We welcome you to the June discussion held online on 3rd June, 1pm-2.30pm.
Discussion 1: There is so much wrong with the pressure to teach everything explicitly. But what do we do about it? – Peter Sullivan, Emeritus Professor, Monash University
Teachers are facing pressure to teach explicitly which is both loosely defined and represented in accompanying resources as teachers directly “telling” starting with “I do”. This pressure is based on extremely scant reliable evidence and has ignored the wealth of valid data to the contrary. It does not make sense from consideration of the purpose of education, the nature of the disciplines, beliefs about teacher learning and knowledge, perspectives on ways students come to learn, and what we know from research and experience about pedagogy. The pressure is accompanied by directives to deliver scripted lessons of very doubtful quality that has serious potential to deskill teachers. The challenge for teacher educators is to find ways to support teachers to be the best they can be within such a policy environment.
Peter Sullivan has had a career that combines research into task design with the development of teacher support resources and classroom trialling. He was author of the Shape of the Australian Mathematics Curriculum, a paper commissioned by the National Curriculum Board to lay the foundation of the Australian curriculum. Subsequently he was appointed the “lead writer” for the development phases of the curriculum and has supported ongoing development of the documents, including consulting on the review conducted in 2015. He was also the author of the Australian Education Review publication “Teaching mathematics: Using research-informed strategies” that has now been downloaded over 240,000 times from the ACER website.
Discussion 2: Mind the gap: Investigating misaligned mathematics study intentions and perceived capabilities – Erin MacKenzie and Kathryn Holmes, Western Sydney University
Strengthening lower secondary students’ attitudes toward mathematics is key to addressing declining enrolments in higher-level courses. In this presentation we will discuss the findings and implications from a mixed-methods study, which examined the alignment between high school students’ perceived mathematics capability and their future mathematics study intentions. Results suggest that students with aligned intentions had more adaptive attitudes than those with an intentions-capability gap. Many who intended to study below their perceived capability cited low utility value, suggesting that enhancing mathematics’ perceived utility could increase higher-level enrolments.
Erin Mackenzie is an Associate Professor in Educational Psychology and STEM in the School of Education at Western Sydney University. She has experience teaching in secondary schools and university settings, and lectures in educational psychology, research methods, and STEM education. Erin’s research focuses on adolescent girls’ mental health in school contexts to improve educational outcomes, leveraging expertise in educational psychology and STEM education. She has extensive experience in designing and delivering professional development to teachers, is a co-author of Educational Psychology for Learning and Teaching (7th Edition), and is the Associate Dean (Teaching and Learning) in the School of Education.
Kathryn Holmes is Distinguished Professor in the School of Education at Western Sydney University. She began her career in education as a secondary mathematics and science teacher and has extensive experience in preparing pre-service STEM teachers. Her research focuses on student attitudes towards STEM subjects and their impact on STEM aspirations, participation and achievement. She has lead multiple research projects in collaboration with the NSW Department of Education and is a co-author of Technology-enabled Mathematics Education: Optimising Student Engagement.
Posted Aug 10, 2026
Online