Paper Code Index

START | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

A

---

ABD07570         ®     PDF Paper
Child abuse: Implications for children's cognitive aptitude and behavioural problems

Sabry Abd-El-Fattah, University of South Australia, and Nabil El-Gabbas, El-Minia University

The present study investigates the relationship among child abuse (i.e., physical punishment, feeling of rejection, and psychological punishment), child's cognitive aptitude, and fathers' perception of child's behavioural problems. The Child Abuse and Neglect Scale (CANS), and the Cognitive Aptitude Scale (CAS) were administered to a sample 359 (185 males and 174 females) children enrolled in 6 kindergartens and 4 primary schools in El-Minia, Egypt. In addition, a sample of 358 fathers responded to the Children's Behavioural Problems Checklist (CBPC). A multiple regression analysis revealed that fathers' perception of children's behavioural problems was linked to children's physical abuse, feeling of rejection, and psychological punishment respectively. There was a relationship among children's cognitive aptitude, physical abuse, and feeling of rejection. Implications of these findings for children's behavioural problems and cognitive aptitude are discussed.

Keywords: Early Childhood Education

---

ABD07571         ®     PDF Paper
The Development and Psychometric Properties of the Arab Children's Self-Concept Scale

Hessa Abdel Rahman Fakhroo, University of Qatar, Sabry Abd-El-Fattah, University of South Australia, and Anwar Abd-El-Rahem, El-Minia University

The Arab Children's Self-Concept Scale (ACSCS) was developed using a sample of 460 children (220 males and 240 females) enrolled in a number of primary schools in the State of Qatar. An exploratory factor analysis of the ACSCS identified three factors: (a) Academic self-concept (12 items), (b) Non-academic self-concept (13 items), and (c) General self-concept (6 items). A confirmatory factor analysis revealed that the ACSCS could be described by three first-level factors that were linked by a higher order factor of overall self-concept. The correlation among the three factors of the ACSCS ranged from 0.30 to 0.33. The factorial structure of the ACSCS held invariant across children males and females groups. The ACSCS showed satisfactory reliability using Cronbach alpha and the congeneric model. Items of the ACSCS fitted the Rasch model adequately. Implications of these findings for measuring children's self-concept are discussed.

Keywords: Motivation and Self-Concept

---

AFA07202         ®     PDF Paper
Vee Diagrams as a Problem Solving Tool:
Promoting Critical Thinking and Synthesis of Concepts and Applications in Mathematics.

Karoline Afamasaga-Fuata'i, University of New England

Students often solve mathematics problems by executing known procedures to generate answers. As long as problems are familiar to those done in the classroom, then doing mathematics continues to be a matter of applying familiar formulas and procedures. However, difficulties often arise when students are challenged to justify their solutions or solve novel problems. This paper proposes vee diagrams as a means of facilitating students' critical thinking and reasoning to systematically analyse the mathematical content of problems as a means of identifying relevant principles and concepts that can inform the identification of plausible solutions. Constructing a vee diagram requires that solvers, not only show how (methods) they solved the problem, but in addition, they make explicit why (relevant theoretical principles) their methods worked. Doing so routinely as part of problem solving encourages the view of mathematical problems as the application context for a critical synthesis of the conceptual structure of mathematics and its methods and procedures. The paper presents examples of vee diagrams constructed by mathematics teachers, student teachers and school students from a number of studies conducted to investigate how mathematics learning could be made more meaningful for students. Implications for teaching school mathematics and teacher education are provided.

Keywords: Mathematics

---

AFA07203        ®     PDF Paper
Student Teachers' Content Knowledge and Understanding of Primary Mathematics

Karoline Afamasaga-Fuata'i, University of New England

It is often assumed that a year twelve level of mathematics is sufficient background for primary student teachers to effectively develop their pedagogical skills to teach primary mathematics. However, for a cohort of primary student teachers at a regional Australian university, results from two mathematics diagnostic tests administered at the beginning of semester one and semester two in their first year of university studies showed that there were persistent misconceptions and critical skills that required explicit redressing to further enhance their content knowledge of primary mathematics. Student responses from the two Mathematics Diagnostic Tests were analysed using the Dichotomous Rasch Measurement Model to determine a hierarchical, cognitive development scale of mathematical competence of the content of the primary mathematics syllabus. Analyses of cognitive demands of the items and students' errors enabled the identification of persistent misconceptions. Main findings suggest that student teachers find solving word problems the most difficult followed by items on reasoning and operating with fractions, proportions and probability while the basic geometric, algebraic and numeric computation items were the easiest. These have implications for teaching primary mathematics competently and flexibly in ways that can motivate future primary students to engage meaningfully with mathematics learning.

Keywords:Assessment and Measurement

---

AHO07440         ®      PDF Paper
Psycho-social well-being among school children in the northern areas of Finland, Sweden, Norway and Russia

Arto Ahonen and Raimo Rajala, University of Lapland

The paper presents the results of a comparative research into the structure and level of psycho-social well-being among school children. A total of 1,406 pupils, 13 to 15-year old, from 27 schools in the Barents Region replied to the WHO Health and Behavior of School-Aged Children questionnaire (HBSC). The data were analyzed by using LISREL technique firstly to model the structure of psycho-social well-being, and secondly to explain well-being by variables bearing on school experiences and out-of-school activities.

The result of the CFA indicated that psycho-social well-being was a three-partite construct comprising psychic, social and material well-being. The factor model suited well into the data. Analysis of cross-country differences in well-being showed that no differenced were noticed in psychic well-being. The level of social well-being was the highest among Swedish and the lowest among Russian pupils. Differences in material well-being followed the same pattern. Prediction of psychic and social well-being indicated that material well-being had a strong indirect effect on social and psychic well-being. It exerted its effect via such out-of-school variables as physical activity, use of internet and time used for homework. The results are discussed with respect to measures needed to improve psycho-social well-being.

Keywords: Comparative and International Education

---

ALE07235        ®     PDF Paper
Reflections on the meaning of social relations between teachers and students

Eva Alerby and Krister Hertting, Lule† University of Technology

What happens when the student know more about the subject than the teacher? Following discussion did occur at a secondary college during a computer lesson.

• I want to learn how to make sounds for games. It's really cool to make sound effects, say one of the students.
• No, today we are going to finish the tasks. Get on with it, answers the teacher.
• But I already know all that! I want to do something else, say Michael.
• Michael, stop doing that and get on with the tasks, or else you must leave the classroom!

In the paper this situation in the classroom will serve as a point of departure for the discussion. The aim of the paper is to illuminate, enable understanding and discuss the meaning of social relations in the learning process. In the paper we limit the discussion to raise some ideas of how the student's inherent power can affect the learning situation, which in turn can have impact on the psycho-social well-being among the students and the teachers. This will be viewed taking Alfred Schutz's notions as a theoretical starting point, and Schutz's thought will be discussed in relation to the student's view.

Keywords: Learning And Teaching

---

ALY07153         ®     PDF Paper
A strategy for vocational education in the news media at a time of industrial change: Bridging the contradiction in Journalism education

Barbara Alysen, University of Western Sydney

Journalism remains a popular subject choice for Australian students, with at least 22 universities offering undergraduate courses with a major in the subject. Unlike the situation in some other 'vocational' subject areas, enrolments in Journalism are driven by student interest rather than industry demand. Indeed, the industry itself is in a state of flux as it manoeuvres to meet the challenges and opportunities presented by technological change and shifts in media ownership.

Our research considers trends, over the past decade, in entry-level employment in the Australian news media and the impact on journalism education. While the number of mainstream media positions is contracting, opportunities are opening up in other parts of the media. However, many of these jobs lack the public-interest element that traditionally drew young people into journalism.

How then do journalism educators bridge the gaps: Between ideals and reality; between student hopes and industry practice?

Keywords: Vocational Education and Training

---

AMO07284         ®     PDF Paper
Equity effects of Quality Teaching: Closing the gap

Wendy Amosa, James Ladwig, Tom Griffiths, and Jenny Gore, The University of Newcastle

One of the central research questions addressed throughout the SIPA research project is an examination of the equity implications of the Quality Teaching model. By analysing each of the three dimensions of Quality Teaching and their combined contributions to students' learning outcomes, we examine the production of achievement differences between two key equity groups, namely, students from low socio-economic backgrounds and students of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent.

These analyses respond directly to standing equity debates on the relative importance of pedagogical strategies focusing on the different dimensions included in the NSW model for students of traditionally underachieving social groups (Halsey et al., 1997; Karabel & Halsey, 1977; Rowan et al., 2002). This analysis is one of the first attempts to test pedagogical hypotheses of the Bernsteinian tradition, suggesting that differential effects of pedagogy should be expected for students from differing social backgrounds, using large-scale quantitative data.

Guided by these analyses, we challenge popular misconceptions about what matters most for students who are traditionally disadvantaged by schooling and suggest how school reform efforts to close achievement gaps need to be mindful of the differing effects of different dimensions of pedagogy.

Keywords: Learning and Teaching

---

AND07318         ®     PDF Paper
Accessing teachers' views on their practice using mixed interview methodologies

Melody Anderson and Peter Ferguson, University of Melbourne

This paper considers the contribution of a range methods employed in a study to determine practitioner constructions of pedagogy in Victoria. The study crossed three curriculum domains, Thinking, ICT and Science. The broad aim of the study was to see how teachers constructed pedagogical meaning and how this was influenced by the domain within which they operated. Data were collected in three ways, individual face-to-face interviews; domain specific focus group discussions and individual electronic responses. Each approach resulted in subtly different perspectives of the issue under consideration. Analysis suggests that, in part at least, the data were influenced by the mode of communication. This paper considers the different modes of data collection within this study and identifies relationships between the mode used and the detail within the data collected. The paper will be of use to researchers intending to conduct research into teachers' articulation of their practice to help them refine data collection methods.

Keywords: Research Methods

---

ARB07588     PDF Paper
International students in neighbourhood schools: A fickle commodity

Ruth Arber, Deakin University

That school communities are under pressure from various discourses - marketisation, neo-liberal liberalism and globalisation - has been much discussed recent literature. However, little discussion has taken place in relation to the impact of these discourses on the ways school communities understand their world and their students. This paper explores these discourses at work as Victorian Government schools, desperate for one of the few funding opportunities open to them, complete for international fee-paying students within an increasingly competitive and regulated market. Real attempts by school representatives to understand the academic and pastoral needs of students and parents become confused as they are negotiated in relation to Government demands for economy and accountability, student demands for international and western education and the marketing and educational imperatives of the school. In this paper I explore the impact of international students in local government secondary schools. I argue that a consequence of the drive to accept international students had been the commodification and objectification of the international student. International students become a fickle commodities much sought after when they are profitable, no longer wanted when they are not.

Keywords: Education Policy

---

ATW07578         ®     PDF Paper
Theorizing values and their study in mathematics education

Bill Atweh, Curtin University of Technology, and Wee Tiong Seah, Monash University

This paper provides a critical summary of the different conceptions of "values" in mathematics education literature as compared with the more general debate about values in current educational discourse. It attempts to provide a multidimensional theoretical and methodological model for studying values that is attuned with past research in the discipline as well as value of mathematics in society.

Keywords: Secondary Schooling

---

ATW07579         ®     PDF Paper
Social disadvantage and access to higher education: What potential students don't know and how to address their needs

Bill Atweh, Curtin University of Technology, and Derek Bland, Queensland University of Technology

There is consistent evidence that access to higher education in Australia remains a function of the students' background including, among other factors, their socioeconomic status, race and Indigeniety. With the demise of many programs that were established in the early 1990s to assist students from underrepresented social groups in higher education to participate in university studies, more research is needed about the barriers to higher education and how can they be avoided. In this paper we discuss learnings about different knowledge needs of high school students from underrepresented groups and suggest ways in which these needs might be met. The observations in this paper arise from our experience with the Student Action Research for University Access (SARUA) project, a collaborative project between high school students, their teachers and staff from the university working together to increase the participation of students from disadvantaged backgrounds in higher education.

Keywords: Secondary Schooling

---

ATW07598         ®     PDF Paper
School disengagement: Its constructions, investigation and management

Bill Atweh and Rob Cavanagh, Curtin University of Technology, Derek Bland and Susan Carrington, Queensland University of Technology

School disengagement, and hence its remediation can be constructed by focusing on either side of individual/social debate. Much research into social and academic factors associated with students at risk places the individual student (or subgroups of students) as the focus of the problem and leads into remedial activities done to or on the student(s). Often students are passive recipients of the activities that tend to reinforce their alienation and lack of agency and reinforce the very regimes that alienate them in the first place. Alternatively, disengagement can be constructed as a totally social problem of exclusion or as a "political resistance" by students. While such understanding avoids the trap of blaming the victim, students in this case, it raises the possibility of shifting the blame to the system and its institutions rather than provide a solution to the problem affecting both the student and the system. This paper argues for an approach to conceptualise disengagement as discursive interaction between the individual and the social. It also discusses methodologies for research and action that are based on this discursive interaction between the social and the individual.

Keywords: Education Policy

---

ATW07600     PDF Paper
Pedagogy for Socially Response-able mathematics and science education

Bill Atweh, Curtin University of Technology

This paper considers two dimensions of Socially Response-able mathematics and science education, in particular the employment of authentic classroom pedagogy and the catering for needs of students from variety of backgrounds. In particular the paper discusses the potential tension between using appropriate pedagogy for improvement of the learning outcomes of all students and the employment of special programs that are appropriate and sensitive to the needs of particular groups of students. The first approach is based on the premise that good pedagogy is a proven way to improve the education of all students, including the marginalised and disadvantaged. Arguably, it contributes to the lack of differentiation between students and recognises their multiple identities and lack of essentialism of group identities. The second approach is based on the premise that group identification is an important factor in improving participation and achievement in schools and education. This paper discusses the models of Productive Pedagogy that aims at developing both quality education to all students as well as recognises the various group identities and backgrounds of students. The paper argues for the concept of strategic essentialism as means to manage this apparent tension between the two approaches.

Keywords: School Renewal And Pedagogic Improvement

---

AVE07116     PDF Paper
Good intentions are not enough in promoting quality teaching: the application of productive pedagogies in teacher education programs

Nado Aveling and Helen Hatchell, Murdoch University

At the heart of Initial Teacher Education programs is the concept of "quality teaching". Certainly, as teacher educators we are concerned to be the best teachers we can possibly be in order to prepare our students - future teachers - to be "quality teachers" who have the capacities to achieve optimal learning outcomes for all their students. However, if our students' examination results are any indication, we fall somewhat short of the mark.

In this paper we analyse student teachers' learning as evident from their final examinations and while we realise that examinations cannot adequately demonstrate the range of student learning we would suggest that they can point the way to re-conceptualising our teaching to create more effective and meaningful learning experiences. While we might all agree that quality teaching is desirable, this concept is unstable and frequently contested. A further aim of our paper, therefore, is to begin to deconstruct what we mean when we talk about 'quality teaching' within the context of the notion of 'productive pedagogies'.

Keywords: New Pedagogies, Learning And Teaching, Pre-service Teacher Education

---

B

---

BAR07192     PDF Paper
Sustaining systematic improvement in NT schools

Claire Bartlett, Charles Darwin University

The National Accelerated Literacy Program (NALP) was established in 2004, when the developers of "Scaffolding Literacy" brought their program to the Northern Territory at Charles Darwin University with funding from DEST to support a system-wide implementation of the methodology. The Northern Territory Department of Education, Employment and Training (DEET) committed to rolling out the Accelerated Literacy program in 100 schools, training 700 teachers and reaching 10,000 students in predominantly remote locations. As a member of the evaluation team examining the impact of the program on teacher effectiveness, the question of proving or improving raises its head.

This paper describes student achievement data delivered by the program to date. Drawing from preliminary focus group and teacher questionnaire data, I go on to describe the challenge of delivering intensive training and support services to a growing and geographically dispersed network of participating Accelerated Literacy schools in the Northern Territory, in both a cost- and instructionally-effective manner. The paper recommends models of on-going in-school professional development to guide local and systemic efforts to improve pedagogy, informed by national and international best practice yet specific to the needs of teachers in Northern Territory schools.

Keywords: Teacher Professional Learning

---

BAR07196     PDF Paper
A Tale of Two observation instruments
The evaluation of the National Accelerated Literacy Program

Claire Bartlett and Sue Emmett, Charles Darwin University

The National Accelerated Literacy Program (NALP) aims to improve outcomes for students, particularly for marginalized Indigenous students, by raising English literacy levels using the Accelerated Literacy methodology. The program is in phase 2 of evaluation by Charles Darwin University. The primary focus of this research is to evaluate the extent to which Accelerated Literacy professional development and support impact on Accelerated Literacy teaching methods and student outcomes.

Researchers have found the process of developing data collection instruments for the purposes of this evaluation challenging and most insightful. This paper will reveal the process through which the researchers have progressed to recognize the importance of employing two observation instruments in order to accurately answer the research questions.

The utilization of two separate observation instruments enables a number of hypotheses to be specifically tested. This is because levels of teacher effectiveness regarding the implementation of the Accelerated Literacy teaching sequence strategies can be observed separately to generic teaching practices. Each instrument enables observers to focus on these different aspects of teaching.

Further, this paper will report on the preliminary findings of the evaluation of the implementation of the National Accelerated Literacy Program.

Keyword: Research Methods

---

BAR07287        ®     PDF Paper
Students' goals, academic self-concept and academic achievement: Testing competing models of causation

Katrina Barker, University of Western Sydney

Studies reporting correlations between goals and self-concept are informative and heuristic, but their findings are based on a single wave of data, hence the underlying mechanisms responsible for the results remain unexplained. To address this void, this study tested competing structural equation models utilising longitudinal data from 535 high school students in Grades 7, 8, and 9 in the first wave of the study, to extrapolate the causal relations among self-concept, goal orientations, and academic achievement. The results reveal that self-concept is causally predominant over students' goals and academic achievement. Implications of these findings are discussed in terms of their impact on future theory, research, and practice.

Keywords: Motivation And Self-Concept

---

BAS07349     PDF Paper
Work Engagement among English Secondary School Teachers in Indonesia

Basikin, Monash University

Work engagement is defined as a positive, fulfilling, work-related state of mind characterized by vigor, dedication and absorption (Schaufelli, Salanova, Gonzales-Roma, & Baker, 2002). Research suggests that it is one indicator of achievement. This paper investigates the work engagement among a sample of 152 secondary school English teachers in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, sampled from a competency-based integrated training course. Data were collected using the short form of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES 9; Schaufeli, Bakker, & Salanova, 2003). Reliability in the Indonesian context was high (alpha=.91 overall; alphas=.76, .83, .79 respectively, for component vigor, dedication, and absorption subscales). Results suggest that teachers' work engagement is generally high (overall M=5.04 on the 7-point scale; Ms=4.99, 5.44, 4.71 respectively, for component vigor, dedication, and absorption subscales). Findings are interesting in the context of low student English achievement in this region and implications are suggested in relation to teachers' continuing professional development and enhancement of student achievement.

Keywords: Teachers' Work

---

BAY07481         ®     PDF Paper
Teachers' views of calculators for students with learning disabilities

Anne Bayetto and Shirley Yates, Flinders University

Although calculators were introduced into Australian primary schools in the 1980s, their use in mathematics lessons by students with learning difficulties (LD) remains controversial. Teacher opinion is sharply divided, ranging from those who believe calculators limit development of computational skills which can only be acquired through pencil and paper practice to those who consider calculators reduce the burden of computation, provide opportunities for mathematical thinking and enhance confidence and achievement for students with LD. However, despite sound research evidence of the efficacy of calculators for students with LD, calculators continue to be underutilised in mathematics. Forty-nine primary teachers who had voluntarily enrolled in a professional development (PD) programme about using calculators with students who have LD were surveyed regarding their views on calculators for students with LD and their beliefs about mathematics and its teaching and learning. Results confirm a breadth of teacher opinion about calculators, with those scoring high on constructivist approaches to mathematics teaching expressing more favourable attitudes towards calculators as did those espousing strong beliefs about the beauty and meaningfulness of mathematics. These findings have implications for teacher PD and decision making, particularly in relation to teachers who are reticent about using calculators with students with LD.

Keywords: Teacher Professional Learning

---

BIS07082         ®     PDF Paper
A quantitative analysis of university students' receptivity to peers with disabilities

Minoti Biswas and Russell Waugh, Edith Cowan University

This study investigated university students' receptivity to peers with disabilities at two universities in Perth, Western Australia (Edith Cowan University and the University of Notre Dame in Fremantle), and two universities in India (The University of Kolkata, previously Calcutta, and the University of Jadavpur). Data were collected via a 60 item questionnaire (N=3D996) based on six aspects supporting receptivity to peers with disabilities-Academic, Interactive, Social, Personal, Professional and Supportive. The final questionnaire was composed of 30 stem-items each answered in two perspectives: (1) an ideal self-view (What I think I should do) and (2) their self-reported behaviour (what I actually do), making an effective total of 60 items. The questionnaire data were analysed with a Rasch computer program (RUMM 2020) in order to create a linear scale of University Students' Receptivity of Peers with Disabilities so that valid inferences could be made from the scale data.

Four main inferences were drawn from the Rasch-created linear scale of Receptivity to Peers with Disabilities. One is that the ideal self-views (attitudes) are easier than the actual self-views (behaviours), for all items where both perspectives fit the measurement model. Two is that the students do make an effort to appreciate and recognise academic and non-academic achievements of peers with disabilities at university but find it moderately hard to do so. Three is that the students found it very hard to involve themselves in promoting optimal participation of peers with disabilities in quality higher education. Four is that Receptivity to Peers with Disabilities is significantly higher at the Universities of Calcutta and Jadavpur in India than at Edith Cowan University and the University of Notre Dame in Western Australia, and Receptivity is significantly higher at the University of Notre dame than at Edith Cowan University. The analysis helped to establish links between attitudes and behaviours that may lead to better attitude and behaviour changes through more interactions and higher levels of receptivity to peers with disability.

Keywords: University Policy, Students with Disabilities

---

BIS07624   ®       PDF Paper
A qualitative analysis of university students' receptivity to peers with disabilities

Minoti Biswas and Russell Waugh, Edith Cowan University

This qualitative study examined university students' receptivity to peers with disabilities at two universities in Perth, Western Australia (Edith Cowan University and the University
Notre Dame in Fremantle), and two universities in India (The University of Kolkata formerly Calcutta, and the University of Jadavpur). Data were collected by two methods: (1) written open-ended data (N= 201); and (2) two focus groups, one in Perth (N=10) and one in Kolkata (N=10).The two data sets were analysed using the Miles and Huberman approach. That is, the data were segmented and codified in the search for themes, clusters, patterns, abstractions and propositions.

Specifically, the research describes the feelings of responsibility and commitment to educational goals for peers with disabilities in an inclusive or general university environment, documents the barriers and difficulties, and the successes perceived by non-disabled students in an inclusively structured place of education or in integrated education programmes, and compares the data concerning university students' receptivity of peers with disabilities in India and Western Australia to illustrate a different perception of disabilities. The open-ended data analysis on one hand, showed that students lacked knowledge of factors such as awareness, opportunities, and information about disabilities, and information about how they peers with disabilities could be helped, and on the other, helped to establish

links between attitudes and behaviours that may lead to better attitude and behaviour to peers with disabilities through more interactions between regular students and students with disabilities.

The main results from the focus group interviews indicate that university students have a positive receptivity to peers with disabilities. Although significant differences were indicated in the actual behaviours of regular students toward peers with disabilities, the attitudes were found to be, in general, positive in all the four universities in Western Australia and India, with students in India being more positive and supportive than students in Western Australia.

Keywords: Doctoral Education Research

---

BLA07408         ®     PDF Paper
Examining the significance of different conceptions of learning

Damian Blake and Peter Smith, Deakin University

Since the 1990s the system-wide introduction of vocational learning programs into schools has now created the need for students to blend their learning experiences gained from previously discretely organised institutions such as schools, TAFEs, and workplaces. This has created new challenges to how learning needs to be conceived by students as they are exposed to potentially different conceptions of learning held by each of these institutions. This paper explores the significance of differing institutional conceptions of learning for the students who undertake these pathways. It examines potentially conflicting messages about learning that students must overcome if they are to be successful. The paper concludes by proposing that engagement with and understanding of a broader set of conceptions of learning is an opportunity for the enhancement of student experience.

Keywords: Learning and Teaching

---

BLE07002         ®     PDF Paper
Reconstructing gender in the Philosophy for Children program

Jennifer Bleazby, University of New South Wales

I will argue that Philosophy for Children (hereafter P4C) reconstructs traditional gender stereotypes. These stereotypes link caring, imaginative, concrete, communal, and connected thinking with femininity, while abstract, rational, and individualistic thinking are conceived as masculine. Traditional pedagogies emphasize masculine ideals of thinking. As such traditional schooling excludes and disadvantages girls because it is constructed in opposition to dominant notions of femininity. In contrast, the P4C classroom, which involves students inquiring into philosophical issues in a caring, communal, metacognitive inquiry, facilitates valuable feminine ways of thinking in conjunction with traditionally masculine methods. Consequently, girls and boys develop both these thinking types as interconnected and interdependent. By deconstructing these gender stereotypes, P4C also challenges the traditional gendering of school subjects. Seemingly concrete, emotive, and imaginative subjects like English, art, and the humanities have traditionally been considered feminine, while apparently more rational subjects like maths and science are considered masculine. Consequently, I believe P4C may be particularly valuable for overcoming the current concerns about the educational performance of boys, especially in relation to literacy and antisocial behavioral. In P4C boys will develop the caring, concrete thinking and communication skills needed for conflict resolution, and may cease to perceive English as a feminine subject.

Keyword: Educational Philosophy

---

BOO07027         ®      PDF Paper
"Family, motivational and behavioural links to Indigenous Australian adolescents' achievement."

Helen Boon, James Cook University

The perceived parenting, mastery motivation, self-efficacy, problem behaviour and achievement outcomes of a sample of 112 Indigenous Australian adolescents were used to examine relations between them while controlling for SES variables. Structural equation modelling procedures tested the predictive role of parenting variables for mastery motivation, self-efficacy, behaviour problems and achievement outcomes. Previous findings concerning the mediation role played by mastery motivation and by self-efficacy were replicated and synthesized into a unified model. Results support the role of self-efficacy in mediating parenting and mastery motivation upon academic outcomes. Parenting characterized by high levels of warmth, involvement and strictness/supervision was found to be significantly linked to higher achievement outcomes and lower levels of problem behaviours while the converse was indicated for parenting low in these dimensions, typical of a neglectful parenting style.

Keywords: Research Methods

---

BOU07556         ®     PDF Paper
Inclusive education and phenomenology

Patricia Bourke, Queensland University of Technology

Current debates about 'quality' and 'impact' in educational research are prompting members of the educational research community to ask whether the distinctive nature and purpose of educational research diminishes its suitability for delivering measurable outcomes, or results that can be predicted or manipulated. Education is a complex concept involving notions of personhood, learning and teaching. Many different approaches and methods are needed to ensure that the educational field is enriched by research that is comprehensive i.e. covering empirical, analytical or theoretical aspects of a field of human endeavour that is constantly changing and developing. Especially in most complex contexts such as inclusive education, as new socio-cultural theories inform the field, traditional epistemologies of 'special education' and its positivistic methods of inquiry are being supplemented by qualitative methods, which have gained credibility as valid research tools in education and psychology, and nursing. This paper argues that qualitative research using a phenomenological approach can provide insights into essential meanings of fundamental phenomena within the inclusive education context by exploring the lived experiences of participants in the field.

Keywords: Inclusive and Special Education, Research Methods

---

BRO07185         ®     PDF Paper
Transforming professional practice: What profiling tells us

Noleine Fitzallen, Natalie.Brown, Sara Booth and Kerry Howells, University of Tasmania

This paper presents a case study of four teaching academics in a Faculty of Education with respect to their use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). Data was gathered through in-conversation interviews, conducted via e-mail communication, with the participants. A validated framework for profiling teachers' use of ICT formed the foundation for the analysis. It was clear that the academics had moved towards embracing ICT to support and transform their practice. However, a number of challenges in embedding ICT into all aspects of academic work were identified. The results point to a need for a systemic, faculty-wide approach to embracing ICT as a culture for learning.

Keywords: Mathematics, Information Communication Technology [ICT], Learning and Teaching, Primary and Secondary Schooling

---

BRO07188         ®     PDF Paper
Using an inquiry approach to develop mathematical thinking

Natalie Brown and Karen Wilson, University of Tasmania

This case study describes the use of an inquiry approach to develop mathematical thinking in year eight students. A series of guided inquiries were co-constructed by teachers and researchers as a component of a Professional Learning program in a rural Tasmanian secondary school. The inquiries covered content in the Proportional Reasoning and Chance and Data curriculum strands and were underpinned by the Teaching for Understanding framework (Blythe, 1998). Students received modelling and formative feedback on the inquiry process with an emphasis on providing written explanations of their mathematical thinking and their investigative processes. At the conclusion of the unit, students completed a fifth inquiry as a culminating assessment task. Student work samples were collected and assessed against a rubric to determine if an improvement had occurred over the course of the project. These results together with teacher observations demonstrate the capacity of this approach to influence student outcomes in terms of mathematical thinking

Keywords: Curriculum and Specific Curriculum Areas - Mathematics

---

BRO07340         ®     PDF Paper
Implementation Of E-Learning: A Case Study in Three Schools

Tania Broadley, Curtin University of Technology

As Western Australian schools move to implement technology into the classroom, there appears to be prevalence in combining e-learning with face to face traditional classroom practice. This has been accompanied by a shift toward a digital curriculum that incorporates re-usable learning objects. Essential to any teacher contemplating the use of a digital curriculum resource is not only the knowledge of learning theories but models of best practice to create online curriculum for students to use in every day classrooms. This paper explores the e-learning practices in three case study schools (n=3) in Western Australia. Data were collected by observation and interviews (n=11) conducted with the teachers and the ICT co-ordinators, to ascertain their perceptions and experiences with regard to the e-learning environment. There were challenges associated with the implementation of e-learning by teachers into their classroom such as skill development, changes in their role and the pedagogies they employ. The case study schools were pilot schools breaking new ground in order to test a new portal technology. Findings indicated that successful implementation of the e-learning environment was dependent on the four key factors of ICT infrastructure, ICT leadership, support and training initiatives and the teachers ICT capacity.

Keywords: Information Communication Technology

---

BRO07360         ®     PDF Paper
Transforming teachers' construction of student diversity through collective argumentation

Raymond Brown, Griffith University, and Peter Renshaw, University of Queensland

Research on student diversity typically frames it as an individual trait, or capability. Rogoff & Guttierez (2003) contrasted this "trait" approach to diversity with the sociocultural approach that treats diversity as situated and produced in social and institutional practices. Empirical studies of teachers' understanding of diversity (Paine, 1989; Achinstein & Barrett, 2004) have identified four frames that teachers have typically deployed to categorise students: an individual differences orientation, a categorical orientation based on considerations of social categories such as gender class and race, a contextual orientation that locates patterns of difference between students at the intersection of psychological, biological and contextual influences; and a pedagogical perspective. In this paper, we suggest that these orientations are inadequate because they fail to consider the way institutional practices and everyday interaction patterns in schools actually produce and construct differences between students. To capture this dynamic process, we tracked across a 4 year time frame a group of three teachers who were part of a "design experiment" on Collective Argumentation which promotes a more participatory and dialogical process of classroom interaction. We focussed on how teachers' perceptions of students were changing as their own pedagogy changed. We were interested in their accounts of how particular students had changed during the school year and what categories and labels they deployed to describe their students. The teachers provided accounts of transformation in their students' engagement in learning activities. Teachers were found to be developing a new language for describing student diversity - a language not based on nominal categories with their implied set of stable traits - but rather based on descriptions of shared practices and different repertoires that students were adopting as members of a particular classroom community.

Keywords: Learning and Teaching

---

BRO07423         ®     PDF Paper
Meeting the challenge: Professional learning for integrating ICT into science and mathematics classes

Natalie Brown, Andrew Fluck and Karen Wilson, University of Tasmania

A research project to assess the efficacy of in-school professional learning to support use of on-line learning objects is being conducted in remote schools in Tasmania. This paper reports on the implementation of the project and how individual school contexts have influenced delivery of the professional learning. Challenges have included recruitment of schools and scheduling of professional learning, logistics of coordinating multiple sessions in remote areas and technical issues. It is clear that in projects of this type the need to address both technical and pedagogical innovation, whilst meeting the needs of schools and individual teachers is of paramount importance.

Keywords: New Pedagogies, Mathematics, Sciences, Information Communication Technology and Teacher Professional Learning

---

BRO07612         ®     PDF Paper
The LINKS Program- The complexities of a university-school connection

Joanna Brown, Ruth Reynolds and Cheryl Williams, University of Newcastle

Why does this have to be so complex? Is there no pleasing some people? Will we ever get it right? What is right? Is there only one way to do this? Why is it working in school A but not in school B? Is it preferable to try rather than not try at all? Why the detractors? Why high praise from some? Is this evidence of support? Who are the movers and shakers?

The Links Program, at a regional university in NSW, Australia, involves teacher education students being attached to a school throughout their entire teaching program to enable them to be incorporated into the school culture which will, in turn, contribute to building the levels of confidence and resilience in Pre-service and New Scheme teachers. This program is aimed at providing an opportunity for pre-service teachers to build trust and understanding of one particular school environment. This paper briefly orientates the reader by describing the Links Program, its goals and activities that students may engage in as active participants of the program. It then goes on to illuminate the results of a survey conducted after the program has been running for 18 months through the lens of 'complexity theory'. Identification of such complexities within the Links Program leads to a consideration of the implications for learning to teach, with and by, NSW Professional Teaching Standards.

Keywords: Pre-service Teacher Education

---

BRU07322         ®     PDF Paper
Primary schooling and children's socio-emotional wellbeing: A Teacher's perspective

Nicole Brunker, The University of Sydney

Socio-emotional wellbeing has often been placed at the opposite end of the educational continuum to academic achievement thus at times creating an 'either/or' debate. As research has demonstrated the effectiveness of socio-emotional wellbeing to facilitate and predict academic achievement (Caprara et al., 2002; Catalano et al., 2004; Malecki & Elliot, 2002; Flook et al, 2005) it would appear there is no longer a need for such a debate. Attention should now focus on how schools may most effectively support socio-emotional wellbeing. Researchers have suggested that this requires whole school reform addressing curriculum, pedagogy and management (Weare, 2000, 2004). While Australia has placed socio-emotional wellbeing within the goals of schooling (MCEETYA, 1999), educational policy continues to relegate socio-emotional wellbeing to pockets of curriculum, social skills training and character education approaches. A "wide awakening" (Greene, 1978, pg 45) is needed, for schools to open the discussion on socio-emotional wellbeing. This paper outlines a small pilot study which utilised the methodology of portraiture to explore one teacher's perspective on socio-emotional wellbeing. The use of portraiture aims to draw both the participant and the reader into a process of reflection to prompt further development of primary schooling's role in children's socio-emotional wellbeing.

Keywords: Primary Schooling

---

BUR07124         ®     PDF Paper
The ebb and flow of Japanese educational reform

Bruce Burnett, Queensland University of Technology, and Masato Wada, Tokyo Gakugei University

Through analysis of Japanese educational reform this paper draws attention to key historical and cultural aspects of Japan's modern educational system. Links are drawn to the influence socio-political transformations have had on the Japanese educational systems within three periods of radical reform beginning with the Meiji restoration in 1871, moving onto the Occupation led reforms after the Second World War and concluding with a analysis of contemporary neo-liberal reforms. The paper argues that one of most important aspects to emerge from the antecedence of contemporary Japanese education is the manner in which reform impacts on educators who have been directed to perform and conduct themselves in ways that fundamentally alter traditional Japanese work/cultural practices. The paper aims to introduce Japanese educational reform to a new readership while also providing a source of analysis directed towards the impact of global educational reform outside Western contexts.

Keywords: ducation Policy, Multicultural Education

---

BUR07147         ®     PDF Paper
Critical realism: The required philosophical compass for inclusion?

Nick Burnett, Queensland University of Technology

Although during recent years in the field of special education there has been much debate regarding inclusion and also people's beliefs around disability, it is suggested that what has been lacking in many of the discussions is any coherent guiding philosophy that helps direct research in this area.

The paper proposes that critical realism, developed by philosopher Roy Bhaskar, may provide such a framework and offers a philosophical 'compass' (Egbo, 2005) to researchers who want to be engaged in critical social scientific inquiry.

The paper will briefly outline the main tenets of critical realism before exploring the literature in the fields of disability, inclusion and special education through a critical realist lens.

It will go on to outline a proposed research study into the possible mechanisms impacting on the role of leaders in special education settings in relation to building an inclusive education system.

Keywords: Inclusive and Special Education

---

BUR07251         ®     PDF Paper
Unfinished business : Reigniting the discussion on the role of education in the reconciliation process

Nina Burridge, University of Technology Sydney

This paper discusses and debates the role of education in building cross-cultural understandings between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities as part of Australia's reconciliation process during the life of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation and the subsequent downgrading of Indigenous issues from the national political and educational agenda after 2000.

It draws on findings from a major research project conducted towards the end of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation's ten year period which concluded in early 2001, at a time when the discourse of what constitutes reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians was at its peak. It advances that while Aboriginal and non Aboriginal people, aspire to a level of harmonious co-existence, and educators are at the forefront of this aspiration, what is less clear is the direction on how this can be achieved. This exemplifies the different viewpoints and discourses existing in the community at large about what reconciliation entails for Indigenous and non- Indigenous Australians - from genuine substantive reconciliation which recognises Indigenous first nation rights to the practical reconciliation advocated by the current federal government.

The paper then engages in an analysis of the roles education policy makers and teachers should play in the processes of reconciling Indigenous and non Indigenous Australians in the current socio-political context. It extrapolates that in a socially just Australia dealing with 'unfinished business' of genuine reconciliation with Indigenous peoples has ramifications for the education sector and indeed, for all Australians.

Keywords: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education

---

BUR07273     PDF Paper
External engagement and institutional autonomy in higher education

Catherine Burnheim, University of Melbourne

Universities' external relations, particularly with industry, have been seen as a contributor to the reduction of institutional autonomy, through both adoption of management models from other sectors and through commercial arrangements . On the other hand, a more engaged approach to communities, government and industry has also been seen as a means to revitalise academic life

Pierre Bourdieu argues that the autonomy of a field (space of social action) depends on the extent to which it can "refract" external pressures into its own logic. This paper offers a typology of higher education external relations based on the degree to which they are refracted into logic of the field. The paper draws on analysis of major models of community and regional engagement, scholarship and service as well as on data collected through interviews at three Group of Eight universities.

Keywords: Education Policy

---

BUR07501         ®     PDF Paper
Learning as an environmental activity: Moving beyond the here and now to the whatever, the wherever and the whenever

Mary Burston, La Trobe University

This paper takes it cues from key concepts: ecology, education and environment to reappraise the nature of relationships and interactions between learners and learning environments. Educational pedagogy can reveal much about the structural formation of institutionalised systems of knowledge but cannot fully reveal the type of eco-learning taking place between learners and their environments. What will emerge in this discussion is the realisation that learning is a dialogic and multi-varied activity consisting of 'micro dialogues' produced and performed within learning worlds. In demonstrating an alternative way of thinking about eco-learning as an environmental activity, the themes of mobility and technological convergence emerge as areas of analysis to explore how learning involves complex negotiations of physical, social, cultural, spatial and technological environments. These environments are constitutive of 'micro-dialogues' taking place in material conditions constituted by textual spaces both known and represented, and spaces in which technologies of communication [ICT], characterise relationships between; objects of learning; between knowers; the known; and learners' worlds of learning.

Keywords: New Pedagogies

---

BUR07606         ®     PDF Paper
Children's perceptions of accessible playgrounds

Jenene Burke, University of Ballarat

For some children with impairments, playing on a playground with other children, is seldom or never experienced. Accessible playgrounds have features which can give children with disabilities the opportunity to gain access to play so that they can be included in play with other children, including peers who do not have impairments.

In this paper, qualitative data drawn from the views and perceptions of children is explored. Interpretation through reflection on this data attempts to make sense of the lived experience of participants in school and community playgrounds as they try to engage with supposedly accessible play equipment that can facilitate participation, yet also create unintentional barriers to play. The social model of disability, which suggests that disability is created by an unequal social relationship, together with the 'new' sociology of childhood is adopted as a way of viewing the relationship between children, disability and the playground environment.

An argument is advanced for broader implications that affect children who use school and community playgrounds which need to be considered to enhance inclusion of children with disabilities in play.

Keywords: Doctoral Education Research

---