bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The State School Teachers Decision (High Court 1929) Revisited
Authors: Spaull Andrew
Published: March 2013

The State School Teachers decision of 1929 was recently overturned in the High Court (June 1986) thereby opening up the possibility for federal teachers organizations to obtain registration in the federal arbitration system, and eventually obtain one or more federal awards. The 1929 decision by the High Court of Australia was a significant decision in education and industrial relations, because it prevented state teachers and other public employees obtaining access to federal awards for the next 54 years. The decision, however, was veiled in unsettled legal argument, because the High Court overturned much of its expansive thinking of the 1918–25 period. Later generations of academic lawyers described the decision as a ‘bad one’ or ‘an anomalous decision’, but they and the current High Court failed to give any satisfactory explanation of why the Court had reached its decision. This paper offers such an explanation, arguing that the decision was not based on law (or the educational situation) but on the High Court's perceptions of the politics of federal-state relations in the period. The state teachers who had asked for a High Court ruling on the application of the Commonwealth's industrial relations powers (section 51 XXXV of the Constitution) to their work and employment were thus dragged momentarily onto the centre stage of Australian politics and law. They found themselves denied access to a federal award because the High Court felt that the federal arbitration ‘experiment’ had caused too much embarrassment to the federal system of government.
Anchor Tests, Score Equating and Sex Bias
Authors: Masters Geofferey N.
Published: March 2013

This paper discusses the use of anchor tests (scaling tests) to bring two or more sets of scores to a common scale. Particular attention is given to the rescaling of school-based assessments against an external test or examination and to potential sources of bias in this procedure. The need for routine validity checks is emphasized, and a latent trait approach to constructing a statistical framework for tests and examination score equating is described and illustrated. Bias caused by rescaling school assessments against an inappropriate anchor test is illustrated using a 1984 attempt to rescale students' assessments in English against the Australian Scholastic Aptitude Test.
Research and Reflection: Thirty Years of the Australian Journal of Education
Authors: Chapman Judith , Leder Gilah C. , Rowley Glenn
Published: March 2013

For 30 years, the Australian Journal of Education has striven to present ‘the best thought, scholarship and research from all who are professionally interested in education’. This article provides an overview of the content of the journal over that time, and identifies several areas worthy of closer attention: the teaching of specific subjects, administration, research methodology, measurement and assessment, and gender issues. Each of these areas is reviewed, and changes over the period are noted. Questions are raised about the role of the journal and the audience it serves. It is seen as focusing on the concerns of the teacher-educator, the administrator and the tertiary sector generally; the concerns of secondary teachers and, more particularly primary teachers, are less frequently addressed. The implications of this are explored, and suggestions made for the future of the Australian Journal of Education.
Jackson and the Overseas Students
Authors: Lim David
Published: March 2013

The underlying framework adopted by the Committee to Review the Australian Overseas Aid Program demands that Australian aid helps to promote the economic development of the recipient less developed countries. If it does not, then the humanitarian, political and economic arguments for giving aid lose much of their cogency. This approach is evident in the treatment of overseas students. The Report recommends a vastly expanded scholarship program because it recognises the central role played by education in economic development. It recommends a different geographical and academic composition for the scholarship scheme because it supports the developmental thrust of Australia's aid program. It recommends also the development of education as an export industry because it believes Australia is competitive in this lucrative trade. It sees no conflict in having Australian educational expertise being used for aid and trade purposes, and does not recommend that trade is more important than aid. It should thus be clear that the current government policy on overseas students is not based solely on the reports of either this Committee or the Committee of Review of Private Overseas Student Policy. It is a compromise between the two and, as with most compromises, suffers from a number of inconsistencies.
School Description for Understanding and Justification
Authors: Hogben Donald
Published: March 2013

This paper argues for the value of careful and honest school description. Such descriptions may be undertaken as a means towards the formulation and articulation of an educational theory, school policy, or ‘philosophy’; or, where a theory, policy, or philosophy is already in place, a detailed description may be used to check on the compatibility of extant conditions and practices with that position. What are seen to be important basic considerations and logical foundations underpinning the sorts of discussions, decisions, and actions that might be undertaken in description are identified and elaborated.
The Sociocultural Schism in Australian Schooling
Authors: Johnston Gerald L.
Published: March 2013

The trend in the ratio of enrolments in public to private schools in the past decade is well known. There is less knowledge of the curricular differences between such schools and the probable effects of these, educationally and socially, upon individual students and Australian society and culture collectively. A descriptive comparison is made of the curricular prescriptions of ten schools, five public and five private, in the Hobart area. The implications of these differences for levels of educational achievement, both individual and collective, are then examined in the light of some studies of achievement in Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom. Finally some alternative educational prescriptions are suggested as possible means to enhanced educational achievement and reduced division in Australian society.
Sex Differences in Computing Participation: Concerns, Extent, Reasons and Strategies
Authors: Clarke Valerie A.
Published: March 2013

Drawing on recent Australian and overseas research, this review provides an overview of the main issues recurring in the literature relevant to sex differences in computing participation. The major concerns reflect requirements for citizenship, development of cognitive abilities, employment opportunities, and national development. Sex differences favour males in overall computer use, course enrolments, programming and games, although there are few sex differences in the use of computer applications. Explanations focus on sex-based differences in expected outcomes. These expectations arise from cultural beliefs about competence, differences in the outcomes of computer experience, associations of computing with mathematics, technology and maleness, attitudes of parents and teachers, and preferences for sex segregation. Strategies for increasing female participation are provided.
Teachers' and Students' Perceptions of the Major Advantages and Disadvantages of Coeducational Secondary Schooling
Authors: Payne Monica A. , Newton Earle H.
Published: March 2013

Teachers and students from all government secondary schools in Barbados rated various aspects of teacher/student behaviour and of more general school functioning, according to the extent to which they perceived coeducational schools to be at an advantage or disadvantage relative to single-sex institutions. Overall both groups saw coeducation as most advantageous in respect of the school's ability to prepare students for future occupational and interpersonal roles, and to impact most negatively on students' current conduct and adherence to school rules. Male students tended to express more positive views on coeducation than females, although such a trend was not consistent among teachers. Teachers and students in single-sex schools tended to have more positive views than those in coeducational schools, with the most negative opinions being voiced by teachers (especially females) working in schools which were formerly single-sex and had recently become coeducational.
Private Schools and Educational Attainment: Cohort and Generational Effects
Authors: Greets Brian
Published: March 2013

This paper examines the relationship between type of school attended and educational attainments. Whereas most research suggests that people who attend private schools gain higher attainments than those who attend Catholic schools and state schools, little is known about the reproduction of these effects over time or from one generation to the next. The results show that the advantages of private education are reinforced among those whose parents were also educated in private schools. However these intergenerational effects mostly disappear once selective recruitment is taken into account. Second, school effects account for only a small proportion of variance in educational attainments. Overall these results suggest that both quality of education and selective recruitment contribute to between-school differences; however attempts to reduce inequalities in education outcomes are likely to achieve more by focusing on inequalities of social background and gender rather than differences between ruling-class and working-class schools.
Educational Opportunities for Older Persons in Australia: A Rationale for Further Development
Authors: Swindell Richard F.
Published: March 2013

The aged form the fastest growing subgroup of Australian society, a fact which is placing increasing strain on federal, state and individual resources. Education appears to have the potential for allowing older people to cope more successfully with their changed circumstances and, perhaps, the possibility of minimising or delaying some of the depredations frequently associated with old age. This paper presents a rationale for an increased emphasis, in Australia, on the development of educational opportunities for the aged, and discusses two programs of national importance, the University of the Third Age and the College for Seniors.
Productivity and Efficiency in Education
Authors: Marginson Simon
Published: March 2013

The article defines productivity and efficiency in education and analyses their dynamics. Efficiency means spending less while producing the same level of output: it tends to be associated with budget cuts, increased workloads, industrial conflict and reduced long-term productive capacity. Productivity means producing more from the same level of input: productivity goals become more important when the volume and range of outputs are expanding. Productivity improvement comes not from working harder, but from working smarter. Productivity goals provide the best basis for management-worker agreement, and such agreement is essential to productivity policies. The keys to productivity advance are collaborative planning and work organisation, skill utilisation and output-based planning. Educational technologies can also contribute.
The Predictive Power of Measured Interests in Tertiary Course Choice: The Case of Science
Authors: Kidd Garry , Naylor Frank
Published: March 2013

The structural relations between measured interests, school subjects studied, and preference for science and technology type tertiary courses in a group of male independent school students were examined in a longitudinal study. Sources of data included the Career Assessment Inventory and tests of scholastic aptitude completed at the beginning of Year 10, details of school subjects studied in Years 11 and 12, final examination results (Year 12), and details of first preference for a university or college course. The results showed that a substantial proportion of variance in both school subjects studied and tertiary course choice was predicted by measured interests. Students with higher general ability were more likely to apply for a science and technology type tertiary course. Students' occupational interests measured at Year 10 were strongly predictive of choice of school subjects for study in Years 11 and 12.
Number Topics in Early Childhood Mathematics Curricula: Historical Background, Dilemmas, and Possible Solutions
Authors: Wright Bob
Published: March 2013

During the last 30 years, British and United States factors have strongly influenced number topics in early childhood mathematics curricula: e.g. (a) Cuisenaire, which de-emphasised children's counting; (b) Piaget's theories, still a dominant influence on prenumber and early number; (c) the back-to-basics movement in the United States which continues to influence introductory topics on arithmetical operations; and (d) the re-emphasis on counting. As a result, dominant text series and, to some extent, new curricula are out of touch with current research, and there is an urgent need to review current practice. A recently developed model of young children's numerical development is advanced as a possible basis for such a review. Other relevant research is summarised, including two studies which concluded that, typically, children in the first year of school are under-challenged. The article concludes with recommendations for future Australian research and development in early childhood mathematics.
Constructing the Community: Secondary Schools and Their Neighbourhoods in 20th Century Auckland
Authors: McCulloch Gary
Published: March 2013

This paper examines the relationships between secondary schools and their local neighbourhoods in the developing urban and suburban contexts of Auckland, New Zealand, during the 20th century. It discusses the problematic and changing characteristics of school neighbourhoods, especially those relating to physical location, transport facilities, and social geography. The construction of school communities and neighbourhoods is seen as political in its character, involving clear awareness of the effects of social class and, more recently, ethnic differences upon the academic attributes and reputation of the school, even when ‘equality of opportunity’ has represented the main official ideal of schooling. Detailed examples of the patterns of secondary education are employed to help explain the ingrained assumptions of schools and local communities and to provide a historical context to major national schooling policy changes in New Zealand in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
The Interaction of Public and Private School Systems
Authors: Anderson Don
Published: March 2013

The balance of the public and private school sectors in Australia is unstable and, if present trends continue, the function of public schooling will become primarily that of a safety net for the residue of children not catered for by the private sector. The trends include a set of processes which are affecting the nature and quality of education in all schools. Under the different environments of public and private schools there are unequal exchanges across the public-private boundary—for example, of bright and motivated pupils and of influential and articulate parents. The process fuels its own momentum as remaining pupils and parents experience the problems caused by an unrepresentative clientele. The problems inherent in Australia's particular arrangement have been recognised in a number of official reports since the early 1970s. Proposals for reform have not yet gained support from private school interest groups and have therefore not been attractive to governments.
Going Critical: The Limits of Media Literacy
Authors: Buckingham David
Published: March 2013

This article seeks to question the emphasis on critical reading in media education curricula, both in terms of the assumptions about children's existing knowledge which it entails and in terms of its implications for classroom practice. The first part of the article draws on recent research on children's understanding of television, and considers the social functions of critical discourses about the medium. Summarising findings from the author's research, it points to the inter-relationships between cognitive, affective and social factors in children's talk. The second part of the article draws on recent classroom research in the field to consider the processes by which children acquire critical discourses about the media, and the limitations of a purely analytical approach. The article concludes by arguing for the need to develop a more complex theoretical basis for media education pedagogy, based on the interaction between critical analysis and other teaching strategies.
Television and Schooling: Displacement and Distraction Hypotheses
Authors: Roberts Donald F. , Henriksen Lisa , Voelker David H. , van Vuuren D.P.
Published: March 2013

Television is often accused of undermining children's academic achievement. This paper investigates two explanations which frequently accompany such a claim. The displacement hypothesis predicts that the time children spend with television is taken from activities that are more beneficial to school performance. The distraction hypothesis suggests that children's cumulative exposure to the structure of television—its pace, format, etc.–engenders an intolerance for the pace of schooling. A review of research on television viewing, time displacement, and academic performance fails to find any support for the displacement hypothesis. A review of studies relevant to the distraction hypothesis, however, uncovers mixed findings. This paper presents analyses of data gathered from school children in South Africa.
Is There a Cogent Philosophical Argument against Competency Standards?
Authors: Hager Paul
Published: March 2013

In Australia and elsewhere, a sometimes heated debate is taking place about the significance for higher education of the adoption of competency standards by professions and other occupations. To many in the higher education sector, it is self-evident that competency standards cannot do justice to the professional aspects of an occupation. The purpose of this paper is to suggest that this conclusion is too hasty. There are various ways of conceptualising occupational competence. The paper argues that one of them does do justice to the variety and richness of the professional aspects of job performance. This conception of competence is shown to meet the more considered objections to competency standards in the philosophical literature, as well as various less well-articulated criticisms that have appeared in recent debate in Australia. The implications of this richer conception of competence for higher education are discussed.
Schooling the Docile Body: Physical Education, Schooling and the Myth of Oppression
Authors: Kirk David , Spiller Barbara
Published: March 2013

There is a popular perception of physical education in Australian schools as an oppressive practice. In this paper, we attempt to qualify this myth of oppression and extend some of the arguments surrounding it. First, we build on some of Foucault's arguments to show how children's bodies were worked on in Victorian elementary schools in pursuit of the twin aims of docility-utility, a key requirement of capitalist Australia. Second, we point out that the disciplinary practices which constituted early physical education were in themselves a central part of the notion of schooling. Our argument is that schooling was primarily concerned with fostering economically productive citizens. This form of physical education and notion of schooling were available to Australian educators at this time as a result of the disembedding of social practices, driven by the increasing use of clock time, the arrival of print, the invention of childhood, and the objectification of the human body.
Industrial Relations and the Rationalisation of Australian Education
Authors: Ryan Brendan
Published: March 2013

There is a recognisable orthodoxy in current discussion of award restructuring in Australian education. Its central proposition is that productivity-based wage increases would inevitably be accompanied by a general improvement in the quality of education. However the new industrial logic would lead to a substantial narrowing of the mainstream curriculum. Furthermore teacher union representation within corporatist decision-making procedures would increasingly be forced to accept as a given the contemporary trend towards consolidation of economic rationalist controls over educational priorities and practices. Rejecting any pursuit of wage justice for teachers that proposes to trade away ‘old style’ teacher union commitments to democracy and equality in education, I argue for a much more inclusive model of educational accountability, one based resolutely on anti-corporatist forms of educational participation.
Part-Time Employment and Participation in Higher Education
Authors: Wooden Mark , Robertson Frances , Dawkins Peter
Published: March 2013

This article examines whether the recent growth in part-time employment has had any ramifications for decisions about participation in higher education. Using data drawn from four waves of the Australian Longitudinal Survey, binary logit models of both the decision (by Year 12 students) to participate in higher education and the decision to remain in higher education beyond the first year of study are estimated. The results indicate that part-time employment while studying at university (or similar level institutions) has not been a factor critical to continuing studies. Employment while at secondary school, however, is found to reduce the likelihood of continuing education for girls but not for boys. It is argued that this result may reflect either a greater preference for current income or lower rates of return to education for girls.
Education's Shadow? towards an Understanding of Violence in Schools
Authors: Fitzclarence Lindsay
Published: March 2013

The issue of social violence has received increasing attention by policy makers and commentators on public matters. The dominant approach to interpreting social violence emphasises individual pathological behaviour. Educators facing the reality of violent behaviour in schools are offered only limited approaches for coming to terms with both the reality and the interpretation of this social trend. The paper offers a critical cultural analysis, one that opens the way to a consideration of several factors at the centre of the violence phenomenon. In particular, it considers the construction of certain forms of masculine identity that are a result of tension between the contradictions inherent in the imperative of hyper-rationality, on the one hand, and the deep cultural logic which privileges adult status over that of the younger generation, on the other. The analysis of these trends includes some specific curriculum considerations.
Independent Learning and the Use of Resources: VCE Australian Studies
Authors: Williamson Kirsty
Published: March 2013

Independent learning and the use of resources are important to most, if not all, Victorian Certificate of Education subjects. This paper reviews the literature on independent learning, preference for resources and the teaching of information skills and then reports on a study carried out during 1990 which focused on the VCE subject, Australian Studies. The study included an examination of attitudes of teachers to independent learning, the use of resources by students and teachers and the level of students' information skills. A significant finding was that many students were not competent in using resources and few teachers were trained in teaching information skills. Information skills teaching was ad hoc and only limited moves had been made to integrate it into the curriculum on a co-ordinated, whole-school basis.
Researching the Teaching-Research Nexus: A Critical Review
Authors: Neumann Ruth
Published: March 2013

The question of whether or not a nexus exists between the teaching and research roles of academics is often contentious and has been the subject of much research and writing over this century. This paper critically examines a large portion of this body of literature. The first section provides a historical and an organisational perspective on the evolution of the teaching and research roles of academic work. It then reviews the higher education literature which reflects three approaches to examining the teaching-research nexus: personal commentaries and analyses; correlations of measures of teaching effectiveness as measured by student evaluations and measures of research productivity based predominantly on publication counts; and surveys of academics of their work preferences, time spent on teaching and research activities and perceptions of academic rewards. The paper then presents some recent investigations of the teaching-research nexus which have attempted to take different investigative approaches, and concludes by suggesting future research directions.
Public Accountability or Fiscal Control? Benchmarks of Performance in Australian Schooling
Authors: Watson Louise
Published: March 2013

The Industry Commission review of service provision in school education aims to define performance benchmarks for Australia's eight government education systems, by providing comparative measures of efficiency in education provision. Such benchmarks are likely to lead to a reduction in the level of public resources for government schools unless it is possible to demonstrate the link between expenditure on schooling and school effectiveness. If efficiency audits like the Industry Commission review are to deal with issues of school effectiveness adequately, they should avoid the tendency of previous public sector audits to focus on financial data on schools expenditure to the exclusion of data on student achievement. This paper suggests an approach to measuring system performance which would establish benchmarks that reflected both the efficiency and effectiveness of Australian school systems, and warns against the misuse of performance indicators as an instrument in the determination of funding levels for schools.
Reflective Internship and the Phobia of Classroom Management
Authors: Singh Amarjit , Doyle Clar , Rose Andrea , Kennedy William
Published: March 2013

THIS paper represents one aspect of work done to build a model of a Reflective and Critical Internship Program under the general rubric of teacher pre-service education. If teacher interns are to be effective the need to be involved in problematising their everyday experiences. The focus in this paper is on the fear that teacher interns have about classroom management. They are often obsessed with mastery of skills. How can we, as teacher educators, wean interns beyond technical skills towards a process where they can try to put their own work into a wider context? This paper makes use of voice and, to a lesser extent, the concepts of local theories, cultural capital, problematising dominant discourses, sites, social interaction and reflection as pedagogical categories for the purpose of analysis. The analysis is done within the framework of qualitative methodology by using quotations from data collected during interviews and reflective sessions.
Teachers' Perceptions of the Implementation of Single-Sex Classes in Coeducational Schools
Authors: Parker Lesley H. , Rennie Léonie J.
Published: March 2013

THIS paper reports research conducted as part of the Single-Sex Education Pilot Project (SSEPP) which was undertaken in 1993–1994 in Western Australia. The project involved the implementation of single-sex science and/or mathematics in ten coeducational secondary schools. Unlike previous similar initiatives, the SSEPP included professional development for the teachers involved and systematic monitoring. The paper presents an analysis of teachers' reactions to and perceptions of the SSEPP. It gives voice to teachers' views of the major issues which arose during the project, concerning outcomes for students, school organisation, teacher professional development, community response and sustainability of the change.
Teachers and Computers: In Control or Being Controlled?
Authors: Bigum Chris
Published: March 2013

HOW teachers understand their relationship with computer technology is an important element in how they exercise control over their work and hence for their professionalism. Current restructurings in education are reliant upon redefining the work of teachers and ensuring particular roles for the new information and communication technologies. Actor-network theory offers an alternative to the social or technological deterministic understandings to be found in many schools. It emphasises the shaping roles played by both humans and non-humans in the implementation of a technology. This radical approach offers important opportunities for teachers to renegotiate the work they do and the work they delegate to machines.
Pressures of Managerialism and its Implications: Perspectives from the Centre and the Secondary School
Authors: Leggett Bridget M.
Published: March 2013

CENTRALLY prescribed managerialist practices have become part of the assumed processes of secondary school administration. But the logic which linked the new practices for central office bureaucrats was absent in the understandings of teachers in Western Australian secondary schools in 1992. There were substantial differences in the meanings attributed to key concepts and the value ascribed to the required procedures. The implications of these differences are established in this paper, using insights from central office and school personnel. Particular attention is given to the three agendas of school improvement, accountability and participative decision making. The pressure to re-norm the management of schooling has been applied through a range of discursive practices including the use of language, the presumption of meaning and the enforcement of policy. Although claims have been made that these changes have resulted in a more professional approach to teaching and learning, questions remain as to their real impact.
School Size and Diversity in the Senior Secondary Curriculum: A Generalisable Relationship?
Authors: Elsworth Gerald R.
Published: March 2013

UNDERPINNING the debate on the desirable size of secondary schools is the assumption that larger schools are able to offer a more diverse curriculum and thereby provide greater equality of educational opportunity and outcomes. A detailed study of curriculum provision at Year 12 in Victoria showed that the positive relationship between school size and the number of distinct subjects offered was generalisable across ‘mainstream’ schools and all curriculum fields. But many small schools were able to offer a broad range of subjects, and the increase in diversity with school size was uneven across fields. Furthermore, evidence that students actually enrolled in the additional subjects offered in the larger schools was equivocal. It remains problematic whether the apparent diversity in Year 12 subject offerings achieved in the new, larger, secondary colleges in Victoria has led to a more equitable curriculum.
An Assessment of past and Current Approaches to Quality in Higher Education
Authors: Harvey Lee
Published: March 2013

THIS paper argues that, despite an increasing uniformity of approach to quality monitoring, there is little analysis of the rationale behind the methods because there is little exploration of what ‘quality’ is in a higher education context. Despite good intentions, quality monitoring has become over-bureaucratic and the potential for significant change has been hampered by a focus on accountability rather than improvement. Furthermore, the accountability focus, despite its onerous and somewhat oppressive burden, is a safe process for higher education because it does not consider the nature of learning or what is learned. By focusing on accountability, the transformative potential of quality monitoring is not fulfilled.
Managing the Quality of Teaching in Higher Education Institutions in the 21st Century
Authors: Poole Millicent , Harman Elizabeth , Deden Ann
Published: March 2013

THE management of quality in Australian higher education has had one eye on the quality agenda associated with accountability and the other eye on the major transformations affecting teaching and learning. This paper examines some of the ways in which these two trajectories are intersecting and forecasts how quality will be managed in the 21st century. The paper recognises trends towards diversity among institutions in the sector and the need to tailor quality approaches for particular market niches. The impact of communication and information technologies and the rise of collaborative teaching and social learning on the nature and quality of university teaching are discussed. A reduction in mistrust of the quality agenda is forecast as data and methods improve and academics regain a sense of control over formative uses of quality activities.
Aboriginal Education in Rural Australia: A Case Study in Frustration and Hope
Authors: Eckermann Anne-Katrin
Published: March 2013

THIS paper considers patterns in Aboriginal education recorded over the past 25 years in one small country town in south west Queensland. Data from this longitudinal study are used to illustrate national patterns and trends. Discussion highlights the levels of systemic bias and structural violence which continue to obstruct positive developments adapting the largely monocultural education system to the needs and aspirations of Aboriginal communities. Particular Aboriginal community initiated innovations related to school/community relations and the teaching of Aboriginal studies are examined and analysis is related to general factors influencing these important components of Aboriginal education.
Implications for Mathematics Education Policy of Research on Algebra Learning
Authors: Stacey Kaye , MacGregor Mollie
Published: March 2013

The teaching of algebra in Victorian secondary schools has changed substantially in the last decade. Here we present implications for curriculum policy arising from research into students' algebra learning in Years 7 to 11. Data were collected from approximately 3000 students in 34 schools. Information about programs offered was obtained from teachers, by textbook analysis and by some lesson observation and teaching interventions. Performance varied considerably between schools and classes. Some differences are attributable to teaching methods, the content taught, and the arrangement of the curriculum. Subtle reductions in goals and the isolation of topics in the curriculum were disturbing trends. We discuss findings that have important implications for mathematics education policy Australia-wide.
In the Interest of the Child: Assessing the Arguments for Gifted Education: Response to Miraca Gross
Authors: Small Robin
Published: March 2013

The case for special programs for children with exceptional abilities can only benefit from separating good arguments from bad ones. I attempt here to distinguish what is valuable in Miraca Gross's case for gifted education from what fails to stand up to closer examination. In particular, I argue that talent is not a ‘national resource’, and that educational programs for children should aim at their interest, not other people's. The best argument here is the simplest and most straightforward one: children should be given what they need, and they need opportunities to develop whatever talents they have.
Uses and Misuses of Student Opinion Surveys in Eight Australian Universities
Authors: Bedggood Rowan E. , Pollard Robin J.
Published: March 2013

Student opinion surveys (SOSs) are commonly used in universities to measure student perceptions of teaching performance. Ostensibly their prime purpose is to improve teaching quality. This paper critically examines SOSs in eight Australian universities where survey design and analysis were examined and compared with literature recommendations. We find that current SOSs are neither designed nor structured according to sound questionnaire technique and that, as part of a teaching evaluation system, they are seriously flawed. Deficiencies include: their use as the sole measure of teaching effectiveness, the tendency for universities to rely on unmoderated student opinion without tempering the results with contextual factors, and a lack of testing for reliability and validity that renders the data of unknown precision. We argue that, at present, SOSs expose teachers to unreliable, invalid opinions that influence teacher career advancement and job security.
Is Reflective Practice Compatible with Malay-Islamic Values? Some Thoughts on Teacher Education in Brunei Darussalam
Authors: Minnis John R.
Published: March 2013

This paper critically examines the compatibility of Brunei culture values with the assumptions of reflective practice. Cultural, political and educational institutions in Brunei are thoroughly embedded within a fusion of Malay-Islamic values. In an attempt to examine the issue of teacher effectiveness, reflective practice and allied concepts, such as action research, have been introduced into the teacher education curriculum at the Universiti Brunei Darussalam. Based on a juxtaposition of Brunei values/culture with the assumptions underlying reflection, the paper discusses why the cultural distinctiveness of Brunei poses serious obstacles to the implementation of reflective strategies in teacher education. The paper also underlines the need for teacher educators in non-western cultures to take cognisance of contextual factors when importing educational ideas and concepts from the ‘west’.
Resonances of neoconservatism
Authors: Solomon Ty
Published: March 2013

Since 2003, scholars and pundits alike have vigorously debated the role of neoconservatism in the run-up to the US invasion of Iraq. Few, however, have examined the power of neoconservatism in terms of its resonance on an affective level. To more fully understand the influence that neoconservatism has had in recent US foreign policy debates, this article argues that scholarly analyses should also examine what could be termed its discursive efficacy. Neoconservatism incorporates many images and symbols of what many Americans would consider as being ‘American’, and the affective force of this discourse is vital in understanding its resonance with audiences. Employing insights from psychoanalytic theory, this article argues that a critically under-examined aspect of neoconservatism’s varying influence on US foreign policy debates is found in the kinds of identifications that it offers audiences. The article, in this sense, contributes to the growing literature on neoconservatism, and raises the under-explored issue of resonance for the study of security discourses.
A Nostrum of School Reform? Turning Around Reconstituted Urban Texas High Schools
Authors: Hamilton Madlene P. , Heilig Julian Vasquez , Pazey Barbara L.
Published: March 2013

A mainstay in NCLB and the Obama administration education plan is turning around low-performing schools. This study utilized surveys and interviews with school leaders from four turnaround urban high schools in Texas to understand student outcomes before and after school restructuring and reconstitution. Although some organizational changes were apparent; overall, respondents cited rapidly changing technical strategies and haphazard adjustments from external sources as a great challenge. Reconstitution also magnified challenges that existed before and after restructuring efforts. Most importantly, the evidence suggests that school reconstitution did not immediately improve student achievement, impact grade retention and decrease student dropout in the study schools.
Transpersonal practices as prevention intervention for burnout among HIV/AIDS coordinator teachers
Authors: Johnson Sharon M , Naidoo Anthony V
Published: March 2013

The impact of transpersonal psychology techniques as a treatment in burnout prevention interventions for teachers has not been studied in South Africa. This quantitative research study utilised a pre- and post-test quasi-experimental design using the Beck Anxiety Inventory to measure anxiety and the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory to measure personal, work, and client dimensions of burnout. Thirty educators, who were HIV/AIDS coordinators in their schools located in South Metro, Western Cape, received 6 days of Capacitar training between March and September 2009, based on transpersonal psychology practices. These workshops were initially developed by Dr Pat Cane, who founded Capacitar International, California, USA, in her engagement with trauma and burnout survivors in 35 countries. While the pre-test means of the intervention and control groups of teachers were similar on the Beck Anxiety Inventory and Copenhagen Burnout Inventory measures, there were significant reductions ( p < .01) in anxiety, personal, and work burnout in the post-test measures of the intervention group. There were also significant differences ( p < .05) in anxiety, personal, work, and client burnout of teachers between the intervention and control groups. The results of this study suggest that transpersonal psychological techniques could be an effective treatment in burnout prevention interventions in this teacher sample.
Comparisons of the sleep quality, daytime sleepiness, and sleep cognitions of Caucasian Australians and Zimbabwean and Ghanaian black immigrants
Authors: Clever McLytton N , Bruck Dorothy
Published: March 2013

Studying sleep differences across different ethnic groups is not only important for our understanding of sleep but may lead to the development of new, culturally appropriate interventions. Perceptions of sleep quality, daytime sleepiness, and sleep cognitions (beliefs and attitudes) were investigated in a community sample of Caucasian Australians and Black immigrants currently resident in Australia from Zimbabwe (Black Zimbabwean) and Ghana (Black Ghanaian). A sample of a total of 176 participants including Caucasian Australian ( n = 58), Black Zimbabwean ( n = 59), and Black Ghanaian ( n = 59), aged between 18 and 60 years was surveyed. Groups were matched on age and gender, with a strong predominance of professional occupations in all groups in the final sample and no significant socio-economic status differences between groups. Participants completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, Epworth Sleepiness Scale, Dysfunctional Beliefs and Attitudes about Sleep, and the Short Form-36 Health Survey. After matching participants on age, gender, and socio-economic status, no statistically significant group differences were found on sleep quality, daytime sleepiness, and physical health. However, significant group differences were found on beliefs and attitudes about sleep with Black Zimbabwean and Black Ghanaian participants, attributing sleep difficulties more to physical than psychological phenomena compared to Caucasian Australian participants.
Middle-Class Castle
Authors: Nash Logan
Published: March 2013

The Barbican Estate, in London’s square-mile City financial district, is one of the capital’s most unique residential spaces. In the 1950s the City Corporation redeveloped the war-damaged site as a “high class” neighborhood even though the prevailing planning dogma was to usher the well-heeled out of the crowded center. To sanitize the inner-city site, the Barbican’s architects created a radically modernist residential precinct elevated above City streets. This social history examines the Barbican Estate as a unique intersection between modern architecture and the emerging discourse of gentrification in London. In creating spaces of comfort and exclusion, its architects drew from the same new middle-class culture that influenced the gentrification of existing London neighborhoods. The Estate’s eventual residents continued this interpretation and revision after the flats opened in 1968. The Barbican demonstrates the flexible nature of early gentrification and suggests how it must be approached as a diversified spatial phenomenon.
Rethinking leadership learning in postgraduate public management programmes
Authors: Briggs Ian , Raine John
Published: March 2013

Leadership forms a key component of the curriculum of most Master of Public Administration and other public management programmes, usually doing so on the basis of assumptions that leadership is (a) both a subject and a responsibility that all such students might expect to embrace in the course of their careers; and (b) in some respects at least, it is distinctive and different in public service settings than in the commercial world from which the models and conceptualisations tend to be mostly drawn. This article, however, also starts from the proposition that leadership is best learned not by being “taught” in a traditional classroom context, but by exploration of and reflection on practical experiences and through developing the ability to “internalise” the behavioural processes involved, both positive and negative. What is needed, we therefore argue, is an approach that offers students opportunities to learn not only through the imparting of theoretical perspectives on the subject but also by impacting upon their self-awareness as a result of a focus on experience of leadership in practice. In the article we describe and reflect upon an experimental initiative of this nature; one that coupled an Action Learning (AL) approach with a more structured educational framework to help practitioner students identify and explore their Implicit Leadership Theories (ILTs) and to develop notions of the nature of leadership that they might aspire personally to practice.
Effortful Control and Impulsivity as Concurrent and Longitudinal Predictors of Academic Achievement
Authors: Valiente Carlos , Eisenberg Nancy , Spinrad Tracy L. , Haugen Rg , Thompson Marilyn S. , Kupfer Anne
Published: March 2013

The goal of this study was to test if both effortful control (EC) and impulsivity, a reactive index of temperament, uniquely predict adolescents’ academic achievement, concurrently and longitudinally (Time 1: N = 168, [Formula: see text] age = 12 years). At Time 1, parents and teachers reported on students’ EC and impulsivity. At both time points, spaced 2 years apart, parents and teachers reported on students’ achievement. In a concurrent regression, both EC and impulsivity were positively related to achievement. At T1, there was evidence of a nonlinear relation between impulsivity and achievement, and the shape of the quadratic was dependent on if EC was simultaneously considered. Results from a longitudinal analysis demonstrated that although parent-reported impulsivity was generally negatively correlated with achievement, EC, but not impulsivity, was prospectively, uniquely related to achievement. The discussion highlights the value of considering adolescents’ EC and impulsivity in models of school success.
Does the Endowment Effect Influence Outcomes in Takings Cases? An Exploratory Look at Some Important Cases and Suggestions for Additional Research
Authors: Mohamed Rayman
Published: March 2013

The endowment effect predicts that people value losses more than gains. I examine whether the effect sheds light on courts’ takings decisions. My findings include the following: (1) regulations that emphasize losses rather than gains are more likely to survive judicial review; (2) endowments can include comprehensive plans, development plans, permits, etc; (3) both governments and landowners can acquire endowments to sway courts in their favor; (4) occupying land creates a strong endowment; and (5) implementing plans helps to cement endowments. I suggest research that examines more cases, hypotheses that emerge from my analyses, and characteristics of the effect related to land.