To cite this paper:

Shane Pill and Russell Brown (2009) Peer observation of teaching: An optimistic approach
for collegiate professional development. Action Learning and Research Journal, 15(2), 5981

This article argues that it is valuable for all who are involved in
teaching in higher education to reflect on and develop their teaching by
engaging in collegiate professional development through collaborative
action research. Drawing upon our experiences as physical education
lecturers, we demonstrate how action research can facilitate
professional learning for the enhancement of teaching and curriculum
construction. As a form of learning through reflection, action research
is able to integrate the academic work of teaching and researching. A
framing system for peer observation of teaching (POT) as action
research for collegial professional development is illustrated and
explained. Six elements of the model are subsequently explained in
further detail to advocate and explain the process of peer observation
of teaching for professional development.

Introduction
Contemporary concerns about quality teaching in Higher
Education settings (HES), arising from the demands of a
larger and more diverse student group, and a greater
awareness of the multiple learning styles and learning needs,
are combining with increasing requirements to address the
current and future needs of students as lifelong learners.
This has increased the demand for HES to focus attention on
the analysis of teaching and the construction of contexts for
learning. (Kember 2000, Dunne 1999).
A focus on the analysis of teaching and the construction of
contexts for learning requires investment of time for the

purposes of reflection and discourse about students, learning

and learning contexts. In HES, finding this time can be
challenging due to the competing categories of HES
educators work. Setting aside time for critical reflection and
review of teaching and contexts for learning may be a
challenge, however, teaching and learning will remain core
purposes of all higher education institutions and a key
reason for public investment in universities (DEST 2002,
p.1).
This article addresses the research question, What value is
action research using peer observation of teaching (POT) for
collegial professional development? The article will set out
the context within which the project occurred and explain
POT as a valid method for data collection during action
research. The results of the study will be presented as both a
model for action research in HES settings and include those
themes that emerged from our reflective learning. These
results will be discussed within the context of POT as an
instrument for collegiate professional development and as a
process for teaching as being a scholarly activity.

Context
The study was situated within a foundation studies physical
education topic that both authors taught. The participants in
this study were both experienced educators, where the peer
being observed was an established HES educator and the
peer HES observer was new to teaching, but was
experienced in other educational settings. It was
hypothesized by the established HES educator that their
colleague could provide valuable feedback on the
construction of the topic curriculum. The experience of the
two participants meant that neither felt the need for outside
support to focus on the practice of teaching.

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This study was therefore proposed for pragmatic reasons to

address local needs (Tomkinson & Kahn 2003). A form of
cooperative professional development, the project evolved to
serve two intents: a) collegial professional development
through reflective learning; and b) action research for topic
curriculum development, using peer observation of teaching
(POT) as the tool for data collection.

Methodology: Action research using peer

observation of teaching
Action research is a valid form of professional development
because it is focused on competence in a professional role
and possesses the intent to improve personal performance
(Beaty 2003). Action research places learning through
reflection into context as it combines reflective learning with
vigorous research and a community of inquiry through
publication of the learning for peer consideration and
review. It involves theorising and the identification of action
points and areas for further study. Zuber-Skerritt (1992)
proposes a construction for action research using the
acronym CRASP - Critical attitude, Research into teaching,
Accountability and Self-evaluation leading to
Professionalism. This project illustrated good practice in
action research, as the observation was framed through a
critical lens, which was informed by research into teaching,
academic accountability for the professional preparation of
pre-service teachers and critical self-evaluation by both the
established HES educator and the peer HES observer.
Active construction of knowledge about the teaching
occurred through observation of the teaching, critical
reflection upon the content, and observation of student
engagement with the curriculum. This is consistent with a
premise of action research that the participants are viewed as
active constructors of knowledge rather than passive

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observers and recorders of information. Zuber-Skerritt (1992)

builds upon the discourse of action research as critical
inquiry for the construction of knowledge to define action
research as
collaborative, critical enquiry by the academics themselves (rather than
expert educational researchers) into their own teaching practice, into
problems of student learning and into curriculum problems. It is
professional development through academic course development,
group reflection, action, evaluation and improved practice (pp.1-2).

The research project structure was facilitated by the study

not being an additional time demand for the project
participants. One HES educator was released from teaching
responsibilities within the topic being reviewed, replacing
those responsibilities with that of researcher for professional
learning and curriculum development. POT was the
instrument for reflective practice and data collection in this
study.
To call someone a peer is to imply a relationship within an
organisational structure or field of experience. Peers may
have similar or differential status. To observe a peer is to
examine their activities with intent. Peel (2005) determined
that POT can be placed into two categories based on its
intended use as developmental or judgmental. This project
clearly had developmental intentions, as the premise was to
review and restructure the topic to better meet the
professional preparation objectives of a pre-service teacher.

Literature review: Peer observation of teaching in

higher education settings
POT in HES can be traced back to an initial developmental
intention through Peer Review of Teaching initiatives,
introduced in the early 1960s in response to student-led
demand for improvements in educational experiences

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(DAndrea 2002). In many institutions this evolved into POT

with judgmental intent as an element of staff development
programs focused on evaluation and decisions regarding
tenure and promotion, rather than as a means for improving
students learning experiences (DAndrea 2002). Observation
can be a tool for professional learning through structured
examination (Gutknecht-Gmenier 2005, Svinicki & Lewis
2002). This is not the same observational intent as for
performance review, which is a limiting observation
paradigm. This limiting use of POT constrains the potential
for growth and development as it restricts the data to
performance feedback. When used as a performance
measurement and rating tool, POT underplays the role of
reflection that may facilitate the personal change and
growth of the teacher (Peel 2005, p. 501).
POT can also only bring attention to that which is visible and
therefore cannot illuminate the thought processes and
emotion leading to, and resulting from, action. Furthermore,
it is not a neutral process, as the observer brings their bias, as
an expression of their beliefs and values developed through
experience, to the act of observation (Gosling 2002, Friesner
& Hart 2005). The dialectical inquiry that follows the
observation is where the knowledge generation occurs. This
promotes POT in HES for professional learning, through a
consideration of the potential for POT as collegial
professional development, where dialectical inquiry is
twinned with the process of peer observation. POT for
collegial professional development rather than for the
instrumentality of peer review for tenure and promotional
purposes, particularly in HES, is not an area of action
research that has been given enough consideration.

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Peer observation of teaching as an agent for

professional development
An important aspect of POT as an agent for professional
growth and development is that it potentially opens up the
teaching process to provide insights into that which has
traditionally been a private affair between a teacher and their
students (Gutknecht-Gmenier 2005, DAndrea 2002, Chappell
2003). We recognized early in this project the
importance of mutual and frank dialogue as part of the
process of analysing the observations, the thoughts and
emotions arising. This was considered important in
overcoming the inherent weakness of POT in that it typically
fails to make apparent thoughts and emotions that lead to,
and stem from, the observed action. Mutual and frank
dialogue facilitates professional learning and the production
of knowledge.
POT, involving collaborative reflective thinking, and the
analysis of observed behaviour, beliefs and attitudes, is
noted as containing the potential to improve, refine and
adjust practice (Tinning, et al. 2001) for both the observed
and the observer. When the observer is also concurrently
engaged in learning and improving personal practice from
the process, POT can be considered collegial professional
development. Observation offers tremendous potential to
promote self knowledge and professional development,
particularly when it is part of a continuing process
(Shortland in Peel 2005, p. 492). As a form of promotion of
self-knowledge and professional development, POT
therefore becomes concerned with data generated by the
researcher for the researcher and becomes a form of
autobiographical insider research (Anderson & Jones 2000),
because the research is both created and used in the same
setting.

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Discussion
The research data generated for this study was therefore
both for the observer and the observed. For both of us, this
critically reflective autobiographical data centred upon the
educators personal professional knowledge. Personal
professional knowledge is recognised as potentially having a
powerful impact upon personal understanding, day to day
decision making and problem solving (Anderson & Jones,
2000). Autobiographical research has strong links to action
research in the qualitative research tradition.
Not surprisingly, many teacher educators have found that crossing the
line between assisting teachers to study their practice and studying
ones own comes easily, almost naturally (Bullough & Pinnegar 2001,
p. 14).

In this project, the autobiographical research data was

particularly instrumental to the observer as a tool to reflect
upon practice for specific consideration in what was
important in the development of a new topic.
The products emerging from this project, including a
guiding philosophical document for the degree program
within which this study was embedded, have been the
subject of another paper. The results presented in this paper
contain both the themes emerging from the autobiographical
reflective learning of the authors and an emerged model
through which to guide this type of action research in a HES
setting. The emergent themes from the dialectal inquiry
associated with POT will be discussed within the context of
POT as the instrument for both collegiate professional
development and as a process for teaching as research being
a scholarly activity. The following headings directing the
discussion indicate our reflective learning.

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1. A model for collegial professional development

Improving teaching requires a theory that helps teachers
reflect on what they are doing (Biggs 1999, p. 60). A model
for collegial professional development emerged from the
early dialogue of the participants as an aid for
understanding the process of reflection and the manner with
which it was impacting upon our teaching during this study.
In order to structure the conversations between the observer
and the observed so that a full, frank and mutual exchange
could occur from which meaningful ideas could emerge, the
need for a framing system arose. The diagram below (Figure
1) lays out this model.
We propose that it illustrates the way teaching is potentially
twinned with the academic work of research to create a
context for professional learning and the scholarship of
teaching through POT. Boyer (1990 in Tomkinson & Kahn
2003, p. 6) defines scholarship of teaching and learning as
engaging in original research for the discovery or
contribution of knowledge, application, integration of
interdisciplinary elements, and the dissemination of
information to others about teaching. The model illustrated
situates POT for collegial professional development as action
research which promotes the scholarship of teaching.

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POT
Action Research

Scholarship

Teaching

Learning

Enhanced student
learning

Dissemination of
information

Figure 1. POT for collegial professional development.

In the framing system of POT for collegial professional

development, POT generates data that informs both the
teaching of the participants and enables the generation of
disseminable knowledge. This knowledge can inform
teaching and learning in other similar contexts or where the
educators are considering similar questions about their work
with students. As the participants are considering research
relevant to the question being investigated, and the data
being generated is developing knowledge to enhance
teaching and learning in the local context, a broader
scholarship of teaching is enacted.
Peer observation therefore becomes action research which
develops the scholarship of teaching. The coupling of POT
and teaching scholarship situates the educator as both a
learner and a teacher, as learning and work (teaching and
research) are not considered separated activities. POT
becomes the instrument of action research that generates
data that informs teaching to empower the teaching and
learning outcomes of the individual educator, while also
providing a source of data that can potentially inform

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teaching and learning more broadly within and beyond the

institution. This is an area of HES teaching requiring further
consideration, as it offers the potential for HES educators to
meet research work requirements without having to enter
the teaching versus research dichotomy.
Teaching and learning therefore become entwined. We
propose that this as an important concept for HES as
successful organisations should themselves learn (Knapper
2001, p. 132) and be learning organisations that
promote discussion about the context and nature of work,
team learning and collaboration, and the creation of ongoing
learning opportunities. In a HES focusing on the study of
education, this would appear to be particularly synonymous.
HES institutions focusing on the study of education should
be ideally placed to promote the scholarship of teaching
however, for this to occur there must be a commitment to
systemic structures that allow for collaboration amongst
educators on questions and issues about practice. POT for
collegial professional development offers a potential
systemic structure through which institutional learning that
enhances teaching and learning can occur.
For HES education to be regarded as a scholarly activity
requires consensus that teaching is a research-based
profession. We argue that part of this research is legitimately
the autobiographical process of researching ones
educational theories through critical self-reflection. When
engaged in collaborative participative research it is both
professional development for the individual and research.
As the research partner observing the action, one addresses
the research question and concurrently interacts with
personal theories of practice. Professional learning through
reflection can therefore be prompted in the dialectical
inquiry associated with the examination of the data collected
during the observation of teaching.

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The quality which ultimately defines the process as scholarly

is the evidence of change or enhanced practice, with the
intent to improve students educational outcomes. Discourse
centred on student learning, the enhancement of the learning
context (Cornwell 2002) and the enhancement of the
participants teaching practice situates and provides
contextual validity and relevance for POT as research. The
model presented therefore locates discourse centred on
student learning, the learning context and the practical
philosophy of the educators as integral to the daily work of
educators as teachers and researchers in HES as other forms
of scholarship.
Why a framing system was needed

The need for a framing system through which to understand

POT as action research informing the scholarship of
teaching, was an important element that emerged in the
early discussions associated with this project. A way forward
for the discernment of themes to inform each others
practice, and the ability to process the discussions, was
enabled once we had this framing system. It enabled us both
to explain to colleagues how the project was mutually
beneficial to each participant, personally and professionally.
Research of the literature failed to reveal a model for POT as
collegial professional development, which leads to a
scholarship of teaching, and so we needed to generate one in
order to understand the task they were undertaking.
2. Peer observation of teaching can be participative research with,
for and by people rather than research on people
Collaboration is emphasised as an important element of the
action research process (ZuberSkerritt 1992a). We have
concluded that an educational setting that systematically and
consistently engages in collaboration for exploration that
further develops teaching, and the dissemination of that
information for peer review beyond the context of the

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collaboration, has the potential to situate the scholarship of

teaching within the broader context of a learning
community (Gibbs, et al. 2004). Within the context of a
learning community, action research through peer
observation of teaching would be actively participative, as
educators are engaged as interactive partners, collaborating
in an educational project as critical thinkers and as mutual
learners (Gibbs, et al. 2004, p. 184). This perspective
encourages educators as learners who come together in
action research projects for the common purpose of sharing
insights and understanding about the beliefs and values that
drive educational practice, ultimately for the enhancement of
student learning.
3. Peer Observation of Teaching is reflective learning
Deliberating upon the process of POT was an integral
element of the project if it was to be more than a judgmental
action on behalf of the observer. Peel (2005) has suggested
that reflecting on the raw mechanics of POT as a tool to
enhance teaching practice helps situate the observer-learner.
This certainly proved to be the case for the participant
observer. Researching POT and discussing its
instrumentality for autobiographical reflection and critical
ethnography for the observer was essential in constructing
this project as mutually participative research. It provided
the pointers to the values and education principles active,
out of which the critical appraisal and questions would arise.
For the participant being observed, clarifying how the
process would provide the necessary data for reflection was
important in structuring the project, as POT is not a valueneutral endeavour.
POT interacts with an educators professional identity,
which is grounded in beliefs and values about learning and
experience with pedagogical frameworks. Through the
adoption of a critical lens, informed by mutual and frank

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discussion of the data collected and statements recorded

during the observation, POT has the potential to be a
reflective practice that stimulates interaction with an
educators beliefs and values. POT can therefore provide for
a context within which there can be growth in knowledge
and understanding about teaching and learning. We found
that POT has the potential to enhance an educators
effectiveness in creating curriculum and learning contexts, by
promoting an understanding of the personal investment
of the educator in curriculum construction and the process of
teaching.
4. Peer observation of teaching: Enhancing organisational capacity
We suggest that the enhancement of individual teaching
effectiveness that is stimulated by the reflective dialogue
inherent in action research using collaborative POT, can
become an important element in growing organisational
capacity. Senge, et al (1990) have indicated that
organizations learn only through individuals who learn.
Individual learning does not guarantee organizational
learning. But without it no organizational learning occurs
(p. 139). We propose that HES should prioritise supporting
and embedding those activities that stimulate enhanced
professional practice, such as action research using POT.
HES should naturally be concerned with knowledge
production and dissemination that occurs through research
in naturalized settings of teaching and learning, as well as
through controlled scientific experimentation.
The University is a place of learning. As academic workers
in universities, our business is learning: our students
learning, our own learning, our societys learning
(Rowland, et al. 1998, p. 133). Unfortunately, HES
organisational structures are not always supportive of
collaborative engagement and reflective processes. For POT
to become an embedded work practice requires a group

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commitment to a cycle of continuous reflective learning to

enhance individual and collective teaching capacity. It
appears particularly possible where two or more academics
are involved in the teaching of a topic and this teaching
relationship can be configured as peer teaching. Peer
teaching provides the possibility for one person to sit back
from the teaching process and act as observer for
constructive critical reflection. Constructing these
relationships strategically can create an embedded culture of
collaborative, actively participative research to capture and
share learning (Watkins & Marsick 1993 in Silins 2001, p.
79). As an embedded practice of an organisations reflective
learning, POT moves a HES towards a learning community
model, because it will do more than spread knowledge; it
will make a habit of creating and using knowledge creatively
(Basadur & Gelade 2006) through an embedded system that
supports individuals and teams to integrate learning with
work. In this project, we were teaching within the topic and
one was released to act as the peer observer. It is highly
unlikely that this project would have been possible without
the team teaching element already apparent in the topic, as
extra funding was not available to secure release from
teaching.
4. Peer observation of teaching for scholarship and collegial
professional development requires a question of significance
This project has demonstrated that POT promotes
professional development for participants when the
institutional structure and the beliefs and values of the
participants are challenged by a central question that is of
significance. The significance of a question in reflective
research using POT lies in two parts. Firstly, the question
needs to be of importance to the work of the participants so
that it stimulates and requires reflection in and upon action
that engages the participants beliefs and values. Secondly,
the question must also be of importance to the

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understanding or the further development of the work of the

individuals and the institution.
At this point it is important to distinguish between POT for
collegial professional development and POT for mentoring,
induction and assessment. It would have been easy to allow
this project to slide into POT for peer mentoring that
potentially became an induction for the new academic, or a
process leading to a peer review that contributed data to the
experienced HES academics promotion profile. POT that
mutually involves the professional development of the
observer and the observed, locates the responsibility for
learning and engagement in the process of reflection. The
dialogue of discernment needs to be situated upon the
observer as it much as it does on the observed. This is unlike
POT for mentoring, induction or assessment, which invokes
a master-apprentice type relationship, where the emphasis is
on the person observed. We found POT for collegial
professional development to be predicated on an
understanding and commitment by all participants who
were equally both a learner and a leader. Continual dialogue
between research partners was essential to maintain the selfreflective and practical focus of the act of observation. The
tendency for observation to narrow in focus onto teaching
style and efficacy, and to therefore become judgmental of
teaching, is ever present. Both participants need to be
conscious of this potential slippage and be prepared to raise
the alert should it occur.
5. Peer observation of teaching for collegial professional
development requires intentional engagement by all participants
If POT is to be valued as a form of collegial professional
development, there must be intentional engagement with the
beliefs and values that inform pedagogical practice by those
involved. Participants must become full and active research
partners to learn from the social experience of collaboration.

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The observer as researcher is instrumental in data collection

as participant-observer, as well as instrumental in
contributing data. This contribution requires being able to
name beliefs and values about teaching and the ability to
clearly articulate assumptions about the construction of
learning, and learning environments, at the outset and
throughout the duration of the study.
A capacity for non-judgemental contestation of ideas
provides for learning through reflection to occur. A
conceptual framework for this process (previously presented
in Figure 1) was essential to focus the reflective practice on
knowledge acquisition rather than judgment of performance.
Prioritising time to meet regularly and time at the start of
each meeting to affirm the process, the research task,
purpose for meeting, the expected outcomes from the
meeting, roles each would take during the meeting and
agreed boundaries for the discussion, were critical steps
preceding the analysis of the study.
6. Peer observation of teaching: Autoethnographic research
The theoretical driver for this project was an inductive logic,
as the project required describing and understanding each
other through the biography of teaching, that created the
theoretical and practical perspectives that each brought to
the reflective conversations. Inductive logic is a feature of
qualitative research design (Qualitative Research Design
2006). Qualitative researchers have been encouraged to
consider how their personal subjectivity influences and
informs the investigative process. This can occur in
qualitative research through autoethnography.
Autoethnography can encourage empathy beyond the self in
order to contribute to sociological understandings about
teaching and learning (Spry 2001). We found that POT
stimulated reflective dialogue that prompted
autobiographical moments essential in the exchange of frank

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and mutual discernment of the data collected during the

observations. It was these autobiographical moments that
opened the gates to enlightenment of our practice as we
prompted and probed each others assumptions and how
they came into being. This operationalised the notion of a
critical consciousness (McIlveen 2008), as the meaning of the
stories was not what ultimately became important, rather, it
was the commitment to developing theoretical
understandings via the narrative visibility of the self.
Using POT to stimulate autoenthnography as a method for
reflective action research is an emerging area of research.
The deliberate prompting of autoethnographic moments was
found to be instrumental in analysing the POT in a reflective
rather than judgmental frame. A conscious engagement in
the self by the observer was found to be necessary if the
observation was to inform the teaching practice of the
observer as well as developing knowledge for the participant
being observed. It was necessary to follow the question,
What would I do differently? with, Why would I do it
differently? to substantiate whether the observation was
valid or not.
It is our assertion that action research, using POT as the tool
for data collection that deliberately prompts
autoethnographic moments by the researchers, is a
qualitative research design requiring further consideration
within teacher educator research. Drawing on personal
understanding to reflexively look more deeply at the ideas
and values informing the way one goes about thinking about
ones teaching practice and designing and enacting teaching,
has the potential to contribute deeper understandings about
teaching and in particular, why teaching, for many, tends to
be a conservative practice resistant to change.

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Conclusion
We believe that POT is an effective means of scholarship for
teaching and learning, as it provides an opportunity to
address research questions of local value, promoting
collaboration between colleagues and providing a vehicle for
the dissemination of information that can impact on practice
locally and more globally (Tomkinson & Kahn 2003). POT, as
a method of action research for enhanced curriculum
construction and learning delivery, is however, highly
context-specific. The institutional context, the research
question and intent and the professional identity of
participants, influence the data collection, reflection and
analysis and subsequent application and creative endeavour.
This article reports the insights gained from an action
research project using POT for collegial professional
development in a higher education physical education
setting. Papers analysing our engagement with our own
beliefs and values through this project and, the resulting
product, philosophical positioning of physical education in a
HES and the physical education curriculum development
that occurs as a result of analysis of the data and philosophy
paper generated, have been presented elsewhere and so have
not been considered in this article.
We have argued that action research using POT is an
effective method for collegial professional development. The
use of POT in this project proved to be a successful means of
knowledge management and creative endeavor. It allowed
questions about practice to surface and opportunities for
curriculum change and action to become apparent.
The importance of POT for collegial professional
development actively engaging educators beliefs, values
and pedagogical frameworks was apparent in this project.

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This required the courage to reveal autobiographical

vignettes emphasising social and cultural moments
influential in the construction of our teaching selves and
their application to the research process during the research
meetings.
We acknowledge that it will be a challenge for HES to
support action research using POT for professional
development as part of a scholarship of teaching, as it will
require it to be situated and embedded within a broader
spectrum of what is considered scholarly activity. Valuing
the institution as a learning community is a starting point.
Flexible timetabling and staffing that enables team teaching
is also necessary. Further research exploring strategies that
enhance POTs contribution to the scholarship of teaching
and as a means for quality professional development in HES,
are encouraged. We suggest that four clear areas for further
research are; 1) HES institutional use of POT for learning and
scholarship; 2) the use of POT for purposeful connection
with student reflective data to more broadly inform teaching
and learning; 3) POT as an intentional process for
professional development through autoethnography; and 4)
the use of POT by HES as a method of reflective professional
development that can inform, and form, the induction of
early career academics and and the novice educator in a
HES, still forming and shaping their professional identity
and developing an understanding of their own pedagogical
frameworks.

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About the authors

Shane Pill and Russell Brown are lecturers in the School of
Education, Flinders University, South Australia.
[email protected]
[email protected]

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