title: From policy to pedagogy: prudence and precariousness; actors and artefacts

authors: Penney, Dawn

subjects: health and physical education

abstract: This paper draws on concepts from contemporary education policy sociology to explore the prospective interpretation, contextualisation and enactment of Health and Physical Education in the Australian Curriculum. Analysis examines the dynamic between characteristics of official texts and the contexts in which responses will be made. The paper identifies the consultation draft curriculum as highly flexible, such that multiple aspects of past and current policy contexts can be expected to strongly frame its reading and enactment. Exploration of contexts points to the critical role that policy actors, agencies and artefacts will all play in determining the ways in which the new curriculum will be expressed and experienced in schools across Australia. Discussion raises issues for Health and Physical Education teachers, teacher educators and members of professional associations to consider in looking forward.

text: From policy to pedagogy: prudence and precariousness; actors and artefacts This paper draws on concepts from contemporary education policy sociology to explore the prospective interpretation, contextualisation and enactment of Health and Physical Education in the Australian Curriculum. Analysis examines the dynamic between characteristics of official texts and the contexts in which responses will be made. The paper identifies the consultation draft curriculum as highly flexible, such that multiple aspects of past and current policy contexts can be expected to strongly frame its reading and enactment. Exploration of contexts points to the critical role that policy actors, agencies and artefacts will all play in determining the ways in which the new curriculum will be expressed and experienced in schools across Australia. Discussion raises issues for Health and Physical Education teachers, teacher educators and members of professional associations to consider in looking forward.

year: 2013

title: Organic food choices and Protection Motivation Theory: addressing the psychological sources of heterogeneity

authors: Scarpa, Riccardo

subjects: choice modelling

abstract: Addressing generic preference heterogeneity for foods has been shown to improve statistical model fit, but it is relatively poor in terms of insights as to the sources of heterogeneity. The study presents various results from latent class analysis of stated choice data of food choice using carrots as a prototype. We evaluate the coherence of the underlying preference structure using as criteria the psychological constructs used in Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) (Roger, 1975) elicted by means of attitudinal responses. We estimate latent classes based on such responses using both simultaneous and two-stage procedures. The latter performs a segmentation more in line with expectations derived from PMT, in terms of both the number of classes and their preference structures. While simultaneous estimation improves the statistical fit it yields class structures that appear less reasonable.

text: Organic food choices and Protection Motivation Theory: addressing the psychological sources of heterogeneity Addressing generic preference heterogeneity for foods has been shown to improve statistical model fit, but it is relatively poor in terms of insights as to the sources of heterogeneity. The study presents various results from latent class analysis of stated choice data of food choice using carrots as a prototype. We evaluate the coherence of the underlying preference structure using as criteria the psychological constructs used in Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) (Roger, 1975) elicted by means of attitudinal responses. We estimate latent classes based on such responses using both simultaneous and two-stage procedures. The latter performs a segmentation more in line with expectations derived from PMT, in terms of both the number of classes and their preference structures. While simultaneous estimation improves the statistical fit it yields class structures that appear less reasonable.

year: 2011

title: Indigenous people in Aotearoa New Zealand are overrepresented in cannabis convictions

authors: Rapana, Wetini

subjects: Cannabis

abstract: Background: Previous work has demonstrated that cannabis laws have had a disproportionate impact on Māori, the Indigenous people of Aotearoa New Zealand. In 2019, the New Zealand Government amended cannabis laws, providing police with the power to determine whether a therapeutic or health-centred approach would be more beneficial than a conviction. In the current study, we use population level data to assess whether this law change has ameliorated the bias in cannabis convictions for Māori. Methods: Data were drawn from the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI), a large government database hosted by Aotearoa New Zealand’s national statistics office. In the IDI, we selected individuals who (1) were between 18 and 65, (2) were Māori or Pākehā (New Zealanders of European descent) and, (3) had any cannabis charges that proceeded to the courts. Results: Māori ethnicity was a significant predictor of the odds of receiving a cannabis conviction for Māori males (Odds: 1.56), with a marginally significant effect for Māori females (Odds: 1.57). Further, for Māori, there was no reduction in the number of cannabis charges before vs. after the amendment to cannabis laws. Conclusion: The current study demonstrates that the bias in cannabis convictions for Māori remain. Given this, the New Zealand Government must follow other countries around the world and move forward on cannabis law reform.

text: Indigenous people in Aotearoa New Zealand are overrepresented in cannabis convictions Background: Previous work has demonstrated that cannabis laws have had a disproportionate impact on Māori, the Indigenous people of Aotearoa New Zealand. In 2019, the New Zealand Government amended cannabis laws, providing police with the power to determine whether a therapeutic or health-centred approach would be more beneficial than a conviction. In the current study, we use population level data to assess whether this law change has ameliorated the bias in cannabis convictions for Māori. Methods: Data were drawn from the Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI), a large government database hosted by Aotearoa New Zealand’s national statistics office. In the IDI, we selected individuals who (1) were between 18 and 65, (2) were Māori or Pākehā (New Zealanders of European descent) and, (3) had any cannabis charges that proceeded to the courts. Results: Māori ethnicity was a significant predictor of the odds of receiving a cannabis conviction for Māori males (Odds: 1.56), with a marginally significant effect for Māori females (Odds: 1.57). Further, for Māori, there was no reduction in the number of cannabis charges before vs. after the amendment to cannabis laws. Conclusion: The current study demonstrates that the bias in cannabis convictions for Māori remain. Given this, the New Zealand Government must follow other countries around the world and move forward on cannabis law reform.

year: 2022