bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Perceptions of Some Priority Issues in Education among Rural Parents and Teachers
Authors: Bowd Alan D. , Boylan Colin R.
Published: March 2013

Eighty-nine teachers and fifty-nine active members of parent organizations associated with the teachers' schools were surveyed regarding their perceptions of significant issues in education. Issues were rated as high, medium or low priority and then rank-ordered separately for parents and teachers. Overall ranking for the two groups differed significantly. Ratings of issues bearing upon parent involvement in education and employment opportunities for students were more highly rated by parents than teachers. When ratings of most curriculum-related issues were compared for the two groups they were not found to differ significantly. The results were interpreted to reflect broad social role differences between parents and teachers as well as local community characteristics. Some implications for fostering parent participation in curriculum development were outlined.
Education and Social Change: A Critique of Contextualism
Authors: Seddon Terri
Published: March 2013

The concept ‘social context’ has become increasingly common in educational research. But unproblematic use of the concept has masked significant differences in its conceptualization. This paper examines the ‘social context’ and hence the trend to contextualism, as a locus of conceptual conflict. The origins of the concept are traced and competing contemporary conceptualizations are critically examined.

The analysis indicates that different conceptualizations are underpinned by different philosophical assumptions and theoretical frameworks. These give rise to quite different analyses and understandings of educational phenomena. The paper argues that such conceptual conflict should not be ignored. The already valuable trend to contextualism would be enhanced by confronting and evaluating the competing conceptualizations. By highlighting the limitations and potential of different positions their explanatory adequacy would be revealed, thereby setting an agenda of necessary critical work for their advocates.
Student Perceptions of School Climate over Time: Two Secondary Schools
Authors: Deer Christine E. , Maxwell Thomas W. , Relich Joseph D.
Published: March 2013

This paper reports the results of a two-year study of student perceptions of school climate. The students concerned were from two non-metropolitan government secondary schools in Years 7 to 12 in New South Wales. Two scales, originally developed in the United Kingdom by Finlayson, Banks and Loughran in 1971 and later modified by Lane, Crane and Thomas in 1982, were used to measure student perceptions. These scales were Teacher Concern for Students and Student Alienation. Student data over the two years, 1982 and 1983, were matched so that only those students present on each occasion were included in a repeated measures analysis. The two school climate scales were used as dependent variables, while the independent variables were sex and year level. There was a statistically significant interactive effect between year level, sex and testing occasion on both scales but the pattern of significant simple effects differed across the two schools. The simple effects interactive patterns are examined in detail and reasons for their occurrence are proposed.
Sex Differences in Attitudes, Achievement and Use of Computers
Authors: Hattie John , Fitzgerald Donald
Published: March 2013

While there is much literature suggesting reasons why there are differences between males and females with respect to computer usage, achievement and attitudes, there is a paucity of empirical research. This study discusses a meta-analysis or synthesis of empirical studies and finds small differences in attitude and no differences in achievement between males and females.

Two Australian studies are then reported. One study investigated differences between male and female students, parents, and teachers in 32 schools that have been involved with computers for some time. The second study was based on a representative sample of 1000 schools throughout Australia.

The research supported the conclusion of small differences in attitudes, but pointed to a polarity in that as many males as females liked computers, but many more girls ardently disliked computers. There were no differences between primary male and female students in usage and attitudes towards computers, but as the students progressed through secondary schools, the differences became marked. Various reasons for these findings are evaluated and some strategies suggested to encourage girls to use computers.
A New Dimension to Accountability? Educational Negligence Claims against Teachers
Authors: Nelson John W.
Published: March 2013

This paper will examine whether teachers can be held liable in a court of law for the damage suffered by their students because of their incompetent or careless teaching. It will consider whether teachers are under a duty to educate their students. It will also discuss whether, in the discharge of this duty, teachers are under a professional standard of care. This leads to a consideration of the controversial question of the professional status of teaching. These issues will be examined in the light of the present law in Australia and the relatively recent American cases in which the courts have been called upon to recognize such a claim. The author identifies ‘educational negligence’ as an emerging new dimension to the movement for accountability for educational outcomes. He concludes that such actions will probably be brought in Australian courts in the future and warns teachers that they should eliminate those practices which may potentially render them liable.
Applying Log-Linear Models in Educational Research
Authors: Kennedy John J.
Published: March 2013

This didactic illustrates the Goodman-Kennedy approach to log-linear modelling within the context of two educational research examples. The first example lends itself to a symmetrical analysis. To qualitative data presented within a 2 × 2 × 2 contingency table, general log-linear models are specified and assessed for goodness of fit. Subsequently an acceptable model is identified and interpreted. In a second example, an asymmetrical logit-model analysis is performed on data in a 2 × 2 × 5 table. It is shown that a subset of general models can be fitted to observed data and that resultant component chi-squares can be used to assess logit response in a manner that is analogous to the analysis of variance.
Traineeships in the West German Context
Authors: Davis Denis
Published: March 2013

In 1985–86 the Australian Government introduced an elaborate scheme of traineeships to complement the already existing apprenticeship scheme. This article shows how the idea as originally conceived, but not as implemented, was based upon the West German dual system. It examines the dual system within the West German setting to see what problems and benefits the traineeship based upon the German system would have in Australia. Its conclusion is that, in spite of apparent problems which the German system has in terms of social demarcation, neglect of certain disadvantaged groups, and appropriateness for technological change, the German system of combining education and work in Australian non-traditional apprenticeship areas is worthwhile attempting in Australia as long as there exists genuine co-operation between industry, education and the state.
The Role of Metacognition in Enhancing Learning
Authors: Biggs John
Published: March 2013

A model of student learning is outlined which emphasises metacognitive processes; students need to be aware of their motives, of task demands, and of their own cognitive resources, and to exert control over the strategies appropriate for handling the task. Of three common approaches to learning—surface, deep, and achieving—the last two result from the most effective metacognition. Two intervention studies are described, one with at-risk university students and the other with two classes of Year 11 students. Both studies involved teaching study skills in a context emphasising metacognitive awareness. In each case, pre- and post-treatment comparisons showed a significant increase in certain indices of deep and achieving approaches, with evidence for longterm improvements in academic performance. Implications for teaching are discussed.
The Ethnic Success Ethic Challenges Conventional Wisdom about Immigrant Disadvantages in Education
Authors: Bullivant Brian M.
Published: March 2013

A research project for the Human Rights Commission using a non-random (quota) sample of seven high schools within metropolitan Melbourne during 1985–86 aimed to establish whether prejudice and discrimination were affecting the occupational socialisation of senior students. Three sources of possible discrimination were hypothesised: (a) the school curriculum, structure and organisation; (b) the dynamics of interactions between non-English-speaking (NES) and Anglo-Australian students; (c) the wider school context and community. Little evidence was found that systemic discrimination existed. Many teachers favoured NES (especially Asian) students for valued traits such as diligence, discipline, achievement orientation. Many Anglo-Australian students displayed prejudice towards NES students especially because they worked too hard and had ‘brains’. NES students were contemptuous of Anglo-Australians for lacking achievement motivation and parental support. Evidence was found that both ethnic groups and Anglo-Australians in the wider community discriminated against students in jobs. The study generated speculation about the influence of the ‘success ethic’ motivating NES students and used corroborative overseas and Australian evidence to suggest that the phenomenon may be ubiquitous in western societies.
Policy Directions for Australian Secondary Schools: A Critique of Some Prevalent Assumptions
Authors: Crittenden Brian
Published: March 2013

During the past 15 years or so, there has been a flood of public reports on secondary education sponsored by the commonwealth or state governments. These reports give directions for policy making by government bodies and for changes in school practice. Although their influence varies and is difficult to gauge, they set a style of thinking which, in at least subtle ways, affects practice. Hence their main ideas need to be highlighted and critically assessed. This article identifies a number of questionable key assumptions on which many such reports concur: schooling as an instrument of economic prosperity, the ideal of universal participation to the end of high school, and a common program of general education for the whole of secondary schooling. Several related subsidiary beliefs are also noted. The justification of these various widely held assumptions is challenged and some suggestions are made for an agenda of issues on which we need much more critical inquiry. Not the least of these is the role of political authority in determining educational policy.
Questionable Assumptions Underlying Secondary School Classrooms
Authors: White Richard T.
Published: March 2013

Some assumptions that determine decisions about the organisation and management of secondary school classrooms and the content that is taught in them are listed and challenged with the purpose of encouraging trials of new procedures that will meet better the needs of Australia and of individual learners.
The Policy Context of Curriculum Reform in Australia in the 1980s
Authors: Kennedy Kerry J.
Published: March 2013

This paper reviews the policy context that has sought to shape the curriculum of Australian schools during the 1980s. Three elements which have shaped that context are identified: concern with the economy, concern with the cost of education and the integration of education and youth policies. In theoretical terms, the policy context is firmly located in instrumentalist thinking and the curriculum of schools has become very much a public policy issue. Education systems seem to have responded to this context by moving towards a full secondary education for all students, stressing the need for balance and coherence in the curriculum, introducing new curriculum options and giving more credence to the vocational orientation of students. There have been no explicit attempts to move towards an overly vocational curriculum. Two basic problems remain: the extent to which current policy priorities will cater specifically for disadvantaged groups and the willingness of teachers to move curriculum practice in the directions being advocated by policy makers.
Physical Science, Society and Technology: A Case Study in the Sociology of Knowledge
Authors: Fensham Peter J.
Published: March 2013

Strong social forces operate to control the content of learning in those parts of the school curriculum that play a critical role in subsequent levels of education or career selection. The development of the senior science subject, Physical Science, is used as a case study for exploring the aspects of epistemology and curriculum organisation that evoke these sorts of forces. Interest in making science and technology more relevant and more accessible to all students at this level of schooling is evident in many recent international and Australian reports. Some of the difficulties that are likely to face such a direction for science education are suggested from the case study.
Reshaping School Mathematics in Australia 1788–1988
Authors: Ellerton N. F. , Clements M. A.
Published: March 2013

An examination of nineteenth and early twentieth century events reveals the origins of the following three traditions of school mathematics in Australia:

1. Many groups in society will not benefit from having access to any branch of mathematics other than elementary arithmetic. Such groups include females, working-class children, and Aboriginal and other children whose cultures differ from the dominant Anglo-Saxon culture. 2. The main purpose of school mathematics is to prepare students for tertiary courses. 3. Rote teaching and learning procedures associated with rigidly defined courses of study, prescribed text books, and written examinations are desirable.

Over the last 25 years the validity of these traditions has been questioned. This paper argues that the heavy dependence on overseas ideas, and the acceptance of tertiary mathematicians' views on school mathematics, which characterised earlier times, have diminished because of the greater involvement of school teachers, and tertiary and government mathematics educators, in discussions on school mathematics.
Match or Mismatch: Teachers' Conceptions of Culture and Multicultural Education Policy
Authors: Sachs Judyth
Published: March 2013

The concept of culture is central within the social sciences in general and multicultural education in particular. In this paper, the argument is made that the term ‘culture’ will generate a surplus of meaning by teachers and policy document writers alike. It might be expected that there will be variation in the way the concept of culture is perceived and talked about by teachers and policy writers. The results of an ethnographic study of the concepts of culture from a group of 27 primary school teachers suggest that differences between the two groups are of appearance rather than content.
Perceptions of Communicator Style and Educational Environments
Authors: Hansford Brian , Hattie John
Published: March 2013

This study examined the relationship between the perceived communicator styles and educational environments of 1675 students from 18 New South Wales high schools. Two major communicator style profiles described as ‘animated-dominant’ and ‘supportive-attentive’ were related to actual school environments and three preferred classroom environments defined as ‘peer-conflict’, ‘individualisation’ and ‘teacher-managed’. The findings indicate a very positive association between supportive-attentive communicator style and actual school environments. In sharp contrast, students perceived as animated-dominant held rather negative views concerning teachers, affective climate and opportunity for advancement in the actual school environment. In terms of preferred classroom environments, the only consistent finding was a rejection by students perceived as having animated-dominant and supportive-attentive communicator styles of a rather restrictive teacher-managed environment. Neither of these major findings was substantially modified by the year level or sex of the high school student.
A Survey of Why Teachers Resigned from Government Secondary Schools in Western Australia
Authors: Bruce Kathy , Cacioppe Ron
Published: March 2013

This article describes a survey which investigated why teachers resigned from government secondary schools in Western Australia before they reached retirement age. All teachers who had resigned within a specific one-year period were invited to complete a survey which obtained information on demographic factors, work conditions, professional and career development, the effect of teaching on social and family lives, and relationships with parents, students, fellow teachers and administrative personnel. The findings suggested that male teachers who had resigned were more concerned with perceived discriminatory practices in the general management of the school than were the female teachers. On the other hand, female teachers were more concerned with the encroachment of teaching duties on their family and social lives, problems of classroom discipline and lack of administrative support. Both lack of administrative support with discipline problems and lack of effective school policies were cited by members of both sexes as contributing to their resignation, but to a greater extent with female teachers. The major causes of discipline problems were found to be the failure of students to do their homework and their general lack of motivation. One of the most significant findings was the perceived lack of competence of the principal in administrative skills such as decision making, staff support and general school management. For career-oriented teachers, the lack of promotional opportunities was given as the major reason for their resignation, while dissatisfaction with assessment procedures compounded this problem. Male teachers were concerned about perceived discriminatory practices by the subject superintendents. Constructive suggestions are put forward which point to ways of surmounting the perceived shortcomings within the government secondary school system.
Indicators of Academic Excellence: Is There a Link between Merit and Reward?
Authors: Allen F. C. L.
Published: March 2013

A longitudinal study of one university was conducted retrospectively on the associations between two quantifiable indices of academic merit and advancement through the academic hierarchy. These data are the first longitudinal data to be presented on the careers of a group of Australian academics. The findings did not support the general model of success by merit. Nor did they support the hypotheses that senior academic women have lower formal qualifications or publish less than men of similar rank. If academic excellence is to be promoted in a systematic way, then a great deal more research into the phenomenon will be required.
The Influence of Last Secondary School Attended, Subjects Taken in Last Year of Secondary Education and Gender on Preclinical Performance of Medical Students
Authors: Tutton Peter J.M. , Wigg Susan J.
Published: March 2013

Considerable concern has been expressed in both the lay press and educational circles that the Higher School Certificate (HSC) scores used for selection of students into university courses have a systematic bias in favour of ex-pupils of non-government schools and also in favour of males. At the same time, some faculties have been criticised for restricting the Year 12 subjects that can be included in the selection scores. It was found that students from government schools did not perform better at university than did their peers from independent schools with similar HSC results and female students performed no better and no worse than did males with comparable results. However students' performance was significantly influenced by the nature of the subjects in their selection score.
Performance Indicators in Education
Authors: Hattie John
Published: March 2013

Educationalists need to participate in deciding how performance indicators will be used, if at all, and how they will be combined to optimise the quality aspects of teaching, research, and service in departments of education. The use of performance indicators in the United Kingdom, United States, and Australia is noted and a model of performance indicators is developed. The model is assessed by applying it to departments of education in universities throughout Australia. The departments are ranked on inputs, processes and outputs and the implications of various weighting schemes are discussed.
Profiling Literacy Development: Monitoring the Accumulation of Reading Skills
Authors: Griffin Patrick E.
Published: March 2013

The paper outlines the development of a scale describing the progression of reading behaviour which differs from previous instruments designed for monitoring reading progress. It is proposed as a descriptive reporting scale which is based, in concept and structure, on similar scales used in second language acquisition. The scale developed in this study presents a progressive accumulation of reading skills, grouped together in ‘bands’. The skills listed are performance indicators of reading development. The scale is shown to have high reliability when used with an appropriate rating scale, and to have appropriate criterion validity as measured by correlation with standardised tests. Analysis of class level data illustrates how the data can be used to analyse student reading development. The properties of the reporting system are examined and complementary assessment strategies are explored for the development of an overall descriptive reporting system which may deal with some of the issues currently being canvassed in the debate regarding school accountability.
Relations between School Type, Occupational Stress, Role Perceptions and Social Support
Authors: Pierce C. Mark B. , Molloy Geoffrey N.
Published: March 2013

Occupational stress research is often focused on the individual without adequate consideration of the organisation or environment in which the person works. Schools exemplify organisations which provide a variety of working conditions and the sample of schools in this survey included government and non-government schools from areas of contrasted socioeconomic status. Analyses of questionnaire responses indicated that teachers working in different types of schools report different levels of occupational stress. More particularly, the salience of perceived stressors, levels of role conflict, role ambiguity and social support were found to differ according to school type.
Education and the Mental Life of Young Children
Authors: Egan Kieran
Published: March 2013

Considering children's mental life in terms of educational interests tends to direct attention towards future attainments. In relation to these aims, the mental life of young children is commonly seen in terms of little knowledge, narrow experience, and generally lacking the qualities which the process of education is designed to bring about. If we try to consider young children's mental life as exemplified in the oral culture of childhood. we may see a set of sophisticated sense-making techniques at work, techniques that have a number of features in common with those found in oral cultures throughout the world. The paper examines a number of these techniques, and considers the implications of their parallels with oral cultures for how we might reconceive early childhood education.
The Workforce of Reform: Teachers in the Disadvantaged Schools Program
Authors: Connell R.W.
Published: March 2013

The Disadvantaged Schools Program (DSP) is Australia's major attempt to deal with the issue of education and poverty. Its design gives considerable initiative to teachers, but little is known about its teachers as a group. The paper reports a survey that compares teachers in DSP and non-DSP schools in the Victorian government system. DSP teachers are, on average, slightly younger and more likely to have degrees than non-DSP teachers. In most aspects of background and teaching practice, the two groups are very similar. The survey indicates the importance of workplace relationships for both groups of teachers. It points to some divergences in curriculum and pedagogy, with DSP teachers emphasising informality and negotiation more. Although the sense of control felt by teachers is limited in both groups, there are indications of higher levels of student participation in DSP schools. The DSP has been the site of a constructive response by teachers to social disadvantage in education.
Learning ‘White Way’: Curriculum, Context, and Custom in Schooling Torres Strait Islanders before World War II
Authors: Williamson Alan
Published: March 2013

This article sheds light on the manner in which Torres Strait Islanders responded to western school curricula and actively coped with European contact in the colonial era, by reporting research into the role of the curriculum in the schooling of Islanders prior to World War II. They responded to both London Missionary Society and Queensland government schooling in terms of instrumental concerns emanating out of their island custom and the contexts in which schooling was set. The appetite for education grew out of their perceptions of its power to bring benefits to them in the new order and the type of curriculum taught in the schools was judged accordingly. This appetite was fed not only by schooling's perceived outcomes but also by Islanders' quest for knowledge and equality of status with newcomers. In a context controlled by western institutions, Islanders valued schooling primarily for its functional consequences expressed in terms of their island custom.
Not So ‘Significant Others’: Problems with the Field-Based Classroom Supervision of Mature-Age, Technical Trainee Teachers
Authors: Mealyea Robert J.
Published: March 2013

This article examines the tension between qualified tradespersons undergoing a mature-age career change into teaching, vis-à-vis their social relationships with their field-based classroom supervisors in Victorian secondary schools. Insights into the various sources of the tension are gained from the points of view of a cohort of 16 mature-age adults, who each entered teaching possessing a healthy prior occupational identity. The data were derived from a two-year participant observation study including in-depth personal interviews. Hitherto unexamined anomalies in the supervision process are discussed, especially with reference to the powerful effect of a tradesperson's prior occupational self-identity on the social dynamics of the classroom supervision process. The article concludes that mature-age adults, when passing through a status passage career transition, find the process far more problematic than expected.
The Transformation of Educational Administration: The Hegemony of Consent and the Hegemony of Coercion
Authors: Watkins Peter
Published: March 2013

The period after 1982, when the Labor Party came to power in Victoria, saw a change in the underlying rhetoric dealing with educational administration. Initially, through a series of six ministerial papers, the administration of education was couched in terms of grass-roots decision making, collaboration and participation. However, in the second half of the 1980s, a new series of documents sought to implement a corporate management approach. This trend towards the practices of the business world has been echoed in other states and more recently at the national level. The paper examines the historical essence of the rise of corporate management and accounting techniques with their link to the ideology of scientific management, in which the figure of Taylor looms large. Gramsci's notion of the hegemony of consent and coercion offers an explanation of the changes in the administration of education at both the state and national levels in Australia.
Aliens in the Classroom
Authors: Green Bill , Bigum Chris
Published: March 2013

The impact and implications of the new information technologies as new intensities of media culture have only recently begun to register in mainstream educational theory and practice. This can be usefully considered in terms of the relationship between education and postmodernism. The paper explores concepts and images arguably peculiar to these new technocultural conditions, with reference specifically to educational crisis, alienation, contemporary youth culture, and technology. The hypothesis is that quite different youth and student subjectivities are currently forming out of the relations and practices of the new information technologies, and hence radical shifts are required in the social and educational imagination regarding young people, schooling and popular culture.
Monitoring Standards in Media Studies: Problems and Strategies
Authors: Quin Robyn , McMahon Barrie
Published: March 2013

Over the past decade, attention has been given to media studies syllabus development and there is now considerable international consensus about the objectives of media studies. The objectives focus on the processes by which audiences can make sense of, then critique the media. This paper examines the outcomes of these initiatives for a group of 15-year-old students in the Western Australian government school system. Information is provided about a sample testing program which investigated the extent to which the students were meeting the media analysis objectives. The test items cover both print and television analysis. The results provide information about the general cohort's capacity to make sense of the media messages and about the performance of particular demographic groups. On the basis of the strengths and weaknesses revealed in the testing program, some adjustments to present teaching programs are proposed.
The Failure of Assessment: Critical Responses to the ASAT Debate
Authors: Meredyth Denise
Published: March 2013

Critical educational commentary on the problem of assessment has attempted to apply political and philosophical coherence to a dispersed collection of problems, by representing the field as polarised by absolute oppositions of principle. This paper attempts to set aside these global formulations, arguing that they bear little relation to the more piecemeal elements of the problems endemic to the modern apparatus of assessment. Drawing on recent Foucaultian work on Australian education, it explores these arguments via a case study of debates on the Australian Scholastic Aptitude Test and gender equity in the Australian Capital Territory. The conundrums arising from this example are treated as suggestive of some limitations of current forms of educational critique.
Implications of Context-Based Software Development for Education
Authors: Russell Glenn
Published: March 2013

Criteria for the selection of a computer adventure game were established following an investigation into students' use of computer adventure games in a secondary school. The development of one piece of educational software, based on these criteria, is described. The importance of improving educators' abilities to select appropriate software by the identification of appropriate criteria in a context-based evaluation is stressed in a time of devolution and fiscal restraint.
A Liberal Education Rationale for Studies of Religion Programs and its Application to Courses in Three Australian States
Authors: Hobson Peter , Edwards John
Published: March 2013

By 1992, all Australian states offered religious studies as a matriculation subject in response to a growing community perception of its importance. The rationale for offering these courses has been strongly promoted in terms of their educational value rather than for any intention to proselytise or promote commitment to faith. Although there are a number of possible justifications for such programs, we argue that the rationale for studies of religion is best situated within the liberal education tradition. What also needs to be asked in relation to these courses is the extent to which they identify three significant philosophical issues arising in the study of religion: scepticism, exclusivity and relativism. This article applies these criteria in an assessment of studies of religion courses in New South Wales, Queensland, and Victoria.
Federal/State Mediations in the Australian National Education Agenda: From the AEC to MCEETYA 1987–1993
Authors: Lingard Bob , Porter Paige , Bartlett Leo , Knight John
Published: March 2013

Drawing on research interviews and relevant document analysis, this paper analyses the changing forms of the national education agenda as it was developed and modifed in the Australian Education Council from 1987 to 1993. Particular attention is given to four significant developments in this period: national curriculum statements and profiles in schooling, and Mayer competencies; the training reform agenda; higher education; and the National Strategy for Equity in Schools. The study is located against general developments in Australian federalism and the changing political complexion of State governments across the period which led to the creation of the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs.
The Decline in the Standing of Educational Credentials in Australia
Authors: Marginson Simon
Published: March 2013

Since the 1960s, there has been a major expansion in the number of people holding post-school educational credentials, and the proportion of the full-time workforce with those credentials. The penalties of not holding credentials, in terms of the incidence and duration of unemployment, are increasingly severe. At the same time, there has been a long-term decline in the income associated with degree and trade qualifications, relative to all incomes. Thus rising needs for education coincide with declining returns from education, and this is one of the sources of claims about declining standards. Human capital theory does not understand these trends well, and the notions of credentialism, and of education as a positional good, are a better basis of explanation.
Disjuncture between Pathways Policy and Student Outcomes: Experience of Early School Leavers
Authors: Dwyer Peter J.
Published: March 2013

The shift in public attitudes and government policy on retention rates has led to a preoccupation with post-compulsory education at a national level. Consequently those who do not continue with their education now find themselves in a policy vacuum. The policy is framed in terms of ‘pathways’, but the experience of these early school leavers is one of ‘uncharted territory’. This article reports on the findings of a recent longitudinal study of early school leavers and its implications for policy formation. It draws attention to misleading assumptions and expectations written into the policy frameworks, which point to disjunctures between policy goal-setting and the actual outcomes for the client groups subject to those policies.
Cybernetics, Cyberspace and the Politics of University Reform
Authors: Peters Michael
Published: March 2013

This paper attempts to move outside the discourse of economic rationalism by understanding and analysing the politics of university reform in terms of the wider concept of ‘postmodernity’, with an emphasis on its modulation of the ‘informatisation’ of society and cyberspace. The paper examines the unified university system in terms of a politics centring on cybernetic control and discusses the status of and possibilities for the university in cyberspace.
Legal Frameworks for Devolution in Regular and Special Education
Authors: Forlin Peter , Forlin Chris
Published: March 2013

This paper presents a discussion of legislative frameworks that mandate schools to define their own educational processes and systems. The political and constitutional implications are discussed for Australia compared with the existing structures in the United Kingdom and the United States. As decentralisation varies considerably in Australia between states and territories, the State of Western Australia is selected as an example. Specifically an analysis of the approach adopted by Western Australia is evaluated for the need for effecting equality of regular and special education. It is argued that new education laws are essential to promote equity in restructured systems.
Statistical Methods in Education and Psychology: A Critical Perspective
Authors: Haig Brian D.
Published: March 2013

This paper offers a sympathetic, but critical, perspective on selected statistical methods relevant to both educational and psychological research. I argue that the classical statistical procedures used in these fields should, where appropriate, be deployed in the service of a more liberal realist conception of research. In this regard, it is claimed that the principal function of statistical methods is to help us detect robust empirical phenomena. With this in mind, I suggest that exploratory factor analysis is a quasi-statistical method that serves an important role in the generation of new theory. A sceptical attitude to the commonly used methods of statistical significance testing is encouraged, together with the suggestion that Bayesian methods can serve a legitimate role in scientific inference. In addition, the regular use of exploratory data analytic methods is urged in conjunction with computer intensive resampling methods. Critical, but constructive, suggestions are made about the recently developed meta-analytic and causal modelling methods.
Professional Development: Practice as Text, Reflection as Process, and Self as Locus
Authors: Butler Jim
Published: March 2013

This article considers the issue of practising educators continually learning to perform more effectively. The emphasis is on professional development as a self-directed rather than an externally prescribed process. The requirements and outcomes of the former are very different from the latter. The educator is addressed as the reader of the practice text. Through this reflective action, the practitioner manages the development of the ‘self’ within the educational community, thus making an important contribution to its enhanced performance. The assumption is that the educator is always in the process of ‘becoming’ what is required by the ever-changing parameters of the learning context
The Roles of Scientific and Non-Scientific Types of Knowledge in the Improvement of Practice
Authors: Yeatman Anna
Published: March 2013

This article discusses the problems posed for an adequate understanding of the multiple inputs into knowledge by the continuing epistemological dominance of scientific knowledge. This dominance is matched by the institutional dominance of academics in relation to practitioners. Practitioner knowledge is to be seen as part of the wider activity of social problem solving, which we would undertake more intelligently if we were able to identify and value the non-scientific knowledge inputs on which it depends as much as on the input of science. The article sees a more inclusive and ‘non-scientistic’ map of knowledge as the central condition for developing genuine partnership and exchange between academics, practitioners, and ordinary knowers. Action research is located as a valuable contribution which science can make to the improvement of practice, but it is not accepted as adequately taking up the non-scientific knowledge components of practice in particular, and social problem solving in general.
Stress in a Career Transition: Toughness and Sensitivity in Mature-Age Males
Authors: James Pauline
Published: March 2013

THIS paper documents stress associated with a career transition for mature-age, male tradespeople entering teaching as technology studies teachers in secondary schools. In a qualitative action research study, group support emerged as an essential means of stress relief, without which learning was severely impeded by inappropriate coping strategies. However, since self-disclosure about stress appeared to contravene a masculinist ideology of toughness, creating a supportive group was initially difficult It is argued that, if beginning teachers are to profit fully from their learning experiences and cope productively with stress throughout their professional lives, then stress management programs are vital components of teacher education courses. Yet such programs need to be flexible in accommodating diversity in biographies, attitudes and expectations, and thus stressors and concerns, with which various groups of beginning teachers enter such programs. Particular attention to the formation of group cultures conducive to self-disclosure and mutual support is required.
Establishing Comparability of Year 12 School-Based Assessments
Authors: Hill Peter W. , Brown Tim , Rowe Kenneth J. , Turner Ross
Published: March 2013

THIS paper briefly outlines the dilemma confronting assessment and certification authorities in ensuring comparability of end-of-school assessments and proceeds to outline approaches adopted in Victoria following the introduction of the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE). In particular, a description is provided of a new system for maximising comparability of school-based assessments which was implemented for the first time in 1994. This system made use of a reference test (the General Achievement Test) to check on the reasonableness of schools' assessments and to identify those schools with unexpected results. If schools' assessments were within a specified tolerance band, the schools' assessments were automatically confirmed. If they fell outside the tolerance band, the schools' assessments were subject to re-marking by two external reviewers. This re-marking in turn led to a decision either to confirm or adjust schools' assessments. The paper concludes with some preliminary observations on the outcomes of implementing the new system.
Lecturing Performance Appraisal Criteria: Staff and Student Differences
Authors: Fisher Adrian T. , Alder John G. , Avasalu Mark W.
Published: March 2013

THE assessment of academic staff teaching performance is an area of considerable concern and debate. The questions revolve around what should be assessed and by whom. In this study, the ratings of academic staff and tertiary students in a new institution were compared on 21 criteria of lecturing. Analysis of variance demonstrated that the academics placed significantly greater importance than students on a range of performance criteria (e.g. non-sexist language, independent learning, challenging the world view), with the students placing greater importance on one criterion—pace of the presentation. Separate factor analyses of the ratings by staff and students demonstrated differences in the schematic models of these two groups. They agree that the criteria are important, but portray different pictures of the ways in which the criteria combine to produce the understanding of what is a good lecture. The findings of this study contribute to the questions on the assessment of academic staff performance. This study demonstrates that staff and students differ significantly in their interpretations of what is to be measured in the assessment of a good lecture. These findings raise questions regarding the use of student and staff ratings in performance appraisal.
Schooling and Vocational Preparation: Is a Revolution Really Taking Place?
Authors: Cornford Ian R.
Published: March 2013

ONGOING technological and economic revolutions have resulted in concerted efforts to increase the vocational content of the curriculum. Viewed from historical and sociological perspectives, what is occurring is an overdue realignment of curriculum content and the needs of the society. Polarisations and false dichotomies promoted by the idealised liberal education philosophy are disappearing. Changes to the nature of knowledge, skill, and work require new forms of vocational education which reconcile the theoretical and practical, while research seeking more effective academic learning is itself increasingly emphasising the need for closer links between the theoretical and practical. The major problem remains of a class-based, discriminatory educational system which separates the more challenging intellectual and academic from the practical and more occupationally focused. It is argued that a real revolution in schooling and vocational preparation will only have occurred when the changed nature of work, knowledge, and skills is reflected in school curricula.
Constitutional and Legislative Framework for Inclusive Education in Australia
Authors: Forlin Peter , Forlin Chris
Published: March 2013

IN this article we argue that, despite the complex arrangement of laws and policies for education in Australia, there is no legal mandate to ensure that inclusive education occurs. Although the legislative framework for inclusion appears deficient compared with other western countries, there are avenues for persons with a disability to seek redress. The legislative structure for education in Australia is presented from a constitutional basis. The duties, rights and responsibilities of teachers, specifically when including children with disabilities in their regular classrooms, are examined from a legal perspective. Finally, recent cases which have challenged regular class placements for children with disabilities are reviewed.
Supporting Quality Research in Institutions of Higher Education
Authors: Harman Grant
Published: March 2013

OVER the past three decades, governments and universities in OECD countries have relied mainly on six different mechanisms to safeguard quality in university research: competitive allocation of research funding to institutions; competitive funding of research projects using peer review; use of peer review by scholarly journals; citation indices; performance indicators; and external reviews. More recently, many countries have added new quality assurance mechanisms which have included emphasis on research, particularly ‘horizontal’ reviews of disciplines and ‘vertical’ academic audits. Two recent Australian developments of importance have been the national program of quality assurance from 1993–1995 and use of the Composite Index for allocation of the Research Quantum.
Effects of Single-Sex and Coeducational Secondary Schooling on Children's Academic Achievement
Authors: Woodward Lianne J. , Fergusson David M. , Horwood L. John
Published: March 2013

Using prospective data from an 18-year longitudinal study of a birth cohort of 657 New Zealand children, this paper examines the effects of single-sex and coeducational secondary schooling on children's academic achievement. This analysis showed a pervasive tendency for children attending single-sex schools to have greater success in the School Certificate examinations, higher Burt reading scores, greater school retention, less likelihood of leaving school without qualifications, and less exposure to unemployment than children attending coeducational schools. However, a substantial amount of this association was explained by pre-entry differences in children's academic, behavioural, social, and family functioning. None the less, even after control for selection processes, children attending single-sex schools tended to perform better than their coeducated peers across a number of educational outcomes. Possible explanations for these differences are considered, including school gender composition, school climate and traditions, and possible inadequate control for selection and confounding factors.