodied discursive practices, shaped by the past and re-articulated in the present through which the present speaks back to the past. The paper begins with an anecdotal reflection on one memory of an experience that took place during the early years of my formal education prior to coming to Australia. The paper then reflects on and analyses three memories that capture some of my experiences with the English language and writing across the Australian education settings.

Ironically, in an era of life long learning a number of countries face a teacher shortage, recruiting and retaining staff in a profession that is not seen as particularly attractive. At times teachers have been the recipients of the ‘discourses of derision’ and ‘teacher bashing’ by governments and the media, however the argument presented here is that discourse of educators themselves has done little to help teachers’ status. Expanding upon the notion that higher education postgraduate programs can position teachers as ‘novice academics’ this multimedia article goes further to suggest that a significant portion of educational discourse unwittingly situates teachers simply as novices. To support this, video data from two key note presentations is examined followed by an examination of a teacher-educator text on professional development. It suggests caution and a re-examination of the discourses of education and professional development is needed in order to develop teaching as a profession.

A curriculum initiative project was implemented in four schools in Singapore over a span of five to six weeks during 2004. The project employed a number of different schools: girls only, boys only and co-educational schools; different levels of performance in a graded situation; multiple teachers and classes within each site; and control and experimental conditions for the curriculum implementation. The diverse schools offered an opportunity to examine the implications of conducting naturalistic research with some features of action research on a curriculum initiative in multiple sites. Though there were also departures or adaptations made to some characteristics of classical action research, many of the fundamental characteristics of an action research were followed during the project. There was also an opportunity to study the benefits and challenges of conducting multiple site case studies in naturalistic research.

Parents have the potential to play an important role in the development of social capital in their children’s classrooms. Both theoretical and empirical evidence suggest that parents’ classroom participation is directly linked to higher academic achievement and pro-social behaviour in the children. This study examines the influence that the in-class parent reading component of the Partners in Education (PIE) program had on parents and children. By evaluating teacher observations of parents who participated in the PIE program and their children over the 2005/2006 school year, the results of this study support the continued funding of this program (and of similar programs). Teachers reiterated fundamental parent, student and parent-student changes. For many students, the reading program enriched the social capital in their classroom as parents moved from being out-group to in-group classroom members, thereby positively influencing their level of support and also their confidence which, in turn, enabled students to improve their academic achievement and or sociability.

This paper discusses the ways in which film can be used as a pedagogic means to introduce academic writing skills, based on the premise that, since viewing film is already a common literacy practice for many students, its use can help to facilitate learning inside the writing classroom. Specifically, the paper reports on an intensive six-week pilot programme of instruction at The University of Manchester, United Kingdom, which sought to use film as analogous to academic writing in terms of introducing students to concepts such as textual cohesion and coherence . Feedback from students indicates an appreciation of visual teaching methods as a means to explain academic writing conventions. A small increase in average student performance (pre- and post-instruction) is also noted.