Describing and supporting effective science teaching and learning in Australian schools

Asia-Pacific Forum on Science Learning and Teaching, Volume 2, Issue 2, Article 2 (Dec., 2001)
Russell TYTLER
Describing and supporting effective science teaching and learning in Australian schools - validation issues

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Intersecting audiences and interests
There is inevitably some sensitivity in projects such as this, that project reports should not expose either Government or schools and teachers to negative publicity. Under these circumstances, what place do socially critical perspectives have? In fact, because this project has been concerned with school and teacher change, it has been possible to openly air findings without being seen to be criticising "from the outside". Some of the negative perceptions of teachers and schools which surface in the literature (eg. DEET, 1989; Goodrum, Cousins & Kinnear, 1992) have been also the experience of the SiS project. However, because we have been working with teachers within an essentially collegial and supportive framework, we are in a position to take a critical perspective but also acknowledge the factors that lead to these problems. Our political stance thus tends to be sympathetic to the nuances of the daily lives of teachers and schools.