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Many studies and papers have explored and critiqued the "what" and the "why" of working at the cultural interface of mainstream curricula and local Indigenous knowledge, but this project sought to understand the "how". Participants went beyond explorations of "cultural items" and worked in the overlap between the New South Wales Department's Quality Teaching Framework and Indigenous Pedagogies drawn from local lore, language and the sentient landscape. Indigenous knowledge was used not merely as content, but to provide innovative ways of thinking and problem solving in the field of design and technology. The methodology for the study was based on a significant site in the local river system. The focus of the action research study shifted in the early stages from the students to the teachers, who required a radical shift in their thinking in order to set aside deficit logic, or stimulus-response approaches to teaching and learning, to embrace sophisticated Indigenous ways of knowing. (Contains 3 figures.)

Flexible learning options (FLOs) provide individualised learning pathways for disengaged young people with strong emphasis on inclusivity and wellbeing support. Amidst a rapid expansion of Australia's flexible learning sector, service providers are under increasing pressure to substantiate participant outcomes. This paper stems from a national study of the value of FLOs to young people and the broader Australian community. The study enumerates the outcomes valued by flexible learning practitioners, as well as the various evidence forms they cite to substantiate participant outcomes. Framing success as "distance travelled" (i.e. an individual's progress relative to his or her own starting point), practitioners demonstrate critical awareness of the social and structural mechanisms by which young people are marginalised from mainstream schooling. Holistic assessment practices also reveal practitioners' efforts to expand the terms of reference by which educational outcomes may be validated in alternative education settings.

This paper explores the experiences of 12 young people, all teenagers, who have chosen to attend alternative schools known as flexible learning options within the Australian context. Using a phenomenological approach, the study seeks to understand their experiences outside the normalised public discourse that they had "disengaged" from mainstream school. A phenomenological approach is employed because of its potential to draw attention to predetermined assumptions about, in this study's case, student disengagement, a concept commonly framed within a pathologised and deficit perspective. The study gives evidence for the utility of a phenomenological approach in providing insight into how macrosystem policy, such as a nationalistic neoliberal agenda, influences "schooling" and subsequently students' experiences with schools. The implications of this study with attention to the nexus between methodology and policy are discussed, especially in drawing attention to how phenomenology as a qualitative methodology provides a means of agency for the disenfranchised to challenge existing policy and public assumptions.

Flexible Learning Options (FLOs) are common across many countries to enable secondary school completion by young people for whom mainstream schooling has not worked well. Access to high-quality education through FLOs is a social justice issue. In the context of an inclination among governments for accountability and evidence-based policy, as well as of financial austerity, there is pressure on FLOs to demonstrate and publicise their outcomes. This work is not straightforward, due to debates about the purposes of education and to difficulties in measurement. This paper analyses Australian practical and evaluation reports, so-called grey literature, to examine the specific outcomes that are the focus of those publications, alongside the evidence that is provided to substantiate these claims. Our aim is to contribute to better understandings of what counts as success in these settings, and how that success may be demonstrated. Overall, the reports focus on five different sets of outcomes: traditional academic outcomes, post-programme destinations, student engagement, personal and social well-being, and broader community engagement and well-being. Across the reports, there was a strong emphasis on qualitative research methods, often supplemented with descriptive statistics and case studies. The paper concludes by exploring the implications of the analysis for determining "what counts" as outcomes from FLOs.

Alternative education programs are one way of responding to the disengagement of young people from mainstream schools. While there are a great variety of programs, those where young people experience success have incorporated a number of elements of best practice (Mills & McGregor 2010). This article reviews the attributes of effective alternative programs, with a particular focus on programs situated in Queensland, Australia. Establishing what constitutes a successful alternative program becomes increasingly important in an education climate that includes rapid movement toward a standardised educational experience with the attendant potential to further alienate those young people already existing on the margins of mainstream schooling.

This paper presents preliminary findings from a research study in Australia, Malaysia and Iran on students' perceptions of the roles of supervisor and student in the production of their thesis and the contribution of their cultural knowledge to thesis development. The 360 respondents who answered an online survey were studying for their Master's or Doctorate degrees in universities in Malaysia, Australia and Iran. The results of the study indicate that despite some variations, most students, whether or not their native language was English, have similar ideas about the process of thesis writing, the role expected of a supervisor and themselves, and the role of cultural knowledge in thesis development. (Contains 6 tables.)

Niche conservatism is the hypothesis that a species' niche remains stable in space and time. This concept is central to understanding phenomena ranging from the role of climate change impacts on species biogeography to community dynamics. Marine zooplankton have been used as indicators of global change in the ocean, and niche conservatism is usually assumed for these organisms due to their high dispersal capacity, which may limit the development of local adaptations. However, recent evidence suggests that several zooplankton species with a circumglobal distribution are comprised of several cryptic species complexes, but it is unknown if the niches of cryptic species complexes have remained conserved or if they have diverged. Habitat management based on niche modelling would be strengthened by better understanding patterns of niche conservation or divergence, as the usual assumption that species have fixed environmental niches may be misleading. We assess the niche differences for 15 copepod species with populations in the North Atlantic, Southern Ocean and Australia. Pairwise differences in the realised niches were computed for each species using two complementary analyses. Our analysis indicates that global‐scale niche modelling of zooplankton cannot assume niche conservatism across all lineages and future studies should look to incorporate phylogenetic information to improve future niche estimates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2008, the Council of Australian Governments announced its goals to improve Indigenous life expectancy, health, education and employment: 'Closing the Gap' (). Internationally, occupational therapists seek to promote social justice and human rights through occupation. Despite this effort, Australian occupational therapists have largely remained silent in response to the national agenda of closing the gap in Indigenous health. This article identifies the challenges of research and practice at the 'cultural interface', the juncture where Western knowledge meets the Indigenous knowledge of our clients. The article draws on the first author's research experience with Indigenous peoples. Through a process of reflection on the challenges highlighted by research at the cultural interface, this article identifies a range of professional processes used to negotiate differing and conflicting perspectives. By comparing the research context with occupational therapy practice, the author identifies some of the actions and supports that can be used by occupational therapists to provide culturally appropriate and negotiated interventions with Indigenous people. Although a number of individual occupational therapists work with Indigenous communities and individuals to improve the services offered, it is suggested that the occupational therapy profession needs to work together towards closing the gap. The development of special interest groups, professional networks and a National Position Statement on Indigenous Health would provide the background to developing guidelines for practice with Indigenous clients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People experiencing homelessness are at risk of poor health and occupational injustice. Recent government initiatives have created an opportunity in Australia for occupational therapists to expand their role to meet the needs of the growing homeless population. The World Federation of Occupational Therapists position statement on human rights in relation to human occupation and participation provides a mandate for promoting health and wellbeing through occupation. A critical review of the literature was undertaken to identify the contribution of occupational therapy to homelessness. Secondary analysis of the findings of seventeen research studies on occupational therapy and homelessness demonstrates the occupational needs of people experiencing homelessness, the meaning of occupation to homeless people, and some evidence of the benefits of occupational therapy. It is proposed that future service provision should focus on both individual occupational engagement societal barriers that inhibit participation. Working in collaboration with people experiencing homelessness in partnerships will assist in addressing marginalisation of this group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]