Middle schooling in Tasmania: Teachers' beliefs about classroom pedagogy

Middle schooling has attracted growing interest and attention in Australia but this has been slow to spread to the island state of Tasmania. The exception is provided by independent schools in Tasmania, some of which have created dedicated middle schools within their organisation. This article discusses the findings of a study on middle school teachers' beliefs about classroom pedagogy in Tasmanian independent schools. Although the participant teachers were highly dedicated and reflective with sophisticated understandings about their specialist subject areas, they lacked the specific knowledge base about young adolescence generally considered to be an essential precursor to the design and implementation of developmentally responsive pedagogies.