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Australia's higher education sector has seen substantial developments in equity and inclusivity as a result of initiatives which work to improve the numbers and experiences of students from a wide diversity of backgrounds. This practice report shares learnings from a recent national project about the impacts of a wide range of access and equity programs and services, shedding light on effective strategies throughout the student life cycle. The study, known as the Critical Interventions Framework Part 3 (CIF 3), analysed published studies which provide details about the impact of initiatives, highlighting the mechanisms which have enabled students to gain access to and succeed in higher education. The focus here is on a key outcome of the CIF 3, the updated Equity Initiatives Framework (EIF), designed for utility as a quick reference guide to aid equity practitioners and others working to support students in their educational endeavours.

The vocational experiences and skills of young adolescents could be infused into formal education by identifying career competencies to be taught within the academic curriculum. Such curriculum practices that embed educational and career pathways must also include the perspectives of students and the community, particularly those from marginalised groups. Drawing on data from 111 teachers, principals, carers and students, this paper presents research undertaken to co-design career education lesson plans within an infused model of the curriculum for early Middle Year students from regional, rural, and remote Australia. The lesson plans and activities were designed to allow for meaningful self-reflection and goal-setting that could be seamlessly infused into the formal curriculum and help embed early-stage career education. The paper concludes by projecting opportunities and challenges for seamless curriculum integration, while pertinent to the Australian context, can also be read with broader relevance to other educational systems and schools.

Objective: When students learn or solve problems, attentional resources are depleted; rest breaks may restore cognitive functioning in support of learning. Research framed by attention restoration theory holds that exposure to natural environments may be another means to restore attentional resources. The study investigated the effects of alternative rest break formats on learning a challenging mental mathematics strategy. Method: Students first completed a series of timed arithmetic tests expected to deplete attentional resources. Students in the control condition proceeded directly onto a mental mathematics lesson, while students in the unstructured rest and nature-based rest conditions took a 5-min break before the lesson. All students then completed a self-reported questionnaire on directed attention levels during the lesson, then completed a problem-solving post-test. Results: The unstructured rest condition reported higher levels of directed attention during the lesson than the control condition; no other comparisons were statistically significant. The unstructured rest condition solved more post-test problems than the control condition, and the nature-based rest condition also solved more problems than the control condition. The post-test score difference between the two rest conditions was not statistically significant. Conclusions: The study provided clearer evidence for the general benefits of rest than for the additional benefits of nature-based rest.

The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement is generating a new appetite for understanding the ubiquity of systemic racism. In this short piece, a professor and three newly graduated students from different racialized groups reflect on the reproduction of social inequalities in key institutions and on what decolonization means for the nation, not just for education.

This report introduces an innovative research project about the dialogue among teacher trainees from UK, Norway and Pakistan, about a literary work, in a virtual environment. This project involved us, five English in Education academics from the three contexts, as researchers who gathered, analysed and reported on the international data collaboratively. We reflect on our experience as international researchers and the benefits we found in this type of association across borders for future teachers. This work has implications for teacher education and the methodologies used can be beneficial for future researchers and teacher educators.

Many university students are insufficiently physically active to the detriment of their physical and mental health. University students' physical activity motives are important for understanding students' physical activity levels and patterns, and for offering insight into how students' physical activity, and health, could be enhanced. The purpose of this study was to examine how first-year university students' physical activity and motives had changed following the transition from high school to university. Methods: An online questionnaire was completed by 121 first-year students at a New Zealand university. The data related to: duration, frequency, and types of physical activity in relation to high school and university; socio-demographic variables; and, students' physical activity motives were assessed. Changes in physical activity and motives following the transition were assessed using open-ended questions. Following the transition, physical activity decreased significantly, and students' physical activity preferences/patterns and motives changed from team/group to more individual physical activities, and to less competitive and/or more social activities. Analysis revealed five motive factors: competence-mastery; social recognition; body/health-related; psychological; and interpersonal. Differences in motives based on socio-demographic variables and physical activity were also revealed. In summary, physical activity patterns and preferences, as well as motives, changed considerably following the transition. University administrators should appreciate these changes and allocate resources to encourage and facilitate such changes by providing a diverse range of opportunities to be physically active that suit students' preferences.

Researchers into Literature and Education from Norway, Pakistan and the United Kingdom used William Golding's "Lord of the Flies" to explore the potential of a literary text to encourage intercultural dialogue, employing an innovative teaching method, Google Circles, to provide a platform for asynchronous online discussion among three cohorts of students in higher education. The authors present here the ethical and moral responses to the novel. The authors' analysis of the data explores the students' thoughts about human nature and law and order, as well as responses made by the students to moral turning points in Golding's novel. The authors report that -- although the novel provided a space for students from three national contexts to debate major existential questions using the affordances of the asynchronous digital platform -- the students found it difficult to distinguish between the writer, the implied author and the narrative voice.

Educators strongly influence young children's behaviors, and their perspectives regarding physical activity (PA) and screen-viewing (SV) may influence their provision in childcare. This study gathered early childhood education (ECE) candidates' perspectives regarding: (1) the importance of their role(s) in promoting PA/reducing SV; (2) how their ECE program and personal PA may influence these perspectives; and (3) their interest in PA/SV training. An online survey was completed by 1,292 ECE candidates from 61 programs. Descriptive statistics and chi-square tests explored these perspectives by PA/SV courses taken and by meeting the Canadian adult PA guideline. ECE candidates with PA-related training reported higher perceived importance (n=2 items; p<0.05*) and personal responsibility (n=4 items; p<0.05) for items related to teaching PA, compared to those without training. SV training was not reported to influence their perspectives. Candidates who reported meeting the PA guideline reported higher importance (n=3 items; p<0.05) and personal responsibility (n=3 items; p<0.05) for items related to promoting PA, than those not meeting the guidelines. Most candidates (77.5%-93.3%) showed interest in further PA/SV training. Findings underscore the benefit of PA-related training, and personal PA habits, with regard to positively influencing ECE candidates' values and perceptions of their role in promoting PA in childcare.

Self-determination theory (SDT) and the job demands-resources (JD-R) model of burnout have been identified as important in understanding psychological distress among university students. This study aimed to investigate key factors influencing distress (depression, anxiety, stress and burnout) among students, using stepwise multivariate regression modelling based on a survey of nearly 750 undergraduate and postgraduate students at an Australian university. This analysis confirmed the importance of SDT and the JD-R model in explaining psychological distress among students. It also demonstrated that the relative importance of factors in these theories appeared to be influenced by academic preparedness. Specifically, motivational pathways may be more important for wellbeing among well-prepared students, whereas less prepared students may benefit from support in meeting study- and life demands. This suggests that supporting wellbeing in higher education may require different strategies for different cohorts.

Supporting higher education participation across equity groups has long been a directed effort in global higher education practice and policy. However, to date, there has been little improvement in the rates of Australian higher education participation by equity groups such as regional/remote, low socioeconomic, and Indigenous Australian students. In this study, we visited four outer-regional communities in Victoria, Australia to utilise participatory design methods as an approach to explore participants' ideas on the optimal nature of early-stage higher education outreach interventions and how future resources or programmes can be designed. Our case study of four schools showcases how participatory design with students (Year 7 and 8), school staff, and carers (e.g. family, community leaders) (n = 101) helped to elicit participant feedback and ideas as well as support the subsequent co-design of future resources and outputs. Key findings included the need to address information gaps on the daily life of university students and the importance of context-specific advice and interventions.

An increasing amount of scholarly literature exists that examines the relationship between students and universities, and their role in university governance and quality assurance of their higher education experiences. The traditional mechanisms for involving students in university governance -- for example, through representation by student associations -- have been challenged and expanded as part of a broader movement towards students as partners and co-creation of their educational experiences. This paper provides a critical review of student engagement in university governance and quality assurance systems, using the Australian system as a grounding example, and with particular focus on student equity and the increasing diversity of the student body, and its implications for quality assessment and assurance. Our critical review of the literature suggests that there is still progress to be made in integrating the complex roles students can assume within universities, but that considerable opportunities exist in meeting the challenges of massification, student diversity and the structural barriers some students face to success in higher education, provided that the full diversity of the student body can meaningfully engage in student governance.

Background: The recent growth in online teaching and learning has increased the prevalence of educators using technology as the medium for teaching. Research on physical face-to-face teaching has demonstrated that educators engage in emotional labour as part of their job. However, there is limited understanding of how emotional labour presents when educators interact with students in online learning environments. Purpose: This study sought to explore how educators experience, manage and regulate their emotions when teaching online. Method: Semi-structured interviews with a sample of 20 educators from a higher education institution in Australia were held. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was applied to explore participants' experiences of emotional labour. Findings: The analysis indicated that educators performed emotional labour by creating socioemotional presence through professionalism--demonstrated through emotions such as empathy, concern and friendliness; suppressing their emotions during text-based interpersonal communication; and expressing their emotions through word tone and vocal cues. Findings also identified that challenges encountered by educators in efforts at managing and regulating emotions may create tensions that have negative impacts on educator wellbeing. Conclusions: This exploratory study extends understanding of how emotional labour is performed in an online learning environment. It highlights three important implications: first, emotional labour and its potential impacts should be considered within institutional structures and inform decisions about how to offer targeted support to online educators; second, staff development interventions should acknowledge that online learning environments involve emotional labour that may differ in nuanced ways from physical face-to-face teaching and ensure that appropriate coping strategies are discussed and shared; third, there is a need for emotional labour to be regarded as a purposeful strategy in online learning design.

This paper explores the factors that influence attendance to taught sessions in higher education. Absenteeism is approached as a complex phenomenon that is problematic when considering how students, lecturers and universities relate to it. Our study is conducted as a case study based on a large post-92 university in England, focusing on the undergraduate Education Studies programme. We took a collaborative approach with students and staff as research partners. Data were collected through one-to-one interviews with different members of staff and focus groups with students in all the 3 years of the programme. We used a thematic network analysis to generate a visual representation of the subthemes that emerged from collaborative analysis. Our findings show that attendance is a situated decision that can be articulated in relation to two sets of factors. The first set refers to university imperatives, and which relate to discourses of performativity and accountability. The second set relates to the complexities of students' lives. In the intersection between these two clusters of concerns, the tension between the two sets of discourses plays out and has implications for the degree of engagement that students have with the university and their courses.

There is growing concern across Advanced-Level (A-Level) providers and universities that many students are experiencing high levels of stress and physical illness, related to academic and/or social aspects of student life. The impact of academic pressure to 'succeed' is increasingly evident. There is an urgent need to provide appropriate student support. Two studies are reported which investigate students' experiences and perceptions of studying Advanced-Levels in England. By gaining insight into this period of study and the challenges encountered by students, the implications for enhancing student resilience can be better understood. Study One involved participants at four sixth forms in secondary schools in England (n = 805). Study Two comprised a larger-scale study of nine institutions offering A-Level education (secondary school, Sixth Form College and College of Further Education), with 2,040 Year 12 and Year 13 students participating in the study. In both studies, students completed a bespoke questionnaire which focused on transition to/from A-Level education and student perceptions of resilience. The findings suggest that much more needs to be done in supporting the mental well-being and resilience of students whilst studying for A-Levels. Indeed, the experience of studying for A-Levels was evidently stressful and anxiety-inducing for many of the student participants. This stage of post-secondary education could be seen as the culmination of all the pressures inherent in the present performativity culture of schools. The transition from A-Level study to university can be a very challenging one for a substantial minority of students.

This study examined the associations of parental movement behaviors (MBs; sleep, stationary time, light-intensity physical activity [LPA], and moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity [MVPA]) and parent-child proximity with preschool-aged children's MBs. Parent-child MBs and proximity were assessed with Bluetooth-enabled accelerometers. Parent-child proximity behaviors were categorized as follows: no proximity (NP), proximity and matching parent-child MBs (Co), and proximity and mismatching parent-child MBs (Close). Lastly, proximity MBs were categorized specific to children's MBs (e.g. NP-MVPA, Co-MVPA, and Close-MVPA). Compositional analyses were conducted. Children (n = 89) were mostly boys (69.7%) with a mean age of 4.6 ± 0.7 years. Parent MBs were not associated with children's MBs. Reallocating 1% of the proximity behavior composition to Close resulted in +2.45 minutes/day of children's LPA. Reallocating 1% of the proximity-MVPA composition to NP-MVPA resulted in +1.61 minutes/day of children's MVPA. Parent-child proximity may be a modifiable correlate of children's physical activity. Future research should measure the whole family.

This article presents the results from an international collaboration between undergraduate students in the United Kingdom and Norway. Using Literature Circles and "Google Documents" in groups, the students liaised digitally over three young adult novels that are prominent within the UK school curriculum. This study explored the ways in which the students together related and responded to the depiction of social and personal issues in the texts. The themes that emerged as being significant to the undergraduates were gender, racism, social class, power distribution and the portrayal of serious illness. In particular, the students related to the portrayal of issues that they viewed as relevant to themselves and potentially to younger students who might read the novels. The online platform provided them space to discuss issues such as death, racism, inequality, war and contemporary politics as they are represented through the medium of literary texts.

Higher education (HE) has seen a growing trend towards online study. However, teaching is deeply connected to one's beliefs, values, commitments and to relationships with students. A change in the mode of instruction and pedagogy has the potential to disrupt these deep and personal connections giving rise to an emotional response. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the nature and significance of emotions in HE educators transitioning to online teaching. Findings indicate a dynamic relationship between the type of emotional responses and the amount of institutional support. Based on the type of emotional response and amount of support, four emergent orientations of educators are presented: Futuristic, Ambivalent, Disillusioned and Cautious. Implications for practice are also presented.

University campuses are increasingly diverse, reflecting substantial growth in student enrolments, but this has not translated to equitable outcomes for all students. While much attention has been focused on student retention and success, particularly for those from non-traditional backgrounds, dominant theoretical models rest on a limited notion of cultural capital that places undue responsibility on students themselves. We suggest that structural inequality, whereby some people receive unequal privileges and opportunities, offers a more productive, less problematic framework for use by academic staff, university leaders and policy makers to address these challenges. In this article, we identify three types of structural inequality -- vertical, horizontal, and internal -- and include a taxonomy of internal inequalities to prompt further research and policy outcomes. Put simply, rather than ask how students can build cultural capital to assimilate to their institutions, we should ask what institutions can do to include students, staff, and the wider community.

This study examined the influence of a 4-month intervention on students' motivation in Grade 10 physical education and enrollment in elective physical education. Health Promoting Secondary School Physical Education (HPSS PE) was designed to improve students' psychological need satisfaction in physical education, based on self-determination theory. A matched comparison pre-post design was used with 10 schools (5 intervention, 5 usual practice). Students (N = 373) completed questionnaires that assessed perceptions of autonomy, competence, and relatedness, and school personnel provided enrollment information. Results indicated that HPSS PE was not effective in increasing participants' psychological need satisfaction; however, female students receiving the intervention were significantly more likely to enroll in elective physical education. Insights contribute to the evidence about creating need-supportive environments in physical education and improving enrollment rates in elective programming.

Using William Golding's "Lord of the Flies" as a stimulus, researchers from Norway, Pakistan and the United Kingdom explored the potential of a literary text to encourage intercultural dialogue. The innovative research method used was to combine Literature Circles and Google Documents to provide a platform for asynchronous online exchange between three cohorts of students in higher education. The authors' analysis of the data suggested differences between those students who regarded the text as a living document speaking directly to their personal experiences of citizenship issues and those for whom the novel remained a historical document, removed from their lived experience. The authors contend that this research can contribute original and significant insights to the literature on teaching citizenship through literary texts such as the relationship between text choice and context, models of international collaboration at the higher education level and contrasting approaches towards citizenship and reading.

Taking a sociocultural approach to understanding the phenomenon of learning to teach, this study examined the extent to which seven pre-service teachers, in their final year of a Bachelor of Education course in a regional Australian university campus, identified personal, professional and contextual aspects as significant influences on learning to teach. By listening to the voices of the preservice teachers, this study found three orientations towards learning to teach. While these orientations were specific to the pre-service teachers enrolled in one regional teacher education program, they do offer teacher educators some insight and advice into the phenomenon of learning to teach in contemporary times.

Video Self-Modelling (VSM) and Video Peer-Modelling (VPM) have proved effective when teaching pro-social behaviours to students with disability, individually and during whole-class instruction. In Victoria, Australia, this has been achieved in specialist schools using a television programme known as meTV. This study examined the application of both the meTV model and video modelling when teaching expected behaviours in mainstream schools implementing Positive Behavioural Interventions and Supports (PBIS). The trial found that, after minimal viewings, the use of VSM and VPM, as well as the meTV model, were effective interventions for teaching pro-social skills for all students.

The previous two decades have seen much improvement in the first-year experience of students attending university. Yet for a significant proportion of students, coping with university study remains challenging. This is particularly the case for those students entering university with low tertiary admission scores. Although the higher education sector is now alert to the challenges facing these students and aware of the need for augmented support, our research shows that students entering Australian education with low tertiary admission ranks (ATAR) continue to be less prepared, less able to cope with study, less academically engaged than their peers, and are at greater risk of attrition. We argue that supporting low ATAR students' transition into university means rethinking the role of preparatory programmes as well as supporting these students to develop personal objectives, new student identities, and feel a stronger sense of 'belonging' to their university community.

This paper contributes to critical understandings of the significance of employability in current debates about the transformation of Higher Education (HE). We express our concerns about the implications of orientating HE to utilitarian demands in the light of a tendency to align discussions about the significance of studying at university with the idea of employability. The research underlying this article explores how the experience of UK university students in the context of education studies programmes shapes their conceptions of employability and their understanding of their subject of study. Ideas developed by Gert Biesta are used as a framework to discuss different forms in which thoughts about employability are articulated. The analysis of data that includes reflections on the experience of placement suggests that tensions between education as training for teachers and education as the possibility for change, point to the emergence of a new form of understanding employability that may have to work the boundary between both. We argue that lessons learnt from the case of education studies can be useful to other subjects and programmes of study that also share an interest in the theoretical study of a discipline or where a narrow career expectation is being challenged by broader possibilities.

One of the challenges we face in higher education is knowing who we are as individuals and as communities. Poetic inquiry (Prendergast, Leggo, & Sameshima, 2009) is a way into that knowing, a way of exploring our own identities and our relationships with each other. Poetic inquiry creates a space for evocative knowing. This research project, supported by the Acadia University Research Fund, included two graduate students as co-participants, one graduate student as co-investigator, and a principal investigator. Through writing, feedback, editing, and rewriting, we sought to create poetry that would show our identities as individuals and in relationships with our communities. We met for four three-hour sessions to write poetry, after reading the work of a poet / scholar. For our fifth session, we performed our poetry at a public reading that was advertised throughout the University community. Audience members were given a copy of our chapbook of poetry (Guiney Yallop, Naylor, Sharif, & Taylor, 2009), which included participant-selected pieces from our own work completed during, or between, the sessions.

Objective: This study explored factors affecting the implementation of good-quality physical activity provision in after-school childcare delivered in a Canadian jurisdiction without specific policy, standards or active interventions aimed at increasing physical activity underway. Design: Case study design theoretically guided by the implementation literature. Method: Of the 80 childcare centres in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, 50 were eligible or available to participate. Managers from centres who agreed to participate responded to direct recruitment (n = 9); an additional seven staff were recruited through snowball sampling (n = 7). Semi-structured interviews explored macro-, organisational- and individual-level factors influencing implementation. Coding strategies suggested by grounded theory (open, axial and selective), constant comparison with the literature and an a priori conceptual framework were used to analyse the data. Results: Three primary themes ("Being confined," "Working together to pull it off" and "It takes skill") and three subthemes ("It's a moving target," "We have to make do" and "Centre rules and routines dictate practice") emerged from the analysis. Conclusion: The study contributes to the understanding of facilitators and barriers to the implementation of good-quality physical activity provision in typical after-school childcare centres. This information can inform guideline and implementation resource development.

Using data collected from a recent national survey of Australian first-year students, this paper defines and validates four scales--belonging, feeling supported, intellectual engagement and workload stress--to measure the student experience of university. These scales provide insights into the university experience for both groups and individual students, to assist institutions in supporting and managing successful outcomes for their students. These data highlight the particular importance of a sense of belonging and mitigating workload stress to addressing attrition risk. Many traditional equity groups were found to only differ significantly from "traditional" students on the stress scale. However, these groups potentially contain enormous individual variation, and even the average experiences of these groups reveal that complexity in the engagement, motivation and sense of belonging of students from equity backgrounds. Importantly, the scales presented in this paper can easily be used by practitioners, researchers and institutions to identify risk of attrition at an individual level based on attitudinal factors rather than background or behavioural factors. This may inform university strategy and practice to enhance the student experience and increase retention across the sector.

This study describes research examining the expectations and experiences of PhD students undertaking a PhD in off-campus research institutes and hospitals that are affiliated with an Australian research-intensive university. Much of our knowledge of the expectations and experiences of PhD students in Australia stem from those that undertake research training in the classical university structure and that progress towards research training directly from their undergraduate studies. However, increasing numbers of research higher degree students are based in off-campus research institutions, which are becoming increasingly fertile training grounds for research higher degree students in the sector. While participants' experiences and expectations were largely consistent with our current understanding of the Australian PhD experience, many reported a perceived lack of support programmes. Workload and time commitments, pressure to produce results and their off-campus location potentially conspire to reduce access to on-campus support services offered by the university. Opportunities therefore exist for student advisors, service providers and university leaders to increase accessibility to academic development programmes and pastoral care, including both online and off-campus provision as appropriate, to enhance the PhD experience for this growing cohort of students.

Body mass index is a common proxy for proportion of body fat. However, body mass index may not classify youth similarly across ages and ethnicities. We used sex- and ethnic-specific receiver operating characteristic curves to determine how obesity classifications compared between body mass index and dual energy x-ray absorptiometry-based body fat percent. Male and female participants 9- to 18-years-old (n = 944; 487 female) were measured 1 to 13 times (1999-2012; 4,411 observations). Body mass index identified < 50% of those classified as obese from body fat percent. Specificity was 99.7%, and sensitivity was 35.8%. Using area under the curve and standard error values, body mass index performed significantly better for: Male versus female at 10 years, Asian versus European female except at 13-, 15-, and 16-years-old, Asian female versus male except at 10- and 15-years-old, and for European male versus female, 9- to 11-years-old (p < 0.05). Our findings provide evidence that users of body mass index should use caution when comparing body mass index across age, sex, and ethnicity.

With the majority of undergraduate teaching in Australian higher education being undertaken by casual academics, ensuring adequate support for these staff to access support and professional development relating to teaching and learning is imperative. In this article, we profile the development and implementation of a university-wide strategic framework for training, support and recognition of the contributions of sessional teachers. The design of this framework was informed through an iterative process of research and consultation with key institutional stakeholders and has resulted in changes at a policy level as well as in the delivery of professional development programs for sessional teaching staff. The opportunities and challenges of this approach are discussed, as well as future directions and broader considerations for the support of sessional teachers in the Australian higher education context.

Growing interest in university-industry collaboration (UIC) calls for a need to develop frameworks and compare overseas models to better understand how successful UIC occurs. This article provides a framework for analyzing UIC across three dimensions: environmental, technical, and managerial. It further breaks down these dimensions to suggest key attributes that can inform us about how dimensions can develop and improve. Subsequently, we use the framework outlined to analyze seven countries' UIC policies and frameworks and present key findings. The findings of this research include the importance of building and training a workforce ready to engage across sectors and of creating clear intellectual property policies, and the need for dedicated programs and national policies that support UIC growth.

This article presents results from an international collaboration between college students and pre-service teachers in Norway and the UK. This research is part of a large, international project exploring and developing the interrelationship between mobile technology and teachers' perceptions of teaching and learning. Data was collected for this study through an on-line survey of 37 pre-service teachers followed by six semi-structured, in-depth interviews. The data analysis revealed the themes of collaboration, authenticity and professional learning through the use of mobile technology in the data. The collaboration enabled the use of the affordances of mobile technology to enhance the pre-service teachers' professional learning and the data suggested that this enhanced their emergent conceptions of teaching and learning.

This paper considers "convergence" as deliberate acts of will to achieve common goals within the context of the education service in general and school sector industrial relations in particular. Such language is unusual in the field of industrial relations, where assumptions are often based on notions of conflictual relationships. However, this paper argues that educational organizations, including ones where relationships might be considered adversarial, can move beyond occasional partnerships and collaboration towards a more systematic approach to joint working-convergence. This paper draws on the author's experience as a teacher union researcher in British Columbia involved in a number of innovative projects involving the teachers' union, school districts, and universities, to consider where common interests might occur and how such forms of working can be developed. A number of challenges to convergent working are identified, including notions of vested interests, issues of power and control, and system fragmentation resulting from site-based management. However, convergence is suggested as one way to reduce fragmentation in educational systems and as a way to build trust between governments, school districts, and teacher unions; providing essential building blocks to sustainable system improvement.

Background: Comprehensive School Health models offer a promising strategy to elicit changes in student health behaviours. To maximise the effect of such models, the active involvement of teachers and students in the change process is recommended. Objective: The goal of this project was to gain insight into the experiences and motivations of teachers and students involved in a choice-based Comprehensive School Health model--Health Promoting Secondary Schools (HPSS). Setting: School communities in British Columbia, Canada. Design and methods: HPSS engaged teachers and students in the planning and implementation of a whole-school health model aimed at improving the physical activity and eating behaviours of high school students. The intervention components were specifically informed by self-determination theory. A total of 23 teachers and 34 school committee members participated in focus group interviews. The minutes of planning meetings were collected throughout the intervention process. Results: Analysis of the data revealed five themes associated with participants' experiences and motivational processes: (a) lack of time for planning and preparation; (b) resources, workshops and collaboration; (c) teacher control impacts student engagement; (d) teacher job action inhibited implementation of HPSS action plans; and (e) choice-based design impacts participants' experiences. Conclusion: Findings from this study can facilitate future school-based projects by providing insights into student and teacher perspectives on the planning and implementation of school-based health promotion programmes and implementing choice-based educational change initiatives.