Applying the wild triangle to teaching middle-tier science in a Queensland independent school

Abstract

A group of four teachers working with middle tier students in one Queensland independent school took part in this case study. Two experienced primary teachers and two inexperienced secondary science teachers planned, taught, and evaluated a science unit over the period of one school term in the school's initiation phase of middle tier reform. The group did not engage in joint planning. The primary teachers and secondary teachers formed separate teaching teams. Individual teachers reviewed the unit and maintained their professional focus on planning for their students' next term. This paper presents the argument framing this interpretative case study about group, team, and individual organisational influences on normative teaching uncertainties. A follow-up study will invite the four individual teachers, after a 2-year period of working together, to reflect on their group, team, and individual experiences during that period in order to determine similarities and differences in their interpretations of group teaching context, student transitions from primary to upper secondary tiers, and science curriculum and its integration with other middle tier KLAs and in order to elicit their ideas about how future teaching groups can improve middle schooling practice in this milieu.