Melissa Barnes

This book is a practical, evidence-based guide for educators at all levels on how to assess and promote student learning, broadening teachers’ understanding of assessment. Balancing assessment with the development and promotion of student learning can be a significant challenge for teachers. This book provides the content, as well as practical guidance, to support educators in developing their understanding of assessment from task-driven, domain-bound content knowledge, towards the assessment of complex competencies. Supported by research, but not overwhelmed by it, the book provides practical strategies that can be applied in the classroom. The pedagogical structure of the book encourages self-guided learning, with each chapter providing opportunities for reflection to facilitate planning and goal setting, as well as quotes and vignettes from students and teachers highlighting their experiences of and perspectives on assessment. This book is a great resource for practising educators and postgraduate students who want to improve their understanding of assessment, implement it more effectively and support better outcomes for their students.

This book is a practical, evidence-based guide for educators at all levels on how to assess and promote student learning, broadening teachers’ understanding of assessment. Balancing assessment with the development and promotion of student learning can be a significant challenge for teachers. This book provides the content, as well as practical guidance, to support educators in developing their understanding of assessment from task-driven, domain-bound content knowledge, towards the assessment of complex competencies. Supported by research, but not overwhelmed by it, the book provides practical strategies that can be applied in the classroom. The pedagogical structure of the book encourages self-guided learning, with each chapter providing opportunities for reflection to facilitate planning and goal setting, as well as quotes and vignettes from students and teachers highlighting their experiences of and perspectives on assessment. This book is a great resource for practising educators and postgraduate students who want to improve their understanding of assessment, implement it more effectively and support better outcomes for their students.

Empowering Teachers through Environmental and Sustainability Education draws inspiration from an empirical study exploring early career teachers’ attempts at enacting Environmental and Sustainability Education (ESE) in their everyday teaching practices. It showcases how a confluence of personal, professional and environmental identities supports implementation of ESE. Additionally, this book discusses key concepts and issues surrounding ESE and the ways in which teachers may claim agency and power to create change in their classroom practices. Drawing from theoretical perspectives, such as Bourdieu’s ‘thinking tools’ habitus and capital, theories of identity, and Foucault’s concept of power and knowledge relations, this book explores how teachers negotiate policies, curriculum and institutional norms to further theoretical and practical understanding of ESE. The use of personal narratives offers new insights into teachers’ agency in creating localised yet powerful change through small and meaningful actions. The purpose of this book, therefore, is to explore ways in which meaningful change can be made in educational settings through these small agentive and yet empowering steps. This book reveals that teachers can enact agency and navigate the power structures that exist within educational settings in order to make ESE meaningful within their classrooms.

Empowering Teachers through Environmental and Sustainability Education draws inspiration from an empirical study exploring early career teachers’ attempts at enacting Environmental and Sustainability Education (ESE) in their everyday teaching practices. It showcases how a confluence of personal, professional and environmental identities supports implementation of ESE. Additionally, this book discusses key concepts and issues surrounding ESE and the ways in which teachers may claim agency and power to create change in their classroom practices. Drawing from theoretical perspectives, such as Bourdieu’s ‘thinking tools’ habitus and capital, theories of identity, and Foucault’s concept of power and knowledge relations, this book explores how teachers negotiate policies, curriculum and institutional norms to further theoretical and practical understanding of ESE. The use of personal narratives offers new insights into teachers’ agency in creating localised yet powerful change through small and meaningful actions. The purpose of this book, therefore, is to explore ways in which meaningful change can be made in educational settings through these small agentive and yet empowering steps. This book reveals that teachers can enact agency and navigate the power structures that exist within educational settings in order to make ESE meaningful within their classrooms.