Staff Directory

Ms Marion Meiers

Position:

Senior Research Fellow  

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Division:

Teaching, Learning & Transitions 

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Location:

Melbourne 

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Publications:

http://works.bepress.com/marion_meiers/ 

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Qualifications:

BA, DipEd Melb, BEd, MEd Monash, MACE

 

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Marion Meiers is a Senior Research Fellow at ACER in the Teaching and School Leadership research program. Her research interests lie in the fields of English and literacy education and teachers’ professional learning. She has had wide experience as a secondary teacher, has held regional and central office curriculum officer positions in Victorian schools and regions, including a principal class position as Principal Consultant in a School Support Centre. .

At ACER, Marion planned and directed the seven-year ACER Longitudinal Literacy and Numeracy Study (LLANS) from its inception in 1998. She has also been project director for three other major Australian studies that have incorporated the LLANS literacy assessments. One of these projects was a national study of effective literacy teaching practices in the early years, In Teachers’ Hands, a research study funded by the Australian Government Department of Education, Training and Science, under the Grants for National Literacy and Numeracy Strategies and Projects Programme

She has considerable experience as a project director, including major evaluations of a variety of professional development initiatives, for example, a two-year evaluation of the Western Australian Department of Education initiative, the Getting it Right: Literacy and Numeracy Strategy. She is currently directing a two-year evaluation of a new initiative of the Victorian Department of Education and Training, the Literacy Improvement Teams Initiative. Both of these initiatives have a major focus on the improvement of teacher capacity, and the quality of teaching. She was ACER project director of the DEST 2001-2003 national project, Investigating the links between teacher professional development and improved student learning outcomes. Her work in national contexts has contributed to her understanding of state and territory education systems. She has served on advisory committees for a number of major national research projects funded under the Commonwealth Literacy and Numeracy Programme. Currently she is an appointed member of the Victorian Department of Education Literacy Expert Panel.

Marion has lectured in English teacher education at Monash, Deakin and RMIT universities. She has contributed actively to the teaching of English and literacy as a secondary teacher, regional consultant, curriculum writer, policy officer and principal consultant in the Victorian Department of Education, including leadership roles in teacher professional development. In 1997 she was a full-time consultant in the Literacy Section in the Commonwealth Department of Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs.

Curriculum development and assessment within a state-wide jurisdiction has been one of Marion’s long-term interests. She has been State Reviewer for English in the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) in Victoria since 1993. She has assessed VCE English examinations since 1979, has been an examiner in English literature, and a vetting examiner for VCE English/ESL for the past six years. She has recently been a member of the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) English Studies Expert Group, and the VCE English/ESL Review Committees in 2004 – 2006. In 2005 Marion was commissioned by the VCAA to write the standards at six levels for the Years P-10 in three dimensions for the English discipline strand for the Victorian Essential Learning Standards. In 2006 the VCAA also commissioned her to write progression points for the VELS Communication strand, and to revise the VELS English progression points.

Marion has played an active role in national English and literacy teacher professional associations, and from 1993-1996 was the full-time Executive Officer of the Australian Literacy Federation, managing several major national professional development projects for the Federation. She is currently an executive member of the National Council of the Australian Literacy Educators’ Association.

Marion has presented many papers and workshops at national and international conferences, for example, the annual meetings of the American Educational Research Association in 2004 and 2006, and conferences of the International Federation for the Teaching of English in Ottawa, (1985), New Zealand (1990), New York (1995), Warwick, UK (1999), and Australia (2003).

She has an extensive record of publications, including articles in refereed journals, chapters in books, and textbooks, in relation to the teaching and learning of English and literacy, and teachers’ professional learning. Recent publications include Meiers, M., Khoo, S.T., et al. (2006) Growth in literacy and numeracy in the first three years of school. ACER Research Monograph No. 61. Camberwell, VIC: Australian Council for Educational Research, and the chapter, ‘Teacher professional learning, teaching practice and student learning outcomes: Important issues’ in Townsend, T. & Bates, R. (2007) Handbook of Teacher Education, 409-414, Springer. Recent refereed journal articles include: Meiers, M. (2007) Reflections on the use of research to inform teaching, English in Australia, 42, (2); and Meiers, M. & Khoo, S.T. (2006) Literacy in the first three years of school: A longitudinal investigation. Australian Journal of Language and Literacy 29 (3), 252-267;

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