Middle schooling is on the educational agenda of every state and territory and is seen as vital to the overall cognitive and affective well-being of all students. Learning in the Middle Years: More than a Transition takes up the varying perspectives of teachers, students and administrators and uses relevant Australian research to address challenges faced in teaching and learning in the middle years. The book falls into two main sections: the first focuses on students and their learning in the Middle Years, while the second considers the professional learning of teachers working in the Middle Years. Throughout each chapter, the authors demonstrate that the propositions about the nature and construction of the text can be made practical and how teachers can develop well-grounded strategies to meet the needs of students in the Middle Years. Each chapter provides a discussion of the many issues, concerns and problematics that swirl around Middle Years education, and also contain extended case studies. These studies provide the opportunity for dialogue as each one prompts a discussion that requires the participants to consider and reveal their position on both the substance of the case, and the formerly taken-for-granted ways in which they have thought about education.

Table of Contents

Preface; 1. Adolescent learners: Social and psychological contexts of schooling; 2. Young people: Identity, diversity and inclusion; 3. Rethinking curriculum for adolescent learners; 4. New pedagogies for the middle years; 5. Assessing learning in the middle years; 6. Beginning to teach in the middle years; 7. Continuing to teach in the middle years; 8. Beyond Compliance: Leading teaching and learning in the middle years; 9. Evaluating teaching and learning in the middle years; Conclusion: The middle years: More than a transition - a transformation.