AARE Conference Papers Abstracts - 2003

Keynote speakers

A

AGB03245  ®  [Paper]
The power of labeling discourse in the construction of disability in Ghana

Joseph Agbenyega, Monash University

In recent times, disability issues have become the major concern for advocacy groups, teachers, school administrators, and policy makers in many countries. There is much work currently being done in many countries in order to find the most appropriate placement for persons with disabilities, particularly in the areas of education, training, and employment. However, there is evidence to suggest that these efforts have been continuously thwarted by the nature and type of labels societies place on individuals with disabilities. These labels vary in nature according to the perceptions, traditions, cultures and beliefs of different societies. This article explores the power of labeling in the Ghanaian society and its effects on the education, treatment and management of persons with disabilities in that country. The paper concludes that unless labeling is removed from the individual and, rather, placed on the problem, our minds will continue to be arrested to see only the negative side of disabled persons, and any consideration for appropriate placement of persons with disabilities is unlikely to work.

AKH03346  ®  [Paper]
Teachers' control and students' motivation

Selina Akhter, The University of Auckland

In a cross-sectional study the relationships among teachers' control versus autonomy orientation, teachers' pupil control orientation, teacher pupil control behaviour as perceived by students, students' intrinsic motivation and social responsibility goals were examined from a sample of 145 teachers and 1400 Year Five students from 50 primary schools from rural and urban areas of Dhaka District of Bangladesh. Based on previous studies a model was developed and tested by using path analysis and multilevel regression design. The findings indicated that the class average for social responsibility goal pursuit scores was higher when the class perceived their teachers' behaviour as less authoritarian which was consistent with theory. In contrast, for intrinsic motivation, in classrooms where students perceived their teachers as more authoritarian, on average, the students perceived themselves as highly intrinsically motivated which was not expected. There were no direct relationships between teachers' orientations and students' intrinsic motivation and social responsibility goals, however teachers orientations were directly related to the perceived teachers' pupil control behaviour indicating teachers who perceived themselves as more autonomous and humanistic were perceived by students as less authoritarian. The results are discussed in the light of previous studies and cultural values

ALI03038  [Paper]
Bloodied But Unbowed - the effect on NZ secondary school teachers' work and lives of the neoliberal reforms of the 90's - a union perspective

Judie Alison, Bronwyn Cross and Rob Willetts, NZPPTA

This paper presents a picture of a union which has survived throughout the 1990's period of neoliberal reform unprecedented attacks on the pay and conditions of work of its members and on its very existence as a union, and today is in a position of considerable strength. The neoliberal mantra of avoidance of 'provider capture' sought to marginalize and ultimately destroy the capacity of education unions to represent teachers in terms of their working conditions and their professional priorities. The paper brings together evidence from successive negotiating rounds, data assembled by NZPPTA through its regular surveys of its membership, schools and teacher education providers, and information from major campaigns, to create a picture of the issues which education unions have had to confront under neoliberal policies and the strategies which have proved to be effective. It also indicates where the union believes it is positioned now under a government which is beginning to move away from deprofessionalising neoliberal policies to a position of engagement with teachers in the development of future education policies.

ANG03607  [Paper]
Why stay on at school? Two stories of student attitudes to school in a rural and a suburban community.

Jill Blackmore, Jennifer Angwin, Geoff Shacklock with Phillippa Hodder

ASH03202   [Paper]
Coercion, Self Regulation and Tertiary Education

Craig Ashcroft, University of Otago

Michel Foucault claimed that the apparent neutrality and political invisibility that existed within certain forms of governance allowed power to be exercised with maximum effect because it was hidden from view.

This paper uses Bentham's panopticon as a metaphorical representation of the role and likely impact of recent reforms in New Zealand's tertiary education sector. I have conceptualised a process of Managerial Panopticism to argue that the reforms initiated by the 1999 Labour/Alliance Coalition Government and imposed upon New Zealand's tertiary education sector employ techniques of coercion that provide individuals with a sense of opportunism if they comply. I argue that this sense of 'opportunism' is actually an illusion used by the government to stifle any possible resistance to the reform process.

ATW03689  [Paper]
International Aid Activities in Mathematics Education in Developing Countries: A Call for Further Research

Bill Atweh, Queensland University of Technology, Australia

AYR03168   [Paper]
Government policies and processes for the support of the education for disadvantaged students in Australian schools

Roberta Ayres, University of New England

Both public and private schools in Australia have access to policies and their accompanying funding to address varying needs of students. This paper focuses on arrangements in Australian schools to support learning for disadvantaged students who are at risk of failing at school. The background to the development of these policies in Australia is discussed.

B

BAH03426  [Paper]
Describing pre-university students' learning strategies using the Rasch Model

Sadiah Baharom, Sharifah Norhaidah Syed Idros and Nordin Abdul Razak, Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris

Over the past years, metacognition and cognitive strategies, have been subject of considerable research. This study aims at looking into the cognitive and metacognitive strategies employed by pre-university students through the administration of the MSLQ (Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire) developed by Pintrich et al. (1991). The cognitive and metacognitive strategies scale of this instrument is divided into five sub-scales namely rehearsal, elaboration, organization, critical thinking and metacognitive self-regulation. The questionnaire was administered to 284 pre-university students attending a science programme and the data was analyzed using the Rasch Measurement Model. From the analyses a 'Students' Learning Strategies Scale' was developed where the five sub-scale was ordered along a linear line in ascending order of strategies used by the students. The results obtained revealed marked differences in the use of the learning strategies of the pre-university students as compared to the scaled plotted with the mean obtained by the studies of Pintrich et al (1991). These results suggest differences in classroom teaching and learning which could explain individual differences in the learners' cognitive and metacognitive strategies employed in their learning process.

BAH03789  [Paper]
A Comparative and Correlational Study of the Body-image In Active and Inactive adults and with Body composition and Somatotype

Bahram.A & Shafizadeh.M, Teacher Training University, Tehran, Iran

Regular physical activities can produce physical as well as psychological benefits. While its physical effects have been acknowledged, the psychological benefits of regular physical need to be assessed through careful and systematic investigations. Psychological benefits including well being, positive mood enhancement, stress reduction, and self-efficacy, and self-concept improvement are among some of the most important results of engaging in regular physical activities.

Self-concept is generally defined as one's knowledge about his/her characteristics and personal limitations and a way in which one looks at such characteristics as different from or similar to others. It is one of the important aspects of social development that is formed through social experiences and interpersonal relationships.

Scales have been purposed to assess self-concept PSDQ has been successfully used to study self-concept. The purpose of the present investigation was to examine the effect of participation physical activity in regular on body - image in the adult population. The subjects for this study included 120 adults (60 males 60 females) between 25-65 years who were randomly selected and then divided into two active and inactive groups through the Median

Split Technique based on the Physical Activity Index scores. 2 x 2 MANCOVA (gender x group) with covariates of body for percent and BMI was used to analysis the data. The result on somatotype showed that, inactive group has higher score on endomorphy and mesomorphy but lower score on ectomorphy than active group.

BAL03226  [Paper]
Current trends in teacher education: Some implications

By Julie Ballantyne, Queensland University of Technology, Australia

BAR03775  ®  [Paper]
Conceptualising students' goals and self-concept as multidimensional and heirarchically structured

Katrina Barker, Dennis McInerney, and Martin Dowson, University of Western Sydney

The purpose of the present study was to examine the potential multidimensional and hierarchical structure of student's motivational goals and academic self-concept (SC). Specifically, this paper tests the ability of a hypothesised second-order measurement model comprising achievement motivation variables (mastery, performance & social goals) and academic self-concept variables (English and math self-concept) to fit data collected over two years from 1 515 Australian High School students, and to test whether the model fits equally well across sex groups. Results of first order Confirmatory Factor Analyses (CFA) demonstrate that the combined General Achievement Goal Orientation Scale (GAGOS) and Academic Self Description Questionnaire II (ASDQ II) provide adequate reliability estimates on each scale and validly measure the constructs. Higher order CFA results provided support for an hierarchical representation (with goodness-of-fit indices for Time 1 (T1) and Time 2 (T2) ranging from .86 to .92). The model fitted the data equally well for males (with goodness-of-fit indices for T1 and T2 ranging from .83 to .92) and females (with goodness-of-fit indices for T1 and T2 ranging from .85 to .92). Thus, the study provides a measurement framework within which the interaction of multiple achievement goal orientations and academic self-concept variables may be examined further.

BAR03777  ®  [Paper]
The impact of transformational leadership style of the school principal on school learning environments and selected teacher outcomes: A preliminary report

Alan M. Barnett, University of Western Sydney, Australia

The purpose of this paper is to report on an investigation of the relationships between the transformational and transactional leadership behaviours of school principals in New South Wales State secondary schools and some selected teacher outcomes and school learning environment constructs.

A survey was carried out in 52 randomly selected schools involving 458 teachers from across New South Wales. The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire Form 5X (Short) developed by Bass and Avolio (1997) was used to measure leadership behaviour, while, the School Learning Environment Questionnaire developed by Fraser (1986) was used to assess school learning environment. Factor analysis was used to determine the validity of the leadership model developed by Bass and Avolio (1997) and the school learning environment model developed by Fraser (1986) in the Australian school context. A factor analysis of leadership items suggested that one transformational factor (vision), one transformational / transactional hybrid factor (individualised consideration) and one non-leadership factor (laissez-faire) factor were evident. An analysis of school learning environment items identified seven factors. Four outcome factors were incorporated; overall satisfaction with leadership, perceptions of teacher influence, perceptions of teacher effectiveness, and perceptions of teacher control.

Multilevel modelling analysis was used to explore the relationship between leadership behaviours, school learning environment factors and teacher outcomes. Contrary to what might be expected, results from the analysis of the leadership behaviours factors with teacher outcomes suggested that teacher outcomes like overall satisfaction with leadership is more closely and highly correlated with individualised consideration rather than with vision. Further, the leadership behaviour factors demonstrated differential correlations with each of the school learning environment factors, indicating that principals may target their leadership behaviour to have maximum impact in any effort at modifying school learning environment.

BAT03078  [Paper]

Richard Bates, Deakin University

BAT03698  [Paper]
The appropriateness of professional judgement to determine performance rubrics in a graded competency based assessment framework

Andrea Bateman, The University of Ballarat; Patrick Griffin, The University of Melbourne Australia, 2003

BAX03694  [Paper]
Who teaches teachers to teach? Investigating the role of the classroom teacher in teacher education

Ann Baxter, University of Wollongong

Classroom teachers who work with student teachers in the practicum setting play a critical role in pre-service teacher education. Faculties of education acknowledge the importance of this role, but largely overlook and undervalue its importance in conversations about pedagogical practices in teacher education (Loughran & Russell, 1997). While there are many studies that document the work of supervising teachers from the researcher's perspective, there are few studies which provide teachers with the opportunity to explore and examine their own work in the practicum setting or that give consideration to the diversity of backgrounds, experiences and supervisory practices explained from the teachers' own perspectives which influence their work with pre-service teachers in the practicum setting (Clarke, 2002a).

The purpose of this study is to develop a profile of classroom teachers who supervise the practicum experiences of pre-service students from the University of Wollongong and to engage some of these teachers in action research to explore and examine their supervisory practices. A multiple case study design will be used to address this purpose by answering the following research questions:

1. What are the backgrounds and beliefs of the classroom teachers who supervise pre-service teachers from the University of Wollongong during practicum?
2. What supervisory practices do these teachers use when working with pre-service teachers?
3. In what ways do these practices change when teachers engage in an action research group?

Information from this study will be used to gain a greater understanding of the backgrounds, beliefs and supervisory practices of those teachers who work with pre-service teachers in the practicum setting. This knowledge will enhance practicum experiences for all stakeholders (classroom teachers, school administrators, university educators, pre-service teachers, students) and inform the type of inquiry based professional development program which the University of Wollongong can provide with and for our school-based peers.

This conference presentation reports results from the first stage of this study, which involved the participation of primary teachers in the Wollongong area of the Illawarra region (NSW, Australia) in a questionnaire about themselves, as well as their beliefs and underlying assumptions about their current supervisory practice with pre-service teachers.

BEA03433  [Paper]
Balancing Demands: exploring dilemmas that can arise in evaluative research

Fiona M. Beals M.Ed, Research Assistant, The New Zealand Council for Educational Research

BEH03132  [Paper]
Leadership for collaborative practice

Donna Behl, Waikato Institute Of Technology-Wintec

BEL03619  [Paper]
The PlaySmart Programme. -"Thinking through Physical Education."

Tom Bell. Manchester Metropolitan University.

BEN03143  [Paper]
Coeducation: A risky venture still?

Sue Bennett, University of South Australia

Most students in Australia attend coeducational schools. However there has been widespread and ongoing concern that coeducational schools are potentially risky environments for both girls and boys. Much research into coeducation has been framed in the light of these concerns. However, there has been little attempt in the research to identify factors that lead to positive outcomes - in relation to gender equity and construction of gender identity - for both girls and boys in the coeducational environment. This paper reports on some current research which is being undertaken at three schools, each of which has made has made a conscious decision to be coeducational. The project is a qualitative study of the practices and meanings of coeducation as it is being practised at the beginning of the twenty-first century, with the researcher spending extended periods at each site in order to becomeimmersed in the culture of the school. Ultimately the study will aim to identify some key factors pertaining to the coeducational context through which students are encouraged to realise their full potential unrestricted by traditional gender limitations.

BHA03815  [Paper]
Distributed learning environment in multicultural context: A symposium

MadhumitaBhattacharya and Lone Jorgensen, Massey University

Globalization of education in a true sense cannot be achieved only by establishing accessibility, developing cost effective technologies. Due to easy accessibility of information, communication, resources and movement of people from one place to another, teachers in a classroom or outside the classroom have to deal with many more different situations than ever before. Present day classrooms (traditional and virtual) consist of students from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds. All these issues, challenges and demands cannot be solved overnight or by an individual. Discussions were held on some of these issues during the symposium session through brainstorming, idea generation and visual representation of distributed cognition. General issues of multicultural setup concerning design, delivery and communication in distributed learning environment were discussed. In this article the authors have summarised the points discussed and emerging ideas for future work to be done in this regard.

BIR03630  [Paper]
Between A Flax And A Mangrove:
Theories of Human Development for Aotearoa

Lise Bird, School of Education, Victoria University of Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand, and
Wendy Drewery, School of Education, University of Waikato,, Aotearoa New Zealand

BLA03000
Glasser Quality Schools

Elizabeth Blance, Griffith University

Since the early 80's, some schools in Queensland have been using the ideas of Dr William Glasser to underpin the development of a quality school as well as to teach students responsible behaviour. Glasser (2001) argues that if students perceive the school is needs satisfying, fewer of them will choose behaviours that disrupt playground activities and classroom learning. This presentation will provide evidence from surveys and focus interviews with students about their perceptions of a how a Queensland primary school has become a needs satisfying place for them. Data about referrals for misbehaviour will also be presented of the reductions behaviour incidences. Currently the school's culture is being shaped by the theories and practices of Choice Theory, Reality Therapy and Lead Management (Glasser, 1986). Over the last six years a significant number of staff members at the school have chosen to use their own time to be involved in a considerable amount of professional development focused on achieving the status of a Glasser Quality School. Teachers are using the data I discuss here to reflect on pedagogical and management practices and to plan for further development of the school as a Glasser Quality School.

BLA03738  [Paper]

BOA03130  [Paper]
Academic pressure and expectations impacting upon the educational provision in kindergartens: Investigating the impact of teachers' years of classroom experience and type of specialisation and current school location

Margot Boardman, University of Tasmania

Renewed interest in the early academic preparation of young children, designed to lead to future success in schooling, has been impacting upon the educational provision for many kindergarten students. Academically focussed curricula are becoming more prevalent in kindergarten settings, resulting in traditional play-based approaches being challenged by some parents and educators. This paper reports on a study, which sets out to ascertain the prevalence of more formalised teaching and learning practices being undertaken in Tasmanian kindergartens with four and five year old children, when the teachers' area of specialisation, years of teaching experience and school location are considered. Eighty six kindergarten teachers from three of the six Tasmanian state school districts participated in the study. Results showed that teachers from isolated school locations and those with limited teaching experience were the teachers utilising the most teacher-directed learning experiences in kindergarten. Conversely, teachers from urban locations who had between sixteen and twenty five years of teaching experience were providing the least formalised learning program for their kindergarten students. It is evident that strong leadership is needed for some groups of teachers in Tasmanian schools if these trends towards formalisation of the kindergarten-teaching program are to be addressed. Establishment of strong collegial support networks would also be beneficial, especially for those less-experienced and isolated teachers, to allow informed debate to be undertaken by all kindergarten teachers on this important issue in young children's learning.

BOA03496  [Paper]
Learning Communities' Contribution to educational improvement: Joint Participation for Mutual Gains in Early Childhood education

Dr Margot Boardman, University of Tasmania

BON03117
Measure for measure: curriculum requirements and children's achievement in music education

Trevor Bond, James Cook University, and Marie Bond, Townsville Grammar School

Children in all public primary schools in Queensland, Australia have weekly music lessons designed to develop key musical concepts such as reading, writing, singing and playing simple music notation. Their understanding of basic musical concepts is developed through a blend of kinaesthetic, visual and auditory experiences. In keeping with the pedagogical principles outlined by the Hungarian composer, Zoltan Kodaly, early musical experiences are based in singing well-known children's chants - usually restricted to notes of the pentatonic scale. In order to determine the extent to which primary school children's musical understandings developed in response to these carefully structured developmental learning experiences, the Queensland Primary Music Curriculum was examined to yield a set of over 70 indicators of musical understanding in the areas of rhythm, melody and part-work. Data was collected from more than 400 children's attempts at elicited musical performances. Quantitative data analysis procedures derived from the Rasch model for measurement were used to established the sequence of children's mastery of key musical concepts. Output suggested that the grade allocation for a few concepts needed to be revised. Subsequently, children's performances over several years were also analysed to track the extent to which the children's musical minds had changed as a result of their learning experiences. The empirical evidence suggests that children's musical development is enhanced by school learning and that indicators can be used to identify both outstanding and atypical development of musical understanding.

BOO03095  [Paper]
IS THIS REALLY WHAT YOU MEAN? PROBLEMS OF PERCEPTION IN SCIENCE MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS

Boo Hong Kwen, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Assessment is an integral part of the teaching-learning process, and typically consumes a significant portion of both the teachers' and pupils' time and energy. The background of this paper concerns the fact that multiple choice questions (MCQs) are used rather extensively in the assessment of science learning outcomes from year three through to year six at the primary school level, and the fact that some of these questions involve a mismatch in perception between the test setter(s) and the test takers.

This discussion paper is based on an investigation into 100 sets of primary school science examination papers from 25 different schools. It discusses specific examples of perceptual mismatch between the question setter(s) and the test takers. It also highlights the concern that too much reliance on the use of traditional MCQs could seriously disadvantage pupils who are more divergent or creative or deeper in thinking, as well as impede the development of creativity in pupils. Suggestions for addressing some of the concerns raised are also included in the paper.

BOO03676  [Paper]
Employment aspirations of newly qualified teachers: A case study of the 2002 cohort from a regional Australian university.

Ted Booth, Faculty of Education, University of Wollongong

Contemporary beginning teachers have a diverse mix of ages and prior experiences and many are seeking teaching work beyond their own state in a rapidly changing national and international market. The purpose of this descriptive study is to investigate the initial and medium term employment aspirations and realistic expectations of a cohort of newly qualified teachers (NQTs) just prior to their entry into the teaching workforce. The case study is a sample of 174 beginning teachers from a regional Australian university.

BOY03329  [Paper]
Innovative Pathways from Secondary School: Gaining a Sense of Direction

Sally Boyd and Sue McDowall NZCER

BOY03449  [Paper]
Putting rural into pre -service teacher education:

Colin R. Boylan, Charles Sturt University

BRO03022  [Paper]
Teachers' Instructional Conceptions: Assessment's relationship to learning, teaching, curriculum, and teacher efficacy

Dr Gavin TL Brown, School of Education University of Auckland

BRO03603  ®  [Paper]
The Self-Defining Other - English as a second language teachers talk about their students

Jill Brown, Monash University

Teacher talk about their students is a powerful way of understanding the unstated ways in which teacher identity and work is constructed. This paper draws on the work of Bakhtin, Hall and Pennycook in an analysis of the part played by student as self-defining other. Data is drawn from a series of unstructured interviews with English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers working in the Victorian State secondary system and is part of doctoral research into ESL teacher identity and work. This section of the study - with its focus on teacher constructions of student identity - comes from the second of three case study interviews with nine ESL teachers of varying degrees of experience working in a range of different settings. Teacher perceptions of student identity influence the teacher identities available to these teachers. Their construction of their students in turn constructs them. Interaction between student ways of being and teacher ways of being may be complementary and enable preferred enactments of teacher identities. Mismatch may result in dissonance in the teacher-student relationship resulting in teacher behaviour at odds with preferred teacher identities.

BUR03114  [Paper]
ARTS-BASED APPROACHES TO CREATIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING

Dr Stephanie Burridge (Australia/Singapore), Senior Lecturer Faculty of Performing Arts, LASALLE-SIA College of the Arts

BUR03764  ®  [Paper]
Breaking the self-concept enhancement conundrum: Re-conceptualising the next generation of self-concept enhancement research

Rhonda Craven and Herbert Marsh, University of Western Sydney, and Paul Burnett, Charles Sturt University

Due to the benefits of a positive self-concept, enhancing self-concept across the lifespan is recognized internationally as a highly desirable goal in diverse settings ranging from the pre-school classroom to the retirement village. Despite this importance placed on the value of enhancing self-concept and the presumed impact of self-concept enhancement on other desirable outcomes, a plethora of self-concept interventions have failed to enhance self-concept. In this paper we encourage researchers to break this self-concept enhancement conundrum. Firstly, we provide a rationale for enhancing self-concept in order to demonstrate that enhancing self-concept is a highly desirable goal and a vital key to maximising human potential and happiness. To underpin this rationale we provide an overview of research evidence from the education sector that demonstrates self-concept's causal impact on subsequent academic achievement and other desirable educational outcomes. Secondly, we present a brief historical overview of self-concept theory and intervention research to illustrate that historically intervention research has been plagued by weak research methodology that continues to dominate enhancement research in this new millennium. Thirdly, we describe advances in self-concept theory, measurement and research that can be capitalized upon to expedite progress in unravelling the self-concept enhancement conundrum. Fourthly, we summarize results from important meta-analyses that critically analyse the effects of a range of self-concept interventions, and outline promising interventions, research designs and methods. Finally, based upon a synthesis of information presented in this paper, we present guidelines to call upon and assist researchers to implement the next generation of self-concept enhancement research to break the self-concept enhancement conundrum.

C

CAL03240  [Paper]
Establishing the validity of a performance assessment in numeracy

Rosemary Callingham, University of New England

Validity is the extent to which the inferences drawn from scores on a test or assessment can be justified empirically and theoretically. Establishing the validity of an assessment can be seen as an ongoing process of judgment, using different forms of evidence for substantiation. Traditionally validity has been defined within an evidential framework of three interrelated aspects: criterion, content and construct validity. Messick's (1989) integrated view of validity led to inferences drawn from the information gathered from the assessment being pivotal to establishing validity and extended the understanding of validity to the consequences of test or assessment use, and led to a consideration of construct validity as the over-arching evidential basis. Performance assessment, in which students provide some form of product or performance, typically takes place under less standardised conditions than traditional test forms. It has been suggested that validity standards should be different for this form of assessment, relating more directly to the specific performance. Students' observed performances on a complex performance task in a numeracy context, as well as on tests of mathematics and mathematical problem solving, were analysed using Rasch modelling techniques. Six criteria suggested by Messick for construct validity evidence, were applied to the data. Findings indicated that the performance assessment information validity was high, and provided data useful for multiple purposes. The implications of these findings for performance assessment are discussed.

CAR03026  [Paper]
Secondary School Principals as Curriculum Leaders: A New Zealand Study

Carol Cardno, UNITEC Institute of Technology, New Zealand, Dallas Collett, Bay of Plenty Polyt echnic, New Zealand

CAR03238  [Paper]
Internships: Are they for all?

Lorelei CARPENTER and Bette BLANCE, Griffith University, Gold Coast Campus, Queensland, AUSTRALIA

CAN03399   ®  [Paper]
Mental Computation Strategies for Part-Whole Numbers

Annaliese Caney and Jane M. Watson University of Tasmania

Mental strategies used by school students in solving problems involving operations with whole numbers have been documented for some time. There is, however, little information about how students solve fraction, decimal, and percent - or part-whole - number problems mentally. This is despite the fact that there is an increased emphasis on facility with these types of numbers as students move from primary to secondary school. In this study 24 students from grades 3 to 10 participated in individual interviews involving mental computation. This paper will document mental strategies used in operations involving part-whole numbers and relationships. Of particular interest are the links to many of the mental strategies that have been observed with whole numbers. As well, responses will be analysed with respect to their conceptual or instrumental usage. Since many students appear to find part-whole number relationships conceptually challenging, understanding the strategies children use when solving part-whole problems mentally is valuable. This knowledge may help teachers in strengthening students' understanding about intuitive ideas for part-whole numbers, in providing transitions to written algorithms, and in reinforcing estimation practices that will assist in checking answers obtained in other ways, including by calculator.

CAR03290  [Paper]
Low-decile schools and teacher attributes: parent voices

Vicki M Carpenter, Auckland College of Education

CAR03480  [Paper]
Pathways, incentives and barriers for women aspiring to principalship in Australian Catholic schools

Dr Helga Neidhart and Paul Carlin, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne

CAR03596  [Paper]
Learning Communities Today -Who benefits?

Lorelei Carpenter, Griffith University (Gold Coast), and Pam Matters, James Cook University (Cairns)

CAR03759  [Paper]
>Artists who teach

Judith Carroll, Australian Catholic University

There is, it could be argued, an enormous symbolic capital invested in the belief that it is artistic practice that informs the pedagogy of artists who teach. Despite the apparent tendency for artists to reproduce stylistic character in their students and apprentices, this paper argues that the instructional relations between student and artist teacher are driven by art educational convention rather than the formalised reproduction of their own practical artistic experience.

This paper reports on research undertaken by the writer into the relation between artistic practice and teaching practice. The belief that the sophisticated practice of artists conforms to an integrated and disciplined pattern is challenged. The study is designed to reveal the concealed frames of reference, which motivate the beliefs of two artists and their practice over time. The methodology focuses on a semantic analysis of the texts and contexts, which form a representation of the underlying folk beliefs of the two respondents. The evidence emergent in the investigation suggests that understanding is not transparent in the two artist's explanation of the works that they make.

CAV03396  ®  [Paper]
Application of Rasch model and traditional statistics to develop a measure of primary school classroom learning culture

Robert Cavanagh, Joseph Romanoski, Geoffrey Giddings, Melinda Harris and Graham Dellar, Curtin University of Technology, and Russell Waugh, Edith Cowan University

The study developed and validated a scale of elementary school classroom culture through sequential application of Rasch model and traditional statistics. The conceptual framework for the study was a theoretical model of elementary school classroom culture comprised of two educational outcome factors (six sub-factors), two class group factors (seven sub-factors), a teacher factor (four sub-factors) and a parental involvement factor. Likert scale items were written for each factor and sub-factors to produce a 108 item scale. The scale was administered to a convenience sample of 622 students in 28 elementary school classrooms.

The psychometric properties of the data were analysed using the computer programs SPSS and Rasch Unidimensional Measurement Models (RUMM). Both programs were then used for scale development and validation. The refined scale contained 59 items organised into five factors and 15 sub-factors. Each sub-factor was internally reliable and factors elicited data on a discreet construct. The items within each sub-factor were arranged in Guttman patterns from 'easy' to 'hard'. Scale development ensured the data from the refined scale fitted the theoretical model.

The study shows that the measurement capacity of a scale can be enhanced by application of both Rasch model and traditional statistics in scale development.

CAV03397  ®  [Paper]
Development of a Rasch model scale to measure student information and communication technology learning self-reported outcomes, behaviours and attitudes

Robert Cavanagh, Joseph Romanoski, Geoffrey Giddings, Melinda Harris and Graham Dellar, Curtin University of Technology

The study applied the Rasch model to construct an ordinal and interval-level scale to measure student use and attitudes towards information and communication technology (ICT). Scale development was based upon a hypothesised model comprising ICT educational outcomes and behaviours and attitudes towards ICT (in-school and out-of-school). Specifically, the study aimed to produce a scale that measured student self-reported outcomes, behaviours and attitudes towards use of ICT; calibrated item difficulties and self-reported outcomes, behaviours and attitudes towards ICT measures on the same scale; and elicited data to fit the theoretical model.

The model was applied to develop a 126 item Likert scale type instrument with items organised into three sections. The educational outcomes section comprised items on self-regulation, productivity, incentivisation and ICT-efficacy. The in-school section comprised items on independent learning, problem solving, creativity, meta-cognition, peer support, peer caring, virtual relationships, student centred teaching, teacher caring, group collaboration, instructional design, teacher-student negotiation, school intranet use, and Internet use. The out-of-school section comprised items on parental involvement in ICT learning, the home ICT environment, and website associations.

Rasch model analysis of data from a sample of upper primary and secondary school students (N = 440) was applied in scale refinement and model validation.

CHA03004  [Paper]
Preservice teachers' epistemological beliefs and conceptions about teaching and learning: Cultural implications for research in teacher education1

Kwok-wai Chan, Hong Kong Institute of Education

Four epistemological belief and two teaching/learning conception dimensions were identified from a questionnaire study of a sample of Hong Kong preservice teacher education students. The epistemological belief dimensions were labelled Innate/Fixed Ability, Learning Effort/Process, Authority/Expert Knowledge and Certainty Knowledge. The somewhat different results on epistemological beliefs from Schommer's findings with North American college students suggested possible influence of cultural contexts. The teaching/learning conceptions were labeled Traditional and Constructivist Conceptions. MANOVA indicated no significant statistical differences across age, gender and elective groups in their epistemological beliefs and conceptions. Canonical Correlation Analysis showed significant relations between epistemological beliefs and conceptions about teaching and learning. Implications were drawn for future research in teacher education with respect to the relations of epistemological beliefs and teaching/learning conceptions in different cultures.

Paper presented at the NZARE AARE Conference 2003 at Auckland, New Zealand from 29th Nov. to 3rd Dec. 2003. Correspondence: The Hong Kong Institute of Education, 10 Lo Ping Road, Tai Po, NT, Hong Kong SAR, China. Email: kwchan@ied.edu.hk

CHA03271  [Paper]
Continuing Education in Independent Universities in Taiwan, the Republic of China

Frances F. M. Choi, Department of Applied Foreign Language, Hung-Kuang University Taichung, Taiwan 433, ROC,

In 2002, the Taiwan government passed the Life-long Learning (LLL) Law that provides students with possible subsidies and tuition exemptions. The conventional Higher Educational (HE) market in Taiwan is becoming highly market-oriented following a series of educational reforms durin g the last ten years. There are at least 154 universities (or Independent Colleges) serving a population of about 0.5 million. Therefore, the adult continuing Education (CE) market is of growing importance to those institutions, especially for those with facilities located near metropolitan areas.

Independent universities or colleges involved in CE markets can be classified as General Type 1 Universities, General Type 2 Universities, Medical Universities and Newly Upgraded Universit ies. This study analyzes the enrollment in institutions of Higher Education from 1997 to 2001, which were 97,772, 126,035, 142,532, 160,684 and 202,311, respectively. The ratio of full time to part time teachers was approximately 55% and 45%. The average courses hours per student were between 2.618 and 3.743, however the number has been recently decreasing.

Among all universities, the General Type 1 Universities offered more than half the services provided to the CE market.

CHE03445  [Paper]
Genre learning and development: A Bakhtinian perspective

Dr Honglin Chen, Faculty of Education, University of Wollongong, NSW Australia

There has been a growing interest in genre as a powerful means of analysing and understanding texts in cross-disciplinary areas. Genres tend to be conceived as generic structures that constrain individuals and communicative events. In second language writing pedagogy, much attention has been given to raising ESL (English as a Second Language) students' structural awareness of genres as the route to genre development. Following from this pedagogical assumption, learning to write in a particular genre (e.g. academic genres) means learning the formal conventions associated with the genre. Drawing on Bakhtin's conception of dialogic unity between inner genre and genre forms, this paper argues that while structural scaffolding may lead to greater schematic awareness of texts, genre development is a developmental process contingent upon students' epistemological beliefs (inner genre). This conception offers a new perspective on genre development and learning in a second language.

CHI03413  ®  [Paper]
PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS ' EXPLANATIONS OF TWO MATHEMATICAL CONCEPTS

Helen Chick, University of Melbourne

There has been growing interest in the role played in mathematics teaching by teachers 'pedagogical content knowledge.This form of teacher knowledge goes beyond mastery of the subject to incorporate how subject matter is actually used in teaching.In particular,it includes knowledge of how to explain concepts and what models can be used to facilitate students ' understanding..In this study two items were used to investigate aspects of teachers 'mathematical pedagogical content knowledge.Pre-service primary and secondary mathematics teachers were asked to give written reasons to (a)justify the procedure of "adding a zero " onto the end of a whole number when multiplying by 10,,and (b)explain the equivalence of 3/8 and 37.5%.Both cohorts of pre-service teachers found the first task difficult,with many struggling to find appropriate language for their explanations.For the second task there was a variety of successful strategies and models,with the pre-service primary teachers having a greater range of pictorial models and the pre-service secondary teachers having more computational strategies.The implications of these results for the preparation of both primary and secondary mathematics teachers will be discussed.

CHO03273  [Paper]
A study of ESL students' English ability on a Taiwan institute entrance examination

Frances F M Choi, Hungkuang University

In the Taiwan's vocational education system, most students, after acquiring a five-year's learning, have to take Institute of Technology entrance examination to get a further 2-year college admission. English is one of the major subjects in the entrance examination and study the scores for an English as secondary Language (ESL) student can provide the information about the problems they have. The research studied English Exam grades in the 1997 Hung-Kuang Institute of Technology's Entrance Examination. The exam had 50 questions in vocabulary (13), grammar (9), dialogue (10), idioms (9) and translation & reading (9). The test results showed that Nursing students had the best overall grades ( =34.09-15.22), followed by Healthcare Administration students ( =29.67-16.09) and Food & Nutrition students ( =30.29-16.41). Normal distributions of the grades were observed while the grades in dialogue section were noted to have a bi-peak distribution. This study also utilized 'difficulty' for analyzing the results of examination and we obtained the conclusion with the following sequence: vocabulary-grammar-idioms-translation & reading-dialogue. This study also applied a Rose-type plot for displaying the relative strength of learning performance for Taiwan ESL students and this may identify ESL students' weakness and help to improve future English teaching techniques.

CLA03134  [Paper]
Reflection: Journals and reflective questions: A strategy for professional learning

Maggie Clarke, University of Western Sydney

Reflective journals have been used widely in teacher education programs to promote reflective thinking (Freidus, 1998; Carter & Francis, 2000; Yost, Senter & Forlenzo-Bailey, 2000). Smyth (1992) advocated that posing a series of questions to be answered in written journals could enhance reflective thinking. It was for this reason that reflective responses to directed questions were introduced in 2002 and subsequently in 2003 in the Bachelor of Education 4th year primary internship program at the University of Western Sydney, Australia. The internship program provides a sustained ten-week period of time in a school that affords student teachers the opportunity to examine their practice in an authentic setting of teaching. The purpose of the study undertaken with these students in the internship program was to examine what evidence of the students professional learning was provided by the internship reflective journal A framework of professional learning described by Dietz (1998) was used as the foundation for the analysis of the student's professional learning. This paper describes the process undertaken to assist internship students to understand the reflection process and their responses to reflective questions. These responses are analysed in relation to the internship students professional learning using the Professional Learning Cycle described by Dietz.

CLA03570  [Paper]
Practical activities: What science teaching can learn from primary classrooms

John Cripps Clark, Deakin University

Although I have been teaching and researching in primary science for the past decade, I began my career in science teaching in secondary and tertiary institutions and my views on science teaching were formed in these environments. Because I have never been a classroom primary teacher it has only been slowly that I have come to recognise some of the unique characteristics of science teaching in primary schools and come to value them. This paper is an attempt to begin a discussion about what science teaching can learn from the culture of teaching in primary schools by examining some of the ways in which science is taught.

This paper is based on research conducted for my doctorate. It was done in two parts: first a pilot study, Current Primary Science Practice, to try and get a feel for the way science is taught in primary schools in Victoria, N.S.W. and the A.C.T., followed by an in study of a term-long unit of science teaching done by four teachers at four different schools in Victoria and N.S.W, The Role of Practical Activities in Science Teaching.

COL03017  [Paper]
Small School Principalship - Is Section 76 Still Adequate?

Graham Collins, Marian Court

COL03056  [Paper]
Criticisms and accommodations: The Thomas Report and Catholic secondary education in New Zealand

Jenny Collins, Massey University

CON03598  [Paper]
A multi-source measurement approach to the assessment of higher order competencies

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

Competency based assessment (CBA) must focus on the complex combination of knowledge and skills required for successful performance in the workplace. Therefore CBA often requires the collection of evidence using multiple assessment methods across a period of time. While the implementation of multi-source assessment is consistent with the extensive body of CBA literature, research investigating the application of multi-source assessment is needed. This paper presents findings from a study investigating the application of a multi-source measurement approach to the assessment of higher order competencies in the public service industry. The aim of the study was to develop and validate a strategy to synthesise multiple sources of evidence to inform judgements of workplace competence. The methodology adopted integrates developments in two fields of study, performance appraisals and psychometrics. Seventy-five candidates were assessed using a combination of portfolio, interview and 360-degree assessment. This paper presents findings from a Rasch based analysis of assessment data. Variations in candidate competence and assessment method difficulty are discussed, and an interpretation of the competency under consideration is undertaken. Implications for CBA practice are considered.

CRA03760  ®  [Paper]
Teaching the teachers Aboriginal Studies makes a real difference: A critical analysis of the impact of core Aboriginal Studies teacher education courses on postgraduate teachers' self-perceptions

Rhonda Craven, Herbert Marsh and James Wilson-Miller, University of Western Sydney

This study was commissioned by the Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST) under its Education Innovation Program (EIP). The project goals were supported by the NSW Teachers Federation, NSW Primary Principals' Association; NSW Department of Education and Training (NSW DET); NSW Aboriginal Education Consultative Group Inc.; the Aboriginal Studies Association; and the Australian Council of Deans. This paper presents the findings emanating from the quantitative component of the study. The study aimed to: a) critically evaluate the impact of preservice primary teacher education Aboriginal Studies courses on practising teachers' self-perceived abilities to appreciate, understand and effectively teach Aboriginal Studies, Aboriginal perspectives, and Aboriginal children in Australian schools; b) compare and contrast the self-perceptions of teachers who had undertaken a core or elective course in Aboriginal Studies in their initial teacher education course with the self-perceptions of teachers who had not undertaken such courses; c) characterise participating teachers' initial teacher education courses in relation to the Aboriginal Studies content covered; and d) identify teachers' perceptions of useful structure and content to consider including in future teacher education courses. Results demonstrate that preservice Aboriginal Studies courses do make a positive difference. Findings included that teachers who have undertaken Aboriginal Studies courses in comparison to teachers who have not undertaken such courses report: knowing significantly more both about subject matter in relation to Aboriginal history, current issues and pedagogy for teaching Aboriginal Studies and about teaching Aboriginal students; significant higher self-concepts in regards to: their knowledge of Aboriginal Studies subject matter, their knowledge on how to teach Aboriginal Studies, and their overall ability to teach Aboriginal Studies and teach Aboriginal students effectively; and statistically significant higher self-concepts in relation to their ability to teach Aboriginal students and their enjoyment thereof. Preservice Aboriginal Studies teacher education courses were also found to impact more on cognitive components of self-concept (feelings of competence) rather than affective components of self-concept (enjoyment of teaching and learning about Aboriginal Studies). The study also found that the Aboriginal Studies courses currently available to preservice teachers would benefit from review and refinement to better meet the needs of teachers and schools.

CRA03800  ®  [Paper]
Indigenous students aspirations: An in-depth analysis of Indigenous students' career aspirations and factors that impact on their formulation

Adrian Parente, Rhonda Craven, Geoff Munns and Kurt Marder, University of Western Sydney

This study was commissioned by the Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST) under its Education Innovation Program (EIP). This paper reports on aspects of the qualitative component of the study. The aims of this component of the study included to: 1) identify Indigenous secondary school students' aspirations; 2) identify Indigenous students' perceptions of the relevance of their current studies and of further education to achieve their aspirations; 3) identify Indigenous students' preferences for further education in regard to vocational education and higher education; 4) identify the key sources of and quality of career advice Indigenous students have received; 5) identify the ability of Indigenous students to differentiate between desirable and attainable goals and understand perquisites on achieving said goals; 6) elucidate Indigenous students' perceptions of any barriers they may face in attaining their aspirations; and 7) Identify and elucidate what parents of Indigenous students perceive as the value of further education and training. Whilst all students had similar life goals Indigenous students were: more likely to identify lower levels of educational and training aspirations, identify more barriers to achieving their aspirations, have less knowledge about further education and training, were less likely to formulate alternative preferences or strategies to achieve their aspirations, and less of an understanding on the relevance of academic choices as it pertains to further education and training. The results also identified that Indigenous students were more likely to want to work in areas that are beneficial to their communities and identified more altruistic reasons for career choices. Parents of Indigenous students indicated that education systems and schools were more accommodating of Indigenous students today but still needed reform to cater for Indigenous students. Parents also indicated at feeling frustrated in their ability to provide adequate academic and social support for their children whilst also recognizing the significant barriers impacting on and impeding their child's abilities to make informed decisions and to attain their aspirations. Indigenous students also indicated that they were less likely to seek advice about career choices and subsequently lacked the appropriate knowledge and understandings of academic choices and their impact on their overall aspirations. Careers programs whilst trying to assist all students seems to lack resources to adequately cope with Indigenous students' needs. The findings in this component of the project supported and enriched the findings of the quantitative component of the study whilst also providing a significant insight into the mindset of Indigenous students and parents about their dreams and nightmares.

CRO03652  [Paper]
School leaders as mediators of school reform

Leanne Crosswell & A/P Bob Elliott Queensland University of Technology

CUS03620  [Paper]
Managing Technological Effects in Education

Brian O Cusack, Reader, School of Computer & Information Science, Auckland University of Technology

D

DAH03725  [Paper]
Freshmen's and Seniors' thoughts about Education, Professional identity and Work

Hskan Hult, Madeleine Abrandt Dahlgren, Lars Owe Dahlgren, Helene Hsrd af Segerstad Linköping University, Sweden

This paper is part of a comparative European research project funded by the European Commission and concentrating on the mediation of university cultures and work cultures as experienced by students in liberal art and professional programmes. The programmes selected are psychology, political science and mechanical engineering. The focus of this particular paper is Swedish students' experiences of the relevance of the studies for the professional work, the level of intensity regarding the workload; the engagement in their studies; the feeling of being visible to the teachers and, finally, the extent to which they develop a professional identity. The results are based on thematic cross-sectional interview data gathered at the beginning and at the end of the programmes and subsequently subjected to qualitative analysis. The feeling of being prepared for future professional work varies between students in the various programmes. The students of psychology seem to feel rather well prepared, even though they still struggle to understand the nature of psychological theoretical knowledge. The political science students have a very vague notion of what political scientists do when they work. Engineering students still express doubts about their professional identity at the end of the programme and the relationship between the university studies and work is not self-evident.

DAN03516  [Paper]
Risks and Dilemmas, Virtues and Vices: Engaging with Stakeholders and Gatekeepers in Australian Traveller Education Research

P. A. Danaher, Geoff Danaher and Beverley Moriarty Faculties of Education and Creative Arts and Informatics and Communication Central Queensland University Australia

Scott and Usher (1999, pp. 129-134) have postulated three possible models of analysing the rights and responsibilities of researchers and researched: covert research; open democratic research; and open autocratic research. While we eschew characterising our research as "covert", we are less definitive about whether and how it is "democratic" and/or "autocratic".

Partly this dilemma derives from uncertainties involved in identifying stakeholders with 'legitimate' involvement in the conduct and outcomes of a research project. Partly this dilemma also reflects the risks attendant on stakeholders becoming gatekeepers, and/or when stakeholders' expectations of the project diverge.

We illustrate these risks and dilemmas by reference to an ongoing research project investigating the educational experiences and opportunities of Australian occupational Travellers - specifically, itinerant circus and fairground people. This critically reflexive illustration is informed by our deployment of selected elements of Pring's (2002) provocative delineation of the "virtues" and "vices" of educational researchers. We argue that Pring's depiction of "the virtuous research community" (pp. 125-126), augmented by the principles of co-operative communities, provides a more contingent and nuanced basis than Scott and Usher's (1999) "democratic" versus "autocratic" research for engaging with the multiple and sometimes conflicting interests of stakeholders and gatekeepers in Australian Traveller education research.

DAN03530  [Paper]
Moralising Risky Environments: The Ethical and Political Nature of Environmental Education Research

This chapter identifies ethical and political risks that are often taken in undertaking research into the whaling debate. These risks illustrate the uncertainties both in moralising about the environment and in science. These uncertainties, as well as strategies deployed to overcome them, are also identified in this chapter. This chapter finds that conclusions reached about the whaling debate are tentative and modest and depend on the cultural contexts of the stakeholders.

DAR03299  [Paper]
Career aspirations of potential applicants for principals of Catholic schools: An Australian perspective

Tony d'Arbon, Australian Catholic University

Recent surveys of leadership succession planning in Catholic schools in New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory of Australia have confirmed the growing shortage of persons applying for positions of principal in Catholic schools in those States and Territory, and examined reasons for the decline in numbers.

This paper focuses on a particular aspect of that research in which the career aspirations of those being surveyed, in the pool of potential applicants for principal positions, are analysed.

Possible ways of overcoming this shortage applicants that have implications for the future of Catholic schools in Australia as well as for the future leadership of schools in general, are examined.

DAR03394  [Paper]
Working with teachers: Beliefs, experiences and the creative arts (drama)

Rachel Darell, University of Technology, Sydney

Beliefs and experiences are considered to be central driving forces within teacher education and perceived as influencing views on learning, curricular choice, classroom management and pedagogical decisions. The preliminary findings from the PhD research presented in this paper demonstrate tentative links as to the ways that a teacher's beliefs and experiences relate to their choice and use of drama in their primary school classroom. In addition, it will discuss the initial results of what may happen to these factors as the teachers participate in an arts-focused professional development project.

Structured broadly as a case study involving two schools and six teachers, this research has been collecting its data through the 'Personal Experience Method' as presented by Clandinin & Connelly (1994). This method emphasises and respects the place of individual voice and experience as well as the entwined place of the researcher in the research process. Main data collection tools have involved the application of semi-structured interviews, reflective journals, individual and group conversations as well as ongoing field notes. The reflective journals are seen as a central, yet controversial tool in the collection of data, both generally, and in this project. A number of issues in relation to confidentiality, accessibility, time, content and focus of these journals will also be discussed.

Keynote Speaker
DEL03824  [Paper]
Four Great Gates: Dilemmas, Directions and Distractions in Educational Research

Sara Delamont, Cardiff University

In James Elroy Flecker's poem The Gates of FDamascus, the poet imagines four exits from the safe comfortable city to the outside world. Each gate takes the traveller into a different set of temptations and dangers. The Aleppo Gate leads to trade and commerce, the Mecca Gate is for faith and pilgrimage, the Lebanon Gate is for exploration and the search for enlightenment, and the Baghdad Gate leads to danger and even death. When we educational researchers leave our safe city, or ivory tower, our Damascus, we can choose which gate we take: that is our destination, our goal, our methods. The paper will explore the choices that face educational researchers, and the consequences of those choices. Issues of funding, faith, exploration and danger will be discussed with examples from controversies about educational research.

DEN03360  [Paper]
Dialogue journals: studies of rebellion engage Year-10 English students in reflective thinking

Gaylene Denford-Wood, Victoria University of Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand

DIC03191  [Paper]
Pasifika Students in New Zealand Schools:
Some Explanations for their Literacy Performance

John G. Dickie, Senior Lecturer English, Wellington College of Education, New Zealand

DIX03223  ®  [Paper]
Learning 'through' or learning 'about'? The ridiculous and extravagant medium of opera: Gardner's multiple intelligences in pre-service teacher education

Julie White and Mary Dixon, The University of Melbourne, and Lynda Smerdon, Victorian Arts Centre

In recent years, pre-service teacher education has attempted to incorporate into programs an understanding of Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences as it applies to schools. In this paper the tension between 'learning about' multiple intelligences and 'learning through' multiple intelligences supports Gardner's (1993) distinction between 'understanding' and 'coverage'. This paper examines the use of the performing arts in the professional studies component of our teacher education program. During 2002 at The University of Melbourne, a group of primary and secondary students were offered the opportunity to develop an opera in order to learn about assessment and curriculum. Thirty-seven of the students volunteered to be involved and over a period of six months met this challenge. Our action research study asked two critical questions. To what extent is the understanding of multiple intelligences by pre-service teachers improved by 'learning through'? Can pre-service teachers address fundamental issues in curriculum and assessment through the development of a performance? This experience would be of value to other teacher educators.

DIX03347  ®  [Paper]
Constructing globalisation in international higher education

Mary Dixon, The University of Melbourne

The discourse of internationalization is well established but it appears that globalisation has crept 'by stealth' (Currie, 1998) into our international programs resulting in an apparent domination by a neoliberal economic discourse. Clyne, Marginson and Woock (2001), drawing on research regarding globalisation and internationalization in Australian universities, suggest that this domination is so pervasive that the term is "irretrievably lost" to cultural usages of globalisation. This paper arises from a case study of the understandings of globalisation within an international higher education program. Understandings of globalisation were sought from both Australian and Thai policymakers and participants in an international higher education program. It is argued that domination by the neoliberal discourse is evident and predominant but that, in the use of metaphors of globalisation by these educators, a repositioned understanding from lived experience exists alongside the economically dominated experience of international higher education. It is here that divergent understandings of globalisation are constructed. These findings are of value to those involved in the internationalization of higher education.

DIX03778  ®  [Paper]
The Self: How does it relate to locus of control, quality of life and adaptive behaviour for people with mild intellectual disabilities?

Roselyn Dixon, University of Wollongong, Herbert Marsh and Rhonda, University of Western Sydney

Research has found that when people with intellectual disabilities are moved from institutions into smaller community-based services, positive outcomes have been recorded (Emerson and Hatton, 1996; Larson and Lakin, 1989; Young et al., 1998). However, positive outcomes have not been inevitable. It is now recognised that mere placement in the community is not always sufficient (Jahoda, Markova and Cattermole, 1990). Individual characteristics of clients and the nature of services received in the community may be very significant to maintaining normalisation and social role valorisation. Areas that have consistently been found to have an impact on community-based living are the social competencies and affective functioning of people with intellectual disability (Ralph and Usher, 1995). Given the recognised importance, it is surprising that these factors have not been the focus of more research in either the Australian or overseas context. This paper presents results from a study examining the social competence and affective functioning of people with intellectual disabilities. It describes the relations found for this population between multi-dimensional self-concept and locus of control, and quality of life.

DOC03510  [Paper]
Children starting school: Images from picture storybooks

Sue Dockett, Diana Whitton, Bob Perry, University of Western Sydney, Australia

The Starting School Research Project has gathered data from stakeholders in children's transition to school in many different ways. From these data, the following categories of concerns held by children, educators and parents about starting school have been derived: knowledge, adjustment, skills, rules, disposition, educational environment, family issues and physical issues. This paper draws from a sample of over 100 children's books gathered from several countries, which are designed to be read to or by children around the time they are starting school, and analyses them in terms of the previously derived categories. This analysis is then compared with the analysis of concerns undertaken through the project, which has shown that the adults involved in transition see things quite differently from the children making the transition.

The picture books, written and illustrated by adults, reflect the earlier findings about what adults think is important as children start school. As a consequence, they reflect different aspects of this transition from those the children have reported as critical. The consequences of these findings for the curriculum of transition to school in prior-to-school settings and schools are investigated.

DOW03465  ®  [Paper]
Relevance of Vocational Educational Training assessment for classes in industry and Registered Training Organisations

Hayden Downing, The University of Melbourne, Doris Humunicki and Zora Maric, CSM Knowledge

This paper describes a project that compared two forms of assessment of trainees. The project had two aims. First, to extend a trial of assessment materials that were designed for use in Vocational Educational Training (VET) in schools, to include courses run by a Registered Training Organisation (RTO), namely CSM Knowledge.

This was achieved by considering how many trainees were successful in satisfying a series of sequences of criteria from two different units selected from training packages. It was found that the results were not always consistent with perceived levels of difficulty as sometimes people who were not successful with the first, and apparently easiest criterion of a sequence, were successful with later, apparently harder criteria.

Where the anomalies are caused by unclear descriptions of criteria, or by criteria that are too difficult, these observations can be reported to the Assessment Research Centre as part of the nation-wide survey in which this current project is participating.

The other aim of the project was to improve the feedback that was provided to the client organisations whose staff were being trained. The usual form of feedback, in which trainees were rated as Competent or Not Yet Competent is very basic.

More effective feedback has been provided by the self assessment forms that the trainees completed before, and again after, training as they show the extent to which the trainees have improved their confidence and self perception.

Another, more detailed report, based on the criteria-based assessment described in this paper will provide the client with detailed information as to where the trainees could be effective employed. The report will also indicate what further training is required.

Examining the number of trainees who are unsuccessful with particular criteria may reveal deficiencies in the training and so suggest areas that should be improved.

DOW03773  ®  [Paper]
The Chicken and the Egg: Causal ordering of goals and self-concept and its effect on academic achievement

Martin Dowson, Katrina Barker and Dennis McInerney, University of Western Sydney

This study examines causal relations between students' academic achievement and their multidimensional and hierarchically arranged academic goal orientations and academic self-concepts. Specifically, the study tests a series of models (using data collected over three waves from over 2000 students) positing different causal and non-causal orderings of academic goal orientations, academic self-concepts and achievement in mathematics and English. For both English and mathematics achievement, the models positing a goals to self-concept to achievement ordering (with all fit indices exceeding criterion values) were superior to all other causal and non-causal models tested in the research - and also to nested versions of the preferred models. The results of the study suggest that students' interacting goals and self-concepts provide a cogent explanation for students' achievement across domains.

DOW03774  ®  [Paper]
Self in Situ: Locating self-concept and self-concept research in theoretical, individual, and relational contexts

Martin Dowson, University of Western Sydney

The specific purposes of the present paper are to locate self-concept and self-concept research in the broader contexts of:

• educational and developmental psychological research as a whole;
• a model of the self which takes onto account relevant findings from educational and developmental psychological research, and
• a concurrent model of self-in-relationship which takes into account the influence of relationships on the development of self-concept.

In fulfilling these specific purposes the paper attempts to provide an overarching theoretical and operational framework within which self-concept research may be located. This may facilitate the interpretation and evaluation of findings relating to self-concept research, especially in relation to other important constructs in educational and developmental psychological research.

DOW03790  ®  [Paper]
Self-concept during the transition to secondary school: Turmoil or normative adjustment?

Jacqueline Downs, James Cook University

Transition to secondary school embraces substantial changes in the educational environment (in structure, delivery and expectations) and typically coincides with the physiological, psychological, and social changes associated with young adolescence. It therefore provides an opportunity to examine the question of the extent to which adolescent transitions are characterised by turmoil or normative adjustment. From a longitudinal study exploring 74 adolescents' subjective experiences of the transition to secondary and boarding school in North Queensland, this paper reports high levels of stability in self-concept across the school year, as measured by the SDQ-II (Marsh, 1990). Girls' Total Self-Concept and scores on Math, Verbal Ability, Honesty and Trustworthiness scales improved. However, related levels of depression and homesickness (examined as a distinct phenomenon) raise questions about the influence of such factors and the protective function of positive self-concept in perceived adjustment to the transition.

DOY03366  [Paper]
PUTTING LEARNING TO WORK: THE DISTANCE LEARNER AND TRANSFER OF LEARNING

Stephanie Doyle, New Zealand Council for Educational Research, New Zealand

Transfer of learning is a fundamental assumption of educators. We trust that whatever is learned will be retained or remembered over some interval of time and used in appropriate situations (Ripple & Drinkwater, 1982, p.1947).

DRE03675  [Paper]
Developing Restorative Practices in Schools: Flavour of the month or saviour of the system?

Wendy Drewery & John Winslade, School of Education, University of Waikato,, New Zealand.

A team at Waikato completed two projects on restorative conferencing in schools for the Ministry of Education, under the rubric of the Suspension Reduction Initiative. The projects included developing and trialling processes for suspension hearings using restorative conferencing and principles from restorative justice. Objectives of both projects were related to the desire to reduce numbers of suspensions and exclusions, particularly of Maori children. This paper reports on these two projects, and reflects on some of the questions they raised.

DSO03154  ®  [Paper]
Tertiary Students' Views about Group Work in Mathematics

Sabita M. D'Souza & Leigh N. Wood University of Technology, Sydney

DUN03188  [Paper]
Bridging Children's Early Education Transitions through Teacher Collaboration.

Aline-Wendy Dunlop, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland.

A longitudinal study of continuity and progression in children's early education reported the significance of the transition from preschool to elementary education for later school success. It was found that the nature of this particular transition is influential for children, parents and educators and therefore for the educational system. An ecological framework was used in order to embrace the complex nature of educational transitions.

Educators in 8 preschool and 4 primary school settings, and their managers, were interviewed to explore beliefs about early education. The same educators were observed as the 28 focus children in a cohort of 150 children were tracked during their final year before school and their first year of school, and their written documentation including planning and reports were scrutinised. It was found that despite the similar language used by early educators in early years preschool and primary settings to describe their intentions and motivations for children, there can be major discontinuities between settings, relationships, pedagogy and curriculum and that consequently there are increased challenges for children and for their parents and educators. It is proposed that educators need to collaborate more and to move on from a shared use of terminology to shared meanings, in order to develop a shared conceptual framework which attends to cognitive, social and emotional aspects of children's learning in transition.

Certain measurable elements of school progress were noted as part of the local authority's value-added record keeping and it has been possible to make links between educational attainment and other variables. The cohort of children is now entering the last year of primary school education and a number of focus children will now be involved in a study of their transition to secondary education.

DUN03189  [Paper]
Social Interaction and Understanding in Autism
Supporting success in mainstream education for pupils with autistic spectrum disorders.

Aline-Wendy Dunlop, Senior Lecturer University of Strathclyde, Scotland Tommy MacKay, Psychology Consultancy Services & Lecturer, University of Strathclyde, Scotland, Fiona Knott, Lecturer, University of Reading, England.

The paper draws from a two-year research study with forty-six children and young people on the autistic spectrum, ranging in age from six to 16 years. All were involved in mainstream services, many having a diagnosis of Asperger Syndrome. Of this initial sample, 38 sustained attendance at one of six weekly groups established for developing social interaction and understanding through a programme specially designed for the study. Each of the groups lasted for approximately 16 weeks.

Methods included a variety of standardised measures within an assessment framework, observation and record keeping of group sessions, individual parent ratings and follow-up interviews. Pre-post test evaluation has pointed to highly successful outcomes in terms of statistical analysis, but also in the sense that in many cases they have been personally meaningful and important. Significant effect sizes were obtained for social skills and social competence in comparison with a normative population, and the individual parent ratings showed marked changes in the skills which the groups had targeted.

The paper focuses on the importance of group identity and shared responsibility, the difficulties of sharing interests and planning for them, the capacity of groupwork to support the development of effective social interaction and understanding, and the challenge of generalisation into everyday life.

The results of this study suggest that it has not only made a contribution to the evidence base but that it has also contributed to the quality of life of the children and young people who took part in it, and of their families.

DYS03462  [Paper]
TEACHER EDUCATION: REVIEWED TO THE EYEBALLS BUT WHERE IS THE EVIDENCE OF SIGNIFICANT AND MEANINGFUL CHANGE?

Michael Dyson, Faculty of Education, Monash University Gippsland Campus, Churchill, Victoria Australia

Teacher Education within Australia is in crisis and once again at the crossroads with indicators pointing to another shake up. This is in spite of frequent and invasive change over the last 150 years of formal teacher education with many reviews since the 1980s. Those reviews have all been conducted with the intent of improving the quality of teacher education - in order to improve the learning outcomes for the pupils in the nations schools. This paper, through reviewing the reviews of teacher education undertaken from 1980 until 2003, follows the journey of teacher education from the 1850s to the present day highlighting recurring dilemmas and the frustrations of the educational community. Similar dilemmas and imbalances, including the following, have continued to exert pressure on teacher education: supply versus demand; theory versus practice; profession versus craft and teacher training versus teacher education, without resolution or the achievement of balance. What is next direction and where are we heading within the context of the Nelson/Dow review? Perhaps this review will also call into question the status of the teaching profession?

DYS03470  [Paper]
TIME FOR BALANCE IN PRE-SERVICE TEACHER EDUCATION:
RENEWAL BASED ON THINKING AND JUDGING

Michael Dyson, Faculty of Education, Monash University Gippsland Campus, Churchill, Victoria, Australia

The social theories of the political commentator and philosopher of modern times, Hannah Arendt (1958), can be used to guide the 'profession of education' towards a re-conceptualisation of teacher education. Within a context of rapid, constant and pervasive change teacher educators are challenged on a daily basis. They too need some time to facilitate personal renewal and change in this post-modern world. Bauman's (2001) concept of 'Tertiary Learning' consisting of breaking regularity, preventing habitualisation and rearranging the fragmentary experiences into patterns, which exist until further notice, can guide teacher educators in their quest for renewal.

This paper argues that if beginning teachers need to be, as Coulter (2001) suggests, "thinking and judging actors and spectators living in a world that that believes in plurality and natality", then so too do our teacher educators need to be free from habitual thinking and habitual judgement. Teacher educators need the ability to stand back and take a bird's eye view of the programs they operate and then be willing, in a mindful way, to return to the play preparing teachers to be good thinkers and judges in their own right.

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EAR03577  [Paper]
Education Reconstruction in East Timor: The Case Of A Transitional Society

Jaya Earnest, Research Unit for the Study of Societies in Change, Curtin University of Technology

The conclusion of the electoral process in April 2002, paved the way for the declaration of independence of East Timor on 20 May 2002, making the tiny nation the world's newest democracy. The purpose of this study is to describe and analyse information on the education reconstruction process, and to make some recommendations about how to better promote a contextually relevant education in this fledgling democracy. This three-phase longitudinal study carried out over two years, is an enquiry into a transitional state struggling with multiple social, political, economic and educational constraints. The research used an interpretive case study approach within a qualitative framework. Multiple methods, sensitive to the context included in-depth interviews, focus group interviews, school visits, accumulation of documentary data and reflective narratives.

ELL03779  ®  [Paper]
Peers Helping Peers: The effectiveness of a peer support program in enhancing self-concept and other desirable outcomes

Louise Ellis, Herbert Marsh, Rhonda Craven, and Garry Richards, University of Western Sydney

This study examined the effects of participation in a peer support program designed to smooth the transition to adolescence and secondary school for seventh-graders by enhancing self-concept and other desirable outcomes. Participants in the study were students from a secondary school in Sydney, Australia. One hundred and thirty Grade 7 students participated in weekly groups facilitated by Year 10 students, and served as the experimental group. The program consisted of 12 fifty minute sessions. Study participants in the experimental and control groups completed an extensive self-report questionnaire on 3 occasions (near the beginning of the year, 12 weeks later, and towards the end of the year). The results suggested that, although the peer support program had no impact on self-concept, significant effects were found for participant's ability to adapt to change, coping strategies, and attitudes towards bullying. Moreover, these effects seemed to be retained over time.

EVA03073  [Paper]
Making a difference? Education and 'ability' in Physical Education

John Evans, Loughborough University

This paper brings a speculative, sociological perspective to the nature of 'ability' in Physical Education (PE) and asks why this aspect of embodiment, with notable exceptions, has received so little critical attention in the professional discourse of PE and associated research in recent years. It is suggested that thinking about 'ability' has become a taken for granted absent presence in the discursive practices of PE in the UK, yet it variously helps configure attitudes towards the body, a sense of status, value, distinction, inclusion/exclusion and embodied self. Drawing on ideas from the theoretical work of Bernstein and Bourdieu the paper raises a number of issues about the ways in which 'ability' is constructed within the disciplines that feed the various sub-cultures of the PE profession, influencing teaching in schools and teacher education. The paper suggests that unless greater attention is given to 'physical education' rather than the interests of sport and health, the profession is unlikely to make an impact either on the 'abilities' or other cultural differences that children and young people bring to schools.

EVA03090  [Paper]
A DECADIC REVIEW OF PHDS IN AUSTRALIA

Terry Evans (Deakin University), Peter Macauley (Deakin University), Margot Pearson (ANU) & Karen Tregenza (Deakin University)

This paper reports on an aspect of a pilot project in 2003 by the authors comprising a bibliographic analysis of all (51,000+) Australian PhDs. The pilot work provides both data and methodological bases for a larger project that investigates the nature and development of PhDs in Australia as they evolved in the context of economic, social and educational changes. This paper reviews the evidence from the bibliographic data held in library catalogues of PhDs in each Australian university. It provides a review of the numbers and range of PhDs in Australia for each decade from 1950 to 2000.

This is contextualised in terms of the changes to Australian tertiary education over the period and other factors that contribute to the rise of PhDs in Australia.

F

FER03339  [Paper]
Student Teachers' use of on-line resources in the preparation for their practicum

Douglas Ferry, Kaye Brunton,Wellington College of Education, New Zealand

FER03456  [Paper]
Working together: Collaborative strategies for developing effective professional relationships in the practicum.

Jenny Ferrier-Kerr, Department of Professional Studies in Education, University of Waikato

FIE03612  ®  [Paper]
Breaking the cycle of office referrals and suspensions: A strategy for Defensive Management

Barry Fields, University of Southern Queensland

This paper focuses on a strategy - Defensive Management - designed to assist teachers to better manage non-compliance and defiance in the classroom, with the ultimate goal of reducing disciplinary referrals and flow-on suspensions and exclusions from school. Non-compliance and defiance are behaviours that teachers find particularly challenging and, traditionally teachers have responded provocatively and often unsuccessfully when faced with instances of such behaviour. Drawing on an analogy with Defensive Driving, two groups of teachers (pre-service and primary) were introduced to a strategy developed to help them avoid unproductive conflict (collisions) with students and the harm that such encounters typically result in. The findings of an exploratory study on the use of Defensive Management are reported.

FIN03384  ®  [Paper]
Conceptualising the Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) journeys of future teachers and practising teachers: Findings, challenges and reflections

Glenn Finger, Deborah Charleston, Ros O'Brien, and Lara Pugh, Griffith University

As documented by MCEETYA (2002) and Finger and Trinidad (2002), all Australian States and Territories have embarked upon systemic Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) initiatives. Those initiatives represent evidence of growing momentum in the changing expectations of schools and school systems to require teachers to undertake a professional development journey which enables the successful integration of ICTs, referred to here as the ICTs Journey. This paper, in providing a conceptualisation of that ICTs Journey as requiring effective pre-service teacher education and continuing professional development in ICTs, draws upon recent major Australian reports Making Better Connections (DEST 2001) and Raising the Standards (DEST 2002) aimed at driving the ICTs agenda further. In addition, this paper provides a summary of key findings from the research undertaken by three Bachelor of Education (Primary) Honours students. This research focused on illuminating and identifying challenges posed by the ICTs journey for future teachers, teachers in their first years of teaching, and for more experienced, practising teachers. Specific investigations were conducted with teacher education students in their third year of preservice teacher education, teachers in their establishing phase of teaching, and experienced teachers who had undertaken a formal, 3 day ICTs professional development program. Implications are identified for preservice teacher education and continuing professional development in terms of the ICTs journey. Finally, reflections are presented by the three Honours research students in terms of the tensions and personal sacrifices made in choosing to undertake research during their preservice teacher education. As co-authors of this paper, this paper highlights the demands upon these student teachers in not only undertaking their own ICTs Journeys but also the intellectual demands and potential rewards of accompanying that ICTs journey with their intensive research journeys.

FIN03386  ®  [Paper]
Recommendations for the development of an ICT curriculum integration performance measurement instrument: Focusing on student use of ICTs

Glenn Finger, Romina Jamieson-Proctor and Glenice Watson, Griffith University

An analysis of trends in international methodologies for describing and measuring Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) curriculum integration reveals that there has been an identifiable focus on student access to ICTs, student attitudes toward the use of ICTs, and on teacher training and professional development in the use of ICTs (Jamieson-Proctor, Watson and Finger, 2003). There is now an emerging need for and trend towards the development of performance measurement instruments which measure ICT curriculum integration. This paper provides recommendations for the development of an ICT curriculum integration performance measurement instrument through a summary of recent ICT curriculum integration research, and an examination of international methodologies for describing and measuring ICT curriculum integration. Specific reference is made to the theoretical framework conceptualised to guide the development of the instrument by identifying key strategic ICT drivers, dimensions of ICT use (DETYA, 2000a; DEST, 2002), and the integration of ICTs with the Productive Pedagogies framework (Education Queensland, 2000; 2003b ).

FOR03109  ®  [Paper]
Academics: How do they spend their time?

Helen Forgasz, Monash University and Gilah Leder, La Trobe University

Academics are reported to be working longer hours and have less time for research because of increasing administrative and teaching demands. The traditional pattern of the academic enterprise appears to have changed. To explore whether this is indeed the case, the Experience Sampling Method [ESM], a research technique devised by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, was used in a pilot study to monitor the working lives of 22 university academics from two "Gumtree" multi campus universities in Australia. Participants were asked to complete a specifically devised Experience Sampling Form [ESF] on receipt of a SMS message sent to their mobile phones six times a day for one week. Information was gathered about the activities being undertaken and the respondents' feelings about these activities. Work related tasks reported were sorted into the 17 different categories of academic work devised by Kreber. The findings were examined by gender, university of employment, working hours, and by level of academic appointment.

FRI03007  [Paper]
Knowledge Management in Educational Settings

Barbara Friehs

FUN03302
Collaborative reasoning: Critical thinking-based learning and instruction

Irene Yuen Yee Fung, Michael Townsend and Judy Parr, The University of Auckland

Thinking critically is one of the most important achievement objectives specified in the national curriculum framework for New Zealand schools. However, to date, teachers have received little systematic training or resources in understanding what critical thinking is, or in how to teach it to students. To address this issue, the research project Collaborative Reasoning: Critical Thinking-Based Learning and Instruction was introduced to senior classes in one Auckland primary school in 2002. The project is based on the work of Richard Paul (1990), and is an attempt to explicitly teach children the principles and skills of critical thinking in order to enhance the quality of their content learning, problem solving and decision making. This university-school collaborative project focused simultaneously on three areas: student development, curriculum development, and staff development. The theoretical framework of the project and the teachers' experiences of translating the framework into classroom practices were presented at the 2002 NZARE conference. The new paper will focus on an evaluation of the effectiveness of this project by presenting data on the nature of these classroom practices in teacher-led and peer-led classroom discussions, and data on student learning outcomes.

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GAL03580  ®   [Paper];
This paper forms part of the Symposium Researching change and literacy development,

organised by Assoc.Prof. Gary Partington

GAR03123  [Paper]
Teaching As Emotional Work:Constructing Positive Professional Relationships Between Teacher-Educators And Pre-Service Teachers

GEO03571  [Paper]
What It Takes To Be The Best: Contradicting Views Of Culture And Pedagogy In The World's Leading Academic Nation

Noel Geoghegan, University of Southern Queensland. Deborah Geoghegan, University of Southern Queensland, Australia

As the highest rating academic nation in the world, Singapore is renowned for high levels of success in all quarters. There are perceptions from outside Singapore that academic rigor is endemic to the local culture and an expectation from a very early age. A recent study examined the views and attitudes of a group of recently retrenched professional women who had decided to retrain as early childhood teachers. The views of the women were sought in an attempt to gauge how their culturally-based views on formal instruction might be challenged by a post- modern humanistic paradigm that rejects "teacher didactic instruction' and promotes "child self-regulated learning." After a pre-treatment attitudinal survey, participants engaged in a five-day workshop exploring the post- modern SEARCH paradigm (Geoghegan, 2002). A post-treatment attitudinal survey was administered. Results indicated a consensus on what constitutes quality in education in Singapore. The data reflected humanistic perspectives that appear at odds with Singapore's international reputation for expecting academic rigor right from the early childhood years.

GEO03572  [Paper]
Re-Search Relationships: A Systems Approach To Mathematics Education Using The Metaphor Of A Search As A Paradigm For Classroom Teaching And Learning

Noel Geoghegan, University of Southern Queensland, Australia

For the last seven years, a research project focused on one North American Grade 2 teacher's efforts to develop young children's early mathematical concepts has given rise to a new paradigm for teaching and learning. By creating a classroom environment that promotes (1) reflexive psycho-pedagogical relationships and, (2) a systems-theory approach to learning, the teacher's pedagogy and children's engagement with learning have been continually refined through the SEARCH metaphor (Geoghegan, 2002). Being less to do with "didactic teaching" and more to do with "self-regulated learning," the research project has sought to highlight children's capacity to confidently generate creative propositions as one of the significant constituent elements of effective mathematics teaching and learning.

Incorporating post- modern and systems-theory perspectives, this paper will discuss and demonstrate how the reflexive nature of self-regulation engages children in creative and productive mathematical thinking from a young age.

GIL03145  [Paper]
Who guards the guardians now? Ethical dilemmas in conducting schoolbased research-

Judith Gill, University of South Australia

Mindful of Foucault's maxim about everything being 'dangerous', this paper will identify some ethical issues associated with school-based research. Features of current ethical requirements are identified, with particular attention to the concept of 'informed consent'. In deconstructing this concept I propose that it calls for a deliberate sleight of hand on the part of University Ethics committees. My argument will be supported by reference to some important educational research which could not have been conducted under the current set of requirements. Evidence also is drawn from descriptions of studies which have undergone major modifications in the light of Ethics requirements and which are consequently unlikely to fulfil their original intent. The paper concludes with a call for educational research in general and the AARE in particular to develop a stance on the conduct of ethical research which does not compromise the integrity of the research nor pose any harm to the participants.

GIL03327  [Paper]
Hot Action: The vulnerability of analysing one's decision-making collegially

David Giles, Senior Lecturer, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, NZ

GOD03015  [Paper]
Are beginning teachers with a second degree at a higher risk of early career burnout?

Richard Goddard PhD, School of Human Services, Griffith University, Australia
Patrick O'Brien EdD, Faculty of Education, University of Southern Queensland, Australia

This study investigated the impact that holding a second university degree has on levels of burnout that is reported by beginning teachers during their first year of employment. This research formed part of an ongoing investigation that aims to identify important elements relating to teacher well-being during the transition from university to a teaching career. One hundred and twenty three teachers responded to a mail survey six weeks after they commenced full- time teaching (T1) and again six months later (T2). On both occasions the survey included the Educators Survey version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI: Maslach, Jackson, & Leiter, 1996).

Forty five percent of respondents indicated that they held a second university degree in addition to their Bachelor of Education qualification when they registered as a teacher. A between-subjects MANOVA indicated that there were no significant differences in burnout scores between those respondents holding an additional university degree and those who only held the Bachelor of Education degree at T1.

However, at T2, a similar analysis indicated that the group of respondents with a second degree had significantly higher burnout levels on two of the three MBI dimensions. These results suggest systematic differences may exist between the two categories of graduates and that these differences may impact on the rate at which burnout develops during the first year of a teaching career.

GOD03330  [Paper]
Knowing ourselves: A theoretical model of culture

Elizabeth Godfrey, University of Auckland,

Education has been viewed as a process of enculturation into the beliefs, practices, values and styles of discourse of a particular community. Recognition and awareness of an institution's particular cultural values and norms can be a useful tool to guide actions and reactions to change. A model is proposed to guide a cultural analysis, at the institutional or disciplinary level, based on Schein's (1985) theoretical framework. This model arose from an interpretive case study using ethnographic methods, undertaken at a multidisciplinary School of Engineering. As a tool for cultural analysis, the model provides an accessible framework to facilitate the exposure of the source of observable behaviours and practices in the unconsciously held beliefs and assumptions at the core of the culture of an institution or discipline.

GOW03579  ®  [Paper]
Ethical Research in Indigenous Contexts and the practical implementation of it: Guidelines for ethical research versus the practice of research

Graeme Gower, Edith Cowan University, Perth, Western Australia

Indigenous Australians have been widely researched by non - Indigenous Australians which has resulted in the use of inappropriate research methodologies and excluded the involvement, participation and ownership over the research. The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) has developed national guidelines for the conduct of research in Indigenous communities. These guidelines have precipitated a change in Indigenous control and involvement over Indigenous research to a large extent, which is long overdue.

This paper examines these guidelines and relates them to the practical experiences of researchers engaged in a school based research project in urban, rural and remote locations. The suitability of the guidelines will be analysed.

GRA03014  ®  [Paper]
Developing intellectual, social and emotional literacy through dance education

Susan Graham, Auckland University of Technology

The aim of this research project was to examine the effectiveness of an experiential dance intervention programme in enhancing the social, emotional, and intellectual development of adolescents. A multidisciplinary literature review indicated this aim could be met by focusing on a question that related to global self-esteem, selected facets of self-concept and a Social Partner Dancing Intervention Programme (SPDIP). The research question addressed in this investigation was (1) can a SPDIP contribute to a significant improvement in the global self-esteem and (selected facets of) self-concept level of secondary school adolescents? It was also hypothesized that A) that participants with initially 'Low' Global Self-esteem Group levels would be significantly changed. An intervention, switch and replicate ABACA design was selected to address the research question. The theoretical framework and the basis for the socio-ecological analyses conducted were grounded in the interactional learning theories of Bronfenbrenner (1979) and Vygotsky (1978). Global self-esteem and facets of self-concept were measured before and after a contrast or SPDIP via six administrations of Self-Description Questionnaire II (Marsh, 1988). Results of this investigation revealed that the intervention programme did not significantly alter the global self-esteem levels of the whole participant group. However it did find that the SPDIP supported a significant improvement in the verbal ability self-esteem of the sample population. It also supported hypothesis A) at the .001 level.

GRA03537  ®  [Paper]
'Exemplary practice' - so called? Dilemmas in reporting

GRE03144  [Paper]
Order and Mess in Early Childhood Settings: A Psychological Perspective

Leonid Grebennikov

The importance of order in young children's surroundings and activities is analysed and illustrated in a psychological science context. The paper then argues that the pre-school age is a period when the extent of order in the environment can exert firm, though not immediately obvious, influences on the development of individual cognitive and emotional profiles, and therefore on one's life style and perspectives. The pre-school age has been recognised as corresponding to the final major stage of synaptogenesis when the interconnections between the neocortex neurons are pruned and stabilized. The interconnections are not genetically programmed for their qualitative and quantitative characteristics. This means that the environment contributes to the structure of the interconnections and thus to the uniqueness of one's perception, evaluation, symbolisation, memory - those processes that we call cognitive. They are described to benefit from well-organized surroundings and to have relevance to one's emotional profile, social relations and personality traits. The paper challenges the myth that young children generally want and enjoy creating mess as well as the value of so-called "messy activities" or "messy games". Also included are examples of how messy activities can be reorganised into more constructive, purposeful and informative ones.

GRE03393  [Paper]
Boss of our story.

Dr Janinka Greenwood & Liz BrownChristchurch College of Education

When we talk to people about a Treaty education course we get a variety of reactions. Some eyes get glazed, some burn with evangelical fervour, some shoot daggers, and some close while their owners go to sleep. When we took on the role of joint co-ordinators of the bicultural project at Christchurch College of Education at the end of last year, one of the tasks we faced was the development of programmes within the College that would provide staff and students with the basic knowledge they need about the Treaty and its relevance to teaching and prepare them to apply this knowledge to their own practice.

This paper describes the processes we are engaged in to develop Treaty education programmes and the programme shape that is evolving. It also describes some of the conceptual incongruities that we are finding associated with Treaty education, and it places these against a wider framework of theorisations of learning, of decolonisation, of participatory and reflective practice, and of kaupapa Maori.

GRE03873  [Paper]
First to Fourth to Thirteenth and (in all Probability), Still Dropping? New Zealand's International Literacy Results: Some Personal Thoughts About the Reasons For The 'Gap'

Dr Keith Greaney, Massey University, College of Education

GRI03172  [Paper]
Methodology and Interpretive Procedures in Educational Research: risk, imagination and reflexivity

Associate Professor Elizabeth M. Grierson, Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand

'Methodology and Interpretive Procedures' acknowledges the vital importance of methodology as I construct a discourse that examines discourses. Through Ball (1994) this paper considers methodological terms such as critical, analyst, risk , imagination, reflexive and reflective. Accepting that the naming of any field is contestable therefore risky, the educational field of focus is 'the arts'. The discussion raises questions about institutional thought, organisational limits , and ways of analysing the discursive practices of which Michel Foucault speaks. Also raised are political issues surrounding the constitution of knowledge, including normalising assumptions in discourses of art education, as I seek a Nietzschean historical sense in educational research through a demystification of poststructuralist theories within applied fields of educational practice.

GRI03259  [Paper]
Knowledge and Understanding of Asia:Using a Common Item Pool to Gain a National Picture

Patrick Griffin and Kerry Woods, Assessment Research Centre, Faculty of Education, The University of Melbourne

A series of tests, attitude and questionnaire scales were developed to assess the proficiency of Australian Year 5 and Year 8 students in studies of Asia. Questionnaires were administered to students, teachers and school principals to identify appropriate issues related to outcomes