ACHPER Primary Years Conference 2013

Jennifer Fane - ACHPER SA conference

I was invited to present at the 2013 ACHPER (Australian Council for Health, Physical Education and Recreation) Primary Years Conference happening at Flinders University today and delivered a presentation on Strength-Based Approaches to Health Education. It was my first time using Prezi, a cloud based presentation soft ware, but I found the non linear presentation style quite helpful for examining issues in  Health Education. The photo above is a screen shot of my presentation, the following is a link for anyone interested.

While Health Education seems to have a hard time finding its rightful place along side Physical Education, there is such a need to expand the practices, beliefs, and knowledge of Health Education in schools past physical activity and health eating. This presentation seeks to engage educators in looking at health socially, recognizing the barriers facing students and families, and making structural and institutional changes to the way in which schools model, teach, and represent health and well-being.

It's been a pleasure working with ACHPER and fostering ties between Flinders University and the greater educational community in Adelaide and South Australia. I may have traded in my kindergarten classroom for a lecture theater, but I feel that maintaining strong ties between my work and my background in primary education and schools is an essential piece of my role here in the school of education.

Jumping through hoops (the real kind - not proverbial) in pre-service teacher education

So often I hear students speak of having to 'jump through hoops' in their teacher education courses. Practicums and placements are heralded as the 'important' or 'valuable' parts of the degree, rather than the course work that supports their learning and understanding of the teaching profession. The expression of 'jumping through hoops' took on a new meaning for me in my own graduate learning experience when my supervisor in my Health Education masters program said that "they should be jumping through hoops, real ones", as hoops and other flow arts/physical activity  allows student teachers to experience physical education in agentic and experiential ways.

This has always remained with me and when I took on the coordination of the Early Childhood Health and PE topic at Flinders this year I was extremely excited to continue the existing partnership that the course has with one of the University's Childcare centres. This partnership allows my students (most of which are completing undergraduate degrees in Early Childhood Education, though some Masters level  and physical education majors) to learn about teaching young children physical education and fundamental movement skills through giving a PE lesson to young children. This contstructivist approach  has so much more value for students that an essay, unit plan, or reading notes, and the feedback and reflective practice that has begun from these lessons has been very positive and meaningful.

Today I was able to go into the one of the houses (rooms in the centre) and watch a pre-service teacher deliver a PE lesson to 2.5-3.5 year olds on jumping with hula hoops. After the lesson was complete,  I watched students engaging in guided discovery with the hoops and  was struck at just how fitting that saying can be, not just for poorly developed teacher education practices which involve proverbial hoops, but for experiences where real hoops provide valuable learning experience for pre-service teachers. And yes, guilty as charged, I enjoyed playing with hoops as much as the 2.5-3.5 year olds :)

Hoops and other equipment used for the preschool PE lessons.

Making my way back into Early Childhood Education

Jennifer Fane - Flinders University

I have greatly been enjoying my role as an Associate Lecturer in Health Education here at Flinders University. But when a course came up in the Early Childhood degrees program that needed a topic coordinator, Early Childhood Health and Physical Education, I jumped at the chance to combine my two areas of expertise into a teacher education course. This particular course enjoys a partnership with a Childcare Centre on campus, allowing the students extra hands on teaching opportunities with young children in childcare settings, and allowing for extremely authentic student assessment tasks.

As the newest member of the ECE team, I was featured in a Q & A in the latest edition of the Early Childhood at Flinders University newsletter. Here's a link to the newsletter, and the Q & A is on page 4.
It's been great to be welcomed by the excellent and supportive ECE team here at Flinders, and I look forward to my continued involvement in Early Childhood Teacher Education both on and off campus.

Lessons from Policy Makers

The 2013 ATEA (Australian Teacher Education Association) conference theme was Knowledge Makers and Notice Takers: Teacher education research impacting policy and practice, with the discourse in and out of sessions, and the keynote addresses being how can teacher education research make a difference in educational policy?

Teacher education research is grounded in pedagogy, theory, and best practices for students, teachers, and teacher educators alike, yet it is often ignored and overlooked by policy makers. The question then becomes, how can teacher educators conduct and present research in a way likely to be noticed and listened to by policy makers, as no matter how meaningful the research is, if it doesn't inform change it's of little use.

In spirit of the theme, the conference did have empowering speakers who did in fact speak to ways that teacher educators can work towards informing policy, such as working together across national and international divides to create larger scale research, and the creation of an educational databased controlled by teachers, for teachers to share knowledge and research. However, it was the Plenary Forum discussion on the final day that, perhaps, was most telling in the discourse between teacher educators and policy makers.

The panel participating in the discussion included policy makers  alongside academics/researchers in teacher education and administrators in the high schooling sector. Each shared a little about their work, or the challenges facing teacher education, but was most remarkable was the words that were repeated in their addresses. Recurrent words and phrases were "teacher quality", "teacher training", "training institutions", and the sharing of a personal account of one's practicum being a "waste of time".

From these comments, placed innocently within speeches under the guise of supporting teacher education, I surmise that the greatest hurdle for teacher educators informing policy is the constant attack on the professionalism of teachers and our value to shaping education policy. While I was aghast at these comments from members of the panel, I was certainly not alone. The conference used an app called GoSoapBox give attendees the opportunity to ask questions and discuss conference proceedings. The palatable devaluing of teacher professionalism was evident in many of my colleagues comments:

Teacher quality is the most insulting term in Education. Why is it used? It sets up a premise that teachers aren't quality.

Is 'teacher training' and 'training institutions' the most appropriate language for teacher educators to use in promoting their work in higher education?

Much discussion also ensued over the idea that Universities were wholly responsible for creating teachers who were 100% ready for schools the second the leave teacher education spaces, and that schools and education sectors do not need to play a role in supporting pre-service and early career teachers:

Why can't we leave time for a new teacher to learn about the context in which they begin teaching?

How can they be teacher ready if schools dont mentor PSTs?

Why can't we leave time for a new teacher to learn about the context in which they begin teaching?

Demanding that pre-service teachers leave teacher education ready to face anything the classroom can throw at them when educational research continually shows the need for early career teachers to continually develop skills and grow from mentorship and networks, continually devalues the work of teacher educators and attacks the professionalism of teachers through an impossible standard of "quality control" in education. 

This constant push from government and policy makers to control education and teachers in order to improve education is exactly what is halting the high quality of research, practice, and discourse of teachers in attempt to improve education. Policy makers devalue teachers and their work, yet teachers are the very professionals with the experience and knowledge to make education better. Beck's theory of risk management, where fear of poor quality leads to tighter controls, resulting thusly in poor quality is very much alive and well in current educational policy.

While it is extremely discouraging to hear this stark reality at a teacher education conference, it is extremely telling of the work educators have to do in shifting policy makers to value teachers as professionals and our work as grounded in theory, research, and best practices.

Despite an rather non inspirational panel discussion, I am extremely thankful for spaces such as teacher educator conferences where we can work towards the goal of informing policy and presenting ourselves and our work as the professionals we are. If we don't believe in and support our profession, who will?

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.

Supplemental Information

Back home I belonged to a a community centre gym run by my city (New Westminster). Here in Adelaide, I live in the downtown core, known as the CBD (Central Business District) and no such thing exists. My choices here were several private gyms, or the University gym. I chose to go with the University gym as I dislike high pressure sales and a concept of health as more of a business than a service.

The biggest difference I've noticed between University gyms here and back home is the sale of supplement products. When I enter the gym, I am bombarded with posters, life-size cut outs and counters full of products to buy. For the most part it has been protein powder, protein bars, and other various protein snacks. I am not a fan of being bombarded with supplements while working out, or the culture of sales being as important as exercise within the gym, but being that protein powders can be beneficial for some, and of little danger to anyone, I didn't let it overly bother me.

However, last week I came to find this poster plastered all over the gym.

This poster, features extremely fit and likely photo shopped models, accompanied by the slogan "MAKE YOUR FAT CRY.". It offers a product called Hydroxyburn at a discounted price, alongside a free t-shirt give away. But what is Hydroxyburn?

Hydroxyburn Pro Clinical - This breakthrough formula simultaneously triggers extreme muscle growth while activating a powerful fat stripping reaction. Body Science HydroxyBurn Pro Clinical combines various "get ripped" compounds including Carnitine, Phaseolus vulgaris, Hydroxy citric acid, Guarana, Green tea extract, Chromium picolinate, choline, Inositol and Vitamins & Minerals, for the most powerful, extreme fat burning "all in one" revolutionary ripped formula! Compare the fat burners in this formula.  (Description from the BSc Body Science Website)

In essence, it is a fat burner that promises to strip fat and trigger muscle growth. Sound innocuous enough, right? And a University gym wouldn't sell it if it wasn't safe, right?

In fact, Hydroxyburn (and other prorodcuts with Hydrox in their name) have been banned by the IOC (International Olympic Commitee) and other international organizations.

I was quite concerned about this advertisement due to its place on the banned substances list, and many of the selling tactics employed by the poster; I began asking gym staff what they thought of it. Most of the trainers had no issue with the poster, and though there was one who had concerns, they didn't feel that they had any input over the marketing strategies of the gym.

I felt very strongly that this poster should not be in a University gym, so I emailed the General Manager of the gym to discuss my concerns. I received a reply stating that he agreed that the posters were not an appropriate representation of their gym, and that they would be altering them. However, he went on to state that this was a perfectly safe and natural product, and saw no issue with it being for sale.

At this point I felt compelled to speak to the assumption that products labeled as "natural" are safe. Because supplements are not considered food, there are little to no laws that regulate their marketing, meaning that any company can call their product natural, it means nothing. Because of these loose government regulations, the label "natural" lulls consumers into a sense that this product must be safe. Let's unpack the "naturalness" of this product. Here is the ingredient list:

Body Science BSc Hydroxy Burn Pro Clinical Ingredients:

BSc Proprietary Protein Blend, [Whey Protein Concentrate, Glutamine Peptides, Non-fat Milk Solid, Glycine Max Protein Isolate, Whey Protein Isolate, Emulsifier (Soy Lecithin)], BSc Proprietary Vitamin Mix (Tricalcium Phosphate, Magnesium Phosphate Tribasic, Ascorbic Acid, Ferric Pyrophosphate, Vitamin E, Zinc Sulfate Monohydrate, Manganese Sulfate, Niacinamide, Vitamin A Acetate, Copper Sulphate Anhydrous, Calcium D-Pantothenate, Vitamin D3, Vitamin B12, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin, Thiamine Hydrochloride, Chromium Chloride, Sodium Molybdate, Folic Acid, Potassium Iodide, Sodium Selenite, Biotin), Flavours, Vegetable Fat, Glycine, Thickeners (Xanthan Gum, Guar Gum), Psyllim Husk, Sweetener (Sucralose), L-Carnitine, Green Tea Extract, African Mango Extract, Sodium Chloride, Solathin (Potato Protein Extract), Milk Protein Hydrolysate, Green Coffee Bean Extract, White Willow Bark Extract, Citrus Aurantium, Blood Orange Fruit Powder, Guarana Extract, Coleus Forskohlii, L-Glutamine, Red Grape Whole Fruit Powder, Bromelain, Oats, Capsicum Annuum, Passionflower, Panax Ginseng, Celery Seed, Dandelion Root, Horsetail

 
You can see how this product is far from anything in its natural state. It contains many questionable substances, such as ferric pyrophosphate, which is banned completely in the European Union (a geographic and political area that employs strict regulations for food and supplements)

The General Manager disagreed with me however, and this product is continues to be sold. They did however make adjustments to the poster which, while it is an improvement, still advertises the product as though it is safe for general use.

I've since talked with several of the trainers and asked then what they think about the new posters and the continued selling of this product. One of the said "I don't see the big deal, these are University students, they should be able to figure out for themselves what is safe to take or not." This comment, is what I see as the exact route of the problem. Governments, organizations, and businesses put all the onus of product use and safety on the consumer, rather than taking responsibility for what is in our food and supplements. I teach in tertiary Health Education, and I can safely say that none of my undergraduate students would be able to read through that ingredient list and know whether those ingredients were safe without a large amount of research. My students are literate and health conscious people, yet they would struggle with this task, so how exactly would the rest of the population fare.

Our society puts the responsibility on the consumer, stating "they should know" or "it's there job to figure it out", but where are people learning about what supplements and food additives are safe to use? Not in primary or secondary schools, not in the workforce, not on television, not in post secondary education (unless they are in select programs such as nutrition) and the internet is full of conflicting information. Is public health not the responsibility of society, not the solely the individual?

I find it extremely frustrating that a University is not taking an active role in putting student and member health before profits, and that they feel they have no responsibility in helping people make safe and educated choices that support their health. Yes, the individual does bear some responsibility in what they buy and use, but how many people would question it if it is being sold within a University by fit and attractive professional trainers and staff?

Sadly, this is just one example of the complete lack of concern and awareness of the existing confusion and miss-education surrounding food and supplement additives. I may not have won the war, but at least I started some awareness of this issue in my gym, and have had some really interesting conversations with staff  about their role in patron's health and how implicit and explicit messages affect the health of their members.

ACHPER Conference

The ACHPER (which stands for The Australian Council for Health, Physical Activity, and Recreation) South Australia branch had a statewide conference April 15th and 16th in which I took part of as a presenter. The conference took place over two days during school holidays, and was very well attended by teachers of Health and Physical Education, student teachers, and other professionals in the field.

My workshop, entitled "Making Health Food Fun! Creating exciting and educational food experiences for young children in the classroom" focused on ways to bring food, cooking, and growing into the primary classroom, and how we can help students build and grow relationships with  healthy food and eating.

Creating exposure to, and providing the opportunity to enjoy healthy foods for young children is an area I'm extremely passionate about, and that I value in my own work with students. Having the chance to share my knowledge with others, and have great conversations with educators about their practices and challenges is something I am extremely grateful for. I thank you ACHPER for all the work that they do, and look forward to next years conference.