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This paper explores the decision-making processes involved in giving physiotherapy students responsibility on clinical placement and the impact on their developing professional autonomy. The qualitative study, using semi-structured interviews, involved physiotherapy students and clinical educators (CEs) from two higher education institutions, one in Australia, and the other in the United Kingdom (UK). Findings led to the development of a heuristic framework of 'graduated supervision,' a process of progressively less direct observation and monitoring of students as clinical proficiency improved. By focusing on the measured exposure of students to increasing complexity and inverse levels of supervision, the framework captures tacit practices, and consistent, yet varied facilitation strategies adopted across specialties, and evident in clinical education settings in both countries. The framework formalizes, for the first time, assumptions and expectations previously unacknowledged. Factors identified as affecting students' progress toward autonomy include the student/CE relationship, the development of mutual trust through ongoing dialogue, and the importance of formal discussions at the commencement of a clinical placement to establish learning goals, preferred supervision styles and learner responsibilities. Insights have significance for the CE community, and students who at times have to second-guess what is required of them and how they might excel on clinical placement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Australia, policy makers demand school leaders focus on raising student achievement levels when planning and implementing a school improvement (SI) plan. This paper explores the SI process for two Australian primary schools deemed to be underperforming and underwent a priority school support review (PSSR). In this study, 2 principals and members of their leadership team and 10 teachers across 2 schools were interviewed to explore how they experienced the PSSR process at different stages of the review process. Two assistant regional directors assigned to supporting the two schools during the PSSR process were also interviewed. The findings suggested that initially, school principals wondered how a PSSR would impact the morale of teaching staff already working hard to support student outcomes. However, as the schools progressed through the process, the principals' perspectives shifted to see the PSSR as a valuable process for building leadership and teacher capacity and improving student outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses a narrative approach in the form of a fictional dialogue between a physical education teacher educator (PETE) and an enquiring physical education teacher (EPET) in order to both contextualise the problem posed by Almond, that Teaching Games for Understanding-Game Sense (TGfU-GS) has been better accepted in academia than in the ‘natural setting’ of physical education (PE) teaching, and to intentionally provoke change about how TGfU-GS is positioned as a highly conceptualised ‘instructional model’ for games and sport teaching. Drawing on research by Green that PE teachers operate from ‘everyday philosophies’ and not necessarily from highly conceptualised curriculum or pedagogical models, this paper proceeds from the premise that competing descriptions of PE teaching found in the literature and its applications are problematic to the PE teacher because teachers do not necessarily see or want to see the same boundaries between pedagogical models as researchers do as theory generators. It is argued, that the tension suggested by Almond exists in part because of contextual and operational differences leading to each viewing the teaching of PE differently. The EPET is concerned about the praxis of teaching that is theoretically informed by pedagogical knowledge and made real through the experience of teaching; whereas, to the PETE, PE is viewed with a more nuanced interpretation of the complex, non-linear dynamics of the classroom, nature of learning and the need for theoretical informed practice. However, some similarities exist between the EPET and PETE which revolves around bringing order to the essentially unpredictable learning environment by adapting the environmental and task characteristics so that learning may occur. Consequently, we argue that the tension between the EPET and PETE is inevitable because each privilege certain ‘everyday philosophies’ about the design and enactment of PE teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Addressing bullying victimization of students with disability is a significant challenge for schools. While social support can protect against bullying victimization in the general population, its role in mediating the relationship between disability and bullying is under-researched. This paper examined covert bullying prevalence (encompassing relational, social and indirect aggression) and its relationship to social support (peer, family, and teacher) among a national sample of 4,753 Australian 8–14 year olds, 490 of whom self-identified as living with disability. Positive teacher and peer support predicted the reduced probability of bullying victimization among students overall, but low support levels among students with disability negated this effect. Interventions to address covert bullying of students with disability need to focus on whole-school approaches that reduce opportunities for victimization of students with disability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The art of holding complexity is the ability to face conflict and other life challenges through collaboration, self-awareness and flexibility rather than through control and coercion. Holding complexity is a key theme identified in a research project exploring educator identity and development in practice in a system of alternative or ‘flexi schools’ in Queensland, Australia. Flexi schools support young people to create positive education pathways after experiences of failure and/or exclusion from conventional schooling. This paper explores the concept of holding complexity and how educators develop this capacity in their work. Design experiment methodology was used to explore how ways of working and professional learning in flexi schools influenced educator identity and development and how induction needs of new staff could be addressed. Educators enfranchising young people in flexi schools face challenges that require different ways of working that are young person-focused; that shift power dynamics and require adults to adopt a position of co-learner and facilitator. Holding complexity enables educators to support young people who face multiple issues that impinge on their ability to engage in conventional schooling. Induction and professional learning programs emphasising the art of holding complexity assist flexi school educators in their work with young people. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

At a time when the faith-based identity of schools is facing serious challenges, the researchers undertook a longitudinal study of the relevant opinions, beliefs and values of student-teachers at a Catholic university campus in Australia. The focus of the current paper is on the responses of first-year students to a survey regarding their choice of secondary school, the purposes of schooling and the characteristics of Catholic schools. Relevant context are addressed including global education trends, the values and characteristics of Catholic education and relevant aspects of Australian schooling and youth culture. Regardless of religious affiliation, self-reported religiosity or type of school attended, providing a ‘safe and caring school environment’ emerged as the most important purpose of schooling and as a key reason for choice of school, while faith-based purposes and reasons received particularly low ratings. ‘Caring community’ was regarded as by far the most important characteristic of the Catholic school, followed by engagement in social justice programmes. The findings are briefly compared with parallel findings for teachers in Queensland Catholic schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Indigenous representation is essential to ensure the health workforce is culturally capable and safe for Indigenous patients. However, Indigenous Peoples remain underrepresented in tertiary education and the health workforce. Aim: This aim of this paper is to offer an unmediated, Aboriginal nurse's perspective, on the experience, barriers and challenges of undertaking a Bachelor of Nursing degree. Design: Referenced reflection. Results: Education providers must be culturally capable themselves before teaching Indigenous content and facilitating sensitive classroom discussions. Financial, social and educational support is crucial to equip Indigenous students for tertiary study. Conclusion: To retain Indigenous students and contribute to a culturally capable workforce, it is imperative to listen and respond to Indigenous Peoples voices to shape learning experiences and support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the effects of audit cultures on school education through a highly personal reading of the My School website, launched in Australia in 2010. It situates two personal narratives, from the points of view of student and teacher, alongside the other stories available about two of the secondary schools listed on the website. Although statistics such as those generated through the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy tests, school comparisons and post-school destinations present certain kinds of stories about these schools, I argue that these are reductionist and insufficient for understanding the complexities of pedagogical spaces and the teachers and learners within them. Whilst arguments for hard data to address educational inequity can be marshalled to support My School, I suggest that it also inadvertently disguises other elements of schooling and risks increasing inequity. Rather, the statistical stories might be recognised as partial and supplemented and disrupted by richer accounts, including narrative accounts, about schooling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Across Australia, recent policy initiatives have focused on student engagement in school and in learning. Although teachers play a significant role in the implementation of these policy reforms, little research has looked at student engagement from teachers' perspectives or sought to identify and understand the strategies teachers report using to promote engagement in their classrooms. The study reported in this paper utilised a phenomenographic approach to investigate teacher conceptions of how to facilitate student engagement. Semi-structured interviews were used to gather data and a phenomenographic process of analysis was employed to identify qualitative differences between participant understandings. The data from this qualitative study indicated that teachers hold diverse understandings about how to facilitate student engagement; three categories described teachers' ways of engaging students. In the first category, teachers conceptualised delivering set activities and discipline to students to promote engagement. In the second category, teachers suggested that they must modify curriculum and class activities. In the third category, teachers proposed that genuine collaboration with students was necessary to truly engage them in learning; in this category, teachers reported the deepest levels of student engagement. Teacher self-reports of success when using a collaborative approach suggest that more research should be conducted using a range of approaches to investigate the fruitfulness of this strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background There is increasing evidence that schools internationally are not meeting the needs of increasing numbers of young people, especially those at the secondary level, and whose backgrounds have placed them at disadvantage. The evidence is that significant numbers of young people are becoming disconnected from school. While the official term for this is 'disengagement', it seems that official educational policy responses to these tendencies, far from 'fixing' the problem, seem to be exacerbating it. Current policy preoccupations that emphasize accountability, greater parental choice of schools and a more prescriptive curriculum can present difficulties for young people, particularly those from challenging backgrounds. There may be a mismatch between formal educational policy, and the lived experiences at the level of the school and classroom for the most vulnerable young people. Purpose This paper reports on a single instance of a high school that embarked upon a process of reinventing itself in respect of the importance of relationships and 'relational power' for students over their learning. The paper examines what the teachers and students had to say about the efficacy of this school-based reform. Sample The case-study school was located in an area of extreme social disadvantage in which young people had diminished educational expectations. The research involved observations and interviews with a small sample of stakeholders and focus groups with students (13-16-year-olds). Design and method The study was an ethnographic case study of a single secondary school conducted over a five-week continuous period. It used 'embedded interviews' involving observation of in-class teaching prior to extensive 1-hour interviews with teachers and students' focus groups. All interviews were recorded. Detailed field notes were kept of classroom observations and other activities, including school assemblies, staff meetings and reflections on informal conversations held during teaching breaks in the staffroom. Results and conclusions Positive outcomes emerged from a context where fair boundaries were established and in which students could see school as a place where they could experience fun in their learning. The process was by no means complete, but the school felt that it had found a more efficacious way to move forward and the students made this clear in their statements about what the school was attempting to do with them. Key to these positive outcomes was a commitment to placing relationships between students, teachers and parents at the centre of everything the school did. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relationships between Australian universities and their offshore partners as they deliver Australian academic programmes in the South‐East Asian region. Australian universities have signed over 1000 agreements with offshore universities, industry associations, and private providers, and it is estimated that around 36% of international students studying Australian programmes are doing so in countries other than their own. Following the relationship marketing literature, a study of the early interaction phase of the relationship life cycle is presented. Utilising convergent interviews and case studies, the paper identifies a number of factors in the early interaction phase critical to the prevention of relationship deterioration and termination. These include communication, trust, and a shared vision. In addition, several factors arising in the early interaction stage causing potential relationship deterioration or termination in the later stages of the relationship are identified. These include (1) low levels of internal commitment within the Australian university; (2) a failure to identify the key roles and responsibilities of the partner; (3) failure to establish win/win relationships; and (4) the departure of key personnel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To date, people with intersex variations have been mainly studied via small-scale clinical research, with only a small amount of reflective commentary contributed by sociocultural scholars. This paper reports on findings from a 2015 online Australian survey of 272 people with intersex variations, which aimed to redress the gap in research on this groups’ experiences and perspectives concerning education. Participants ranged in age from 16 to 87 years, and represented all Australian states and territories. Most had experienced two medical treatment interventions related to their intersex variation: commonly reported interventions included hormonal treatment and genital surgery delivered to participants when they were aged under 18 years of age. Participants reported various physical and psychological impacts from these treatments. Well-being risks were high; most of the group had engaged in suicidal ideation, particularly when individuals first found out about their variation. This impacted on their schooling – almost one-fifth of survey respondents had received no high school certification due to their early dropout and the overwhelming majority did not attend schools with inclusive puberty/sex education provision or counselling. Most survey participants had not disclosed their intersex variation to staff, although more than half had done so to their classmates. Many had experienced bullying. Only one-quarter of participants rated their overall education experiences positively. Participants suggested improvements to schools’ information provision and support features. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Indigenous nurses have the potential to improve access to health services for Indigenous people by ensuring that services are culturally safe and respectful of Indigenous peoples' needs. Therefore, developing a well-educated Indigenous nursing workforce is one way to improve the poor health outcomes of Indigenous Australians. A mixed methods study was undertaken to determine the current rates of enrollment, progression and completion of Indigenous nursing students in Australia and to explore student and staff perceptions of barriers to completion and strategies for success. The results indicate that the national average completion rates are 36.3% for Indigenous nursing students and 64.6% for non-Indigenous nursing students - an average difference of 28.3%. Indigenous nursing students and academics identified barriers to completion, which were similar to those identified in previous research. Success strategies, however, revealed the importance of individual student characteristics; academics' knowledge, awareness, and understanding; relationships, connections, and partnerships; institutional structures, systems, and processes; and, family and community knowledge, awareness, and understanding. This paper offers an overview of the integration and interpretation process that makes up the final phase of a mixed methods study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are many reasons why children have difficulties with mathematics. Dyscalculia is one of them. Teachers need to know what dyscalculia is in order to effectively assist the child to overcome the challenges it presents. However, the literature on the remediation of dyscalculia is in its infancy. The potential for multidisciplinary research is great, but would require maths educators to become involved in this issue, where previously they have been silent. Successful teachers know their students and value knowledge that will help them to help their students. As well as knowing what dyscalculia is, teachers need to understand its causes and have effective strategies to deal with it. Teachers also need to know how dyscalculia affects a child's self-belief system in order to counter the potentially devastating effects of poor self-esteem. Reportedly, there is an incidence rate of 5% in Australian schools, yet there is a lack of recognition, identification and diagnosis of dyscalculia despite the fact that the behavioural characteristics of dyscalculia are well defined and generally agreed on. There are a number of reasons why the diagnosis of dyscalculia is masked. The existence of another (possibly previously diagnosed specific learning disability) is one of them; for example 50% of dyslexics have dyscalculia. This paper seeks to address the “who, what, how and why” of dyscalculia. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper reports the experiential accounts of 24 young people with physical disability or chronic illness as they make the transition to junior high school, with a particular focus on their social experiences with peers and friends. Children’s reports were examined in a reflexive, disability studies framework, in which commonalities and difference in experience were examined. These reports highlight a common experience of disability-related harassment and differential experiences of friendship, peer rejection and school culture. While children encounter and actively counter disablement in a variety of ways, it is clear that these children are also cognisant of the stigma, prejudices and disabling expectations that are at the core of these experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the author reports on an analysis of an Australian university's assessment procedure. The procedure - a major governance document of the university - is deconstructed by way of a Foucauldian discourse analysis in order to consider how students and academics are governed. There were three major findings. The dominant discourse operating in relation to student assessment was that of administration; a finding consistent with previous work in this area and at other universities. The main subject position in this discourse of administration is one of silence for the academic and of a performer for the student, one who is rewarded with the award of a degree if the performance is satisfactory. The passion to learn and to teach is nowhere to be found in this administrative discourse, one not unique to the said university, indeed one that flourishes in Western universities today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, results are presented from a large-scale online survey about the motivations of career change students, and their beliefs about the attributes that they bring to the teaching profession. The findings revealed that career changers' motivations were largely intrinsic, although pragmatic decisions were also important, with perceived family-friendliness of a teaching career a common response. These findings generally support findings of previous research into motivations to teach, as found in the literature. The data examined in this paper also revealed that career change entrants believed that the most important attributes they bring to teaching are life experiences, generic workplace skills and experience, and personal qualities, rather than specific content knowledge. These findings provide support for the continued targeting of career change people into the profession, particularly in the current policy context in which some stakeholders express concerns about a perceived lack of quality of teaching in Australian schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is growing awareness of how being in out-of-home care (OOHC) can adversely impact children's education. Accordingly, a number of programs have been developed that aim to address the educational needs of students in OOHC. This study aimed to explore educators' experiences and perceptions of an educational program for students in OOHC. The experiences of eight program educators who participated in semi-structured interviews were analyzed using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis. Results illustrate the need for educators to provide students with individualized support, promote supportive relationships and communicate with stakeholders. The need for supervision and debriefing between colleagues was highlighted. Educator wellbeing and professional development were found to be intertwined with educators' perceived capacity to support their students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Editorial. Provides an overview on topics related to education for the handicapped included in the March 2000 issue of the 'International Journal of Disability, Development and Education.' Attitudes of preservice teachers toward disabled students in Australia; Challenges associated in the provision of services to disabled persons in China.

Background: Given the continued disparity between the health of Indigenous Australian people's health and that of the broader Australian population, cultural safety is mandated as a component of undergraduate education as a strategy to improve health care. Evidence suggests that academics are not confident to teach cultural safety to undergraduate nursing students. Objectives: To explore the efficacy of an Indigenous teaching method (Teaching in Circle) to create culturally safe classrooms and to build the capacity and confidence of teachers to teach about cultural safety. Design: An Indigenous pedagogy was adapted for use in tutorials by teachers, with mentorship provided by an Indigenous knowledge expert. Teaching in Circle (TiC) methodology was implemented by teachers in tutorials. Methods: All nurse academics teaching in the Bachelor of Nursing program at a small regional Australian university were eligible to participate. Information about the project was provided in team meetings, with invitations to participate. Teachers provided a written reflection on the method and participated in regular on-line mentored support meetings throughout the teaching session. Data were analysed, using a reflective, inductive systematic process. Results: Final themes were "Sticking with initial disconcertment and discomfort"; "A renewed enjoyment of teaching"; "Learning and adapting", "The influence of the method on safety" and "Shifts in classroom dynamics". Impact Statement: 'Teaching in Circle', underpinned by respectful practice, positively influences culturally safe teaching and learning environments. The method enhances academics' confidence to teach cultural safety to undergraduate nursing students and supports an understanding of the essential components of culturally safe health care. Conclusions: Evidence suggests the method built capacity to teach and foster experiential learning of safety, and thus what is required to create a culturally safe teaching and learning space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Distance education (DE) learning environments are considerably different to those of typical classrooms where students engage on a face-to-face basis with their teachers and peers. In remote settings these face-to-face opportunities are limited and sometimes non-existent. This investigation focuses on the influence of new technologies on the pedagogical practices of teachers and their students in remote DE settings. A place pedagogy framework was utilised to consider the changed practices of DE teachers using satellite communications for lesson delivery. Findings of the study detail the initial hopes and aspirations of these teachers, the realities of their new practice and the challenges and demands of teaching in DE settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discussions between new postgraduate students and potential supervisors prior to the formalisation of supervisor-student partnerships serve several useful purposes. One purpose is to explore the expectations that each partner has of the other and of themselves and the anticipated nature of the partnership. This article employs Freire's perspective on dialogical pedagogy as a framework to identify and interrogate opportunities and challenges in postgraduate supervision. Theorising and clarifying the postgraduate supervisory process in these terms at the outset of candidature and at strategic points along the way can save time and effort that might otherwise be devoted to misunderstandings and less than optimum progress. It also has implications for lifelong education for both supervisors and students that can be realised beyond the period of candidature and the substantive and methodological gains normally associated with successful completion of a thesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teacher performance assessments are positioned as a high stakes assessment that are aimed to ensure that preservice teachers are ready for professional practice in education contexts. The move to incorporate them in institutions has its origins in concerns that teacher education is a policy problem with varying standards of preparation across the sector. The article draws from research literature on the USA edTPA, which is used widely to benchmark graduate and undergraduate teaching capacity across the schooling and early childhood sectors, to consider how teacher performance assessments evoke a range of wicked problems for the early childhood sector in Australia. While they can be seen as a means for the teacher educator sector to regulate itself to ensure that "high quality" "profession ready" graduates are credentialed, there may be an attendant narrowing of pedagogy and emerging issues for a sector that is already undervalued, underfunded and fragmented. The authors highlight the importance for Australian preservice teachers to focus their efforts on pedagogical relations in early childhood education settings, gain proficiency in play-based learning, and participate in relationships that produce ongoing, socially and culturally contextualised assessments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Educational underachievement is well documented for minority students living in Australia. Our work with Mãori and Pacific Island (MPI) students highlights several factors that impede their participation in education. Drawing on four case studies of MPI university students, we report on the educultural factors that functioned to constrain or positively impact their academic participation. Template analysis was used to analyse in-depth interviews with the students and highlighted some cultural and relational tensions as possible barriers to successful participation. However, a number of mitigating factors including student-teacher relationships, teacher characteristics and pedagogies supported their pursuit of, and engagement in higher education. The data suggests that MPI students benefit from strong relational connections with teachers throughout their educational experience. This conclusion has implications for an educultural pedagogy to be considered in teacher education courses and for in-service professional learning for teachers working across education sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores how early-career teachers working in high-poverty schools in Australia account for their decision-making during critical classroom incidents. Classroom management solutions are problematized by investigating how two teachers take up particular positions, make decisions, and enact what they believe to be 'quality teaching' in context. Through a combination of interviews and observations of teachers 'in situ', we examine what these teachers do, why they do it, what informs their decisions, and how they reflect on their actions. The complexity of teachers' work in schools located in high-poverty areas is highlighted. We argue that both early-career teachers prefer to position themselves within 'pastoral', in contrast to 'disciplinarian', discourses, as part of constituting the school as a site of possibility and teachers who advocate for youth growing up in poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined the role of gender in teachers' perceived autonomy support (PAS), relatedness with students, workplace buoyancy, and organizational commitment. With 276 Australian secondary school teachers, structural equation modelling showed predominant similarities across gender in associations between PAS, relatedness, buoyancy, and commitment. For example, for both female and male teachers, PAS predicted greater relatedness with students and both factors were positively associated with organizational commitment. However, there were some noteworthy differences across teacher gender. For example, relatedness with students was positively associated with buoyancy for male teachers only. In addition, findings showed that male teachers reported higher levels of workplace buoyancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study explored how teacher–child relationships change over the early school years, in terms of closeness and conflict, whether these trajectories differ in type and frequency for children with typical development and children with speech and language concern (SLC), and whether the trajectories are associated with school outcomes at 12–13 years. Method: Participants were children, parents and teachers in the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children. Parents identified 2890 children with typical communication and 1442 children with SLC. Teacher-rated teacher–child closeness and conflict were collected biennially over six years. Academic and social-emotional outcomes were reported by teachers and children. Growth mixture modelling was conducted to generate teacher–child relationship trajectories and Wald’s chi-square analyses were used to test the association between trajectories and school outcomes at 12–13 years, after controlling for a range of covariates including child’s sex, language background, Indigenous status, age and socio-economic position. Result: In both groups, the majority of children had teacher–child relationship trajectories with sustained high closeness and low conflict that predicted positive outcomes at age 12–13, but the SLC group was more at risk of less positive trajectories and poorer school outcomes. Conclusion: Close, less conflicted relationships with teachers may provide a supportive context for later language, literacy and social-emotional development. This study highlights the role of teachers in supporting children in their development of communication and academic skills that will optimise their capacity for freedom of opinions and expression, education and participation, as enshrined in Articles 19, 26 and 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Australian education service provision includes the delivery of quality educational programmes to rural and remote living children. However, according to their parents, many children with developmental disabilities (such as Down Syndrome and Autism Spectrum Disorders) who are living in rural country areas in New South Wales (NSW) still do not have access to an acceptable education programme. This study aimed to use quality of life factors via a family quality of life scale to explore 51 parents’ experience of educational service provision for their children with developmental disabilities in rural NSW. The results indicated that successful engagement with the school system is strongly affected by the views, assumptions, expertise and prejudices of teaching and care professionals. Further research into how local educational service providers may assist rural Australian families with a child with IDD in rural and remote locations is warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Re-engaging young adults who have ‘dropped out’ of school is an important and challenging task for educators. The purpose of this study was to explore the teaching practices that encourage young people to re-engage in further learning. Through interviews with teachers and students, the study identified five major interrelated teaching strategies that were effective in re-engaging young adults in education. These strategies were: strong concern for student welfare; positive teacher–student relationships; relevant course content; a mastery-based approach to learning; and an overarching goal of building students’ confidence in their ability, and more generally, in themselves. Together, these strategies address the behavioural, emotional and cognitive components of student engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purposes: This study evaluated the experiences of undergraduate student nurses with high-fidelity Human Patient Simulation Mannequins (HPSMs) and their perceptions of empathy. Methods: An exploratory case-study method was used to investigate the literature on empathy and the use of high-fidelity mannequins in nurse education. Two focus groups were conducted with eight third-year undergraduate nursing students in order to elicit responses to their experiences with HPSMs in their learning, especially in relation to empathy. Findings: Undergraduate nurses found it challenging when using HPSMs in the learning environment to relate to the mannequins as real. Students reported that in their experience, the use of mannequins was not conducive currently to the development of skills necessary for positive interpersonal development of the nurse–patient relationship. Conclusions: Focus group data and the empirical literature suggest that more research needs to be conducted into the use of mannequins in the development of nurse–patient interpersonal skills. Educators need to make evidence-based and pedagogically sound decisions about the use and limitations of HPSMs in undergraduate nursing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aimed to describe perceptions of clinical placement experiences and competency development for international speech-language pathology students and to determine if these perceptions were different for domestic students. Method: Domestic and international students at two Australian universities participated in nine focus group interviews. Thematic analysis led to the identification of two themes shared by international and domestic students and several separate themes. Result: Shared themes identified the important influence of students' relationships with clinical educators, unique opportunities and learning that occurs on placement. International student themes included concerns about their communication skills and the impact of these skills on client progress. They also explored their adjustment to unfamiliar placement settings and relationships, preferring structured placements to assist this adjustment. Domestic student themes explored the critical nature of competency attainment and assessment on placement, valuing placements that enabled them to achieve their goals. Conclusion: The findings of this study suggest that international students experience additional communication, cultural and contextual demands on clinical placement, which may increase their learning requirements. Clinical education practices must be responsive to the learning needs of diverse student populations. Strategies are suggested to assist all students to adjust to the professional and learning expectations of clinical education placements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The affective dimensions of intimacy and emotional labour in academic development are explored utilising two methodological resources: autoethnography and narrative practice. An excerpt from the author’s reflective professional journal infused with affect and emotion is analysed utilising theories of intimacy in modernity, emotion work, and professional intimacy. The journal excerpt is ‘restoried’ to produce narrative lines that provide insight into the journal entry. The article concludes by proposing a ‘pedagogy of intimacy’ as an analytical space that values both skill and care. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The aim of the present study was to explore speech-language pathologists' (SLPs) perceptions and experiences of factors influencing the implementation of communication interventions for students with multiple and severe disabilities. Eight SLPs in New South Wales, Australia, participated in individual interviews and a focus group. Interview transcripts were scrutinized using thematic analysis. Transcripts were coded into categories, which were then grouped to yield themes. Participants identified a broad range of themes, including SLPs' experience and skills, professional development, and collaboration with teachers and families; as well as home and school contexts, the role of government departments, and broader societal factors. These complex influences suggest that systemic supports may be required at multiple levels in order to increase the likelihood of effective implementation of communication interventions for students with multiple and severe disabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents one teacher's perspective on issues of student difference. 'Elissa's' account begins with her views as a pre-service teacher and continues through to her early career teaching. Elissa's overwhelming tendency to construct students of difference as deficit alongside her efforts to 'fix' these deficits to align with an Anglo-Australian middle class ideal strongly resonate with concerns long expressed in the literature about teacher-student cultural discontinuity; teachers' ill-preparedness for addressing student diversity; and the failure of universities to support pre-service teachers in this respect. Amid broader climates of unprecedented diversity where equity for marginalised groups is a mandated schooling goal, Elissa's story is another cautionary tale. It further illuminates the gap between the kinds of teachers currently being produced and the kinds of teachers likely to realise social justice through education. As such it provides further warrant for rethinking how best to support teachers to productively address student diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transfer of nursing education into the higher education sector occurred over a 10-year period in Australia (1985-1994). Australian nurse leaders settled on a single outcome measure to be applied for all nursing graduates in the form of national competency standards. While this move enabled diversity, the lack of consistency in curriculum design has subsequently led to increasing confusion for clinicians who support students' learning in clinical placements. Using a shared critical reflection method, the authors reviewed (1) the evaluation comments from nurses in one nursing unit of a hospital in one Australian jurisdiction and (2) an historical review of nursing literature at the time of the transfer of nursing education into the higher education sector. The reflection suggests that the aim of the transfer, to create critical thinking graduates, has been undermined by the implicit clinical education practices that have since emerged. In order to address the contemporary challenges for clinical staff working with students from multiple universities, as well as increased student numbers to address the nursing shortage, we recommend a new approach to curriculum design: a national clinical curriculum drawn from social, as well as cognitive, learning theory that at once informs clinicians of students' potential abilities and provides the scope to accommodate the increasingly difficult and critical learning requirements of tertiary-based nursing students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have shown that teachers' aggressive classroom management impacts negatively on students. The authors compared student reaction to teachers' use of aggressive management techniques in Australia, China, and Israel. Reactions included distraction negativity toward teachers and perceptions that teachers' responses were unjustified, yet the perception of aggression as justified (or not) only minimally affected the degree of students' distraction and negativity toward the teacher. Yelling in anger and sarcasm appeared less problematic in Israel and somewhat less so in China; in Australia, no difference in potential impact between different forms of aggression was evident. Implications of these findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leadership capacity-building is a key factor in sustainable school improvement, and the leadership contribution of students is an integral part of an authentic distributed conception of school leadership. Thus it is important to understand the factors which influence high school students' motivations to engage in formal and informal leadership in their school. A sample of 167 Australian public school Grade 11 students (average age 16.6 years) completed a self-report survey of their perceptions and motivations. Students holding formal leadership roles reported more positive views of their school and peers. Girls not holding a formal leadership position reported higher levels of leadership motivation than boys. Students who were members of formal extracurricular clubs or teams did not report higher levels of school identification or leadership motivation. Students' perceptions of the quality of relationships between their peers and between teachers and students predicted their sense of membership or identification with their school. In turn, students' sense of identification, and not their level of achievement motivation, predicted their willingness to contribute and engage in leadership in their school. The implications of these findings for school leadership and culture and teachers' behaviour are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between teachers' classroom discipline techniques and students' individual and communal responsibility in Australian, Chinese, and Israeli classrooms. The sample comprised 5521 students in grades 7-12 and 748 teachers. The participating Australian, Chinese, and Israeli schools included both larger and smaller schools, situated in a range of socioeconomic and geographic areas. Results showed that teachers who utilize more inclusive disciplinary techniques have students who take more responsiblity for their own behavior and for the behavior of their peers. In general students appeared to act responsibly in class in all three settings, and their self-reported levels of responsibility were generally validated by their teachers' perceptions. Implications for educators and further research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines data from two different studies concerning issues of social justice, gender and schooling and specifically the practices of secondary teachers, 'Mr B', a teacher from a school in Tasmania, Australia, and 'Mr C', a teacher from a school in Bedfordshire in the United Kingdom. Both teachers' practices and relationships with students are analysed within a feminist interpretation of the Productive Pedagogies model of quality teaching and learning. The two different stories are presented as juxtapositions that serve to illuminate the capacities of pedagogy to, on the one hand, work in ways likely to re-inscribe the discourses of entitlement and privilege that perpetuate cultural gender injustice, and on the other, transform these discourses towards more equitable and just networks of multiple and intersecting differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the factors that might be associated with students' attitudes towards science. The participants were 1745 students from secondary schools and universities across Australia. The results of factor analysis, descriptive statistics, Tukey's post hoc test and correlation analysis demonstrate that there were statistically significant differences between male and female students. Finally, the study provides a valid and reliable instrument. Implications of this study for future research are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyzes some of the cultural shocks Asian students experience both living in Australia and studying at Australian schools. It describes the transitions the Asian students face in the style of learning and presenting ideas. It suggests that culture shock is an inevitable part of students' experience in immersion programmes which should be perceived and involved as a part of the learning process.

We look across two studies, conducted within the current new managerialist policy context in Australia, which capture the construction of social spaces mediated through the nexus of material, activity, and discursive space. The focus of the first study is the negotiation of identities for a second language (Indonesian) teacher and his Indigenous and non-Indigenous students. The social space of their classroom is carnivalized, parodying traditional teacher/student relationships, and stripping the teacher of his authority. The students position the teacher as Other and, in the process, map the border of "white" space, temporarily allowing Aboriginal students access to dominant discourses. The second study documents strategies for reengaging young people who are not enrolled in mainstream schools. While policy makers have not articulated processes for reengagement, the default or implicit strategy of organizations that fund programs to reconnect young people in learning or earning pathways emphasizes information dissemination, or reengagement as contact. However, some youth workers are remaking the social space of school, enacting a strategy that prioritizes reengagement as commitment. These studies highlight the way processes of schooling dis/place both teachers and students. Our response is to consider ways of dis/placing school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Training pre-service teachers about lesbian and gay issues and heterosexism is crucial to counteracting the harassment of young people and teachers in schools, in promoting social change and enhancing the quality of life of lesbian and gay individuals. However, this discussion focuses on pre-service teachers' resistance to addressing lesbian and gay issues in schooling. The forms of resistance encountered are many, and include the personal perception of the relevance of lesbian and gay issues to teaching in schools and the various discourses in which these perceptions are situated. This discussion reflects upon the experiences of the authors, who have taught social justice issues in education to pre-service teachers in a metropolitan university in Sydney, Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the attitudes of preservice teachers toward college students with disabilities in Australia. Use of the Interaction with Disabled Persons Scale (IDP); Evaluation of the factor scale of IDP; Factors affected by preservice teachers' attitudes; Assessment of changes in the attitude of student teachers toward disability.