Search

Skills in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) are promoted by the Australian government as pivotal for Australia's economic prosperity. Research on equity groups suggests that group membership is associated with several factors linked to 'leakage' from the STEM pipeline of school, university and transition to work. In this paper we draw on longitudinal Australian data to understand what factors influence the participation of equity group students in university STEM courses, and to explore how the STEM pathways of those groups differ from those of non-equity students. We identified several important factors which influence participation at two critical points of the STEM pipeline; transition from school into university, and transition from university into the STEM workforce. Our results indicated that higher levels of mathematics self-concept and instrumental valuing of mathematics in early adolescence predict continuation in the STEM pathway for all students and particularly those from low socioeconomic status backgrounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much research has been conducted on children's self-talk and its use to regulate thinking and behaviour, but research has typically been conducted on audible self-talk when undertaking specific tasks designed by researchers and in laboratory situations. Addressing the need to study self-talk in the classroom and by students of an age when self-talk is largely internalised, this study investigated the association of self-talk with children's self-regulatory behaviour and academic performance. The findings reported in this paper are based on the data from self-report questionnaires on self-talk completed by eight-to-nine-year-olds, national mathematics achievement test results, and a teacher-completed behaviour rating scale. Based on the previous research, results were somewhat unexpected, including that self-talk may not have a very strong role in children's behavioural self-regulation and calling into question an effect of self-talk on children's learning in the classroom. Possible reasons are provided and the need for future research is acknowledged. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Among a sample of 472 Indigenous high school students, juxtaposed with 15,884 non-Indigenous students from the same 54 schools, we investigated variation in motivation and engagement from school to school, and the role of motivation and engagement in predicting various academic outcomes (aspirations, buoyancy, homework completion, and achievement). We found significantly lower mean-levels of motivation and engagement among Indigenous students. Importantly, however, after accounting for age, gender, socio-economic status (SES), and prior achievement, the motivation and engagement differences between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students were markedly reduced. We also found that Indigenous students' positive motivation and engagement (e.g. self-efficacy, mastery orientation, etc.) predicted academic outcomes to a significantly greater extent than their negative motivation and engagement (e.g. anxiety, self-handicapping, etc.) predicted these outcomes. Findings are discussed with particular focus on how they may be helpful in identifying ways to enhance the educational outcomes of Indigenous students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective Internet child exploitation investigation is an area of policing associated with high levels of work stress, potentially contributing to the development of mental and other health-related problems. This study extends prior research suggesting that child abuse investigation officers have normal levels of life satisfaction using a well-validated and more robust measure of subjective well-being. Method The Personal Wellbeing Index ( PWI) was self-completed by a representative sub-sample of Australian police officers ( N = 139) who work in a confronting and challenging area of child abuse investigation (Internet child exploitation). Their data were compared to a comparative sample of 102 non-Internet child exploitation police officers and participants of the first 28 surveys of the Australian Unity Wellbeing Index ( N = 55,697). Results Consistent with previous research, mean subjective well-being for Internet child exploitation officers was above the Australian adult normative range and comparable to the control group of non-child abuse police investigators. Analysis of domain-based satisfaction judgments comprising the PWI revealed that satisfaction with ' Relationships' and ' Achieving in Life' contributed more variance to the prediction of life satisfaction than in the comparative mainstream Australian sample. Conclusion Australian police officers who work in Internet child exploitation investigation have a higher-than-normal level of subjective well-being. These results attest to the resilience of these investigators in their ability to withstand the confronting nature of their work and handling potentially significant sources of negative workplace stress. The results also highlight the importance role that organisational and informal social support plays in facilitating this resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academic self-schemas are important cognitive frames capable of guiding students’ learning engagement. Using a cohort of Year 10 Australian students, this longitudinal study examined the self-congruence engagement hypothesis which maintains that there is a close relationship among academic self-schemas, achievement goals, learning approaches, learning attitudes and achievement levels in learning mathematics. Students completed a survey and attempted an achievement test at the beginning and close to the end of the academic year. Two hypotheses in relation to the notion of self-engagement congruence were examined. The first hypothesis assumes that students holding a specific academic self-schema will maintain a pattern of engagement and achievement congruent with their specific self-conception over time. The second hypothesis postulates that a change in academic self-schemas will be associated with a corresponding shift in students’ engagement and achievement patterns. Cluster analyses provided clear evidence supporting these two hypotheses. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]