As the pandemic continues to have an impact on all our lives, colleges and universities now face new challenges. Whether these relate to finances, shifting market demand for programs and courses, student retention, changing demographics, managing in an age of uncertainty in which COVID-19 continues to pose a risk to health and well-being, or new regulatory environments, the
Gibbons, P. 2008: Abstract: This paper reports on some of the findings from research that investigated how
the notion of ‘intellectual quality’ is played out in schools where there are large
numbers of students who are learning through the medium of English as a second
language (ESL). Starting with the premise that high challenge, high support
classrooms benefit all learners, the paper discusses and illustrates the recurring
intellectual practices identified in five linguistically and culturally diverse classrooms,
where the teachers were involved in action research projects. The paper also
discusses the collaborative process by which the research was undertaken, and the
teacher learning that resulted. It concludes with a brief discussion of the implications
for pedagogy, and suggests that the ‘apprenticeship’ approach that broadly
describes the pedagogy adopted by the teachers has the potential to be particularly
significant for ESL learners’ engagement and participation in curriculum and
language learning.