AARE 2005 Conference Papers

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ABSTRACTS of 2005 PAPERS

AGH05116
[PDF Paper]
Estimating the Hausman Test for Rasch with poorly fitted items

Kingsley Agho, University of Newcastle and James Athanasou, University of Technology, Sydney

In this study, an assessment that was difficult for a sample was used as a demonstration of the bootstrap method for estimating the Hausman test for Rasch analysis when the items are poorly fitted. A 10-item dichotomously scored test of numerical reasoning was administered to 200 (120 male, 80 female) high school pupils in Nigeria. The INFIT, OUTFIT statistics and standard error inflator showed that the 10 test items did not fit the Rasch model well and 1000 bootstrap replicates of the sample was generated. This paper reports results from the parametric, simulation and bootstrap method for estimating the Hausman test for the Rasch model. The main findings were that the simulation and bootstrap method for estimating the Hausman test for Rasch were statistically better than the parametric method and there was no need to eliminate poorly fitted items as suggested previous in the literature.

ALD05749
[PDF Paper]
Enabling Dialogue

Sharon Alderson and David Gilles, Auckland University of Technology

Current educational discourse has struggled to genuinely move beyond deficit-based language. Even Action Research, the predominant model for professional development and research in education, starts with the identification of the problem - the gap (Cardno, 2002). It would appear that the vocabulary for a hope-filled discourse, which captures the imagination surrounding our educational future, has escaped us. Equally important, we seem bereft of educational contexts where the experience for students is holistic and transformative.

Appreciative Inquiry is a research approach that seeks to facilitate change based on participant's recall moments of best practice and the subsequent processing of this information (Cady & Caster, 2000; Cooperrider & Srivastva, 1987;English, Fenwick, & Parsons, 2003; Hammond, 1998; Hammond & Royal, 1998). Rather than problem-centred, it is solution-focused. In this way, proponents describe it as 'dream forming' and 'destiny creating'. Based on assumptions that include 'in every organisation something works' and 'if we are to carry anything of our past forward in our lives, it should be the good things', Appreciative Inquiry energises the researcher and participants alike to reach for higher ideals (Hammond, 1998; Hammond & Royal, 1998).

This paper will outline an appreciative inquiry within a Family Literacy project, a bridging programme for adults, jointly sponsored by COMET (City of Manakau Education Trust), the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Social Development and Auckland University of Technology. The particular research approach enabled the capture of data revealing student's accounts of transformative learning experiences within their learning community and the impact this in turn had on their wider communities.

ALI05332 ®
[PDF Paper]
Testing the invariance of a motivation model across seven cultural groups

Jinnat Ali and Dennis McInerney, University of Western Sydney

Using confirmatory factor analysis this study examines the cross-cultural generalizability of the factor structure for the Inventory of School Motivation (ISM), an instrument based on Personal Investment theory. The instrument consists of eight different scales with 43 survey items (ranging from 3 to 7 items each) and each reflecting one of eight specific dimensions: task, effort, competition, social power, affiliation, social concern, praise, and token. The factor structure was invariant over large samples of responses by Anglo-Australian (n=2,616), Migrant Australian (n=1,265), Aboriginal Australian (n=906), Hong Kong Chinese (n=697), Navajo (n=1,776), Anglo-American (n=884) and African (n=819) cultural groups of high school students. The results of factorial invariance analysis indicated that the ISM has a stable and reliable factor structure among the 7 cultural groups. Findings also provide evidence that the ISM scales are applicable to students of different cultural backgrounds; meaningful cross-cultural comparisons should use the 43 items in educational settings.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 23 JOH05327 New advances in cross-cultural research: Insights into motivation and achievement.

ALI05403 ®
[PDF Paper]
An analysis of the predictive validity of the Inventory of School Motivation (ISM)

Jinnat Ali and Dennis McInerney, University of Western Sydney

This study examines the predictive validity of the Inventory of School Motivation (ISM), an instrument based on a Personal Investment theory and specifically the use of eight (task, effort, competition, social power, affiliation, social concern, praise, and token) ISM factor scales as predictors of academic achievement for five cultural groups, Anglo-Australian (n=2,616), Migrant Australian (n=1,265), Aboriginal Australian (n=906), Navajo (n=1,776), and Anglo-American (n=884) of high school students. Multiple regression analysis was conducted to examine the relationship among the Personal Investment factors and school achievement criteria (Math, English and GPA) and School Attendance. Findings support the validity and usefulness of the ISM in predicting achievement outcomes and in providing a motivational profile for students from diverse cultural backgrounds in educational settings.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 29 JOH05399 Cutting edge advances in research methods.

ALL05295
[PDF Paper]
Teachers heard or herd: when research silences teacher stories

Jennifer Allen, University of Newcastle

The ongoing debate between critical theory and postmodernism has borne ongoing concerns over the place of philosophical research in informing teacher practices. In seeking to critique emanicipatory goals 'for all', 'truth' and the grand narratives that appear implicit in critical theory postmodernists have challenged the constructive power of discourse and the nexus of power and knowledge. Power relations are thought to not only distort knowledge (as with critical theory) but that knowledge itself is borne of these power relations. In seeking to give voice to the marginalised postmodernism engages with research as a social practice rather than a producer of transcendental 'truth'. If philosophical research is to inform teachers' work it should recognise the "interconnectedness" of teachers' worlds, in a context that acknowledges that lifeworld is pervasive in communicative everyday practice. The debate continues over the "taken-for-granted' nature and unquestioned familiarity of the lifeworld of teachers and the possibility of bringing such knowledge to the fore.

This paper makes explicit the danger of placing the methodology and methods of philosophy as themselves beyond question, where lived experience is regarded as a pure unmediated and authentic knowledgeability and the research account the true and direct 'speech' of the autonomous, self-present individual. Rather lived experience and the 'tools' of research must be constantly problematised recognising their 'mediation' into 'reality through language, text, discourse, discursive practices and power relations. This problematisation is thus evident in the tension in the 'personalising' of research and the role of reflexivity and a critical consciousness in demystifying implicit, political and ideological teacher contexts. This paper explores the tension facing research when it is driven by a sense of transcending direction but seeks to acknowledge the importance of the immanent, emerging world of teachers work.

ALL05471
[PDF Paper]
Journeys: Supporting innovation in teacher education throughout Australia

Jennifer Allen, University of Newcastle

Since the late 1990s, the Response Ability project team has been working to support the inclusion of certain adolescent health and social issues in pre-service secondary education. This is an initiative of the Department of Health and Ageing and began under the National Youth Suicide Prevention Strategy. With subsequent shifts in policy and emerging research about resilience and mental health, the project has evolved considerably in its aims, principles and processes. While implementation has always been collaborative, the project's evolution has been marked by stronger partnerships between health professionals and teacher educators and by a critical shift from a health risk focus to an educational one. Drawing on consultation with teacher educators and reflections of project team members, this paper will explore the process of working with universities on a national level and identify factors that make lasting change difficult in pre-service secondary education. Critical issues include the crowded university curriculum and tertiary cultures that may not be supportive of innovation in teaching and program design. While the project has achieved considerable success - producing award-winning resources and gaining support from many teacher educators throughout Australia - difficulties remain in regard to positioning this issue within teacher education and ensuring sustainability. This paper presents not only the story of the project itself but also the journey of those wrestling with curriculum change.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 36 ALL05470 Constructive solutions: Responding to the changing role of the teacher through innovation, professional development and pre-service education

ALL05494
[PDF Paper]
Cultural differences in teaching and learning styles

Michael Allan, University of Bath

This presentation, based on a post-graduate case study of cross-cultural interaction in an international school, identifies problems that students from different cultures experience in the predominantly western culture of international schools.

What ideas of education in all cultures have in common is the transmission of cultural values of that society, as well as of the knowledge and skills specific to that society's needs. However the nature of these varies tremendously, as does the way in which they are transmitted, taught, learned and assessed. For migrant students, these differences will cause a culture clash between home and school, as children from different cultural backgrounds are socialized in conflict with the expectations of the school.

Using evidence from classroom discourse, this presentation looks at how dissonance between the predominantly western teaching style of international school teachers and the preferred learning styles of students from other cultures affects the learning and achievement of the students. It discusses a model of critical learning where different learning styles are recognised in the classroom, and a non-culture specific curriculum is delivered in a more pluralist style which can make it accessible to all pupils.

AND05154 ®
[PDF Paper]
Evaluating the professional learning of secondary mathematics teachers: Reflecting on their reflections!

Judy Anderson and Maxine Moore, The University of Sydney

The need to provide quality professional learning opportunities if change is to be realised in classrooms is well documented (e.g., Guskey, 2002). A new secondary mathematics syllabus in NSW was the impetus to design a course offered through the Division of Professional Learning at the University of Sydney. The course addressed key changes to the syllabus but also encouraged participants to reflect on their practice and to consider ways they might implement the recommendations. It is acknowledged that providing such opportunities does not automatically guarantee change will occur. However, supporting teacher growth through continuous contact over a six-week period where teachers are given opportunities to share understandings and develop partnerships might afford greater chances for change. The thirty participants completed weekly surveys that involved reflecting on what they had learnt, describing how they had shared new ideas with colleagues, and evaluating new information in relation to their knowledge and current needs. The results suggest that teachers valued the course, and felt they had been supported in knowledge development. However for some teachers, opportunities to reflect on their learning indicated that their levels of reflection were limited to listing strategies they might use rather than critically reflecting on their practice. Follow-up interviews with two experienced, creative teachers confirmed that they enjoyed the course, learnt a great deal, and yet they both found the reflective process rather challenging.

AND05224 ®
[PDF Paper]
Repertoires for diversity: Effective higher order pedagogies for inclusive practice

Kim Beswick, Rob Andrew and Karen Swabey, University of Tasmania

This paper reports on the findings of a Tasmanian study for the Government of Australia's Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST). The study was funded through the Australian Government's Effective Teaching and Learning Practices for Students with Learning Difficulties Initiative and its purpose was to provide specific support to increase teachers' capacity to enhance the literacy and numeracy development of students with learning difficulties in the early and middle years of schooling. The Tasmanian study was designed to explore connections between school and teacher practices used in inclusive primary grade classes and schools' levels of 'value-adding', determined from national benchmark testing.

The results showed that schools used a range of policies, programs and school-wide processes and professional learning to support literacy and numeracy pedagogies in value-adding schools. The study acknowledged the multiple challenges facing teachers who are attempting to balance continuous improvement of students' literacy and numeracy learning with that of increasing social and educational diversity of inclusive school communities.

ARN05532 ®
[PDF Paper]
Inter-intra subjectivities: Empathic intelligence and students' voices

Roslyn Arnold, University of Tasmania and John Hughes, University of Sydney

Students' voices can reveal insights into the nature of effective teaching and signal the importance of inter-intra subjectivity in the dynamics of pedagogy. The study was designed to explore correspondence between the principles of empathic intelligence and students' embodied experiences of pedagogy. Secondary school students' voices, articulated through a particular role-play, provided data to reveal the degree of match between their experience and these principles. The data reveals insights into the nature of new pedagogic principles and current theory supporting the notion of empathic intelligence in education. The study provides nuanced evidence to suggest that the relational and affective aspects of pedagogy are integral to learning and teaching effectiveness.

ASK05152
[PDF Paper]
Extending teacher education students' mental models of teaching and learning through Problem Based Learning (PBL)

Helen Askell-Williams, Rosalind Murray-Harvey and Michael Lawson, Flinders University

Student teachers develop robust mental models of teaching and learning during their years as students, such that teachers often teach as they were taught-possibly perpetuating practices that limit intellectual inquiry in classrooms. PBL was introduced to our B.Ed to challenge and extend students' mental models about teaching and learning.

The literature provided the basis to create a conceptual framework incorporating the professional, personal, and organisational aims of the B.Ed, and the PBL objectives of enhancing knowledge, critical thinking, theory-practice relationships, collaboration, and self-directed lifelong learning. We constructed questions to focus PBL students' written reflections upon these aims and objectives. One hundred and thirty students agreed to the use of their written reflections to form the data base of this study.

A literature search identified key-word descriptors of changing mental models in PBL environments. The descriptors were entered into NVivo to guide thematic coding and content analysis of students' written reflections.

Results provide evidence that students do report incorporating PBL concepts into their mental models of teaching and learning. For example, students perceive the value of (1) case studies for engaging with subject content, motivating learning and connecting theory with practice, (2) self-reflection and peer collaboration for cognitive growth, and (3) PBL processes for developing self-regulated learning practices.

ATH05117
[PDF Paper]
Some issues with adult self-evaluations in education and training

James Athanasou, University of Technology, Sydney

This paper adopts a social-cognitive framework to categorise those factors that enhance self-evaluation. Technical issues with the accuracy of self-evaluations are outlined. These related to (a) the adequacy of the criterion, (b) the method of statistical comparison, (c) the quantitative or qualitative basis for self-evaluations and (d) the procedures used in obtaining self-evaluations. It is argued that self-evaluations are inherently economical, reliable and valuable especially when they are geared to idiographic, criterion-referenced and formative assessments of performance rather than ability.

AUL05175 ®
[PDF Paper]
Factors to consider when planning to submit a digital thesis

Glenn Auld, Monash University

Emerging technologies offer new possibilities of text production. Consequently there are important implications for submitting a digitalised thesis. This paper reflects upon some of the issues associated with the digitalisation of the thesis entitled "The literacy practices of Kunib�dji children: Text, technology and transformation". This PhD thesis was submitted in a multimedia format on a DVD and reported on the literacy practices of a group of Indigenous Australian children who spoke a minority Indigenous Australian language. Factors to consider when digitalising a thesis include the social possibilities of emerging technologies. These are explored with reference to the purpose of research in changing times. The opportunities to integrate a number of texts in the submitted thesis are demonstrated. The use of multimodal texts to improve the validity of the research is discussed using examples of digital video and interactive texts in a minority Indigenous Australian language context. This paper concludes that the digitisation of a thesis should be guided by the possibilities for conceptualising and reporting new knowledge while upholding an ethic of respect for the participants.

BAR05352 ®
[PDF Paper]
The fallacy of laissez-faire leadership: A multilevel analysis of the influence of leadership avoidance behaviours on aspects of school learning environment

Alan Barnett, Herb Marsh and Rhonda Craven, University of Western Sydney

Effective schools literature has emphasised the leadership roles played by school principals in influencing a school's learning environment and teacher satisfaction outcomes. Moreover, transformational leadership theory has provided a new perspective from which to view these relations. Advocates of transformational and transactional leadership behaviour claim that leaders have the ability to effectively manipulate their environments to achieve their organisational objectives. However, a third type of leadership behaviour, laissez-faire leadership, has recently been demonstrated to have marked positive effects on a number of school learning environment constructs. This paper reports on an investigation of the relation between laissez faire leadership behaviours of school principals in NSW public secondary schools and seven dimensions of school learning environment. A survey was conducted across 52 secondary schools in NSW, Australia, involving 458 respondents. Data was gathered on the leadership style of school principals and seven school learning environment constructs. Multilevel modelling analysis was used to explore the relation between laissez-faire leadership behaviour and the school learning environment dimensions both at the teacher and the school level. Laissez-faire leadership behaviours demonstrated a differential impact on school learning environment, in some cases more influential than alternative types of leadership behaviour.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 25 JOH05346 New advances in self-concept research in educational settings: Making a real difference

BAR05373 ®
[PDF Paper]
Direction of causality: Examining causal relations between motivational goals, academic self-concept and academic achievement

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

Research has been conducted on a) relations between academic self-concept and academic achievement, which is well established in the literature, however there remains disagreement about the causal ordering of these constructs b) relations between motivation and academic achievement which show moderate-to-strong correlations and c) relations between academic self-concept and motivational indicators which show strong correlations. Of the studies that combine self-concept and motivation, few examine motivation from a goal perspective. The generalised hypothesis attached to this investigation is that variables drawn from self-concept and goal theories taken together will provide a fuller explanation of academic achievement than is possible with either self-concept or motivational goal variables alone. Hence, the purpose of this study was to examine with a longitudinal perspective the relations between goal theory (mastery, performance and social), academic self-concept (maths and English) and academic achievement among seven-, eighth-, and ninth-grade students.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 26 JOH05370 Enhancing motivation, achievement and academic self-concept: Finding answers to the tough questions

BAR05385 ®
[PDF Paper]
The first step toward examining the question: What do students' motivational goals and self-concept have to do with academic achievement?

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

We propose that student achievement can be more fully explained by examining the dynamic interaction among students' goals and academic self-concept. To unify these two motivational perspectives, it is necessary to examine the psychometric properties of both students' goals as defined by the General Achievement Goal Orientation Scale (GAGOS) and students' academic self-concept as defined by the Academic Self Description Questionnaire (ASDQ) to determine whether these measures (items and scales) remain independent and stable when combined in the one instrument. Hence, we test the ability of a hypothesised first-order measurement model, comprising goal orientation and academic self-concept, drawn from the GAGOS (McInerney, 1997) and ASDQ (Marsh, 1992), to fit three waves of data collected from 1 001 high school students.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 26 JOH05370 Enhancing motivation, achievement and academic self-concept: Finding answers to the tough questions

BAR05419 ®
[PDF Paper]
What type of school leadership satisfies teachers? A mixed method approach to teachers' perceptions of satisfaction

Alan Barnett, Herb Marsh and Rhonda Craven, University of Western Sydney

Transformational leadership theory predicts a greater than anticipated commitment from followers as a result of certain prescribed leadership behaviours. This occurs as a result of motivating and elevating followers commitment with a compelling vision of the future that can only be obtained with their help. Further, the theory claims, there is a strong correlation between transformational leadership and the degree of teacher satisfaction achieved. This paper reports on a mixed method approach to evaluating the influence of transformational and transactional leadership behaviours on teachers' perceptions of satisfaction with their leader. A quantitative survey was conducted in 52 secondary schools, involving 458 respondents across NSW, and a multilevel modelling analysis was used to explore the relation between principal's leadership styles and teachers' perception of satisfaction with leadership. Three schools were then selected based on the results of the multilevel analysis, and a qualitative study using a semi-structured interview technique employed to investigate those specific principal leadership behaviours that influenced teachers' perceptions of satisfaction with leadership. Several findings emerged, including the importance of individualised consideration behaviours in accounting for variations in teachers' perceptions of satisfaction with leadership scores, and the utility of specific behaviours such as "an open door policy".

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 30 JOH05417 Making a real difference in educational settings: Findings from new intervention research

BAT05131
[PDF Paper]
Educational administration and social justice

Richard Bates, Deakin University

This paper argues that social justice is central to the pursuit of education and therefore should also be central to the practice of educational administration. Social justice in education, as elsewhere, demands both distributive justice (which remedies undeserved inequalities) and recognitional justice (which treats cultural differences with understanding and respect). But, given that cultures are always in the process of change, education is a key agency for negotiating cultural change through the exploration and negotiation of difference. Educational administration as a field can no longer escape the consideration of such issues as they are brought to the fore by the recognition of the failure of schools and school systems to ameliorate injustice in the distribution of resources and to recognise and celebrate difference as a means to social and cultural progress. We still need a model of educational administration centered around the problem of the justice and fairness of social and educational arrangements. Given the renewed interest in such issues, perhaps what was impossible twenty five years ago might now be achieved.

BER05533
[PDF Paper]
Functional significance of feedback in learning

Rita Berry, Hong Kong Institute of Education

This paper reports on, and presents the findings from, an investigation into feedback as a means of formative assessment. Feedback is important to learning because it gives us information about the results or consequences of what teachers do and what learners have achieved or have not achieved. It is as crucial in teaching and learning as in any other activity, forming part of the cycle of teaching and learning. However, general feedback such as 'Good work!' 'Effort shown!', or drawing a smiling face, though holding the acknowledgement effect, is not informative enough to help students advance their learning. This poses a question "What sort of feedback has functional significance in learning?"

The investigation collected data from school teachers through three different phases, namely, questionnaire survey, teacher interviews, and lesson observation. The first phase asked approximately one thousand school teachers to give their views on feedback in a questionnaire survey. Data analysis showed that four particular aspects about feedback were regarded as more significant than others. The second phase and the third phases, which involved a further 94 teachers and 27 teachers respectively, revealed that feedback could take many forms and the quality of feedback could vary tremendously.

BOA05639 ®
[PDF Paper]
Positive educational gains in kindergarten for full-day attendees

Margot Boardman, University of Tasmania

Nationally and internationally, there has been a heightened interest regarding the quality of educational provisions for young learners within kindergarten settings. To this end, in 2004 a study was undertaken to investigate the educational advantages for kindergarten children, associated with different attendance modes within Tasmanian schools. The multi-method study sourced quantitative data from results obtained from the PIPS (Performance Indicators of Primary Schools) testing procedure, mandated by the Tasmanian Department of Education for all children at the commencement of their year in Prep, the year after kindergarten. Prep teachers from thirty eight (38) Tasmanian state schools, both primary and district high, provided data, in response to a postal survey. Test scores, in the areas of early literacy and numeracy, were received for 884 Prep children. Results showed there were clear academic advantages for children, when commencing Prep, associated with attending full-day sessions of kindergarten the previous year. When the children's PIPS scores were analysed according to the mode of kindergarten attendance undertaken, full-day students' results were statistically significantly better in maths (p=.007), in reading (p=.045) and in their overall total scores, (when maths, reading and phonics scores were combined; p=.038), when compared to half-day attendees.

Keywords: Curriculum and specific curriculum areas - Literacy; Early childhood education

BOD05314 ®
[PDF Paper]
Construct validation of the Self-Description Questionnaire II (Short Version) for Indigenous Australian Secondary School Students

Gawaian Bodkin-Andrews, Rhonda Craven and Herb Marsh,University of Western Sydney

In adherence to recent calls for the development of culturally relevant and applicable quantitative instruments for research into the educational disadvantages suffered by Indigenous Australian students, this investigation will report on the validation of the Self-Description Questionnaire II (short version) (SDQII-S) as reformulated by Marsh, Ellis, Heubeck, Parada & Richards (2005) and a researcher-devised art self-concept scale. Drawing from data obtained from the Craven, Tucker, et al. (in press) study, reliability and confirmatory factor analysis will be used to assess the psychometric properties of the 11-facets of self-concept measured by the SDQII-S and the researcher-devised art self-concept scale for Indigenous students (N=530) in comparison to their non-Indigenous peers (N=1155) drawn from 3 Australian States. The results demonstrate that the SDQII-S is a psychometrically sound and robust measure of Indigenous students' self-concepts.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 21 JOH05311 New advances in Indigenous education self-concept research: Driving reform

BOD05319 ®
[PDF Paper]
The re-assessment of the Australian Perceived Discrimination Scale: Confirmatory factor analysis testing and between scale comparisons

Gawaian Bodkin-Andrews, Rhonda Craven, Herb Martin and Herb Marsh, University of Western Sydney

With the recent formulation of a three factor Australian Perceived Discrimination Scale (APDS) by Bodkin-Andrews, Craven & Marsh (2004) revealing an unacceptably high correlation between individual and institutional discrimination factors, this paper will present a rationale for a new two factor understanding of perceived discrimination. Secondly a re-analysis of the APDS will be undertaken as a two factor scale measuring perceived discrimination at the individual (e.g. name calling) and macro (e.g. wider social attitudes) levels. Thirdly, by including the Personal/Group Discrimination Scale (PGDS) by Operario and Fiske (2001), an opportunity will be provided to examine the ADPS with another previously utilized discrimination measure. Finally the relation of perceived discrimination to multiple motivational constructs and academic resiliency, as captured by Martin's (2004) Student Motivation and Engagement Scale (SMES) will be undertaken. It is hoped that the re-development of this scale will provide a robust measure for future perceived discrimination research within the Australian educational setting.

BON05361
[PDF Paper]
Silk purses from sows' ears? Making measures from teacher judgements

Trevor Bond, Hong Kong Institute of Education and Martin Caust, James Cook University

The prospect of increased mandated achievement testing in Australian schools has the potential to relegate into insignificance the professional judgements of classroom teachers. This paper reports the first steps of a two-stage project to foreground teachers' judgements in the assessment process. Firstly, we investigate the extent to which teachers' assessments of their students satisfy the strict measurement requirements of the Rasch model. Secondly, we attempt to integrate the ability estimates derived from teacher judgements into the more typical quantitative results derived from standardized testing. Two data sets (from 1997 and 1998) record teacher assessments of the development of approximately 10,000 primary school students for each calendar year using the Australian National Profiles (reported by Rothman, AARE 1998). As a separate unrelated event all students in Years 3 and 5 were also assessed using a Literacy scale using the NSW Basic Skills test. With the recent approval and support of the SA school system, the 'intersect' of the two sets has been matched at Years 3 and 5, in English in 1997 and Mathematics in 1998. (1000 teacher assessments at each Year level matched with 12,000 test assessments). Files of approximately 700 students with both assessments have been created for the 4 data sets to explore (a) the development of a measurement scale of teacher assessments and (b) how well the two approaches to assessment of students match. Measurement error in the test is more readily and accurately estimated than for teacher judgements. Teachers vary considerably in their observational skills, their understanding of learning, their comfort with the ambiguous profile scales, their personal specific knowledge of the randomly selected students and their confidence that they can use criteria described scales. A few teachers' assessments correlate well with the test, some differ widely. The paper then speculates on how to improve the skill of teachers in using the latent scales established in test analysis as a support to measurement of growth in the classroom and more generally how to use criteria scales in formative assessment.

BOO05099
[PDF Paper]
Teachers' misconceptions of biological science concepts as revealed in science examination papers

Hong Kwen Boo, Nanyang Technological University

Assessment is an integral and vital part of teaching and learning, providing feedback on progress through the assessment period to both learners and teachers. However, if test items are flawed because of misconceptions held by the question setter, then such test items are invalid as assessment tools. Moreover, such flawed items are also likely to perpetuate the misconceptions among pupils. Research has shown that misconceptions among pupils are resistant to change, and that they persist even with formal science instruction. This paper highlights teachers' (or question setters') misconceptions concerning some key biological science concepts in the areas of plant and animal morphology, function and genetics. It is based on a scrutiny of numerous sets of primary science examination papers in Singapore Schools (first and second semestral assessment science papers, ie SA1 and SA2) in three different contexts:

BOO05235
[PDF Paper]
Using two tier reflective multiple choice questions to cater to creative thinking

Hong Kwen Boo, Nanyang Technological University and Kok Cheng Ang, CHIJ St Nicholas Girls' School

This paper reports on the results and implications of an exploratory study which arises from concerns that, whilst there have been many changes in the Singapore school curriculum over the past decade or more with teaching strategies specifically developed to encourage pupils to think more creatively and deeply both within and across subject domains, assessment methods and techniques have not always moved forward to address the new thinking skills that pupils have. A specific concern has been with the predominant use of traditional MCQs and, in particular, test items that might create a mis-match of perspectives between the question-setter and the test-taker. In such items, the creative test taker has no avenue to explain his/her reason for choosing a particular option as his/her choice of the answer key. The study involves the use of a modified test instrument (a "reflective" or "two-tier" MCQ) which comprises items from the traditional MCQ with an added second tier which is essentially an open-ended segment which requires pupils to explain the thinking behind their choice of the answer key. The study sample comprises two primary level classes, primary four and six.

BOO05300 ®
[PDF Paper]
At risk adolescents: Their perception of parenting styles

Helen Boon, James Cook University

Much attention has been devoted to factors associated with academic underachievement. Student underachievement predicts dropping out of school and underachieving adolescents are at risk of a host of negative life outcomes.

This paper reports on a study conducted to explore at risk students' perceptions of their parenting and the relations those perceptions have with other factors connected with academic achievement.

Three urban state high schools in North Queensland, involving 1127 Year 8-10 students, participated in the study. The students completed a survey exploring their perceptions of: a) their parenting, b) their motivational goals, c) their coping strategies, d) their expectancy orientation and e) the quality of their school life. Sociodemographic variables and mid-semester English and math grades were also obtained through the survey.

Statistical analyses showed significant differences between typical and at risk students' coping strategies, motivational goals, expectancy orientation, perceptions of parenting and the quality of school life. However, the differences between student perceptions were more strongly linked to their perceived parenting style than to their classification as either at risk or typical student.

BOW05286
[PDF Paper]
Teachers as professionals in the regulatory environment: Experiences in early childhood services

Kathryn Bown and Jennifer Sumsion, Macquarie University

In NSW, children's services must comply with the Children's Services Regulation 2004, in order to be granted an operating license. The Regulation ensures that minimum standards are present in children's services for the protection and safety of children. Yet anecdotal reports from practitioners in the field suggest that the Regulation is too directive in some areas, such as expectations for program content, while remaining too lax in other areas, such as supporting poor staff to child ratios. This paper will report findings from a small qualitative study that investigated early childhood teachers' perceptions of how the Regulation has impacted on their professional lives, integrity and decision-making, through in-depth interviews and photographic inquiry, informed by the work of Knowles and Thomas (2000), who draw on artist Marlene Creates' informational panels. The paper will present how the participants explained and represented their sense of 'place' as early childhood teacher professionals in the regulatory environment of children's services.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 19 SUM05284 Regulation and accountability in early childhood education

BOW05432 ®
[PDF Paper]
The getting of wisdom: Learning through others

Helen Bowers, Macquarie University

The students studying the subject Internal Control Procedures at New South Wales TAFE are doing so as part of the Accounting Advanced Diploma. It is a core unit in that program but is rated as a category D, meaning it is delivered and assessed by the teacher in the classroom. One of the challenges in teaching is the interpretation of the curriculum document and the use made of resources and teachers' guides. This paper is just the first section of a chapter in a doctoral research project that introduces four of the major categories that have emerged from the phenomenographic analysis of the different experiences of both teachers in teaching and students in learning. The overview begins with the first three categories; 'learning in the classroom'; 'trying to establish competence' and 'motivating and learning' which are logically related to one another, and represent the actions taken by teachers as they strive to teach this curriculum. The fourth category 'tuning to the same wavelength' in essence overlays the first three and represents the reality of teachers undertaking the often difficult task of tuning in to, or teaching on, the same level as their students. The experiences presented came from in-depth interviews with 11 teachers of this subject and portray the phenomena they experienced, perceived, apprehended, understood or conceptualised in their teaching and learning.

BRA05251
[PDF Paper]
Does sun-safety make a Health program or a Health Promoting School?: A case study of climate, culture and barriers to best practice

Rosalind Brady, Judy Miller and Rafat Hussain, University of New England

The study of climate and culture of a school may reveal the relevant barriers to effective health education, health programs and implementation of the health promoting schools model. When a school adopts and includes specific aspects of the health education syllabus, or policies such as sun protection, does this message translate to the school being a Health Promoting one? To investigate these issues a small school, located in a higher socio-economic area of a rural city is the focus of this study. The school is viewed in terms of its climate of collegiality and support, in a context of a culture of high accountability from State Wide Testing in NSW. Pressures on the school community to prioritise time to a few of the six key learning areas may affect the teaching of the PDHPE curriculum, and compromise the focus on an holistic approach to health. Within the climate and culture, both external and internal factors lead to a school engaged in being Reactive rather than Proactive, for health related issues.

BRE05587
[PDF Paper]
Generations of social justice in Australian schools?

Marie Brennan, University of South Australia

Issues of equity and social justice continue to emerge as part of struggles over schooling, curriculum and pedagogy in Australia and elsewhere. This paper focuses on two strands: theoretical resources for understanding and furthering social justice agendas in poor communities, and different generations of South Australian teachers' views of 'teaching for social justice'. Drawing from extended teacher biography work as part of the ARC-funded Redesigning Pedagogies in the North project, this paper links broader educational events such as the 1973 Karmel report and major curriculum and policy shifts in state education, with teachers' own perspectives and critical incidents in their professional lives, enabling an analysis of both the theoretical resources drawn upon over thirty five years and the practical approaches by different generations of teachers over that period of time. The paper will further explore those theoretical resources which underpin different approaches to Equity-in-action and the ways in which teachers theorise their own approaches to school, community and classroom work. The paper will conclude with a critical examination of the ways in which contemporary theoretical, political and cultural resources are drawn upon by teachers and state policy efforts in redress of educational disadvantage in South Australia schooling.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 46 HAT05583 The pedagogical challenge: Rethinking relevance in the interests of social justice

BRI05442 ®
[PDF Paper]
Values, interests and environmental preferences in the school context

Stephanie Brickman, University of Texas Pan American, Raymond Miller, University of Oklahoma and Dennis McInerney, University of Western Sydney

There is a burning desire to understand what shapes a students' pursuit of an education. There has been virtually no research on the values students hold that guide behavior. Miller and Brickman's (2004) theoretical model hypothesizes that a student's values develop in the sociocultural context of home and school. It is in the context of school that values are transformed into interests and goals to satisfy underlying needs (e.g., need of achievement). In this study we investigated how basic core values of students were related to the interests they reported and types of environments students preferred. Data was collected at a rural regional university in the U. S. 392 freshman students were administered the Profile Values Questionnaire (Schwartz, 1992) and the Holland Interest Inventory (Holland, 1996). These measures have strong validity evidence, plus the reliabilities for both of these measures were similar to those reported in previous studies. The mean rating of students' values and ranking was very similar to rankings found by Shalom Schwartz's (2001) studies. The correlations between values and interests indicated theoretically expected relationships between values and interests, and the types of environments, either, social or non-social, in which students likely prefer to complete their school tasks.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 32 JOH05440 New frontiers in self research: Implications for schooling

BRO05411 ®
[PDF Paper]
The mediation of collaborative pedagogical activity: What happens when the teacher isn't there?

Raymond Brown, Elizabeth Hirst and Peter Renshaw, Griffith University

Pedagogies designed to enable collaborative learning, position students on a more equal footing with each other in a manner that facilitates the evaluation of the worth of competing ideas and the co-construction of understanding. However, teachers are often reluctant to implement these collaborative ways of knowing and doing in the classroom as they are deemed to be ineffective when the teacher is unable to participate in and/or supervise the group level process. This paper examines the interactions of four Year 7 students as they go about solving a novel problem-solving task, unrelated to the current work of the classroom, away from the direct supervision of the classroom teacher. Student interactions are analysed in terms of the 'speaking' positions that students take up within the group, the mediational means that they employ, and the quality of the product of their collaboration. Conclusions are drawn about the generalised benefits to student learning of sustained engagement in classroom collaborative learning.

BRO05422 ®
[PDF Paper]
The instructional features of an effective and practical intervention for significant improvements in reading comprehension

Gail Brown, Herb Marsh, Rhonda Craven and Mary Cassar, University of Western Sydney

This presentation outlines the instructional features of an effective instructional program in question-answering that has empirical support for statistically significant improvement in reading comprehension. The presentation overviews the features of effective instruction in terms of both lesson presentation and lesson content. Comparisons are made between the question-answering intervention and other programs used in classrooms and commercially available reading programs. The use of these instructional features increases the likelihood of successful learning by all students, including some students with special needs, within regular classrooms. More importantly, this instructional design increases the likelihood of errorless learning by many students. The potential effects of errorless learning on students' attitudes to learning and confidence are outlined. The presentation includes a workshop involving participants in experiencing the difference between effective and ineffective instruction. The application of this instructional design will be extended to a numeracy program and a range of syllabus areas.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 30 JOH05417 Making a real difference in educational settings: Findings from new intervention research

BRO05424 ®
[PDF Paper]
Improving standardized reading comprehension: The role of question-answering

Gail Brown, Herb Marsh, Rhonda Craven and Mary Cassar, University of Western Sydney

This presentation provides empirical evidence that effective instruction in question-answering leads to statistically significant improvements in reading comprehension, when compared to regular classroom reading instruction. The presentation reports both the features of intervention materials and the differences in reading instruction between a treatment and control group that contributed to differences in posttest treatment group performance. The study involved a quasi-experimental, pretest-posttest design that targeted students enrolled in regular Year 5 classrooms across three schools. There were no statistically significant pretest differences between the treatment groups. Classroom teachers implemented the intervention with their classes over a ten week period. Comparisons were made between students who completed their regular classroom reading program and students who completed the intervention. Statistical analyses used multilevel modelling to ensure that adjustments were made for potential differences at the treatment group level and at the class level. Posttest comparisons on both a standardised reading comprehension measure and researcher-devised question-answering measures significantly favoured the intervention group. This presentation outlines the theoretical foundation and methodology for effective classroom instruction in question-answering. The potential future applications of this instructional technology to a range of complex cognitive skills are discussed.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 30 JOH05417 Making a real difference in educational settings: Findings from new intervention research

CAI05518
[PDF Paper]
The Actuality Model of Engagement: A model derived from engaged students

Leonard Cairns and Michael Dyson, Monash University

This paper offers a model for the better understanding and potential generation of student engagement in school situations. The model was originally derived from research with a number of cohorts of year nine students who were observed as maximally engaged with their laptop computer usage and related school projects in a special leadership educational setting in the Victorian Alps.

The authors derived the original model based from student interview data and observations and suggested its strength lay in its derivation from the "other side of the engagement issue" as a way of reconceptualising student engagement, rather than the traditional approach of observing dis-engagement and attempting to find solutions to this perceived "problem".

Recent additional applications and trials of the model in pre-service teacher education courses, have led to additions and this paper suggests that whilst the model is readily applicable in ICT situations, it may have some general application to teaching and learning in all classrooms.

The model is presented as a work in progress which promises a possible basis for additional applied research in broader classroom applications.

CAM05609 ®
[PDF Paper]
Mixed-mode learning for students of school counselling

Marilyn Campbell, Denise Frost and Joanna Logan, Queensland University of Technology

In a core unit in the Queensland University of Technology's Education Masters degree, teachers training to become school counsellors are required to learn to assess children with learning and/or behavioural problems. Students enrol in the semester long unit in "block" mode, whereby face to face contact in the unit is limited to one block session of five days. After this period, they become distance learners, assessed by assignments due later in semester. This format poses pedagogical challenges. Deep learning, a desired student learning outcome, did not appear to be occurring. Furthermore, students felt isolated, in that they had lost the collegial support of the community of learners which they had formed during the intensive teaching block period. The goals therefore of this educational intervention, were to engage students in deep learning throughout the whole of the semester and to extend the collaboration and camaraderie of the intensive teaching mode. To overcome these challenges it was necessary to design an authentic assessment task that would enhance the students' learning as well as provide opportunities for collaboration. This was accomplished by conducting assessment on-line with an authentic, collaborative task using videos, discussion lists and chat rooms. A pre-post evaluative design was utilised.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 48 SIN05607 Pedagogic encounters in the Information Age

Keywords: New Pedagogies; Educational Change and Innovation; ICT; Learning and Teaching; Teacher Education - General

CAR05025 ®
[PDF Paper]
Teaching Mathematics in primary schools: Different type of teachers

Jean Carroll, Victoria University

Recent research into teacher effectiveness has identified marked differences in the effects different teachers can have on their students' achievement in mathematics. This paper investigates the relationship between primary school teachers' affective and cognitive factors with respect to their mathematics teaching and learning and examines the differences between teachers. Quantitative data was collected from 100 primary school teachers in Melbourne and qualitative data in the form of mathematical life histories was collected from five of these teachers in follow-up case studies. The larger scale quantitative data was used to develop a profile of eight different types of teachers, taking into account their cognitive and affective characteristics. The life histories were used to provide rich information about some of the teacher types.

CAS05485 ®
[PDF Paper]
Shifting space and cultural place: Southern Sudanese young people in Western Sydney high schools

Elizabeth Cassity and Greg Gow, University of Western Sydney

How are recently arrived refugee young people from Southern Sudan faring in Australian high schools? This paper documents a research project undertaken with 60 young people across three schools in the Western Sydney suburbs of Blacktown and Bankstown. We discuss the roles of schools as sites where Southern Sudanese young people experience and relate to the upheaval of forced migration and make transitions toward citizenship and belonging in multicultural Australia. Specifically, this paper will address how educational settings are responding to the needs of students, teachers, and communities.

Africa is currently the focus of Australia's refugee program and is likely to remain so in the years ahead. The growing numbers of African young people arriving in Australia impacts Sydney, Melbourne and various regional centres. While schools and youth specialists have successfully worked with refugee young people, the new African students present a range of unfamiliar cultural, linguistic and historical backgrounds.

The Southern Sudanese young people in our study call attention to the need for integrated approaches and constructive solutions toward settlement which focus not only upon experiences in educational settings, but also consider the longer term participation of refugee young people in their new society.

CAV05043 ®
[PDF Paper]
Enhancing teachers' knowledge of students' thinking: The case of graphics calculator graphs

Michael Cavanagh, Macquarie University

Graphics calculators are widely available in Australian schools, particularly as a tool for drawing and interpreting graphs in mathematics instruction. There is much research on pedagogical practices associated with graphics calculators, but relatively little on the design of professional development programs on the use of graphics calculators. What calculator knowledge do teachers need? And would informing teachers about how students interpret the graphics calculator display lead to better student outcomes?

This paper reports on a graphics calculator in-service program based on the principles of Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI). A series of clinical interviews identified student misconceptions associated with interpreting straight-line graphs and parabolas on a graphics calculator. Interview results were reported to teachers during a two-day workshop. Teachers were subsequently observed using graphics calculators in the classroom and students from these classes were interviewed using the original protocols.

Results show that the CGI intervention was largely successful. Teachers reported greater confidence in using the technology in the classroom and dealt with a wide variety of examples that confronted student misconceptions. Students from the observed classes performed significantly better than the control group on tasks that required them to interpret graphical images on the graphics calculator screen.

CAV05080 ®
[PDF Paper]
Parent views of involvement in their child's education: A Rasch model analysis

Robert Cavanagh and Joseph Romanoski, Curtin University of Technology

The theoretical basis for the study was the assumption that parental involvement in a child's education is an important aspect of school culture and that school renewal efforts intended to change the prevailing culture need to take into account the role of parents. Data (N=1,672) from administration of a 40-item rating scale instrument designed to elicit parent views of their involvement in their child's education were analysed using the Rasch model. The analyses were used to test the construct validity of an hypothesised model of parental involvement and the capacity of the instrument to measure the hypothesised components. The components were: Child's view of the importance of schooling, desire to learn, and achievement and engagement; the school's focus on children, learning and on education generally; and provision of information from teachers, teachers' commitment to working with parents, and parent confidence in communicating with the teacher.

The instrument was shown to be eliciting data that did not fit the original theoretical model and in cognisance of the need for content validity and accurate measurement, the instrument was refined.

Data from the refined instrument were then analysed to produce measures of different aspects of parental involvement as perceived by the parent respondents.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 3 CAV05076 School renewal: Issues concerning teacher professional development, dialogical leadership, pedagogical leadership, and parental involvement

CAV05081 ®
[PDF Paper]
An illustrative example of the benefits of using a Rasch analysis in an experimental design investigation

Robert Cavanagh, David Kent and Joseph Romanoski, Curtin University of Technology

The study compared the consequences of choosing to use either parametric or probabilistic data analyses in an experimental investigation. The empirical research from which the data for these analyses was drawn applied computer assisted language learning (CALL) as the treatment in a one-group pretest-posttest design. The empirical investigation concerned the effect of CALL on Korean university students' ability to correctly identify the meaning of loanwords - native vernacular that originated in non-native languages and is now part of the native vernacular. The empirical investigation is explained and the design of experimental research and analysis of experimental research data are discussed. Stochastic and deterministic measurement models are then examined followed by the application of these models to analyse data from the empirical investigation. Data analyses included a paired sample t-test, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and a Rasch Unidimensional Measurement Model (RUMM) analysis of differential item functioning (DIF). The analyses and their respective results are assayed in terms of capacity to inform hypothesis confirmation. Parametric tests using non-interval data (raw test scores) were shown to be less sensitive than the RUMM DIF analysis of Rasch Model transformed scores when estimating the differences between the pretest and posttest data.

CAV05748 ®
[PDF Paper]
Measuring student perceptions of classroom assessment

Robert Cavanagh, Joseph Romanoski and Darrel Fisher, Curtin University of Technology, Bruce Waldrip, University of Southern Queensland and Jeffrey Dorman, Australian Catholic University

The investigation developed and applied an instrument to measure student perceptions of the assessment procedures applied to gauge their classroom learning. The rationale for the research centred on the paucity of research into students' involvement in decisions about assessment in light of the importance often assigned to teacher initiated and executed assessment of students' learning.

The study aimed to develop an interval-level scale to measure six aspects of student perceptions of classroom assessment: congruence with planned learning; diverse methods; authenticity; student consultation; transparency; and accommodation of student diversity.

Following item writing and piloting, data were obtained from 320 students responding to 30 items on a four point response scale (almost always, often, sometimes and almost never). The Rasch rating scale model was then applied to examine the fit of the data to the measurement model for the items. This revealed good data to model fit for the majority of the items when data were assigned to a three point response scale (collapsing of almost always and often categories).

The report describes the analytic techniques and results, how the instrument could be improved, and identifies common and uncommon student perceptions based on a post-hoc analysis.

CHA05030
[PDF Paper]
In-service teachers' perceptions of teaching as a career - Motives and commitment in teaching

Kwok wai Chan, Hong Kong Institute of Education

A questionnaire survey was conducted with 106 in-service teacher education students of a university in Hong Kong to study their motives and commitment in teaching. Three motive factors were identified in their choice of teaching as a career, the most influential one is "intrinsic/altruistic motive", the next one is "extrinsic motive/job condition" and lastly "influence from others". Within the intrinsic/altruistic motive, around 80% to 95% teachers considered teaching is meaningful, they desired to teach the subjects they liked, they wished to help others and to work with children/teenagers. Four factors representing the areas or aspects of teaching which influenced the teachers' dedication and commitment were found, viz., "students' learning and school development", "demands on teaching and school practices", "teaching as a career choice", "teacher-pupils interaction and attitudes". Correlational analyses showed that intrinsic/altruistic motive was significantly related to the four commitment factors, suggesting that the motives held by the teachers in joining the teaching profession (in particular, intrinsic/altruistic motive) is influential upon teachers' commitment in teaching. Further analysis of the item responses highlights the elements affecting teachers' commitment in teaching involve school head, colleagues, students, parents and educational changes, which deserve the attention of the education authority to address with appropriate measures.

CHA05675 ®
[PDF Paper]
The application of the results of learning environments research to an innovative teacher-designed website

Vinesh Chandra, Mansfield State High School and Darrell Fisher, Curtin University of Technology

For more than 30 years, proven qualitative and quantitative research methods associated with learning environments research have yielded productive results for educators. A variety of learning environment instruments has been developed over the years to gather quantitative data. The Web-based Learning Environment Instrument (WEBLEI) (Chang & Fisher, 2003) was developed to evaluate online learning in higher education. In this research, a modified version of the WEBLEI was used for the first time to evaluate students' perceptions of their blended web-based learning environment in a high school setting. The feedback generated through the WEBLEI was used in the development of Getsmart - a teacher-designed website for students studying junior science and physics at a Queensland Secondary School. Qualitative data was also gathered through written surveys and emails. The research involved more than four hundred students over a two year period. This paper presents the perceptions of these students of their learning environment and how it influenced the development of the website. The paper also tracks the changes in the perceptions of a group of physics students during the course of the research.

CHE05303 ®
[PDF Paper]
Relationship dynamics and dimensions of support for figure skaters and significant others: Implications for schooling

Jacqueline Cheng, Herb Marsh, Martin Dowson and Andrew Martin, University of Western Sydney

Research pertaining to support given to figure skaters is sparse despite the gruelling and demanding nature of the sport in terms of performance, training, economic and familial pressures (Kestnbaum, 2003). This qualitative study explored perceptions of parents and coaches regarding the types of support they provide, and the perceptions of athletes (figure skaters) regarding the support they receive. A total of 10 figure skaters of international level, seven parents, and 10 coaches from ice centres across the United Kingdom participated. An interview schedule prompting athletes', parents' and coaches' responses about their perceptions of support was used. An important finding was the rate of attendance in school by elite skaters. Three out of the 10 interviewed had stopped attending school with 1 having no intention of returning. Conversations with other skaters revealed an additional 3 non-attendees in order to focus on their skating full-time. Furthermore, skaters who were in school were expected to take time off school during international and national competitions, receiving their homework assignments through "homework buddies". Coaches' and parents' opportunities to provide diverse information and advice to skaters appear to be valuable in developing self-determined and confident sport performers. However, discrepancies are apparent in the perceptions of parents and coaches as to the type of support and involvement they provide.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 20 JOH05305 Advances in physical self-concept research: Improving well-being, health, and performance

Keywords: Motivation and Self-Concept

CHE05309 ®
[PDF Paper]
Exploring the effect of relationship dynamics and dimensions of support on gymnasts' and figure skaters' self-concept, education and psychological resilience: A research proposal

Jacqueline Cheng, Herbert Marsh, Martin Dowson and Andrew Martin, University of Western Sydney

Gymnastics and figure skating are two sports which feature a predominantly young, female population (Ryan, 1990). This proposal will consider the question of how relationships between the athlete with their significant others affect the elite athlete's self-concept and psychological resilience as young female athletes are particularly vulnerable in a sport where body-image is important as part of their presentation. Self-concept, at the elite level, has been found to be unique when compared to the general population (Marsh, Perry & Roche, 1995). This is especially apparent in young athletes where support from their parents, coaches and other significant figures is extremely important. Previous literature has shown that it is one of the key components to their success and contributor to their enjoyment of the sport (Vanden Auweele, & Wylleman, 1993). However, support is not enough to guarantee these positive psychological outcomes. Psychological resilience, the ability to "bounce back" from stressful experiences quickly and effectively (Lazarus, 1993), has also been found to be a substantial contributor to recovery (Sheldon & Eccles, 2005). The question of how the athletes manage their time between education and their sport is also a pressing one as coaches demand increasing hours from their athletes when they advance through the ranks of the sport.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 20 JOH05305 Advances in physical self-concept research: Improving well-being, health, and performance.

CHO05348 ®
[PDF Paper]
Perfectionism, self-concept and self-evaluative emotions in Australian primary school students

Grace Choy and Valentina McInerney, University of Western Sydney

Perfectionism is defined as the striving for flawlessness (Flett & Hewitt, 2002), which has both adaptive and maladaptive components (Rice & Preusser, 2002). As the self-worth of perfectionists is contingent upon their performance (Burns, 1980) they constantly engage in self-evaluation and experience considerable variations in emotions (Tangney, 2002). To date most empirical studies on perfectionism have concentrated on the adult population (Frost, Marten, Lahart & Rosenblate, 1990), with little information available on children. This study examined the relationship of perfectionism, self-concept and self-evaluative emotions in Australian primary school students by using age-appropriate instruments. Over 200 students at Years 4, 5, and 6 completed the Child-Adolescent Perfectionism Scale (CAPS, Flett & Hewitt, 1990), the Adaptive/Maladaptive Perfectionism Scale (AMPS, Rice & Preusser, 2002), the Self-Description Questionnaire I (SDQ-I, Marsh, 1990), and the Test of Self-Conscious Affect for Children (TOSCA-C, Tangney, Wagner, Burggraf, Gramzow & Fletcher, 1990). It has been hypothesized that maladaptive perfectionism will be negatively correlated with students' academic, social and physical self-concept, and positively correlated with the self-evaluative emotions of shame and guilt. Preliminary results support these hypotheses. As developing children's self-worth and emotional well-being are important educational goals, the implications for teachers and school counsellors are discussed.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 25 JOH05346 New advances in self-concept research in educational settings: Making a real difference

CLA05195
[PDF Paper]
From corridor to classroom: Lesson study, school improvement and IQEA

Paul Clarke, Improving the Quality of Education for All

This paper introduces the core principles of Improving the Quality of Education for All (IQEA) before drawing on the experience of one school engaged in the programme in England. This school has implemented a cross-school reflection and enquiry process (lesson study) to explore a number of fundamental questions:

The paper discusses the extent to which lesson study has contributed to the exploration of the above questions and how the insights gained from this methodology have fed into the improvement process. In conclusion, the paper argues that this school's involvement in IQEA has contributed to significant cultural and structural change within the school.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 2 CHA05062 Networking for educational improvement: International perspectives

CLA05507 ®
[PDF Paper]
Reconceptualising mentoring: A conceptual layered framework that supports and contributes to the professional learning of research colleagues

Maggie Clarke, University of Western Sydney

Previous research (Clarke, 2004) reported on the reconceptualisation of mentoring using a three layered model. The model provided a conceptual framework which viewed mentoring as developing through a series of overlapping layers. Within each layer of the model, characteristics and outcomes were identified which were indicative of each layer.

A key question identified as requiring further study in the previous research was how can managers in organizations assist in the development of mentoring relationships.

The identification of this question led to the mentoring model being implemented in the 'Green Wired Safe Australia' (GWS Aust.) Research Concentration at the University of Western Sydney in August 2004 and throughout 2005 as a way to assist in the development of mentoring relationships between the members. Not only was the model implemented in the concentration but the members of the concentration also became the research participants in the study. The model through its implementation in the concentration was able to be tested to confirm whether the 'layered' conceptualization of mentoring was in fact a true representation of how mentoring can develop.

This paper explains the process undertaken in the research concentration to develop understandings of mentoring and relates how an organizational structure at the University of Western Sydney assisted with the development of mentoring relationships. The discussion of the process reports on the strategies used to provide opportunities for mentoring relationships to occur with fellow research colleagues in the concentration as well as identify other opportunities which would further enhance and strengthen mentoring relationships between GWS Aust. researchers.

CLA05754
[PDF Paper]
Co-mentoring: A framework for enhancing research performance

Maggie Clarke, University of Western Sydney

How can organisations, in particular universities, develop the research capacity and leadership of its members? This paper will report on one specific research initiative which was undertaken at the University of Western Sydney to inform the 'Green Wired Safe' Australia research concentration. The theory and practice of co-mentoring is discussed as a framework for enhancing research performance in the concentration. Specifically, co-mentoring is discussed as a strategy that provides opportunities for individual and small group mentoring by building collaborative research networks and nurturing leadership density.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 60 CLA05752 The emerging Research Quality Framework and the re-generation of enhanced research performance .

COB05272 ®
[PDF Paper]
Young children enacting governance: Child's play?

Charlotte Cobb, Susan Danby and Ann Farrell, Queensland University of Technology

Schools, homes and communities are increasingly perceived as risky spaces for children. This concern is a driving force behind many forms of governance imposed upon Australian children by well-meaning adults. Children are more and more the subjects of both overt and covert regulation by teachers and other adults in school contexts. Are children, though, passive in this process of governance? It is this issue that is the focus of this paper. In order to respond to the question of how young children enact governance in their everyday lives, video-recorded episodes of naturally occurring interactions among children in a preparatory classroom were captured. These data were then transcribed and analysed using the methods of conversation analysis and membership categorisation analysis. This paper shows a number of strategies that the children used when enacting governance within their peer cultures in the classroom. These were: manipulating materials and places so as to regulate each other's actions in the interactive play space; developing or drawing on adult and child-formulated rules and social orders of the classroom in order to control and govern their peers' interactions; using verbal and non-verbal language to regulate the actions of those around them; and finally, creating membership categories to exclude or include others and thereby govern the behaviour of members in the area. This paper illustrates that children are not passive in enacting governance, but actively and competently enact governance through their peer cultures. These findings are significant for educators to consider, as they help to develop an understanding of the complex social orders that children are continually constructing in the early childhood classroom.

COC05503 ®
[PDF Paper]
Dangerous liaisons - home-business-school numeracy networks

Angela Coco, Southern Cross University, Merrilyn Goos, The University of Queensland and Alex Kostogriz, Monash University

Using data from an Australian study of home, school and community partnerships, we suggest that commercial tutoring agencies are a community resource which increasingly parents are choosing to supplement their children's numeracy education. Drawing on contemporary activity theory we argue that because home, school and salient community entities are overlapping spheres of influence in children's learning they can be conceived of as a network of activity systems that interact with each other in some significant ways. However, only when this mutual influence is recognised can we consider the network in terms of partnerships between home, school and community. We challenge the prevailing education ethos in Australia which marginalizes and ignores the growing proliferation of for-profit businesses. In a context where cultural diversity, changing demographics and democratic choice prevail, the value of for-profit agencies may lie in areas not well met by schools. Tutoring businesses are usually well-equipped, most using the latest information and communications technologies, and offer one-to-one, or small group attention to students thus improving confidence, a large factor in numeracy success. Parents typically report that they employ commercial services because their children have particular needs which they feel are not met adequately in classroom settings.

COL05347 ®
[PDF Paper]
Reading achievement and reading self-concept in Year Three students

Nicole Rider, New South Wales Department of Education and Training and Susan Colmar, University of Sydney

A research study was completed using a sample of 80 Year three students attending schools in Western Sydney. The importance of the links between levels of reading success, measured as reading achievement, and reading self concept in Year Three students was confirmed with a strong relationship evident across all three aspects of reading achievement measured with the Neale Analysis (accuracy, comprehension and rate) (Neale, 1999), and the three components of reading self concept (difficulty, perceived competence and attitude) measured using Chapman and Tumner's Reading Self-Concept Scale (1999). The significance of these findings for educational contexts, in promoting motivation and confidence in learning to read, is explored.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 25 JOH05346 New advances in self-concept research in educational settings: Making a real difference

COR05727
[PDF Paper]
We're practical people: Schooling and identity in a Canadian coastal community

Mike Corbett, Acadia University

Canadian coastal communities have a long history of capitalist underdevelopment mediated by powerful cultural traditions and place attachment. Today, these traditions are under siege as are the productive relations that sustained them. Using the work of Bauman, Giddens, and Bourdieu, I report on a three year study investigating the way youth identity is constructed and enacted in families in a coastal community in Atlantic Canada. I argue that the spatial and cultural dynamics of social class continue to shape orientations to education, work, outmigration, and the pragmatics of "getting ahead" managing risk, and becoming an adult. To accept the content of secondary schooling and university study, children in rural communities must do the difficult, potentially alienating and often dangerous identity work of developing an "impractical" self that embraces the abstractions and esoteric knowledges that serve as capital in university preparatory courses and in higher education. For most youth "born and bred" in the coastal community, formal education is imagined and valued in instrumental terms that support students in the process of acquiring known skills that are considered practical from the point of view of adults in the local context.

COS05667
[PDF Paper]
Enhancing reporting of student performance data to increase school productivity

Ian Cosier, Queensland Studies Authority

This paper explores enhancements to the reporting function of the QSA to improve school system capacity and improve school productivity. A case study will explore an approach to build an effective partnership to provide improved reporting of performance data. The Alliance of Aboriginal Community Schools collectively agreed to share exemplar practice and build a professional learning community to enhance their schools as learning communities. This involved the Alliance schools sharing performance information and strategies to improve performance.

With increasing public pressure for greater disclosure of school performance information, the QSA has examined its data to identify patterns of performance. The QSA holds a rich resource of information about participation and performance in Queensland Schools. These data allow schools to develop a strong evidence base and to enhance their effectiveness and productivity.

This paper provides a case study of the collaboration between QSA and the Alliance of Indigenous schools. This research project involves the building of a professional learning community, where Year 3, 5 and 7 literacy and numeracy data and improvement strategies were shared to analyse exemplar practice and to transfer exemplar management and pedagogical practice between the schools.

CRA05044 ®
[PDF Paper]
Flight steward or co-pilot? An exploratory study of the roles of middle-level school leaders in the non-state sector

Neil Cranston, University of Queensland

The principalship in Australia and elsewhere has been the focus of considerable research in the past few decades. Less well researched have been those holding middle-level leadership and management positions in schools, such as deputy principals, heads of school and so on (Kaplan & Owings, 1999; NCSL, 2003). Recent work by Cranston, Tromans and Reugebrink (2004) suggested that those holding such middle-level leadership positions in schools, certainly in the state secondary sector, were struggling with what could be termed a reconceptualisation of their positions. One of the acknowledged limitations of this earlier study was that it was confined to state schools only, raising the question as to whether similar findings and struggles might be evident for those in non-state sectors of schooling in Australia. The research reported here is a first exploratory step in addressing this question as it reports data from middle-level school leaders in the non-state sector in Queensland and New South Wales. It suggests that many such leaders, like their counterparts in the state sector, are struggling with challenges to, and a reconceptualisation of, their roles. Of note, is that their potential leadership contribution to their schools is unrealised. Using an aircraft analogy, rather than working as co-pilots in their schools, they are actually working more like flight stewards. Recommendations for further research emerge from the findings.

CRA05318 ®
[PDF Paper]
Turning points in Indigenous Education: New findings that can really make a difference and implications for the next generation of Indigenous Education research

Rhonda Craven, University of Western Sydney

Indigenous Australians have been recognised by all Australian governments as the most educationally disadvantaged Australians. As such, Australian education has failed to provide Indigenous Australians with commensurate educational outcomes as their non-Indigenous peers. In part this failure can be attributed to a dearth of quality Indigenous Education research. Recently three large-scale commissioned Department of Education, Science and Training studies have been undertaken (Craven, Tucker, Munns, Hinkley, Marsh, and Simpson, K.; in press; Craven, Halse, Marsh, Mooney, & Wilson-Miller, in press-a; in press-b). The findings of these studies offer some potentially powerful turning points for Indigenous Education. The first study critically analysed secondary Indigenous students' (N=517) self-concepts; aspirations; and perceptions of barriers to attain their aspirations in comparison to their non-Indigenous peers (N=1151) and important implications for reconceptualising educational strategies for Indigenous secondary students were identified. The remaining studies critically analysed the impact of undertaking an Aboriginal Studies teacher education course on pre-service and postgraduate primary teachers' abilities to teach Aboriginal Studies and Aboriginal students in comparison to control groups who had not undertaken such courses. Results demonstrate that Aboriginal Studies teacher education courses make a positive difference. These studies also have important implications for strengthening Indigenous Education research. The purpose of this paper is to present the: a) empirical results of these investigations; b) implications of the findings for Indigenous Education; and c) implications of this research for strengthening the next generation of Indigenous Education research.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 21 JOH05311 New advances in Indigenous education self-concept research: Driving reform

CRA05335 ®
[PDF Paper]
What does it mean to be an Australian?: The perceptions of students, senior and prominent Australians

Rhonda Craven, University of Western Sydney and Nola Purdie, Australian Council for Educational Research

The question "What does it mean to be an Australian?" has significant implications for understanding factors contributing to social cohesion; explaining and promoting ourselves to others; imagining and shaping Australia's future; and shaping civics curriculum. The purpose of this study is to identify, and compare and contrast key components of Australian national and social identity of a sample of Australians (N = 486) comprised of primary (N=71); secondary (N=146), Technical and Further Education (TAFE) (N=59) and University (n=142) students, Senior Australians (n=21), and Prominent Australians (n= 47). Participants completed a written response to the question "What does it mean to be Australian?" Responses were analysed and coded by two coders using content analysis to identify key themes. Key themes identified were analysed separately for each category of participants and compared. Results indicated progressive and traditional notions of Australian national identity. Traditional themes include: Citizenship and Participation, Patriotism and Pride, Personal Attributes, Unique Aspects and lifestyle, Mateship, and the notion of a Fair Go for all. Progressive notions included themes such as Societal Characteristics, and Respect for Other Cultures suggesting that some aspects of national identity may be changing.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 23 JOH05327 New advances in cross-cultural research: Insights into motivation and achievement

CRO05560 ®
[PDF Paper]
LOTE teachers' work: A socio-historic analysis of foreign language teacher practice

Russell Cross, Monash University

For sometime now, there has been a call to situate our study of foreign language teachers and their work in the sociocultural context that it occurs (Crookes, 1997). This paper draws on Vygotsky's sociocultural theory, with a particular focus on his socio-historic domain of genetic analysis, to examine the role of foreign language teachers in Australia. Beginning with an overview of Vygotsky's genetic domains to establish a framework, the paper then deals with how the activity of Japanese language teaching in Victoria has been shaped at the socio-historic level through policy. In addition to addressing the 'traditional' areas of language and language education, this paper also addresses reforms to the middle school that have had equally significant implications in defining the work of language teachers in Victorian high schools.

Keywords: Curriculum and specific curriculum areas - Language other than English

CUL05005
[PDF Paper]
Pupils' views of creativity and the curriculum

Cedric Cullingford, University of Huddersfield

Pupils are increasingly referred to as a useful source of research whose voices deserve listening to. The potential of not only listening but hearing what they say has not yet been fully realised. Given the right conditions, pupils are open and analytical, revealing and frank, and emerge with a very clear, and alternative, view of their experience of schooling.

Sometimes the views of children are eschewed because they undermine some of the cherished beliefs of researchers and, more to the point, the prevailing system of education. It is all very well to ask them about their views on the minor adjustments that could be made to the school day, to class size and teaching styles, but more attention could be paid to deeper issues, those which lie outside the set curriculum.

One example of a subject which interests children a great deal and on which they can give very useful insights is that of creativity. This, like Imagination, is a concept held dear and often defined by teachers. Creativity clearly stands for all that is good, the more so in what teachers perceive as the prevailing conditions of targets, skills and tests. But what do young people define as 'creative'? Is it rare, or a luxury? Are the conditions of school the best way to bring the concept to the fore? Can all children (or all teachers) be creative?

This research explores pupils' attitudes towards creativity from an early age, from the time when their experience is liable to be more significant than their definitions. The relationship of creativity to the prevailing curriculum is also explored. Issues of how we can glean information of this kind, from a wide sample including different ethnic and socio-economic groups, are also addressed, together with the question of how these views are analysed and made valid and reliable.

CUL05592 ®
[PDF Paper]
Troubling teacher talk: The challenge of changing classroom discourse patterns

Sarah Jane Culican, Deakin University

The middle years is a crucial stage of schooling where the gap in student achievement widens, and progress for some students slows significantly. Despite recent moves towards middle school reform and improved literacy standards, there remains a gap in literacy provision for young adolescent learners considered to be 'educationally disadvantaged' or 'at risk'. Many literacy intervention programs offered to underachieving adolescents fail to articulate to mainstream curriculum and assessment practices, or to scaffold students adequately in meeting the literacy demands of an increasingly abstract and specialised curriculum. Often underpinned by an individual deficit view of literacy failure, these programs lead to a differentiated curriculum which potentially compounds 'risk' and maintains stratified outcomes.

This paper is based on research into a literacy pedagogy which aims to scaffold students in accessing the literate discourses of schooling. Fundamental to this scaffolding approach, developed with Indigenous students, is rewriting traditional patterns of teacher-student interaction, or classroom pedagogic discourses, particularly those that take place around texts. In this paper, I explore issues surrounding the analysis of student and teacher talk, drawing on lesson transcripts and frameworks which allow particular attention to be paid to the challenges facing teachers in adopting new patterns of classroom talk.

CUN05478 ®
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Challenges to student engagement and school effectiveness indicators

Everarda Cunningham, Wei Chun Wang and Nicole Bishop, Swinburne University of Technology

School systems are increasingly required to report on a range of pre-determined indicators designed to measure aspects of student engagement and school effectiveness. However the utility and validity of indicators that form part of the public accountability of schools is rarely questioned. In Victoria, Australia, student perceptions of school engagement (i.e., sense of connection to school, teachers and peers), motivation to learn, self-esteem, and student safety are part of a range of public accountability indicators. This study examined differences between two cohorts of Year 9 female students from socio-economically low (n1 = 99) and high (n2 = 97) resourced schools on a number of these accountability indicators. Contrary to expectations, no significant differences were found between low and high resourced schools on student engagement measures or measures of motivation to learn or self-esteem. The only significant finding was that females from the high-resourced school reported higher levels of student safety (i.e., fewer bullying behaviours) than females from the low-resourced school. The findings from this study raise questions about the suitability of these indicators as measures of student engagement and school effectiveness.

DAK05775
[PDF Paper]
Teachers' ICT literacy in the contemporary primary classroom: Transposing the discourse

Eva Dakich, Victoria University

What should teachers know about teaching and learning with ICT? How can they effectively integrate ICT and their pedagogical practices in order to improve student learning and engagement?

This presentation provides insight into research findings of a survey study that validated a framework of ICT literacy for teaching and learning in the primary classroom. Developed by an international Delphi panel, the framework identifies four dimensions of teachers' ICT literacy: Operational Understanding and Application of ICT, ICT-Rich Pedagogies and Learning Environments, ICT for Professional Learning and Engagement, and The Social Ecology of Living and Learning with ICT.

Primary school teachers from a random sample of 350 Victorian state primary schools were invited to participate in the survey, and validate the findings of the Delphi process by rating the importance of each individual item introduced in the Framework of ICT Literacy for Primary School Teachers.

The presentation compares the findings emerging from the Delphi process and the survey study, and discusses similarities and differences of opinion between the expert group and a representative sample of the teacher community.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 65 SEN05771 Teacher learning in the ubiquitous ICT environment

DAN05158 ®
[PDF Paper]
Creative dissent and constructive solutions: What contributions does Bakhtin make to our understanding of transnational education?

Patrick Danaher, Shirley O'Neill and Gillian Potter, University of Southern Queensland

Creative dissent takes many forms, including generative tensions arising from collaborations involved in dialogue and critical reflection on practice. From generative tensions arise constructive solutions that derive from, and build upon, multiple perspectives; they are expressed in socially constructive contexts that respect otherness and that strive to facilitate shared understandings.

The notion of dialogicality (Bakhtin, 1981, 1984, 1986) is pivotal to creative dissent and constructive solutions; it is fundamental to transformative education that has its aim as the mutual enrichment of learners, teachers and shared social contexts. Importantly, it takes Bourdieu's (1997) concept of cultural capital to new heights; the knowledge, wisdom and lived experiences of the participants in dialogue are respected and valued in the co-construction of new ideas, solutions and understandings.

This paper argues that heteroglossia, dialogism and creative understanding are fundamental to transnational education. The writers articulate the ways in which key elements of these concepts manifest themselves in the educational experiences offered to students at the University of Southern Queensland, a university committed to transnational education. The paper illustrates the shift from rhetoric to lived reality for students and teachers in an increasingly globalised world. Transnational education epitomises constructive solutions that arise from creative dissent.

DAS05377 ®
[PDF Paper]
Personal investment theory and Japanese university students' achievement on the Test of English as a Foreign Language

Dexter Da Silva and Dennis McInerney, University of Western Sydney

Researchers and theorists in the area of Second Language Acquisition (e.g., Ellis, 1994; Gass & Selinker, 1994; Larsen-Freeman & Long, 1991; Spolsky, 1989) consider there to be a wide variety of factors that contribute to language proficiency and achievement. These include motivation, language aptitude, the learning environment, learning styles and strategies, age, and personality factors. This paper focuses on motivational and sense-of-self characteristics, and their contribution to achievement on an academic English test. Data were collected from 500 female, Japanese, first-year university students using the Inventory of University Motivation, based on Maehr's multiple goal model of Personal Investment (Maehr, 1984; Maehr & Braskamp, 1986). Results from multiple regression analyses showed that half of the components of the scales were effective in predicting academic English proficiency as measured by Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) scores. Three scales, Sense of competence at English, Competition in English, and Social Concern in English, had the highest predictive utility.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 26 JOH05370 Enhancing motivation, achievement and academic self-concept: Finding answers to the tough questions

DAS05381 ®
[PDF Paper]
Are Japanese university students really unmotivated?

Dexter Da Silva and Dennis McInerney, University of Western Sydney

Within Japan, teachers, academics, parents and students themselves consider Japanese university students to lack motivation to study, compared to their counterparts in other countries. (Sugimoto, 1997; McVeigh, (2002). This paper addresses this issue by using the Inventory of University Motivation, an adaptation and translation of McInerney's Inventory of School Motivation (McInerney & Sinclair, 1991; McInerney, Roche, McInerney, & Marsh, 1997), based on Maehr's multiple goal model of Personal Investment (Maehr, 1984; Maehr & Braskamp, 1986), which seeks to understand students' perceptions of the relevance and promise of the situation. Data were collected from 500 female Japanese first-year university students, on their motivation towards study at university in general as well as specifically towards the study of English as a Foreign Language. The resulting motivational profile contains characteristics that both support and contradict the stereotypical belief about the lack of motivation of Japanese university students. They also highlight the importance that the study of English in particular may hold for young Japanese women in the construction of their identities and their future opportunities.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 26 JOH05370 Enhancing motivation, achievement and academic self-concept: Finding answers to the tough questions

DAV05011
[PDF Paper]
Learning to empathise: Students learning to understand disability through drama and theatre; implications for teacher professional development

John Davies and John Lee, University of the West of England

The inclusion of all students in mainstream schools is the policy objective for school systems in the developed world. It is argued that students who are not disabled benefit by learning to understand the nature of disability and come to understand that disabled persons rights and that they are persons in the same way as others. (Thomas and Vaughan 2004). This paper reports an evaluation of a theatre in education project aimed at promoting understanding of autism. The methodology adopted focused on "individual and group experiences" (Kushner 2000).

The uniqueness of the paper lies in the data sets. Individual and group interviews were conducted with autistic students who advised and directed and acted mainstream students and their teachers who watched the performance and subsequently undertook related classroom base work. The research raises the question of whether it is possible to teach empathy by using affective methods such as drama and theatre in a context where the policy and practice agenda is dominated by the rationale and the cognitive. An argument is advance that it is as important to deal with the affective domain as the effective domain if students are to develop as social and emotional beings.

DAV05368 ®
[PDF Paper]
System Dynamics As A Mindtool For Environmental Education

Kate Davison CoCo Research Centre, University of Sydney
Peter Reimann CoCo Research Centre, University of Sydney

Concern for the environment is increasing but understanding and factual knowledge of environmental problems and systems are both low. The challenge is for school students to learn the skills needed to interpret the complex, dynamic environmental systems that even university graduates have trouble understanding. System dynamics is a modelling approach that is often used in environmental management and decision-making in order to cope with the underlying complexities. The problem is that, even though system dynamics models reduce complexity, they are still too demanding for direct use in environmental education. In the educational literature, multiple representations and learning by modelling are two techniques that have been suggested to aid in learning about complex systems. System dynamics models comprise multiple representation describing complex interactions. Studies on multiple representations have had mixed results, but under the right circumstances, may provide an effective way to teach a complex subject such as environmental education. Studies about learning by modelling have also had mixed results. While learning by modelling provides an authentic learning task for science students, the time involved in teaching students the process in addition to the domain knowledge is often lengthy. Suggestions for further research and for the design of future work in these areas of system dynamics modelling and environmental education are derived..

DEC05408
[PDF Paper]
Starting school in Germany: The relationship between education and social justice discussed in comparison with the situation in Australia

Heike Deckert-Peaceman, Pädagogische Hochschule Ludwigsburg

There is an ongoing and increasing debate worldwide over the best time to start formal education and on how to deal with the transition from a play-based learning to the foundation stage of a formal curriculum. Crucial aspects being discussed are: readiness for school, curriculum concepts, institutional differences between early childhood education and school, and the cultural understanding of what it means to be a child. Modern societies vary in their answers to these questions. International studies (OECD and others) comparing students' performance conceptualize this theme mainly from the perspective of later success or failure in school. In the case of Germany, they indicate a strong nexus between social heritage, understood as cultural capital (Bourdieu), and school performance. The German system is considered the most unjust of all countries compared. The paper, which is based on a beginning empirical research project, will discuss the crucial role of this nexus in respect to starting school from a broader perspective by comparing the situation in Germany with the one in Australia.

DEH05013
[PDF Paper]
Internet as an education aid in teaching foreign languages

Yavar Dehghani, Australian Defence Forces School of Languages

The importance of the Internet in teaching foreign languages in today's language teaching settings becomes more and more. The role of this media becomes more important by helping the students to practice their listening skills as well as becoming familiar with the culture of the language community, where there is no immediate access to the target language community.

This paper aims to present the different uses of the Internet in teaching foreign language to the Adult English speakers. The usefulness of this modern education aid is shown in a case study of Adult English speakers in the Australian Defence Force School of Languages, where they learn Persian as a foreign language in an intensive 46 weeks course to become a proficient linguist in the language. These students are exposed to the internet on a daily basis to get help with listening, speaking, reading and writing as well as cultural orientation. How the Internet is used for each macro skill is explained in the paper in detail.

DEN05203
[PDF Paper]
Job satisfaction and occupational stress in Catholic primary schools

John De Nobile, Macquarie University and John McCormick, University of New South Wales

The associations between job satisfaction and occupational stress have long been established. A considerable amount of literature has emerged in the context of schools and, in particular, teachers. However, the extent of the associations has not been investigated comprehensively in the context of Australian Catholic primary schools and non-teaching staff members have not received much attention in previous literature.

The relationships between job satisfaction and occupational stress were investigated as part of a larger study. The participants were the staff members of primary schools selected through stratified sampling. Three hundred and fifty six staff members from 52 primary schools of six Catholic school systems in New South Wales, Australia were involved in this study. Data were collected using a survey.

Factor analysis was used to identify the underlying data structures. Nine job satisfaction and four occupational stress factors were identified. Correlation and multiple regression analyses were utilised to investigate the hypothesised relationships. Moderate to strong correlations existed between most of the job satisfaction and occupational stress variables. However, multiple regressions revealed occupational stress to be the best predictor of only two job satisfaction variables. Occupational stress did, nevertheless explain considerable variance in other facets of job satisfaction.

DIN05528
[PDF Paper]
Principal leadership for outstanding schooling outcomes in junior secondary education

Steve Dinham, University of Wollongong

This paper explores the role of principals' leadership in producing outstanding education outcomes in Years 7-10 in New South Wales government schools. The study sites were of two types: subject departments or faculties responsible for teaching certain subjects, and teams or groupings responsible for cross-school programs.

In the case of both subject departments and teams responsible for cross-school programs, leadership was found to be a key factor in the achievement of outstanding educational outcomes. Often, this leadership was exercised by the Principal, but additional key personnel included Head Teachers (heads of faculties/departments), Deputy Principals, and teachers playing leading roles in faculties and programs. In many cases, the outcomes under study were found to be significantly attributable to the appointment of a key person, although the 'seeds for success' may have been present or nascent. In other cases, antecedents for current success were attributable to a series of leaders, or groups of people, influential over time, with success building to the current level.

Analysis of data has revealed certain attributes and practices of the Principals of these schools, which are explored in the paper, central to which is a focus on students and their learning.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 38 PEG05523 Excellence in junior secondary schooling: Final report from the AESOP (An Exceptional Schooling Outcomes) Project

DIX05035 ®
[PDF Paper]
Teaching and learning partnerships in higher education: Using students' feedback to inform developments in teaching

Shelleyann Scott, Kathryn Dixon and Robert Dixon, Curtin University of Technology

University administrators are becoming aware of the importance of increasing the quality of teaching and learning across their study programs. Measuring and supporting quality teaching and learning is frequently liked with accountability to internal and external stakeholders. The increasing pressures on Australian universities to be more strategic with a view to enhancing market share in a competitive educational industry has put pressure on all key players in the process to investigate ways in which the quality of learning can be improved. The partners in learning within this research involve the students, lecturers, and the organisation. This research investigates the 'student feedback' data (UEQ) in a Business Division in an Australian University. Student feedback data indicates that the business school academics must engage with teaching and learning issues such as workload, increasing the quality of teaching and assessments, and clarifying expectations. The study identifies a number of key initiatives which serve as a model for facilitating a constructive response to the current political and economic pressures within the context of higher education in Australia.

DIX05036 ®
[PDF Paper]
Enhancing professional development in higher education: A student-focussed model aimed at improving organisational learning

Kathryn Dixon, Robert Dixon and Shelleyann Scott, Curtin University of Technology

This research proposes a "Partners in Learning" approach to improving the quality of learning and teaching in an Australian University. This partnership is three-way and encompasses the student, the lecturer and the organisation. The main theme of this paper is the exploration of the students' perspectives on what supports their learning and their suggestions for continuing improvements in unit design, materials and assessment practices in higher education. The student-focused model which is the focus of this paper encompasses systematic, in-context professional development, articulation into teaching qualifications; the sourcing of significant funding to facilitate curriculum review; and the integration and assessment of professional skills. Focus group data have been collected and analysed in order to investigate the initial impact of the model from the students' perspective. Two opposing ideological perspectives have emerged - firstly that Universities as highly commercialised enterprises are supposed to be delivering quality learning outcomes, and secondly that Universities are providers of traditional academic education. Time, continuing debate, and exploration of the issues surrounding these two philosophies, are needed before the innate tensions can be eased and an ideologically satisfying compromise can be found.

DIX05039 ®
[PDF Paper]
The Professional Electronic Portfolio Project for educational leaders

Robert Dixon, Curtin University of Technology

In November 2004 a group of eleven educational leaders from educational support, secondary and primary schools in Western Australia, were selected to take place in a trial of an innovative software package designed by the author, to facilitate the creation of a professional electronic portfolio. A leadership framework developed for the Department of Education and Training, Western Australia (DETWA) with a consortium of academics, (Wildy & Louden 2002) underpins the portfolio. Several competencies and characteristics of school leaders guide the structure of the portfolio.

Participants were provided with a training program during which they were introduced to the conceptual framework informing the portfolio. Each participant was provided with the software package, given an overview and then the opportunity to explore and experiment with the components.

This study investigates the training phase of the trial and participant perceptions of how an electronic portfolio promotes professionalism and accountability in educational leadership. It also attempts to bring to light the complexity and multi-faceted issues of school leadership and emergent trends that arise from within the portfolio making process as well as highlighting the effectiveness of information and communication technology (ICT) as a tool for modern leaders.

DIX05388 ®
[PDF Paper]
Social Comparison Theory and people with mild intellectual disabilities: It is more complex than you think?

Rose Dixon, Herb Marsh, Rhonda Craven, University of Western Sydney

Social comparison theory offers an understanding of the effect of deinstitutionalisation on the development of self-concept for people with intellectual disabilities (Finlay & Lyons, 2000). Social comparison theory predicts that people with intellectual disabilities living in the community will make comparisons with non-disabled groups and as such their self-concept will decrease because of negative frame of reference effects (Tracey, 2002). However, there are indications that this conceptualisation may be too simplistic (Crocker & Major, 1989, Finlay & Lyons, 2000). Newer developments in social comparison theory and research emphasise the active nature of social comparisons (i.e. people have a choice in whom they compare themselves and on what dimensions, Dixon, 2005).and that people with disabilities may use selective processes in relations to groups and processes to bolster their self-esteem (Finlay & Lyons, 2000). This paper presents the preliminary results of a larger qualitative study of 5 women who had been institutionalised for long periods of time but were deinsitutionalised. The research explored the overall patterns of social comparisons that people with intellectual disabilities who have moved to the community make and whether people with intellectual disabilities categorise themselves through these social comparisons.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 27 JOH05387 New advances in social comparison research: Implications for gifted and talented students and Special Education

DOB05053 ®
[PDF Paper]
Power to the students: Contributing to debates on effective learning about civic engagement

Eva Dobozy, Edith Cowan University

In this paper, I discuss some research findings regarding the characteristics that democratic schools appear to have in common. These commonalities seem to have contributed to their status as being seen as reputable democratic schools. Schools that were diverse in their philosophical approaches to education and socio-economic composition were selected as case study schools. A specific selection criterion was that these schools had a reputation for nurturing the critical capabilities of students within an explicit 'citizenship framework'. Students were not seen as 'objects to be acted upon', but rather were trusted to be subjects of rights and responsibilities within the school community in some form or other. The research included analysis of interview, observation and document data. Three major corresponding features were identified: a) the principals perceived their schools to be 'out of the ordinary', b) all four case study sites had carefully developed school rules as statements of principles rather than an extensive list of do's and don'ts, and c) three of the four schools seem to employ differential treatment practices rather than a 'one-size-fits-all' approach to the discipline of students. The findings suggest that it is possible for schools to educate effectively in and for democracy by ways of day-to-day educational practices that inspire some aspects of political and moral student empowerment.

DOH05602 ®
[PDF Paper]
Pedagogic identities on offer in a case of online internationalised education

Catherine Doherty, Queensland University of Technology

An ethnographic analysis of the pedagogic interaction online in an internationalised MBA unit showed how cultural difference was produced both as a curricular asset, and as regulative troubles. The expressions of relational cultural identities thus produced are further analysed with reference to Bernstein's (2000) typology of pedagogic identities, interpreted as the points of suture or articulation (Hall 1996) between student identities, student aspirations and the subjectivities offered through curricular and pedagogic design. The identities invoked through such mechanisms and the semiotic means available, are shown to be discursively restricted to overly deferential and retrospective notions of the culturally determined Other, with limited expressions of the emerging 'market', hybrid or cosmopolitan identities which such sites could potentially and profitably facilitate. This analysis is used to reflect on the cultural politics of limiting imagination in the wider context of commodified education in globalised markets.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 47 SIN05597 Researching cultural identities in global complexity

Keywords: Education Policy; Multicultural Education; School Renewal and Pedagogic Improvement

DON05297
[PDF Paper]
Education and learning: A disciplinary turn

John Donald, Griffith University

The present policy catchcry 'earning or learning' is the latest manifestation of work as life's purpose and learning as social control, but now with education extending from school to technical college. Learning though occurs beyond educational institutions to social interventions in a wide range of life activities additional to work. These interventions include social, health and punitive work and the less visible social tasks of education. The modern educational project has a long history. Since its social construction from the 18th century, it has drawn on psychological reasoning to underpin learning as a prelude to work and school as a means of social control. A wider concept of learning in and beyond educational institutions draws on philosophy displaced by the project and sociology that emerged in the late 19th century and dismissed by this project. Philosophy allows us to become reacquainted with the nature of existence, life's purpose, the principles by which we live, and life activities beyond work that were characteristics of learning in Ancient Greece. Sociology allows us to view the learner as an agent within collectivities of communities, societies and their institutions. The perspectives and methods of Foucault's philosophy and Bourdieu's sociology assist in illuminating the way.

DOW05375 ®
[PDF Paper]
Motivational goal orientations: The effects of school climate and sex differences

Martin Dowson, Dennis McInerney and Genevieve Nelson, University of Western Sydney

Students' motivational goal orientations are critical to their adjustment and achievement in school. It is widely postulated that school climate and sex may influence students' motivational goal orientations. Despite this postulate, relatively little empirical evidence exists to support it. This study examines both the individual and interactive effects of school and sex differences on students' mastery, performance, work avoidance and social motivational goal orientations. Approximately six-hundred middle school students participated in the study, where the effects of school and sex on three academic and five social goals were examined. Results suggest that school climate (F [22, 1656] = 5.41, p < .000) and, to a lesser extent, sex differences (F [8, 417] = 2.48, p < .05), as well the interaction between the two (with F [16, 824] = 5.68, p < .000), significantly influence students' motivational orientations. The study provides empirical support for both the individual and combined effects of school and sex on students' motivational orientations. The study also provides evidence that the directions of school and sex effects on students' motivational orientations are, at least, partially predictable.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 26 JOH05370 Enhancing motivation, achievement and academic self-concept: Finding answers to the tough questions

DOW05379 ®
[PDF Paper]
The psychology of school leaving: Motivation, sense-of-self, values and aspirations

Martin Dowson and Dennis McInerney, University of Western Sydney

Identifying the reasons for school leaving remains a critical issue for educational researchers and practitioners. Many studies have investigated sociological variables implicated in school leaving. Very few studies, however, have explored psychological variables that may be implicated in school leaving. The aim of this study was to identify key psychological variables implicated in students' decisions to stay at, or leave, school. 590 secondary school students (298 females and 292 males) attending five schools in the Sydney metropolitan region were surveyed to determine the quantity (or level) and quality (or orientation) of their academic motivation, sense-of-self, and their values and aspirations. These variables were then used, in a series of Discriminant Analyses, to discriminate between school 'stayers' and school 'leavers'. Results of the study indicate that a limited range of variables (which included students' overall motivation, their general self-concept, their aspirations to further education, and the value they placed on their schooling) correctly discriminated between approximately seventy percent (70%) of school leavers and stayers in the study. The study indicates that relevant psychological variables may be used to correctly classify school leaver and school stayers. Hence, these variables ought not to be ignored in studies and interventions concerned with school leaving.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 26 JOH05370 Enhancing motivation, achievement and academic self-concept: Finding answers to the tough questions

DOW05444 ®
[PDF Paper]
The current state of middle schooling: A review of the literature

Martin Dowson, Garry Richards, Kate Johnson and Michael Ross, University of Western Sydney

Evidence from the literature suggests the presence of significant numbers of unhappy and underachieving students in the middle levels of education. Much of this unhappiness and underachievement appears to be directly related to the unresponsive nature of traditional educational structures in junior-high school. The Middle School movement, in contrast, began as a specific response to the developmental needs of early adolescents. Over the past 15 years, a number of studies have been conducted in an effort to specify key problems associated with traditional middle-schooling, and to propose solutions to these problems. Key findings and recommendations from these studies provide a framework for the reform of middle-school education. This study identifies critical convergences in the literature which parameterise a systematic and coordinated approach to the reform of the middle years. Eight key elements associated with middle schools that are responsive to the developmental needs of early adolescents are identified. These key elements are: relevance, responsibility, belonging, awareness, engaging, competence, ethical, and methodology. The study examines each of these elements in some details and describes their implications for the development of responsive middle schools both now and into the future.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 32 JOH05440 New frontiers in self research: Implications for schooling

DYE05656
[PDF Paper]
Opportunities and challenges for global education in Social Education curriculum

Julie Dyer, Deakin University

Curriculum statements in Society and Environment area in Australia place 'global' in their rationale. What does this infer and how is global enacted in practice in the classroom? What are the tensions and struggles for teachers and they grapple with its meaning, importance and delivery. How do teacher educators prepare students to become teachers for a world which is global in its outlook and influences?

In what ways are teachers teaching with a global perspective and how is this enacted in the classroom. It is not however curriculum statements, nor textbooks that are the carriers of global education but teachers themselves through their own stories and narratives and the meanings attached to these. The role of teachers' lived experiences in teaching global education is often silenced in teacher education courses and school classrooms.

This paper will explore imperatives to teach global education as noted in Australia's curriculum statements in Humanities as well as teachers lived experiences in delivering such a curriculum.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 50 DYE05655 Challenges and responses for teaching Social Education in Australia today

EAR05706 ®
[PDF Paper]
A researcher's journey through complexity, reflexivity and transformation: A case study from Rwanda

Earnest Jaya and Margaret Karr, Curtin University of Technology

Rwanda is a land-locked Central African country faced with two major challenges - ensuring recovery, rehabilitation and reconciliation after the genocide of 1994, and the massive need for sustainable development. Within this context education and health reform are playing an important role in reconciliation, reconstruction and development. I spent two years in Rwanda and established a primary and a lower secondary school. For the two years that I lived in Rwanda, I worked with teachers and was struck by their resilience, simplicity, hope and determination. This paper highlights the voices of teachers as they struggled to achieve against great odds. My personal journey has been examined over the course of the research study and the voice of the researcher has been used to speak from socio-cultural and practical perspectives. Through personal reflections and use of narratives, the present study involved interactions with teachers, which enabled me to embark on a transformative process and understand the complexity of school reform in a transitional society.

EDW05015
[PDF Paper]
Literacies for learning in Further Education: Theoretical and methodological challenges

Richard Edwards, University of Stirling

The Literacies for Learning in Further Education (LfLFE) project is funded for three years from January 2004 as part of the UK's Teaching and Learning Research Programme. The project draws on work already done on literacy practices engaged in by people in schools, higher education and the community and seeks to extend the insights gained from these studies into further education. It aims to explore the literacy practices of students and those practices developed in different parts of the curriculum and develop pedagogic interventions to support students' learning more effectively. This project involves examining literacy across the many domains of people's experiences, the ways in which these practices are mobilised and realised within different domains and their capacity to be mobilised and recontextualised elsewhere to support learning. The porject involves two unviersities and four further education colleges.

This paper will explore some of the theoretical and methodological challenges arising from the first eighteen months of the project. In particular, it will focus on how best to conceptualise literacy practices as a mobile resource for learning and how we identify the literacy practices of students in their everyday lives.

ELS05012 ®
[PDF Paper]
The space and place of art education

Jennifer Leigh Elsden-Clifton, RMIT

Within poststructuralist theory, the politics of the geographical location of objects and spaces has been bought to the fore by theorist such as Grosz (1995b) and Probyn (1996). This paradigm has argued arrangement of buildings and the structural distribution of classrooms reveal insights into the power hierarchies in schools (Coverston, 2001). In this paper I will adopt this paradigm to explore the politics of location in relation to art education. To do so I will focus on the comments made by art teachers in my research using the following enquiries: how did the teachers refer to their art classroom? How did the positioning of the art classroom respond to the power hierarchies in the schools? How did the teachers conceptualise the space within the art classroom? How did teachers shape this space? How did other teachers and school bodies perceive the space within the art classroom? In this paper I will explore these questions and argue that the location of art and the space within art classroom impacts on the hierarchal position of art within the broader educational context.

EXL05566 ®
[PDF Paper]
The behaviour 'crisis': Young children's mis/understandings of its origins, management and outcomes

Beryl Exley, Queensland University of Technology

This paper explores the understandings three young children have of the behaviour 'crisis' besetting our schools. Specifically, this paper examines semi-structured interview talk with three boys aged between six and eight years of age who were labelled by medical specialists as exhibiting Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)¹, that is, behaviour that is considered to be 'inappropriate'. The purpose of this paper is to report the boys' mis/understandings of the origins, management and outcomes of inappropriate behaviour. The findings reveal five core mis/understandings about inappropriate behaviour: it is a disease; medication is the most appropriate form of management; it affects their intellectual functioning; it should be kept secret; and those with inappropriate behaviour will be excluded from school-based social networks. In conclusion, this paper considers possible consequences for the boys' mis/understandings and implores those working with such labelled students to assist them in better understanding the origins, treatment and outcomes of labels.

¹While some medical specialists and lay personnel incorrectly use the terms Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) interchangeably, the term ADHD has been adopted and used in this paper to refer to all who exhibit ADHD behaviours, as defined by the APA manual (1994).

FEN05022
[PDF Paper]
Working by the rules: Early childhood professionals' (dis)satisfaction with the regulatory environment

Marianne Fenech, Jennifer Sumsion and Joy Goodfellow, Macquarie University

The regulatory environment in which long day care centres in NSW are required to operate plays a key role in determining what early childhood professionals do and how they go about doing it. This paper is drawn from an ARC funded, multi-phased project aimed at investigating the perceptions early childhood professionals have of the impact of this regulatory environment on their professional practice and provision of quality care. It reports findings from a state wide survey and shows how early childhood professionals position themselves with respect to four key aspects of the regulatory environment: the premises underlying regulatory control; its perceived support for them as professionals, in terms of their professional autonomy and delivery of quality care; the ways DOCS' regulations and QIAS impact upon their daily practice; and the way these audit systems affect their professional status. The implications of areas identified as sources of satisfaction and dissatisfaction with the regulatory environment on (i) the provision of quality care, and (ii) childcare regulatory policy, will be discussed.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 19 SUM05284 Regulation and accountability in early childhood education .

FER05090 ®
[PDF Paper]
The single gender middle school classroom: Looking at gender differences in learning close up

Margaret Ferrara, University of Nevada

This is the case study of a middle school who implemented single-gender classrooms as a three-year experiment. The paper provides the synthesis of two years of data on teacher reports and student reports on how each group responded to strategies and curriculum in single-gender classrooms. One noteworthy finding from teacher reports is that girls' classes moved at a much faster rate and attained a higher overall class average than the boys. Girls found strength and leadership, another teacher reported and the single gender girls were easier to teach. Boys had a mixed review. To keep boys engaged, teachers found that they tended to call on boys more to respond to questions or to read a passage. On the positive side, teachers found that boys in single-gender classrooms reported they liked to do three quick activities rather than long involved project. Overall, teachers reported that boys and girls participated more and were less self-conscious about their work in single-gender classrooms. The paper provides a comprehensive set of strategies that worked and did not work as well as a middle school student survey for exploring this issue further.

FER05228 ®
[PDF Paper]
Australian education today: Innovation rhetoric in a bureaucratic world

Peter Ferguson, University of Melbourne

Certainly since, if not before, the Howard Government released the Backing Australia's Ability initiative the terms innovation and creativity have been an ever-present theme in government policies, discussion papers and funding streams in education. As a consequence, every review, vision and strategic plan from primary to tertiary education emphasises the need for more innovative practice as well as more creative and innovative graduates. Teacher Education courses are judged in no small part by their innovative pedagogies and curricula along with their ability to produce future teachers who will continue innovative practices into the future through the various education systems. However, in parallel with these pressures, and often from the same government sources come bureaucratic restrictions via frameworks, standards, benchmarks and other policies and procedures that act to construct a culture that is counter to the innovations push. Educators increasingly find themselves trying to implement two agendas that are certainly in conflict if not mutually exclusive to each other. This paper will consider the bureaucratic/innovation policy press that contemporary educators find themselves within and reference to other working cultures aiming at innovation for comparison.

FIE05290 ®
[PDF Paper]
School discipline coverage in Australian newspapers: Impact on educational decisions and policy

Barry Fields, University of Southern Queensland

The role of the media in shaping public perceptions and opinions about significant political and social issues has long been the subject of both speculation and research. It is widely accepted that what we know about, think and believe about what happens in the world, outside of personal, first-hand experience, is shaped and, some would say, orchestrated by how these events are reported in newspapers and communicated through the medium of radio and television. This paper explores how the topic of school discipline is covered by Australia's major newspapers. Newspaper reports on discipline and related topics such as behaviour management and disruptive and antisocial behaviour in schools were examined for the period 2000 - 2004. The analysis focused on the types of topics covered, evidence of bias and the 'message' conveyed in the reports about this important and highly contentious subject. The paper concludes with a commentary the relationship between how discipline is reported on in the media and what actually happens in schools and how educational decisions and policy can be influenced by such reports.

FIE05291 ®
[PDF Paper]
Pedagogical reform and classroom reality: How teachers view teaching and discipline

Barry Fields, University of Southern Queensland

Over the past decade Queensland schools and school curriculum have been the subject of considerable policy development and reform. The most notable of these has been the adoption and widespread acceptance of the Productive Pedagogies (Gore, Griffiths & Ladwig, 2001), teaching principles and practices which are used to guide curriculum design and classroom teaching. The Productive Pedagogies draw teachers and students into a new relationship of shared participation in the teaching-learning process. This relationship has implications for how teachers interact with students in other ways, including the day to day task of behaviour management. The research reported in this paper looks at the dual teacher responsibilities of teaching and discipline with the focus on the extent to which the two are aligned in primary school classrooms. The research reported here extends an earlier exploratory study of the alignment of teachers and student teachers views on teaching and behaviour management (Fields, 2004).

FIN05122 ®
[PDF Paper]
Measuring learning with ICTs: An external evaluation of Education Queensland's ICT Curriculum Integration Performance Measurement Instrument

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

From a review of national and international methodologies for describing and measuring ICT integration, there was found to be a lack of substantial history and development with most studies undertaken since 1998. Moreover, most studies have focussed on input indicators such as student to computer ratios, expenditure on ICTs, and the training and professional development of teachers. Within a context of emerging large scale investigations (e.g. SITES, EnGauge and Becta) there have been accompanying pressures for the development of methodologies for measuring ICT use and student outcomes at classroom, school and system levels. This paper provides a summary of the methodology used to evaluate Education Queensland's ICT Curriculum Integration Performance Measurement Instrument. The evaluation involved three major data sources - statistical analysis of the data collected from 929 Education Queensland teachers in 38 schools who used the Instrument in 2003; a peer review process; and school-based teacher interviews involving 42 teachers from 6 selected Queensland schools. The resulting recommendations derived from the evaluation informed the refinement of the Instrument which is now called Learning with ICTs: Measuring ICT Use in the Curriculum. This paper also summarises the recommendations and significant features of the Instrument.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 6 LLO05119 Measuring the integration of ICT in the classroom

FIN05326 ®
[PDF Paper]
Strengthening anti-bullying research: An investigation into the misuse of dichotomous variables

Linda Finger, Herb Marsh, Rhonda Craven and Robert Parada, University of Western Sydney

Effective strategies for addressing school bullying are underpinned by the findings of anti-bullying research. However the latter is plagued with methodological flaws including the use of: (a) dichotomous variables with quantitative and continuous data, (b) uni-dimensional approaches when assessing multi-dimensional concepts; and (c) unsound measurement instruments whereby the psychometric properties of the measures employed have not been demonstrated all of which contribute to misleading conclusions. The purpose of the present investigation was to address these issues and use longitudinal causal models, to examine the relations of secondary school students' (N = 3445, Males = 1780) self-concepts, bullying, victimisation, and depression scores. Results suggest bullying and victimisation are mutually reinforcing constructs and that the use of dichotomous variables to explore relations systematically underestimates the size of the relation between the constructs considered in this investigation.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 22 JOH05322 Beyond bullying: What the research says

FIN05420 ®
[PDF Paper]
Characteristics of effective anti-bullying interventions: What research says

Linda Finger, Rhonda Craven, Herb Marsh and Roberto Parada, University of Western Sydney

School bullying has been universally recognised as damaging psychological, social, academic and even physical development of children (Marsh, Parada et al., 2004; Pellegrini, 2004). A well-designed anti-bully program that tackles school bullying is therefore an important mission for establishing desirable educational environments and positive pathways to self-reliance for the younger generation. The purpose of this paper is to review the extant anti-bullying research to identify salient features of successful interventions and identify directions for future research. Findings indicate that effective intervention programs have some common features; they: (1) adopt a whole-school community approach and school-based implementation strategies that impact on the school ethos; (2) target bullies, victims and bystanders; (3) use intervention strategies at the individual level; (4) assist teachers, parents and students by providing information; (5) include community agencies such as health services; (6) integrate anti-bullying into the school curriculum (Jenkin, 1996); and (7) integrate cognitive-behavioural strategies to maintain long-term change. Further, while some intervention programs considered in this review meet some of these criteria (e.g., Rigby & Slee, 1993; Jenkin, 1996; Olweus, 1997), their effectiveness has not been adequately determined by state-of-the art research methodology. To address the latter suggested strategies for strengthening anti-bullying intervention research are presented.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 30 JOH05417 Making a real difference in educational settings: Findings from new intervention research

FIN05772
[PDF Paper]
ICTs and professional learning pathways: Stories of effective professional development

Glenn Finger, Griffith University

Among the five research priority areas for 2003-06 identified in the Research Strategy Learning in an Online World (MCEETYA, 2003) was teacher development. Stories of successful teacher development supported by research forms the basis of this account meant to stimulate conversations about effective preservice teacher education and continuing professional development of teachers.

This presentation, in building upon the assumption that there is a nexus between the professional development of teachers and student use of ICTs, portrays the metaphor of the teacher professional development as an ICTs journey. A case study of the design and implementation of a preservice teacher education course called Learning with ICTs highlights an effective e-Portfolio approach whereby future teachers develop personal stories of learning. Subsequently, effective features of a continuing professional development model implemented at the Burleigh Heads Learning and Development Centre - ICT are summarised.

Finally, specific reference is made to Education Queensland's recently released Smart Classrooms initiatives (Education Queensland, 2005) as they relate to teacher professional development, including the ICT Continua, ICT Curriculum Integration Short Course, and the ICT Pedagogical Drivers' Licence.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 65 SEN05771 Teacher learning in the ubiquitous ICT environment

FIT05121 ®
[PDF Paper]
What profiling tells us about ICT and professional practice

Noleine Fitzallen and Natalie Brown, University of Tasmania

Integrating Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) into professional practice presents many challenges for teachers. It is perceived as an essential educational tool and contributes extensively to pedagogical practices, which address the needs of learners in our modern contemporary society. In the assessment of professional practice it is important to recognise the contribution teacher background, teacher knowledge, professional development, and reflective practice makes to how teachers integrate ICT into professional practice. This report details the use of a modified profiling instrument designed to assist in the assessment of teacher achievement in relation to integrating ICT into professional practice. The responses to the profiling instrument by four teachers illustrate the information that can be obtained from each section of the profile. The profiling instrument played a significant role in providing an extensive picture of teaching practice by triangulating data collected from a teacher portfolio. However, the results suggest there is a need to explore a range of methods of measuring the integration of ICT. Recommendations are made for the future development and application of the profiling instrument and implications of this study include suggestions for designing professional development programs.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 6 LLO05119 Measuring the integration of ICT in the classroom

FIT05241
[PDF Paper]
Education and hybridity: Maori and Pasifika students' perspectives on their educational experiences

Katie Fitzpatrick, The University of Waikato

National qualification achievement statistics show that Maori and Pasifika students in the New Zealand education system underachieve in comparison to other groups (Ministry of Education, 2000). Literature focusing on these trends has tended to centre either on raising achievement by addressing 'gaps' (Hill & Hawk, 1998, 2000, 2003), or by arguing that marginalized students will continue to underachieve while current systemic inequities exist (Smith, 2000; Tiatia, 1998). In both cases, however, Maori and Pasifika students are most often constructed as culturally homogeneous and static, rather than as hybrid and dynamic.

This paper reports on a qualitative study that sought the voices of Maori and Pasifika students in order to understand how they viewed their educational experiences. These are related to Besley's (2002) theory of hybridity - which recognizes the complexity of influences and values that young people are subject to - in order to ascertain how these young people negotiate diverse influences in dynamic and critical ways. From this, it is argued that a recognition of hybridity, and its associated complexity, is necessary if debates about the educational experiences of Maori and Pasifika students in New Zealand schools are to move forward.

FLE05489 ®
[PDF Paper]
Educational equality: An examination of the past and contemporary factors affecting the completion rates of Aboriginal school students and some of the programs designed to improve these rates

Rebecca Fleming and Beth Southwell, University of Western Sydney

The paper argues that the history of the colonial education system in Australia has led to an intense distrust for the education system amongst Aboriginal people. The paper further argues that the education system still largely reproduces only the dominant culture in its curriculum, and a major factor in the high levels of Aboriginal students leaving school early can be linked to the cultural irrelevance of the curriculum. The paper also examines the links between the high poverty, unemployment and poor health conditions experienced in many Aboriginal communities and argues that these conditions also play a significant role in preventing Aboriginal students from completing school. The paper argues that the most successful programs implemented in schools to alleviate these problems are programs which involve the parents and Aboriginal communities. The most successful programs include, homework centres and curricula which incorporate Aboriginal perspectives in order to make learning relevant and enjoyable for students. The paper finally argues that the inclusion of Aboriginal communities and perspectives in Australian schools is not only vital to gaining educational equality for Aboriginal students, but can also play an invaluable role in the education of every Australian student.

FLE05512
[PDF Paper]
Effects of grouping by perceived ability on the attitudes of Year 10 students towards Physical Education

Tim Fletcher, Judy Miller and John Haynes, University of New England

Given the challenges to maintain adolescent engagement and participation in Physical Education lessons, and the reported deleterious effects of inactivity on children's health, secondary school PE teachers are keen to find effective methods to sustain student commitment. This paper reports on the approach used at one school in Ontario Canada to investigate the effects of ability grouping on Year 10 students' attitudes to PE. The method of enquiry is based upon the perceived ability of two groups of fifty students, which are assigned to streamed PE classes, and a third group, which is used for comparison. Efficiency in fundamental motor skills provides an empirical comparison to perceived ability. Changes in attitudes to PE are measured and effects on perceived ability grouping ascertained. Implications for engagement and attitudes to PE are explored.

FLI05040
[PDF Paper]
Methodological conundrums: Confessions of a latent grounded theorist

Nerilee Flint, University of South Australia

This paper has been developed from a study that is investigating undergraduate tertiary students' perceptions of the fairness of educational assessment. Whilst most academics have an idea of what they think constitutes fairness in assessment they possibly do not know or appreciate what the students think. Indeed, what are the students' perceptions? More than this, how do you take such varied opinions and make sense of them? Grounded theory, Glaserian style (Glaser & Strauss, 1967; Glaser 1978, 1996, 1998, 2003) has helped me to make sense of what students are saying about fairness in assessment.

This paper focuses on the methodological approach I have used in addressing the topic. It makes explicit what grounded theory is and is not. The paper describes the convoluted process I went through as a researcher attempting grounded theory for the first time and what I would do if beginning again. The presentation provides some suggestions for people wishing to avoid the pitfalls and work in the exciting world of grounded theory.

Those interested in grounded theory, fairness in educational assessment, and the confessions of an at times very bemused PhD candidate might find this paper interesting.

FOR05028
[PDF Paper]
The Arctic Children Project: Preventing and taking measures against peer bullying

Arne Forsman, Luleå University of Technology

Since 2004 I am involved in the EU-project The Development and Research Project of Psychosocial Well.-being among Children and Youth in the Arctic. The project include universities north of the Arctic Circle in Finland, Russia, Norway and Luleå University of Technology, Sweden. The focus is to develop a supranational network model for promoting the psycho-social wellbeing, social environment and security of school-aged children in the Barents area. Urban and rural comprehensive schools are involved and one group of interest is the ingenuous, Sámi people. One common concern in all four countries is peer bullying. As an expert in research about peer bullying my task in the project is to work with participating Swedish schools staff to develop methods preventing peer bullying as well as taking measures against peer harassment and to do research in the field of peer bullying. My research will be investigating the prevalence and nature of the problem and to evaluate the school's development of new methods. So far I have carried out a peer bullying questionnaire and work as a consultant in two schools. I also am scheduling a plan for competence education for the staff in these schools and work implementing a course about conflict treatment in another school. My competence will also be used as a lecturer in the area of peer bullying in the other countries involved. My paper at the AARE-conference will be a report of my work so far.

FOR05169
[PDF Paper]
Voices of Somali children in a Swedish school

Arne Forsman, Luleå University of Technology

The focus of this paper is the way in which refugee children experience the Swedish school in which they are now enrolled. The children in this study are all aged between nine and twelve years old and are recent refugees from Somalia. They now live in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, and all attend the same school - a Muslim school. In an attempt to illuminate the Somalia children's experiences, drawings combined with oral comments have been used. There are significant differences between the past educational experiences, if any, of these children and the school and wider society of which they are now part. An understanding of both previous experiences and expectations and present understandings is essential if the needs of this vulnerable group of children are to be adequately met. Data collected in this study offers a window of understanding into the ways in which these children experience school.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 9 BRO05166 Educational experiences of indigenous, refugee and migrant students - a study of drawings .

FOR05664
[PDF Paper]
Constructing social education curriculum for the twenty-first century: The role and importance of economics education

Anita Forsyth, Monash University

The place of economics education in the curriculum has ebbed and flowed over the years. However, the inclusion of economics as a discipline in the new Victorian Essential Learning Standards (VELs) recognizes the value of economic, consumer and financial literacies in helping students understand contemporary society and make more informed decisions that will shape their futures and the futures of the world they live in. What knowledge and skills are being addressed in the economics discipline and how is this considered 'essential'? What is the scope of economics education in contributing to what students need to know and do now and for their future? How can economics education contribute to important social education curriculum goals such as civics and citizenship education, enterprise education, values education, global education and environmental education? This paper considers the role and importance of economics education as an essential dimension in the construction of social education curriculum for the twenty-first century and explores answers to the questions posed above.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 50 DYE05655 Challenges and responses for teaching Social Education in Australia today

FRE05173
[PDF Paper]
Can't go over it! Can't go through it! Must go around it!

Annette Freak, John Haynes and Judy Miller, The University of New England

Government staffing policy has shaped the implementation of the PDHPE syllabus in NSW primary schools. After the first 5 years, it appears timely to revisit and enliven the debate about the provision of specialist Physical Education teachers. What are some of the strategic interventions that providers of teacher education have in place to address the systemic need for generalist teachers to be more specialised? This paper reports on the progress of one such strategic intervention: The University of New England's Model of Specialization in PE within the Bachelor of Education (Primary) course through the lens of a research question: Does increased specialization in Physical Education during initial teacher education translate to greater opportunity for students in primary schools to realise PDHPE outcomes?

GAL05789
[PDF Paper]
Towards a theory and practice of policy engagement:
Higher education research policy in the making.
AARE President Address, 2005

Trevor Gale, Monash University
Delivered at the Australian Association for Research in Education, Annual International Conference University of Western Sydney, Parramatta campus, 28 November 2005

Academic engagement with higher education research policy in Australia, and with education policy more generally, is in trouble. This time around, it is not just that our theoretical tools are blunt and irrelevant (Ball 1990), so are our politics. It seems our attention has been so consumed by 'what is policy' (Ball 1994) and with challenging it claims to authority, that we have missed or ignored imperatives to engage with its production. Even though some have attempted contributions, for the most part we have been 'coerced into an era of cooperation'. Getting ourselves out of this mess will take more than just better theories and new politics. It will require a degree of cooperation, to advance a theory and practice of policy engagement and to re-establish a field of education that resists the tendency to fragment and/or the temptation to defend itself 'against' policy. In this address I attempt an assessment of where we are theoretically and politically with regard to education policy and where we need to look to find new forms of policy engagement. By way of illustration, I draw on examples from AARE (the Australian Association for Research in Education) and the RQF (Research Quality Framework) although the analysis is by no means restricted to these.

GAN05103
[PDF Paper]
"I'll be a different sort of a teacher because of this": Creating the Next Generation

Susanne Gannon, University of Western Sydney

The University of Western Sydney requires Secondary pre-service teachers to complete a practicum in a non-traditional educational context. Our partnership with the Dusseldorp Skills Forum (in 2004 with the Learning Choices Expo, and in 2005 through the Next Generation project) enables pre-service teachers to work with "students at risk" in innovative and non-traditional projects. This paper explores the impact of this experience on pre-service teachers perceptions of their own developing subjectivities as teachers and of young people who are more often seen in schools as "difficult".

Keywords: Educational Change and Innovation; Pre-service Teacher Education; Research Methods; Gender and Sexualities

GAN05737
[PDF Paper]
Teachers writing in/out of school

Sue Gannon, University of Western Sydney

Research in the UK and Australia confirms that Secondary English practising and pre-service teachers are typically characterised as great readers. Indeed the subject position of English teacher entails a "love" of reading (Peel, 2000). However there is no corollary with writing. Few English teachers are simultaneously 'writers' in any sustained, pleasurable or publicly successful ways. This paper analyses data from collective biographies and interviews with beginning and experienced secondary English teachers about their own writing practices and experiences and the relationship between these, issues of affect and classroom pedagogy.

GEO05240 ®
[PDF Paper]
Can Game Sense make a difference? Australian pre-service primary school teachers' responses to Game Sense pedagogy in teacher education programs

Steve Georgakis and Richard Light, University of Sydney

This paper reports on studies of pre-service primary school teachers' first experiences of a physical education unit of study using Games Sense pedagogy at two Australian universities. Taking into account the particular values, experiences and beliefs that pre-service teachers brought to the two teacher preparation programs this paper examines the participants responses to issues related to Game Sense, the impact that the units of study had on them and the ways in which they felt it shaped their attitudes to the teaching of Game Sense in the future. It suggests that, despite the lack of specific game knowledge and the limited time available for physical education in most programs, Game Sense pedagogy offers a useful means of developing the inclination and ability to teach physical education for primary school teachers.

GIL05256
[PDF Paper]
Social inclusion: Innovative reform, policy manoeuvre or a bit of both?

Judith Gill, University of South Australia

In the early days of this century the South Australian government followed Tony Blair's New Labour in its take up of social inclusion as a key reform agenda. Here as in the UK social inclusion was seen as a way out of the cul de sac into which campaigns for social justice appeared to have become stuck. In particular the state public schools were urged to adopt social inclusion as a central focus, perhaps most evidently in the government's repeated emphasis on the need to improve school retention. This paper traces the meanings of social inclusion in the context of state schooling in South Australia. Using data drawn from an investigation of Social Inclusion in South Australian Primary Schools the paper raises questions about the concept and its suitability as an instrument for the reform of educational systems and structures. Ultimately the paper concludes with a discussion of the needs of school leaders and teachers in order to implement the social inclusion initiative effectively.

GIL05258
[PDF Paper]
My place: The remaking of images of country and belonging in Australian youth

Judith Gill and Sue Howard, University of South Australia

In recent years Australian society has been undergoing major revision in terms of a vastly expanded immigration program. Currently one in five Australians has been born overseas. For the school population the numbers of newcomers to the country is even higher and their distribution is not evenly spread throughout the population.

These developments pose significant issues for education, its form and content, not the least of which is the ways in which the school works to fulfil its traditional function of inculcating an understanding of Australian law and political systems, a respect for its leaders and a sense of belonging.

The study reported on in this paper described the responses from some 400 young South Australian schoolchildren to questions about their feelings for the country in which they live. These responses showed a ready and genuine engagement with questions of the current social mix, an acceptance and pride in being a new society, a positive response to indigenous issues along with some idiosyncratic comment about the country which provides further evidence of the ways in which young people are accurate deconstructors of the manifold media messages about place and belonging.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 16 GIL05257 Youth and nation: The reworking of identity and place in multicultural societies

GIL05658
[PDF Paper]
Social Education and curriculum form: Changing conceptions of knowledge and the development of the SOSE learning area

Rob Gilbert, James Cook University

As much as in any other learning area, change has proven to be a constant in social education curriculum development. This paper provides a framework for evaluating these changes. Noting earlier curriculum typologies of traditional, progressive and socially critical approaches to curriculum, the paper argues for a fourth form, an entitlement approach, as a useful concept in addressing contemporary curriculum issues in social education. It shows how an entitlement approach would offer new understandings of the nature and rationales for selecting curriculum content, values and epistemologies relevant to the contemporary educational context. The paper reviews aspects of recent Australian social education curriculum development, and applies the entitlement approach to evaluate their relevance to the needs of students. The paper argues that an entitlement approach is a useful model for evaluating current directions in social education curriculum development.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 50 DYE05655 Challenges and responses for teaching Social Education in Australia today

GIL05744
[PDF Paper]
Research quality beyond the RQF: The Cairns conference

Rob Gilbert, James Cook University, Terri Seddon and Trevor Gale, Monash University

In July 2005, AARE conducted a focus conference on quality research and the RQF in education. The conference papers, panels and workshops identified key issues arising from the RQF policy developments, and proposed recommendations for dealing with them in ways which would promote quality educational research. This paper will report on the key outcomes of these deliberations, addressing in particular three questions: What are the challenges of the proposed RQF for researchers and research practices in education? What are its implications for research management, and what strategies will enable educational research to consolidate its standing and prosper in a research quality environment? How might the education research community monitor and assess the impact of the RQF, and provide advice to government and institutions about the effects and opportunities for educational research in the research quality environment?

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 59 PRE05742 Research quality and impact: AARE in 2005 and beyond

GOD05458
[PDF Paper]
Hierarchical mentoring: A strategy to improve boys' education

Sally Godinho, University of Melbourne, Affrica Taylor, University of Canberra and Mike Maxworthy, Eden Marine High School

The Eden Cluster is situated on the far south coast of New South Wales. It consists of one secondary co-educational government school, four government co-educational primary schools and one Catholic co-educational primary school. The cluster's project, Hierarchical Mentoring Program, evolved out of a concern by the Lighthouse School, Eden Marine High School, for boys' negative behaviors and their failure to cope with classroom demands. School records revealed that boys comprised 75% of school sanctions and 67% of school suspensions. Furthermore, the school's Conduct Disorder Program was filled exclusively with boys. Of particular concern was the fact that boys were accountable for only 25% of the school academic awards.

In response to these concerns, Mike Maxworthy, an industrial arts teacher at Eden Marine High School (EMHS), created a mentoring program for at students at risk students that involved hands-on repair of push bikes under the tutelage, supervision and guidance of retired men from the local community. What quickly became apparent through anecdotal evidence provided by both the men and the boys were the beneficial relationships that developed between the mentors and the mentees during the two-hour bike repair sessions, as the men assisted the boys to develop the skills and knowledge required for effective bike repairs. Bonds that were formed during the sessions extended into out-of-school family visits and activities.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 34 CUT05455 Researching boys' education: Findings from the Boys' Education Lighthouse Schools Project

Keywords: Education Policy; New Pedagogies; Literacy; Educational Change and Innovation; ICT; Learning and Teaching; Teacher Professional Learning; Primary Schooling; Secondary Schooling; Research Methods; Distributed Learning Environment and Multicultural Issues; School Renewal and Pedagogic Improvement; Gender and Sexualities

GOL05057 ®
[PDF Paper]
Theorising professional development in the academy: A conversational approach

Tanja Golja and Lynette Schaverien, University of Technology Sydney

There is increasing recognition of the need to rethink academic professional development, to shift it from industrial-era craft-based approaches to approaches more in tune with the complex, multi-faceted demands of contemporary higher education. We describe and analyse the learning of a group of three academics over a series of six audio taped conversations. Participants appeared to refine, by means of selection over time, the ways they categorised or carved up their world. Our findings suggest the potency of reconceiving professional development generatively, in terms of a biologically based selectionist theory of learning. We discuss the need for follow-up investigations of the extent to which these academics' regenerated ideas inform their professional practice.

GON05371 ®
[PDF Paper]
Self-regulation of academic motivation: Advances in structure and measurement

Sonia Gonzalez, Martin Dowson, Stephanie Brickman and Dennis McInerney, University of Western Sydney

Self-regulation of academic motivation is an under-explored aspect of self-regulation. This paper examines the structure of Self-Regulated Academic Motivation (SRAM) in the context of an overall model of Self-Regulated Learning (SRL) that also includes aspects of the self-regulation of academic cognition. In this study we first delineate key components of SRAM i.e., Mastery Self Talk, Relevance Enhancement, Situational Interest Enhancement, Performance Relative Ability Self Talk, Performance Extrinsic Self-Talk, Self Consequences and Environmental Structuring. We then test a series of Confirmatory Factor Analysis models measuring the latent components of SRAM with data from approximately 400 first year university students. Results indicate that the measure of SRAM was a valid measure of both the first and higher-order structure of SRAM, as well as being invariant across sex groups. Fit indices for all models were in excess of criterion values. We conclude that the theoretical structure we propose for SRAM is accurately operationalised by our measure with this sample. Thus, the study provides a basis upon which further testing of the theoretical SRAM model and the measure itself may be developed.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 26 JOH05370 Enhancing motivation, achievement and academic self-concept: Finding answers to the tough questions

GOO05176 ®
[PDF Paper]
What does international excellence in educational research look like?

Peter Goodyear, University of Sydney

Prompted by preparations for the introduction of a national scheme for assessing the quality and impact of publicly funded research, this paper investigates the question of how claims to international excellence in educational research might be advanced and evaluated. Drawing on national schemes of research assessment in other countries, it describes how the concept of international excellence in research has become embedded in the practices of assessment. The main part of the paper presents an analysis of the submissions of highly rated departments/schools of education in the 2001 UK Research Assessment Exercise. The UK RAE2001 dataset is a very rich source of information about research achievements, plans and strategies and about the ways in which images of excellence in research are constructed. Though already dated, it is still likely to be a significant source of benchmark data for the first run of an Australian research assessment exercise. It turns out that there is more than one way to construct defensible claims about international excellence in research. Subsidiary findings touch on the publishing choices of leading educational research groups, relations between size and status, the place of research grants, PhD completions and other metrics and the selection of indicators of esteem.

GOU05216
[PDF Paper]
What does 'free trade' among national quality assurance agencies produce and prevent? Speculations on difference and (e)quality in globalising knowledge economies

Noel Gough, University of Canberra and Annette Gough, RMIT University

South Africa's Sowetan newspaper (14 March 2005) recently reported that 'The Higher Education Quality Committee of the Council on Higher Education (HEQC) has just signed a memoranda [sic] of understanding with quality assurance agencies in the UK and India' (p. 4). According to this report, signing the memorandum will enable the three national agencies to exchange information and expertise on (for example) 'key policy documents and operational information' and 'collaboration in joint research of mutual benefit'. Our experiences in South Africa and elsewhere, together with our methodological dispositions (feminist, antiracist, poststructuralist, Deleuzean) lead us to wonder what such 'free trade' between national quality agencies might produce and prevent - and to suggest that it will not necessarily be mutually beneficial. This is in part because 'quality' (as a Deleuzean 'order-word') produces different effects in different locations. For example, the deployment of 'quality' in the audit discourse of Australian higher education produces very different effects from its mobilisation in debates about 'quality versus equality' in South Africa's social transformation. We draw on these and other examples to argue that a more determined scrutiny of 'quality's' locatable effects should precede any 'trading' of quality assurance artefacts such as policy documents and operational information.

GRA05072
[PDF Paper]
Schooling and 'disorderly' objects: Developing a discursive analytic to examine pedagogical enunciations of Otherness

Linda Graham, Queensland University of Technology

In order to facilitate an investigation of pedagogical discourses complicit in constructing "recognizable" (Butler, 1997) disordered objects through statements that define the behaviourally problematic schoolchild, this paper will focus on the development of a discursive analytic; a methodological plan to approach the analysis of pedagogical discourses through the location of enunciations or statements that function with constitutive effects (Foucault, 1972). Much has been written on Foucault's reluctance to clearly delineate a research method, particularly with respect to genealogy (Tamboukou, 1999). Foucault himself disliked prescription stating, "I take care not to dictate how things should be" (Foucault, 1994, p.288) and wrote provocatively to disrupt equilibrium and certainty, so that 'all those who speak for others or to others' (Foucault, 1994, p.288) no longer know what to do. It is doubtful, however, that Foucault ever intended for researchers to be stricken by that malaise to the point of being unwilling to make an intellectual commitment in outlining methodological possibilities.

Discourse analysis is a flexible term. What one is doing is greatly dependent upon the epistemological framework being drawn upon. It appears that some scholars using discourse analysis within a Foucaultian framework have adopted a "Foucaultianistic" reticence to declare "method", fearful perhaps of the charge of being prescriptive in 'speaking for others'. As such, it is quite difficult to find coherent descriptions of how one might go about discourse analysis using Foucault's notion of discourse. This has an exclusive/exclusionary effect where Foucaultian theory and discourse analysis is perceived as inaccessible, deterring some researchers, particularly those in more practice-oriented fields, from engaging with Foucaultian theory. The aim of this paper is to develop a discursive analytic from Foucault's work and related poststructural researchers in order to provide this researcher with a clear doctoral itinerary but also to do others the courtesy of leaving a clearly identifiable trail.

GRA05189
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An illusory interiority: Questioning limited notions of inclusion

Linda Graham, Queensland University of Technology and Roger Slee, McGill University

Familiarity with the concept of inclusive education and its attendant terminology has grown considerably, however, there are various, competing discourses when it comes to speaking about "inclusion" and "inclusive education". The meaning of these terms may be different depending on who is speaking and via what discourse, however, on the surface these differences are concealed by the continued use of these generalised terms within inclusive education vernacular; terms which assume a benign commonality. This is perhaps what we see happening in Queensland, where the "inclusion" of students with disabilities is taken to mean that we have achieved an "inclusive" education system. The aim of this paper is to ponder the possible implications of conceptualising inclusive education via such an understanding of "inclusion". Looking to 'conjure up the illusory interiority in order to restore words and things to their constitutive exteriority' (Deleuze, 1988), this paper utilises Foucault's concept of 'discipline-normalisation' (Foucault, 1975), to interrogate the apprehended form of inclusion achieved.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 11 GRA05188 Beyond limited notions of inclusion: Theoretical and practical perspectives

GRA05595
[PDF Paper]
Pre service teachers and literacy education: An historical study

Pat Grant, University of South Australia

The National inquiry into the teaching of literacy and the National inquiry into teacher training are part of the many manufactured crises in literacy education we see both nationally and internationally today. This paper traces the history of these recent concerns about how pre service teachers come to learn about teaching literacy through an examination of literacy education for pre service primary teachers in South Australia in the 1940s and 1950s. It is a qualitative, historical study drawing on Michel Foucault's genealogical work. Data includes oral histories from teacher educators and primary teachers and official documents such as teacher training curricula. The data is examined by means of a critical discourse analytic approach and illuminates the assumptions governing the way pre service teacher educators from the 40s and 50s talk about literacy. This analysis uncovers some of the antecedents of the current debates about how and what pre service teachers learn about the teaching of literacy.

GRA05690
[PDF Paper]
Bush Tracks: Exploring teacher learning in rural leadership

Lorraine Graham, Judy Miller, Di Bloomfield, David Paterson and Neil Taylor, University of New England

Due to the crisis in rural school staffing many beginning teachers are being required to take on school leadership roles very early in their careers. These roles relate to a range of tasks including curriculum leadership, leadership in pedagogy, assessment, and school-community relations. Accelerated progressions are changing the nature of school leadership in rural schools. School leadership opportunities in rural schools impact uniquely on pathways from student teacher to beginning teacher and school leader that individuals may follow. Such pathways are frequently different to those available to teachers in large urban centres. What are the implications of these different pathways in terms of pre-service teacher education, beginning teacher support, and the professional development needs of rural school leaders? What challenges do beginning teachers in rural schools experience in relation to the formation and realisation of their identities as teachers, school leaders and community members? What obstacles, opportunities, expectations and supports are there for rural teachers to make the early transition to school leadership roles? This paper draws upon survey and case study data of the lived experiences of teachers in their journeys through rural leadership and contributes knowledge for rural leadership development.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 52 GRA05687 Bush Tracks: Researching rural teaching transitions in pedagogy and leadership

GRE05212 ®
[PDF Paper]
Improving student writing in science: A help or hindrance

Robyn Gregson, University of Western Sydney

In recent times there has been much debate about the literacy levels of students in our schools such that Federal and State Governments have provided extensive resources to improve the literacy standards of our tertiary, primary and secondary students. This paper reports data from a teacher-research study that used an action research scaffold to assess how a literacy intervention (answer modelling) changes students' ability to record their understanding of scientific concepts in writing.

The answer modelling activity was developed in response to the literature that compared the writing behaviours of 'novice and 'expert' writers. Expert writers have a clear appreciation of how their writing will be received by an audience and understand that revision plays an important role in the composing process. Whereas novice writers fail to recognise the key elements of writing and can often struggle with the mechanics of writing which plays a major role in the fluency of student writing.

It was found that students disliked writing however, they wanted to improve their writing skills What proved an interesting finding was the unexpected effect that the writing intervention had on the students' answers to short-answer questions.

GRE05376 ®
[PDF Paper]
The effect of within-school transitions on academic motivation and self-concept

Jasmine Green, Andrew Martin and Herb Marsh, University of Western Sydney

Early adolescence is a time of significant change and transitions. During early adolescence children experience the physical, psychological and social changes associated with puberty. At about the same time as these general developmental challenges, students make the normative transition to the high school environment, which is typically characterised by differences in school size, structure, teaching strategies and academic standards. Furthermore, within high school there are important transitions as students move from junior high to middle high and then to senior high school. A wealth of research has shown that these normative school transitions tend to be associated with differences in academic motivation and self-concept. Despite the proliferation of research and literature in this field, particularly concerning the 'causes' of the observed motivational decline, mixed findings still dominate this field. Less integral to research on school transitions has been the investigation of transition-related effects on academic motivation and self-concept from a longitudinal perspective. This paper provides a detailed analysis and discussion of the current issues that surround this area as well as an outline of the proposed study that aims to investigate academic motivation and self-concept in a diverse selection of Australian schools across pre-determined year levels.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 26 JOH05370 Enhancing motivation, achievement and academic self-concept: Finding answers to the tough questions

GRE05384 ®
[PDF Paper]
Academic motivation and engagement: A domain specific approach

Jasmine Green, Andrew Martin and Herb Marsh, University of Western Sydney

This research reports on findings from a large-scale study amongst Australian high school students investigating the need to distinguish between academic motivation for mathematics, English and science subjects (with an additional focus on gender and year-level differences). This paper utilises the Student Motivation and Engagement Wheel (Martin, 2003) as a basis for conceptualising academic motivation and engagement and the Student Motivation and Engagement Scale (SMES - Martin, 2001, 2002) as a basis for measuring it. A total of 1,801 students from six government high schools were administered the Student Motivation and Engagement Scale. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) provided support for the domain specificity of motivation and engagement across three distinct high school subject areas. Additional analyses utilising multiple-indicator-multiple-cause (MIMIC) modelling identified a general trend that girls are more motivated across subjects than boys. The few significant interactions broadly showed that as girls move into middle high school they are more motivated than boys in mathematics and less motivated in science and English. Implications for pedagogy and further research are discussed.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 26 JOH05370 Enhancing motivation, achievement and academic self-concept: Finding answers to the tough questions

GRI05161 ®
[PDF Paper]
Curriculum policy: Linking the 'big picture' with school level processes

Joanne Griffiths, University of Western Australia

Curriculum reform, particularly with the ascendancy of policies on outcomes-based education, has accelerated in many countries across the globe since the late 1990s. Western Australia, the focus of this study, is no exception. In 1998 the state government mandated that all government and non-government schools must demonstrate compliance with the Curriculum Framework (CF) by 2004. This paper presents case studies of curriculum policy and practices at one government and one non-government school as they responded to the CF. These findings are part of a larger study into the dynamics within and between the stakeholders and sectors in developing and responding to the CF in Western Australia, within a 'bigger picture' context of national and global trends. This paper draws on critical theory and post-structuralist approaches to policy analysis. In acknowledgment of agency at all levels of the policy process, in-depth semi-structured focus groups and individual interviews were conducted to understand the views of curriculum leaders and teachers at each site about curriculum reform. Although there is no intention to generalise from two case study schools, interesting meta-level contrasts and commonalities arose that may provide the basis for 'food for thought' about curriculum reform in other contexts.

GRO05267
[PDF Paper]
That feels real to me! Using cases for professional learning

Susan Groundwater-Smith, University of Technology, Sydney, Josephine Gereige Hinson, Miriam Wride and Margaret McLelland, NSW Department of Education and Training

This presentation will discuss a process of collecting, critiquing and employing professional narratives as a means of informing teacher learning in the NSW Department of Education and Training. It will discuss how and why stories, narratives, vignettes or cases can and should be used as a professional learning tool; what it is that makes them so potentially powerful and compelling. Narrative inquiry can be a potent means of understanding professional practice for narratives are one of the chief means by which we make sense of the world. It is a legitimate, rational form of knowing. The intellectual act of making meaning from events, as told in a narrative form, can lead the knower to reconstruct and reconceptualise previously held beliefs and understandings. However, this cannot occur unless there is some kind of stimulus or trigger that will render the narrative problematic. In the project reported here teacher leaders from across the state were gathered together to develop a series of cases directed to issues surrounding developing school professional learning plans. These cases were then subject to critique, refined, developed and trialled. The presentation will report upon all phases of the study.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 17 GRO05264 International perspectives on teachers' professional learning: The ways in which it is understood and provided for

GRU05247
[PDF Paper]
'Snowball recruiting': Capitalising on the theoretical 'six degrees of separation'

Maree Grupetta, University of Western Sydney

The use of 'snowball recruiting' has been criticised due to the tendency for in-group recruitment and over-sampling of groups with larger personal networks. Yet this type of recruitment is valuable within studies where the participants required represent a narrow subgroup of the general population for which adequate sampling frames are not available. Despite the mistaken belief that the researcher only needs one or two contacts for the information to snowball until the required sample size is achieved, in reality this methodology requires much research in order to be effective (Streeton, et al, 2004). However, if Milgram's (1967) largely unproven theory of 'six degrees of separation' between strangers is to be believed, information can be transmitted effectively to a large number of people through an informal network of communication, thereby increasing recruitment options. Current studies by Columbia and Ohio Universities are testing Milgram's (1967) theory in relation to Internet communication, and hypothesize that there are actually less than six degrees of separation between strangers connected through technology. This paper documents the recruitment process for a doctoral dissertation using 'snowball' methodology, discussing the positive and negative aspects of this type of recruitment in relation to its efficiency in providing a fair population sample for research.

GUA05372 ®
[PDF Paper]
Motivation toward specific work tasks among elementary and high school teachers: The Work Tasks Motivation Scale for Teachers (WTMST)

Claude Fenet, Frèdèric Guay and Caroline Senècal, University of Laval, Herb Marsh and Martin Dowson, University of Western Sydney

The purpose of the present research was to develop and validate a measure of teachers' motivation toward specific work tasks: The Work Tasks Motivation Scale for Teachers (WTMST). The WTMST is designed to assess the constructs of intrinsic motivation, identified, introjected, and external regulations, and amotivation toward six work tasks (i.e., class preparation, teaching, evaluation, class management, administrative, and complementary tasks). Three studies conducted among 657 teachers were used to develop and validate the WTMST. Overall, results reveal that the WTMST is composed of five reliable factors (internally consistent and temporally stable) for each of the six work tasks. The construct validity of the WTMST is also supported by simplex-like patterns of relations and correlations with theoretically related variables. In addition, the pattern of correlations among the WTMST subscales across the work tasks indicated that teachers' types of motivation are specific to work tasks. Implications for research on teachers' motivation are discussed.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 26 JOH05370 Enhancing motivation, achievement and academic self-concept: Finding answers to the tough questions

GUA05374 ®
[PDF Paper]
The causal ordering among the quality of relationships with parents and friends and academic motivation

Frèdèric Guay and Caroline Senècal, Laval University, Herb Marsh and Martin Dowson, University of Western Sydney

Motivational theories not only argue that the quality of interpersonal relationships with peers and parents play an important role in predicting adolescents' academic motivation but also that adolescents' motivation could play a role in predicting the quality of interpersonal relationships with parents and friends. Indeed, non-motivated adolescents could elicit negative behaviours from parents and friends who value school related work. However, few methodologically sound studies have tested these reciprocal relations. The purpose of the present study was to test the causal ordering among these variables by using a three years longitudinal study. A total of 834 adolescents aged of 17 years participate to the study. Results from the complex structural equation models provided relatively good support for reciprocal relations between the quality of relationship with parents and academic motivation. Nevertheless, no significant relation was found between the quality of relationship with friends and academic motivation. This last finding is surprising giving the fact that some developmental models argue that friends are more important in late adolescence than parents.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 26 JOH05370 Enhancing motivation, achievement and academic self-concept: Finding answers to the tough questions

GUA05378 ®
[PDF Paper]
Motivation toward elementary school subjects: The Elementary School Motivation Scale (ESMS)

Frèdèric Guay and Simon Larose, Laval University, Herb Marsh and Martin Dowson, University of Western Sydney

The purpose of the present research was to develop and validate a measure of motivation toward elementary school subjects, the Elementary School Motivation Scale (ESMS). The ESMS is designed to assess the constructs of intrinsic motivation, identified regulation, and external regulation in relation to reading, writing, and mathematics. A cross-sectional study of 426 students in Grades 1, 2 and 3 was used to develop and validate the ESMS. Overall, results show that the ESMS is composed of 3 internally consistent factors for the three school subjects. The construct validity of the scale is also supported by a quasi-simplex pattern of correlations, and correlations with academic self-concept and school achievement. Results provided clear support for the invariance of the factor solution over gender and age. Results from the MIMIC model reveal neither gender and age significant effects nor interaction effects between age and sex on the motivational subscales. In sum, the ESMS represents a valid self-report measure of intrinsic motivation, identified regulation, and external regulation in relation to reading, writing, and mathematics among elementary school children.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 26 JOH05370 Enhancing motivation, achievement and academic self-concept: Finding answers to the tough questions

GUO05086 ®
[PDF Paper]
An investigation of an optimizing model of autonomous learning of TEFL using multimedia and the internet technologies (ICT)

Naizhao Guo, Shanxi University of Finance and Economics

This is an account of a one-year experiment which sought to optimize student learning by adopting an autonomous learning model of Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) using multimedia and the Internet technologies. The experiment was sponsored by the Chinese Ministry of Education and carried out at Shanxi University of Finance and Economics (SUFE). The study involved three teachers and 550 non-English major undergraduates of the university. The researchers set out to understand the consequences of encouraging learner autonomy when new teaching strategies were introduced to enhance the learning process using multimedia in an Internet environment. Disadvantages of the traditional teaching model are discussed and some causes of existing problems in English teaching practice become evident. A critical review of the literature of learner autonomy and constructivist theory, as applied to TEFL, contextualizes new ideas for an autonomous learner model of TEFL with multimedia and the Internet communications technologies (ICT). These new educational methods appear to have led many students to become autonomous language learners. We conclude that a key issue in cultivating autonomous learning is that teachers must first become autonomous learners themselves. They need to realize that in this new regime they play a very different role in the teaching process. Teachers need to recognize their role as guides, facilitators and anticipators, both in and outside class. Results of the investigation are expected to contribute positively to TEFL teaching in Chinese universities.

Keywords: Curriculum and specific curriculum areas - English as a Second Language; Information Communication Technology

GUO05088
[PDF Paper]
A Study of graded English language teaching at Shanxi University of Finance and Economics

Naizhao Guo, Shanxi University of Finance and Economics and Robin Wills, University of Tasmania

Due to the considerable expansion of enrolments in tertiary institutions since 1999, newly enrolled students' English proficiency levels are quite different. Students come from different parts of China, and from differing economic and educational backgrounds. Therefore, improving students' levels of English proficiency becomes an urgent issue.

In order to find a new direction for TEFL, this study informs on the reform of the graded English language teaching system conducted at Shanxi University of Finance and Economics between 2001 and 2004. Data analysis and surveys conducted by the author reveal that most tertiary students' English proficiency falls far short of meeting the needs generated by the rapid development of China's economy, and from increasing contact with other countries. An investigation of English teaching practices shows that there are some factors needing to be taken into account, including teaching goals, teaching models and teaching methods. This paper reviews current literature on how to improve China's TEFL outcomes. This paper focuses on the processes of graded English language teaching and informs on a number of critical issues in relation to these processes. The results of CET-4 indicate that the research is significant and beneficial to English language teaching in Chinese tertiary institutions.

Keywords: Curriculum and specific curriculum areas - English as a Foreign Language; Educational Change and Innovation; School Renewal and Pedagogic Improvement

GUR05254
[PDF Paper]
PANEL DISCUSSION 15: The International Successful School Principalship Project (ISSPP): Comparison across country case studies

David Gurr and Lawrie Drysdale, University of Melbourne

The ISSPP is an eight country three-phase study. Multiple perspective case studies have been completed, with national surveys and observational case studies to follow. This panel discussion centres around papers which have been prepared for a special issue of the Journal of Educational Administration (JEA); a paper summarising ideas from these papers will be made available to participants. This discussion provides an opportunity to hear the evidence from several of the countries and to do what Leithwood suggests in a synthesis article in the special issue of JEA, and that is 'for individual researchers in the international project to take greater account of evidence and ideas from the work of their colleagues in other countries.' Following closely Leithwood's synthesis of the case studies, themes that will be discussed include:

The discussion will be conducted by Dr Lawrie Drysdale and Dr David Gurr, with ample time for questions and dialogue concerning the research.

HA05394 ®
[PDF Paper]
Actual/Ideal body images of high school girls and how it affects their self-esteem: Implications for educational and clinical institutions

My Trinh Ha, Herb Marsh and Chris Halse, University of Western Sydney

Given that adolescence is a critical period for the development of a positive self-concept and body image, it is imperative that educators have an understanding of adolescent students' body image and their dieting practises and behaviours. Negative body image is an issue that is rife within the adolescent student population in Australia and around the world, and is a factor that is commonly associated with and linked to disturbed eating behaviours and chronic eating disorders like Anorexia Nervosa (AN). Despite the intuitive appeal and importance of investigating adolescents' body image in terms of what adolescents would like to look like and what they think that they look like now, very little research has investigated these concepts. Furthermore, very little research has explored whether there is a difference between these two constructs how this may affect adolescents' self-esteem. This study therefore aimed to explore the actual and ideal body images of adolescent high school girls aged between 12 and 18 years in two samples of adolescents, one with eating disorders (n=76, clinical sample) and one without (n=823 high school sample). Additionally, this study investigates these constructs in relation to self-esteem levels. The results of this study have important implications for educators and clinicians within educational and clinical settings.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 27 JOH05387 New advances in social comparison research: Implications for gifted and talented students and Special Education

HA05397 ®
[PDF Paper]
Educational and mental health implications of the multidimensional model of the self-concept for adolescent girls: Comparison of clinical and non-clinical samples

Trinh Ha, Herb Marsh and Chris Halse, University of Western Sydney

The importance of a positive self-concept as an educational outcome and a facilitator of other desirable outcomes are well established within the education research field. Although the multidimensional and hierarchical model of the self-concept is widely accepted within the educational psychology, this perspective is not widely used within the mental health research. Hence, the purpose of the present investigation is to compare the psychometric properties of the short version of the Self-Description Questionnaire (SDQII-S) based on responses by a large sample of female adolescent high school students (N= 829) and a clinical sample of adolescent girls who have been diagnosed with anorexia nervosa (N= 75). The well-established psychometric properties of the longer version of the SDQII generalise well to both samples of adolescent girls, and analyses provided good support for the invariance of the factor structure across the two samples. Furthermore, analyses employing new structural equation modelling approaches to comparing the latent mean differences indicated that there were differences (although surprisingly small) between the two groups that were generally consistent with a priori predictions. The important educational and clinical implications of these results are discussed.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 28 JOH05395 The centrality of multi-dimensional self-concept and advances in neuroscience

HAB05728
[PDF Paper]
Balancing risk, ethics, research quality and pedagogy

Ruth Habgood and Susan Wright, Department of Education and Training

The New South Wales Department of Education and Training requires all researchers who wish to undertake research in Government schools to obtain approval from the department.

Granting of approval involves an assessment of the quality of the proposed research, the appropriateness of ethical procedures and research content in relation to children, commissioning 'working with children' screening checks for researchers entering schools and balancing potential disruption to class time with research benefit.

These procedures are a response to increasing numbers of researchers wanting access to children for research, to legislative and ethical requirements, increased sensitivity to the protection of children and their learning opportunities, and to the highly variable quality and potential benefit from research projects.

This paper explores the issues raised in balancing the needs of researchers and researcher training opportunities with research benefit and the protection of school children and their opportunities for learning.

HAL05001
[PDF Paper]
The metaphors of childhood in a preschool context

Gunilla Halldèn, Linköping University

This paper raises questions on ideas of children and the meaning of childhood in contemporary society. Within the sociology of childhood the conceptualising of children as "becoming" has been criticized, and "children as beings" (Qvortrup 1994) has been advocated as a way of recognising children's competence and of taking a child perspective. However, this dichotomy has also been criticized as being a way of ignoring the fact that we are all part of dynamic processes and that also adults are "becoming" (Lee 2001). I will draw on this discussion and elaborate it in relation to the rhetoric of early childhood education. In doing so I add the concept "children as projects", as a way to capture the dominating ideas of children held by parents and professionals. When scrutinizing how the concepts being, becoming, and project are used, especially in the context of the preschool, we can detect aspects of childhood in relation to a generational order. This can be related to preschool professionalism and the discourse of care as an important part of education as discussed by Noddings (1992), and opens up for the recognition of children as both competent and dependent.

HAL05049 ®
[PDF Paper]
Principal talk: The activity of a principal in school meeting talk

Graeme Hall and Susan Danby, Queensland University of Technology

Much of the business of schools, as well as of other organisations, is done in meetings of various kinds. School principals spend large parts of their working time in meetings, both formal and informal, and their leadership within schools is often exercised through these meetings. This paper reports how the principal of a school in one study actually does the business of a school and university partnership through the activity of meeting talk. The meeting talk of the participants in the partnership work constitutes the data of the study, and the data is represented through transcribed audio recordings. Using the conventions and techniques of conversation analysis and membership category analysis, the study undertakes a close analysis of how the principal and the other participants actually co-construct the partnership activity through their talk-in-interaction. In particular, it explores how the principal uses the resources of institutionalised meeting talk to accomplish such leadership activities as turn allocation, topic choice, topic change, and member participation.

HAL05155
[PDF Paper]
Graduate entry teacher education: A comparative study of two university programs

Janice Hall, University of Western Sydney

Graduate entry teacher education programs are becoming more numerous due to fiscal, socio-economic and political pressure both here and overseas. There is also increasing complexity and diversity in the student population from which the contingent is drawn. This paper will compare two such programs, one from the University of Western Sydney and one from Bristol University. Both these universities offer primary and secondary education and have demonstrated great adaptation over the past decade in response to diverse pressures. This paper will also explore the existing tensions between pedagogical and fiscal impetus, and address similarities and differences of course structures that are relevant to the Australian setting. It will enquire into the teaching and learning quality of such programs and speculate on future educational sustainability for these graduate entry programs.

HAN05274 ®
[PDF Paper]
Using analogy to teach complex concepts in science: The true story of 'Ellie the Electron'

Yvette Hancock and Andrys Onsman, Monash University

In this paper the role of analogy in science education is examined. Analogy uses the learner's existing knowledge to generate new understandings in conceptually difficult areas of science. A fundamental requirement of the analogous process is the conscious maintenance of the essential integrity of the concept: the common ground needs to be truthful regardless of the complexity of the analogy. One of most conceptually difficult areas in science, quantum physics, is defined through statistical probabilities. Because we have no direct experience of the quantum world there is no other option but to describe it through analogy and metaphor. Generally, the verification of analogy depends entirely upon confirmation. In quantum physics no such verification is possible and therefore learning depends solely upon abstracted thought rather than direct observation. By articulating the systematic mapping of the analogous process this paper proposing a model of cognition that suggests the learning of science is likely to be context dependent rather than exclusively developmental. This paper argues that by using such a methodology even the most complex scientific concepts can be taught effectively. To exemplify this, the paper examines the teaching efficacy of quantum mechanics to pre-operational children through the example of "Ellie the Electron."

HAN05677
[PDF Paper]
'Non-English speaking background' student-teachers' experience of preservice education: A case study of the transnational mobility of knowledge workers

Jinghe Han, University of Western Sydney

Teacher education programmes at Australian universities are becoming increasingly inclusive of NESB student-teachers. This strategy may contribute to solving teacher shortage throughout Australia. Therefore it is important that universities address the needs of this ethnically, linguistically and religiously diverse grouping of students. This paper reports on the analysis of a semi-structured interviews with 20 first-year NESB students who were enrolled in a teacher education program and who had overseas education experience. The data suggests that the impact of teacher education on NESB students' development affects their future teaching career in Australia, and raises questions about the appropriateness of the design of such courses for NESB students in the dominant Anglo-European society. From the analysis of this evidence this paper concludes by identifying opportunities for productive initiatives by education policy actors, with respect to enhancing possibilities for NESB student-teachers to meet the professions supply/demand problems.

HAR05136 ®
[PDF Paper]
The work and family environments of three educational organisations

Marina Harvey, Macquarie University

The work and family environments of individuals at three educational organisations were examined. These organisations were in the process of establishing workbased child care centres, the work-family intervention strategy in this study. Respondents were drawn from a primary, a secondary and a tertiary educational campus located in metropolitan Sydney.

Quantitative and qualitative data were collected from individuals from the three sites before the workbased child care centres were opened to provide pretest (Time 1) data and again after the centres were opened to provide posttest (Time 2) data. The main measures used included the Work Environment Scale (Moos, 1986) and the Family Environment Scale (Moos and Moos, 1986), (N=397).

An integrated ecological framework was developed and provided the approach for this study of work and family fit. This paper presents quantitative findings from the pretest data phase where differences were found between the sites, with analysis revealing the tertiary site to be significantly different from the other two sites on a range of measures.

HAR05153 ®
[PDF Paper]
A case study of a dominant masculinities discourse and boys' early school leaving in a rural context

Ingrid Harrington, University of New England

This research was motivated by concerns about the consistent pattern of poor retention of some boys to Year 12, and overall poor performance of some boys in Australian schools.

This study broadly drew on critical discourse theory to examine the circumstances surrounding the decision to leave school by 22 boys from three different geographical locations i.e. provincial, rural and metropolitan, in Queensland, Australia. Adopting Fairclough's (2002) model of discourse as a conceptual framework for this research allowed the exploration of the different socio-cultural practices as perceived by the boys in their geographical location.

Similarities in the boys' narratives included their belief in the value of learning, and that the context of school was unable to provide them with learning that was both meaningful and relevant to their post school pathways. Despite the similarity of the boys' school experiences, the range of storylines they chose to illustrate their experiences in their geographical context differed.

The study concluded that consideration be given by education researchers to the construction of a dominant masculinities discourse in different geographical locations, when exploring boys' engagement with school.

HAR05249
[PDF Paper]
Motivating and demotivating factors influencing teachers' engagement in postgraduate study: The results of a pilot study

Pamela Harvey, Wesley Institute

The paper will report the results of a pilot study undertaken in early 2004, investigating teachers' motivations to undertake professional development, in particular where postgraduate study is involved.

The instrument took the form of a questionnaire which included 18 factors drawn from the professional development and educational psychology literature. The factors considered influential in motivating teachers to undertake professional development included among others, career advancement, professional growth, pedagogical knowledge, school and family support, intrinsic value and serving and enabling students. The questionnaire used Likert type scales to measure teachers' motivations to engage in postgraduate study.

Participants in the pilot study (N=220) were primary and secondary teachers in five Christian schools located in the south eastern region of Queensland. Of the participants, 18% were currently undertaking or were in the process of enrolling in postgraduate studies.

Results of the study identified twelve factors that act as motivators or demotivators for teachers engaging in postgraduate study. These results should be of interest to tertiary institutions in determining what factors attract teachers to postgraduate courses. The results should also be of interest to school principals to help them understand how they can better support and encourage their teachers to engage in postgraduate study.

HAR05289 ®
[PDF Paper]
Inviting dissent in: Classroom practices for nurturing communities of readers in the early school years

Pauline Harris and Barbra McKenzie, University of Wollongong

In the context of the early school years, this paper examines established classroom practices that focus on engaging young readers with texts. The lens used for this exploration is provided by transtextuality theory that accounts for ways in which texts build networks of meaning for readers to negotiate. Transtextuality theory originated in and serves literary criticism. However, this paper will demonstrate how this theory provides teachers and researchers with tools for interrogating classroom practices that seek to develop young readers as meaning makers. Examples of teaching strategies and learning experiences will be shared. These examples sometimes see dissent over interpretation arise among children or between teacher and children. This paper will identify ways that this creative dissent may be constructively managed as a positive resource for making meaning from texts. These classroom examples will be workshopped and explored in terms of how they nurture readers as navigators of meanings in the texts they read, view, share, recollect and talk about at school.

HAR05457 ®
[PDF Paper]
Addressing the education of boys: A community of practice approach

Elizabeth Hartnell-Young, University of Melbourne and Greg Neal, Victoria University

The Boys' Education Lighthouse Project (BELS) has enabled clusters of schools throughout Australia to identify, intervene, research, and report on initiatives to improve boys' learning outcomes. In this paper we apply a community of practice model to analyse the BELS Project and consider knowledge building through student and teacher learning as the practice of the community in question. Clusters have focused on initiating new literacy programs, modifying teaching practice, introducing male role models or using ICT to improve learning outcomes. Within the broad community concerned with boys' education, one of the most obvious groups identified by clusters remains boys in the middle-years and their levels of engagement and connectedness to school

This paper argues that successful communities of practice have a clearly-identified purpose, key goals and intervention strategies and are able to determine appropriate research evidence to report on their successes. The authors have been working with a number of clusters to trial new approaches, implement projects that improve student learning outcomes and meet reporting guidelines. The use of an online learning environment is a critical component to support clusters nationally throughout Australia and to disseminate aspects of the projects to the wider education community.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 34 CUT05455 Researching boys' education: Findings from the Boys' Education Lighthouse Schools Project

HAR05593
[PDF Paper]
Spreading the word': An analysis of the impact of Australasian educational ideas on a new nation state

Barbara Harold, Zayed University

Educational systems in Australia and New Zealand have been subject to a bewildering variety of changes in the last two decades that have been intensely scrutinized and debated. However both countries enjoy favourable international opinion as reflected, for example, in the attainment and retention of high standing in international comparisons of student achievement. What happens then, when policies and practices that have proved successful in these two nations are used to inform a developing and changing system in an emerging nation state?

This paper discusses the impact of Australasian educational ideas on a pre-service teacher education program in a small Middle Eastern nation. An analysis of four years of research into the practicum, the internship and the role of mentor teachers is used to comment on the degree to which 'imported' practices have been able to contribute to creative solutions for an education system under review and development. Commentary about the use and issues of international 'policy borrowing' is also included.

HAR05606 ®
[PDF Paper]
At the interface between reader and text: Devices in children's picture books that mediate reader expectations and interpretations

Pauline Harris, University of Wollongong

This paper examines ways in which children's picturebooks present themselves to their young readers. Presentation of a picturebook includes its covers, endpapers, title, author and illustrator identification, book blurbs, title pages, visual media, font styles, layout and the like. These features make up the interface of a picturebook. This paper will demonstrate that these features - called 'paratextual' features (Genette, 1997) - can be as important as the text itself in how they mediate between the reader and the text. Examples of contemporary children's picturebooks are explored to demonstrate the many functions that paratextual features serve readers. This exploration will include instances of picturebooks that show how children's authors are increasingly blurring the boundaries between the text and its surrounding paratext. More and more, readers of picturebooks find themselves presented with paratexts that not only mediate between the reader and the text, but which form an integral part of the text and its interpretations. Implications for readers and classroom practices are discussed in the context of the early school years, where these features are often a routinised focus for inviting children's predictions about the text ahead. This paper will explore ways in which such practices can be augmented to engage children in higher levels of reflection and interrogation of texts.

HAR05650
[PDF Paper]
Improving participation in Higher Education for young people from low socio-economic backgrounds: Changing attitudes towards university

Joanne Harris, Australian Catholic University and Judyth Sachs, University of Sydney

Current Federal Government policy in higher education espouses a renewed emphasis on equity. As such, it encourages university-initiated projects aimed at improving the access of students from groups identified as disadvantaged. While significant gains have been made in the participation of some targeted groups, marked inequities in transition to higher education persist, with young people from higher socio-economic backgrounds participating in higher education at approximately twice the rate of those from low SES backgrounds.

While the causes of these inequities are multiple and complex, one culprit that is increasingly named is that of the attitudes of young people and their families towards higher education. Research has found appreciable social stratification in the opinions of secondary students about the relevance and attainability of a university education.

The literature suggests that university-school linkages based on early intervention and long-term relationships have the potential to alter young people's perceptions of university. This paper describes one such intervention scheme, Australian Catholic University's ACULink program. Using a predominantly qualitative approach, it evaluates the extent to which this project affects young people's perceptions of and aspirations for university.

HAS05273 ®
[PDF Paper]
The trial of Damocles: An investigation into the incidence of plagiarism at an Australian university

Maurie Hasen and Michele Huppert, Monash University

Numerous studies have postulated that academic cheating in Higher Education is on the increase. Access through the Internet coupled with the increase in student numbers have both been cited as contributing factors. Students appear most likely to cheat when the risks of being detected are estimated to be lower than the potential gain. Previous studies have found that students do not regard academic staff as being efficient in the detection of plagiarism. An increase in staff efficacy should therefore be coupled with a reduction in the incidence of plagiarism. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the trial of a plagiarism detection device known as Damocles. The paper also reports on research involving 198 second and third year university students who were instructed to submit an assignment on disc that would then be run through the plagiarism detection software. Students were further instructed that anyone found to have plagiarised would receive zero for that assessment and have to face disciplinary procedures. It was expected that this would dissuade students from plagiarising, however, 4.5% of students were found to have intentionally plagiarised works not their own. The paper suggests that recklessness is a contributing factor that helps explain the behaviour of this consequence-resistant group of students.

HAU05333 ®
[PDF Paper]
Self-concept and academic motivation of Chinese students in Hong Kong

Kit-Tai Hau, Chinese University of Hong Kong and University of Western Sydney, Herb Marsh and Marjorie Seaton, University of Western Sydney, Irene Ho, University of Hong Kong and Xiaoxu Li, Chinese University of Hong Kong

According to the big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLPE), equally able students have lower academic self-concepts when attending academically selective schools than non-selective schools. Here we evaluated the generalizability of the BFLPE with diverse self-constructs (e.g., self-concepts, values, goals, interest, etc.) for Grade 7 Hong Kong Chinese students (N= 1950). According to the internal/external frame of reference model, students formulate their self-concept by comparing their own performance (e.g., math achievement) with that of other students (i.e., the external frame) as well as their own performance in other academic areas (e.g., language; the internal frame). In support of the BFLPE, structural equation models showed that self-concept, self-efficacy and interest were most affected by school-average ability. Furthermore, students with high mastery goal, low performance goals, and low avoidance goals were less affected by the negative BFLPE. In agreement with the Eccles and Wigfield's (2002) expectancy-value model, expectancy and value had positive, additive effects on students' persistence/effort. However, there was no expectancy X value interaction as posited in earlier versions of the model. Implications for teaching are discussed.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 23 JOH05327 New advances in cross-cultural research: Insights into motivation and achievement

HAU05350 ®
[PDF Paper]
Physical self-concept, actual-ideal Body Image Discrepancies and Obesity in Hong Kong School Children: Cultural differences in the value of moderation

Kit-Tai Hau, Chinese University of Hong Kong and Herb Marsh, University of Western Sydney

The role of health and physical education should be to instill in students the knowledge and appreciation of healthy lifestyles, but childhood obesity is becoming increasingly prevalent in non-Western as well as Western societies. We evaluated physical self-concepts (Physical Self Description Questionnaire, PSDQ) and body images (Silhouette Matching Task, SMT) for obese (clinical and non-clinical sample) and non-obese Chinese students (N = 763), and compared with Australian students (N = 1084). Psychometric properties were similar for Western and non-Western responses, but gender differences were generally much smaller for Chineese students. In particular, the SMT ideal body image was slightly fatter for Chineese girls than for Chineese boys. For Chineese students, objective and subjective measures of body fat (and corresponding obese/non-obese group differences) were negatively related to many components of physical self-concept, but were unrelated to global self-esteem and slightly positively related to health self-concept. However, consistent with Chinese value of moderation but in marked contrast to Western responses, being too thin relative to personal ideals was almost as detrimental as being too fat. The results reflect Chinese cultural values, in which obesity is more acceptable than in Western culture, and, perhaps, general inadequacies of health education.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 25 JOH05346 New advances in self-concept research in educational settings: Making a real difference

HAW05684
[PDF Paper]
A clarification of multidimensionality and perfectionist typology with the Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale

Colleen Hawkins, University of Sydney

The psychometric properties of the 'Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale' (Frost, Marten, Lahart, & Rosenblate, 1990) were investigated, to determine its usefulness as a measurement of perfectionism with Australian secondary school girls, and to find empirical support for the existence of both healthy and unhealthy types of perfectionist students. Participants were 409 female mixed-ability students from Years 7 and 10 in two private secondary schools in Sydney, Australia. Factor analyses yielded four rather than the six factors theorized by Frost et al. and did NOT support higher-order 'positive' and 'negative' perfectionism factors as proposed by Stumpf and Parker (2000). A profile approach is recommended based on cluster analysis which indicated a distinct typology of 'healthy perfectionists', 'unhealthy perfectionists' and 'non-perfectionists'. Healthy perfectionists were characterized by higher levels on Organization, while unhealthy perfectionists scored higher on the Parental Expectations & Criticism and Concern over Mistakes and Doubts dimensions of perfectionism. Both types of perfectionists scored high on Personal Standards.

HAY05565
[PDF Paper]
Telling stories: Remembering in schools working under adverse conditions

Debra Hayes, University of Technology, Sydney

In schools working under adverse conditions, one thing is certain - change. We cannot assume that people, structures or conditions will stay the same. Teachers (and researchers) struggle to develop ideas and hold conversations because it is difficult to get together in the same place without interruption for long enough to focus on important issues. One way to deal with these conditions is to create stories that endure. The Changing Schools, Changing Times project has developed an approach to constructing and telling stories in order to remember what works and why it matters in specific local contexts; to document agreements and past experiences; and to sustain conversations about school reform. These stories are works in progress that are continually worked over as they are created and retold. They function in multiple ways within the research process, as document, data and subject. And, they raise many questions related to their use and distribution, such as: Whose story is this? In whose interest is it told? These stories are described and discussed in the paper, and the roles they are playing in the research and reform processes are critically analysed.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 43 HAY05562 Changing Schools, Changing Times: The first year

HAY05720 ®
[PDF Paper]
Applying Rasch to confirm the underlying construct of a new process instrument in Gymnastics

John Haynes, Judy Miller, Rosemary Callingham and John Pegg, University of New England

Three cohorts were observed performing a gymnastic locomotor skill - the forward roll. These groups included: children (n=48) aged between 6 years and 15 years; young adults (n= 24) aged between 18 years and 22 years; and, older adults (n = 45) aged between 28 years and 42 years. Qualitative analysis of visually recorded data resulted in the forward roll being categorised into three sequences, the beginning, middle and end. For each sequence a number of indicators were identified. Each indicator was further sub-divided into a number of descriptors. These descriptors were hierarchically ranked and using the Quest (ACER) statistical package a Rasch analysis was employed to determine whether the descriptors represented a single underlying construct. The application of the Rasch model was confirmatory for identifying the structure of a range of quality movement performances.

HAZ05472
[PDF Paper]
Student wellbeing and learning: What does learning theory tell us?

Gavin Hazel, Hunter Institute of Mental Health and Melissa Monfries, University of Newcastle

In the field of learning theory there is at times a disconnection between the social and emotional domains and learning. As we turn to evaluate how students can become more effective learners and examine differing pedagogical frameworks it is valuable to also consider what educational theory can contribute to our deliberations. While many pre-service teachers are aware of the theorists such as Maslow, Bowlby, Erikson, Freire, Goffman, and Vygotsky, making the connections between 'academic' and 'social/emotional' outcomes in the classroom is not always so straightforward. This paper will describe the broad theoretical and empirical support that currently exists within educational theory for connecting social and emotional wellbeing not only to academic achievement but also to the broader educational goal of preparation for life. With this framework as a foundation we will then turn to examine the kinds of pedagogic principles that allow us to connect the social, emotional, and academic domains. Specifically consideration will be given in this discussion to both the 'student' and the 'teachers' perspective, with an emphasis on constructing teaching and learning as being a two-sided interaction.

HAZ05475
[PDF Paper]
Evaluating constructive solutions: Implementation of MindMatters and evaluation of the professional development component

Trevor Hazell, Hunter Institute of Mental Health

MindMatters is a national resource and professional development program for secondary schools. The program is founded on a whole school approach to building social and emotional wellbeing, for all members of the school community. A comprehensive strategy is encouraged, embracing curriculum change, school environment and ethos and partnerships with parents, external agencies and the broader community. MindMatters also provides professional development opportunities for school staff, in all states and territories. The Hunter Institute of Mental Health is an external evaluator, collecting and analysing quantitative and qualitative data from case study schools and feedback from those who attend the professional development. The results to date show that MindMatters is implemented in many different ways, according to each school's context and priorities. The program has the capacity to support school change in policy, structure and culture as well as in the curriculum. This paper will also report on the evaluation of the professional development program and its capacity to support changes in schools and individuals. Information from the evaluation to date shows that comprehensive school change can occur following the implementation of school-based wellbeing programs and that staff professional development is an important factor in that change.

HAZ05591
[PDF Paper]
A pattern needs more than two points - connecting cognition, epistemology, intelligence and learning in problem solving

Gavin Hazel, University of Newcastle

This paper will present a theoretical model for describing the interaction of dispositions, experiences and beliefs in identifying and solving the types of ill defined or open problems that typify research activity. By drawing on existing models in the field of personal epistemology and cognition this paper provides a "general" mechanism for investigating how we learn and the role of epistemology is in this process.

The model of personal epistemology proposed in this paper does not just relate to a set of 'beliefs' or intellectual capacities. Epistemology is conceptualised an interactive process that establishes an 'objective' horizon from within which we 'notice' issues and problems. Thus epistemology is constructed as a dynamic discriminatory capacity tied to action selection.

The goal of this approach is to allow for the creation of a rich description of the learning interactions within situated learning. This model is currently being refined as part of a doctoral research project that is exploring the ways in researchers notice problems? What is the role of knowledge in this process? And what do the answers to these questions mean for the way in which we understanding learning and the mind?

HEA05323 ®
[PDF Paper]
Peer abuse as a legislated child protection issue for schools

Jean Healey, University of Western Sydney

The ethical and professional issues involved in determining responses to peer abuse have been significantly challenged by new legislation and it is timely to consider such abuse as a child protection issue for schools given the well- documented long-term impact of the behaviour. The proclamation in December 2000 of the Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998 in NSW, mandates early notification of all forms of abuse, and increases both the level of responsibility and liability for litigation of teachers and schools for failure to offer an appropriate level of protection to victims. A case study is discussed describing recent litigation against the Department of Education and Training in NSW which serves to illustrate that severe peer abuse fits the definitions and applications of the Act. It is suggested that early invocation of the process prescribed may help avoid such litigation in future but more importantly could provide protection for victims of serious peer abuse.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 22 JOH05322 Beyond bullying: What the research says

HEA05418 ®
[PDF Paper]
Peer abuse as child abuse and indications for intervention in schools

Jean Healey, University of Western Sydney

Peer abuse in the form of bullying is now recognised as an endemic feature of school life and in terms of impact, outcomes and intervention requirements can be equated with other forms of child abuse. It is argued in the light of data presented here that there are clear parallels between peer abuse and other forms of child abuse and that this should be acknowledged and addressed with some urgency. The paper discusses the types, frequency and intensity of bullying behaviour reported in high schools in NSW, clearly demonstrating that the behaviours which are currently reported as bullying behaviours are also abusive and equally as harmful as child abuse. There can be no doubt that peer abuse fits the common descriptors of child abuse across all reported criteria. However, it is evident that teachers currently often do not interpret the behaviours as either abusive or bullying, but as mutually aggressive interactions between peers, leaving victims feeling unprotected and unsupported. It is suggested that implementation of legislative requirements for mandatory notification by teachers of all forms of abuse should be considered as a means of intervention and as a protective measure in severe cases of peer abuse. Further, employing bodies need to ensure teachers are aware of the relevance of child protection procedures and requirements to the issue of peer abuse.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 30 JOH05417 Making a real difference in educational settings: Findings from new intervention research

HEA05443 ®
[PDF Paper]
Adolescents' experiences, perceptions and attitudes towards bullying

Jean Healey, Martin Dowson and Genevieve Nelson, University of Western Sydney

The extent and impact of bullying amongst students in schools has been a subject of much recent interest in both the research literature, and in public discourse. Moreover, many recent studies have sought to quantify students' experiences of bullying in schools. Despite this, very few studies have attempted to systematically investigate adolescents' experiences of bullying conjointly with their perceptions of, and attitudes towards, bullying. Fewer still have attempted to explicitly and systematically identify how adolescents' bullying experiences, perceptions, and attitudes may be related to student-level factors such as students' age, sex, and cultural background, or school-level factors such as school type and climate. The present study attempts to address these deficiencies in the literature. Specifically, the present study attempts to (a) conjointly quantify students' bullying experiences, perceptions, and attitudes (b) demonstrate how these experiences, perceptions and attitudes are related to student-level factors such as students' age, sex and cultural background, and (c) demonstrate how students' bullying experiences, perceptions and attitudes are related to school-level factors such as the type and climate of the school they attend.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 32 JOH05440 New frontiers in self research: Implications for schooling

HER05217
[PDF Paper]
Owning the Discourse: Seizing the Power!

Jeannie Herbert, James Cook University

This paper will argue the need for a shift in the discourse regarding Indigenous Australian outcomes in education for, in considering the findings of the presenter's doctoral research, education is about more than simply "results", more than simply being able to regurgitate the lecturer's words, education is about living, about having control of your life, about "having a life"! This research was designed to enable the researcher to gain a deeper insight into the reality of the university experience for Indigenous Australian students; to clarify Indigenous perceptions of success within the context of university studies and to enable respondents to engage in a process of self-reflection. The researcher investigated the degree of choice Indigenous Australians felt able to exercise in their engagement within the academe and the degree of compatibility between what Indigenous peoples want from their university education and what Australian universities and the Commonwealth Government expect of them. The research findings indicate that, for those Indigenous Australians who participated in this study, the decision to engage in the discourse, to make it their own, appeared to be a critical aspect of their capacity to achieve the outcomes they wanted from their university learning experience.

HIC05149
[PDF Paper]
Preservice and practicum experiences: Are they complementary?

Clive Hickson, Graham Fishburne and Stephen Berg, University of Alberta

Recent years have seen the trend of elementary school physical education programs being delivered by generalist trained, classroom teachers. In light of this loss of specialist knowledge and the understanding that the early years are a sensitive time for children to acquire motor skills, a comprehensive preservice program for prospective elementary school teachers would seem to be essential. One aspect that is often overlooked is the extent to which preservice course content and expectations are complementary to practicum experiences. Provision of a complementary experience can help prepare preservice teachers to effectively teach physical education. This paper reports on a study involving 313 preservice senior university students and their perceptions of preparedness for the teaching of physical education. Results indicate that the preservice teachers believed that their preservice and practicum experiences were not complementary. When compared to the school-based mentorship they received in other curricula areas, students believed that they: were not exposed to teaching that mirrored their university experiences and expectations; were not provided with curriculum direction; nor held accountable for teaching toward learning outcomes. Understanding that discrepancies can exist and addressing such incongruence is critical if preservice teachers are to be properly prepared to physically educate their future students.

HIC05252 ®
[PDF Paper]
Professional education and training for early career players in the Australian Football League: Footy first, second and third

Christopher Hickey, Deakin University and Peter Kelly, Monash University

In this presentation we discuss some of the findings of a research project funded by the Australian Football League (AFL) titled: Getting the Balance Right: Professionalism, Performance, Prudentialism and Playstations in the Life of AFL Footballers. The research explored the emergence and evolution of a 'professional identity' for AFL footballers - an identity that has many facets including the emerging ideas that a professional leads a balanced life, and has a prudent orientation to the future, to life after football. This 'professional identity' isn't natural, and must be developed through a range of 'professional development' activities (common to all other 'professions'). In the AFL at this time professional development has a focus on engaging players in a variety of education and training activities - TAFE & University courses, and workshops and seminars that the industry has put in place to educate players about issues that the industry sees as important.

The presentation will focus on our research with players we classified as Early Career players. For many of these 17 to 21 year old young men their education is often compromised by a range of industry practices (including the draft) and the intensity of their efforts to physically prepare for AFL football.

HIL05214
[PDF Paper]
Researching possibilities: Reflections on creative dissent while producing constructive solutions

Gaell Hildebrand, Monash University

This is my personal perspective on a collaborative writing/learning journey of eleven Monash and Melbourne academics who formed a team to create an interactive CD-ROM to support postgraduate researchers. The philosophical and epistemological histories of the individuals were diverse - a strength for this project as we found when we engaged in debating the pedagogy of learning to research. In the act of creatively dissenting we learned from each other as we came to better understand our differing knowledges/stances on useful tactics and tools, productive methods and methodologies, and a spectrum of theoretical positionings. I reflect here on my role in leading the team that produced the design/text/form of "Researching Possibilities". In arguing about big questions, like the What, Why, Where, When, Who and How of doing research - which now act as entry level questions for the student-researchers - and small questions, like why particular colours are appropriate for the visual images of the building blocks metaphor we negotiated to use, the team developed a sense of unity that in the early stages seemed unimaginable. I show how the creative energy generated through emergent tensions and dissent was juxtaposed into complexifying questions and pragmatic options in the CD-ROM itself.

HO05073
[PDF Paper]
Using "High Effective Word Recognition Method" to teach children with learning difficulties Chinese word identification in Hong Kong

Fuk Chuen Ho, Hong Kong Institute of Education

The orthographic structure of Chinese character is very complex and difficult to learn. There are eight basic strokes in the Chinese writing system. The number of strokes in one character ranges from one to more than twenty. Children with learning difficulties often find difficulties in writing Chinese characters correctly. One major problem is that they tend to add or delete some important strokes in character writing. The focus of this action research is to use "High Effective Word Recognition Method" to teach children with learning difficulties the skills in recognizing the structure of Chinese characters. Participants of this research are four Primary 2 children with learning difficulties in the Intensive Remedial Teaching Programme (IRTP). Results of this research show that significant improvement was observed in participants' performance in Chinese character writing when emphasis was placed on recognizing the internal structure of Chinese characters.

HOO05074 ®
[PDF Paper]
Establishing professional identity: Narrative as curriculum for pre-service teacher education

Neil Hooley, Victoria University

It is unclear to what extent Australian teachers over recent years have resisted the impact of globalisation, marketisation and commodification on education generally and their daily work in classrooms specifically. Do teachers still see education as a public good, of personal and democratic importance in its own right regardless of the socio-economic background of students, or is education a critical component of material gain and individual, competitive advancement? Have teachers confronted these issues in reference to their own professional identities, in developing a strong relationship with their own knowledges as the essence of their educative role with young people? This paper suggests that such matters are still being played out in Australia, although the apparent weakness of the relationship that teachers have with their personal professional knowledge has contributed to an increasing commodification of education, especially in regards the Year 12 certificate. It is proposed that reconstructing initial teacher education on the basis of systematic narrative inquiry might collectively refocus the practice of teacher educators and pre-service teachers so that a community indeed moral imperative to learning is established. The discussion outlines connections between professional identity and narrative research and questions of credible and authentic learning for teacher education.

HOW05230
[PDF Paper]
Eight years on: Trajectories of risk and resilience beyond childhood and adolescence

Susan Howard and Bruce Johnson, University of South Australia

In 1997 we began a research project that tracked a cohort of approximately 50 students aged between 9 and 12 over a period of 5 years. The students lived in highly disadvantaged areas. Our aim was to identify the factors, be they individual, social and/or environmental that contributed to each student's risk and resilience status and to track how this status changed over time. By the end of the project the participants were aged from 13 - 16 years so we had been able to track most of them through early adolescence and the often difficult transition from primary to high school. Our insights from the huge body of data gathered through this project have been reported at AARE conferences from 1997 onwards and in Australian and international refereed journals.

Many longitudinal studies, particularly in the areas of physical health and social adjustment (e.g. Dunedin study) have shown the benefit of tracking research participants beyond adolescence. Accordingly, we tracked down 20 of our former participants (aged now between 17 and 20) in order to ascertain their present risk/resilience status. Our findings suggest that, as before, simple, low-cost interventions and arrangements can make positive differences to the well-being of young adults.

HOW05750
[PDF Paper]
Linking policy and research - a Queensland government initiative

Sue Howard, Department of Education and the Arts, Queensland

Seeking constructive solutions to the challenges around education policy development and the support of effective practice is the responsibility of state government. The Queensland Department of Education and the Arts (DEA) has recently developed its first Research Strategy 2005-2007 as one means of addressing some of these challenges.

The DEA strongly values research and recognises the benefits which quality research can deliver to policy, teaching, learning and arts and cultural development. The implementation of evidence-based policies can result in rapid advances in the effectiveness of initiatives. Practitioners and policy makers need to be able to draw on the evidence of research to make informed decisions about policy, programs and projects.

The Research Strategy 2005-2007 seeks to create a collaborative culture of rigorous inquiry informing evidence-based policy and practice. It is underpinned by seven principles: currency; comprehensiveness; collaboration; culture; communication; capital; and conduct. To implement the strategy, there are three major areas of activity:

Such an approach by a government department provides a unique potential for academics and policy makers to work together. This paper will introduce the Queensland Department of Education and the Arts Research Strategy 2005-2007 and its purpose and scope.

HU05740 ®
[PDF Paper]
Student teachers' talk during teaching practice: Impact and implications

Chun Hu, University of Sydney

The study examines student teachers' talk during teaching practice. The findings suggest that cooperating teachers (CT) are the most important figures for student teachers. In this study, CTs gave an average of almost 400 minutes of their time to each student teacher over the nine-week teaching practice. The student teachers spent the least time talking to their university supervisors and school principles. The student teachers posted to a school alone seemed to be particularly disadvantaged and spent less time talking than those posted to a school in two or threes. The student teachers who participated in a weekly video conferencing had accumulated more minutes of talk than those who did not and reported more positive experience of their student teaching experiences.

Keywords: Information Communication Technology; Teacher Education - General; Pre-service Teacher Education

HUD05018 ®
[PDF Paper]
Examining mentors' personal attributes

Peter Hudson, Queensland University of Technology

Final-year preservice teachers' perceptions of their mentoring in primary science teaching were gathered through a survey from two separate studies. The two studies (n=331, n=60) provided an indication of the degree of "Personal Attributes" displayed by mentors while mentoring in primary science teaching during final-year field experience programs. The key study results (n=331, from nine Australian universities involved in primary teacher education) indicated that on average 50% of mentors displayed "Personal Attributes" to facilitate effective mentoring practices in primary science teaching (n=331, mean score range: 2.72 to 3.46; SD range: 1.22 to 1.31). The results were a little higher for the smaller study (n=60, 59%, mean score range: 2.69 to 3.93, SD range: 1.09 to 1.32). The study concludes that mentors who display "Personal Attributes" such as: supportiveness, approachability, attentiveness, instilling confidence and positive attitudes, and developing mentee's reflective practices may more adequately assist the mentoring process for specific subject teaching.

HUD05033 ®
[PDF Paper]
Exploring first-year preservice teachers' confidence to teach art education

Sue Hudson, Queensland University of Technology

There is little research on how confidence influences preservice teachers' ability to teach art in the primary classroom. A study by Welch (1995) claimed that poorly designed tertiary art education programs may negatively affect the confidence of preservice teachers to teach art. Hence, this study employs a pretest-posttest survey (n=160, n=148, respectively) linked to suggested art activities in the NSW Creative Arts K-6 syllabus (2000), pretest-posttest questionnaire (n=160, n=148, respectively), interviews (n=10) and researcher field notes to gather data to explore and describe the confidence of first-year preservice teachers as they engage in a tertiary art education unit. Survey results indicated an increase in these preservice teachers' confidence to teach art on each of the 14 survey items, and the qualitative data suggested that previous experiences in art education and tertiary art education can influence their confidence to teach art. Indeed, "art anxiety" (see Metcalf & Smith-Shank, 2001) that was first detected in the beginning weeks seemed to diminish as the participants gained more experience in the art activities. It was concluded that university-based courses can positively influence the confidence of preservice teachers to teach art, which may be instrumental for implementing art education in primary schools.

IRV05625
[PDF Paper]
Pathways, policy and practice in Indigenous education

Faith Irving, Monash University

During the Whitlam Government years, Australia engaged with social issues related to Indigenous rights. The relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians underwent further scrutiny during the Commonwealth-mandated period of Aboriginal Reconciliation, 1994- 2000. Disturbing facts emerged concerning the relative degrees of disadvantage experienced by many Indigenous Australians compared to the non-Indigenous population, together with contributing social and historical sources grounded in the politics of governance and exclusion.

Key reports on the well-being of the Indigenous population point to the role of education in the formation of social identity. They highlight the need for non-Indigenous people to learn about the shared history, thus promoting an inclusive future that respects and values Indigenous culture and heritage. Education needs to reflect aspirations for Indigenous self-determination within the life of the nation.

Policy-making about Indigenous education is set within the current discourses of evolving national identity, citizenship and cultural pluralism, supported by anti-discrimination legislation and international conventions on human rights.

ISD05643 ®
[PDF Paper]
Jumping the fence to see what's on the other side: A report on a middle phase of Learning Teacher Exchange Project in Central Queensland

Lindy Isdale, Reyna Zipf and Bobby Hareveld, Central Queensland University

A primary to secondary school transition still exists for students in Queensland schools. Since 2002, the Queensland State government has implemented a raft of education and training reforms, including a Middle Phase of Learning State School Action Plan. The Action Plan recognizes the particular characteristics of new millennial adolescent learners and the effects of negative schooling experiences during Years 4 to 9 and challenges teachers to plan for a greater degree of alignment between curriculum, pedagogy and assessment practices during these transition years. This paper reports on case study data from twenty-six teachers (from five primary and two secondary schools) as they reflected on what they had expected to see in the other sector's learning site and what they actually saw when they observed teaching on 'the other side of the fence'. Their observations focused on teacher planning, curriculum, pedagogy, teacher/student relationships and student behaviour. The study reveals that teachers from each sector understood little about the 'other' educational sector, and in most instances, the realities did not match the expectations. It also confirms the value of teacher exchange and work-shadow approaches to cross-sectoral understandings of Middle Schooling issues.

JAC05488 ®
[PDF Paper]
Developing research designs and methodologies for investigating learning in postgraduate e-learning contexts

Karina Jackson and Lynette Schaverien, University of Technology Sydney

There are currently diverse approaches to researching learning in e-learning contexts, as is to be expected in an emergent field of practice. Current approaches focus on return on investment, technologies and implementation, the comparative effectiveness of different environments, student participation and perceptions, course design, evaluation and delivery, and online collaboration and community building. In this paper, we have chosen some reports of such approaches, which we analyse for their worth in making particular aspects of learning explicit. Using these examples as a frame of reference, we then propose our own approach to meeting the challenges of researching learning in e-learning contexts: an approach that derives from a biologically based generative view of learning. We outline the core tenets and characteristic features of such a research approach, including the nature of the research designs and methodologies that might derive from it, and describe how it is being enacted to study learning in a postgraduate e-learning subject. We conclude by foreshadowing some implications of these kinds of research designs and methodologies for student learning online and in higher education generally.

JAN05292
[PDF Paper]
Where are they now? Evaluating constructive solutions to the decline in numbers of science graduates

Beverley Jane and Eleanor Peeler, Monash University

With the continual decline in numbers of students studying science at tertiary level, Australian universities continue to provide opportunities for secondary school students to participate in interesting experiments in their laboratories. But do these science experiences influence the participating students' choice of career? In this paper we discuss the effectiveness of The Siemens Science Experience (TSSE), a national program that aims to provide Year 9 students with a three-day introduction to some of the wonders of science and technology. The research involved quantitative and qualitative research methods. Participants (both past and present) responded to questionnaires offering their opinions of the program. The data gained provides a sound indicator of the medium and long-term success of the program. Data analysis revealed the effectiveness of TSSE in encouraging students to study science in Years 11 and 12, and choose careers in science. Questions asked included: Where are you now and why? What role did TSSE have in your career choice? Did the program encourage a science career, but other factors intervened? Interviews and focus groups identified changes in students' interest in science as a result of participation in TSSE. Stakeholders, including local directors and organizers, and Rotary sponsors, were also interviewed about the program.

JEF05002
[PDF Paper]
A need to enable educational opportunity

Anne Jefferson, University of Ottawa

The Province of Ontario, Canada had always claimed a stellar system of education. Unfortunately, this claim has gradually lost its validity as funding slipped with the associated slide of quality. No longer can the Province claim to enable an education system second to none. In a recent (February 2005) report on higher education there is clear acknowledgement that individuals have a right to develop to their potential but also take the position that who should bear the financial responsibility in the exercise of this right must be shared. This sharing of fiscal responsibility is looked at in this paper with its potential application to the public school system. The need for this examination and discussion is based on the reality that an educational system that promotes education for all and education to promote the opportunity for individual growth is expensive. This cost is subject to the new level and breadth of knowledge and skill required to make one's way in the world and the continual insight on the learning needs of students

JIA05445 ®
[PDF Paper]
How do children with different levels of self-concept perceive their school activities?

Xiaoli Jiang, University of Ballarat, Laurie Prosser, KIDS Foundation and Ken Hawkins, Central Queensland University

The study examined children's perception regarding their daily school activities. A total of 33 children aged 11 to 12 with different levels of self-concept were interviewed. The results indicate that children's contentment regarding different school activities was based on fun, enjoyment and satisfaction of their curiosity. Results also indicated that children with a high level of total self-concept experienced higher levels of contentment in some of their school subjects, significantly higher in two particularly demanding subjects - mathematics and project - than their counterparts with a low level of total self-concept. The children who had a high physical ability self-concept appeared to enjoy physical education and sports more than the other children.

In addition, children appeared to judge the level of importance of school subjects according to their educational, health or pragmatic value, both present and future. They were well aware of the educational value of schooling. However, the level of importance was reduced greatly in some children's eyes when the subjects carried little or not enough fun and enjoyment, particularly children with very low self-concept scores. This group appeared to be influenced by the intrinsic reward of the subjects rather than external benefits.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 32 JOH05440 New frontiers in self research: Implications for schooling

JIA05505
[PDF Paper]
An investigation of non-English major freshmen's listening in Zhanjiang Ocean University in China

Guizhen Jia and Lisheng Zheng, Zhanjiang Ocean University

College English is a required course for students in China. College English Curriculum Requirements point out: "The objective of College English is to develop students' ability to use English in an all-round way, especially in listening and speaking, so that in their future work and social interactions they will be able to exchange information effectively through both spoken and written channel..."

Freshmen try to meet the requirement for listening, but make little progress. An investigation has been made in Zhanjiang Ocean University to discover what problems the freshmen have and try to find solutions.

It is found that consonant cluster, liaison, and weak form confuse the students; students' insufficiency of vocabulary affects their listening; students' lack of cultural background hinders them; students' anxiety makes their listening worse; students' being short of listening skills prevents their efficient listening.

Students are trained with listening strategies; they are encouraged to build up self-confidence and overcome anxiety; they are helped to have a command of linguistic knowledge, enlarge their vocabulary and get themselves familiar with the background information.

Students' listening comprehension has improved, but there are still problems unsolved.

JIN05646
[PDF Paper]
Globalization of English and college English teaching reform in China

Lingjie Jin, University of Western Sydney and Liqun Li, Jilin University

The paper reports on a study of a communicative approach to the teaching of English reading to solve the problem of "dumb" and "deaf" way of language learning. Following the theories of language acquisition, discourse analysis and principles on learner autonomy, the authors firstly clarify the necessity and effectiveness of adopting the communicative approach in the teaching of reading, then report on efforts to carry out a reform of activities in a reading class. Based on a two-semester contrastive study, the advantages or otherwise of the communicative approach were able to be assessed. It is argued that the communicative approach may improve students' learning autonomy and elicit their interest in English learning. The communicative approach might become the tendency for the teaching of College English in China.

Keywords: New Pedagogies; Curriculum, English as a Second Language; Learning and Teaching

JOH05236 ®
[PDF Paper]
Internal versus external goods - A useful distinction for understanding productive workplace learning?

Mary Johnsson, University of Technology, Sydney

In most workplaces, the goal of productive learning - individually and collectively - would be considered an obvious objective. Whether this learning is a result of practice, performance, skills, training or other factors, is less obvious and dependent upon contested notions of learning, context and practice. Historically, improving organisational learning through practice has been notably examined by Argyris & Schön and Senge.

In this paper, I build an understanding of practice from MacIntyre's framework of moral philosophy. I discuss the distinction between internal goods and external goods within a practice and related concepts of judgement and context as recently examined by Beckett, Hager, Halliday and Athanasou. To review whether this theorising of practice is useful to understanding learning across workplaces, I compare two cases - one in education, the other in sport - that highlight the internal/external goods distinction. In considering business workplaces, I raise Dobson's view that the very nature of business requires a pursuit of only external goods without any virtuous foundation. I challenge this assertion by examining the tension between individuals and their organised work settings. Finally, I identify research questions that examine the value of an internal/external goods distinction for enhancing productive learning. These will be tested in forthcoming fieldwork.

JON05366 ®
[PDF Paper]
Diaspora, hybridity and growing up bilingual in a globalised world

Criss Jones Diaz, University of Western Sydney

In Australia, there has been little research into how bilingual families and their children negotiate identity in a globalised world in which the dominance of English remains a significant force in children's lives. Similarly, research that investigates the connections between language retention and identity negotiation is also limited, particularly in relation to how children experience their hybrid identities in the contexts of education and globalisation. Further, in early childhood and primary education, understandings of language and identity are often informed by developmentalist and liberal pluralist frameworks which often limit possibilities for extending children's home languages and identity construction. By drawing on cultural and critical theory, this paper highlights the significance of hybridity and diaspora in identity negotiation and language retention within the hybridized spaces mediated by language, 'race', gender and class. By exploring the findings from recent qualitative research that investigated the significance of cultural history in the Australian Latin American diaspora, the discussion highlights the connections between multiple identity construction and language retention in a diasporic community whose children attended educational and community settings in the inner-west, south-west and eastern suburbs of Sydney, Australia.

KAL05786 RADFORD ADDRESS
PDF Paper
Elements of a science of education

Mary Kalantzis, RMIT University

This conference is being held in the electoral territory of Gough Whitlam at the thirtieth anniversary of the fall of his government. At the rhetorical heart of his prime ministership were the twin beliefs that education could be a modernising force and that it could also be means to achieve a just and equitable society. Over the thirty years that have since elapsed, the public rhetoric surrounding the field of education has shifted considerably. Today the mantra is freedom and choice, and these articles of neoliberal faith have been translated into a market-oriented view of education.

The Whitlam era was also a high point in the push to educational progressivism, exemplified by the work of the Schools Commission. In the decades that have followed, the push has been 'back to the basics'. This has manifest itself in a focus on high stakes standardised tests, curriculum to fit, and the re-emergence of conceptions of what constitutes worthwhile knowledge and good schooling which are much the same as they were half a century ago and more.

This conference reflects the collective thinking of a particular slice of the education community-teacher educators and educational researchers. In this paper, I want to examine one aspect of the back to the basics movement which affects us directly, and that's the call to return to 'evidence-based research'. This idea is represented in its clearest and most influential form in the report of the US National Research Council, Scientific Research in Education (Shavelson and Towne, 2002), a product of George Bush's 'No Child Left Behind' agenda. The report privileges empirical research and controlled experimentation-x initiative leads to y measurable results. The US Federal Department of Education is explicit about its agenda here: 'Unlike medicine, agriculture and industrial production, the field of education operates largely on the basis of ideology and consensus. As such, it is subject to fads and is incapable of the cumulative progress that follows from the application of the scientific method and from the systematic collection and use of objective information ... We will change education to make it into an evidence-based field' (Quoted in Erikson and Gutierrez, 2002: 22). Although less narrow in their intentions and sectarian in their politics, clearly this is also this kind of research which the Australian Governments would now want to favour and for the same kinds of reasons.

Notwithstanding the reflected glow of the Whitlam era amongst those nostalgic for its progressivism, there can be no return. Education can, indeed, be a modernising force and one which addresses the twin demands of economic progress and social inclusion. However, neither the progressivism of the third quarter of the twentieth century with its humanistic view of the discipline of education, nor the anachronistic 'back to basics' of our more recent times with its empiricist and ostensibly apolitical view of educational 'science', provide adequate tools for the challenges we educators face today, let alone tomorrow.

This paper will make the case that education is, in fact, a science, but that science has to be defined more rigorously than do those who disingenuously believe it can and should be de-politicised, stripped of ideology and bigger-picture transformative agendas. The paper will define science, and propose eight constitutive components of science-eight 'acts of knowing' that can form the basis of a rigorous and generative science of education.

KAM05710
[PDF Paper]
'A teacher is here to ask for your help' A story of schools, employers and networks

Annelise Kamp, Deakin University

The LLEN as a network is an 'institutional response' to what is perceived to be a policy problem. Throughout its formation and development, the LLEN has responded to a range of challenges- changes in government policy (accountability and funding), multuple and emerging partnerships, new expectations (managing the On Track). The LLEN is therefore in an ongoing state of transformation. This paper explores the development of the Jobs4Kids (J4K) campaign, a joint initiative of the SGR LLEN Employer Reference Group and the Beacon Foundation. Involving a three-year business plan, the J4K campaign aims to broker young people into employment in local jobs in the region. The campaign is the result of the intersection between an evolving project within the LLEN and the growth of an established program of the Beacon Foundation. The paper will use a Deleuzian lens to explore the ground shifts that have occurred in the process of forming this connection;. I am concerned with the intersecting movements of different orders that have created a necessary transitory coordination. 'Within such a 'rhizome' there are only lines: dimensional lines of segmentarity and stratification and lines of flight as the maximum dimension after which the multiplicity undergoes metamorphosis, changes in nature' (Deleuze & Guattari 1987 p.21). My perspective of this metamorphosis is specifically focused on SGR LLEN; I close with a consideration of the possibilities of this change in nature for the continuing work of the LLEN.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 55 BLA05707 Creative dissent and constructive 'solutions' in the field of post-compulsory education: Traversing the bumpy terrain of a local learning and employment network as a 'site' of educational reform

KAN05133
[PDF Paper]
New ways of teacher "training" in primary school music education: Results and implications of a longitudinal research study

Jan Kane, Macquarie University

This paper will report on the results of a longitudinal study which examined the developmental effects of factors that affect or influence music teaching efficacy in pre-service teacher education students. More specifically, the study investigated the teaching self-efficacy, perceptions of musical abilities and teaching anxiety of students participating in the core two-year methodology component of an elementary (primary) teacher education program. The study specifically focused on the context of music teaching by generalist teachers in elementary (primary) classrooms which is an area of teaching where many otherwise confident and competent teachers often express a reluctance to teach. It investigated the factors that affect the initial formation of music teaching efficacy and whether those same factors affect music teaching efficacy developmentally throughout teacher "training".

The aim of this paper is to discuss the results in a framework of reflection on the pedagogical approaches taken in teacher "training" of generalist teachers for music education in NSW schools. It will focus on the significant challenges that face the status of music education in the current primary school curriculum environment which is heavily focused on both the teaching and testing of literacy and numeracy. The paper will discuss current issues, reflect on past practices and propose some new directions and emphasises for pre-service teacher "training" in music education.

KEO05097
[PDF Paper]
Who's the expert and who's the novice? Mentoring tensions in the practicum experience

Jayne Keogh, The University of Queensland

Research in teacher education has identified the importance of school practicum placements for teacher professional development (Zeichner & Gore, 1990). In particular, positive interpersonal and professional relationships developed between pre-service teachers and their supervising teachers/mentors have been highlighted as crucial during the process of induction of new teachers into the profession. However, research has also identified potential and actual tensions in this relationship. Tensions may be created in that existing experienced teacher practitioners are positioned as 'experts' despite not necessarily having been exposed, or supporting contemporary schooling principles or practices, whereas their preservice student teachers may be positioned as 'novice' practitioners, despite the possible expectation that they have expertise in contemporary pedagogies. This paper documents examples of meetings between supervising teachers and their mentors to examine how such expert/novice relationships are talked into being. Conversation Analysis (CA) and Membership Categorisation Analysis (MCA) is used to interrogate the data and to highlight the tensions and analyse research participants' expectations regarding their roles and positioning practices as evidenced through this institutional talk-in-interaction (Drew & Heritage, 1992).

KUS05042 ®
[PDF Paper]
'I'm orangeful' or 'I'm already awful': Slips of the ear performed by EFL learners

Kusumarasdyati, Monash University

Comprehending utterances in a foreign language may require great efforts on the part of the listeners due to the nature of the speech or some linguistic differences. Therefore, it is not uncommon for them to misperceive what is being said, resulting in errors known as slips of the ear. Although these errors can sound very amusing, they provide more than entertainment as they have the potentials to reveal the listeners' strategies in coping with the difficulties in perceiving utterances. This presentation aims to describe the slips of the ear performed by Indonesian university students who learned English as a foreign language (EFL). Analysis of the corpus consisting of 720 data revealed that the EFL learners made phonological, morphological, and lexical errors while attempting to make sense of the expressions spoken by native speakers of English. They misinterpreted the oral input by omitting, adding or substituting the sounds, morphemes and words.

KUS05200
[PDF Paper]
Values infusion into scientific actions in environmental learning: A preliminary research report

Udan Kusmawan, University of Newcastle

Environmental education has often concentrated its focus on examining data that demonstrates negative aspects of environmental change. A more useful approach would be to focus on positive environmental change and how students can be more involved in this change. This paper describes an attempt to infuse a positive approach to addressing key community environmental issues in the secondary Science Curriculum in some key Indonesian schools. This curriculum approach focused on activities to enhance the learning of values in the Science curriculum and was designed to promote positive active citizenship. The activities consisted of student research and participation involving groups of students defining their own problems, solving the problem through either the research or participation method and finally communicating their results. Preliminary results indicate that infusing real world observation values in scientific action reinforced student concern for environmental problems and fostered positive attitudes to the environment.

LAI05100
[PDF Paper]
Mentoring for in-service teachers: Views of mentors, mentees and university teachers

Edith Lai, The Open University of Hong Kong

This study explores the views of mentoring held by mentors, mentees and university teachers in a distance education programme for in-service teacher education offered by the Open University of Hong Kong. Ten pairs of mentors and mentees and three university teachers participated in in-depth individual interviews designed to explore their views of mentoring with respect to five aspects: mentor roles and responsibilities; mentor-mentee relationships; mentoring programmes; mentor preparation; and school-university relationships. The findings show that mentors, mentees and university teachers held different views of mentoring and that the impact of mentoring on the mentees was different from what the University had expected. This study is significant in the following ways. First, it will contribute to a better understanding of mentoring in the context of in-service teacher education. Second, it will provide important information on how different views of mentoring will influence how mentoring is realized. Third, with the proposed teacher registration requirements in Hong Kong that place a heavy emphasis on the role of mentoring during internship, there is a critical need for information on views of mentoring held by different stakeholders to facilitate dialogue with teachers and schools and to build a common vision of mentoring.

LAI05464
[PDF Paper]
A structural model of conceptions of learning, achievement motivation and learning strategies of Hong Kong teacher education students

Po Yin Lai and Kwok-wai Chan, Hong Kong Institute of Education

A survey study was conducted with 251 preservice teacher education students in Hong Kong by administering a questionnaire comprising three inventories to measure their conceptions of learning, culturally oriented achievement motivation and learning strategies. Preliminary correlational analyses of the above three variables showed significant relationships between some subscales, consistent with previous research findings in literature which suggested that conceptions of learning are related to a number of variables such as students' learning approaches and the quality of learning. Further analysis was conducted by testing a structural model on selected categories of conceptions of learning (learning as an increase in knowledge and learning as personal fulfilment), culturally oriented achievement motivation and learning strategies. Satisfactory goodness of fit index was obtained with the proposed model. Path analysis showed that the conception "learning as an increase in knowledge" was positively and significantly related to social oriented achievement motivation, deep strategy and surface strategy; individual oriented achievement motivation was positively and significantly related to deep strategy but negatively and significantly related to surface strategy. The conception "learning as personal fulfilment" was positively and significantly related to individual oriented achievement motivation but negatively and significantly related to social oriented achievement motivation. Implications for learning and teaching were drawn based on the model result.

LAI05487
[PDF Paper]
A pilot study of the implementation of Sex Education in Hong Kong Pre-schools: Parents' perceptions

Yuk-ching Eva Lai, Hong Kong Institute of Education

Chinese society has, traditionally, perceived sex as a taboo subject, and as such, is seldom discussed openly, and rarely taught in schools. Under these circumstances, most Hong Kong people never learn about sex education during their formal school years. With an increase in the number of sex-related crimes in Hong Kong, education is becoming increasingly important. Since learning in early childhood influences a person's future values and behaviour, sex education should be implemented early, preferably in pre-schools (Roffman, 2002; Woody, 2002).

To implement effective sex education in pre-schools, parents' views are important. This pilot study aims to investigate Hong Kong parents' perceptions towards implementing sex education programmes in pre-schools. One kindergarten and one childcare centre were randomly selected for this study. A total of 12 parents were interviewed. The findings indicated that most parents lacked the confidence to discuss sex-related issues with their children mainly because they had insufficient knowledge and skills, and also felt embarrassed. However, to overcome these inadequacies and feelings they were willing to better equip themselves with the necessary knowledge and skills for the benefit of their children.

LAN05638
[PDF Paper]
A critique of the postcolonial English curriculum in former British colonies - Kenyan and Indigenous Australian contexts

Kiprono Lang'at, University of New England

The growing body of literature on postcolonial and critical pedagogy studies reveals that the most powerful tool that seems to have taken homogeneous and universal mandates of 'ruling the world' is the discourse of the internationalisation of the English language. This project aims to explore the emerging reading positions (perspectives & reflections) and discursive practices of teachers, curriculum officers, and key community members in response to the prescribed senior high school English texts. In particular, the research seeks to identify the perceptions that embody their selection and usage (acceptance) or otherwise. Further, the research considers the teacher's perceptions and reading positions around Indigenous texts, as alternatives or adjuncts to English curriculum in the Kenyan and among Indigenous Australian contexts.

Many teaching practices in the two education contexts appear to be limited to teaching for the passing of examinations. There is less emphasis on the students extending the knowledge gained from prescribed texts to exploring the complex ways in which texts depict multiple reading positions and interpretations of the world around them. Further, these texts seemingly have helped to empower the English language therefore, subjugate and marginalize indigenous languages and literature. It is envisaged that this study will create (language) awareness among the education stakeholders of alternative positions around senior high school English texts.

LE05644 ®
[PDF Paper]
Issues on health data collection

Quynh Le, University of Tasmania

In health care, information about health clients is important so health workers can do their best to ensure that their clients are properly cared for. With the speedy development of the Internet, the health information of patients can be retrieved instantly; otherwise it can take weeks and this long delay can create problems for patients, their families and health centres. However, data collection, particularly with the use of information technology, can cause problems which do not normally occur in the traditional data collection approach. This paper examines the concepts and issues relating to the development of an integrated health record system and identifies problems which are faced by health workers in relation to intercultural communication, privacy and safe data collection in health care.

Keywords: Health data models, data collection, online health, integrated, electronic health records.

LE05645
[PDF Paper]
Cultural attitudes of Vietnamese migrants on health issues

Quynh Le, Thao Le, University of Tasmania

Health issues are so strongly imbedded in a culture that when people migrate from their own cultural environment to a new one, they tend to perceive and interpret health issues in light of their cultural values and norms. This intercultural interference can be both positive and negative and the degree of interference varies according to factors such as age, gender, education background and the length of time spent in a new cultural environment. This study examines the way in which Vietnamese migrants in Australia perceive various aspects of health issues such as treatment, health care, role of health workers, and interpersonal relationship between patents, family members and health workers.

LE05660
[PDF Paper]
Children's world of words: A developmental perspective

Thao Le, University of Tasmania

Children's semantic development has been studied for decades. Eve Clark is among one of the influential research pioneers on how children develop words and their meanings. Most research tends to focus on the cognitive or referential meaning. However the mystery of children's world of words has still attracted researchers, particularly from an intercultural perspective. Bilingual children tend to develop code mixing and code switching in their use of two languages. At the University of Tasmania, research on children' semantic development started with verbal explanation and definition strategies. Our recent focus is on aspects of cultural meanings with their cultural metaphors in children's words. For example, what do words with social meanings such as 'wife', 'teacher', 'neighbour' etc. mean to children of different cultural backgrounds? This paper attempts to discuss this question with examples from Australian and Vietnamese children.

LE05661
[PDF Paper]
Communicative strategies in interlanguage

Thao Le, University of Tasmania

The concept 'communicative competence' covers four main aspects: Grammatical competence: This component traditionally deals with syntax. Sociolinguistic competence: This component deals with social appropriateness of communication. Discourse competence: This component traditionally deals with the cohesion and coherence of utterances in a discourse. Strategic competence: This component deals with pragmatic function of communication. Those aspects have received great attention in TESOL research and practice. However, little attention is given to the ability to employ different tactics by language users in achieving their goals. This paper examines this neglected area of communicative strategic competence and their implications for research and teaching.

LED05027 ®
[PDF Paper]
Mathematics teachers in context: Practices and perceptions

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

In this paper, findings are reported from a recently conducted pilot study in which the Experience Sampling Method [ESM] was used to monitor the daily lives of a group of secondary school mathematics teachers in Victoria, Australia. The specific aims of the study were (1) to compare the work patterns of experienced and novice mathematics teachers, (2) to explore situations likely to produce teacher stress - a frequently cited concomitant of teaching, and (3) to determine the feasibility of a larger scale project on these and related topics.

The range of tasks undertaken by the participants in the study was extensive and stretched well beyond formal working hours.

In common with other researchers we found overlap as well as differences in the tasks and work patterns of experienced and novice teachers, and in the activities they appeared to find stressful. Administrative tasks were more likely to be a cause of stress for the experienced teachers; teaching related activities for the novices.

Based on the findings of this pilot study, we would argue that the ESM, supported by interviews, elicits informative descriptions of the realities confronting teachers and their feelings about them, and is a useful research tool.

LEE05010
[PDF Paper]
Those who don't bother and those who do bother

John Lee and John Davies, University of the West of England

The problem of attendance, particularly at secondary school, has been a matter of concern in England and Australia for years. More recently the Labour government has actively sought to improve attendance by the use of both ameliorative and punitive measures. Regardless of these endeavours The Times Educational Supplement reports claims that "Truancy is worse under labour".

The body of research literature indicates that students who absent themselves are those from low achieving groups who are unlikely to gain certificates valued in the world outside school. The research reported in this paper is innovative in that as well as drawing on data from non-attenders it uses data from groups of students who, although low achievers and placed in low streams/tracks in school continue to attend.

The research involves the use of qualitative methods, interviews, group discussions and focus groups. The voices of young people and their reasons for attending and not attending are presented. Data from parents, teachers and Education Welfare Officers is drawn upon. The research shows is that young people are capable of providing cogent arguments for their actions and are able to comment on the nature of school and schooling.

LEE05112 ®
[PDF Paper]
The teaching of civic education and the teaching of critical literacy in English second language teaching - a case study of the Hong Kong Extensive Reading Scheme

On Kei Lee, The University of Sydney

Curriculum is not neutral. Curriculum as actuality is a representation of selected ideas, skills, values, norms and practices within society (Smith and Lovat, 2003). Moral and civic education is a key aim of the Hong Kong English Language Education Curriculum. To incorporate moral and civic education, a set of values and attitudes is proposed. The Hong Kong Extensive Reading Scheme is a reading program in the Hong Kong English education curriculum. Students participating in the Extensive Reading Scheme are recommended to read large quantities of books that are of their interests and within their linguistic competence. My research examines the extensive reading materials to demonstrate how the texts may contain hidden values and attitudes.

This paper is drawn from research in progress and it studies the extensive reading materials suggested by the Hong Kong curriculum from a critical discourse perspective. It aims to draw implications for raising the teachers' awareness of the cultural and political values inherent in the reading materials. In addition, this paper studies the Hong Kong English Language Education Curriculum. It proposes the need for having pedagogy that supports the critical approach of teaching English in the curriculum.

LEU05421 ®
[PDF Paper]
Are peer tutoring programs effective in promoting academic achievement and self-concept in educational settings: A meta-analytical review

Charles Leung, Herb Marsh and Rhonda Craven, University of Western Sydney

Previous meta-analyses of the effects of peer tutoring on academic achievement and self-concept have been confined to specific populations, particular subject content, plagued with methodological flaws in meta-analysis or did not capture theoretical and methodological advances in self-concept research. An updated, comprehensive meta-analysis evaluating the effect of peer tutoring on academic achievement and self-concept was conducted, based on current advances in meta-analysis methodology, engaging a wide range of participants, subject content and adopting a construct validity approach to the study of self-concept intervention effects. The findings demonstrated that peer-tutoring programs impacted positively on academic achievement (unweighted mean ES =0.83, SD =1.30; weighted ES =0.50, p<.05, 95% confidence interval = 0.46 -0.54) and self-concept (unweighted mean ES =0.58, SD =0.74; weighted ES =0.67, p< .05, 95% confidence interval =0.55 -0.79). On the basis of construct validity approach, homogeneity analyses (QB=57.00, k=1, p<.05) showed that peer-tutoring programs had greater effect on target domains of self-concept consistent with the design of the intervention than on non-target self-concept. The implications of these findings are discussed.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 30 JOH05417 Making a real difference in educational settings: Findings from new intervention research

LEU05423 ®
[PDF Paper]
Relation of domain specificity between peer support and self-concept: Validation by the effects of peer support program in educational settings

Charles Leung, Herb Marsh and Rhonda Craven, University of Western Sydney and Alexander Seeshing Yeung, Hong Kong Institute of Education

Peer support programs in educational settings are growing in popularity, but few studies have applied a construct validity approach to test the relation of domain specificity between peer support and self-concept. In the present investigation, participation in different types of peer support program displayed differential impact on self-concept. In one study, participants who had received an academically-orientated peer tutoring program on verbal subject matter displayed significantly higher Verbal self-concept as measured by the Self Description Questionnaire II (SDQII) than those who had not participated in the program. In another study, participants who had received socially-orientated peer support program on improving interpersonal skills and communication displayed significantly higher Same-sex Relations self-concept as measured by Self Description Questionnaire II (SDQII) than those who had not participated in the program. In both studies, there were no significant effects on the other facets of self-concept. The findings were consistent over gender. This provided strong evidence of the relation of domain specificity between peer support and self-concept in that specific peer support shares a positive relation with specific domains of self-concept.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 30 JOH05417 Making a real difference in educational settings: Findings from new intervention research

LI05405 ®
[PDF Paper]
Regression Towards the Mean Artifacts and Matthew Effects in multilevel analyses of value-added of individual schools

Xiaoxu Li, The Chineses University of Hong Kong and University of Western Sydney, Herb Marsh and Andrew Martin, University of Western Sydney, Kit-Tai Hau, The Chineses University of Hong Kong, Irene Ho, The University of Hong Kong

League tables are a problematic approach to inferring school effectiveness, but traditional value-added approaches are fraught with statistical complexities. According to the Regression Towards the Mean Artifacts (RTMA), students with initially high or low scores tend to regress towards the mean in subsequent testing, resulting in biased estimates of school growth (Marsh & Hau, 2002). The Matthews Effect is an apparently counter-balancing artifact in growth in achievement gains is systematically larger for students who are initially more able. (i.e., the rich becomes richer). Mathematical proof shows that although the Matthew and the RTMA artifacts work in opposite direction and tend to cancel each other, they share a similar mechanism and can be rectified. In this study, mathematical derivations and Monte Carlo simulated data are used to compare four models, namely: (i) without any remedy, (ii) with remedy for Matthew effect only, (iii) with remedy for RTMA only, (iv) remedies for both Matthew and RTMA effects. The conditional strategy with individual assignment test scores (used in assigning students to different schools) as covariate remedies artifacts, consistent with Marsh & Hau's (2002) conclusion for RTMA. The associated problems with the two effects in estimating school value-added information are discussed.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 29 JOH05399 Cutting edge advances in research methods

LIG05237
[PDF Paper]
Mentoring during teaching practicum: Perceptions of teacher mentors and student teacher trainees

Christina Ligadu, Narottam Bhindi and Tony Herrington, University of Wollongong

This is a preliminary report on an ongoing research study. Mentoring plays an important component in the area of teacher education particularly during teaching practicum. The purpose of this study is to develop and implement an alternative program for teacher trainee mentoring at a local university in Malaysia. This research will be divided into two phases. The first part of the study involves examining existing mentoring models in order to develop an alternative model for the specific cultural and educational context. The second part of the study involves the implementation of the alternative program and evaluating its impact on teacher preparedness. This study will be looking at the first phase. Preliminary data were collected using questionnaires and interviews from various schools where practicum were conducted. The purpose of this preliminary data is to get teacher mentors' and teacher trainees' perceptions of the current mentoring system. Mentoring workshops were conducted for teacher mentors and student teacher trainees before the teaching practicum started. Evaluation of the workshops was also done during the first phase of this study.

LIU05770
[PDF Paper]
Building a modern university system: A case study account of Higher Education reform in China

Shufan Liu and Yunhua Shen, Jilin University

This paper reports a case study of reform and readjustment of the administration of China's higher education system. This paper reports key findings from this case study that is based on an analysis of the formation, contents and characteristics of the policy, "Outline of Jilin University Reform of Administration Structure and Management System." It concludes by identifying a range of implications arising from these research findings for the development of modern universities in a changing world.

Keywords: Education reform - China; Administrative reform in higher education - China; University reform - China; Modernisation of universities

LLO05120 ®
[PDF Paper]
Towards a definition of the integration of ICT in the classroom

Margaret Lloyd, Queensland University of Technology

It is self-evident to suggest that how something is understood and defined and when and where it is used determines how it is measured. The way that ICT integration is currently being measured is premised on these notions. A rethinking of the measurement of ICT integration needs a parallel rethinking of what the term "integration" means and arguably a clearer understanding of the role and level of mediation of the technology itself.

The theoretical purpose of this paper is to problematise the concepts which underpin the measurement of ICT integration and in turn, threaten to restrict the adoption of consistent and generally-applied definitions of terms. The logistical purpose of this paper is to serve as the introduction to a conference symposium on the measurement of integration of ICT in Australian classrooms. The paper will offer an environmental scan of the research into the defining and measuring of ICT integration.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 6 LLO05119 Measuring the integration of ICT in the classroom

LLO05773
[PDF Paper]
Dynamic not static: Characteristics of effective teacher professional development in ICT

Margaret Lloyd, Queensland University of Technology

A recent small scale study was conducted in Queensland on behalf of a state professional association to inform its position statement on the professional development of teachers in ICT (ICT PD). Data for the study was drawn from a survey of teachers at the association's 2004 state conference and semi-structured interviews with leaders from a cross-section of educational systems.

The study was premised on an understanding of professional development as the interrelationship and reflexivity of theory and practice. It identified the models of ICT PD as being tertiary study, school-based programs, single events, online curriculum projects, serial courses in hybrid or face-to-face mode, professional communities, and action learning/research. As a measure of effectiveness, the impacts were identified as being direct and/or sustained impact on practice, personal knowledge, increased ICT skills, reflection on practice, professional status, professional networks, and peer collaboration.

The study concluded that the characteristics of ICT PD were (1) Context, in terms of relevance and immediacy; (2) Time, as both a measure and a variable of need (timeliness); (3) Community, referring to professional collaborations; and (4) Personal Growth, both cognitive challenges and "corporate" knowledge. The study concluded that these characteristics are dynamic and interdependent and need to be considered in the design of effective ICT PD for teachers.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 65 SEN05771 Teacher learning in the ubiquitous ICT environment

MAC05079 ®
[PDF Paper]
Teachers' perceptions of principals' leadership in school renewal processes

Neil MacNeill and Rob Cavanagh, Curtin University of Technology

There is an increasing sense of political and societal frustration in bringing about change in schools. One method of change, school renewal, is a focussed, whole-school community, comprehensive approach to school improvement. The differentiation of school renewal from school reform is important, as renewal is very much concerned with whole-school cultural change, particularly in terms of the school's approach and attitudes towards its learning and teaching function. It is acknowledged that leadership within a renewal context is concerned with deep-reaching change, particularly when shifts in underlying assumptions and beliefs are required (Glickman, 1998; Sirotnik, 1999; Smith, 1999). The principal, however, remains accountable for the processes and outcomes of the change processes and should exercise leadership in this process(Ouchi, 2003).

This research project examined principals' roles in influencing changes in teachers' pedagogic practices. Ten teachers were interviewed to examine their experiences of whole-school pedagogic change. The interview protocol was by email, and utilised procedures described as an e-interview (Bampton & Cowton, 2002). The teachers' voices, as written in the emailed responses to the interview questions, supported the conceptual framework that identified 11 dimensions of pedagogic leadership in a school renewal context.

MAC05613
[PDF Paper]
Mentoring as a context for developing motivation

Judith MacCallum and David Palmer, Murdoch University, and Susan Beltman, Curtin University of Technology

With the proliferation of formal mentoring programs in schools it is important to understand the nature of mentoring and the outcomes that can be expected. This paper examines the findings of a national pilot project of mentoring programs for indigenous students in 54 school sites around Australia. The evaluation used multiple methods, including document analysis, checklists and semi-structured interviews with participants. A cross-case analysis explored the outcomes in terms of a range of motivation concepts and the socio-cultural conditions which supported the mentoring relationship. The findings showed that students who were supported by a mentor (usually one-to-one) for as little as one hour per week displayed and reported increased self-confidence, enhanced positive attitude to school and increased participation in classroom tasks. Students also improved relationships with peers, teachers and family members. The paper discusses the socially supported nature of the mentoring relationship and its role in community building. The relationship with a mentor provided students with undivided attention, acceptance without being judged, strategies and assistance to work through difficulties without being provided with solutions. Thus, the social context of mentoring provided emotional, social, cultural and academic support in varying proportions depending on the needs of each individual student.

MAR05386 ®
[PDF Paper]
Reciprocal effects of self-concept and achievement: Competing multidimensional and unidimensional perspectives

Herb Marsh, University of Western Sydney

The rationale for this presentation is a theoretical model indicating that people who perceive themselves to be more effective, more confident, and more able accomplish more than people with less positive self-perceptions. Support for this prediction is strongest in academic self-concept research where a substantial body of research in support of the reciprocal effects model now exists. On this basis, Marsh and Craven (1997) claim that academic self-concept and achievement are mutually reinforcing constructs, each leading to gains in the other. In contrast, Baumeister, Campbell, Krueger and Vohs (2003) claim that self-esteem has no benefits beyond seductive pleasure and may even be detrimental to subsequent performance in high profile publications that have received extensive international attention. Here we review the theoretical and empirical bases for each set of claims, contrasting the older unidimensional perspectives that focus on global self-esteem and more recent, multidimensional perspectives that focus on specific components of self-concept. Juxtaposing these contrasting sets of results integrating the unidimensional and multidimensional perspectives into a common theoretical framework offers resolution to this apparent conflict, and has important implications for educational research, policy and practice.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 26 JOH05370 Enhancing motivation, achievement and academic self-concept: Finding answers to the tough questions

MAR05389 ®
[PDF Paper]
Big fish little pond effect on academic self-concept: Cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary generalisability

Herb Marsh, University of Western Sydney

Education in academically selective schools is intended to have positive effects for bright students, but a growing body of theoretical and empirical research demonstrates that the effects are negative for academic self-concept. Education in mixed-ability, mainstream non-selective schools is intended to have positive effects for students with learning difficulties, but a growing body of theoretical and empirical research demonstrates that the effects are negative for academic self-concept. In its simplest form the big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLPE) predicts that equally able students have lower academic self-concepts when attending schools where the average ability levels of classmates is high, and higher academic self-concepts when attending schools where the school-average ability is low. Here I summarize theoretical, empirical, and policy-related implications of the BFLPE, and new research demonstrating the broad cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary generalizability of the effect.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 27 JOH05387 New advances in social comparison research: Implications for gifted and talented students and Special Education

MAR05402 ®
[PDF Paper]
Student motivation and engagement in mathematics, science, and English: Multilevel modelling and the interaction of student and teacher gender

Andrew Martin and Herb Marsh, University of Western Sydney

Across mathematics, science, and English school subjects, the present study explores a number of issues relevant to the multilevel nature of motivation and engagement and the personal and contextual factors that predict them. Among a sample of 1,701 junior and middle high school students, it examines (a) the extent to which motivation and engagement vary at student, class, and school levels and (b) the extent to which student gender, teacher gender, and grade impact on student motivation and engagement. In relation to the latter, it was of particular interest to determine how motivation and engagement differentially function for boys and girls taught by male or female teachers. Using multilevel modelling procedures (MLwiN), findings demonstrate that the bulk of variance in motivation and engagement occurs at the student level. Relatively few measures yielded significant class-level variance and the bulk of significant class-level variance was found for mathematics. Relatively few significant main effects emerged. Most of them were in girls' favour and all pertained to mathematics and science. Of particular importance, motivation and engagement did not vary substantially for boys and girls as a function of the teacher's gender. Findings are discussed in terms of the implications for educational intervention and for current thinking and theorising about student motivation and engagement.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 29 JOH05399 Cutting edge advances in research methods

MAR05425 ®
[PDF Paper]
Can students' motivation and engagement change? Findings from two intervention studies

Andrew Martin, University of Western Sydney

The present paper presents findings from two distinct intervention programs designed to enhance students' motivation and engagement. The first intervention revolved around a self-complete workbook program among a sample of 53 Australian high school boys. Using a pre/post, treatment/control group design, it was found that the self-complete workbook intervention brought about significant shifts in motivation and engagement. Relative to the control group, the workbook group made positive motivation shifts on key dimensions including study management, persistence, anxiety, failure avoidance, and uncertain control. Against a large weighted external comparison group, the workbook group also made positive shifts on valuing of school, mastery orientation, planning, study management, persistence, failure avoidance, uncertain control, and self-handicapping. The second intervention involved a different sample of 53 high school boys and girls who participated in a workshop program revolving around motivation and engagement and strategies aimed at enhancing these dimensions. Using a pre/post/follow-up design, data showed that there were gains on key facets of students' motivation and engagement by the end of the program (post-test) - gains that were sustained 6-8 weeks later (follow-up test). When compared to a large weighted external comparison sample, by post-testing and then at follow-up testing, significant declines in motivation had been reversed and any pre-existing advantages or parallel strengths of the workshop sample over the weighted sample were maintained. Key contributing factors underpinning each intervention are discussed as well as the implications the findings have for educational practice.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 30 JOH05417 Making a real difference in educational settings: Findings from new intervention research

MAS05647
[PDF Paper]
Confronting challenges: The roles in academic culture for non-Indigenous educators and Indigenous learners in higher education

John Maskell and Paddy Cavanagh, Australian Catholic University

This paper examines issues confronting non-indigenous academics and Indigenous learners engaged in teaching and learning in Indigenous higher education programs. Issues of academic culture and the relationship with Indigenous cultures are central to higher education programs providing pathways for Indigenous students.

Inevitably non-Indigenous academics in higher education are perceived as representatives of the dominant culture in demanding the institutional and discipline-specific requirements that are necessary for the award of a university qualification. This can create tension between educators and Indigenous students many of whom place higher value on their own indigenous knowledge, their local community knowledge and their life experiences.

Though many institutions acknowledge and even provide some formal recognition of the students' indigenous learning, tension is not uncommon in Indigenous Education Programs. Both academics and students in these programs need to seek common ground that effectively empowers students while avoiding the colonisation of their minds.

MAT05172
[PDF Paper]
Future school leaders-who are they? Expect the unexpected!

Pamela Matters, Macquarie University

Considerable debate rages concerning the status of the teaching profession and who will lead it during this century. Recent research indicates that many experienced (over 5 years service in the profession) teachers are not willing to apply for positions of responsibility, heads of department, deputy and/or principal positions. Scare mongering and community fear has ensued. Who will lead our schools? Worse, who will lead our schools when the grey power teacher generation retires within the next five to ten years? Current research concerning middle school leadership, aspirant school principals and women in educational leadership programs indicates that there are substantial pockets of experienced teachers preparing themselves for school leadership positions. They display professional and personal characteristics, functions, attitudes and preparations for leadership roles that are remarkably similar to one another. Interestingly, specific participants within the NSW DET Beginning Teacher Projects demonstrate matching predispositions to lead. What is particularly striking, concerning future school leadership, is the intergenerational compatibility of these groups. Derived from research in progress (Matters 2005), this paper will explore issues, similarities, complexities and provocative, but practical, solutions to the dilemmas of future school leadership.

MAY05734
[PDF Paper]
Investigation of the factors responsible for the superior performance of male students in standardised testing at one primary school

Steve Dinham, University of Wollongong, C Buckland and Rosemary Callingham, University of New England and Heather Mays, Deakin University

The project set out to investigate one primary school where, for four years or more, boys have outperformed girls in standardized Year 3 and 5 Basic Skills Tests in literacy and numeracy, which contradicts general findings on male and female performance in standardized literacy and numeracy testing. The school placed a heavy emphasis on literacy programs, which appear to be making a difference to the boys. Over time, there has been a slight improvement in boys' literacy performance but the greatest area of growth is generally boys' numeracy, rather than boys' literacy. Further aims of the study were to isolate school-based factors, which are potentially responsible for this phenomenon, from community-based factors and to explore the possibility that, rather than boys being advantaged, girls were actually being disadvantaged by practices at the school. The approach adopted by the research team employed intensive case-study methods and ethnographic approaches, including interviews, document analysis, and structured and unstructured observation of a range of school activities.

This paper describes how the school has transformed itself, the effects that this has had upon the teaching and learning environment and the results that have been achieved in the key areas of numeracy and literacy.

MCC05688
[PDF Paper]
The Bush Tracks Collective

Cathryn McConaghy, Lorraine Graham, Di Bloomfield, Judy Miller, David Paterson, Lynley Lloyd, Kathy Jenkins, Neil Taylor, Joy Hardy and Genevieve Noone, University of New England

The Bush Tracks project draws upon documented evidence of severe shortages in rural school staffing. This staffing crisis relates to the preparation, recruitment and retention of rural teachers (Herrington and Herrington 2001) and to an anticipated shortage of rural school leaders. Similar crises have been identified in the US (Brewster & Railsback 2001) and New Zealand (Lang 1999). The average age of head teachers and school executives in the Armidale School Education Area, for example, coupled with an ageing teaching force, suggests that in this district alone there will be a critical shortage of both classroom teachers and school leaders in five to ten years. Thus NSWDET is beginning to develop succession plans and leadership development strategies for rural schooling districts (McClean 2002). While some research has been conducted in the US concerning these issues (Hammond 2001), there has been a paucity of research drawn from the NSW rural schooling context. This paper presents information gained from surveys of rural teachers relevant to teacher education, teacher professional learning and leadership succession in rural areas.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 52 GRA05687 Bush Tracks: Researching rural teaching transitions in pedagogy and leadership

MCC05689
[PDF Paper]
Bush Tracks: Journeys in the development of rural pedagogies

Cathryn McConaghy, Joy Hardy, Lynley Lloyd, Kathy Jenkins and Genevieve Noone, University of New England

The academic and social achievements of students in rural schools are very uneven and often absenteeism and suspension rates are high. Factors such as globalisation, economic restructuring, unemployment, youth suicide and family trauma, drought and environmental change (see Bourke & Lockie 2001) also impact on rural schooling and add further challenges to good teaching and learning in rural schools. As complex processes involving cognitive, contextual and affective understandings, rural pedagogies need to be situated within rural contexts (McConaghy & Burnett 2002). How do rural teachers respond to the challenges in rural communities and schools that make quality learning for all students a difficult task? What pedagogies do beginning rural teachers use, why and with what effects? What images do beginning teachers have of 'the good teacher' and 'the good student' in rural schools and what are the obstacles to becoming these? What professional learning communities are available to beginning teachers in rural schools, and how effective are they in supporting beginning teachers to work through their identity issues and pedagogical challenges? Our case study and survey data provides valuable information about the lived experiences of rural teachers in relation to their journeys in pedagogy for teacher professional learning programs.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 52 GRA05687 Bush Tracks: Researching rural teaching transitions in pedagogy and leadership

MCC05691
[PDF Paper]
Transience and teaching: Place and the new psychoanalytic sociologies of teaching

Cathryn McConaghy, University of New England

Ask any teacher about their life as a teacher and they will begin with their experience of place. 'First I taught there and then I moved there', the matter of time often hazy or more peripheral to the story of place. As Deleuze (1987) argues, becomings are matters of geography more than history, our lives punctuated by entries and exits and the challenges of territorialisation and displacement. Becoming is a dynamic of space and place. Swept up by or leaping in to the flow, we move across the folds of the map rather than occupying its fixed points. Teacher-becoming, in a Deleuzian sense, is a series of lines of flight, journeys through both exterior and interior spaces. The rural sociologist Urry (2001) suggests that the rate of flow, the volume of movements- of people, things and ideas- is more a feature of the current century than previous. Tied up with the commodification of things, space produces and consumes objects, including teachers. Hence through Deleuze's social geography and Urry's mobility sociology it is possible to reframe the notion of teacher movements in new ways, not as a problem for education, but an increasing phenomenon linked with teacherliness in the contemporary era.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 52 GRA05687 Bush Tracks: Researching rural teaching transitions in pedagogy and leadership

MCI05330 ®
[PDF Paper]
Cultural and sex differences in students motivations, demotivations, incentives and disincentives at school

Dennis McInerney and Martin Dowson, University of Western Sydney

This study investigates cultural and sex differences in students' (a) motivations and demotivations to do well at school, and (b) incentives and disincentives to stay at school. Survey research was conducted with 270 Aboriginal students (129 males and 141 females), 870 Navajo students (406 males and 464 females), and 833 Anglo-Australian students (432 males and 401 females). Students were asked 4 key questions: What types of things motivate you to work well at school? What things make it difficult for you to do well at school? Why do you think some students leave school before they finish high school? What types of things would encourage you to complete high school and to go on to some further education such as college or university? With some exceptions, the pattern of answers to these questions indicate remarkable similarities between cultural and sex groups. In particular, support from others (e.g. parents, teachers and friends) was a critical positive motivator and incentive for all cultural and sex groups. Despite these similarities, different response patters concerning intrinsic and extrinsic rewards, school marks, curriculum, and even pregnancy and substance abuse did define cultural groups differences both in aggregate and when broken down by sex.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 23 JOH05327 New advances in cross-cultural research: Insights into motivation and achievement

MCI05383 ®
[PDF Paper]
Self-esteem, academic interest and academic performance: The influence of significant others

Dennis McInerney, Martin Dowson, Alexander Seeshing Yeung and Genevieve Nelson, University of Western Sydney

Recent research has begun to highlight the role of significant others on the psychological health and academic performance of, particularly, high school students. This study investigates the impact of support from significant others on adolescents' self-esteem, interest in academic work and academic performance. High school students (N=1,078; 47% boys) responded to survey items on their self-esteem and interest in schoolwork, their personal expectancy of high school completion, and their perceived support from parents, teachers and peers for their expectancy. Their GPA and days absent from school were collected from school records. Personal expectancy, parent, teacher and peer support all had significantly positive impacts on students' self-esteem and interest in schoolwork and on GPA. The pattern of effects was consistent across the subsamples of Grades 5 to 6 (n=264), Grades 7 and 8 (n=226), and Grades 9 to 12 (n=319). Personal expectancy and teacher support also had significantly negative effects on absence from school for Grades 7 and 8. Of all the significant others considered, support from teachers had the strongest impact on self-esteem, interest and GPA in the high school subsamples. Teachers are probably the most influential agent in promoting self-esteem, interest, and academic performance in the school context.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 26 JOH05370 Enhancing motivation, achievement and academic self-concept: Finding answers to the tough questions

MID05301 ®
[PDF Paper]
Making the leap from good to great: Comparisons between sub-elite and elite athletes on mental toughness

Simon Middleton, Herb Marsh, Andrew Martin, Garry Richards and Clark Perry, University of Western Sydney

The purpose of this study was to utilise the newly developed and validated instrument - the Mental Toughness Inventory (MTI) - in order to see how patterns of mental toughness varied across ages, gender, and between elite and sub-elite athletes. The MTI was administered to 479 athletes (aged 12 to 19 years) based at an elite sports high school along with 325 elite athlete on athlete scholarships at various institutes of sport around Australia (including the Australian Institute of Sport, New South Wales Institute of Sport, Western Australia Institute of Sport, and the ACT Academy of Sport). Statistical analysis (i.e., reliabilities, confirmatory factor analyses, and multigroup-multimethod analyses) demonstrates that the MTI is highly suitable for assessing mental toughness in these groups. Given the MTI psychometric properties are stable across groups, the instrument provides a sound basis for assessing mean differences in mental toughness between groups. A number of significant differences in mental toughness levels across age, gender and between elite and sub-elite athletes are observed. The study highlights differences in patterns of mental toughness that may contribute to athletes making the leap from sub-elite to elite performance.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 20 JOH05305 Advances in physical self-concept research: Improving well-being, health, and performance

MID05310 ®
[PDF Paper]
Developing a test for mental toughness: The Mental Toughness Inventory (MTI)

Simon Middleton, Herb Marsh, Andrew Martin, Garry Richards and Clark Perry, University of Western Sydney

Earlier qualitative research defined mental toughness as an unshakeable perseverance and conviction towards some goal despite pressure or adversity (Middleton, Marsh, Martin, Richards & Perry, in press, 2004). The purposes of this study were to (a) develop a measure of mental toughness, the Mental Toughness Inventory (MTI), and (b) confirm the underlying dimensions of mental toughness as identified previously in qualitative research. Our a priori model of mental toughness hypothesised 12 specific factors (self-efficacy, potential, mental self-concept, task familiarity, value, personal bests, goal commitment, perseverance, task focus, positivity, stress minimisation, and positive comparisons) and one global mental toughness factor. The MTI is a 67-item instrument designed to measure the characteristics of mental toughness as identified through qualitative research. The MTI was administered to 479 athletes (aged 12 to 19 years) based at an elite sports high school along with 325 elite athlete on athlete scholarships at various institutes of sport around Australia (including the Australian Institute of Sport, New South Wales Institute of Sport, Western Australia Institute of Sport, and the ACT Academy of Sport). The reliability coefficients for each of the factors ranged from .87 to .95 and the model fit for the confirmatory factor analysis was good.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 20 JOH05305 Advances in physical self-concept research: Improving well-being, health, and performance

MIK05545 ®
[PDF Paper]
Investigating the relationship between "school climate," school-related outcomes and academic self-concept for Australian, secondary school-aged same-sex attracted youth (SSAY)

Jacqueline Mikulsky, University of Sydney

Research has shown that the experiences of same-sex attracted youth (SSAY) in secondary school are less than ideal, often fraught with verbal and physical harassment and social isolation from peers. School-based victimization of SSAY has been correlated with negative mental health outcomes, drug and alcohol use, decreased academic outcomes and lowered tertiary aspirations. In order to better meet the needs of SSAY in Australia's secondary schools, this nationwide study examines the current school climate for same-sex attracted students, aged 14-19, through their reported experiences and perceptions using Margaret Spencer's PVEST model as the theoretical guide. A web-based survey instrument, advertised through mainstream and l/g/b-orientated youth sources, was used to sample Australian SSAY (n=290). The relationship between same-sex attracted students' perceptions of their school climate toward homosexuality (including the treatment of homosexual and bisexual students and topics), their connection to school community members and academic self-concept has been investigated. Preliminary results will be presented and discussed.

MIL05051
[PDF Paper]
Boys, productive pedagogies and social justice

Martin Mills and Amanda Keddie, The University of Queensland

The issue of boys' education continues to dominate the gender agenda in Australian Education. Whilst concerned with the direction much of this debate has taken, we recognise that there are issues for some boys stemming from the ways in which certain masculinities have been valorised within the various communities that different boys inhabit. This paper will draw on a range of voices from schools to stress the importance of providing boys with curricula, pedagogies and assessment tasks that provide them with opportunities to explore and critically analyse their personal experiences of what it means to be 'masculine'. We argue that such an approach to boys' education has to avoid treating boys as 'disadvantaged' and instead has to be cognisant of the complexities surrounding gendered relations of power operating within boys' various communities. We suggest that the productive pedagogies framework provides an avenue through which such an approach to boys' education can be taken up in schools. We are mindful, however, that the gender just enactment of this pedagogical framework requires that teachers draw on key threshold knowledges about gender, masculinity and schooling. We present some of these knowledges and demonstrate their imperative in moving beyond reinscription to transformation of the gendered relations that constrain boys' and girls' schooling experiences.

MIL05061
[PDF Paper]
Reproduction and transformation: A Bourdieuian perspective on improving the educational outcomes of marginalised students

Carmen Mills, University of Queensland

This paper draws on research concerned with the reproduction of social inequalities in schooling. While Bourdieu is used to understand these matters, the paper suggests that there is transformative potential in his theoretical constructs and that it is possible for schools - such as the secondary school in this research - to pave the way for improvement in the educational outcomes of marginalised students. The paper draws together the major areas of contribution to this theme of reproduction and transformation, beginning by characterising Bourdieu's notion of habitus (often criticised as too deterministic) as constituted by reproductive and transformative traits. This is followed by a discussion of capital and more specifically, the way that teachers can draw upon a variety of capitals to act as agents of transformation rather than reproduction. The paper concludes by considering the necessity of a transformation of the field to include parent participation in disadvantaged schools.

MIL05610
[PDF Paper]
A virtual workplace: Connecting and challenging classroom, university and preservice teachers

Jan Millwater, Queensland University of Technology

This paper reports on the continuance of sustainable learning outcomes from a project (2001-2002) which created a Virtual Workplace for preservice teacher education and in-service professional development. Through the use of videoconferencing and web-based technologies, the project created a 'virtual workplace' for both synchronous and asynchronous interaction between classroom teachers, preservice (student) teachers and staff of Queensland University of Technology's (QUT) Kelvin Grove Campus. Basically, preservice teachers watch via videoconference in the large lecture theatres, live lessons being taught from school classrooms, interact with the teachers before and after the lessons, and participate in discussions in tutorials and on-line on specific teaching/learning topics. This is still a particularly innovative approach providing QUT preservice teachers with classroom observation and an alternative practice teaching experience of classrooms. In turn, the university teachers and the partner teachers and their schools benefit by extending their knowledge and use of the technical facilities for curriculum delivery and participating in professional development programs.

The paper presents how the teaching/learning experience of the medium of videoconference has also shown that it can influence the development of university and teacher pedagogies and teacher identities in both experienced and neophyte teachers.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 48 SIN05607 Pedagogic encounters in the Information Age

Keywords: New Pedagogies; Educational Change and Innovation; ICT; Learning and Teaching; Teacher Education - General

MOO05313 ®
[PDF Paper]
A case study: Introducing and teaching core Aboriginal Studies

Janet Mooney and Rhonda Craven, University of Western Sydney

This study seeks to contribute significant conceptual advances in theory and research, and practice in primary teacher education. Broadly, the paper identifies institutional and course characteristics that contributed to the successful implementation of a core Aboriginal Studies subject into a primary teacher education institution in New South Wales. More specifically this study identifies: a) an institutions' motives, values, and attitudes in relation to incorporating core Aboriginal Studies subjects in the primary teacher education curriculum; b) the congruence and conflict between what is theoretically espoused by the Head of School, teacher educator and primary student teachers (n=xxx) and what is actually implemented in relation to the rationale for, subject content of, and pedagogy utilised in the implementation of a core Aboriginal Studies primary teacher education course; c) the impact of a core Aboriginal Studies courses on preservice teachers' values and attitudes, commitment and ability to understand and teach Aboriginal Studies to all Australian students and to teach Aboriginal students effectively; d) the institutional factors, course characteristics and personal experiences that final year preservice teachers espouse as impacting on their values and attitudes, knowledge, skills, and commitment, to teach Aboriginal Studies and Aboriginal students.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 21 JOH05311 New advances in Indigenous education self-concept research: Driving reform

MOO05315 ®
[PDF Paper]
Teaching Aboriginal Studies: Producing inclusive Australian citizens

Janet Mooney and Rhonda Craven, University of Western Sydney

This paper argues that Aboriginal Studies should not merely be 'taught' on the sidelines, but celebrated and incorporated into mainstream teaching. If primary teacher education institutions, and departments of education's teaching and learning mission is to produce inclusive Australian citizens, then it can be argued that primary teacher education institutions and likewise schools must incorporate Aboriginal Studies and Aboriginal Studies perspectives. The paper considers the historical factors that have influenced Australia's misunderstanding of Aboriginal people and culture, and the present plight of Aboriginal people in Australia. It examines these historical factors and how these factors have resulted in Aboriginal people and culture being perceived as insubstantial which has led, in some areas, to chronic Aboriginal disadvantage. In the 1970's a cultural resurgence resulted in Aboriginal Studies being taught in schools. However, many primary teacher education institutions have been slow to introduce Aboriginal Studies subjects. This paper presents a rationale for teaching Aboriginal Studies within universities, schools and hence the wider Australian community.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 21 JOH05311 New advances in Indigenous education self-concept research: Driving reform

MOY05462 ®
[PDF Paper]
Computing technologies in school education: Policies and standards and standard policies

Kathryn Moyle, University of Canberra

In 1989 the Australian education policy, the Common and Agreed National Goals for Schooling included Goal (6d) that proposed students develop skills in 'information processing and computing' (1989: 1). This was the first time an Australian school education policy statement specifically provided a role for computing technologies in schools. In 2005 the Ministerial Council for Education, Employment Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA) released the MCEETYA Joint Statement on Education and Training in the Information Economy. This policy text includes claims that information and communication technologies (ICT) will 'empower' teachers and raise the standards of students' learning outcomes. The purpose of this conference paper is to examine the changing language and intentions of Australian school education ICT policies since 1989 in order to debate the current and future roles of technologies in teaching and learning, and to examine the links drawn between ICT and students' learning outcomes. Issues addressed include the utopian nature of the policy aspirations and the changing positioning of technologies within school education. It is argued that the current school sectors' ICT policy texts have unnecessarily adopted the dominant education standards rhetoric to justify learning with ICT in schools.

MUL05178 ®
[PDF Paper]
The future of multimedia learning: Essential issues for research

Derek Muller, John Eklund and Manjula Sharma, University of Sydney

Research into teaching and learning with new technologies is currently a very dynamic, high-profile and relevant area of educational enquiry. Educational institutions are increasingly engaged with integrating technology into the delivery of course materials and in the provision of alternate methods for learning. The extent to which these efforts are based on sound principles established through research and experience is a matter for debate. Research findings validating educational outcomes in the use of new technology are often contradictory, as research approaches tend to lag behind the capabilities of technology. Many studies in educational technology studies show a lack of an appropriate theoretical grounding and regard for scientific empirical testing. This paper examines some historical approaches to researching educational technology, highlighting the weaknesses inherent in these research programs. Some contemporary research strategies are discussed and recommendations for future investigations are made:

MUL05659 ®
[PDF Paper]
Co mentoring - critical reflection in practice

Barbara Mullen, Melton Secondary College

In pursuit of the development of a learning organisation culture at a Melbourne outer west suburban school, Melton Secondary College (MSC), a co mentoring program was developed.

As the need for schools to attract and keep new teachers increases concurrently with older teachers reaching retirement age, mentoring has been seen as increasingly important as a means to support teachers in their role. Co mentoring is a development beyond induction mentoring and is suitable for all teachers at any stage.

Co mentoring encourages shared reflective practice as a means to improve teaching practice. In the co mentor role, a collaborative relationship is developed where the participants are both learner and teacher. In collaborative mentoring both parties are equal: the power relationship that often develops between teacher and learner should not exist. The relationship between co mentors is based on trust and openness.

This paper explores the development of a co mentoring program, as a step towards the development of a learning organisation culture, from the early planning stages through to its implementation in 2004 and subsequent evaluation based on action research.

MUN05060
[PDF Paper]
Reflections from the riot zone: The Fair Go Project and student engagement in a besieged community

Geoff Munns, Katina Zammit and Helen Woodward, University of Western Sydney

This paper reports on research into student engagement in a low SES community in Sydney's South West. The community has recently attracted a lot of media attention, much of which attempts to blame families for its social disadvantage. The media attention is reinforced by politicians who publicly state that the indirect blame on recent community troubles should fall on parents, saying that poor values taught at home are responsible for growing lawlessness in this area of Sydney. In the middle of this intense spotlight is a school that has a different and supportive view of the people who live around it, and is attempting to make a real difference in the education of its students. Working within theoretical frames developed in the Fair Go Project, teachers and university researchers are implementing classroom changes aimed at delivering powerful engaging messages. The research shows that even in the most educationally disadvantaged communities students might come to believe that "school is for me", and so have a chance that education can become a positive and productive resource in their current and future lives.

MUN05400 ®
[PDF Paper]
It's all about MeE: A motivation and engagement framework

Geoff Munns and Andrew Martin, University of Western Sydney

This paper presents a framework that attempts to reconcile both psychological and sociological understandings surrounding student motivation and engagement. The MeE framework draws on research in the psychology of education undertaken by Martin (2004) and in the sociology of education of the UWS Fair Go Project. In bringing together these two projects, the framework looks to overcome the inherent weaknesses in both psychological (failing to account for the wider dimensions of social power) and sociological (failing to fully understand the complexity of the individual) approaches. The paper will first describe the theoretical underpinnings and principles of the MeE framework. It will then explore its practical possibilities as a heuristic that can provide educators with a tool to analyse schools and classrooms in order to make productive interventions to encourage students to develop powerful and enduring relationships with education.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 29 JOH05399 Cutting edge advances in research methods

MUN05779
[PDF Paper]
Teachers' Research Day

Geoff Munns, University of Western Sydney

The following schools participate in the Priority Schools Funding Program PSFP) and the Priority Action Schools Program (PAS). These programs provide resources to NSW government schools identified as serving the highest concentrations of low socio-economic status communities.

Bourke High School

Student performance on the National Benchmark Assessments is a critical issue impacting on rural and Indigenous students. The task of improving performance on these assessments for students has been problematic, due to low socio-economic factors, isolation, family environment, teacher inexperience, high turnover of staff in schools and accepting a school culture of low achievement.

Bourke High School has implemented quality teaching programs which support beginning teachers and teachers teaching outside of their Key Learning Area.

In an innovative approach, a middle school model has been taken with single sex classes, gifted and talented class, Primary trained teachers employed to teach in the middle school, exemplary English and Mathematics programs are taught across the whole stage.

The result of these programs is that within one year students have achieved their best ever results at the school on the English Language and Literacy Assessment (ELLA) and Secondary Numeracy Assessment Program (SNAP). The strategies used have demonstrated that rural and Indigenous students can achieve academically and comparatively with their urban counterparts.

Koonawarra Public School

This presentation will describe the action research journey of a whole school approach to improving student engagement. The project focused on student welfare and quality teaching. A range of innovative strategies have been trialled and refined.

Questions of interest

Can a focus on aspects of pedagogy improve engagement? What? For whom?
What is the link between quality teaching and behaviour management?
What is the impact of early intervention and transition to school programs on early engagement?
How do student welfare programs influence student engagement?
How has the project impacted on staff welfare?
The presentation will address the school community's learning so far and identify the key factors that have enabled success

The Entrance Public School

The Entrance Public School has developed an array of evidence based strategies to support sustainable approaches to teaching and improved student learning outcomes.

The presentation will explore the range of teaching and student welfare initiatives which have focused on the improvement of student learning as a priority and shifted the focus away from compliant student behaviour as a starting point for learning.

The Entrance Public School as a result:

provides equitable and successful learning outcomes for its students
projects a confident image for the community it serves
applies a sense of urgency and priority to student needs
exacts firm measures of accountability from learning programs
generates effective leadership and collegial support.

A school regime of explicit teaching has resulted in higher order thinking and enhanced student outcomes.

The presentation provides a blue print for strategically placed human resources in the illumination and promotion of student learning outcomes.

Briar Road Public School

This presentation will outline the successful implementation of a whole school action inquiry model undertaken as part of the NSW Priority Action Schools Program (PAS).

The PAS program enabled the school to work in partnership with an academic from Charles Sturt University. Data collection and analysis facilitated the collaborative development of a school specific Competency Standards Framework. This framework was integrated across the school to support programs and structures such as:

Quality Teaching in NSW Public Schools
Aboriginal Education Program
Teacher Mentoring
Reduced class sizes (K-6)

As a result of this approach, Briar Road Public School has demonstrated outstanding improvements in student outcomes, underpinned by teacher professional learning. Most notable has been:

exceptional growth in the achievement of Literacy learning outcomes
significant improvements in student behaviour and attendance.

This presentation will focus on research based strategies and methodologies which can be adapted and implemented to significantly enhance learning outcomes for both students and teachers.

Chifley College, Bidwill Campus

Literacy and Numeracy Stage 4. Whole School Professional Learning Teams, Quality Teaching: How have these shaped the school to Improve Student Learning Outcomes?

This presentation will describe the methods undertaken by the school key focus areas - Literacy and Numeracy, PLT and QT. The processes are based on the collection and analysis of data from a wide variety of sources.

The research and reporting provided by our external learning partner, Judy-Anne Abdini, has been a parallel processes. To other initiatives including an emphasis on a Control Theory based system of student and staff management, and on the 4MAT approach to teaching and Learning.

Some of the outcomes of these projects have been

Large increase in the top two bands of ELLA and SNAP in Year 8 compared to Year 7 for both 2004 and 2005. This is a direct result of the school's Literacy and Numeracy approach.
Significant increase in professional learning in relation to Teaching resulting in our best School Certificate results ever
Reduction of serious behaviour referrals due to increased engagement of students in class
Use of a consistent critical language across the school to discuss learning by students to self evaluate and evaluate their teachers' performance.

The presentation will look at the models used, data analysis procedures, and school decision-making structures and processes.

The school is on a quest to improve outcomes at all times and we are currently involved in 2 Action Research projects - Leadership with the University of Western Sydney, and a Middle School project with two main feeder schools.

Belmore Boys' High School

Belmore Boys' High School is a significantly disadvantaged comprehensive high school located in Inner Western Sydney. The school has used PAS funding to alter both the staffing and the delivery of professional development to engage in a process of change to improve student outcomes, attendance, engagement and teacher attitude.

The staff has worked towards implementing a pedagogy of Explicit Systematic Quality Teaching (ESQT) embedding literacy, numeracy, and ICT into their daily teaching and learning practices. Action research, assessment driven back-mapping and reflective practice are the major aspects of the change paradigm.

The 2003/4/5 ELLA results are longitudinal external evidence that the approach is working. Fractional truancy, whole day absence and staff absenteeism have been dramatically reduced, clear confirmation that the procedures implemented to improve the student learning environment are successful.

NAF05192
[PDF Paper]
The implementation of problem solving-skill in Kuittho, Malaysia

KMK Nafisah and QH Nurul, Kolej Universiti Teknologi Tun Hussein Onn

Problem solving-skill is very important as the students learn how to find solutions systematically and logically. Educators do not only focus on what to teach the students but also to teach them how to learn and think. In the teaching and learning processes in KUiTTHO, some lecturers use the Problem Solving Method and some use this method indirectly in the Conventional Method. Thus, there are lecturers and students who do not realize it when they use the Problem Solving Method. For that reason, the purpose of this research is to survey the level of implementation of the Problem Solving Method in the teaching and learning processes. This research was done through questionnaire that involved 150 Bachelor Degree students from the Technical Education Faculty in KUiTTHO. The questionnaire was analyzed to obtain the percentage, mean score and standard deviation. The findings show that more than 60% of the students had learned the Problem Solving Method concept formally either

NAF05193
[PDF Paper]
Learning styles of form four electrical engineering students in three technical schools in Malaysia

KMK Nafisah and AW Nurhaiza, Kolej Universiti Teknologi Tun Hussein Onn

In Malaysia, all students at the age of fifteen will sit for a common government examination known as PMR and then they will decide whether to enter daily, vocational, technical or boarding schools. After two years, all students will take another common government exam known as SPM. Universities, colleges, matriculation centres, etc refer to this SPM examination result when they select their students. In the 8th Malaysian Plan, the Ministry of Education, Malaysia takes steps to emphasize and improve the technical and vocational education by increasing the budget for this department. There are eighty-two technical & vocational schools in Malaysia. Every year the SPM results from all these technical & vocational schools differ a lot. This becomes a question because all these schools have the same curriculum, textbooks, syllabus, and teachers with similar academic background and with the same method of teaching and learning.

Hence, this study has been conducted with the purpose of determining whether there are differences of learning styles among the form four student of Electrical Engineering in three selected technical school, and whether the learning styles affect the students performance. The sample of this research consists of 126 students from 3 technical school. Questionnaires have been chosen as an instrument to get the data. The data has been analyzed by using SPSS to derive the percentages and frequency. Besides that, Kruskal-Wallis and Chi-Square have been used to answer the research question.

Research finding shows that the form four students of Electrical Engineering from the three schools have dominant learning style, which is Reflector. This research also shows that the academic performance is correlated with learning style. Even though they have similar learning styles, they have different academic performances between the three technical schools. The reason that these schools have different performances could be due to other reasons, such as, the students' IQ, the teachers experience as SPM examiners, etc.

NEA05582 ®
[PDF Paper]
Student reflections on the effectiveness of ICT as a learning resource

Greg Neal, Victoria University

Direct investigations of student opinions about the use of ICT and learning are generally missing from the literature. This paper reports on a study that captured the reflective voice of students to investigate what is truly happening in Victorian schools. The focus of this study was the student learner and how students think about their own learning. The study identified key contextual factors that influence the learning process and, in conjunction with ICT, change the learning opportunities for students. The analytical framework in this paper captures the relationship between the substantive factors including the learning culture, social well-being, motivation and engagement, and thinking and learning strategies.

The paper considers student reflections of the effectiveness of ICT as a learning resource, and argues that the responsibility for accommodating the potential of ICT lies with the cultures and structures of schools. For individual learners a deep approach to learning with ICT impacts on motivation and engagement and needs to be central to curriculum planning and implementation for schools.

NEL05331 ®
[PDF Paper]
Student achievement in developing countries: A triarchic theoretical and operational framework

Genevieve Nelson, Dennis McInerney and Rhonda Craven, University of Western Sydney

Models examining the psychological components underpinning student achievement have been constructed and tested in a wide variety of educational settings. Studies examining academic motivation, self-concept, future goal orientation, learning strategies and self-regulation have been conducted in both Western and non-Western cultures, and have recently been extended to minority and under-achieving settings. This research however has yet to be extensively and comprehensively extended to developing world settings. The present study provides an overview of Okagaki's Triarchic Model of Student Achievement, a three-fold model examining the influences of the school, the family and community, and the child, on student achievement. In presenting this model, this paper attempts to provide a theoretical and operational framework in which student achievement can be examined in developing countries. The paper concludes with a discussion of potential research directions and predictions for the examination of student achievement in developing countries.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 23 JOH05327 New advances in cross-cultural research: Insights into motivation and achievement

NEL05334 ®
[PDF Paper]
Education in developing countries: A qualitative study of student achievement in Papua New Guinea

Genevieve Nelson, Dennis McInerney and Rhonda Craven, University of Western Sydney

The present investigation examined the underlying characteristics of the form and function of the school and their relation to student achievement amongst students in Papua New Guinea (PNG). Qualitative interviews were conducted with 30 primary and secondary students from a combination of village and urban schools in PNG. Interviews attempted to elucidate the underlying dimensions of a key component of Okagaki's triarchic model of student achievement for students in developing countries. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed qualitatively. Analyses revealed there were three underlying dimensions of the form of the school that predominantly predicted student achievement: small-group learning, teacher-student communication, and home-school continuity. Furthermore, both perceived instrumentality and future goal orientation were highlighted as the two dimensions underlying the function of the school. This conceptualisation of the form and function of the school can provide a template to guide future research into student achievement in developing countries.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 23 JOH05327 New advances in cross-cultural research: Insights into motivation and achievement

NEM05355 ®
[PDF Paper]
Emotional literacy and the case for a whole-school approach to promote sustainable educational change

Michelle Nemec, University of Western Sydney

An emotionally literate learning environment impacts on classroom climate and builds a sense of connectedness. This has a positive effect on student's ability to engage in learning and assessment processes. To work towards an emotionally literate learning community a whole-school approach (ethos, curriculum and partnerships) can be employed. This multidimensional approach has the capacity to transform teachers' practice through a responsive classroom and increase the capacity for improved learning outcomes. This project will enable a group of schools to use this approach as a starting point to build change in ways that are dynamic and interactive resulting in multidirectional change. Schools will develop emotional literacy through explicit and implicit methods that may incorporate cross curricular links and potentially involve all facets of the school and include school executive, staff, students and parents. This two year project involves an evaluation and measurement of the intervention and process used to enable a comparative analysis of data and results. This will provide evidence as to the sustainability through qualitative and quantitative measures such as levels of bullying, absenteeism, positive change in regard to the quality of school life and perceived level of control over work.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 25 JOH05346 New advances in self-concept research in educational settings: Making a real difference

NEM05357 ®
[PDF Paper]
Emotional literacy, resilience and a process for change in education: Making the links clear

Michelle Nemec, University of Western Sydney

One-off parent education evenings targeting adolescent health and wellbeing may provide a response to a crisis and enable schools to tick health issues off a priority list. However some schools are wanting more than this. The Community Change Project (CGP) uses an action research model to investigate models of change that promote sustainability and promote community responsibility in regard to student wellbeing. A group of NSW independent schools chose to research and promote safe, stimulating and inclusive classrooms that nurture learning and psychosocial development as protective factors to enhance resilience and build emotional literacy. The impact of relational and pedagogical factors was explored as a means of delaying the onset of experimentation with drugs. The action research model involved a cycle of identifying school and community contexts, relevant issues and goals, conducting assessment of the contributing risk and protective factors, planning community action and intervention and on-going monitoring planning and evaluation. Schools used the Quality of School Life Survey to initiate an evidence-based approach for interventions targeting pedagogical practice and enhancing student protective factors. This work provides powerful learning for independent schools across NSW and was timely in light of new syllabus documents and the continued work of projects such as MindMatters.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 25 JOH05346 New advances in self-concept research in educational settings: Making a real difference

NGO05731
[PDF Paper]
A glimpse into some classroom interaction in South African township schools

Mapula Ngoepe, University of South Africa

This paper examines the classroom interactions between the teachers and the students in some secondary mathematics classrooms in South Africa. Twelve lessons of eight teachers were analyzed using the Secondary Teaching Analysis Matrix framework of Gallagher and Parker (1995) to classify teaching into didactic, transitional and conceptual teaching about the classroom interactions. The classroom interactions were found to be predominantly didactic. This means among other things that there was little student interaction about subject matter; short answers predominated; there were few student questions and student-student interaction was rare. The findings will be used to guide professional development intervention programs to help teachers improve their mathematics instruction.

NIC05434
[PDF Paper]
Getting at the facts: The fabrication and action of truth within lifelong learning policy

Katherine Nicoll, University of Stirling

This paper seeks to extend work previously published that points to the importance of rhetorical analysis to policy studies. It considers the rhetorical work of policy and makes the suggestion that we may fruitfully pay some attention to the work of rhetoric in our own formulations. For the author, rhetorical analysis helps point to a politics of discourse at play through and between policy and its analysis. By exploring the detail of rhetoric, in this case of a UK government's policy text of lifelong learning, alternative possibilities for the fabrication and action of truth may be encountered. This paper points to some of the conceptual resources upon which one can draw in undertaking rhetorical deconstructions of policy texts and discourses, and to the potential of one's own role as rhetorician.

OBR05265
[PDF Paper]
Politics, professionalism and pragmatics: Teacher professional development and learning - perspectives from Wales and Scotland

Jim O'Brien, University of Edinburgh and Ken Jones, Swansea Institute of Higher Education

The devolution settlement of the late 1990s and the establishment of the Welsh Assembly and Scottish Parliament has increased the potential for divergence of policy and practice within the differing educational systems in the UK. The established view of teacher professional development and learning historically has been that it is haphazard, rarely relevant and had little impact on professional learning. This paper focuses on the Welsh and Scottish approaches to teacher professional development and learning and includes a review of policies adopted since 1998 including consideration of their 'political' derivation - the issue of how you must do it; the 'professional' element - how you should do it and the 'pragmatic alternative' - how we will do it. These approaches are compared and contrasted with international examples of how similar issues associated with re-culturing the teaching profession and performance management are being addressed.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 17 GRO05264 International perspectives on teachers' professional learning: The ways in which it is understood and provided for

OCO05056 ®
[PDF Paper]
"What I do is who I am": Knowledge, skills and teachers' professional identities

Kate Eliza O'Connor and Lesley Scanlon, University of Sydney

What does it mean to "be a teacher", and how do individuals come to terms with the personal and public demands of the teaching role? This paper discusses how teacher identity is constructed and negotiated within the constraints of the institution and the curriculum. In analysing how individual teachers engage with, reflect on and occasionally resist the emotional and performative demands which are placed upon them, it draws conclusions about the nature of teachers' work and the connection between private and public selves. Identity is seen to be expressed discursively when individual teachers subvert the mandated syllabus and accepted practices of the school in accordance with their personal philosophy. By using Mead's (1934) concept of roletaking and elements of Goffman's (1956) dramaturgical sociology to frame the research, this paper examines the performative aspects of the teaching role in an era of changing curricula and paradigm shifts. Based on an in-depth interview study, it adopts an idiographic perspective in order to explore the impact of systemic change on individual teachers. Additionally, it highlights the connection between reflection-in-action (Schon, 1983) and symbolic interactionist notions of the reflective and active self.

OMA05401 ®
[PDF Paper]
Self-concept intervention research in school settings: A multivariate, multilevel model meta-analysis

Alison O'Mara, Herb Marsh and Rhonda Craven, University of Western Sydney

A multivariate, multilevel model meta-analysis was conducted to study the effectiveness of interventions for students in enhancing various self-concept domains. In support of a construct validation approach to self-concept research, self-concept outcomes directly related to the aims of the intervention yielded higher effect sizes than those that were of secondary or incidental relevance (e.g. math self-concept in a math self-concept intervention); this finding concurrently supports multidimensional perspectives in self-concept research. Beyond this conceptually significant finding, findings are reported that have methodological repercussions in terms of both research methodology and intervention design. The ramifications for research methodology include the finding that higher effect sizes were observed for studies using random assignment to treatment/control conditions. In terms of significance for self-concept intervention design, an interesting finding emerged suggesting that praise/feedback treatments were more effective in enhancing self-concept than other techniques, including discussion groups and counseling. In addition to these exciting findings pertaining to self-concept interventions, the current paper contrasts the commonly practiced meta-analytic method of random effects models with the revolutionary multilevel modeling approach to meta-analysis. The result is a comprehensive paper that has implications for self-concept theorists, intervention designers, intervention evaluators, and meta-analysts.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 29 JOH05399 Cutting edge advances in research methods

OMA05407 ®
[PDF Paper]
Meta-analytic methods in educational research: Issues and their solutions

Alison O'Mara, Herb Marsh and Rhonda Craven, University of Western Sydney

Meta-analysis is a valuable statistical technique for synthesising the available educational research literature on a particular topic, owing to its comprehensive and relatively unbiased approach to analysis. Since its conception by Glass in 1976, meta-analysis has been embraced by many researchers in education, psychology, and other disciplines, leading to the evolution of several very distinct methods for conducting meta-analysis - each with their own unique implications. The present paper starts with a discussion of the purpose and value of meta-analysis. This is followed by an overview of the features of the most common meta-analytic techniques (fixed effects models and random effects models), and the emerging technique of multilevel modeling meta-analysis. Historical and contemporary issues in meta-analysis are detailed, with particular attention to publication bias, generalisability and the assumptions inherent in various meta-analytic techniques, multivariate analyses and the independence of effect sizes, and power. Suggestions for how to address these issues will be provided. Finally, guidelines for selecting appropriate meta-analytic methods will be presented, as well as suggested resources for researchers wishing to conduct a meta-analysis. The emphasis of the paper is on understanding the various approaches to conducting responsible meta-analysis and their implications, rather than providing a prescriptive account of performing the technique.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 29 JOH05399 Cutting edge advances in research methods

OTS05506 ®
[PDF Paper]
Talanoa research: Culturally appropriate research design in Fiji

Setsuo Otsuka, University of Sydney

Cross-cultural research must interpret the human condition in its social, cultural and historical context to understand it truly. It is essential to conduct culturally appropriate research with indigenous people such as Pacific Islanders. This produces more accurate and valid data to address local issues. Thus, this makes fieldwork reliable. In the Fiji context, particularly in the ethnic Fijian community, the establishment of a good inter-personal relationship and rapport with ethnic Fijians is of vital importance. This helps to bridge the gap between researchers and participants, so that they feel at ease to communicate with each other openly and freely. For this purpose, talanoa research is a very effective approach, since talanoa expects to share emotions and spirits of both parties (i.e., researchers and respondents). Talanoa research is collaborative and removes the distance between researchers and participants, and provides respondents with a human face they can relate to. Therefore, the present paper suggests that it is necessary to conduct talanoa research with ethnic Fijians. Researchers should be aware of ethnic Fijian cultural values and beliefs in sharing and caring to conduct talanoa research. In face-to-face interviews with ethnic Fijians, it is required that researchers and respondents talk about some irrelevant subjects prior to the research topic, rather than focusing on the subject straight away. For an effective communication with them, researchers should know ethnic Fijian communicative style, especially their non-verbal communication cues such as the use of their eyes, time, silence, the way they talk and their ambiguous way of indicating "yes" or "no" in the course of interviews.

OWE05069
[PDF Paper]
Career stages professional development and the National Teacher Quality Agenda

Susanne Owen, University of South Australia

The Australian Government is increasingly politicising education within broader economic agendas. Improved education outcomes are being linked to national programs regarding improving teacher quality, professionalism and status. Ongoing professional development is a significant aspect of teacher quality, with research indicating positive benefits for staff morale, teacher retention and career satisfaction.

Traditionally, system wide curriculum and other educational change have frequently been supported through centrally-devised and pre-packaged one-off workshops conducted by experts. However, the impact of these standardised workshop formats has been questioned, with effective change and professional development increasingly involving ongoing collegiality and support and engagement in practical activities within communities of practice.

Research regarding emergent trends in teacher professional development highlights the effectiveness of differentiated programs for various career stages. Coaching and mentoring, quality online programs, portfolios, school-based teams and professional networks focused on meeting the needs of beginning teachers, experienced and leadership groups are highlighted.

This paper reports on some Australian and overseas research conducted through literature searches and interviews. With funding linked to accountability within political agendas, the research highlights the importance of using professional development models which involve deep learning for teachers. Real problem-solving activities within ongoing collegial groups support teachers in developing a professional identity, a sense of responsibility for other teacher learners and educational change for the benefit of students and the wider community.

OYO05630
[PDF Paper]
Science teachers' awareness of the impact of their classroom language

Samuel Oyoo, Monash University

One reason the quality of approaches in science teaching are often equated with kinds of practical activity that teachers and students engage in is because school science has tended to be viewed mainly as a 'practical subject'. While in practice, the teaching of science involves practical work as well as use of language, often written or in the form of teacher and student talk, the manner of talk or use of the language of instruction in the classrooms by the science teachers as a factor in the quality of learning or the persistently and comparatively lower outcomes in school science subjects is still a rare focus in science education research (Oyoo 2004). This article draws from findings from an exploratory study that sought to answer the question: How is the manner of use of language of instruction in the classroom by the science teachers a source of the difficulties students encounter in learning and retaining scientific concepts? Evidence is provided of teachers' general unawareness of the nature, functional value and difficulty of the non-technical component of their classroom language. Implications of this general science teachers' unawareness on the initial preparation and continuing professional development of science teachers are considered.

PAR05019
[PDF Paper]
Mind the gap - the perceptions and expectations of students' introduction to distance learning in higher education

Gillian Parkinson, University of Manchester

This paper explored students' experiences and perceptions of induction to distance learning in higher education. The research was undertaken to inform provision of services offered to students starting distance learning programmes. The study examined whether a 'gap' existed between students' expectations of induction (in terms of it meeting their needs as distance learners) and their subsequent perceptions of the induction experience. The research utilised a 'gap analysis' model applied using a qualitative approach. Data was collected from questionnaires, participant and non-participant observations, focus groups and individual semi-structured interviews with students and tutors. Preliminary findings indicate several guiding issues should be considered when planning induction. These include ensuring mixed approaches to teaching and learning involving active student participation; establishing students' IT skills to ensure they can use course-related tools (for example, accessing online library catalogues, e-journals and databases); and nurturing group cohesion. Results indicate that gap identification enabled accurate gauging of students' needs as distance learners, level of student satisfaction with induction, highlighting areas where developments in induction may be made. Through this process, students' needs are more fully met and the gap between students' expectations and perceptions significantly narrowed.

PAR05020
[PDF Paper]
Counsellors' attitudes towards young people with disabilities how may we ensure equality of service delivery?

Gillian Parkinson, University of Manchester

This paper explores the attitudes and conceptions held by trainee and practising counsellors towards young people with disabilities. Awareness of counsellors' own views of disability and impairment can complicate the counsellor-student relationship when the latter is seen primarily from a deficiency model perspective or self-defined model of disability, rather than as a young person in their own right. DET was introduced to 25 counsellors on a postgraduate training programme. Participants indicated that coverage of disability awareness and equality issues was vital if they were to reflect the principles of open access to counselling services for all, as set out in the Disability Discrimination Act Part III (1996; 1999). Benefits and implications of inclusion of this subject area in counsellor and teacher training and suggestions for content are considered in the light of the author's own experience of counselling as a disabled person.

PAR05324 ®
[PDF Paper]
Bullying in schools: What can we glean from self-concept theory?

Robert Parada, Herb Marsh, Rhonda Craven and Brad Papworth, University of Western Sydney

There is a growing recognition that bullying, violence, aggression, victimisation, and peer-relation difficulties in schools are pervasive problems with long-term psychosocial consequences for bullies, victims, other classmates, and communities. Bullying is linked to: diminished school performance, poor mental health, delinquent behaviour and future criminality (e.g., Marsh, Parada, Craven & Finger, 2004; Nansel, et al., 2001; Olweus, 1993; 1997; Pellegrini, 2004; Rigby, 1996; Rigby & Slee, 1993; Smith & Sharp, 1994; Sullivan, 2000). Bullying also impacts upon schools and communities, leading to: unsafe schools; alienation from the school community; distrust amongst students; formation of formal and informal gangs as a means either to instigate bullying or gain protection from being bullied, low staff morale, higher occupational stress; and a poor educational climate. The present paper presents the results of a comprehensive study examining the relation of multiple dimensions of bullying and victimisation as measured by the Adolescent Peer Relations Instrument: Bully/Target (Parada, 2002) to multiple dimensions of self-concept as measured by the Self-Description Questionnaire - Short (SDQ II - S) (Marsh, Ellis, Parada et al., 2005). A 3500 high school students in NSW, Australia were assessed in relation to these constructs at three time points during one school year. Results presented include: cross-sectional analysis of the relation between bullying and self-concept; and longitudinal structural equation models of this relation over time. Implications based on the findings for intervention are also discussed.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 22 JOH05322 Beyond bullying: What the research says

PAR05325 ®
[PDF Paper]
There and back again from bully to victim and victim to bully: A reciprocal effects model of bullying behaviours in schools

Robert Parada, Herb Marsh, Rhonda Craven and Brad Papworth, University of Western Sydney

Marsh, Parada, Craven and Finger (2004) were amongst the first to propose a reciprocal effects model in which being a bully leads to being a victim, and being a victim subsequently leads to being a bully. As such, the bully and victim roles cannot be seen as separate entities but rather as mutually reinforcing roles that co-occur. This paper extends those findings by examining whether this is the case for all forms of bullying, in particular verbal, physical and social/relational forms of bullying through the use of longitudinal structural equation models. A total of 3500 students attending NSW high schools were surveyed with a multidimensional measure of bullying behaviours at three time points during a single school year to examine their participation in bullying and victimising behaviours. Results, including the psychometric properties of the instruments and longitudinal structural equation models examining the reciprocal relation between specific forms of bullying and victimisation are presented. Implications for developing anti-bullying interventions are discussed.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 22 JOH05322 Beyond bullying: What the research says

PAR05398 ®
[PDF Paper]
Juxtaposition of multidimensional self-concept and personality constructs in educational settings: Construct validity in relation to academic outcomes

Philip Parker and Herb Marsh, University of Western Sydney, Ulrich Trautwein, Oliver Lüdtke and Jürgen Baumert, Max Planck Institute for Human Development and Olaf Köller, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg

How well can diverse academic outcomes (school grades, test scores, coursework selection in different school subjects) be predicted by big-five and well-being personality factors and multiple dimensions of self-concept? Whereas educational research has embraced a multidimensional perspective of self-concept with a particular emphasis on academic self-concept, personality research has continued to employ a unidimensional persepective of self-concept with a particular emphasis on global self-esteem. In support of a multidimensional perspective of self-concept based on a large (N = 4,475) sample of German adolescents, academic criteria are substantially related to academic self-concepts, whereas correlations between global self-esteem and all nine academic outcomes are close to zero (rs = -.03 to .05). There is strong support for the discriminant validity of math and verbal self-concepts factors in that they are slightly negatively related to each other and have clearly contrasting patterns of relations with different academic outcomes - particularly coursework selection into advanced German, English, and mathematics courses. In contrast to self-concept measures, big-five and well-being personality factors explained only small amounts of variance in academic outcomes and support for their incremental validity after controlling for specific self-concept factors is weak.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 28 JOH05395 The centrality of multi-dimensional self-concept and advances in neuroscience

PAR05404 ®
[PDF Paper]
New possibilities for assessment and testing in education: An analysis and evaluation of new procedures employing state of the art neurological testing applied to educational assessment

Philip Parker, Garry Richards and Herb Marsh, University of Western Sydney

Assessment in educational settings so far has centred on self-report style questionnaires and the assessor's own observations. While direct neurological testing of personality factors is not yet available, advances in our understanding of brain mechanisms underlying various personality and learning factors has given us hope that more refined knowledge of brain systems will lead to this more direct form of testing in the not to distant future. This holds the prospect of more reliable and valid assessment, particularly with children who are uniquely susceptible to test situation characteristics and biases and language development issues. This paper looks at the advances in our knowledge of the brain in relation to the big five personality factors, well-being and self-concept and how these findings could translate to a useful assessment tool in school settings. The paper further explores the reliability, validity and efficacy issues of this type of testing against that of the established pen and paper type assessment. It is suggested that professionals in schools will benefit most from dual assessment of both brain function and self-report measures to get the best possible data for use with students.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 29 JOH05399 Cutting edge advances in research methods

PEA05307 ®
[PDF Paper]
The Physical Self Description Questionnaire: Furthering research linking physical self-concept, physical activity and physical education

Naida Peart, Garry Richards and Herb Marsh, University of Western Sydney

Physical self-concept (PSC) is an important mediator of outcomes in physical education classes (e.g., skill development, health-related physical activity). Replicating academic self-concept results showing that academic self-concept influences subsequent achievement, recent research shows that PSC contributes to improving levels of physical activity and skill development associated with physical education classes beyond what can be explained by prior measures of skill and activity. PSC is a discreet domain within Marsh and Shavelson's (1985) multidimensional, hierarchical model of self-concept and should be measured with a domain specific instrument rather than inappropriate omnibus type measures. The Physical Self Description Questionnaire (PSDQ; Marsh, 1996) measures nine specific and two global components of PSC. Applying state-of-the-art methodology in the development of short forms of an established instrument, we demonstrate a new short form of the PSDQ (PSDQ-S) which retains good reliability and test-retest stability, well defined, replicable factor structure, convergent and discriminant validity. This new instrument, tested with Australian high school students and the general community, utilizing a construct validation approach, proved to be an excellent measure for use in physical education programs.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 20 JOH05305 Advances in physical self-concept research: Improving well-being, health, and performance

PEE05412 ®
[PDF Paper]
Sharing intimate moments: Relationships of rapport and respect

Eleanor Peeler, Monash University

Is it desirable for a teacher to be unable to identify self as such? Is it appropriate to be set apart in the school community because of race? Is it good practice to deny access to community? Should we continue to do the things we have always been doing without regard for sharing workplace knowledge with newcomers?

Such questions besiege immigrant teachers who enter new communities in Victorian schools where they are exposed to unfamiliar codes of practice and educational philosophies. Their construction of self as professional is disqualified in their new situation and they face a quandary as to how they must reconstruct their identity and re-establish their professional standing. Speaking intimately of such occurrences requires trust and rapport as generally, one's intimate thoughts are concealed from all but a privileged few. To explore the social world of another the social researcher is bound by research ethics, must revere confidences imbued in her and under no circumstances initiate stress. The ideal relationship is bonded by mutual trust wherein privacy respected at all costs. This paper explores the relationship between a researcher and a group of immigrant teachers. It shows how trust evolved and initiated the teachers sharing intimate stories.

PEN05519
[PDF Paper]
Educational codes and inclusivity in physical education

Dawn Penney, Edith Cowan University and Curriculum Council of Western Australia, John Evans, Loughborough University and Joanne Taggart, Curriculum Council of Western Australia

Pedagogies, policies and politics all have a bearing upon the educational codes (Bernstein, 1990) that are, and potentially may be expressed in physical education. In each of Bernstein's fields of curriculum, pedagogy and assessment, issues and interests relating to education, sport and health influence the expression and relative dominance of performance, perfection and competency codes (Evans & Davies, 2004). Ultimately codes combine to define and position certain students as winners or losers, and determine the abilities and subjectivities that will be recognised and celebrated - or not. This paper identifies the new post compulsory Physical Education Studies course of study in Western Australia as a text informed by and featuring competency codes, reflecting underpinning concerns to ensure inclusivity in post compulsory education in Western Australia. The paper discusses processes of interrogation revealing the presence of performance, perfection and competency codes within and beyond the course of study, and responses made during development in order to retain a competency orientation. The need for ongoing monitoring of learning, teaching and assessment during initial implementation of the course of study to explore the expression of codes in practice, is discussed.

PER05571 ®
[PDF Paper]
Successful transition programs from prior-to-school to school for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children: Methodological considerations

Bob Perry, Terry Mason, Shirley Gilbert, Sue Dockett, University of Western Sydney, Tracey Simpson, Charles Sturt University and Peter Howard, Australian Catholic University

The Successful transition programs from prior-to-school to school for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children project team has undertaken case studies in 10 sites across NSW. The sites were selected as exemplars of practice in programs for transition to school for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. In all of the sites, input has been sought from Indigenous families and community members, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous children, Aboriginal educators, prior-to-school educators, school teachers and any other people who wished to be involved. In this paper, team members consider the methodological issues involved in working with Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in both educational and community settings and provide examples from the project. Issues such as processes for choosing the sites, entering and exiting a site; establishing credibility; cultural protocols; triangulating data, maintaining consistency across a large number of sites and a large number of researchers, and reporting are considered.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 44 WOO05569 Perspectives on transition to school for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children

PET05141 ®
[PDF Paper]
The contribution of mathematics to graduates' professional working life

P Petocz and Anna Reid, Macquarie University

Recent mathematics graduates are in an intermediate position between students and professionals. On the one hand, their experiences as mathematics students are still fresh in their minds: on the other, they have started to develop an appreciation of the role that mathematics plays in their working life. Here we investigate their views of the contribution that their mathematics education has made to their professional work through an analysis of a series of interviews. One notion that was expressed by each of the graduates was that studying mathematics has developed their ability to solve problems and think logically. However, their interpretation of these terms was quite varied. In this paper, we explore their experience of mathematics as problem solving and link this with their view of their professional role as mathematicians.

PET05246 ®
[PDF Paper]
Creative dissent about school leadership: Co-construction in new settings

Judy Peters and Rosie Le Cornu, University of South Australia

School leadership has been a contested construct in recent years. Much of the dissent has centred around the competing constructions of transformative and managerial leadership Transformational leadership is focussed on "developing the organisation's capacity to innovate" and is "viewed as distributive in that it focuses on developing a shared vision and commitment to school change (Hallinger, 2003, pp. 330-331), while instructional or managerial leadership, is characterised by "strong, directive leadership focussed on curriculum and instruction from the principal" (Hallinger, 2003, p. 329). During 2004 and 2005 we conducted a qualitative study to capture the insights of eight school leaders who moved from one school to another, part way through their involvement in the Learning to Learn Project. The transition from schools in which they had developed transformational leadership, to schools in which some expectations were derived from a managerial perspective, created a number of paradoxes which were explored in an earlier paper (see Peters and Le Cornu, 2004). In this paper we revisit these paradoxes to explore the constructive solutions developed by these leaders to address the significant challenges of co-constructing leadership in new settings.

PET05271
[PDF Paper]
Deconstructing methodology: Interrogating the interviewing process

Kirsten Petrie, The University of Waikato

This paper explores some of the methodological choices, consequences and conundrums that arose from a critical, qualitative study of primary teacher education students' understandings of physical education. The study employed semi-structured interviewing as its primary methodological approach. However, tensions soon emerged with respect to both the process and the practice of using semi-structured interviewing, particularly in relation to the study's wider critical research aims. This paper first illuminates some of the process challenges inherent in the semi-structured interview process such as: developing an interview schedule that moves beyond the researcher's assumptions, the need to be present and meta-present in real time aural/oral interviews, and the idea that empathetic neutrality is a possibility or even desirable. Secondly, this paper deconstructs some of the epistemological assumptions underlying the use of semi-structured interviews, particularly those that are reflected in qualitative methods texts. These include the supposed straightforwardness and neutrality of the methodological process and the disparity between the literature and the practical realities of the research method. In light of both, the paper explores how alternative methodologies might better support future critical research of this kind.

PLU05266
[PDF Paper]
Learning together through action learning

Frances Plummer, NSW Department of Education and Training

Adopting the principles of the inquiry model as a form of professional development clearly means handing the responsibility and resources for professional learning over to teachers. They determine a focus, know their local context, identify their individual and collective professional learning needs and collectively design action plans that will address both the educational challenge and professional learning needs. These elements of professional development design were addressed in the Australian Government Quality Teacher Program (AGQTP) funded Action learning for school teams project. In 2003 and 2004, 50 project teams comprising 500 teachers in 111 primary and secondary schools participated in the project. In 2004-05 the project was extended to a further 50 project teams of 400 teachers across 83 schools.

The design of this professional development project addressed the challenges of a team of teachers learning together to improve their individual and collective teaching and learning practices. The elements of the model of professional development supporting the action learning project are addressed in this paper in the context of current literature informing teacher professional learning practices.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 17 GRO05264 International perspectives on teachers' professional learning: The ways in which it is understood and provided for

POO05581
[PDF Paper]
Indicators of research-based learning instructional process: A case study of best practice in a primary school

Suchada Poonpan, Chulalongkorn University

The purpose of this research was to study indicators of research - based learning instructional process in the primary school which was a case study of the best practices. Using qualitative techniques, this case study research was conducted in the school that shown the best practices in research- based learning instructional process management in Bangkok. For five months of collecting data, non-participant observation of students and school staff members, informal interviews with the key informants, focus group discussion with the teachers who were selected by the team leader of research - based learning school project. Field notes, and documentary analysis were used in collecting data and data triangulation. The data were reviewed, synthesized and analyzed by analytic induction.

The results of this qualitative study were 4 main indicators of research- based learning instructional process. In the view as the educational system, the input and process indicators consist of three main indicators; research - based learning instructional management, characteristic of teachers and students' learning behavior, and the output indicator was the teachers' outcome and achievement, learning skill, and necessary characteristics of students.

For the further study, the indicators of research- based learning instructional process would be validated by five educational experts and concluded by the experts in the case school. The educators could apply for strategic planning in educational management and the best practices guideline for instructional development in primary school.

QU05686
[PDF Paper]
Pragmatic transfer in compliment responses by Chinese learners of English

Jing Qu and Wang Liying, Jilin University

This paper reports a study on the pragmatic transfer in compliment responses by Chinese Learners of English. It has three aims: (1) to discover similarities and differences in Compliment responses between the American English speakers(AES) and Chinese Learners of English(CLE), (2) to provide empirical evidence for or against existing theories of pragmatic transfer in compliment responses and (3) to reveal differences of social values between the two groups. The results of this study are compared with those of R. Chen who made a similar study in 1993. The changes in the past ten years are discussed at the end.

QUA05784
[PDF Paper]
Theorising immigrant and refugee children's sense of belonging from the perspectives of Bourdieu and postcolonial theory

Lloydetta Quaicoe, University of South Australia

The federal government of Canada is responsible for citizenship and immigration but education is under the jurisdiction of the individual provinces. In the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, it is the policy of the Department of Education that children between the ages of 5 and 18 years attend geographically-allocated schools. New immigrant and refugee children are placed in these schools soon after their arrival in the province. Some of the children may not be proficient in the language of instruction in the schools and others may have missed years of formal schooling. In addition, children from refugee situations may have suffered trauma due to war and violent conflicts. Furthermore, foreign-born residents make up 1.6 percent of the total population of the province. As a result an immigrant or refugee child may be the only one from his or her cultural background in a predominantly Anglo-Celtic school.

In this paper, I propose that postcolonial theory and Bourdieu's concept of habitus and capital are useful theoretical and conceptual tools for analyzing the social constructs of immigrant and refugee school children's identities because of their relevance to issues related to culture, language, power, education, domination and resistance. My argument is based on the premise that public education in schools is a state-generated activity, and schooling is a social and cultural practice. It is argued that the ideologies of the dominant culture are reproduced and reinforced through the process of public education and schooling, the formal and informal corpus of official school knowledge, and pedagogic discourses which perpetuate society's social bias and inequalities in race, ethnicity, culture, class and gender. Consequently, schools are appropriate sites for focusing a critical discussion on immigrant and refugee children's identities and sense of belonging in their new cultural environment, within a framework of Bourdieu's concepts and postcolonial theory.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 16 GIL05257 Youth and nation: The reworking of identity and place in multicultural societies

QUE05681
[PDF Paper]
Pre-service teachers' collaborative project crafting in computer - supported classroom learning environment

Choon Lang Gwendoline, Quek, National Institute of Education, Singapore

This study investigates how a group of 80 pre-service teachers designed project tasks collaboratively during a 18-hour elective course conducted using the face-to-face and online learning approaches. The facilitator engaged the teachers by drawing from their personal experience about projects, followed by introducing them concept of project-based teaching and learning, and their roles as teacher-facilitators and learners in project-based classroom learning environment. The facilitator also introduced a roadmap for project crafting to teachers where they clarified their roles, responsibilities and expectations. They were also introduced to an asynchronous computer-mediated communication tool for their project crafting as this was their first exposure to the tool as The pre-service teachers' project crafting unfolds processes such as brainstorming of project ideas, forming project groups, asking questions, gathering information and decision making about their projects. Using the asynchronous online discussion forums, pre-service teachers collaborated in groups of 4 to 5 members within the class and also beyond the lesson hour to design their projects. The teachers' online discussions were analysed quantitatively and qualitatively. The implications and key learning points of this study discussed in terms of instructor's roles, facilitation strategies and evaluation are also discussed in this paper.

Keywords: Asynchronous online discussion forums; computer-supported classroom learning environment; ICT; collaborative; project; student-centred; facilitation; pre-service

RAF05164
[PDF Paper]
Effective middle schools (perceptions of middle schools stakeholders) in the act

Mah-i-Laqa Rafiq and Jim Woolnough, University of Canberra

During the last two decades policy makers, educators, innovative reformers, and private foundations have manifested enormous commitment and interest in favour of middle schooling programs in Australia. The research reported in this paper was designed to determine how far the concept and program of middle schooling has been accepted and implemented in three schools of the ACT. The evaluative model adopted for the study was based on the 'general design for a whole school approach to school improvement', proposed by Hill and Crèvola in 1997.

The three schools selected for the study are considered, within the ACT, to be exemplary for their implementation of programming consistent with the essential elements of middle schooling. The findings of this study indicate that, in the eyes of the stakeholders, the sample schools are implementing the salient features and characteristics of an effective middle schools as identified in the 'general design model' and widely discussed in the literature. There were specific areas, however, where the schools fell short of the ideal middle school.

Implications for policy makers, educators and researchers and future directions for the implementation of middle schooling reforms will be discussed.

RAT05558
[PDF Paper]
The quantitative-qualitative divide and the Bayesian view

Nimal Ratnesar, The University of Sydney

This paper argues that the often believed quantitative-qualitative research divide is false, misplaced and misleading. As well, this false divide seems to foster the view that there exist of themselves such things as "data" that are inherently and a priori quantitative or on the other hand qualitative, leading to a perspective on research more of data-processing rather than information-discussion. Rather, quantities are of qualities and since all "data" are constructed and presented in regard to some feature of some phenomenon under study, the question of whether or not to quantify the information is a matter of adequacy of representation and meaningfulness to research discussions. Further, it would seem that frequentist statistics, which currently dominates quantitative education research, sustains belief in the spurious quantitative-qualitative divide. This paper also argues that adopting a Bayesian view is preferable in terms of a more integrated inferential perspective on research that transcends the divide.

REN05182
[PDF Paper]
Ripples and tsunamis to curriculum integration: A comparative case study

Leonie Rennie and Rachel Shefflied, Curtin University of Technology, Grady Venville, Edith Cowan University and John Wallace, University of Toronto

The purpose of this paper is to address issues that are raised about curriculum integration including the difficulty of implementation and concerns about student learning. The theoretical framework is underlain by the recognition of context, the needs of the students and the skills and knowledge of the teachers involved. The two schools that participated included a purpose built middle school and a traditional high school. Each school implemented a science-based, integrated project. The results demonstrated how the school philosophy impacted on the scope of the project and the kind of student learning that resulted. In the traditional high school the scope of the project was limited to one class and student learning was focussed on the content and processes of science. In the middle school the scope of the project was much broader with a whole learning community of 5 classes becoming involved. Learning in this school reflected a more integrated and worldly vision of knowledge. The conclusion is that curriculum integration does not necessarily rely on completely dissolving disciplinary boundaries, but on a degree of integration that fits the needs in the local context - both ripples and tsunamis of curriculum integration can lead to success.

REY05135
[PDF Paper]
University/school partnerships: Journeys of three academic partners

Ruth Reynolds, Ann McCormack and Kate Ferguson Patrick, University of Newcastle

This paper details a study which tracked three academics as they worked as partners to schools undertaking Australian Government Quality Teacher projects with the focus of implementing the NSW Quality Teaching framework through an action research/learning approach. The academic partner, as a mentor, is expected to support a collegial environment where teachers reflect for, on and in action and work and learn with and from each other to explore possible ideas and solutions to issues associated with their teaching practice. However the academic partner often comes into the partnership as a stranger and has to build a professional and individual relationship in a short period of time. The academic partners in this study conducted their own action research study as a means of recording their journeys as mentors, to provide each other with collegial support and to promote the development of their own professional knowledge. They used personal reflection in the form of learning journals, collaboration, discussion and critique as the methodology in their study. This paper uses the data collected to identify and examine common themes in the technical, critically professional and personal growth aspects of this project and to provide suggestions to guide academic partners in future university/school action research partnerships.

Keywords: Academic Professional Development; Learning and Teaching; Teacher Professional Learning; Teachers' Work

RIC05302 ®
[PDF Paper]
Physical self-concept as an important outcome in physical education classes: Evaluation of the usefulness in physical education of three physical self concept measures utilising a comparison of Australian and Israeli students

Garry Richards and Herb Marsh, University of Western Sydney

Whereas educational researchers emphasise the importance of Academic self-concept as an outcome in traditional academic school subjects, the role of physical self-concept has not received adequate attention as an outcome in physical educational classes. Historically, most self-concept instruments either ignored physical self-concept or treated it as a unidimensional domain incorporating diverse characteristics (such as fitness, health, appearance, grooming, sporting competence, body image, sexuality, and physical activity) into a single score. Whereas researchers now argue for a multidimensional perspective of self-concept and specific components of academic self-concept, less attention has been given to the physical domain. Here we evaluate, using a construct validity approach, responses of students to three multidimensional physical self-concept instruments that are broadly consistent with the multidimensional, hierarchical model of self-concept that has been so influential in educational psychology research. Applying structural equation modeling and new approaches to the multitrait-multimethod paradigm, we compare/contrast relations among physical self-concept factors from the three instruments based on responses by Australian and Israeli students and evaluation there utility and scope of possible uses in physical education. Overall, the results provided good support for the convergent and discriminant validity of all three instruments and illustrated different, but useful qualities when responded to by Australian and Israeli students.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 20 JOH05305 Advances in physical self-concept research: Improving well-being, health, and performance

ROB05075 ®
[PDF Paper]
Mobile learning thinking: Get on your skateboard to keep up!

Margaret Robertson, University of Tasmania

"Consider my world please. I've been born in the last decade and everyone in our family has a mobile phone. We play games at home on the computer and I teach my parents how to use the Internet. Mum loves me helping and Dad and I have heaps of fun. My teacher Mrs Cool is great - she let's me help the other kids in our class and sometimes I get to do awesome things for school. ...Having my own computer at school would be better". The messages in our student's observations are many and complex. While personal computers may be the case for some privileged school contexts and equipping all teachers is the trend for public education in Australia this investment may be too little too late. The business world is leading the technological change towards online mobile devices and young people themselves are demanding more personalised access. Reflecting their socio-cultural need to be connected, there are urgent messages for educators to face for motivation and learning outcomes commensurate with curriculum reforms. Computer laboratories are being challenged by the need to tool young people with handheld computers. This paper takes up some of these issues with reference to ongoing ARC funded research projects.

ROF05356 ®
[PDF Paper]
'Respect' in practice - the challenge of emotional literacy in education

Sue Roffey, University of Western Sydney

The construct of emotional literacy in education is developing as schools take on board a range of initiatives which promote constructive relationships and the knowledge and skills which underpin them.

This paper is based on three qualitative studies. One explores the relationships that schools have with parents/carers, the second is an evaluation of a circle time initiative and the third investigates the processes within schools to develop emotional literacy. Relationships are core in all these studies; the relationship that teachers have with parents, the relationship that teachers have with students and students have with each other and the relationship that the school executive have with their staff.

'Respect' is a value that is often quoted as part of mission statements in schools. This paper explores what this means to different stakeholders in a school and which practices appear to generate more effective, 'respectful' interactions within the school system. Issues of power, agency, support , emotional literacy and the promotion of a positive ethos are addressed as integral to this understanding.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 25 JOH05346 New advances in self-concept research in educational settings: Making a real difference

ROR05038 ®
[PDF Paper]
Turning a critical lens on the practicum in pre-service teacher education programs

Doreen Rorrison, Charles Darwin University

This paper reports preservice teacher and school student perspectives of the practicum. These voices are usually silenced and the research highlights the 'messiness' and complexities of classroom research. A story of the practicum co-authored by the participants (classroom teachers as mentors, preservice teachers, school students and teacher educator) uncovers views not previously heard.

Evidence of school student and preservice teacher strategies to reclaim a sense of themselves and resist imposed views is presented. Engaging school students is seen as a problem of how students are constructed as learners, not a problem of pedagogy. Preservice teachers describe the practicum as a time to endure and acquiesce and complain of limited feedback from either the university or their school-based mentors.

Both students and preservice teachers support seamless sharing between classroom teacher and novice teacher. They also suggest that the gap in the life worlds of teachers and the life worlds of learners is indeed a chasm.

Keywords: Pre-service Teacher Education; School Renewal and Pedagogic Improvement

RUS05351 ®
[PDF Paper]
Effects of background and sex on confidence in teaching the creative arts: Tests of specific hypotheses

Deidre Russell-Bowie and Martin Dowson, University of Western Sydney

Little is known about how generalist primary pre-service teacher education students perceive their own background and confidence in relation to the arts and arts education. This paper reports the findings of a large international study involving 939 pre-service generalist primary teacher education students in five countries. The study tests specific hypotheses concerning the relationship between creative arts background, sex and confidence in teaching in the creative arts. The study also explores sex differences in patterns of background and confidence across the creative arts, as well as relationships between background and confidence in one creative arts area and background and confidence in other creative arts areas. Results of the study indicate that students' background in the creative arts and their sex predicts confidence in teaching in the creative arts, although the interaction between background and sex does not, in general, predict confidence. The study also identifies different profiles of background and confidence in teaching the creative arts for males and females. Moderate associations between background and confidence in different creative arts areas are also identified. The educational implications of the findings of the research are discussed in detail in the paper.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 25 JOH05346 New advances in self-concept research in educational settings: Making a real difference

RUS05480 ®
[PDF Paper]
So why engage in the arts? The relationship between learning in the arts and other key learning areas and the development of skills in key workplace competencies

Deirdre Russell-Bowie, University of Western Sydney

As a result of the Dawkins Green Paper Strengthening Australia's Schools and the Finn Report the Mayer Committee was convened to develop a set of Key Competencies which could be used to measure young Australians' capacity to apply knowledge and skills in the work place and therefore to measure their employability. This paper examines the relationship between learning in the arts and other key learning areas in a preservice teacher education course and outcomes in the key competencies. It examines whether the different subjects preservice teachers complete teach only content specific to that subject, or if students learn generic skills, knowledge and values which assist them in a lifetime of work. The results indicated that overall, between 55% and 82% of students felt that they had learned 'quite a lot' or 'SO MUCH' about each Key Competency, with the competencies of Communication of Ideas and Information (81.3%) and Planning and Organising Activities (80.2%) being the most highly rated and the competency of Using Mathematical Ideas (56.7%) receiving the lowest rating. In comparing students' perceived learning of each skill within each of the Key Learning Areas, they indicated that they had learned the most about each competency within the Creative Arts KLA, except for the competency of Using Mathematical Ideas, where Creative Arts ranked second (71.9%) against Mathematics (75%).

RUS05481 ®
[PDF Paper]
Shall we dance? A comparison of student teachers' background and confidence in Dance Education in relation to gender and age across five countries

Deirdre Russell-Bowie, University of Western Sydney

Until recently, dance education in many primary schools has been mainly taught within the physical education curriculum. With the advent of dance being documented as an important subject with the arts key learning area, with its own creative outcomes and content, it is consolidating its own identity as a serious art form. However, although both research and anecdotal evidence has indicated that fewer boys are involved in the arts, and especially dance, than girls (Senate Environment, Recreation, Communications and the Arts References Committee, 1995) there seems to be little research examining whether age or cultural background has any relationship to student teachers' background in dance or confidence in teaching dance in the primary school. This study involves 939 preservice non-specialist primary school teachers from Australia, Namibia, South Africa, USA (Illinois) and Ireland. The paper initially identifies the students' perceptions of their background and confidence in relation to dance and dance education. Then it examines if there is a difference between the students' perceptions of their own background and confidence in dance education in relation to their age, sex and country. Results indicate that there are significant differences in the means of responses from male and female students, from older and younger students and from students from the different countries in relation to both background and confidence in dance education.

SAL05126
[PDF Paper]
Disrupting dominant discourses of private schooling

Sue Saltmarsh, University of Western Sydney

Educational provision in Australia has been dramatically altered in recent decades, as neoliberal choice policies favouring an increasingly marketised, tiered educational landscape, have brought about a decline in public sector schooling and a concomitant burgeoning of private sector schooling. While these shifts have provoked an extensive literature concerned with potential 'winners' and 'losers' in the educational marketplace, proponents of the privatisation of education argue that consumer demand for private schooling and the perceived moral, social, academic and financial benefits parents are eager to secure on behalf of their children justifies the current constellation of educational providers. Amid the neoliberal rhetorics of excellence and accountability which pervade discourses of private schooling, however, recent high profile incidents in private schools-ranging from sexual assault among students to schools' neglect of their duty of care-disrupt dominant discourses of private education, and pave the way for interrogating the widespread normative view of private schooling as synonymous with 'quality' education. This paper considers how such 'disruptive' incidents function to both disrupt and perpetuate the market ideologies which pervade discourses of private education, and argues that the commercial, representational and disciplinary regimes of private schooling merit greater critical attention.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 7 BAN05124 Transformations and Affect 3

SAL05288
[PDF Paper]
Transforming the Female Orphan School

David Saltmarsh, Macquarie University

The Female Orphan School has been referred to as a national heirloom, Sydney's forgotten colonial icon, a jewel and a national treasure, but how much do we know about the original purposes of this building? And should we care? This paper reviews the transformation of this building from orphan school to hospital for the insane to university research centre. The case study data is drawn from historical documents, art works, newspaper reports and interviews with architects and heritage consultants. This material is analyzed using a combination of critical discourse analysis and a theoretical framework developed largely from the work Michel de Certeau. The paper argues that while the building's status as an icon, its importance to the local area and Australia's history is strongly promoted in the press, this appreciation is largely superficial. The paper concludes that the greater significance of the Orphan School that we should seek lies in the ways that the building has been discursively formed to produce a range of ideological representations.

SAN05041
[PDF Paper]
Controversy in our classrooms: Problems, perspectives and possibilities

Fida Sanjakdar, University of Melbourne

The emotionally shattering events of September 11, the human tragedies of war, the race for the first human clone, the environment, the teaching of homosexuality in the school's sexual health education curriculum, ......the list of potential controversial issues to be explored in our classrooms can go on. The issue of whether schools should include controversial content in its curriculum has been the centre of much dissension, and has raised many questions; Should schools be offering politically oriented content in its curriculum? Should schools be responding to wider societal issues? How should teachers handle discussions about controversial issues? What is the teachers' role in the classroom? This paper explores some of the debates surrounding the nature and place of controversial issues in the school curriculum. It opens the terrain for discussing the relevance and important contribution controversial issues can have to student learning. In support of the inclusion of controversy in the school curriculum, this paper presents ways of exploring and handling controversial issues through English Literature studies. Essentially this paper is a provocation which aims to challenge the increasing attitude of dissension towards controversy in schools and present constructive solutions.

SAN05732 ®
[PDF Paper]
Teachers' struggle for an Islamically appropriate sexual health education curriculum at their school

Fida Sanjakdar, University of Melbourne

This paper will report on some of the findings of a current study by the author in which a group of teachers at a Victorian Islamic College developed and implemented an Islamically appropriate sexual health education curriculum for their Muslim students. This paper reports the process in which these teachers' tried to bring curriculum reform to their school in a knowledge area that has been the cause of much dissension in Islamic schools and among the wider Muslim community. In their attempts to create an Islamic perspective to sexual health education, teachers found themselves challenged by the current restrictive curriculum structures, policies and practices at their school. They also found themselves struggling with embedded student cultural understandings and traditions which contradict Islamic teachings, principles and beliefs as stated in the Holy Qur'an and Hadith. As they challenged their school's status quo, they engaged with significant challenges to their pedagogy. These teachers not only made an Islamic perspective to sexual health education curriculum a reality at their school, they confronted longstanding political issues and hegemonic structures, enabling the search for a solution to a curriculum problem and constructed the conditions necessary for its sustainability.

SCH05495 ®
[PDF Paper]
Can we sustain primary science and technology education in school systems by casting teachers as e-designers? The DESCANT-SciTech Project

Lynette Schaverien, University of Technology, Sydney

The disciplines of Science and Technology present well recognised professional development challenges for primary teachers. We focus in this paper on the particular challenge of systemic, sustainable professional renewal, for large, geographically dispersed but centralised education systems, and on whether, and if so, how, a novel e-learning mediated strategy might address that challenge. We report on the beginning phase of an ARC Linkage Project, the DESCANT-SciTech Project (Designing e-learning systems to celebrate and nurture teaching in Science and Technology) in which a foundation cohort of teachers was assisted to develop an e-learning environment for the communal professional development of future cohorts of their peer teachers. We describe and analyse the development of these teachers' environment, ready for a second and third cohort of teachers to engage with it. We conclude speculatively, anticipating some key implications of this case study for the continued health and sustenance of Science and Technology teaching, from generation to generation - implications that will be tested in the next project phase.

SCH05496 ®
[PDF Paper]
Can we help e-learning to scale up in schools by casting students as e-designers? The GENESIS Project

Lynette Schaverien, Sydney University of Technology

Despite its initial promise, e-learning has been slow to scale up in schools. One possible but neglected reason for this slowness might lie with the nature of e-learning systems themselves. We describe an ARC Linkage Project, the GENESIS Project (Generating e-learning systems in schools), a project that sought insights into this hypothesis by means of a novel e-learning mediated strategy. First of all, students (aged seven to fifteen years) generated a large pool of significant questions of passionate interest to them. Then they decided, by consensus, on one cluster (How and why do we think and how come we are not born with the knowledge we know now?), explored that question cluster themselves and conceived an e-learning environment where they and other students might continue to engage with that cluster. Once the environment had been built, students explored its worth for learning. In this paper, each of the three partner schools considers whether, and if so, how, key aspects of the GENESIS strategy have scaled in their contexts. We conclude speculatively, drawing implications for the nature and, in particular, the educational significance of learning and teaching technologies in our age.

SEA05390 ®
[PDF Paper]
The positive effects of upward comparison: Can they coexist with the big-fish-little-pond effect?

Marjorie Seaton and Herb Marsh, University of Western Sydney

Social comparison research has demonstrated that upward comparisons can enhance academic performance (Blanton, Buunk, Gibbons & Kuyper, 1999; Huguet, Dumas, Monteil & Genestoux, 2001). Conversely, educational research on the big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLPE) has implied that upward comparisons result in lowered self-evaluations of academic ability (Craven, Marsh & Print, 2000; Davis, 1966; Marsh & Hau, 2003; Marsh, Koller & Baumert., 2001). By re-analysing data from the Blanton et al. study, and the Huguet et al. study, the present investigation aimed to ascertain whether upward comparisons could simultaneously enhance academic performance, and produce lower self-evaluations as predicted by the BFLPE. Participants were Dutch and French high school students, who completed a questionnaire assessing academic self-evaluation and comparison choices. Performance was measured by accessing end of semester grades. Using a multi-level modelling approach, a BFLPE emerged. Implications for educational policy were discussed.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 27 JOH05387 New advances in social comparison research: Implications for gifted and talented students and Special Education</p>

SEA05393 ®
[PDF Paper]
Can we change the size of the pond? Future directions for big-fish-little-pond effect research

Marjorie Seaton, Rhonda Craven and Herb Marsh, University of Western Sydney

Big-fish-little-pond effect (BFLPE) research has demonstrated that frame of reference effects impact upon self-concept and other desirable educational outcomes. However, while the validity and the generalizability of the BFLPE have been extensively demonstrated in 26 countries (Marsh & Hau, 2003), these countries were mostly industrialised, western countries. Furthermore, researchers (e.g. Marsh, 1991) have advocated that identifying individual differences among students would be a valuable tool in developing policies to maximize the benefits of attending academically selective schools, but these differences have not as yet been examined. Additionally, researchers have proposed that social comparison processes are responsible for the BFLPE, but this hypothesis has not been investigated fully. The purpose of this paper is to explore directions for future research that would address these concerns. It outlines ways in which the recently expanded Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) database (OECD, 2001) could be utilised to: ascertain whether the BFLPE extends to non-industrialized and non-western countries to provide even stronger support for the BFLPE's validity and generalizability; and elucidate some of the moderators of the BFLPE. Methods to explore the impact of social comparison processes on the BFLPE are also explored. Preliminary results are presented and implications for educational policy discussed.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 27 JOH05387 New advances in social comparison research: Implications for gifted and talented students and Special Education

SEL05585
[PDF Paper]
'Post'ibilities for critical pedagogy

Sam Sellar and Lew Zipin, University of South Australia

One key motivation described by teachers working in communities of high poverty is the success of their students. In schools which serve these marginal communities teachers work hard in challenging, complex conditions and often consider the small successes of students to be the most rewarding aspect of their job. However, power is a scarce resource in our competitive educational system and the 'success' it enables and rewards is predicated upon the 'failure' of others. This paper argues that in our 'post' society, with skepticism towards modernist emancipatory narratives and increasing colonisation of notions of 'success' by discourses of consumerism and economic rationalism, it is necessary to rethink the morally complex task of doing justice in our schools. Teachers face a set of moral trade-offs between teaching to enable student success within current inequitable socio-economic relations and working to disrupt these relations in which 'success' depends upon the inequitable distribution of power, resources and recognition. In this context, critical pedagogy must strategically seek out the 'cracks' of late-capitalist society, combining an acknowledgement of students' immediate need for social mobility and cultural recognition, with pedagogical approaches that promote re-evaluations of 'success' and society, therefore making new liberatory projects possible.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 46 HAT05583 The pedagogical challenge: Rethinking relevance in the interests of social justice

SEL05596 ®
[PDF Paper]
Students' perceptions of success in English as indicated by their learning goals

Maura Sellars, University of Newcastle

Setting goals and working towards achieving them are life skills that facilitate success in a wide diversity of contexts. Goal setting has also been shown to be a useful tool to support student learning in school contexts. This paper investigates the nature of learning goals independently chosen by a group of 8-9 year old student participants in a research study designed to support the development of their intrapersonal intelligence (Gardner, 1983,1993). Whilst there is evidence that these students, identified as low achievers in English, developed considerable skills in Higher Order Thinking tasks using the Revised Bloom's taxonomy, (Anderson and Krathwohl, 2001), their learning goals in English remained concrete and measurable in nature. The discussion that is generated as a result of this data seeks to identify the constructs that may have impacted on the students' perceptions of what constituted success in English. Finally, this question is considered, 'Is the current emphasis by schools and their communities on the decoding and encoding skills required for independent learning in English promoting the perception that students who cannot read and write sufficiently accurately for their age and stage, also cannot think?

SEN05298 ®
[PDF Paper]
Assume the position: Reconfiguring the spatial in the pre-service education classroom

Kim Senior and Mary Dixon, University Of Melbourne

Current understandings of the practice of education locate pedagogy in the public domain through the articulation of the personal domain (Pinar, 2004). Critical literacy has provided teachers and teacher educators with a means of transforming subjectivity and relocating the personal through writing (Kamler, 2001). The emphasis in a critical literacy approach on the spoken and written word sits comfortably in the academic discourse of tertiary education, although it's engagement with the personal meets with some resistance. However, to engage the personal through arts based approaches meets far greater resistance. When used as the medium for core educational studies it provokes passionate responses of both dissent and accord. The authors argue the possibilities for an arts based pedagogy in pre-service education which provides a space for learning outside the accepted academic discourse and which supports the possibilities of imaging and knowing the positioned teacher. This research (dis)locates (Laclau, 1990; Edwards and Usher, 1997) the spatial configuration of the tertiary education classroom: reconfiguring the physical, positional, and epistemological.

SEN05774
[PDF Paper]
Understanding the balance of experienced teachers' ICT learning

Natalie Senjov-Makohon, Victoria University

In the Information Age, ICT learning requires a balance between the concrete and experiential learning process and the abstract conceptualisation of Andragogy. Future Teacher Professional Development will need to understand the complexities of the concrete experience and the abstract conceptualisation of new knowledge.

Professional Development will need to comprehend how experienced teachers as digital immigrants learn. It will further need to understand what abilities are essential for these experienced teachers and how they develop an awareness of their ICT learning.

This paper will examine a study that was undertaken with a group of Post Registration Primary School Educators. These experienced teachers undertook the Post Registration or fourth year of their Bachelor of Education (Primary) course at an Australian Educational Institute. These experienced teachers with limited ICT exposure went through an ICT learning process over a period of one year. They finally acquired the ICT knowledge and skills, however within the time span of one year, theoretical pedagogy was absent or minimal.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 65 SEN05771 Teacher learning in the ubiquitous ICT environment

SHA05231
[PDF Paper]
The place of music and movement in the curriculum in early childhood settings - What do teachers think?

Andelys Sharpe, Pauline Harris and Kim McKeen, University of Wollongong

This paper reports a survey study that explores the relationship between teachers' beliefs and values regarding music and movement in early childhood settings. This study approached 200 randomly selected early childhood centres to invite them to complete a questionnaire regarding music and movement experiences in their centres. In addition to the questionnaire, a teacher in each centre was also invited to take part in an interview. The interviews were used to generate a deeper discussion and to ensure the validity of the questionnaire responses. The findings reveal there are a broad range of practices within music and movement education in early childhood settings, as well as highlighting the diversity of beliefs and attitudes regarding the place of music and movement in early childhood programs. These findings show what various teachers include within their definition of music and movement, what kinds of music and movement experiences they program, how these experiences are programmed and why they are programmed this way. The paper will present these findings which explore the relationship between teachers' beliefs and values regarding music and movement education, and their teaching practice

SHO05623
[PDF Paper]
Like driving at night without the headlights on - pre-service teacher's self assessment of their grammatical awareness

Megan Short, University of Tasmania

The status of grammar in language teaching and learning is characterised by continual and often divisive debate. 'Grammar' connotes many things to many people- 'school grammar', 'teacher's grammar' and 'home grammar'. The contested status of grammar in language teaching and learning poses a dilemma for pre-service teachers in their consideration of the function, form and implementation of grammar teaching in their future language teaching practice.

The study asked pre-service teachers to indicate their confidence in grammar in general and to assess their own level of preparedness in this area. The students also engaged in an on-line discussion that asked them to discuss grammar and its role in language teaching and learning. Of interest were the metaphors that they used to describe what grammar 'is', how grammar 'works' and why grammar is important. Some of the emerging themes highlighted the discrepancy between a descriptive understanding of grammar and a prescriptive, error based definition of grammar and the impact that prior experience with 'grammar' in their own schooling has had on their confidence in considering grammar as part of their future teaching practice.

SIM05380 ®
[PDF Paper]
Confirmatory Factor Analyses and Tests of Factorial Invariance on the SMOSA

Katrina Simpson, Margaret Vickers, and Herb Marsh, University of Western Sydney

The SMOSA (Self Motivational Orientations Scale for Adolescents) is a newly developed measure assessing adolescent motivation that incorporates both motivational goals and self-perceptions. The a-priori factor structure consisted of twelve factors; eight motivational goals and four self-perceptions. The psychometric qualities of the SMOSA underwent systematic evaluation through both Confirmatory Factor Analyses on the a-priori factor structure and tests of factorial invariance. Invariance tests evaluated whether factor loadings, factor covariances and the factor structure of the SMOSA supported the a-priori model on the responses of adolescents to the SMOSA across grades (7, 8 and 9) and gender. Using a sample of grade 7 (725), grade 8 (688), grade 9 (718) and males (1034) and females (1097) were used in four stages of progressive constraint to test the a priori factor structure. The results of this research support the newly developed SMOSA's generalisability and psychometric soundness with the cross-validation of responses for males and females and also across the three grades on this adolescent population.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 26 JOH05370 Enhancing motivation, achievement and academic self-concept: Finding answers to the tough questions.

SIN05143 ®
[PDF Paper]
Developing generic skills in accounting: Resourcing and reflecting on trans-disciplinary research and insights

Samantha Sin and Anna Reid, Macquarie University

The framework for competency based standards for professional accountants, an outcome from a study commissioned by the professional accounting bodies in Australia and New Zealand, provides generic skills in accounting with a clear theoretical and conceptual base. A generic skills list was later condensed from the study and issued to universities for inclusion in the curriculum for accreditation. However, neither the framework nor the list has provided any principles or guide for developing the skills.

The current study reviews research on generic skills in higher education and identifies the key areas of interest to create a topography of the literature that relates and links the philosophies and critiques, innovations and prescriptions, reports and findings, and shortcomings and limitations of the studies. The topography will therefore be a rich resource of trans-disciplinary research and insights that could be tapped by accounting educators to design curricula that are both based and led by current research.

Some of the key features that have emerged from the review are 1) generic skills in higher education have to be developed within the discipline knowledge and context; 2) the focus of programs should be on the learner of skills and not on items of skills; 3) further, it is the development of the learner to cope in a rapidly changing future rather than just the knowledge and suitable application of skills in future situations; and 4) the conceptions and experiences of the learner s are significant factors in their generic skills development.

SIN05600
[PDF Paper]
International student subjectivities: Biographical investments for liquid times

Parlo Singh and Catherine Doherty, Queensland University of Technology

The international student as an object of study has typically been understood through the frame of cultural identity, mapped back to notions of fixed, static notions of cultural difference. In contrast, this study seeks to understand how the practice of international study has emerged as an increasingly popular 'biographical solution' (Beck 1992, Bauman 2002) in order to pursue imagined career trajectories in a globalised and competitive world. Informed by recent studies of middle class strategy in Asia (Pinches) and the transnational Chinese diaspora (Ong 1999, Ang 2001) that challenge essentialist accounts of timeless Asian values and East-West binaries, the paper analyses interview data collected from 'Asian' international students attending preparatory programs at an Australian university. Specifically, the paper discusses the disciplinary formation of the 'international student' - the take-up of self-Orientalizing discourses (Ong), and engagement in practices of auto-ethnography (Pratt). In addition, the paper explores students' critiques of, and resistances to Orientalist discourses, and pragmatic willingness to submit to local demands to further their longer term goals. Preparatory programs emerge not so much as life-changing contact zones but rather necessary transit lounges, for the acquisition of cultural distinctions along their life routes.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 47 SIN05597 Researching cultural identities in global complexity

Keywords: Education Policy; Multicultural Education; School Renewal and Pedagogic Improvement

SIN05608 ®
[PDF Paper]
Designing postgraduate pedagogies connecting internal and external learners

Parlo Singh, Bill Atweh and Paul Shield, Queensland University of Technology

While much has been written about life-long learning and learning innovation, there remains a general silence about pedagogy - who designs it, how is it talked about, how is it enacted, how is it revised. Basil Bernstein (2000) argues that the information age has become a 'totally pedagogised society' where everyone is expected to make themselves available to be retrained, reskilled, re-educated, re-pedagogised. At the same time, however, there remains a silence about the medium through which this unlearning and relearning is to take place. In this paper, we draw on and extend Bernstein's theory of pedagogic discourse to explore the new pedagogies designed, enacted and modified in an online/face-to-face postgraduate educational research masters' unit. Specifically, we examine the ways in which learners were navigated through local-global flows of information. In addition, we examine the ways in which we designed pedagogies to introduce learners to the globally integrated networks of the educational research community. Finally, we explore the new pedagogic identities that we negotiated as teachers/researchers/learners in this new context.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 48 SIN05607 Pedagogic encounters in the Information Age

Keywords: New Pedagogies; Educational Change and Innovation; ICT; Learning and Teaching; Teacher Education - General

SIR05363 ®
[PDF Paper]
A theoretical framework for research and development into sound online learning in higher education

Lou Siragusa and K Dixon, Curtin University of Technology

The development of sound instructional design principles for online learning in higher education needs to draw from the vast body of literature which reports on the findings of research into instructional technologies, cognitive learning theories and adult education (Reeves & Reeves, 1997). A recent study by Siragusa (2005) examined the body of literature which was derived from three main discipline areas that provide a theoretical framework for the potential development of a model for online learning in higher education. From these three main discipline areas, seven distinct focus areas have been identified as having direct influence on the research, design and delivery of effective online learning environments. This paper outlines each of these focus areas and argues the importance of this theoretical base for research and development into pedagogically effective online learning environments in higher education.

SIT05631
[PDF Paper]
How pre-service teachers learn to deal with bullying schools: Constructivist and Transmission approaches.

Gomathi Sitharthan, University of Sydney, Ken Rigby, University of South Australia and Sandra Nicholls

Changes to the policy in NSW schools has required that all schools have anti-bullying policy and practices in place. Recent research has discussed British trainee teachers' knowledge and beliefs about bullying. Australian teachers and pre-service teachers have not been researched. This study aims to find how some Australian teacher education students' attitudes and knowledge of theory, research and practices involved in eliminating school bullying. Third year undergraduates in a traditional transmission mode option course were given a questionnaire at the course beginning and end. For comparison, graduate students, in a constructivist style course, were given the anonymous questionnaire before their first practice teaching experience and immediately they returned. Older undergraduate samples were most confident and less unsure of how to deal with bullying. In graduate teaching samples older males who had experienced bullying were less prepared to deal with bullying. The study results indicate that professional training courses to help teachers control bullying, should explicitly deal with the theory, practice and policy of anti-bullying. These anti-bullying programs should be specifically linked to teaching experience. As well, the individual student's gender and experience of bullying needs to be acknowledged within teacher education courses that deal with anti-bullying practices.

SKO05068
[PDF Paper]
The manufacturing of "crises" in public education-the advance against the public school teacher

Andrew Skourdoumbis, Williamstown High School

This paper discusses some of the issues involved in claims of "crises" in public education. The intention is to examine recent research within this field from Australia and to briefly outline the contemporary nature of the crisis in public education argument, if one is prevalent, particularly in terms of emerging debates emphasizing teacher effectiveness.

SMI05034
[PDF Paper]
Perspectives of volunteer practitioners in a community of practice: Analysis of interview transcripts and preliminary findings

Sue Smith, University of Technology, Sydney

The presentation will focus on the analysis of interview transcripts and discussion of the preliminary finding. The context of this study is breastfeeding education in the community. The objective of the research is to understand an under-theorised area of adult education in the community that is, to understand the role of volunteers through an exploration of their experiences and beliefs in the private everyday world, a space of collectively shared meaning making.

Though a feminist-interpretive-social constructionist methodology, this insider study interviewed twenty volunteer practitioners, including the researcher as a co-participant in the study. Traditionally, an interpretive study uses an inductive analysis. However, this insider study requires reflection of researcher assumptions. The issues of design for analysis will be discussed, the doubts, the dilemmas and the processes. Reflexive analysis will be identify and adapted from a 'voice-centred relational method' (Mauthner and Doucet, 1998) and a 'double hermeneutic reflexive interpretation' (Alvesson and Sköldberg, 2000). Results of the adaptation of the analysis method and effects on preliminary findings will be discussed.

SMI05055 ®
[PDF Paper]
Squeeze in or squeeze out? How teachers fit the non-Biblical parable to the NSWDET K-6 English Syllabus (Board of Studies, 1998)

Nita Smith King and Robyn Ewing, University of Sydney

Raising Australian literacy standards continues to be a focus for both Commonwealth and State governments. The setting of benchmarks, emphasising measurable outcomes, has arguably led to more explicit teaching methods. Many schools, parents and teachers report improved literacy results. Sachs (2001) however, has argued that the resultant curriculum control comes at a cost to teacher professionalism, while Ewing (2003) has highlighted the intensification and increasing complexity of teachers' work. This paper reports on research with 65 NSW government primary teachers. Questionnaire data suggests that trying to confine literacy to a set of basic parameters imposed by an external authority leaves teachers uncertain about dealing with literary forms such as the non-Biblical parable (e.g., The Little Engine That Could). Nevertheless, this literary device is so highly regarded for the development of values and thinking skills that teachers use them regardless of perceived curriculum restraints-evidence of creative dissent. The paper also argues that teachers need to be treated as professionals, able to stretch boundaries of syllabus documents in order to respond to the needs of their students without feeling uncertain and/or guilty.

Key Words: Curriculum- Literacy, Teacher Professional Learning, Teachers' Work, Primary Schooling, Curriculum implementation/ Values education

SOU05705 ®
[PDF Paper]
Attitudes versus achievement in pre-service mathematics teacher education

Beth Southwell, Allan White and Bob Perry, University of Western Sydney, Jenny Way, Sydney University

Attitudes are generally regarded as having been learnt and predispose an individual to action that has some degree of response consistency. The significance to pre-service primary teachers is in their influence upon teaching practices. Thus the early school experiences of pre-service teachers influence the formation of attitudes which in turn influence their classroom practices. These attitudes and practices may sometimes be at variance with the main direction of their tertiary teaching methods courses. Thus it is crucial in understanding pre-service teachers that these attitudes are made explicit and examined. In a larger study, pre-service primary teachers in their first mathematics pedagogy subject at the University of Western Sydney completed three surveys: an achievement test of the mathematics they would be expected to teach; a survey of their beliefs about mathematics, mathematics teaching and mathematics learning; and a survey of their attitudes towards mathematics. This paper only reports the data from the achievement test and the attitude survey, the relationships between these two constructs and the possible implications for teacher education.

STA05540 ®
[PDF Paper]
Integrating VET into the senior school: Research findings on linear and non-linear pathways as an incomplete policy objective

Gordon Stanley and Stephen Crump, University of Sydney

This paper outlines the incorporation of vocational education and training courses into a senior secondary certificate of education, the NSW Higher School Certificate. New VET courses were introduced in 2000 to broaden the offerings available in post-compulsory schooling and to cater better for the vocational needs of students not primarily focused on university study, without excluding the latter option. This paper reviews the progressive implementation of dual recognition of VET courses in the HSC and growth in participation through quantitative and qualitative data using official statistics to review enrolments and matriculation outcomes for students in the new VET courses. Qualitative data was collected throughout a three year ARC Linkage project on vocational education and equity in senior schooling, across a matrix of eight government schools in NSW. The paper presents new analysis of the data arguing that these reforms to curriculum and reporting of the HSC has led to a more integrated approach and a better understanding of linear and non-linear VET and career pathways. The opportunity to have the outcomes from VET courses count towards university entrance was an important policy objective, but it remains unclear whether students take full advantage of this option.

STE05118
[PDF Paper]
Intellectual quality for students with severe intellectual disability

Jennifer Stephenson, Macquarie University

Recent models of effective pedagogy in schools, such as authentic pedagogy and productive

AARE Conference Paper Abstracts - 2005 ISSN 1324-9339
Compiler and Editor: Peter L. Jeffery.	Publication Details

AARE Conference Paper Abstracts - 2005 ISSN 1324-9339

ABSTRACTS of 2005 PAPERS

A

AGH05116[PDF Paper] Estimating the Hausman Test for Rasch with poorly fitted items

Kingsley Agho, University of Newcastle and James Athanasou, University of Technology, Sydney

ALD05749[PDF Paper] Enabling Dialogue

Sharon Alderson and David Gilles, Auckland University of Technology

ALI05332 ®[PDF Paper] Testing the invariance of a motivation model across seven cultural groups

Jinnat Ali and Dennis McInerney, University of Western Sydney

ALI05403 ®[PDF Paper] An analysis of the predictive validity of the Inventory of School Motivation (ISM)

Jinnat Ali and Dennis McInerney, University of Western Sydney

ALL05295[PDF Paper] Teachers heard or herd: when research silences teacher stories

Jennifer Allen, University of Newcastle

ALL05471[PDF Paper] Journeys: Supporting innovation in teacher education throughout Australia

Jennifer Allen, University of Newcastle

ALL05494[PDF Paper] Cultural differences in teaching and learning styles

Michael Allan, University of Bath

AND05154 ®[PDF Paper] Evaluating the professional learning of secondary mathematics teachers: Reflecting on their reflections!

Judy Anderson and Maxine Moore, The University of Sydney

AND05224 ®[PDF Paper] Repertoires for diversity: Effective higher order pedagogies for inclusive practice

Kim Beswick, Rob Andrew and Karen Swabey, University of Tasmania

ARN05532 ®[PDF Paper] Inter-intra subjectivities: Empathic intelligence and students' voices

Roslyn Arnold, University of Tasmania and John Hughes, University of Sydney

ASK05152[PDF Paper] Extending teacher education students' mental models of teaching and learning through Problem Based Learning (PBL)

Helen Askell-Williams, Rosalind Murray-Harvey and Michael Lawson, Flinders University

ATH05117[PDF Paper] Some issues with adult self-evaluations in education and training

James Athanasou, University of Technology, Sydney

AUL05175 ®[PDF Paper] Factors to consider when planning to submit a digital thesis

Glenn Auld, Monash University

B

BAR05352 ®[PDF Paper] The fallacy of laissez-faire leadership: A multilevel analysis of the influence of leadership avoidance behaviours on aspects of school learning environment

Alan Barnett, Herb Marsh and Rhonda Craven, University of Western Sydney

BAR05373 ®[PDF Paper] Direction of causality: Examining causal relations between motivational goals, academic self-concept and academic achievement

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

BAR05385 ®[PDF Paper] The first step toward examining the question: What do students' motivational goals and self-concept have to do with academic achievement?

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

BAR05419 ®[PDF Paper] What type of school leadership satisfies teachers? A mixed method approach to teachers' perceptions of satisfaction

Alan Barnett, Herb Marsh and Rhonda Craven, University of Western Sydney

BAT05131[PDF Paper] Educational administration and social justice

Richard Bates, Deakin University

BER05533[PDF Paper] Functional significance of feedback in learning

Rita Berry, Hong Kong Institute of Education

BOA05639 ®[PDF Paper] Positive educational gains in kindergarten for full-day attendees

Margot Boardman, University of Tasmania

BOD05314 ®[PDF Paper] Construct validation of the Self-Description Questionnaire II (Short Version) for Indigenous Australian Secondary School Students

Gawaian Bodkin-Andrews, Rhonda Craven and Herb Marsh,University of Western Sydney

BOD05319 ®[PDF Paper] The re-assessment of the Australian Perceived Discrimination Scale: Confirmatory factor analysis testing and between scale comparisons

Gawaian Bodkin-Andrews, Rhonda Craven, Herb Martin and Herb Marsh, University of Western Sydney

BON05361[PDF Paper] Silk purses from sows' ears? Making measures from teacher judgements

Trevor Bond, Hong Kong Institute of Education and Martin Caust, James Cook University

BOO05099[PDF Paper] Teachers' misconceptions of biological science concepts as revealed in science examination papers

Hong Kwen Boo, Nanyang Technological University

BOO05235[PDF Paper] Using two tier reflective multiple choice questions to cater to creative thinking

Hong Kwen Boo, Nanyang Technological University and Kok Cheng Ang, CHIJ St Nicholas Girls' School

BOO05300 ®[PDF Paper] At risk adolescents: Their perception of parenting styles

Helen Boon, James Cook University

BOW05286[PDF Paper] Teachers as professionals in the regulatory environment: Experiences in early childhood services

Kathryn Bown and Jennifer Sumsion, Macquarie University

BOW05432 ®[PDF Paper] The getting of wisdom: Learning through others

Helen Bowers, Macquarie University

BRA05251[PDF Paper] Does sun-safety make a Health program or a Health Promoting School?: A case study of climate, culture and barriers to best practice

Rosalind Brady, Judy Miller and Rafat Hussain, University of New England

BRE05587[PDF Paper] Generations of social justice in Australian schools?

Marie Brennan, University of South Australia

BRI05442 ®[PDF Paper]Values, interests and environmental preferences in the school context

Stephanie Brickman, University of Texas Pan American, Raymond Miller, University of Oklahoma and Dennis McInerney, University of Western Sydney

BRO05411 ®[PDF Paper] The mediation of collaborative pedagogical activity: What happens when the teacher isn't there?

Raymond Brown, Elizabeth Hirst and Peter Renshaw, Griffith University

BRO05422 ®[PDF Paper] The instructional features of an effective and practical intervention for significant improvements in reading comprehension

Gail Brown, Herb Marsh, Rhonda Craven and Mary Cassar, University of Western Sydney

BRO05424 ®[PDF Paper] Improving standardized reading comprehension: The role of question-answering

Gail Brown, Herb Marsh, Rhonda Craven and Mary Cassar, University of Western Sydney

C

CAI05518[PDF Paper] The Actuality Model of Engagement: A model derived from engaged students

Leonard Cairns and Michael Dyson, Monash University

CAM05609 ®[PDF Paper] Mixed-mode learning for students of school counselling

Marilyn Campbell, Denise Frost and Joanna Logan, Queensland University of Technology

CAR05025 ®[PDF Paper] Teaching Mathematics in primary schools: Different type of teachers

Jean Carroll, Victoria University

CAS05485 ®[PDF Paper] Shifting space and cultural place: Southern Sudanese young people in Western Sydney high schools

AARE Conference Paper Abstracts - 2005
ISSN 1324-9339

AGH05116
[PDF Paper]
Estimating the Hausman Test for Rasch with poorly fitted items

ALD05749
[PDF Paper]
Enabling Dialogue

ALI05332 ®
[PDF Paper]
Testing the invariance of a motivation model across seven cultural groups

ALI05403 ®
[PDF Paper]
An analysis of the predictive validity of the Inventory of School Motivation (ISM)

ALL05295
[PDF Paper]
Teachers heard or herd: when research silences teacher stories

ALL05471
[PDF Paper]
Journeys: Supporting innovation in teacher education throughout Australia

ALL05494
[PDF Paper]
Cultural differences in teaching and learning styles

AND05154 ®
[PDF Paper]
Evaluating the professional learning of secondary mathematics teachers: Reflecting on their reflections!

AND05224 ®
[PDF Paper]
Repertoires for diversity: Effective higher order pedagogies for inclusive practice

ARN05532 ®
[PDF Paper]
Inter-intra subjectivities: Empathic intelligence and students' voices

ASK05152
[PDF Paper]
Extending teacher education students' mental models of teaching and learning through Problem Based Learning (PBL)

ATH05117
[PDF Paper]
Some issues with adult self-evaluations in education and training

AUL05175 ®
[PDF Paper]
Factors to consider when planning to submit a digital thesis

BAR05352 ®
[PDF Paper]
The fallacy of laissez-faire leadership: A multilevel analysis of the influence of leadership avoidance behaviours on aspects of school learning environment

BAR05373 ®
[PDF Paper]
Direction of causality: Examining causal relations between motivational goals, academic self-concept and academic achievement

BAR05385 ®
[PDF Paper]
The first step toward examining the question: What do students' motivational goals and self-concept have to do with academic achievement?

BAR05419 ®
[PDF Paper]
What type of school leadership satisfies teachers? A mixed method approach to teachers' perceptions of satisfaction

BAT05131
[PDF Paper]
Educational administration and social justice

BER05533
[PDF Paper]
Functional significance of feedback in learning

BOA05639 ®
[PDF Paper]
Positive educational gains in kindergarten for full-day attendees

BOD05314 ®
[PDF Paper]
Construct validation of the Self-Description Questionnaire II (Short Version) for Indigenous Australian Secondary School Students

BOD05319 ®
[PDF Paper]
The re-assessment of the Australian Perceived Discrimination Scale: Confirmatory factor analysis testing and between scale comparisons

BON05361
[PDF Paper]
Silk purses from sows' ears? Making measures from teacher judgements

BOO05099
[PDF Paper]
Teachers' misconceptions of biological science concepts as revealed in science examination papers

BOO05235
[PDF Paper]
Using two tier reflective multiple choice questions to cater to creative thinking

BOO05300 ®
[PDF Paper]
At risk adolescents: Their perception of parenting styles

BOW05286
[PDF Paper]
Teachers as professionals in the regulatory environment: Experiences in early childhood services

BOW05432 ®
[PDF Paper]
The getting of wisdom: Learning through others

BRA05251
[PDF Paper]
Does sun-safety make a Health program or a Health Promoting School?: A case study of climate, culture and barriers to best practice

BRE05587
[PDF Paper]
Generations of social justice in Australian schools?

BRI05442 ®
[PDF Paper]
Values, interests and environmental preferences in the school context

BRO05411 ®
[PDF Paper]
The mediation of collaborative pedagogical activity: What happens when the teacher isn't there?

BRO05422 ®
[PDF Paper]
The instructional features of an effective and practical intervention for significant improvements in reading comprehension

BRO05424 ®
[PDF Paper]
Improving standardized reading comprehension: The role of question-answering

CAI05518
[PDF Paper]
The Actuality Model of Engagement: A model derived from engaged students

CAM05609 ®
[PDF Paper]
Mixed-mode learning for students of school counselling

CAR05025 ®
[PDF Paper]
Teaching Mathematics in primary schools: Different type of teachers

CAS05485 ®
[PDF Paper]
Shifting space and cultural place: Southern Sudanese young people in Western Sydney high schools

CAV05043 ®
[PDF Paper]
Enhancing teachers' knowledge of students' thinking: The case of graphics calculator graphs

CAV05080 ®
[PDF Paper]
Parent views of involvement in their child's education: A Rasch model analysis

CAV05081 ®
[PDF Paper]
An illustrative example of the benefits of using a Rasch analysis in an experimental design investigation

CAV05748 ®
[PDF Paper]
Measuring student perceptions of classroom assessment

CHA05030
[PDF Paper]
In-service teachers' perceptions of teaching as a career - Motives and commitment in teaching

CHA05675 ®
[PDF Paper]
The application of the results of learning environments research to an innovative teacher-designed website

CHE05303 ®
[PDF Paper]
Relationship dynamics and dimensions of support for figure skaters and significant others: Implications for schooling

CHE05309 ®
[PDF Paper]
Exploring the effect of relationship dynamics and dimensions of support on gymnasts' and figure skaters' self-concept, education and psychological resilience: A research proposal

CHO05348 ®
[PDF Paper]
Perfectionism, self-concept and self-evaluative emotions in Australian primary school students

CLA05195
[PDF Paper]
From corridor to classroom: Lesson study, school improvement and IQEA

CLA05507 ®
[PDF Paper]
Reconceptualising mentoring: A conceptual layered framework that supports and contributes to the professional learning of research colleagues

CLA05754
[PDF Paper]
Co-mentoring: A framework for enhancing research performance

COB05272 ®
[PDF Paper]
Young children enacting governance: Child's play?

COC05503 ®
[PDF Paper]
Dangerous liaisons - home-business-school numeracy networks

COL05347 ®
[PDF Paper]
Reading achievement and reading self-concept in Year Three students

COR05727
[PDF Paper]
We're practical people: Schooling and identity in a Canadian coastal community

COS05667
[PDF Paper]
Enhancing reporting of student performance data to increase school productivity

CRA05044 ®
[PDF Paper]
Flight steward or co-pilot? An exploratory study of the roles of middle-level school leaders in the non-state sector

CRA05318 ®
[PDF Paper]
Turning points in Indigenous Education: New findings that can really make a difference and implications for the next generation of Indigenous Education research

CRA05335 ®
[PDF Paper]
What does it mean to be an Australian?: The perceptions of students, senior and prominent Australians

CRO05560 ®
[PDF Paper]
LOTE teachers' work: A socio-historic analysis of foreign language teacher practice

CUL05005
[PDF Paper]
Pupils' views of creativity and the curriculum

CUL05592 ®
[PDF Paper]
Troubling teacher talk: The challenge of changing classroom discourse patterns

CUN05478 ®
[PDF Paper]
Challenges to student engagement and school effectiveness indicators

DAK05775
[PDF Paper]
Teachers' ICT literacy in the contemporary primary classroom: Transposing the discourse

DAN05158 ®
[PDF Paper]
Creative dissent and constructive solutions: What contributions does Bakhtin make to our understanding of transnational education?

DAS05377 ®
[PDF Paper]
Personal investment theory and Japanese university students' achievement on the Test of English as a Foreign Language

DAS05381 ®
[PDF Paper]
Are Japanese university students really unmotivated?

DAV05011
[PDF Paper]
Learning to empathise: Students learning to understand disability through drama and theatre; implications for teacher professional development

DAV05368 ®
[PDF Paper]
System Dynamics As A Mindtool For Environmental Education

Kate Davison CoCo Research Centre, University of Sydney
Peter Reimann CoCo Research Centre, University of Sydney

DEC05408
[PDF Paper]
Starting school in Germany: The relationship between education and social justice discussed in comparison with the situation in Australia

DEH05013
[PDF Paper]
Internet as an education aid in teaching foreign languages

DEN05203
[PDF Paper]
Job satisfaction and occupational stress in Catholic primary schools

DIN05528
[PDF Paper]
Principal leadership for outstanding schooling outcomes in junior secondary education