Paper presentation at the Australian Teacher Education Association 2013 conference in Brisbane

I am attending the ATEA 2013 conference in Brisbane this year, to not only take part in the Teacher Education community in Australia, but to also present my peer reviewed conference paper entitled:

Whose job is this anyways?: Health skilling through cooperative teaching partnerships in early childhood settings

The paper is still under peer review, but here is the abstract that I presented at the conference.

As Health Education and the initiatives associated with it become increasingly mandated into curriculum, cooperative teaching may offer a framework for bringing together classroom teachers with experts in the field; combing knowledge of teaching with specific health knowledge and practical skills. Currently, school-community partnerships, particularly with health and safety organizations, are common place in most schools. While they are prevalent, however, partnerships often lack in support, funding, and recognition of their benefits. With the increasing need for health education in classrooms, cooperative teaching with health agencies may offer a valuable approach.

Cooperative teaching in special needs and inclusive education has been a highly researched and well documented instructional approach in classrooms. Co-teaching relationships such as teacher-teacher, teacher-special education teacher, teacher-principal, and teacher-graduate student/researcher have demonstrated that cooperative teaching can result in increased program and instructional success, benefitting both students and collaborators. Health skilling, a constructivist approach to health education for young learners, offers a model for engaging teachers and community partners in meaningful cooperative teaching practice.

This article discusses a Canadian pilot project between classroom teacher and a Police Tertiary Education Institute, and its implications in creating school-community partner cooperative teaching partnerships in a kindergarten classroom.

Teacher-community partner co-teaching partnerships offer an efficient and practical approach for both parties to meet their mandates and engage students in health knowledge and skills that can contribute to life-long health practices. Discussed are considerations in choosing and building relationships with community partners, curricular implications, complications, and school-community benefit.

Developing a systematic model for creating and sustaining teacher-community partner cooperative teaching partnerships offers a comprehensive and practical approach for teachers and community partners looking to increase the effectiveness of teaching Health Education and health skills within the classroom.

The paper centred on a pilot project I was working while working towards a Masters of Education degree in Canada. The presentation went well, and I received valuable peer feedback that  an international perspective on teacher education was of benefit to conference attendees.

I greatly enjoyed the symposiums, paper, and poster presentations my peers presented and valued above all the chance to learn more about teacher education in my new Australian context, and the chance to network with other teacher educators at the national level.