Abstracts - 2002

[Paper] indicates a hypertext link to the relevant paper. The symbol ® indicates that the full paper was refereed.

Paper Codes in Alphabetical Order

A

AIL02210  [Paper]
Homogenising Play: Governing preschool childhoods

Jo Ailwood, Charles Sturt University

Play serves as a significant nodal point in the discursive relations of early childhood education. It is predominantly viewed as the natural and intrinsic means through which young children learn. In this paper, however, I wish to 'denaturalise' play considering it instead as a form of governance in early childhood education settings. To do this I take a recent preschool curriculum and consider some of the discursive origins of play in this document, asking how play has been constructed as natural, by whom and with what effects. I then discuss the technologies through which the discourse of play as natural becomes a part of the pedagogical process of early childhood classrooms. Further, I consider the ways in which these discourses may have homogenising effects in the lives of young children and their teachers, suggesting that the dominant discourse of play as natural in the education of young children provides a smokescreen for the governing effects of much play in early childhood settings.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 9, HEN02206 Mediating access to language and literacy learning.

AIT02103  [Paper]
Mothers and school choice: Managing uncertainty

Claire Aitchison, University of Technology, Sydney

In keeping with the global trend amongst governments towards the marketisation of school education, the bulk of Australian parents, newly positioned as education consumers, are generally novice shoppers. In an extension to traditional roles, it is overwhelmingly the mothers who do the 'school shopping'. In choosing high schools for their children, it seems that the mothers of 'Middle Australia' in particular, expend considerable time and energy on an extensive and extended shopping excursion largely informed by a serendipitous array of market research, and driven by a desire to minimise risk of failure in a market place where futures are uncertain and the stakes are high.

This paper outlines some initial findings from a year long research project following the decision-making processes of a group of mothers of year 6 children as they deliberate high school options. The study is sited in Sydney's inner west where there is a volatile demographic of social change and changing school options. Like other studies of school choice this research shows how seriously, if not always willingly, mothers have responded to the 'school choice' agenda. This in-depth study highlights the agony of choice for those who see secondary education as the most significant opportunity available to them to insure against failure for their children. The study offers fascinating revelations of the aspirations, hopes and fears of ordinary mothers for their adolescent children; it speaks volumes for educators.

ALL02332  [Paper]
Interrogating the discourse of 'social literacies' in an era of uncertainty

Andrea Allard and Evelyn Johnson, Deakin University

Originally, the term 'social literacies' was used to suggest the skills, knowledge and processes for addressing multicultural teaching and learning (Kalantzis and Cope, 1983). The meaning of the phrase has since evolved to encompass widely different concepts, including for example, social 'competencies', and/or citizenship education (eg., Arthur & Davison, 2000). Clearly the discourse around 'social literacies' is shifting in response to changing educational policies, both nationally and internationally.

In this paper, we examine how constructs of 'social literacies' have been and might be deployed. Building from a review of the policy, program and theoretical literature, we pose questions concerning how 'social literacies' might be used to interrogate and rework relations, especially those of gender and culture. Questions to be considered include: will the concept of 'social literacies' enable us to better understand the processes of identity and community formations in this era of uncertainty? Which knowledges and skills are identified in the literature and positioned as critical in establishing 'productive' social relations/literacies? Additionally, we begin to theorise the degree to which such constructions of 'social literacies' might enhance and/or limit quality learning at the tertiary levels of teacher education.

AND02005   [Paper]
Opportunities and challenges of conducting comparative analyses of longitudinal data to depict the lives of today's young adults

Lesley Andres, University of British Columbia, Johanna Wyn and Debra Tyler, University of Melbourne

Longitudinal data sets offer a wealth of information and allow researchers to seek answers to complex research questions. Two such data sets currently exist which permit detailed comparative analyses of the lives of today's young adults. Both studies have survey and interview components, contain representative state and province wide samples, and span 10 years. In the Life Patterns Project (1991-2001) a "pathways" metaphor has guided the collection of survey and interview data with high school leavers from Victoria, Australia to determine educational, occupational and other life outcomes. The Paths on Life's Way Project (1988-1998) has examined the lives, choices, and postsecondary education and work experiences of high school graduates from British Columbia, Canada. Both studies focus on respondents' lives in relation to changing social and cultural conditions. The purpose of our presentation will be to focus on the opportunities and challenges of collecting longitudinal data and conducting analyses both within each study and through cross-country comparisons. In doing so, we will address the following themes: staying abreast of current theories and analytical methods; training and maintaining student research assistants and other research staff; challenging our assumptions in order to provide accurate portrayals of the lives under investigation; and examining how funding shapes research.

AND02399   [Paper]
Sustaining and supporting teacher professional development in ICT

Neil Anderson, Colin Baskin and Monica Halbert, James Cook University

This paper describes a local response to recent Australian policy initiatives that call for stronger links between universities and state education authorities to support and enhance the effective use of ICT in schools (Ramsey, 2001; Downs et al 2001). Blackboard has been selected by both organizations (James Cook University and Education Queensland) as the preferred on-line learning environment, so it was this tool that project explored as a means of sustaining and supporting teacher professional development in ICT. Another component of the project was to investigate the use of on-line learning tools by secondary and primary students in a traditional classroom environment. In both cases Blackboard provided a way of extending and supporting local networks by providing links to specifically developed, on-line resources for training and communication outside the boundaries of the school. Use of tools such as Blackboard and WebCT do not automatically guarantee improved learning outcomes but offer an opportunity to support models that change pedagogy and also alter the dynamics of the learning community. Data collected so far from this on-going project illustrate the changing learning relations that occur when these comprehensive web tools are used in combination with collaboration to determine shared goals and implementation strategies.

ARB02612   [Paper]    ®
Problematic futures: Speaking race and ethnicity in globalised times

Ruth Arber, Monash University

Over the last decades, Australian society has been transformed by changed immigration patterns and globalising trends. Changed demographic patterns as well as changed communication and information technologies and administrative and marketing practices have irretrievably altered schools in large cities such as Melbourne, Australia. In this paper, I examine the ways that teachers and parents in one particular Melbourne school speak about race and ethnicity in the midst of these changes. I argue that beneath the ironic relation between difference and sameness that underpins multicultural debate are different understandings that determine ways some belong and some do not belong within the school community. This paradoxical relation remains despite increasingly post-modern definitions of identity that underpin the field of this debate. I conclude that the examination of multicultural debate in globalised times remains profoundly concerned with the normalised ways of making one identity against an - other to which these conversations about race and identity are profoundly implicated.

ARC02557   [Paper]
The power of the situation: Students' motivational responses to studying in psychology and social work

Alex Beveridge, and Jennifer Archer, University of Newcastle

Using the theory of achievement goals as its theoretical framework, the present study investigated university students' reactions to undertaking a psychology course and a social work course. The social work course adopted the principles of problem based learning while the psychology course had a traditional university approach of massed lectures and laboratories. For the current study, 36 first year students studying for a degree in social work (96% response rate) and 34 fourth year social work students (99% response rate) completed two questionnaires: one questionnaire focused on students' perception of the achievement goals encouraged by staff of the social work course, their attributions for success and failure in social work, and the study strategies they used in social work; while the other questionnaire (administered at a separate time) contained the same items in relation to the psychology course. In addition, 14 first year students and 11 fourth year students were interviewed about their experiences of both courses. Both quantitative and qualitative data indicate that students perceived that the problem based features of the social work course encouraged the adoption of a mastery achievement goal while the more traditional psychology course encouraged the adoption of a performance achievement goal.

ARC02619   [Paper]    ®<
The problematics of Citizenship Education within the Australian context

Charles Arcodia, The University of Queensland

A review of the development of the citizenship concept reveals that the educational, social, political and philosophical constructs of citizenship have been consistently problematic. Western educational and political philosophies have provided a series of rich and diverse perspectives on the role of the citizen in society and the way in which education can play a part in the formation of the citizen. Despite an extensive body of literature on citizenship, traditional assumptions have been called into question by worldwide social and cultural changes. In contemporary debates, a variety of educational, social and political influences have been recognised as significant to citizenship formation.

Much of the available literature on citizenship, its role in society and education's role in formation, has been informed by the philosophies, ideologies, conceptual frameworks and experiences constructed in the West. This paper discusses some of the key limitations in the current philosophical foundations that underpin understandings of citizenship education and identifies some key issues relevant to the Australian context..

AUL02383   [Paper]    ®
Why should I present my thesis about computer assisted NdjTbbana on a DVD ?

Glenn Auld, Ballarat University

This paper justifies the presentation of a Phd thesis about Computer Assisted NdjTbbana on a Digital Video Disc (DVD). NdjTbbana is a language spoken by 200 Kunibfdji who are the traditional indigenous Australian landowners of Maningrida in Arnhem Land, Australia. The tools of this study are simple digital talking books that were created in NdjTbbana and then presented on touch screens computers. The data was the interaction around the touch screens that was recorded on digital video. Using DVD technology, the NdjTbbana talking books and the digital video can be integrated into a scholarly text for academics and NdjTbbana narrated report for the Kunibfdji, which can be combined to present a thesis. From a theoretical perspective, a thesis on a DVD can be located in the centre of critical literacy, a critical theory of technology and critical research methodologies. There are also logistical, semiotic and ideological reasons for presenting a thesis on about computer assisted NdjTbbana on DVD. Presenting Computer Assisted NdjTbbana on DVD will link the tools and data of the research with academic discourse to enhance the examination process and will also support the empowerment of the Kunibfdji as they are more informed about the research process.

AYR02061   [Paper]
Teachers' perceptions of the implementation of the new NSW Higher School Certificate

Paul Ayres, Bernice Beechey and John McCormick, University of New South Wales

The NSW Higher School Certificate, a high stakes, public, end-of-schooling examination has recently been reformed with major changes to syllabi, assessment and reporting; the first cohort completed the examination in 2001. The aim of this research was to investigate teachers' perceptions of the impact of the changes on their work and motivation. Eight focus groups were conducted with volunteer teachers in eight randomly selected public high schools. This paper reports these teachers' perceptions of positive and negative aspects of the changes and related processes. The following issues were identified: speed of implementation, workload, teaching the syllabus to students of differing abilities and literacy levels, interpreting the new syllabus, carrying out new assessment procedures, standards referencing, using new technology, development and availability of new resources, accountability and social support within the faculty.

B

BAK02232   [Paper]
Managing the impact of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder on reading achievement

Kathy Baker, Central Queensland University

Significant numbers of ADHD students have associated learning difficulties, the most common of which is reading difficulties. It is widely recognised that the current understanding of ADHD remains incomplete and many aspects of theory and practice remain controversial. However, teachers are still confronted with the realities of teaching ADHD students who are experiencing reading difficulties.

This paper reports a study using Barkley's model, as this still remains the latest understanding of the disorder, to design a reading intervention to remediate reading difficulties in ADHD students.

The intervention will be useful for teachers who are faced with the problems associated with trying to teach ADHD students with associated reading difficulties how to read, since as yet there is a paucity of literature on the topic. The study used a case study methodology to evaluate the effectiveness of this reading intervention for ADHD students who ranged from year three to senior high school.

BAR02394   [Paper]
Describing standards for early childhood teachers: Moving the debate forward to the National level

Lennie Barblett and Carmel Maloney, Edith Cowan University

In Australia, there is no set of agreed upon teaching standards for early childhood teachers. In some states such as Western Australia and Queensland, documents have been produced that outline generic teaching competencies for all teachers. However, research in Australia and overseas shows that one set of standards does not always fit teaching specialisations easily. This paper reports on the culmination of a joint research project between Edith Cowan University and the Department of Education (WA) that undertook to describe the generic teaching competencies for Phase 1 teachers in terms of early childhood teachers' work. The views of early childhood teachers, specialists, principals and policy makers were sought in focus groups with the aim of providing rich descriptions of what WA early childhood teachers should know and be able to do in the first phase of their career. The study found that discussion and debate is needed at the National level in order to ensure the quality of early childhood teaching and to illustrate career pathways for early childhood teachers.

BAR02414   [Paper]    ®
Using job advertisements to understand the employability prospects of event management graduates

Tanuja Barker and Charles Arcodia, The University of Queensland

In an increasingly competitive higher education environment, prospective students are more likely to compare graduate employability prospects of different universities and different courses. Consequently, the viability of courses based on knowledge's sake alone is being increasingly challenged with market viability based predominately on student demand, which is often based on their perceptions of workplace requirements.

Event management has emerged to become a key sector of the Australian tourism industry and this has spurred the need for tertiary educated event managers and for an evaluation of educational curriculum. To provide an indication of current employer requirements, a nationwide study of web-based job advertisements in event management has commenced. This paper reports the preliminary results from a content analysis of 105 job advertisements.

The results reveal the range of industries that require event management specialists or skills, and a series of required skills and key attributes of event managers. The results of this study establish a platform from which to develop a classification of event management skills required by the industry. More importantly however, it can be used as the basis for curriculum evaluation and training needs, and create a better understanding and compatibility between event management education and industry practice.

BAR02572   [Paper]
School and community: Roles and respons(poss)ibilities

Pam Bartholomaeus, Flinders University of South Australia

When several of my children moved to a new school I was struck by the different role constructed for parents through the fortnightly school newsletter. Newsletters are public documents and an important form of communication between an organization and its members or participants. In the case of education the relationship built is between students' caregivers and the school, and signals the role assigned to caregivers in the educative process.

In this paper I shall share some analysis of school newsletters and the nature of the relationships encouraged through these documents. In an era of increased local governance for schools these relationships are important as they shape the recognition of the nature of the local community served by the school and the nature of the educative process that needs to occur given knowledge about the social structure of the community and the aspirations held for and by the young people who are being educated.

BAR02605   [Paper]
"O" for osmosis, "P" for pedagogy: Fixing the postgraduate wheel of fortune

Deirdre Barron, Swinburne University of Technology and Margaret Zeegers, University of Ballarat

Discussions around what constitutes a good supervisory or a good supervisory development program pervade the Higher Education sector. Across Australia universities have developed supervisory training programs around dealing with basic policies and procedures. To think that this fulfils the developmental needs of supervisors would be very nanve. But to impose rigid programs that treat supervisors as empty vessels waiting to be filled with expert knowledge is equally nanve. A simple recommendation for improvement in Research Training would seem to be to increase the level of real communication between supervisors within disciplines and across disciplines. However as Hobart (1993) and McWilliam et al (2000) point out establishing across university dialogue tends to become instruction by expert to non-expert and the definition of expert may have more to do with privileged position than real knowledge. At another level "Instruction by an expert" has also had the effect of non-academic administrators acting as developers of academics who are framed as deficit in regard to leadership, management and applying various policies and procedures. The instructional model tends to raise levels of resistance rather than encourage supervisors to become learners within a collegial space. This paper looks at possibilities that allow academics to work in a collegial manner, that is, they can bring their experience and their problems to the table in a safe environment.

BEA02658   [Paper]
RTS and RPGs: New literacies and multiplayer computer games

Catherine Beavis, Deakin University

Technopopular culture such as computer games immerses young people in highly complex and engaging worlds, worlds in which literacy and communicative practices are significantly reconfigured and extended by the contexts in which they occur. This paper reports on a study exploring the textual engagement, pleasures and literacies entailed in playing on line computer games amongst a group of young people aged 15-16. It explores the ways in which these young people read and utilised intersections between traditional print-based text, visual images, symbols, sound, interactivity and other elements to play and make sense of a range of Real Time Strategy and Role Playing Computer Games; the place of games and gaming amongst other text-based leisure activities in their lives; and issues of interpretation, representation and response entailed in playing with real or virtual partners in cyberspace.

BEC02221   [Paper]
Sharing teacher education in East Timor -
Crossing the boundary and walking the walk

Margie Beck, Australian Catholic University National

The opportunity to work in East Timor for a short time led to a steep learning curve for this writer who moved out of the comforts of an Australian institution into a world where a generator provided the only electricity. Teaching beginning teachers and teachers without any training in a new culture was a period of mutual learning. The relevance of teaching methods and management that is taken for granted in Australia does not appear to be great when confronted with classes without books, paper, pencils

This paper will examine the journey of planning, teaching and preparation for the next trip and the way in which conventional teaching is adapted to meet both the physical and cultural learning in a country that is rebuilding itself and trying to establish its independence. The question remains - can outsiders really contribute to the development when the teaching and cultural contexts?

BET02369   [Paper]
Art as an intervention mechanism to teach social skills to lower secondary school age children

Elisabeth Betlem, Christ Catholic College and Rosaling Bolitho, University of New South Wales

Traditionally, behavioural problems have been explained from either a sociological or a psychological framework. However such exclusive frameworks ignore the interactional effects resulting from individuals within systems. Thus too often within the school system, educationists see curriculum and behaviour management as separate entities.

This paper reports on the findings of a project undertaken to create behavioural change amongst secondary school age students without subjugating curriculum demands. A socio-psychological model is used to explain the way the art process can instigate behavioural change within the social dynamics of the classroom.

This project focused on the psychological constructs involved in the adolescent search for identity. Amongst other developmental changes that occur during adolescence, the young person experiences a heightened period of creativity that may be seen as a response to the growing awareness of options, possibilities and potentials. Such awareness, in conjunction with changes in their social environment may lead to cognitive, emotional and social conflicts often not addressed in discipline based education. In this project the decisions demanded in creating the visual image mirror the choices made in an adolescent's educational, social and cultural experience.

Thus it was concerned with mapping the points of intersection between the individual and the social systems and highlighting the way that such an intersection may better determine alternative teaching practices.

BLA02263   [Paper]
Crossing the Line: - Peer influence on students from low income backgrounds in transition from school to university

Derek Bland, Queensland University of Technology

This study examines how university students from low income backgrounds have been influenced by the views and behaviours of their peers in senior secondary schooling and upon entry to a tertiary course. Using Bourdieu's concepts of cultural capital and habitus, the study will explore whether the students' backgrounds, experiences and values have affected their decision-making in regard to tertiary study options. The strategies the students have developed to survive and succeed in the process of transition from school to university will be investigated. This presentation will report on some findings from focus groups conducted to develop a contemporary picture of the experiences of low income students in adapting to the peer culture of a large tertiary institution.

BLA02670   [Paper]
Tracking the nomadic life of the educational researcher:- what future for feminist public intellectal(s) and/in the performative postmodern university

Jill Blackmore, Deakin University (AARE Presidential Address 2002)

Is the idea of the liberal university dead, has the post modern university any chance of being emancipatory, has the theory practice divide merely collapsed in an era of 'new knowledge work', or has the university just become one aspect of market state and global capitalism. Knowledge based economies simultaneously locate universities as central to the commodification and management of knowledge while the legitimacy of the university and the academic as knowledge producers is challenged by post modernist, feminist, postcolonial and indigenous claims within a wider trend towards the 'democratisation of knowledge' and a new educational instrumentalism and opportunism. What becomes of the educational researcher, and indeed for their professional organizations, in this changing socio political and economic scenario? Is our role one of policy service or policy critique, technical expert or public intellectual? In particular what place is there for feminist public intellectuals in a socalled era of post feminism and public-/private convergence? The paper draws on recent debates around the nature of knowledge based societies, trends in relations between policy and educational research, and draws upon feminist and critical perspectives to mount a case for the importance of the postmodern university and the public intellectual.

BOA02341   [Paper]
Full-day or half-day kindergarten?: Kindergarten teachers' voices in the debate

Margot Boardman, University of Tasmania

Over the past decade in Tasmanian state schools the practice of providing full day Kindergarten sessions for children, who are four and five years of age, has been gaining momentum. Research pertaining to the beneficial and/or detrimental impact of full day and half-day Kindergarten attendance for children of this age is limited, with studies conducted overseas focussing on Kindergarten children who are twelve months older in age. To gain a deeper understanding of the perceived value of each attendance option within the Tasmanian school setting, a study was designed to investigate Kindergarten teachers' perceptions of the advantages and disadvantages of both half-day and full-day Kindergarten sessions. Fifty-three full day and forty-six half-day Kindergarten teachers (from three Tasmanian school districts) responded to the study's postal survey, which was supported by small group interviews. Preparation of children for full-time schooling and enhancement of their educational and social skills were perceived by teachers to be the main advantages of full-day attendance, whilst they referred to the length of the school day and lack of session continuity as disadvantages. Program continuity, and the preparedness of children to learn, were perceived by teachers as benefits of half-day attendance, whilst they cited the children's lack of experience in full-time school routines, and the challenge for parents associated with their child's half-day attendance as deficits.

BOO02255   [Paper]
Science assessment and its contribution to the nurturing of creativity

Hong Kwen Boo, Nanyang Technological University

In 1997, a nation-wide initiative to promote creativity, lateral thinking and problem solving skills was launched in Singapore. Since then schools have been paying special attention to the development of creativity, lateral thinking and problem solving skills in our school going population. Teachers have been trained to teach such thinking skills explicitly as well as indirectly, through infusion into their science lessons. Teachers have risen to the challenge of nurturing creativity, lateral thinking and problem solving ability among their students. However, an important question needs to be raised: Does formal school science assessment contribute positively towards the drive towards the stimulating of creativity, lateral thinking and problem solving skills among pupils? This paper, based upon an examination of about one hundred sets of school science examination papers from different primary schools, discusses the challenges involved in formally assessing science learning outcomes in the context of the national drive towards stimulating creativity, lateral thinking and problem solving skills. It also discusses how assessment in primary school science could contribute positively towards the nurturing of creativity, lateral thinking and problem solving skills among primary school pupils.

BOR02050   [Paper]    ®
The social attention of children with disabilities during social engagement opportunities

Anna Bortoli and Margaret Brown, The University of Melbourne

The research shows that children with disabilities are challenged by the social demands of inclusive settings. Studies show that when children with a disability interact with their non-disabled peers, they have difficulty maintaining the interaction, they may have fewer interactions and the interaction may be shorter in length. These difficulties are likely to result in reducing their opportunities to becoming socially engaged with their peers. Some researchers propose that delays in linguistic and communicative ability may be the main factors contributing to this difficulty in social interaction. Social interaction has been addressed within the framework of social cognition, and so, social interaction is seen as a social cognitive task to be accomplished through strategic behaviour. The research shows that children who manage their entry and maintenance of social interaction are deemed to be socially competent.

Researchers investigating the skills involved in cognitive tasks in general, suggest that attention both to the context of the task and the performance of the task is critical to a successful outcome. It is hypothesised that successful social interaction also requires attention to the context and the task behaviours. Social attention is dependent on sensory input from several modalities, primarily vision and hearing. Given that attention is a cognitive skill, it is likely, that it also plays a large part in social competence. Within a social context, attention has been investigated through measuring visual behaviour of participants to the task itself, and the task of the environment.

This paper reviews the literature concerned with the nature of attention, attention problems and research into attention. It presents a case for researchers and special educators to consider the attention skills of children with a disability when assessing and intervening in social skills in these populations. It discusses the nature of attention within the context of social interaction and how children with disability manage their attention during social engagement opportunities. A framework for social attention is presented and discussed.

BRI02518   [Paper]
Within the borderlands: The experiences of beginning early childhood teachers in primary schools

Clare Britt and Jennifer Sumsion, Macquarie University

This study investigated the experiences of five beginning early childhood qualified teachers, teaching in primary school settings (State school, Independent, Private, Catholic). The primary concern of the study was to explore the metaphors that these teachers used when describing their lived experience stories; and to analyse what these metaphors indicated about the discourses the teachers perceived were available to them, and where they had chosen to situate themselves within these discourses. The thematic recurrences and discursive positionings within the words, metaphors and narratives of the participants, were critically analysed using a framework of feminist poststructuralism as described by Neilsen (1998), Richardson (1997), Kamler (2001) and Davies (1996). Techniques of thematic analysis described by Ely et al (1997) were used to identify thematic recurrences in the data. Deconstruction and semiotic analysis were used to uncover, decode and analyse layers of meaning in the data. Discourse analysis was used to explore discursive positionings in the data (Neilsen, 1998; Richardson, 1997; Kamler, 2001; Davies, 1996; Ely et al., 1997; Ellis & Flaherty, 1992; Ellis & Bochner, 1996). The findings suggest that the de/reconstruction of existing metaphors, and the creation of new metaphors can be seen as pathways to greater agency and empowerment for beginning teachers (Cook-Sather, 2001; Johnson, 1997; Kamler, 2001; Lakoff & Johnson, 1980; Neilsen, 1998).

BRO02236   [Paper]    ®
Stop the bus I want to get off: Academics coping in a time of uncertainty

Carolyn Broadbent, Australian Catholic University

During periods of adical organisational change, individuals are confronted with a multitude of new experiences and stresses that impact in varying degrees on their personal and professional lives. The manner in which individuals perceive, define and experience these changes will vary according to a number of factors, including the effectiveness of the strategies chosen to cope with such change. Quantitative methodologies used in studying coping strategies suffer from a number of deficiencies. Qualitative research approaches show promise and form the basis of this study of the approaches utilised by academics to manage and cope with their changing work environment during a period of substantial change. This paper argues that coping is a dynamic process, in which academics are constantly engaged in defining and redefining their environments in order to make sound decisions and take appropriate action. To illustrate this process, the metaphor of the bus journey is used to highlight academics' responses to an ever-changing landscape. There is little doubt the strategies utilised will produce differing outcomes, and the long-term success of these strategies will be partly dependent on the relationship they have to the overall goals and the direction of the organisation.

BRO02314   [Paper]
Tracking a student's Changing social positions within a primary mathematics classroom

Raymond Brown, St Oliver Plunkett Primary School

Changing educational demands related to new basic skills, new organisational structures, and a culturally diverse student population have created challenges for teachers and students to engage in more effective pedagogical relationships. A key sociocultural notion underpinning these relationships is community. Increasingly school classrooms are being referred to as Communities of Learners, Communities of Inquiry, and Communities of Practice. Essential to any notion of community is identity. Multiple types of participation and changing forms of membership are fundamental properties of classroom communities and their activities. However, the formation of a new self within a diverse, but inclusive classroom takes time and is difficult to research. This presentation describes a year-long case study conducted within a broader Ph.D. research programme. The study describes the journey of a student operating in a collaborative upper-primary mathematics classroom as she moves from a social position of dependence on others to a position where she displays a confidence and a willingness to access ideas and solution processes contained within the cultural resources of the classroom. Student journal writings are analysed in accordance with conditions identified as being conducive to establishing classroom learning communities and implications are drawn regarding the organisation of classrooms that facilitate a shared culture of learning mathematics.

BRO02377   [Paper]    ®
Pragmatism and privilege in the crafts including teaching

Neil Brown, University of New South Wales

This paper critically examines the legacy of Deweyan pragmatism for its role in shaping the present cultural status of the crafts, including the practice of teaching. It reveals how the prospect of overturning classical antipathy towards the crafts through Deweyan pragmatism, is overtaken by scientism. Dewey's scientism misrepresents the role of history as habit and naively portrays the way in which habits are cognised in the virtuoso enactment of a practice. The paper concludes that a lingering pragmatism in the West presides over the gradual extinction of professional autonomy in the practical arts.

BUR02368   [Paper]
Streamed Lectures: enhanced pedagogy or simply 'bells and whistles'?

Bruce Burnett, Queensland University of Technology

The paper looks specifically at issues flowing from increased pressure on academics to embrace the delivery of content online by focusing on one of the more problematic aspects of the migration of lecture content from traditional print based and face-to-face modes to those of a digital nature. The point is made that currently an over emphasis on online 'delivery' has come at the expense of online pedagogy. The paper reports on a pilot study undertaken to stream video-taped undergraduate lectures arguing that if the streaming of lecture content is to be successfully undertaken on anything more than a token level, it is essential for universities to support the funding of local professional development structures that allow more academic staff to engage with such 'new technologies'. The paper evaluates both the technical and human resource related issues encountered in the pilot study and proposes several models that allow academic staff to transfer their lectures into a streamed format.

C

CAL02034   [Paper]    ®
Implications of differential item functioning in statistical literacy: Is gender still an issue?

Rosemary Callingham, University of New England and University of Tasmania and Jane Watson, University of Tasmania

Statistical literacy is a complex developmental construct requiring both mathematical skills and contextual understanding. The development of statistical literacy is an important objective of classrooms where the curriculum is approached through considering problems that require the active engagement of learners with relevant social material. Such approaches are often advocated for the middle years of schooling. Little attention has been paid, however, to the effects of these approaches on male and female students. This paper reports on a study that considers Differential Item Functioning (DIF) with respect to gender of questions on a statistical literacy scale derived from archived data. Multi-faceted Rasch models were applied to polytomous data to determine the interactions between gender and item. Three criteria were applied to the results: statistical significance, replicability and substantive explanation of DIF. The results suggested that although there was no overall difference in the average performance of male and female students, items requiring numerical responses or calculations were less difficult for male students and, conversely, items demanding written explanations were less difficult for female students. The implications of these findings for both assessment and teaching are discussed.

CAL02027   [Paper]    ®
Changing places - Making links: A framework for professional development for the middle years of schooling

Rosemary Callingham, University of New England, Pat Smith, University of Ballarat, and Vicky Nicholson, Department of Education, Tasmania.

Changing Places - Making Links are parallel programs that have a focus on improving outcomes for Indigenous students in the middle years of schooling (Grades 4 to 8), through an inclusive approach. In recent years there has been a move to improve the educational experiences of students in the middle years. In addition there are emerging conceptions of curriculum that have a different perspective on fields of knowledge and, as a consequence, demand changed approaches to assessment. This paper describes the framework for professional development in Changing Places - Making Links that was developed to take account of these issues. Overarching organisers are drawn from the new Essential Learnings curriculum in Tasmania. Two major themes run through the professional development: Indigenous cultural and community involvement, and new approaches to assessment. The Essential Learnings are addressed through a focus on literacy, numeracy, and personal development. The professional development both models and encourages inclusive practice.

CAR02106   [Paper]
Principal succession in Catholic primary and secondary schools in Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania: Opportunities and challenges

Tony D'Arbon, Helga Neidhart and Paul Carlin, Australian Catholic University

This paper will report on a research study undertaken by Catholic Educational Leadership, a flagship of Australian Catholic University, in collaboration with Directors of Catholic Education in Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania. The study will analyse data from Catholic Education Offices, principals and aspiring principals in Catholic schools to identify the opportunities and challenges facing principal succession in the twenty first century, and to make recommendations for improving the preparation of aspiring principals. The data will include the following information: adequacy of preparation for principalship; and the appropriateness of selection processes, Diocesan support programs, and continuing professional development of principals. As the task of principalship has become more complex due to continuing changes in society, an increasing number of Catholic leaders in Catholic schools are giving serious consideration as to whether they are willing to take on the demands of leading Catholic school communities. Diocesan authorities, especially those outside metropolitan areas, are finding it increasingly difficult to attract more qualified and experienced leaders to take up principalship, and are concerned for the future well-being of school societies. This goes to the heart of the vision and reality of leadership in Catholic schools. The Catholic Education Commission of Victoria has recognised this concern, and agreed to support the project being undertaken by Australian Catholic University. The final report will be presented early in 2003.

CAR02109   [Paper]
Embedding an Indigenous perspective in Justice Studies

Belinda Carpenter, Michael Barnes and Rachael Field, Queensland University of Technology

With the aid of a large teaching and learning grant funded by the university, the school of Justice Studies has begun the process of embedding Indigenous content and perspectives across the curriculum. This is a unique project in the university and will serve as a template for the Law faculty as a whole as well as other faculties more generally. The purpose of this paper is to chart the progress of this task, as well as to identify the central issues in the creation of an Indigenous perspective. This will include a discussion of the relationship between content and perspective as well as teaching strategies, assessment, and the role of Indigenous people in the process (as both teachers and advisors). Most specifically, however, will be a discussion of the relationship between the cultural construction of whiteness and the process of embedding an Indigenous perspective. As non-Indigenous educators, this theoretical and practical body of work is central to the ways in which we can be involved in the process of embedding an Indigenous perspective. It is argued in fact, that the recognition of whiteness as a race and a colour should precede any attempt to embed an Indigenous perspective and that this can be done irrespective of the content of the subject being taught.

CAR02530   [Paper]    ®
A tale that fiction would envy: Naturalistic inquiry methods in the Visual Arts

Judith Carroll, Australian Catholic University

This paper reports on the range of ethnographic research methods that are currently being applied in the author's investigation of a number of artists who teach in tertiary institutions. The study examines the relation between the artistic practice and the teaching practice of the artist/academic respondents to the study. In particular this paper cites a form of semantic analysis that seeks triangulated endorsement for its claims through the use of a combination of unstructured and structured interviews, unobtrusive observation and documentary evidence.

CAR02573   [Paper] - PANEL DISCUSSION 38
The problematic of developing a school university partnership progam: Challenges, growth and reciprocity

Participants:
Lorelei Carpenter, Griffith University, Jan Davies, Varsity Lakes College and Vic Graham, Nerang State School

School/university partnerships have the potential for both schools and pre-service teacher education faculties to engage in renewal by working in a collegial manner in the preparation of students to become teachers. Furthermore, sustainable partnerships require careful consideration and effective communication with all stakeholders. This presentation critically reviews a pre-service graduate entry teacher education program that is based on a school-university partnership approach currently being piloted by the Centre for Professional Development, Griffith University (Gold Coast). The review led to a refinement of the program that generated changes to the models of implementation as well as assisted new schools entering the program. An unexpected outcome was the professional development of teachers and renewal of teacher partnerships. The discussion consists of three components. Firstly, there will be a brief overview of this initiative offered at Griffith University (Gold Coast campus). Secondly, representatives from the partnership schools will discuss how they have interpreted the suggested university model to suit their local contexts. Finally, the program will be critically reviewed by school based personnel in terms of professional development, program delivery, commitment of teachers and school-university partnerships.

CAR02575   [Paper]   PANEL DISCUSSION 39
Uncertain journeys in teacher professional learning: A case study in a Queensland primary school

Chairperson:
Lorelei Carpenter, Griffith University

Panelists:
Phillip Carlton, Mara Smart, Mary Miller, Annette Vlaanderen, Hope Turner-Hoschke,
Darren Marsh, Musgrave Hill State School
Peter Renshaw, Griffith University

Respondent:
Maxine Cooper, Griffith University

This panel presentation will use a case study of Musgrave Hill State School to explore educational change and innovation with a particular focus on the relationship between teacher professional learning and curriculum change through new pedagogies.

Panelists will relate the narrative of their individual professional and personal journeys as negotiated through the landscape irregularities encountered through curriculum change. Emphasis will be placed on the challenging role of the Quality Teacher Program as an impetus for change and as an opportunity for developing a school university partnership. The paradox of how dilemmas and uncertainties are transformed into agents for change as well as opportunities for professional learning and development will be examined.

CHA02007   [Paper]
Students' epistemological beliefs and approaches to learning

Kwok-wai Chan, Hong Kong Institute of Education

A survey study was conducted to examine the epistemological beliefs and study approaches of a group of Hong Kong teacher education students. Results showed that epistemological beliefs and study approaches of the students were independent of age, gender and electives. Correlation analysis, however, indicated that the students' epistemological beliefs were related to their study approaches. Beliefs in innate/fixed ability, authority/expert knowledge and certainty knowledge were positively related to surface approach, surface motive and surface strategy in learning while belief in learning effort/process was positively related to deep approach, deep motive and strategy in learning. A negative relation was also identified between belief in authority/expert knowledge and deep approach, motive and strategy. The results supported the suggestions in research literature that epistemological beliefs were related to meta-cognitive activities and implications were drawn for teaching and learning as well as future research in this area.

CHE02249   [Paper]
Those who can, do! Teacher education as an act of personal and institutional reflexivity

Brenda Cherednichenko and Tony Kruger, Victoria University of Technology

Teacher education is more popular than ever as a career and employment rates for Australian graduate teachers are increasing. The impact of globalisation, however, disturbs any tendency we have for complacency. In addition, teacher education in Australia continues to be under challenge from the inevitable disruptions created by yet another round of government reviews as well as the emergence of dynamic developments in schooling. The paper will argue against defensiveness as a strategy for teacher education in asserting its active place in higher education. It will outline a proposal for reform which locates teacher education within the reflexive relationships of student teachers and school students, their teachers and with teacher educators. Reconstructing teacher education so that its primary goal is the learning of school students will establish the school-university partnership as a powerful, institutionally reflexive actor in the proposition of new educational policy and organisational techniques. Reformed teacher education will result from the application of the theoretical understanding often derided in the good humoured dig at teacher educators, 'those who can't teach, teach teachers!' If framed by Bernstein's cautionary analysis of curriculum forms and power, theory can initiate teacher education characterised by the agency of 'those who can, do!'

CHE02356   [Paper]    ®
Lexical neologisms in Japanese

Lee Shiu Chen, Swinburne University of Technology

The practically universal promotion of internationalisation and globalisation, coupled with the technological and scientific advances of the preceding decades, has provided a fertile ground for accelerated absorption of lexical neologisms reflecting the rapid changes in the social and material cultures of the different speech communities of the world. However, despite the universality of the language change phenomenon, the type and absorption methods of lexical neologisms differ considerably between languages.

Research in language change has important pedagogical implications for language teaching in the classroom and in preparation of linguistically up to date teaching materials. It is important for students to acquire the contemporary rather than the "petrified" language variety.

This paper, set within the theoretical framework of language change research, focuses on neologisms in the Japanese language. On the basis of data derived from examination of social pages of the Asahi newspaper, vocabulary that has come into being in the past ten years is examined in the categories of native, borrowed and native/borrowed neologisms. Selected examples are included to demonstrate the environments conducive to the birth of new vocabulary and the different ways the unique script used to transcribe the sounds of the language aids in the coining of Japanese neologisms.

CHO02101   [Paper]    ®
Improving behaviour classification consistency: A technique from biological taxonomy

Serene Hyun-Jin Choi, Timo Nieminen, Mark Bahr and Nan Bahr, The University of Queensland

Quantitative behaviour analysis requires the classification of behaviour to produce the basic data. In practice, much of this work will be performed by multiple observers, and maximising inter-observer consistency is of particular importance.

Another discipline where consistency in classification is vital is biological taxonomy. A classification tool of great utility, the binary key, is designed to simplify the classification decision process and ensure consistent identification of proper categories.

We show how this same decision-making tool - the binary key - can be used to promote consistency in the classification of behaviour. The construction of a binary key also ensures that the categories in which behaviour is classified are complete and non-overlapping. We discuss the general principles of design of binary keys, and illustrate their construction and use with a practical example from education research.

CHU02018   [Paper]
Last year in, first year out: A longitudinal study of learning to teach

Rick Churchill, University of Southern Queensland and Jackie Walkington, University of Canberra

This paper presents the outcomes of the first year of a longitudinal > research study and outlines the approach to the second year of the study. The final year cohort of BEd (Primary) preservice teachers at the University of Southern Queensland responded to data collection procedures which were structured around Education Queensland's pilot of 12 "Professional Standards for Teachers". There is considerable preservice teacher interest in the area, as well as concern about the extent to which their program of preservice teacher education has prepared them for the reality of work as a beginning teacher. The paper will describe the framework for a longitudinal study of preservice/beginning teachers over a two-year period, encompassing the final year of their preservice program and the first year of employment as beginning teachers. Results from the data collected from the final year preservice period will be presented and discussed in relation to the body of literature already available, much of which reports beginning teachers' initial feelings of some dissatisfaction with their levels of practical preparation for teaching. The study has important implications for the improvement of preservice teacher education programs and for the design and implementation of induction programs for beginning teachers at both school and system levels.

CLA02237   [Paper]    ®
Researching multimodal texts: Applying a dynamic model

Susan Clancy and Tom Lowrie, Charles Sturt University

The arrival of the digital age requires new approaches to understand the literacies used in making meanings from multimodal communications and a rethinking of the ways in which research into these areas can be used to support learners in the 21st century. This presentation examines the range of literacies children have developed and used to make meanings when engaged with pop-culture multimodel texts. The study encouraged children to share their experiences about texts that are generally marginalised within the traditional school culture, but that are part of children's everyday experiences. The Pokemon phenomena was used as the focus for investigation in this particular study. A model based on the multiliteracy elements identified by Cope and Kalantzis has been developed to show the specific ways children use these elements to construct meanings across multimodal texts. This work has profound implications for educators who want to support children in their development of literacy abilities for life in contempory society.

CLA02360   [Paper]    ®
Globalisation and Mathematics Education: From above and below

Bill Atweh, Queensland University of Technology and Philip Clarkson, Australian Catholic University

The concept of globalisation stands for a variety of discourses. Although globalisation has been impacting on education, it has been rarely problemitised and researched in mathematics education. This paper presents an analysis of a discussion held with a number of mathematics educators from Brazil. It is one of a series of such conversations being held with groups of leading educators in South America, South-East Asia and Australia concerning their perceptions of the impacts of globalisation on their professional lives, and on mathematics education in their country and region. The analysis shows that these mathematics educators understand globalisation in terms of two differing discourses of economic colonialism but also in terms of the awareness of the world as one. It will be demonstrated that the different discourses will yield different moral stands one can take on the issue of globalisation. The paper argues that the constructs of the local and the global can not be posited as dichotomies if we were to understand the complexity of identity formations in late modernity. Lastly, this paper discusses new narratives on the role of the Internet in the globalisation of mathematics education.

CLA02481   [Paper]
Internship learning connects the dots: The theory and practice of reflection

Anne Power, M Clarke, and Alison Hine, University of Western Sydney

In a series of papers Clarke, Hine and Power (Hine, Clarke & Power, 2000; Clarke, Power & Hine, 2001; Power, Clarke & Hine, 2002) have investigated how reflection on practice can contribute to professional learning. The University of Western Sydney Bachelor of Education Primary fourth year Internship Program has been the focus of these studies.

This paper continues this journey and investigates how Van Manen's (1977) levels of reflection can be developed by student teachers to frame their understanding of their reflection and assist them in their professional learning. Additional focus group meetings with colleague teachers (classroom teachers) and associate teachers (student teachers) and the introduction of a reflective journal have been added to the repertoire of strategies used in the internship program to support the development and sustaining value of reflection on teaching practice. This study will critically examine these innovations and review their effectiveness in supporting reflective practice.

COL02545   [Paper]
Giving learners a 'Fair Go': Storypath, pedagogy and equality in South West Sydney

Bronwyn Cole, University of Western Sydney, Sonja Apostolovski, Ashcroft Primary School and Kerrie Foord, Cartwright Primary School

This paper reports on research that is exploring links between the Storypath strategy for teaching and learning in the area of Human Society and Its Environment (HSIE or SOSE) and pedagogies that enhance the learning outcomes of primary school students in low socio-economic, culturally diverse, south west Sydney. Key features of the Storypath strategy are the use of story structure to organise learning and student participation in the story to facilitate learning. This paper describes the co-researching methodology of the university and classroom-based researchers implementing the Storypath strategy to give the students a "fair go" in understanding concepts, often perceived as disorganised and distant in the traditional HSIE curriculum. It presents data and findings in relation to children's understandings, development of citizenship skills and their engagement with the learning context. The research is an integral component of the broader Fair Go Fair Share Fair Say Fair Content Project (Fair Go Project), a partnership project between the NSW Priority Schools Funding Program and the School of Education and Early Childhood Studies, University of Western Sydney.

CON02196   [Paper]    ®  Part of Symposium 7
Whiteness processes enigma or reality in disguise. Narratives from the field of difference: White women teachers in Indigenous schools

Jan Connelly, Queensland University of Technology

In the first instance this paper reviews the debates on whiteness and whiteness processes. On the one hand it views the writings of whiteness proponents, and on the other hand it reflects the views of whiteness critics. Both debate the issues that problematise the use of whiteness as an investigative lens through which issues of multicultural education and equity in education can be viewed. Secondly the paper briefly reports on the interpretation of whiteness perspectives in educational research carried out in schools internationally. Lastly the paper offers extracts from research into whiteness processes enacted in an Australian context - an Indigenous school and its community, and presents the reflections of a white female teacher as she navigates her first teaching years inside this context.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 7, SHO02195 Investigating whiteness.

CON02273   [Paper]
From the campus to the chalkface

Lorraine Connell, Northern Territory University

I had been away from the primary school classroom for thirteen years teaching in a pre-service teacher education course and becoming increasingly aware that classroom I was teaching about had changed. However it wasn't only the classroom that had changed, I had too. Postgraduate study had introduced me to new knowledge and values and my own life experiences had influenced my assumptions and values as a person and as a teacher. It was time to return to the classroom to not only affirm my assumptions and values about the teacher I thought I was, but also to put some of my new knowledge into practice. By returning to the classroom I would also attempt to extend the 4 walls to incorporate my assumptions, values and knowledge in practice.

Was I really the teacher I thought I was, was it possible to use the Theory of Multiple Intelligences as a teaching strategy, could I use computers as a teaching and learning tool and how could I use parents as partners in the teaching and learning experience. All of these questions and more would hopefully be answered by returning to the primary school classroom. I returned to the primary school classroom in January of 2000 at a local primary school and spent the next six months with a group of year 1/2/3 children. My research includes my journal of the journey as well as a video of teaching and learning experiences.

CON02274   [Paper]
The Arts on-line

Lorraine Connell, Northern Territory University

In 1996 I developed an on-line unit entitled Dance on-line. I determined that if I could involve students in learning dance on-line then anything was possible. Since this time I have experimented with web based units that have involved on-line discussion groups, web resources and the emailing of assessment tasks. I am now involved in using blackboard.com to prepare on-line units for internal and external students as well as using the blackboard format as a template for print based external materials.

This year I have trailed the Arts in Education, a compulsory unit in the pre-service teacher education course. I have expanded the use of on-line resources to include videos and photographs to compliment internal and external learning experiences and have plans to expand this further by providing exemplars of assessment tasks.

The process while time consuming should provide a unit that is seamless for all students as well as more efficient for staff involved in rewriting new internal and external units. It can also provide our future primary school teachers with the experience of teaching and learning through ICT with an opportunity to explore the possibilities of using a program to store units of work and resources, inform parents of teaching and learning experiences and share programs and ideas with colleagues.

CON02630   [Paper]
An integrated approach to competency based assessment

Justin Connally and Patrick Griffin, University of Melbourne and Ken Jorgensen, Department of Defence

This paper presents the application of a multi source measurement approach to the assessment of higher order competencies in the public service industry. The aim of the paper was to develop and validate a strategy to synthesise multiple sources of evidence to inform holistic judgements of workplace competence. The methodology adopted integrates developments in two fields of study, performance appraisals and psychometrics. The method encapsulates features of a 360-degree feedback model that is widely used in performance appraisals, in which ratings are obtained from a supervisor, peers, subordinates and clients. The present paper expands the traditional observation basis of this methodology by allowing for the inclusion of other forms of evidence, such as a portfolio or interview. Item response modelling techniques allow for the identification of the competence of the candidate and the difficulty of the assessment task or method encountered. They can also identify and control for the influence of the source of evidence (e.g. supervisor, peer or subordinate ratings) on estimates of competence.

COU02272   [Paper]
Fostering educational judgment in teacher action research groups

David Coulter, The University of British Columbia

The difficulty of connecting the knowledge generated by educational researchers and the practice of classroom teachers is familiar. Academics write about the importance of research for understanding and improving classroom practices; classroom teachers dismiss the academics' research knowledge as a poor substitute for actual experience. Here I argue for moving from debates between spectators and actors about knowledge and practice to discussions about how all educators can foster good judgment. After outlining the two major accounts of judgment in Western thought, ristotle's and Kant's--each of which ultimately privileges the spectator over the actor--I introduce the work of Hannah Arendt (1909-1975) who linked thinking and acting via dialogue and imagination. I use my interpretation of Arendtian judgment as a lens to understand the experience of working with groups of teacher action researchers in three Canadian school districts over three years as they studied various aspects of their own practices. I argue that participating in such groups can help foster educational judgment and that focusing on how teachers and researchers might become better educational judges is a crucial, yet neglected, agenda that promises to link these communities.

CRA02433   [Paper]    ®
Forgotten leaders? The role and workload of deputy principals in Queensland government secondary schools

Neil Cranston, Queensland University of Technology

Historically, the deputy principalship in secondary schools has been an under-researched area, despite the significant and on-going changes impacting on schools in recent years. There is no information, certainly for Queensland government schools, about what deputy principals do in terms of their roles and workload nor the underpinning skills and competencies required to undertake these. This paper reports on the findings of a project commissioned by the Queensland Secondary Principals' Association to address this information void. The research, undertaken in December 2001, comprised a literature review and a questionnaire distributed to the deputy principal membership of the association.

Included among a range of significant findings from the study is that despite long work-hours, high pressure and significant changes and an expanding diversity in their roles in recent times, the vast majority of deputy principals are satisfied with their role. Deputy principals also reported differences between the activities in what they saw as a typical week for them and what they envisaged as an ideal week eg. they would like to be more involved in strategic and curriculum leadership and less involved in student and staff issues, and management and administrative matters. The key skills required in the role were seen to be strong interpersonal/people skills, inspiring and visioning change, delegation and empowerment and being a good manager.

CRI02222   [Paper]
What is the role of practical activities in primary science teaching?

John Cripps Clark, Deakin University

Practical activities are widely used in science teaching, yet they are expensive both in time, teacher skills and resources. Why are they used? Many purposes have been posited but it is often difficult to observe practical activities achieving these outcomes. Although practical activities can be, and are, successfully used for motivation, enjoyment and learning practical skills, their role in conceptual learning is, at best, problematic.

This paper reports on a detailed analysis of four primary school classrooms using videotape and interviews. The teachers were all experienced and effective teachers of science and a unit of work (covering term) was observed.

I will discuss:

• the different ways in which each of the teachers used practical activities as part of their lessons:
• the way practical activities affected: functional understanding of information, concepts and principles; process skills; appreciation of the elements of scientific method; and scientific attitudes;
• how these purposes supported and undermined each other;
• the special role of discussion;
• how science teaching is embedded within the culture of primary schools; and
• what are the characteristics of classroom practise that effectively use practical activities to support students' learning.

CRN02420   [Paper]   Part of Symposium 22
Investigating the Mozart effect

Rudi Crncec, Macarthur Auditory Research Centre

Much interest has been aroused among educators by the proposition that playing classical music in classrooms increases learning, This paper reports research into the 'Mozart effect'.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 22, SCO02417 Teachers' work and lives.

CRO02022   [Paper]
New learning and pedagogies: Focussing on recognizing differences to achieve positive outcomes in numeracy for Indigenous students

Rebecca Cronin and Nicola Yelland, RMIT University, and Chris Sarra, Cherbourg State School. Qld

It has long been recognised that Indigenous students are the most disadvantaged group in Australia's education system (e.g. Ritchie and Edwards, 1996). Research has shown that funding (e.g. ABSTUDY) from Federal government initiatives, has not had significant impact on improving outcomes for Indigenous children's education (Gibson, 1998). Research carried out by DETYA (2000) also identified areas of concern, and it is obvious that more needs to be done to improve the educational opportunities for Indigenous students so that they can succeed at school. In this paper we highlight dimensions of teaching and learning with Indigenous students and interrogate ways in which more positive educational outcomes may be achieved. Burnett (1999) postulated that the race of a society or population is "deeply rooted in the material practices and structural relations of power which define meanings and social values"(Burnett, 1999, p. 50). In Australia, since colonization, the Anglo-Australian race has dominated and political policies have enabled this domination to be privileged. This paper will also consider the ways in which teachers can take into consideration the 'material practices and structural relations' for Indigenous students in their classrooms and examine the relevance of this is to improving their educational outcomes. Research has shown that teachers are often preoccupied with planning and pedagogy and fail to consider the real life experiences of Indigenous students, which detrimentally affects their educational outcomes. This paper will examine this and suggest ways in which we recognize difference and incorporate it into a productive pedagogies model.

CRO02522   [Paper]    ®
Teacher commitment and engagement: The dimensions of ideology and practice associated with teacher commitment and engagement within an Australian perspective

Bob Elliott and Leanne Crosswell, Queensland University Technology

Teacher commitment and engagement has been identified as one of the most critical factors in the success and future of education (Huberman, 1997, Nais, 1981). It contributes to teachers' work performance, absenteeism, burnout and turnover, as well as having an important influence on students' achievement in, and attitudes toward school (Firestone, 1996; Graham, 1996; Louis, 1998; Tsui & Cheng, 1999). This paper will investigate the traditional view of teacher commitment as it refers to external referents and propose that the personal value systems of the teachers are more significant than currently recognised by the literature.

This paper will report on an investigation into teacher commitment and engagement in Australia. The analysis indicates that commitment is best conceived in terms of two dimensions- an ideological dimension and a practice dimension. The significant point about these two dimensions is that while the particular characteristics of the ideological dimension are modified across the career span (in response to personal and professional experiences) levels of commitment to particular practices vary (cf. Fraser, Draper & Taylor, 1998; Huberman, 1993). It appears that one of the critical contextual factors that influence this commitment to practice is the extent to which leadership (both at the school and system level) is perceived to understand the teachers' ideological commitment and to express change directions in terms of these. The findings have particular significance for leadership in terms of future change directions.

CUF02169   [Paper]    ®
Law student's experiences of information and information technology - implications for legal information literacy curriculum development

Natalie Cuffe, Queensland University of Technology

Information literacy is well established as an important educational outcome for university graduates of all disciplines, both by universities and employers. The 1997 Goldsworthy Report The Global Information Economy: The Way Ahead, recommended that "all tertiary graduates should be information and communication technology literate in their chosen fields of study by the year 2000" (Goldsworthy, 1997:79). This is being taken up by universities in their statements about graduate attributes which invariably refer to lifelong learning capabilities, information literacy or both. The significance of incorporating legal research skills training in law curriculum has been acknowledged since the 1987 Pearce Report. Despite the growing emphasis on information skills training, research into this area of legal education in Australia has been scant. The aim of the research described in this paper was to examine the extent of law students' use of and their success rates with information and information technology, and their views on the place of information literacy education. The results of the research present a picture of law students present experiences with information and information technology of interest to legal educators in reviewing legal curriculum to foster information literacy and lifelong learning and proposes a curriculum model that inculcates these educational imperatives.

CUL02307   [Paper]
Children's minds and educational policy.

Cedric Cullingford, University of Huddersfield

This paper draws on the accumulation of research into the thinking patterns of pupils, using mainly ethnographic methods. It starts by looking at the inner worlds of young children and the way in which they see the world. The main themes explored are the nature of their intelligent gaze, their vulnerabilites and their resilience, their relationships and the way in which they construct their understanding.

In the light of this questions are asked about their particular fears and sense of truama and compared to their actual experience of school. Many of the policies that cause schools to act in particular ways, like examinations and competition, are difficult to reconcile with pupils' expectations; perhaps this is deliberate. Whilst the U.K might be an extreme case we see similar extensions of policy world wide, particularly in the more industialized world.

We then explore what a representative example of pupils conclude about their years in school, including those going on to University and those leaving as soon as possible. The findings show consistent views about the nature and purpose of school, the curriculum, teachers and peer groups and what they feel they have learned. All this evidence is then related to current educational policies.

CUR02320   [Paper]
Why risk it? Exploring responsible gambling in the school setting

Pamela Curtin and Claire Smith, Queensland Treasury

Problem gambling is becoming increasingly apparent among young people. In order to address this issue and provide preventative measures, the Queensland Treasury Gambling Policy Directorate, in conjunction with the Queensland Studies Authority, has developed responsible gambling curriculum modules and resources for secondary students of Health and Physical Education and primary students of Studies of Society and the Environment. This paper explores the literature surrounding youth gambling and the bureaucratic processes involved in developing and implementing responsible gambling curriculum in the school setting. It also discusses the evaluation of the modules through a state-wide action research project with teachers. Drawing on the narratives and multiple perspectives of two Queensland Treasury project/policy officers, both former teachers, this paper presents a critical post-structrual analysis of spatial, contextual influences and the juxtapositions of theory, policy and practice in relation to risk, responsible gambling education and the younger generation.

CUR02536   [Paper]   Part of Discussions Panel 34
Media, research and the rights of the child

Pamela Curtin and Jenny Nayler, Education Consultants

Article 13 of the United Nations' Convention on the Rights of the Child states that young people have the right to participate in all forms of media. This paper explores what this might mean for research and for futures where young people are becoming increasingly visually and digitally literate.

In the 90s, Green and Bigum (1993) proposed the notion of 'aliens in the classroom' and Smith and Curtin (1997) claimed children of a hi-tech society are constructed differently, engaging with multiple forms of reality distinct from those of previous generations. Where does this then place the young person of the reality TV moment? And how does research incorporate their views of the world?

Various youth participation media research projects of local and global dimensions are presented with the underlying questions? How do young people inform education research today using media, and does the academy hear and act on what young people may be trying to say?

This paper will be presented as part of Discussions Panel 34, NEW02534 Moving from research "on" or "about" to research "with" or "by" ...: Exploring the roles of young people in educational research.

D

DAL02339   [Paper]
The influence of phonological processing and inattentive behaviour on early reading

Kerry Dally, University of Newcastle

Reading research has confirmed that phonological processing has a pre-eminent role in facilitating reading success, while a separate body of research into reading difficulties has shown that poor behavioural adjustment has a close association with reading failure. This paper reports the findings from a longitudinal study in which both phonological processing and inattentive behaviour are hypothesized to have a causal influence on the attainment of early reading skills.

Data from individually administered measures of phonological processing, word-level reading and reading comprehension, as well as teacher and parent ratings of children's behaviour were collected from a cohort of 166 children at 12 month intervals, in kindergarten, first and second grade. The results from multiple regression analyses suggested that teacher-rated inattentiveness and some phonological abilities had a significant influence on subsequent reading. There was also evidence of reciprocal relationships between prior reading and subsequent inattentiveness and phonological awareness. The existence of bi-directional influences and the finding that inattentive behaviour had a significant influence on early reading outcomes over and above phonological processing ability, have important implications for reading instruction as well as for devising appropriate preventative or remedial interventions.

DAR02075   [Paper]
Piecing together the curriculum puzzle: Learning through drama education

Rachel Darell, University of Technology, Sydney

Current research in primary school drama education provides a complex and challenging stage for playing out current theoretical debates in both education and within the specific field of drama. This paper discusses some of these controversies, in particular, the view that education has a modernist agenda, and the conflict this causes in what many see as a post-modern age. Also of interest is how these philosophies play out in the field of drama education.

The focus of the paper will be on the issues faced when attempting to position education research in drama in relation to current learning theory. It will consider how these generic issues are reflected within the journey taken by this researcher when defining and delimiting her research question.

DAV02054   [Paper]
Personal and political: Feminisms, sociology and generations of family lives in the knowledge economy

Miriam David, University of Keele

This paper explores changing feminist research agendas in the context of political transformations over the last thirty years. I consider three phases of liberalism for emergent feminist research agendas, ranging social liberalism, and movements for sexual equality, through economic liberalism, characterised by consumer choice, to neo-liberalism and transformations to critical feminist research ethnographies. Drawing on my own personal biography I review shifting agendas towards more personal, biographic, narrative accounts. I also consider the changes in generations of feminists in involvement in the academy and their perspectives on agendas that are increasingly about subjecting to critical and ethnographic gaze women's changing educational and work lives as personal, public rather than private matters. Studies of generations of women and young people will also feature, attempting to understand women's diverse, classed, racialised lives, and how they are theorised within the context of educational transformations and moves towards a knowledge economy. What does this mean for higher education, particularly postgraduate professional doctoral education, and the lives of women as researchers and students within the new knowledge economy? To what extent have feminist research agendas been transformed and the political become personal, whereas thirty years ago a feminist agenda was framed by the personal as political?

DAV02293   [Paper] Paper 1 of Symposium 13
Introduction. Body knowledge and control

Brian Davies, University of Wales and John Evans, Loughborough University

This session will introduce the theme of the symposium and outline both an agenda for research and a way of looking sociologically at the relations between education, body knowledge, identity and health. Drawing on earlier work,the sociological perspective offered will be strongly Bernsteinian but also point to the merits of social theory more broadly when studying the relationships between the practices of schooling (the curriculum, pedagogy and organisation, etc) and the social production of 'the body', health and identity. The paper will highlight the merits of post-structural concepts and methodologies while leaving the detail of a post structural methodology to Jan Wright's paper, WRI02294.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 13, EVA02292 Body knowledge and control.

DAW02496   [Paper]
Critical literacy at the crossroads

Zoe Dawson, University of Wollongong

Although 'critical literacy' has apparently been a part of the teaching of reading practices of Australian teachers for some time (Luke 2000), there has also been a growing awareness that there is currently a great deal of confusion as to what actually this approach is in respect to both theory and practice (Lankshear 1994, Luke 2000, Comber 2001). This paper argues that rather than being in a state of confusion, or a 'chameleon' (Healy and Knoble 1998), many Australian teachers may be simply unaware of its very existence as a teaching approach.

This total lack of understanding became apparent when, in seeking to find teachers who used this approach in their classrooms in one area of New South Wales, only one teacher could be found who was currently implementing this reading practice. This paper is a 'school story' (Van Manen 1991) of this teacher's ideological approach to developing 'critical literacy' with her class and details the stages, processes and 'critical thinking' practices she implements.

DIE02375   [Paper]    ®
A theoretical framework for multimedia resources: A case from science education

Carmel Diezmann and James Watters, Queensland University of Technology

The availability and purported strengths of information and communication technology has increased the applications of multimedia resources in higher education. Introduction of multimedia resources into courses brings with it problems from a number of perspectives. What constitutes good quality resource material? Is it effective as a learning tool? How credible is the content in terms of professional requirements? These are important questions that teacher educators confront in enabling them to discern good quality material and to contribute to the development of further resources. Our premise is that these questions need to be answered by a consideration of research into the efficacy of multimedia teaching resources. Considerable research has been conducted over the last decade, which has identified certain principles of effective learning. These principles are important to consider in the development of multimedia resources. In this paper we report on the production of a multimedia resource involving CDROMs, Videos and a Website to support the learning of science teaching by primary preservice teachers. The development of these resources was informed by a generative theory of multimedia learning. We describe the features of the multimedia resources that were produced and how these resources were tested for effectiveness as learning tools and as authentic representations of professional practice.

DIN02240   [Paper]
Awards for Teaching Excellence: Intentions and realities

Steve Dinham and Catherine Scott, University of New England.

Two samples of recipients of teaching awards were surveyed in 2002. The first group comprised educators from early childhood, primary, secondary, TAFE and universities who had received inaugural NSW Minister for Education and Training and Australian College of Educators Quality Teaching Awards in 2001. The second sample comprised educators from the USA who had received a variety of awards for exemplary teaching, ranging from local to national.

Both samples were asked to respond to a series of open-ended questions exploring the personal and professional consequences of receiving a teaching award, views on the selection process and criteria employed, and how others had reacted to their award. Opinions of awards for teaching generally were also canvassed.

The parallel studies revealed both intended and unintended outcomes arising from receipt of an award for exemplary or outstanding teaching practice. Implications of the findings are explored.

DIX02053   [Paper]    ®
The introduction, scope and implementation of enterprise and vocational education in a school district.

Kathryn Dixon and Lina Pelliccione, Curtin University of Technology

In 2001, Western Australia commenced implementation of the nationally agreed New Framework for Vocational Education (MCYEETA, 2001). The New Framework recognises that students need generic vocational and enterprise skills as well as industry-specific skills. These elements are captured in three major threads that run throughout school-based Vocational Education which are: VET in schools, Enterprise Education and student support for Career Education. In response to the New Framework for Vocational Education, the Western Australian Department of Education has developed a strategic plan for implementation. 2001 was the first year of the take-up of that plan with nine districts supporting Enterprise and Vocational Education (EVE) by employing coordinators to support the schools to develop programs. This paper investigates the implementation of EVE in one Western Australian metropolitan school district through an examination of the introduction and scope of approaches across nine schools. The research documents methods of enhancing all learning areas through embedding elements of EVE across the curriculum and also discusses implications for higher education and faculties of education in particular with regard to pre-service teacher training in Vocational Education in general.

DIX02119   [Paper]    ®
Professional leadership portfolios: An evaluation of the implementation of professional leadership portfolios in a Western Australian district

Robert Dixon and Kathryn Dixon, Curtin University of Technology

In April 2002, the Swan Education District in Perth, Western Australia, implemented the professional portfolio for principals to a group of voluntary participants. The portfolio focused on the educational leader demonstrating and articulating a school's vision, shaping its culture and facilitating organizational change through a collection of measurable, valid and reliable artefacts linked to a competency framework. This evaluation seeks to understand and elaborate upon what principals consider as the most useful style, content and presentation of the professional portfolio through their experiences in creating one. It will verify and validate the process of using the portfolio, clarify goals and objectives outlined in the initial plan and determine the most efficient method(s) for using the portfolio as a tool for summative and formative, holistic and analytical assessment of performance within a competency based framework. The study will combine a goal-based evaluation; the extent to which the portfolio meets predetermined goals or objectives, with process-based evaluation, how the portfolio works, its strengths and weaknesses.

DOC02072   [Paper]    ®   Part of Symposium 27
Beliefs and expectations of parents, prior-to-school educators and school teachers as children start school

Sue Dockett and Bob Perry, University of Western Sydney

This paper extends the previously reported results of the Starting School Research Project about what various stakeholders see as important in children's transition to school by considering responses from parents, prior-to-school educators and school teachers to 20 statements summarising beliefs and expectations about children starting school. Responses from 149 parents of children who have just started or are about to start school, 102 school teachers and 33 prior-to-school educators are analysed to ascertain differences and similarities among the groups. Results are discussed in terms of key issues raised by the respondents, including readiness for school, age of children starting school, similarities between school and prior-to-school settings, gender, cultural diversity and retention in the first year of school. Some suggestions are made for the educational significance of these as all parties strive to make children's transitions to school as smooth as possible.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 27, MAR02464 Beliefs and backgrounds and starting school.

DOE02121   [Paper]
Forming a professional identity: The preservice experience

Brenton Doecke and Lucinda McKnight, Monash University

The professional development of student teachers during their teaching rounds is shaped significantly by their relationships with their supervising teachers. This paper will explore the way student teachers are inducted into English teaching by examining their professional dialogue with their supervising teachers during teaching rounds. The paper has a pragmatic focus on how to improve supervisory practices. However, the primary concern will be to trace the formation of student teachers' professional identities, as they negotiate their way between various demands made on them by their supervising teachers and the university during the practicum. This latter focus involves investigating the way student teachers' disciplinary knowledge as English graduates provides a foundation for their professional growth. The paper draws on interviews conducted with a small group of student teachers and supervising teachers in the course of the year.

DOO02126   [Paper]
Digital reading pedagogy for novice readers

Karen Dooley and Annah Healy, Queensland University of Technology

In this paper we report on a study of pedagogic practices surrounding novice readers of digital texts in four early childhood classrooms in Queensland, Australia. Until recently, digital literacies have been generally resisted, dismissed or overlooked in early reading agendas by early childhood teachers. However, there is now considerable pressure on Australian teachers to plan within a multiliteracies framework and to include digital texts into their classroom programs. In Queensland, for example, 'New Basics' reforms of public education hold teachers accountable in this regard, especially as the tasks relating to new basics include multiple text forms and modes of delivery. In this context, it is concerning that recent Australian research has found a surprisingly low level of understanding of digital literacies, and confidence in teaching these, on the part of both practising teachers and new graduates. The aim of this paper is to inform professional development in this field by describing and explaining the digital reading pedagogies that some teachers are creating.

DYS02138   [Paper]    ®
An alternative to the traditional educational program for year nine students: A new issue to research in an unchanging system

Michael Dyson and Len Cairns, Monash University.

A remote school located in the Victorian Alps has been established as "a centre for student leadership". Notable amongst the unique features is the fact that the school provides only for Year 9 students over a one term live-in program where a mixed group of students undertake an experientially- based curriculum designed to stimulate leadership ideas and ideals to support an enhanced self-concept. The project research team operating out of Monash University, Gippsland, has gathered data which supports the school and staff in monitoring and evaluating the progress of the programs offered and as a means to assist the school in meeting its accountability obligations. This initiative is placing University staff at the coalface. The students have taught themselves, taught each other and have been assisted in their learning through the one to one intervention of the staff rather than through direct teaching. This study breaks the norms of traditional education from many viewpoints. Year nine students are often difficult to inspire or enthuse yet these students are thriving in this environment. "The best time in my life" is a frequent comment from students at the end of this experience.

E

EAR02400   [Paper]
Science education reform and the impact on the school environment in transitional societies

Jaya Earnest and David Treagust, Curtin University of Technology

This paper discusses science education reform in two transitional societies. The research used an interpretive case study methodology with quantitative and qualitative data to examine how teachers' knowledge, perceptions and experiences impact on the school-learning environment. The societies in transition are Rwanda and Kosovo adversely affected by major social, political, economic, and ethnic upheaval. Rwanda and Kosovo have adopted the following goals - implementation of a durable educational policy, eradication of illiteracy, and capacity building in science and technology. The study made use of questionnaires, interviews, photographs, classroom observations, narratives, personal reflexivity, and historical document analysis. Document analysis indicated that there is a need for greater access to secondary education. Interviews and science lesson observations indicate that it is necessary to develop a curriculum that is contextually relevant and redefine science teacher training programmes. Findings indicated that the school-learning environment will improve through gradual evolutionary reform and requires co-ordination among all stakeholders in the education reform process: the teachers, the curriculum developers, the examination board and the governing structures.

EDW02288   [Paper]
Question: Who was the rich, cool dude who came out on the First Fleet with his two greyhounds? Answer: You don't mean Joseph Banks do you?

Julie Edwards and Jill Flack, Monash University

To date, there has been very little serious and substantial research on the development of historical consciousness in children in schools within Australia. In an attempt to redress this imbalance, the authors are currently undertaking research into The Development of Historical Consciousness in Late Primary and Junior Secondary School Students. The study is similar to work conducted in Europe and the United States where, within the past decade, there have been two major trans-national (Europe) and national (USA) surveys of an area that has, in recent years become of major interest to politicians, media commentators and educators. Data in our study was collected from students (year 6 andyear 9) in inner urban, suburban and rural schools in Victoria. Using their voices, the study provides an insight into the early emerging patterns of student views of history and its importance and relevance to their lives. The researchers would have expected that year 9 students, because of age and experience, to have broader and more in depth understandings of historical concepts than year 6 students and that their levels of explanation would have encompassed more sophisticated, hierarchical levels of thinking about history. This assumption has not been born out by the data collected to date which has implications regarding appropriate pedagogies.

EDW02289   [Paper]
'It must be a two-way street': Understanding the process of internationalising the curriculum in Australian schools

Julie Edwards and Libby Tudball, Monash University

While the idea of internationalisation has a long history in higher education, it is a relatively new phenomenon in the Australian secondary schools sector. Most teachers and schools are developing their views on what internationalisation might mean and the implications it has for restructuring the curriculum, pedagogy and organisational practices. A systematic analysis of the trends and evolving practices of international education in secondary schools is clearly of value to all stakeholders. This paper presents the findings of a research project investigating teachers and schools at various stages in their development of internationalisation. It discusses how they are defining internationalisation; explores the issues at the forefront of school communities, and the opportunities they see in the future, with particular focus on how schools are internationalising the curriculum. The issues are discussed from the point of view of school leaders, teachers and students. It analyses why the challenges can be similar and different, depending on the context of each school. Recommendations are made to inform future policies and practices drawing on their experiences.

EDW02382   [Paper]
Postgraduate s upervision: Is having a Ph.D. enough?

Brian Edwards, Deakin University Student Association

Over the last six months in the UK mandatory training of postgraduate supervisors has grown significantly. Driven partly by quality assurance concerns and the threat of litigation, universities have increasingly required their supervisors to undergo a variety of training schemes ranging from award courses over a year to weekend residential courses. In Australia too, a number of Universities have developed courses and interactive web sites specifically focussed on improving supervisory practices. While such developments are admirable for their efforts to improve postgraduate supervision, they are at the mercy of being transformed into top-down, bureaucratic schemes to satisfy spurious quality assurance and accountability checklists. This paper will seek to outline a means of improving postgraduate supervision which has a focus on empowering supervisors to generate their own definitions of good postgraduate supervision.

ELO02038   [Paper]
Epistemological and methodological issues in a transatlantic research project in inclusive education

Irma Eloff, University of Pretoria,
P Engelbrecht and M Oswald, University of Stellenbosch,
E Kozleski, University of Colorado,
E Swart, RAU and
N Yssel, Ball State University

Inclusive education is affecting educational systems worldwide. This global trend has necessitated broader collaboration and a need to expand our understanding of what it means to have authentic inclusive learning environments. One of the least explored aspects in inclusive education relates to the parents of the children who are being included. In this paper we wish to share some of the epistemological and methodological issues that we have encountered in a research project that is exploring the perceptions and experiences of parents and caregivers who are involved in inclusive education in South Africa and the USA. From the onset the different contexts in which the research was to be undertaken raised the question for culturally sensitive social analysis. The multiplicity of perspectives was recognized early on and was evidenced in the frequency of electronic correspondence between the researchers on epistemological and methodological questions in both the pilot and the main study. In this study we opted for an emergent research design in which we cannot afford to neglect the transformations that take place in the research discourse. This paper will explore some of these transformations and plot the causal sequences that resulted from these discourses.

ELO02046   [Paper]
Representational and conceptual complexities in doing research on how children with HIV/AIDS cope

Irma Eloff and L Ebersohn, University of Pretoria

The HIV/AIDS pandemic is not only changing the world, it is changing the way in which we do research in and about the world we live in. This pandemic is challenging the ways in which we think about the world. In this paper we will discuss the ways in which this pandemic has influenced our research on children coping with HIV/AIDS in South Africa. HIV/AIDS defies linear intentionality in a research design and it provides no point from which it is possible to view the research process comprehensively. Still, in this paper we attempt to signify particular tensions that have been part of our research process. They are tensions between 1) methods and theories, 2) developed and developing contexts, 3) crisis of representation and lived experience, 4) participation and observation, 5) moving from field to texts, and 6) authoring and de-authoring the processes of knowledge production. This research process has considerable challenges, but the benefits include new ways of understanding the representational and conceptual complexities involved in an inquiry process that focuses on a pandemic that defies our existing paradigmatic perspectives.

ELE02336   [Paper]
The impact of volunteering experience on citizenship qualities in adolescent students

Diann Eley, Loughborough University

Studies have demonstrated the personal benefits gained by young people through volunteering (Pancer and Pratt, 1999) that include an increase in confidence, personal development and pro-social identity. Volunteering is also central to teaching citizenship, developing leadership qualities in students and helps promote trust and cohesion within communities.

This research investigated students' reflections on the impact of their volunteer experience over time and how it related to their sense of citizenship and concern for their schools and communities.

Motivations for volunteering (Volunteer Functions Inventory, Clary et al., 1998), levels of leadership skills (Leadership Skills Inventory, Karnes & Chauvin, 2000) and demographics were assessed in 326 students who committed up to 200 hours to volunteering in their communities. Reflections on their experience were assessed over time in terms of their attractions to and reasons for volunteering and their views on citizenship and life values. Longitudinal analysis of the impact of their volunteering experience showed genuine shifts in these variables over a nine-month period. A psychosocial profile of student volunteers is offered and results are discussed regarding strategies to attract adolescents to volunteer work as well as nurture and sustain this pro-social behaviour into adulthood.

EMM02090   [Paper]    ®
Towards a model of collaboration and empowerment in middle years literacy research

Marie Emmitt and Sarah Culican, Deakin University

Government-funded research in education carried out by universities can raise a number of issues regarding research methodologies and ethics. Underlying these issues are deeper tensions emerging from incongruent ideologies, even conflicts of interest, regarding the role and identity of academic research within the context of the corporate marketplace. With the pressure on Faculties of Education to be entrepreneurial in competitive tendering for research projects, issues related to ethics and ownership can get lost amidst the unrealistic timelines and inadequate budgets that characterise many short-term educational research contracts.

This paper will discuss these issues in relation to the Middle Years Literacy Research Project carried out by Deakin University. This Project was part of the Commonwealth-funded Successful Interventions research involving the three education sectors in Victoria. As well as enacting sound principles and ethics in educational research, our aim in the Project was to maximise involvement and ownership of the research by participating case study schools. This was a challenge, given the constraints of the Project brief and the ongoing control of the tendering group.

This presentation will highlight the particular design of this study and ways the research team addressed issues of ethics, ownership and autonomy in school-based educational research.

EMM02264   [Paper]
The Victorian Institute of Teaching

Geoff Emmett, Victorian Institute of Teaching

This paper traces the brief history of the Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT) and the challenges it faces in addressing the uncertainties in the teaching profession. It considers the genesis of the Institute including the role of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on the Victorian Institute of Teaching, the compromises in shepherding the Bill through the Victorian Parliament, the high and competing expectations key organisations and agencies have for the VIT and key issues that have been resolved or remain problematic.

The relationship between standards of professional practice and conduct, a professional learning framework and professional development for teachers is canvassed in the context of a period between 1992 and 1999 of a market driven approach to school education and the teaching profession in Victoria. This approach was dominated by high levels of devolution of school governance, low levels of collaboration and co-operation, corporate models of school leadership and professional development and low levels of support for the teaching profession. An alternative approach is proposed which engages the profession in defining standards of practice and conduct and supports continuous improvement in the quality of teaching and learning.

Finally the challenges that confront the VIT in developing and implementing professional standards of practice and conduct that engage the profession and embrace a professional learning framework and professional development that is reflective and supports continuous improvement are raised.

EVA02510   [Paper]
Academics' experiences of teaching of Australian 'non-local' courses in Hong Kong

Terry Evans and Karen Tregenza, Deakin University

This paper reports on some research from an ARC funded project conducted by the authors into the ways in which Australian universities establish collaborations with partners in Hong Kong and Papua New Guinea to offer courses in those countries. The research used principally qualitative methods (interviews, observations, document collection and analysis) to develop case-studies of a range of partnerships in Hong Kong. The project commenced in 1999 and is in its final stages. The paper discusses the experiences of staff who developed, administered and taught courses offered in Hong Kong by Australian institutions in partnership with a local provider. It presents and discusses findings on their reasons for working 'off-shore' in Hong Kong, their engagement with local staff and students, and their experience of Hong Kong students' coping with Australian curricula, pedagogies and assessment.

EXL02213   [Paper]    ®
Negotiating culture: Preparing adult learners for cross-cultural pedagogy

Beryl Exley, Queensland University of Technology

In a global knowledge society where English language, science and technological knowledge are all seen as increasingly important for economic development, issues of cultural and local identities seem to have become significant. As Castells argues the late 20th century witnessed the emergence of a politics of identity based on national, regional and local identifications. This paper examines the accounts of teachers working across national boundaries in the Australian education export industry. Specificall