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Many students on the autism spectrum attend mainstream schools and face challenges coping with the demands of this complex environment. Education in rural and remote locations poses additional chal...

This article reports on a multi-method study of the ways in which special and mainstream schools support the educational needs of children with disabilities in Fiji. The aims of the study w...

Inclusive education in general, and disability-inclusive education in particular, is a high-level priority for development work in aid-supported countries. This paper presents a bottom-up process of developing disability-inclusive education policy in one country – the Solomon Islands. It is well understood that the promotion of quality in disability-inclusive education requires a clearly stated policy; however, in many developing countries, there has been a history of policy borrowing rather than culturally informed policy development. This paper will critically discuss how policy development occurs in aid-funded development work and then offers an alternative model of Australian aid-supported policy development as an in-depth case study.

This article presents a critical analysis of the development and implementation of the 2014 inclusive educational policy in Samoa. While Samoan culture is traditionally founded on inclusive social practices, rather than reflecting these practices in their policy, Samoan policy developers have been under pressure to adopt or borrow policy from other countries. The findings of this intrinsic case study highlight the complexity of formulating inclusive education policies for small developing countries and why policy developers borrow from other developed countries. The theoretical framework used to analyse observation data in this study is based on the notion that national process of development is a powerful influence in educational policy. The authors argue and advocate for the existing but overlooked strengths of the local knowledge community capacity when policy is borrowed from other countries, and how the findings of the case study contribute to future attempts at policy development. We found that the draft policy needs to and does reflect Samoan culture, values and vision. However, adopting foreign practices such as the individual education plan and placement rules is not relevant to the Samoan context. The identification and development of inclusive education beliefs, skills and practices in schools is a priority.

In this qualitative study, we explored the perspectives of 10 adolescents with a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their experiences of bullying. Through individual semistructured interviews, they were asked to describe their understandings and experiences of bullying. Details of their experiences are described as well as the perceived impact on the students and their schooling. Data analysis revealed a number of common experiences including high rates of traditional bullying and more specifically verbal bullying, with fewer incidents of cyberbullying reported. In support of literature in the area, the results of the study indicate that bullying can be a significant inhibitor, which may prevent students with ASD from taking full advantage of their schooling. Listening to and reflecting on the voices and personal stories of adolescent students with ASD is critically important for developing more supportive approaches to their education and needs. The reports of bullying by students on the autism spectrum emphasises the need for more effective interventions and management strategies to be implemented in a whole-school approach as well as targeted strategies to prevent bullying experiences for this particular population of students.

The development of scientifically literate citizens remains an important priority of science education; however, growing evidence of students' disenchantment with school science continues to challenge the realization of this aim. This triangulation mixed methods study investigated the learning experiences of 152 9th grade students as they participated in an online science-writing project on the socioscientific issue of biosecurity. Students wrote a series of hybridized scientific narratives, or BioStories, that integrate scientific information about biosecurity with narrative storylines. The students completed an online Likert-style questionnaire, the BioQuiz, which examined selected aspects of their attitudes toward science and science learning, prior to their participation in the project, and upon completion of the writing tasks. Statistical analyses of these results and interview data obtained from participating students suggest that hybridized writing about a socioscientific issue developed more positive attitudes toward science and science learning, particularly in terms of the students' interest and enjoyment. Implications for research and teaching are also discussed.

More recently, lifespan development psychology models of adaptive development have been applied to the workforce to investigate ageing worker and lifespan issues. The current study uses the Learning and Development Survey (LDS) to investigate employee selection and engagement of learning and development goals and opportunities and constraints for learning at work in relation to demographics and career goals. It was found that mature age was associated with perceptions of preferential treatment of younger workers with respect to learning and development. Age was also correlated with several career goals. Findings suggest that younger workers’ learning and development options are better catered for in the workplace. Mature aged workers may compensate for unequal learning opportunities at work by studying for an educational qualification or seeking alternate job opportunities. The desire for a higher level job within the organization or educational qualification was linked to engagement in learning and development goals at work. It is suggested that an understanding of employee perceptions in the workplace in relation to goals and activities may be important in designing strategies to retain workers.

In response to international concerns about scientific literacy and students’ waning interest in school science, this study investigated the effects of a science‐writing project about the socioscientific issue (SSI) of biosecurity on the development of students’ scientific literacy. Students generated two BioStories each that merged scientific information with the narrative storylines in the project. The study was conducted in two phases. In the exploratory phase, a qualitative case study of a sixth‐grade class involving classroom observations and interviews informed the design of the second, confirmatory phase of the study, which was conducted at a different school. This phase involved a mixed methods approach featuring a quasi‐experimental design with two classes of Australian middle school students (i.e., sixth grade, 11 years of age, n = 55). The results support the argument that writing the sequence of stories helped the students become more familiar with biosecurity issues, develop a deeper understa...

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify the transitional employment (TE) aspirations and training and development needs of older and younger workers at risk of early retirement due to limited education and/or employment in blue‐collar (BC) occupations.Design/methodology/approachA computer‐based methodology is used to evaluate the demographic effects of gender, education level, and occupation group on aspirations pertaining to TE and training and development in a sample of over 1,000 local government employees.FindingsOlder BC, secondary school‐educated and younger workers are less interested in TE than older workers with higher levels of education or from white‐collar backgrounds. The early retirement risk factors of BC work and secondary school education had a more limited effect on perceived training and development needs for older workers. However, for younger workers, these risk factors provided the impetus to undertake training to move into less physically demanding or more challenging roles as their careers progressed.Practical implicationsVia the identification of education level and occupation types groups' TE aspirations and perceptions of preparatory training and development within younger and older cohorts, long‐term strategies to develop and retain staff may be formulated.Originality/valuePast studies of TE have rarely included younger workers or older workers at risk of early retirement. Preparatory training and development for TE roles has not been considered in the literature.

The aim of the current study was to examine mature-aged student perceptions of university support services and barriers to study. Using a mixed methods approach, interviews and focus groups were conducted with mature-aged students to identify barriers to study, knowledge and use of current student support services, and suggestions to improve upon these services. From these data and an audit of university support services, an online survey was created to examine study barriers and patterns of support service use, as well as, perceptions of proposed support services not currently offered by the university within a larger sample of mature-aged students. Analysis of survey data indicated distinct patterns of barriers and support service use according to socioeconomic status as well as other demographic factors such as, age and enrolment status. Study findings are discussed in terms of generating support services for the retention of mature-aged students of low socioeconomic status and for the retention of mature-aged students in general.

Early labour force exit is a significant challenge associated with the ageing workforce in Australia and many other developed countries. A reduction and increased flexibility of work hours has been suggested to improve labour force participation of the mature aged cohort. However, little is known about mature aged workers' aspirations for transitional employment, and how demographic variables of mature aged workers influence these aspirations. In the current study, 1027 mature workers aged over 50 years and employed in regional areas of Australia were surveyed on their interest in transitiional employment following retirement, and their aspirations for work conditions, training and development, employer/employee roles and responsibilities, and incentives and benefits regarding transitional employment. A series of Chi square tests were conducted to identify demographic group differences according to timeframe until retirement, education level and occupation level. The majority of participants was interested in transitional employment,and were prepared to undergo training and development and work with management staff in order to achieve this end. Two general perceptions of transitional employment emerged. The first was transitional employment as an opportunity for learning and career development or change, which was most commonly aspired to amongst respondents with more than six years until retirement, a university education, or a professional/managerial role. The second was transitional employment as it is more traditionally viewed: as a chance to continue on in one's current role at reduced hours post retirement. The remaining groups represented variations on this theme. Implications of the current study include the divergence of transitional employment and training and development aspirations amongst a mature aged cohort, as well as mature aged workers' perceptions of organisational management's roles in supporting transitional employment.

Increasing numbers of educational institutions are adopting an online approach to teaching and learning; however, little regard has been given to the prerequisite personal and technical qualities required for academic achievement and satisfaction within this environment. In recognition of this, researchers have been exploring the design, development and testing of diagnostic tools to assess student readiness for online learning. This study builds on previous work by the authors to further validate their diagnostic tool for assessing Tertiary students' readiness for online learning (TSROL) which has four subscales: 'Technical skills', 'Computer self-efficacy', 'Learner preferences' and 'Attitudes towards computers'. Factor and reliability analyses revealed that Technical skills and Computer self-efficacy possessed good reliability and validity, and 'Attitudes towards computers' fair reliability and validity. However, 'Learner preferences' required revision as it possessed poor reliability and validity. Analysing the demographic data revealed that older students had lower Technical Skills and computer self-efficacy than younger students. The TSROL can be improved by adopting a more multidimensional interpretation of the Learning preferences and Attitudes towards computers subscales.

Global challenges associated with the ageing workforce include lower levels of education and negative attitudes of older workers towards learning and covert age discrimination in the workplace. This report discusses initial findings from a survey of older workers employed in regional areas in Australia. The older workers surveyed were predominantly blue collar with low levels of formal education. Contrary to the stereotypical views, there were few attitude differences between older (>40 years) and younger workers (≤40 years). However, gender, education level and job type had a greater impact on attitudes in the older workers when compared to their younger colleagues.

Contemporary lifespan development models of adaptive development have been applied to the workforce to examine characteristics of the ageing employee. Few studies have examined adaptive development in terms of worker perceptions of workplace, or their learning and development issues. This study used the recently developed Revised Learning and Development Survey to investigate employee selection and engagement of learning and development goals, opportunities for learning and development at work, and constraints to learning and development at work. Demographic and career goal variables were tested amongst a sample of private hospital employees, almost all of whom were nurses. Workers under 45 years of age perceived greater opportunities for training and development than more mature aged workers. Age and physical demands interacted such that physical demands of work were associated with lower engagement in learning and development goals in mature aged workers. The opposite was observed amongst younger workers. Engagement in learning and development goals at work predicted goals associated with an intention to decrease work hours or change jobs to a different industry when opportunities to learn via work tasks were limited. At the same time limited opportunities for training and development and perceptions of constraints to development at work predicted the intention to change jobs. Results indicate consideration must be paid to employee perceptions in the workplace in relation to goals. They may be important factors in designing strategies to retain workers.