Educational Trends Exposed

David Armstrong is Senior Lecturer in Inclusive Education at RMIT University Melbourne where he leads provision in this area in the main teacher education program. Gill Armstrong is a UK registered architect, a qualified teacher and a researcher in Built Environment Teaching and Learning (BEL+T) at University of Melbourne, who use design-think to deliver teaching and learning at Australian universities.

• Introduction: Educational Trends and the Jupiter Metaphor. 1. Performance enhancing trends: Brain Gym® Direct Instruction and synthetic phonics. 2. Technical trends: Positive Behaviour Interventions and Supports, Neuromyths and Response to Intervention. 3. The crumbling orthodoxy: Behaviour Management and Teacher Quality. 4. Cures, therapy and hope: Growth Mindset, Mindfulness, School-based Mental Health and Inclusion. 5. Trends of the near future: Evidence Based Practice, HITS and Neurodiversity. Summary. Conclusion: Moving Beyond Trends. Final Recommendations. Glossary. References

"In a complex world beset with seemingly intractable problems and a hunger for quick fixes it is unsurprising that antidotes that are long on promise and short on substance are common; they come and go in quick succession. This is certainly true for education. In Educational Trends Exposed: How to be a Critical Consumer, David Armstrong encourages us to develop a critical scepticism to resist educational 'snake-oil'. In a highly competitive environment where education jurisdictions and schools compete against each other for superior standing on league tables, education provides fertile fields for the emergence and attraction of trends. This book offers a methodology for evaluating the veracity of the conceptualisation and the claims of educational trends. I would recommend David Armstrong's text to teacher educators, teachers, education leaders and administrators with instruction that they learn to use "critical trend analysis" reflexively."Roger Slee, Diamond Professor of Disability and Inclusion, School of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Leeds