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In this paper, we report on an investigation into initial teacher education students' (ITES) understandings of sustainability and the Australian National Curriculum Sustainability Cross Curricular Priority (CCP). We also explore their willingness and capacities to embed the CCP into their own teaching practices. The ITES (N = 392) completed a quantitative survey with a series of Likert Scale questions and were asked to list "5 words" when they think of sustainability. Analysis reveals that ITES have generally limited to moderate understandings of sustainability and education for sustainability, but lesser understandings of the Sustainability CCP and the 9 organising ideas. Understandings of sustainability were dominated by an environmental focus. We conclude this paper with a discussion of the implications of narrow environmental understandings of sustainability. We explore factors that limit and enable teacher educators to embed sustainability education more explicitly. We note the importance role teacher educators play in supporting ITES to better understand sustainability.

Assessing English as a second or an additional language (ESL/ EAL) learners in schools is a particularly challenging area for most teachers. With so many students requiring systematic and regular EAL support, all teachers need access to appropriate and useful assessment tools and advice, but most assessment systems are imposed on teachers, rather than negotiated with them based on a contextualised and detailed understanding of their needs. Drawing on questionnaire, focus group and teacher-based classroom observation data, this paper provides a snapshot of the views of more than 30 EAL specialist teachers drawn from with a representative range of teachers from selected government, Catholic and independent schools in Victoria and NSW. The paper concludes with a discussion of the key criteria needed for more effective EAL assessment.

There has been a paucity of literature investigating the teaching beliefs and intentions of Australian physical education teacher education (PETE) students that enter teacher training. The First-year Influences on Teaching Perspectives Exploratory (FIT-PE) study explores the teaching perspectives of first year PETE students; including teaching perspectives predicted as being dominant and important for physical education teaching. The teaching perspectives inventory (TPI) was administered to 105 Australian PETE students. Independent t-tests and one-way ANOVA statistical tests were conducted to compare average teaching perspective summary scores across demographic variables. The FIT-PE study findings revealed 18 year olds (compared to 20-25 year olds) and PETE students from rural backgrounds (compared to regional) had significantly higher average summary scores for the transmission (content-oriented) teaching perspective. This paper provides reflective opportunities for teacher training programs of the underlying core teaching values (beliefs and intentions) of students at the entry point of PETE training.

The purposes of professional experience within initial teacher education programs are varied (Russell, 2005). However, there is limited literature explaining (a) university-based teacher educators' beliefs about its purposes and (b) how these purposes are reflected in practice. This study investigated these themes. A pragmatic mixed-method research design (Tashakkori & Teddlie, 2010) was developed to survey teacher educators from two Australian and New Zealand universities (n = 56). Participants were anonymously surveyed using a diamond ranking activity (requiring placement of 9 of 11 professional experience purpose statement cards, pre-determined from literature) and open response items seeking explanations of placement determining criteria and statement elimination. Following analysis of questionnaire data, focus groups were utilised to further explore the aggregated findings. Survey data were analysed by weighting frequencies of each statement. Analysis of the data indicated significant variation of perspectives amongst the teacher educators and resulted in the clustering of purposes into four groups. This paper presents these data from the Australian university cohort (n = 26). This study, the first of a series designed to elucidate understandings of teacher educators' purposes for professional experience, reinforces the importance of professional experience as authentic workplace learning within initial teacher education. The findings also reveal the complex beliefs that underpin teacher educators' practices when preparing, mentoring and supervising preservice teachers for and within professional experience.

Health professional students must be equipped with the skills necessary to interact with patients. Effective interpersonal skills are difficult to both learn and teach, requiring development, practise and evaluation in both educational and clinical settings. In professions such as physiotherapy, traditional approaches to teaching these skills have encompassed clinical modelling, and stand-alone didactic teaching of the theory behind communication. These provide limited opportunity for students to practise and receive feedback on their interpersonal and communication skills. This paper describes the implementation of an experiential small group learning approach in an undergraduate physiotherapy program and discusses outcomes. Implications for practice are that: experientially based small group learning with opportunities for practise, reflection, self-evaluation and feedback, can improve students' confidence and interpersonal skills; consistent and scaffolded participation in experiential learning opportunities and assessment of this participation across the program is key to this approach. Interpersonal skills remain a challenge for new graduates; support and mentoring in this domain by supervisors may enhance the transition to work.

The need to diversify digital communications for a global twenty-first century has prompted many theorists to reimagine literacy teaching and learning. Although the new Australian curriculum acknowledges multimodality and multimodal texts, professional learning continues to privilege print-focused literacy. Utilizing a multiliteracies' and community of practice framework, this study scaffolded seven primary school teachers in critical and collaborative professional learning. A case study explored the teachers' evolving perspectives and knowledge work during monthly meetings in a multiliteracies book club. Drawing on a qualitative approach, this paper focuses on how the teachers, who were based in regional Western Australia, problematized conceptual and contextual issues. More broadly, the discussion highlights how the teachers perceived and (re)negotiated contradictory constructions of literacy and professional learning. Findings suggest that generating scaffolded spaces for-and-with teachers is important for innovation in professional literacy learning.

Recently the adoption of mindfulness or contemplative based approaches has escalated across many sectors, including in education. Proponents argue that mindfulness based teaching programs improve students' life skills, provide emotional balance, reduce stress and enhance classroom climate. To date though there is little evaluation or knowledge of how young people experience such programs introduced to classroom settings. This paper reports some key insights gained from an independent evaluation of a pilot mindfulness based teaching program implemented (over nine weeks) with a class of thirty, year seven students at a private school in Adelaide. The research methods incorporated a self-completed student questionnaire and Smiley Face evaluation sheets, interviews with teachers and classroom observations. The implications for teachers are about who should teach mindfulness in school settings, the sorts of curricula adopted, and recognition that a general school classroom is not an ideal space for conducting mindfulness-based activities.

This paper examines the interrelationships between teaching beliefs and approaches, instructional design, relationships with students, and academics' and students' perceptions of effective teaching and learning. Mixed methodology was utilised and included interviews with academics and students, and questionnaires, inventories, and learning journals. As anticipated educationally optimal instructional design was appreciated by academics and students, however, it was not the most significant aspect in influencing students' perceptions of "good" or effective teaching. Differences were found between two teaching academics' beliefs about students and these translated into varied approaches to teaching, interactions with students, and different capacities to establish positive classroom environments and relationships. Academics' ethic of care and relational acumen were the pivotal components in students' criteria for effective teaching, which may present a quandary to academic developers. Findings indicate the importance of relational acumen and an ethic of care and may also have significance for university leaders in matching academic teaching activities to faculty strengths and potentially explaining negative student feedback in well-designed units.

Despite recognising the importance of educators in meeting the needs of gifted and talented students, research indicates that teachers often lack the essential knowledge, skills and confidence to identify and meet the needs of gifted and talented students. Evidence suggests this lack of preparation may be related to teachers' professional development. This quantitative study of 96 primary school teachers aimed to provide an initial insight into the knowledge and uptake of the 2005 DEST/GERRIC Gifted and Talented Education Professional Development Package for Teachers. It further aimed to give some insight into teachers' opinions and behaviours as it pertains to this mode of professional development. Results suggest a lack of knowledge and uptake of this professional development package, despite an overwhelming willingness to undertake this mode of professional learning in gifted and talented education. Implications and recommendations conclude the paper.

Western Australia introduced a new Western Australian Certificate of Education (WACE) Music course for Year 11 and 12 students in 2009. The construction of the course was protracted due to political interference at the ministerial level, input from vested interests within the music teaching community and adverse publicity in the wider community. The result has been the creation of a long and potentially confusing syllabus document. This paper reports on music teacher experiences with the WACE music course five years after its initial implementation. A questionnaire was distributed to all WACE music teachers asking them to respond to 27 statements drawn from a literature review relating to course design in music education, and the WACE syllabus document. At the end of the questionnaire, participants were invited to provide extended responses regarding the new course. Extended responses were frequently negative and sometimes contradictory, leading the researchers to conclude that after five years, the WACE music syllabus document, as a driver of "curriculum", is creating a degree of discontent and confusion in the minds of many music teachers. The lessons here are obvious: for any curriculum to achieve a desired educational outcome, the syllabus document needs to be clear and consistent, be guided by a philosophy which is coherent and transparent to teachers, and drawn from the relevant literature on the subject.

This paper reports findings in relation to one aspect of the "I Go to School" research project carried out in South Australia which tracked children attending integrated pre-school/childcare centres as they made their transition to school. Eight centres participated in the study involving 347 children. In order to measure some of the outcomes of the children's participation in integrated early childhood programmes, parents and teachers completed questionnaires regarding some aspects of the children's cognitive and social development in the year the children turned four and then again in the term they started school at age five. The researchers were thus able to ascertain some of the changes that had occurred in the children's development during their participation in early childhood programmes. This paper reports on the comparison between parent and teacher judgements of particular aspects of the four-year-old children's cognitive development at one point in time. The analysis presented here compares the teacher and parent/carer judgements from a subsection of the Child Development Inventory). This comparison led to the conclusion that parent ratings of particular aspects of their four-year-old children's cognitive development were reliable and relatively consistent when compared with those of teachers.

Indigenous Australians represent 2.2% of the working age population, yet account for only 1.4% of all university enrolments. In relation to higher degree research students, Indigenous Australians account for 1.1% of enrolments, but only 0.8% of all higher degree research completions. This paper reports on findings that emerged from an Australian Research Council-funded study which aimed to establish a model of best practice for the supervision of Indigenous doctoral students. The project identified the dissertation examination as one of the critical factors underpinning the success of doctoral candidates. Whilst research into the examination process for doctoral students is limited, the research that specifically explores the examination of dissertations submitted by Indigenous students is entirely inadequate. Our research identified key epistemological concerns that impact approaches to the examination process, to demonstrate how the dominance of Western methods of research impact the examination process for Indigenous doctoral students. This paper explores the experiences of 50 successful Indigenous Australian doctors with a specific focus on their examiner preference and disciplinary requirements. It highlights the limitations that some Indigenous students and their supervisors experience in finding an appropriate examiner.

Analyses of attempts to prevent the worsening of environmental problems on Earth often identify two key lines of critique about contemporary school curriculum: first, its role in entrenching anthropocentrism as the dominant paradigm for people-environment relations, and then, also compounding this, their combined role in furthering a loss of connection with nature. However, those who advance such critiques do not always acknowledge that teachers perceive and enact curriculum in a variety of ways, including resisting these possible outcomes or rejecting such conceptions, be that in relation to schooling in general, or environmental sustainability as a particular focus for curriculum policy and activities. In light of this, our paper focuses on the substance and significance of teachers' conceptions of anthropocentrism and related constructs to curriculum, drawing on a range of theoretically- and empirically-based insights. First, we consider the literatures of environmental ethics and eco-philosophy to examine why dominant readings of nature and anthropocentrism are contested, and how this plays out in education, including for curriculum making. Then, within this context, we present results of a quantitative study of 201 inservice and preservice teachers in Australia, drawing on responses to selected items from the "BIOHEAD-Citizen" questionnaire. Our findings illustrate a range of anthropocentric and non-anthropocentric conceptions of the environment, illuminating their relation to both consistent and contrasting findings on related concepts of anthropomorphism, and attitudes towards nature and environment. As our analysis shows, the teachers' responses cluster into four "groups" of conceptions, which illustrate a range of anthropocentric possibilities, typically related to negative attitudes to nature and environment, and non-anthropocentric ones, usually related to positive attitudes to nature and environment, particularly when combined with anthropomorphism. Given the links between non-anthropocentrism and pro-environmental behaviours, and the significance of educators' ecoliteracy for advancing action on unsustainability via curriculum (re)development established in previous research, we conclude our paper discussing the value and challenges of (i) fostering ecocentrism and (ii) facilitating nature experiences, via contemporary preservice teacher education.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to report on a study examining the existence and perceived influence of "generational collide" for teachers and leaders across three generations--Baby Boomers, Generation X (Gen X) and Generation Y (Gen Y). The study sought to further determine if a teacher's generation, gender, school level or position influenced their beliefs about generational leadership change. Design/methodology/approach: This study employed a cross-sectional survey using an explanatory sequential mixed methods design. A random sample of teachers and leaders from schools in the Sydney metropolitan area participated in a questionnaire (n = 244) and a purposive sample of eight participants from each of the three generational groups (n = 24) participated in a follow up interview. Findings: The data revealed that teachers and leaders across all three generations agreed that "generational collide" is real and is currently happening in some schools. Each generation has their own perceptions about the "collide" and often do not recognise that this may differ for other generations. In relation to the key variables, this study demonstrated that primary teachers were significantly more likely to believe that generational leadership change was happening than secondary teachers and that Baby Boomers were significantly more likely to view their staying on past retirement age as positive compared to both Gen X and Gen Y. Practical implications: The findings from this study have practical implications for system leaders charged with the responsibility of providing the supply of quality leadership for schools through effective succession planning programmes and policies. Social implications: The findings from this study have social implications for principals' (and deputy principals') professional associations who have the responsibility for the personal, professional and career welfare of principals and aspiring principals. Originality/value: This paper adds to the growing body of evidence around generational collide in schools by providing an Australian perspective on the phenomenon. Moreover, this paper raises important concerns for school leaders and administrators involved in leadership development initiatives at the micro, meso and macro levels. Teachers in each generation have specific beliefs around promotion, career pathways, knowledge transfer and talent retention that need to be recognised and considered in future succession planning.

In the context of increasing linguistic and cultural diversity in Australian schools, it is important to consider the value of students' multilingual resources for learning. This paper reports on an ethnographic case study conducted in an Australian metropolitan secondary school where the student body represented more than 40 cultures and languages, yet where the broader structures of education were dominated by a monolingual orientation. The study draws data from student artefacts, student focus groups, a staff questionnaire, and staff interviews to reveal the ways in which multilingual students and their teachers construct and enact language policy at the classroom level. Key themes to emerge from the data included students' application of multilingual resources for individual and collaborative learning and the way multilingualism and related practices, such as translanguaging, were valued by students. Additionally, the data illustrated teachers' situated approaches ranging from a resistance towards multilingual practices, through to active construction of a multilingual classroom. Teachers' approaches which facilitated students' use of their own linguistic resources for learning, and how these approaches were negotiated within a context otherwise dominated by monolingual pedagogies will also be discussed in the paper.

This paper explores mathematics teachers' perceptions about class size and the impact class size has on teaching and learning in secondary mathematics classrooms. It seeks to understand teachers' views about optimal class sizes and their thoughts about the education variables that influence these views. The paper draws on questionnaire responses from 83 secondary mathematics teachers as well as interviews with 12 of these teachers. Although this current study focuses on mathematics teachers, it is nested in a much larger study across all subject areas. This present study found that class size directly impacts the attention teachers pay to individual students, the amount of investigative work undertaken and classroom management practices particularly for low achievers. However, other variables such as student ability, grade level and teacher quality make it almost impossible to determine what could be regarded as an 'optimal' class size. Views were also expressed about the advantages and disadvantages of smaller class sizes in terms of classroom management, class cognitive and social interaction, and teacher professional development. Implications of class size for specific student characteristics such as gender, Aboriginality, gifted and talented, socio-economic and language background issues are also intertwined in the discussion.

The focus of this paper is on an Australian research project that evaluated the effectiveness of a resource called the "Ask Health Diary," which is used in the school curriculum to promote self-determination for better health and wellbeing for adolescents who have an intellectual disability. Education and health researchers used questionnaires and interviews to gather data from adolescents attending special schools and special education units located in secondary schools in south-east Queensland, their teachers and their parents/carers. This paper reports on two research questions: First, "How did the teachers use the 'Ask Health Diary' to promote self-determination in health?", and second, "How did teachers, parents/carers and students perceive the benefits and value of the 'Ask Health Diary'?" The findings indicate that the "Ask Health Diary" provides a sound curriculum framework for teachers, adolescents and parents/carers to work together to promote self-determination and better health outcomes for young people who have an intellectual disability.

This paper presents an international comparison of Australian and Spanish secondary teachers' perceptions about the effectiveness of their pre-service education and their learning as in-service teachers. It aims to identify, firstly, the extent to which beginning teachers believe they are prepared for their careers through their teacher training and, secondly, what teachers have learned as practicing teachers. A qualitative case study was conducted to uncover whether similar issues raised by early career teachers were identified in different contexts. Data were collected through interviews with secondary teachers (N = 11) from Australia and Spain in their third year of full-time teaching. Findings suggest similar positive perceptions towards their practicum experiences, transition to beginning teachers and professional development. However, differences were found in their early career experiences regarding professional learning and their development of identity. Implications of the study are discussed by identifying strategies to improve pre-service education for secondary teachers.

Based on a study of 1689 high school teachers across 132 high schools in 12 countries, this paper discusses their views on spirituality for high school adolescents. In general, they favoured spirituality for adolescents and its inclusion in the curriculum. Specifically teachers from European countries, US, Canada and Australia attested the relational consciousness aspect of spirituality, which enabled adolescents to form and preserve meaningful social relationships and build their altruistic potential. Log regression analysis showed that spiritual assessment of adolescents was perceived as comprehending their spiritual starting point, specifically by those from European countries, US, Canada and Australia. Further, they perceived spirituality as an integral part of the moral science and value education curriculum, with the main curricular objective as cultivating adolescents' spiritual sensibilities and mindfulness. The study provides the nuances of such as curriculum on spirituality in the high schools in terms of knowledge, skills and attitude components.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to test an hypothesis that teachers' personal orientations toward food preparation, nutrition and environmental issues would be related to their perceived importance of food skills. Design/methodology/approach: Little research has been conducted on home economics teachers' views on the importance of the food skills they teach in secondary schools in Australia. Therefore, an online survey was conducted among 261 home economics teachers in Australian secondary schools. The research measured respondents' ratings of the importance of 70 food skills as well as their teaching preferences and use of resources. Findings: Respondents rated the procedural "hands-on" skills required to prepare a healthy meal as most important. Exploratory factor analysis derived five components (procedures for domestic settings, procedures for vocational settings, cookery methods, food economy, using microwave oven appliances) relating to teachers' perceived importance of food skills. Teachers' personal orientations were described as food aesthete, consumer-environmentalist and nutritionist. The findings showed that these were better predictors of the perceived importance of food skills than demographic characteristics. The most important perceived skills related to the basic procedures required by young people to be able to prepare meals for themselves when living independently. Teachers' personal "orientations" were significantly related to the perceived importance of food skills. Demographic and professional characteristics were poor predictors of these perceptions. Originality/value: The findings provide home economics teachers with an understanding of their selection of particular food skills to teach their students in skill-based healthy eating programmes.

This paper reports on the findings from a study with 22 early-career secondary school English teachers in New South Wales, Australia. Against the backdrop of increased attention to the patterns of teacher recruitment, retention and attrition, the present research sought beginning teachers' perspectives on the extent to which their initial motivations for entering the profession had been sustained, affirmed, challenged or modified by their teaching experience. A questionnaire was utilised to gather data on initial motivations to teach; beliefs and values informing the decision to teach; the challenges and rewards of early-career teaching experiences; attitudes to the current official state English curriculum; levels of personal and professional satisfaction with the role; and career intentions. An analysis of the questionnaire responses identified the primacy of altruistic and intrinsic factors in the initial decision to become a teacher. Responses to questions about their early-career experiences revealed that for a significant proportion of teachers, their initial aspirations, expectations and goals had been disrupted to a greater or lesser degree by a range of contextually-contingent forces. Half of the sample indicated that their sense of professional agency had been undermined by the pressures associated with preparing students for high-stakes external examinations and their marginalisation from decision-making processes that impact upon their classroom practice. More than a third of the sample disagreed or were 'unsure' that they would be teaching for another five years. Given the reported rates of early-career teacher attrition of between 20 and 50%, the findings from the present study offer additional evidence of the factors that can influence early-career teachers' decisions about their career futures and are therefore of value to ongoing revisions of teacher recruitment and retention policies and practice.

The Gudaga Goes to School Study described the transition to school and early education experiences of 117 urban Aboriginal children and their families. This paper outlines the methods and design of the study. A life course approach, employing multidimensional and multi-theoretical frameworks was used to capture the complexity of issues surrounding the transition and early school experiences with multi-methods used to collect data from children, parents and teachers. Quantitative data included questionnaires, checklists and educational assessments to track children's academic progress, school attendance, and social/emotional/behavioural development. Qualitative data consisted of semi-structured interviews and focus groups to gain the perspective of stakeholders. Children also participated using photography and drawing mediums. The community controlled study was conceived, designed and conducted in close consultation with the local Aboriginal community.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate and identify threshold concepts that are the essential conceptual content of finance programmes. Design/Methodology/Approach: Conducted in three stages with finance academics and students, the study uses threshold concepts as both a theoretical framework and a research methodology. Findings: The study identifies ten threshold concepts in finance that are clearly endorsed by finance academics. However, the extent to which students are explicitly aware of the threshold concepts in finance is limited. Research Limitations/Implications: As well as informing further research into the design and delivery of finance programmes, the findings of the study inform the use of threshold concepts as a theoretical framework and a research methodology. The study does not explore the bounded, discursive, reconstitutive and liminal aspects of threshold concepts. Implications include the lack of recognition of more modern concepts in finance, and the need for input from industry and related disciplines. Practical Implications: The threshold concepts in finance provide the starting point for finance educators in the design and delivery of finance programmes. In particular, the threshold concepts in finance need to be made more explicit to students. Social Implications: Using the threshold concepts in finance as well as the other findings of this study to inform to finance curriculum design and delivery is likely to achieve better quality educational outcomes for finance students as well as better prepare them for professional finance roles. Originality/Value: The finance curriculum is under researched and for the first time this study identifies the threshold concepts in finance to inform the design of finance programmes.

The slow uptake of Education for Sustainability (EfS) curricula in universities has, partly, been attributed to academics' perceptions that EfS has little relevance within some disciplines. Understanding teaching academics' attitudes, values and experiences of EfS across disciplines can inform future EfS efforts in higher education. This paper presents one part of a larger study that sought the views of ˜6% of the entire university teaching workforce of Australia. One quarter of the teaching academics in every discipline of every Australian university (except one) (n?=?38) was sent an online questionnaire asking for their opinions of EfS. Precisely, 1819 academics participated (26% response rate) and data was analysed with descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings suggest that academics are supportive of EfS for all university students. Support, perceived relevance and reported difficulties with EfS are discipline specific; academics would respond positively to EfS framed within their disciplinary worldviews.

This paper focuses on issues concerning in-service English as an additional language or dialect teachers' views on professional development (PD) in an online environment. On the basis of the data collected via a questionnaire survey and a series of interviews, this study finds that intrinsic and extrinsic incentives compel or impede teachers participating in PD and that the trajectories of their PD are shaped by the complex operations of the incentives and the equilibrium among the factors involved. The findings of the study also show that teachers are more interested in improving professional practice and that they prefer an online PD programme which includes both synchronous interactions and asynchronous digitalised visual and written resources online. It also discusses implications of this study for teachers, teacher educators and trainers, and PD programme designers and providers.

Graduates with well-developed capabilities in finance are invaluable to our society and in increasing demand. Universities face the challenge of designing finance programmes to develop these capabilities and the essential knowledge that underpins them. Our research responds to this challenge by identifying threshold concepts that are central to the mastery of finance and by exploring their potential for informing curriculum design and pedagogical practices to improve student outcomes. In this paper, we report the results of an online survey of finance academics at multiple institutions in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and the United Kingdom. The outcomes of our research are recommendations for threshold concepts in finance endorsed by quantitative evidence, as well as a model of the finance curriculum incorporating finance, modelling and statistics threshold concepts. In addition, we draw conclusions about the application of threshold concept theory supported by both quantitative and qualitative evidence. Our methodology and findings have general relevance to the application of threshold concept theory as a means to investigate and inform curriculum design and delivery in higher education.

Digital disruption and an increasingly networked society drive rapid change in many professions and a corresponding need for change in tertiary education. Across the world, information education has, to date, prepared graduates for employment in discrete professions, such as librarianship, records management, archives and teacher librarianship. However, contemporary information practices are less defined and are demanding of new professional skill-sets and understandings. This paper reports a study that consulted Australia's tertiary academics about the current circumstances of information education in the academy and elicited a vision and a concern for future directions in Australian information education.

Purpose: This paper aims to explore academics' perspectives on the quality of appraisal evidence at a Chinese university. Design/methodology/approach: An online survey with both closed items and open-ended questions was distributed among all academics at the university (n = 1,538). A total of 512 responded to the questionnaire. The closed items were initially analysed using EXCEL and SPSS; the open-ended questions were thematically analysed. Findings: The academics believed that the quality of student survey and peer observation of teaching were affected by subjectivity and the lack of understanding of appraisal. Academics also suggested that appraisals should be contextualised and the approach standardised. The study suggests the need for training that informs and engages relevant stakeholders to ensure the rigour of appraisal. Originality/value: The study raises the issue of quality assurance regarding appraisal data from the perspective of academics. It is based on the collaborative effort of academics in Australia, China and New Zealand, with the support of the management staff at the case study university. The study informs both appraisers and academics of quality assurance issues in appraisal. It also contributes to the literature, in that it initiates dialogues between communities of practices through collective questioning on the quality and mechanisms of appraisal in tertiary education.

Finance threshold concepts are the essential conceptual knowledge that underpin well-developed financial capabilities and are central to the mastery of finance. In this paper we investigate threshold concepts in finance from the point of view of students, by establishing the extent to which students are aware of threshold concepts identified by finance academics. In addition, we investigate the potential of a framework of different types of knowledge to differentiate the delivery of the finance curriculum and the role of modelling in finance. Our purpose is to identify ways to improve curriculum design and delivery, leading to better student outcomes. Whilst we find that there is significant overlap between what students identify as important in finance and the threshold concepts identified by academics, much of this overlap is expressed by indirect reference to the concepts. Further, whilst different types of knowledge are apparent in the student data, there is evidence that students do not necessarily distinguish conceptual from other types of knowledge. As well as investigating the finance curriculum, the research demonstrates the use of threshold concepts to compare and contrast student and academic perceptions of a discipline and, as such, is of interest to researchers in education and other disciplines.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to consider the understanding and presence of sustainability within entrepreneurship education. The extant literature on sustainability within the entrepreneurship discipline remains extremely limited. Previously, sustainability within an entrepreneurship context has related to economic viability as opposed to sustainability in its broadest sense. This study explores, through a survey of entrepreneurship educators, three key research questions, namely, how entrepreneurship educators believe that entrepreneurs can contribute to solving sustainability problems. Second, to what extent education about sustainability is integrated within existing entrepreneurship curricula. Finally, what considerations are being made to include sustainability within future programmes. Design/methodology/approach: This study represented part of a larger university project exploring the associations between the sustainability and entrepreneurship disciplines. This part of the study involved a web-based survey from entrepreneurship academics drawn from Australia, New Zealand, UK, and the USA which provided 54 completed questionnaires. Findings: The study uncovered much good practice led by "champions" within the entrepreneurship discipline. However, embedded sustainability practice was typically limited and it was more typically regarded as an "add-on" to traditional entrepreneurial teaching. Practical implications: The study proposes three ways in which sustainability might be more meaningfully integrated into entrepreneurship programmes. First, the QAA (2012) guidelines for enterprise and entrepreneurship need to be reconsidered to encapsulate the sustainability agenda. Second, for entrepreneurship educators to reconsider their pedagogical approaches to encapsulate systems thinking as more holistic educational perspective. Finally, the authors call for entrepreneurship educators to revise their programmes to embed the core facets of social, environmental, economic, and more recently ethical sustainability. Originality/value: The study offers a novel insight into entrepreneurship educators attitudes to sustainability and their approach to it within their curricula. This study provides an initial benchmark regarding the levels of sustainability provision within entrepreneurship curricula which will be of interest to the entrepreneurship academic community, the sustainability community, and policy makers.