ABSTRACT:Professional Development is one of many terms given to the in-service education and training of teachers. In this paper, the authors address the kinds of professional development currently offered in Australia and compare it with the kinds of professional development teachers may require to deal with an era of supercomplexity, where there is uncertainty, insecurity and an unknown and unknowable future. Professional development is seen as involving multiple stakeholders and the influence of governments and other external bodies is also critically examined.

The literature suggests that teacher morale is at an all time low in Australia (Hicks 2003, Smyth 2001) with teachers feeling undervalued, frustrated, unappreciated and demoralized (Smyth 2001 Senate Employment, Education and Training References Committee (SEETRC) 1998). In this paper the author utilizes the data gathered in a recent study into teaching excellence awards (Mackenzie 2004) as the medium to explore and discuss the issue of teacher morale and to provide some tentative suggestions for improving morale as proposed by the study participants. If we accept a reciprocal relationship between teacher morale and student learning (Ramsey 2000, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) 2000), students in some schools may not be getting the best possible value from teachers affected by low morale. Participants in the Mackenzie (2004) study agreed that morale was generally lower than in previous times, although many suggested that morale was positive in their own schools. This suggests that morale may be more complex than has been previously understood, with three levels of morale operating concurrently for teachers, a concept which is explored in this paper.

In this chapter, the author reflects on a research journey and the conscious and subconscious application of paradigms to research design. The chapter is focused on research conducted in her role as research and teaching academic in the area of literacy learning and teaching. Through the retrospective analysis of a particular program of research the author concludes that it may not be necessary to articulate a paradigm in the design stages of research to be strongly guided by that paradigm. The author contends that a researcher's theoretical orientation and worldviews about how research should be enacted may be the key to paradigm “choice.” However, not all researchers have the luxury of determining how and what they will research, nor the paradigms or methods to be applied, in the world of competitive grants, commissioned research and multiple research agendas.

In this article the status of teaching as a profession and the morale of teachers in Australian schools in the current era provide a framework for the examination of the intent and outcomes of teaching excellence awards. The research study applied an interpretive research paradigm and used both qualitative and quantitative data collection methods. The methodology and the theoretical framework were based on organisational and sociological paradigms. Data informing the study were collected from 44 award recipients and 57 of their colleagues between the years 2000 and 2002. Documentation relating to the promotion and process of awards was also examined. The introduction of teaching excellence awards into the school education sector is found to be a reflection of the economic era in which the current education system is situated. The paper concludes that the awards process may be potentially politically manipulative.

Writing provides a means for personal reflection, thinking, creativity, meaning-making and sharing, as well as complementing other modes of communication in a world of multimodal texts. While writing in the digital age has become increasingly fast-paced and exposed to global scrutiny, being able to write efficiently with correct spelling, grammar and punctuation remains a critical part of being a literate writer. This article uses data from 819 Australian primary school students to explore the relationship between three language conventions, namely spelling, grammar and punctuation as measured by the National Assessment Program Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) Language Conventions Test, and the quality of written composition, as measured by the NAPLAN Writing Test. Results indicate that spelling, grammar and punctuation jointly predict written composition achievement with spelling as the main predictor. Implications for the educational practice of writing in the contemporary context are discussed, emphasising the importance of spelling in relation to writing and how instruction in spelling, during senior primary school, appears to be critical for written composition improvement.