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Sonography is a highly specialized diagnostic imaging profession facing significant workforce challenges due to increased service delivery demands and a shortage of clinical training opportunities. Developing sustainable solutions is crucial for workforce growth. Using examples from the Australian workforce and education context, this paper explores the current sonography training pathways available and the benefits and challenges of each, highlighting the importance of work-integrated learning (WIL) in facilitating the development of professional identity, clinical competence and the quality of sonographer education. Conclusions are drawn that WIL is integral to the future of the sonography profession to improve patient outcomes and address workforce shortages. However, effective implementation requires careful planning and consideration of many factors, including regulatory requirements, industry partnerships, student and supervisor/tutor support, and issues related to equitable access and participation in WIL. Key recommendations are provided to encourage ethical student learning, university-industry collaboration, effective resource allocation, and WIL-specific research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite significant recent changes to the doctoral training environment, particularly provision of employability skills during candidature, there is a paucity of research investigating best practice in this area. This paper describes a case study in how various pedagogical theories, curriculum co-creation, lifelong learner, adult learning, cognitive load, spiral learning, reflective practice, and community of practice theories, were applied at an Australian university to develop and implement a Graduate Certificate aimed at increasing work readiness by delivering research and employability skills training to PhD candidates. Outlined are the rationale, student interest and theoretical basis underpinning this program, and its integrated suite of work-integrated learning (WIL) activities. Comparison against an emerging framework for high quality WIL demonstrated key alignments between the program and the quality WIL framework. These alignments highlight important considerations for comprehensive training of PhD candidates, together with recommendations for future research into WIL and employability training for PhD candidates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the design, implementation and impact of a non-placement WIL project, focusing on the development of students' responsible leadership competencies through a third-year undergraduate unit -- Responsible Leadership. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic the WIL project pivoted from face to face delivery to online. The WIL project was designed to provide engagement with a local non-government organization and enable the co-development of authentic learning experiences with the industry partner. Findings from the comparison of pre- and post-semester CARL (Competency Assessment of Responsible Leadership) online surveys of 107 students showed increases in the development of ethics and values; self-awareness and systems understanding as well as an increase in their knowledge and attitude action domains. With industry support to implement a systems approach to a non-placement WIL project, an impactful transition to the online environment was achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Governments recognize that workers in the twenty-first century need to keep pace with increasingly technical employment environments in order to remain competitive in the global market. The Australian government has developed a set of policies to address impending shortfalls in high-level technicians and paraprofessionals across many professions. As a result, a new fledgling qualification, the associate degree, has been established within the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) to facilitate qualification upgrading for the existing workforce. This paper describes Australian associate degrees and highlights their similarities and differences to foundation degrees in the United Kingdom and associate degrees in the United States. In Australia, universities and higher education (HE) institutes have limited experiences catering to vocational training, since vocational education (VE) has been reserved for specialist technical and further education (TAFE) colleges. Interestingly, the AQF intends that associate degree qualifications can cut across sectors. This discussion paper details the development of an associate degree in information technology (IT) at Victoria University, where two education sectors, one vocationally-focused and one academically-focused, are collaborating to effect the degree. Eight areas of competency are identified as needed by graduates of the proposed IT program. Two models for the cooperation in curriculum development are proposed. Regardless of the model chosen, the collaboration provides the opportunity for the achievement of a program that would dovetail vocational skills with supporting academic competencies to meet the needs of information technology workers wishing to upskill. Under discussion are issues such as staffing and administration, program sustainability and context of delivery, industry partnerships, and their impact upon differing cohorts of students with variability in experience. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper reports the findings of a project that investigated uses of electronic portfolios (ePortfolios) in the creative and performing arts at four Australian universities and raises four significant areas for discussion: engaging technologies as an ongoing requirement of planning, delivery and evaluation of teaching and learning in higher education; ePortfolios and their implications for curriculum planning; the influence of ePortfolios on learning, self-awareness and reflection; and differences in ePortfolio expectations and uses between the varying specializations of music study in higher education. Identifying marked differences between the four higher education institutions in this project and their applications of ePortfolio work, our discussion supports the hypothesis that ePortfolios cannot be applied generically across the arts; rather the ePortfolio requires qualification in expectations, roles, applications and theorisations. The paper makes recommendations for higher arts educators and highlights some of the strategies that heighten the development of professional practice and related learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During period 1975 through to 1987 the Commonwealth ventured into curriculum development, hitherto an activity for states and territories. Unlike the ACARA Curriculum of the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd governments, there was nothing mandatory about the CDC's curriculum development activities. Here, the dominant influence was coordinative federalism. This paper advances a thesis that Kingdon's Agendas is a useful lens in examining the historical circumstances bringing this educational policy into being, principally because it requires an examination of the political circumstances of the time, in this case including the politics of the administration of the CDC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the trial implementation of the Australian Curriculum in a remote Aboriginal school. It was a school that at the time was beginning to achieve successes with the development of dual-knowledge, transformational outcomes based curriculum that had its justification in the Northern Territory Curriculum Framework. Drawing on the work of van Manen (1990) this paper uses lived experience as the methodology. It deals with an early-career teacher's struggle to remain faithful to her employer-directed task of introducing the Australian Curriculum while providing space for the Aboriginal world the school had a responsibility to serve. The discussion is placed within the context of national curriculum development and implementation in Australia. In scrutinizing this teacher's experience, the paper attempts to examine the broad question of the capability of small schools serving Aboriginal communities to implement national curriculum reform. It then details the issue as not simply a question of compatibility and resourcing but also a complex one of ethics. The experience contributes to the field by highlighting the struggle faced by those teachers caught between governmental reforms and the desires of Aboriginal communities for meaningful inclusion of cultural content within the curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the relevance and application of Writing About Writing (WAW) (Downs & Wardle, 2007; Wardle, 2009) and Threshold Concepts of Writing (TCW) (Adler-Kassner & Wardle, 2015) in the Australian higher education context. These approaches to literacy and writing curriculum development have been developed in the United States context as a critical reinvention of the first-year composition curriculum and as resolving what has been termed the "content problem" - the lack of a consensus about what the discipline of composition should teach in first-year writing classes (Seitz, 2005). Without a strong tradition of first-year writing or an offering of academic writing subjects as credit-bearing parts of the curriculum in Australia, it is not surprising that the discussion or consideration of these ideas has been minimal in this context. However, as this paper will argue, to the extent that such courses or programs are becoming more common in Australian higher education, academic literacy educators face new demands from institutions and students while continuing to respond to perennial misconceptions of their field as being merely a remedial grammar or student support service on the margins of the main teaching and learning work undertaken in disciplines. Insofar as WAW and the TCW literature help to clarify the disciplinary status and goals of literacy programs, the paper argues that they suggest a way forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the question of the relative importance of work-integrated learning placement quality, structure (whether part-time or full-time), and duration (in weeks), for producing employability outcomes. Additionally, we explore whether the quality of those placements is more, less, or equally important than the structure and duration. Drawing on responses to questions in a survey from 2,313 participants, 1,316 of whom had no placement experience and 997 of whom had had a placement experience, as part of their university studies, we tested a series of related hypotheses. After controlling for prior work-experience, results show that the quality of the placement experience is a greater predictor of a variety of employability outcomes than either structure of the placement experience or its duration. Findings will inform curriculum designers, practicum supervisors, and those interested in the outcomes of higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Honours undergraduate degree in Australia is unlike that in most other countries. It has taken on a particular significance as a qualification, as a pathway to and a pre-requisite for direct entry into doctoral programs. This paper explores the outcomes of a study that suggests that the aims, outcomes, curriculum, pedagogical practices, purposes and enrolment patterns of Honours vary substantially across disciplines and university types. It addresses the questions about the diverse nature of Honours programs and questions what this diversity means for Australian higher education in the context where global standardisation of awards is rapidly occurring. Honours is seen variously as a qualification, an experience, or a program. These variations are discussed and it is demonstrated that Honours globally has not one, but many meanings. These meanings are often poorly understood within, and outside the academy. These multiple meanings create confusion about what Honours stands for and inhibit communication about the role and purpose of Honours both within Australia and in a global context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper describes a recent review of Library and Information Management courses offered by the School of Information Studies at Charles Sturt University, and the resulting program of curriculum renewal and expansion. This program aimed to address concerns over the long-term sustainability of the courses and respond to an increasingly converging professional landscape. The courses were redesigned in a way that allowed them to maintain their relevance to the School's established librarianship market, while at the same time develop a significant application to other information fields. This was achieved by essentially turning the curriculum on its head. Instead of a library focussed core with electives in other information areas, the new curriculum offers core subjects that cover the information-people-technology nexus in generic fashion and provides a foundation for a wide range of specialisations. This transformation represents what could be described as a move from a traditional Library and Information Studies (LIS) approach to a broader Information Studies (IS) orientation, accommodating advanced areas of study in specific fields, including Librarianship (L). The paper goes on to discuss key issues concerning the implementation of the course redesigns, and the results of their implementation to date. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A study on the effectiveness of engineering education in the development of industry-ready graduate engineers was conducted among academics and industry experts of engineering disciplines who have relevant experience in work-integrated learning in Australia. The hypothesis was that embedding enhanced work-integrated learning into all study semesters has the increased possibility of developing industry-ready graduate engineers. This paper outlines the research outcomes and an enhanced work-integrated learning framework that might be helpful for improving the industry-readiness of graduating engineers. Based on the research results, the researchers propose the allocation of an appropriate level of work-integrated learning for each indicator of attainment component from the elements of Engineers Australia's Stage I Competencies. The aim of this paper is to provide detailed recommendations for implementing an enhanced work-integrated model in Bachelor of Engineering programs in Australia. The authors also present the concept of curriculum development based on industry-integrated learning outcomes, as well as the campus and industry engagement model for enhanced work-integrated learning for the subjects of study in the Bachelor of Engineering program. This framework can be used globally as a reference for developing similar work-integrated learning models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, an historical case study is presented of the transplanting of curricular and instructional practices from the United States to Australia. The case study draws upon a collection of education policy documents (syllabuses, policy statements and correspondence) and oral histories recorded with key curriculum workers in Queensland (one of eight states and territories in Australia) from 1969 to 1989. Analyses of these data provide valuable insights into the complexities and intricacies of two eras of curriculum development and reform, and more broadly, into the validity or otherwise of significant historical assumptions and explanations held about those and other reform efforts, The paper advocates the use of conceptual constructs (social and cross-cultural perspectives) and methodological approaches (document analysis and interview-based fieldwork in the form of "oral histories") in further empirical research on the transplanting of social studies across societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper identifies binary oppositions in the discourse of mathematics education and introduces a binary-epistemic model for (re)conceptualising these oppositions and the epistemic-pedagogic problems they represent. The model is attentive to the contextual relationships between pedagogically relevant binaries (e.g., traditional/progressive, student-centred/teacher-centred, discovery/transmission, constructivist/behaviourist) and epistemically relevant binaries (e.g., concrete/abstract, pure/applied, interpretivist/positivist, subjective/objective) that operate in mathematics classrooms. The premise of this paper is that ways of knowing mathematics (i.e., epistemologies) are actualised in ways of teaching mathematics (i.e., pedagogies), and vice-versa. The binary-epistemic model describes oppositional, equipositional and parapositional ways of knowing and teaching in relation to these binaries. We argue for a more relational-contextual or parapositional approach to binary polarities that have otherwise proven divisive in mathematical discourse. In the context of the new Australian Curriculum, we illustrate epistemically differentiated ways of teaching measurement in a Year 5 mathematics classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Teachers of sexuality education can often be uncertain about what theoretical basis and pedagogical strategies to use in their teaching. Sexuality educational programmes designed by teachers can often show few evident theoretical principles that have been applied in its construction. Thus, there seems to be a dearth of evidence of ways in which teachers can use appropriate theoretical foundations in their planning and teaching in sexuality education. Purpose: This paper aims to suggest a way of providing such an appropriate theoretical framework for sexuality education teachers of young people aged 7-15 years of age. Analysis: Age-appropriate primary and middle school pedagogies based on two integrated educational theories, namely Anderson and Krathwohl's theoretical framework of learning and teaching, with Verbal Linguistic Intelligence from Gardner's Multiple Intelligences, were analysed and evaluated. Key considerations were the earlier maturing of girls and boys, findings from relevant literature about children and young people's cognitive capacities, as well as the relevance of curriculum content for upper primary and middle school students, and the concomitant need for better and earlier sexuality education. Conclusion: This approach, integrating Anderson and Krathwohl's theoretical framework of learning and teaching, with Gardner's Multiple Verbal Linguistic Intelligence, may be useful to assist health and sexuality education teachers in identifying and anchoring pedagogies in a more theoretically structured manner, thereby enhancing the quality of their sexuality education planning and teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One way in which universities have sought to articulate the outcomes of a university education is through a description of the attributes of their graduates. Recent calls for universities to demonstrate the quality of their outcomes and processes have prompted a re-examination of the generic graduate attribute outcomes many Australian universities have espoused for the past decade. As university communities struggle to identify what combination of skills, attributes and knowledge to include in these statements of graduate outcomes, and begin to come to terms with how to develop curricula to effectively achieve such outcomes, the fundamental nature of these is a vital preliminary question to address. What are these things that universities call generic graduate attributes? This is a more fundamental question than what combination of skills, attributes and knowledge should be included on the graduate ‘shopping-list’, it is about the nature of the things on the list, and the nature of the list itself. In seeking to further our understanding of the meaning of generic graduate attributes, the research described in this paper used phenomenographic analysis to explore academics’ conceptions of generic graduate attributes in the context of contemporary teaching and learning practices at one Australian university. A way of describing the key aspects of the variation in academics’ understandings of the concept of graduate attributes is presented. The contribution of discipline background to conceptions of generic attributes is considered and the implications of the observed variation for universities’ current curriculum reform initiatives discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Learning environments in accounting need to reflect the skills demanded in the workplace. Recognizing this need, many suggested reforms in accounting education emphasize a shift from content knowledge to higher-order thinking skills. Such changes create a need for new teaching practices as well. Teaching strategies for addressing improvements in abstract thinking skills are the focus of this paper. It is suggested that accounting education reformers consider adopting more conceptually oriented accounting programs that include such strategies as segment teaching assignments and tutorial systems. Examples of these and other teaching strategies described as the consultative method are presented from accounting programs in New Zealand and Australia. The recommendations for reform are made with evaluations of the underlying issues which curriculum changes, such as these, may create. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inclusion of Drama as a subject in the Australian Curriculum is largely a result of the unwavering advocacy of national associations (like Drama Australia) and alliances, in particular the National Advocates for Arts Education (NAAE). This article briefly outlines stages in national curriculum development in Australia and delineates key organisations and individuals who have contributed to the inclusion of drama within Australia’s national curriculum. The paper draws from previously published material, interviews with representatives from each state professional association, and extended interviews with members of the NAAE. The authors propose that the most significant contributing factor to the inclusion of drama in the educational entitlement for all young people in the Australian national curriculum has been collaborative advocacy, carefully managed by a national advocacy collective. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article offers information on the announcement by the government of Australia that the five arts namely music, dance, drama, visual arts and media studies would be the part of education curriculum in Australia. The announcement was made by Peter Garrett and Simon Crean, both ministers at the government. Also, the guidelines are devised by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority with aim of enhancing students' skills in arts.

Agriculture is a vital part of the Australian economy. With an industry poised for growth, and a growing disconnect between consumers and agriculture, additional communication efforts are needed. The purpose of this study was to complete a curriculum visioning process to inform agricultural communications curriculum development in Australia. This study used a qualitative research design consisting of face-to-face, semi-structured interviews with individuals from 14 agricultural organizations and two universities. The results indicated the industry is addressing many challenges, but also has opportunities that would benefit from strategic communication efforts. Participants provided suggestions regarding the specific communication skills and agriculture knowledge future employees should possess. Recognizing these competencies informed the curriculum visioning process for agricultural communications as an academic discipline within Australian higher education. Recommendations for both practice and future research are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: General Practice training in Australia is delivered through the apprenticeship model. General Practice supervisors support trainees transitioning from hospital-based work towards competent independent community-based practice. The timing and manner in which support should be provided is still not well understood. This study aimed to establish the variation in clinical and educational experiences and behaviours, and location, of general practice trainees' consultations by stage of their vocational training. It was hypothesised that change is greater in earlier stages of training. Methods: A cross-sectional analysis of data (2010–2018) from the Registrar Clinical Encounters in Training (ReCEnT) study, an ongoing cohort study of Australian GP registrars' in-consultation clinical and educational experience and behaviours. Multinomial logistic regression assessed the association of demographic, educational, and clinical factors in different stages of training. The outcome factor was the training term. Results: Two thousand four hundred sixteen registrars contributed data for 321,414 patient consultations. For several important variables (seeing patients with chronic disease; new patients; seeking in-consultation information or assistance; ordering pathology and imaging; and working in a small or regional practice), odds ratios were considerably greater for comparisons of Term 1 and 3, relative to comparisons of Term 2 and 3. Conclusion: Differences experienced in demographic, clinical and educational factors are significantly more pronounced earlier in registrars' training. This finding has educational and training implications with respect to resource allocation, trainee supervision and curriculum design. Sociocultural learning theory enables an understanding of the impact of transitions on, and how to support, general practice trainees and supervisors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a reprint of the article "Losing the Quality Battle in Australian Education for Librarianship" by Ross Harvey from the 2001 volume 50, number one issue of "The Australian Library Journal." The author covers problems facing librarianship education in Australian universities such as difficulty defining librarianship, not promoting the subject as the graduate level, and low problem-solving skills in librarians. Suggestions for improvement include influence from professional associations and developing subject cores and specialisms.

This paper presents an overview of a Peer Review Instrument (COAST Concept Maps) developed as part of a larger project concerned with design of the first-year curriculum in the School of Engineering Systems at Queensland University of Technology in 2008 . COAST Concept Maps are simple visual tools to enable integrated development of the student learning experience and curriculum design. A COAST Map displays clearly and succinctly the key elements of the student learning experience in a particular degree or program, alongside other design aspects of the program. The instrument provides a mechanism for reviewing curriculum according to the criteria specified by the course outline or selected by the individual academic. By embedding and articulating elements of the student learning experience within curriculum design, the Maps enable alignment of student learning activities with objectives, and design for optimal student engagement. COAST Maps are a useful tool to review the criteria according to emerging priorities of the particular university, and within the framework for enhancing the first-year experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various explanations and solutions have been proposed over the last ten years in relation to the ongoing problem of student lack of engagement with the middle years' curriculum in Australia. Identified contributors to this problem include an irrelevant or trivial curricular focus and ineffectual teaching and learning strategies. In this paper we report on a case study of a group of Year 8 teachers' beliefs and practices about what promotes or constrains this engagement. We found that while the teachers sought to introduce less directive approaches to topics, and were trying to encourage students' sense of task ownership and direction, they struggled to develop effective student self-regulatory practices. We conclude by identifying some practical strategies that support the growth of these practices as one aspect of student engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the development of the Keating Government's national statements and profiles, during the early to mid 90s, all Australian states and territories, to a greater or lesser degree, have adopted an outcomes-based education approach to school curriculum. Drawing on the writings of the US academic, William Spady, and in opposition to the more traditional, academic and competitive model of curriculum, OBE promotes a new-age and progressive approach to teaching and learning. OBE is based on a developmental and constructivist philosophy of education and, as a result, more formal methods of teaching, competitive assessment and placing the disciplines centre stage give way to a situation where teachers 'facilitate', students are described as 'knowledge navigators' and dispositions and attitudes take priority over received knowledge. The paper offers an outline of Australia's adoption of OBE and argues that OBE is conceptually flawed, difficult to implement and substandard when compared to either what is termed a syllabus or a standards model of curriculum development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the factors being considered in national curriculum-making in Australia. Trends in the Australian economy; Costs of education in relation to the outcomes of schooling; Integration of education and youth policies.

to determine whether second language (L2) proficiency and exposure to work environments influence language learners' pragmalinguistic knowledge of implicatures, I surveyed 76 native and non-native participants in Australia. Thirty non-native respondents were from working contexts and 31 from tertiary education institutes, and 15 native speakers were drawn from a university context. Analysis revealed no working context effect on understanding of implicature items but substantial L2 proficiency effect, and some length of residence effect on pragmatic knowledge of implicature. I concluded that formulaic implicature is more difficult to understand than idiosyncratic implicature in which the conversation's principles are violated. This study has potential implications for policy making in the areas of Australian language, curriculum development, pedagogical approaches, and English teacher professional development and standardisations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Student interest in and national recognition for the value of global education is expanding. Opportunities for interprofessional education (IPE) are a required component of athletic training education and education of other health care professions. Objective: To describe the development of a short-term study abroad IPE course in the international setting of Australia. Background: While some literature is available for discipline-specific study abroad experiences, limited information is available for implementing IPE in the international setting. Description: Two faculty leaders from athletic training and speech language pathology, with IPE experience, designed and conducted a 17-day immersive study abroad experience for 12 students from 7 health care professional programs (athletic training, nursing, physical therapy, physician assistant studies, premedical, occupational therapy, and speech language pathology). Clinical Advantage: Students desire unique, global learning experiences but may have trouble studying abroad for full semesters due to the lockstep nature of curriculum within their professional education programs. Having students learn from, with, and about each other in an international setting may enhance their preparation for collaborative practice. Conclusions: Short-term study abroad opportunities offer an alternative to satisfy student interest in global education while meeting programmatic requirements for IPE. Inclusion of faculty leaders from different disciplines fosters interprofessional learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a case study which explored strategies utilised by staff of the Masters of Social Work program at the University of South Australia to support some international students in meeting the requirements of their first field education placement. Strategies included curriculum redesign, the introduction of a hurdle requirement, student integration seminars, field educator training and the establishment of a campus-based community centre. The multipronged approach aimed to improve students' spoken and written English language skills, introduce them to social work practice in the Australian context, develop their confidence and increase the number of students accepted into placements at their first interview. The lessons learned and feedback received from students, field teachers and academic staff involved are presented with recommendations for future developments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Field education has been identified as the signature pedagogy of the profession. Field education is also being said to be in crisis. The attribution of signature pedagogy status is contested as there is limited research where Shulman's 2005 framework has been applied in its entirety either in the United States or Australia. A review of the literature concerning signature pedagogy in social work highlights an absence of Australian perspectives and contexts. This makes it unclear whether field education is signature pedagogy for the profession in Australia. Further research and professional reflection is required to identify congruence with signature pedagogy status and explore ways in which the curriculum design and pedagogical decision making for schools of social work are responding to pedagogical inertia or are being responsive to the needs of the 21st century and the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction This article presents the results of a single-day census of radiation therapy ( RT) treatment and technology use in Australia. The primary aim of the study was to ascertain patterns of RT practice and technology in use across Australia. These data were primarily collated to inform curriculum development of academic programs, thereby ensuring that training is matched to workforce patterns of practice. Methods The study design was a census method with all 59 RT centres in Australia being invited to provide quantitative summary data relating to patient case mix and technology use on a randomly selected but common date. Anonymous and demographic-free data were analysed using descriptive statistics. Results Overall data were provided across all six Australian States by 29 centres of a possible 59, yielding a response rate of 49% and representing a total of 2743 patients. Findings from this study indicate the increasing use of emerging intensity-modulated radiotherapy ( IMRT), image fusion and image-guided radiation therapy ( IGRT) technology in Australian RT planning and delivery phases. IMRT in particular was used for 37% of patients, indicating a high uptake of the technology in Australia when compared to other published data. The results also highlight the resource-intensive nature of benign tumour radiotherapy. Conclusions In the absence of routine national data collection, the single-day census method offers a relatively convenient means of measuring and tracking RT resource utilisation. Wider use of this tool has the potential to not only track trends in technology implementation but also inform evidence-based guidelines for referral and resource planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a discussion relating to public policy and management programs in Canada, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, which are compared with similar programs in the U.S. It was inferred that the comparing programs raises important questions as to whether developments within countries and across countries have been successful in creating education and training offerings that are fit for purpose. According to the author, the study of public policy programs indicates that there are several challenges ahead in terms of making good decisions on the form and content of programs that would add value to governments and citizens. Furthermore, the complexity of policy environments has major implications for the design and delivery of education and training programs in policy analysis.

National curriculum development in Australia has been characterised in a number of ways. In the 1970s words such as 'core', 'common' and 'progressive' were used to describe curriculum and these terms undoubtedly reflected the social idealism and cultural emphasis in curriculum at that time. In recent times a whole new state of descriptors has emerged. These include: 'common,' 'essential', 'assured,' 'guaranteed,' 'entitlement,' 'agreed,' 'compatible,' 'promulgated,' 'streamlined,' 'corporate' and 'instrumental'. All these words reflect the layered warnings and patterns of beliefs broadly defined as ideology within which the idea of curriculum development has been defined currently.

Examines the development of a social studies curriculum in a state education system in Australia. Changes in the curriculum development within the state education system; Accountability of the curriculum; Role of teachers in curriculum planning and implementation.

Background: As the global burden of chronic disease grows, and infectious disease threats loom large, the need for medical graduates with expertise in public health medicine (PHM) is growing. A recurrent challenge is integrating this broad knowledge into crowded medical curricula and making PHM relevant. This study describes the process of integrating public health content into an Australian graduate entry medical course. Methods: A redesign of the PHM curriculum at Deakin University School of Medicine was conducted in 2014 to make the curriculum practice-based and solution-oriented. Central to the redesign was the development of a curriculum map. Results: Public health is now taught from a practice-based framework adapted from the World Health Organization emphasizing skills aligned with the Australasian Faculty of Public Health Medicine domains that prepare students for specialisation. Learning outcomes are structured to build depth and application in student knowledge. Mapping the curriculum provided the ability to measure alignment of learning outcomes with course, university and accrediting body outcomes. Regular feedback from students indicates engagement has improved along with perceived relevance to future careers. Conclusions: Doctors with public health skills are increasingly sought after in Australia, particularly in rural areas. Deakin graduates are well placed to meet this demand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Advances in medicine have helped many to live longer lives and to be able to meet health challenges. However death rates are anticipated to increase given the ageing population and chronic disease progression. Being able to talk about death is seen to be important in normalising death as part of life and supporting preparedness for death. Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) provide opportunities for the community to engage in collaborative learning. A 5 week MOOC was developed covering four main topics (language and humour, representations of death, medicalisation of dying, and digital dying) aiming: To enable participants to openly and supportively discuss and learn about issues around living, death and dying, To explore the normally unheard opinions and views of Australians around death and dying, and To determine what effect online learning and discussions offered through the MOOC had on participants’ feelings and attitudes towards death and dying. Methods: Data was captured on engagement rates in the various MOOC activities. Death Attitudes were measured by five items representing the MOOC’s learning objectives and completed at enrolment and conclusion. MOOC Satisfaction was measured with six items at the end of the MOOC. Descriptive statistics were produced for each variable and Chi-Square Tests of Independence assessed the extent of the relationship between categorical variables. Socio-demographic variables were examined as predictors of the outcome variables of MOOC engagement, MOOC satisfaction, and death attitudes. Ethical approval was received from Flinders University Social and Behavioural Research Ethics Committee (Project No. 7247). Results: One thousand one hundred fifty six people enrolled in the Dying2Learn MOOC with 895 participating in some way. Enrolees were primarily female (92.1%). Age ranged from 16 to 84 (mean = 49.5, SD = 12.3). MOOC satisfaction scores were high. Responses to the experience of participating in the MOOC were very positive, with mean scores ranging from 4.3 to 4.6 (aligning with agreement and strong agreement to statements on the value of participating). Death Attitudes were positive at commencement but increased significantly following participation. Conclusions: The Dying2Learn MOOC provided an environment that enabled open and supportive discussion around death and dying and influenced attitudinal change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]