Reece Mills
Biographic Data
| ID | 6154337 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Reece Mills |
| GIVEN NAMES | Reece |
| FAMILY NAME | Mills |
| SIGNATURE | MILLS R |
| AFFILIATIONS | Queensland University of Technology |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-2156-7677 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 23 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 0 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 23 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2016 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 0 |
Barriers to fair participation for career change teachers entering teaching
Flexible professional experience placements in initial teacher education
Biographies, ontological security and the socio‐spatial politics shaping teachers' mobility in remote Australia
The global teacher shortage continues to intensify, with disparate impacts across geographic and socio‐economic communities. In Queensland, Australia, where this study originates, post‐COVID teacher shortages have intensified workforce pressures, leaving several regional, rural and remote schools as some of the ‘hardest‐to‐staff’ in the country. Despite Queensland's mobility policy and high teacher mobility potential, encouraging teachers, especi…
Hard-, harder-, hardest-to-staff
Rethinking recruitment
Global STEM teacher shortages have prompted research and policy aimed at recruiting priority groups including career changers to teaching. However, there remains a need for a deeper understanding of how career changers decide to become teachers, to inform strategies that may address the teacher shortage crisis more effectively. This research uses Margaret Archer's (2012) theories of reflexivity to explore 16 career changers' decisions to become s…
Career change teacher
Career change teachers (CCTs) are heralded in international education policies as key to addressing teacher shortages and increasing quality and diversity in the profession. Using a qualitative approach inspired by Ball’s discursive facet of policy enactment, interview responses from 23 Australian teacher educators were examined. The aim was to determine how these teacher educators spoke and thought about CCTs as well as how they discursively pos…
Understanding the reasons why career changers pursue or pass on a STEM teaching career
Intractable shortages of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) teachers have prompted international policy efforts to recruit career changers to the profession. This research determines the significant influences on career changers’ decisions to pursue or pass on STEM teaching careers. Surveys completed by 91 career changers from Queensland, Australia, were analysed with Best–Worst Scaling (BWS) methods and Margaret Archer’s th…
Staffing rural and remote school communities
Career change teachers
Teacher shortages are a global problem. One solution to this problem, offered in Australian policy, is the notion of the career change teacher (CCT). This study analyses the responses from 23 teacher educators who were asked what they themselves thought might enable and/or constrain this cohort entering teaching as well as those they saw for the pre-service teachers and the systems of both the university and the school. Data were analysed inducti…
From pre-service to beginning teacher
This study explores the development of teacher self-efficacy (TSE) during the transition from Initial Teacher Education (ITE) to beginning teaching, in a context impacted by curriculum and assessment reform. Using a longitudinal mixed methods design, data were collected from participants as they completed ITE and began teaching in secondary schools. Findings indicated that TSE significantly increased during the transition ( F (2, 84) = 9.29, p < …
How are teacher shortages in hardest-to-staff schools represented in (inter)national policy documents from England and Australia
ABSTARCTTeacher shortages are a significant global problem disproportionally affecting “hardest-to-staff” schools and subjects. To better understand (inter)national policy responses to teacher shortages, this paper uses a Bacchian-inspired approach to critically examine proposals suggested as solutions in policy documents from England and Australia, and thus how the problem is being thought about especially in relation to hardest-to-staff context…
How Well Does the F-10 Australian Curriculum Prepare Students to be Water Literate Citizens
Global water availability and management are persistent challenges to sustainable futures, yet people may have limited understandings of water systems and may hold negative attitudes towards sustainable solutions. With education a mechanism for realising a water literate citizenry, this study asks: How well does the Australian curriculum prepare students to be water literate citizens? McCarroll and Hamann’s (2020) Dimensions of Water Literacy gui…
A scoping review of factors that influence career changers’ motivations and decisions when considering teaching
Ongoing shortages of quality teachers has prompted policy interest into career changers as potential solutions. Although Initial Teacher Education (ITE) comprises one-third career changers, little is known about this group. This paper presents a scoping review of career changers’ motivations/decisions to choose teaching as a career. Themes from inductive thematic analysis are deductively synthesised using Margaret Archer’s theories on emergent pr…
The efficacy of the Dimensions of Attitudes toward Science (DAS) for explaining primary preservice teachers’ intention to teach science
There is a need for robust, empirically-validated conceptualisations of teachers’ attitudes towards teaching science, with a view to understand how these might explain their intention to teach science. The Dimensions of Attitudes Toward Science (DAS) theoretical framework suggests that cognitive, affective and perceived control dimensions of teachers’ professional attitudes may be related to their behavioural intention to teach science. While the…
Teacher self-efficacy and reform
Teacher self-efficacy (TSE) of pre-service and in-service teachers plays a significant role in the successful implementation of educational reforms. The purpose of this systematic literature review is to explore the interaction between curriculum and/or assessment reform and TSE. Twenty-nine empirical research studies are analysed to find factors that impact TSE during change and the support mechanisms necessary to maintain high TSE. Using the Sy…
Boys, science and literacy
The fields of science and literacy education continue to be shaped by pervasive gender inequality. Previous research has documented how the formation of a ‘science identity’ is contingent on access to science capital while research in literacy education continues to highlight how boys struggle in their literacy acquisition. Despite a robust scholarship on gendered literacy practices and gender in STEM subjects, to date, there has been little inve…
“It’s kind of like a cut and paste of the syllabus”
Scoping review of conceptions of literacy in middle school science
Literacy skills are essential if students are to access knowledge and achieve academic success in middle school science. A key difficulty with interpreting literacy practices in any discipline is the problem of conceptualising what constitutes literacy. Our study contributes new understandings to the discipline of science where there are ongoing debates concerning the meaning of literacy and confusion regarding what constitutes essential literaci…
How do rural Australian students’ ethnogeographies related to people and place influence their STEM career aspirations
Few studies in science education have examined how place-based experiences influence students’ STEM career aspirations. Rural school students’ lived experiences of place and non-traditional STEM career aspirations such as farming are scarcely considered in dominant narratives around science aspirations and career pathways. Adopting a critical relational perspective that considers place as a lived experience we ask How do rural Australian students…
Middle school students’ science epistemic beliefs – Implications for measurement
Education for sustainable development in the senior Earth and Environmental Science syllabus in Queensland, Australia
In Queensland, Australia, a new senior Earth and Environmental Science (EES) syllabus has been approved for first implementation in 2019. Given the natural alignment between EES and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), this study employs document analysis to investigate the extent to which the intended curriculum reflects the tenets of ESD. An exploratory content analysis examined the frequency of keywords to identify any prominent sustai…
Complexity and contradiction
Representing Earth Science Concepts through Slowmation
It is well known that students arrive in science classrooms with pre-instructional ideas about science phenomena, and that often students’ ideas are not scientifically accurate representations of these phenomena. This research project will engage Year 9 Science students in the creation of a slowmation to represent an Earth Science concept that has been misrepresented in popular culture, in an effort to support their conceptual change towards an a…
No prominent works on this page.
Representing Earth Science Concepts through Slowmation
It is well known that students arrive in science classrooms with pre-instructional ideas about science phenomena, and that often students’ ideas are not scientifically accurate representations of these phenomena. This research project will engage Year 9 Science students in the creation of a slowmation to represent an Earth Science concept that has been misrepresented in popular culture, in an effort to support their conceptual change towards an a…
Education for sustainable development in the senior Earth and Environmental Science syllabus in Queensland, Australia
In Queensland, Australia, a new senior Earth and Environmental Science (EES) syllabus has been approved for first implementation in 2019. Given the natural alignment between EES and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), this study employs document analysis to investigate the extent to which the intended curriculum reflects the tenets of ESD. An exploratory content analysis examined the frequency of keywords to identify any prominent sustai…
Complexity and contradiction
How do rural Australian students’ ethnogeographies related to people and place influence their STEM career aspirations
Few studies in science education have examined how place-based experiences influence students’ STEM career aspirations. Rural school students’ lived experiences of place and non-traditional STEM career aspirations such as farming are scarcely considered in dominant narratives around science aspirations and career pathways. Adopting a critical relational perspective that considers place as a lived experience we ask How do rural Australian students…
Middle school students’ science epistemic beliefs – Implications for measurement
“It’s kind of like a cut and paste of the syllabus”
Scoping review of conceptions of literacy in middle school science
Literacy skills are essential if students are to access knowledge and achieve academic success in middle school science. A key difficulty with interpreting literacy practices in any discipline is the problem of conceptualising what constitutes literacy. Our study contributes new understandings to the discipline of science where there are ongoing debates concerning the meaning of literacy and confusion regarding what constitutes essential literaci…
A scoping review of factors that influence career changers’ motivations and decisions when considering teaching
Ongoing shortages of quality teachers has prompted policy interest into career changers as potential solutions. Although Initial Teacher Education (ITE) comprises one-third career changers, little is known about this group. This paper presents a scoping review of career changers’ motivations/decisions to choose teaching as a career. Themes from inductive thematic analysis are deductively synthesised using Margaret Archer’s theories on emergent pr…
The efficacy of the Dimensions of Attitudes toward Science (DAS) for explaining primary preservice teachers’ intention to teach science
There is a need for robust, empirically-validated conceptualisations of teachers’ attitudes towards teaching science, with a view to understand how these might explain their intention to teach science. The Dimensions of Attitudes Toward Science (DAS) theoretical framework suggests that cognitive, affective and perceived control dimensions of teachers’ professional attitudes may be related to their behavioural intention to teach science. While the…
Teacher self-efficacy and reform
Teacher self-efficacy (TSE) of pre-service and in-service teachers plays a significant role in the successful implementation of educational reforms. The purpose of this systematic literature review is to explore the interaction between curriculum and/or assessment reform and TSE. Twenty-nine empirical research studies are analysed to find factors that impact TSE during change and the support mechanisms necessary to maintain high TSE. Using the Sy…
Boys, science and literacy
The fields of science and literacy education continue to be shaped by pervasive gender inequality. Previous research has documented how the formation of a ‘science identity’ is contingent on access to science capital while research in literacy education continues to highlight how boys struggle in their literacy acquisition. Despite a robust scholarship on gendered literacy practices and gender in STEM subjects, to date, there has been little inve…
How are teacher shortages in hardest-to-staff schools represented in (inter)national policy documents from England and Australia
ABSTARCTTeacher shortages are a significant global problem disproportionally affecting “hardest-to-staff” schools and subjects. To better understand (inter)national policy responses to teacher shortages, this paper uses a Bacchian-inspired approach to critically examine proposals suggested as solutions in policy documents from England and Australia, and thus how the problem is being thought about especially in relation to hardest-to-staff context…
How Well Does the F-10 Australian Curriculum Prepare Students to be Water Literate Citizens
Global water availability and management are persistent challenges to sustainable futures, yet people may have limited understandings of water systems and may hold negative attitudes towards sustainable solutions. With education a mechanism for realising a water literate citizenry, this study asks: How well does the Australian curriculum prepare students to be water literate citizens? McCarroll and Hamann’s (2020) Dimensions of Water Literacy gui…
Career change teacher
Career change teachers (CCTs) are heralded in international education policies as key to addressing teacher shortages and increasing quality and diversity in the profession. Using a qualitative approach inspired by Ball’s discursive facet of policy enactment, interview responses from 23 Australian teacher educators were examined. The aim was to determine how these teacher educators spoke and thought about CCTs as well as how they discursively pos…
Understanding the reasons why career changers pursue or pass on a STEM teaching career
Intractable shortages of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) teachers have prompted international policy efforts to recruit career changers to the profession. This research determines the significant influences on career changers’ decisions to pursue or pass on STEM teaching careers. Surveys completed by 91 career changers from Queensland, Australia, were analysed with Best–Worst Scaling (BWS) methods and Margaret Archer’s th…
Staffing rural and remote school communities
Career change teachers
Teacher shortages are a global problem. One solution to this problem, offered in Australian policy, is the notion of the career change teacher (CCT). This study analyses the responses from 23 teacher educators who were asked what they themselves thought might enable and/or constrain this cohort entering teaching as well as those they saw for the pre-service teachers and the systems of both the university and the school. Data were analysed inducti…
From pre-service to beginning teacher
This study explores the development of teacher self-efficacy (TSE) during the transition from Initial Teacher Education (ITE) to beginning teaching, in a context impacted by curriculum and assessment reform. Using a longitudinal mixed methods design, data were collected from participants as they completed ITE and began teaching in secondary schools. Findings indicated that TSE significantly increased during the transition ( F (2, 84) = 9.29, p < …
Barriers to fair participation for career change teachers entering teaching
Flexible professional experience placements in initial teacher education
Biographies, ontological security and the socio‐spatial politics shaping teachers' mobility in remote Australia
The global teacher shortage continues to intensify, with disparate impacts across geographic and socio‐economic communities. In Queensland, Australia, where this study originates, post‐COVID teacher shortages have intensified workforce pressures, leaving several regional, rural and remote schools as some of the ‘hardest‐to‐staff’ in the country. Despite Queensland's mobility policy and high teacher mobility potential, encouraging teachers, especi…
Hard-, harder-, hardest-to-staff
Rethinking recruitment
Global STEM teacher shortages have prompted research and policy aimed at recruiting priority groups including career changers to teaching. However, there remains a need for a deeper understanding of how career changers decide to become teachers, to inform strategies that may address the teacher shortage crisis more effectively. This research uses Margaret Archer's (2012) theories of reflexivity to explore 16 career changers' decisions to become s…
Pedagogy (14 works) · Psychology (13 works) · Sociology (9 works) · Teacher Education and Leadership Studies (9 works) · Teacher Professional Development and Motivation (9 works) · Mathematics education (8 works) · Political science (8 works) · Economic shortage (7 works) · Curriculum (6 works) · Education Systems and Policy (5 works)