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Childhood social and emotional competencies are recognized as teachable skills affecting well-being and developmental outcomes across the life span. This study sought to develop and validate a brief self-report measure of social-emotional competencies in middle childhood. The study used items from the 2015 Middle Childhood Survey, administered to a representative subsample of the New South Wales Child Development Study cohort, comprising sixth grade students (n = 26,837; aged 11-12 years) attending primary school in New South Wales, Australia. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses assessed the latent structure of social-emotional competencies, and item response theory and construct validity analyses evaluated the reliability, validity, and psychometric properties of the derived measure. A correlated five-factor model outperformed other latent structures (one-factor, higher order, and bifactor models) and was consistent with the framework developed by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning that informs the Australian school-based social-emotional learning curriculum, incorporating the following: Self-Awareness; Self-Management; Social Awareness; Relationship Skills; and Responsible Decision-Making. This brief (20-item), psychometrically sound, self-report measure of social-emotional competencies in middle childhood provides capacity for exploration of these skills as mediators and moderators of developmental outcomes across the life span.

Limited empirical evidence is available regarding the uptake and effectiveness of school-based mental health and wellbeing programs implemented in Australian schools. This study aimed to characterise the delivery of programs in primary (elementary) schools across New South Wales, Australia, and to assess this information against published ratings of program effectiveness. Delivery of programs in four health-promoting domains--creating a positive school community; teaching social and emotional skills; engaging the parent community; and supporting students experiencing mental health difficulties--were reported by 597 school principals/leaders via online survey. Although three quarters of principals reported implementing at least one program, many of these programs were supported by little or no evidence of effectiveness. There was also variability in the use of evidence-based programs across the four domains. Findings indicate a need to provide educators with improved support to identify, implement, and evaluate effective evidenced-based programs that promote student mental health.

This study examines student experiences of Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS) at Western Sydney University (WSU), investigating attendee and facilitator perceptions of the relationship between peer-learning and employability. It defers to contemporary higher education scholarship and related sector definitions of employability as an objective criteria for evaluating outcomes which may result from student experiences with PASS. This investigation observes the extent to which such definitions are evident in the skills and attributes students have acquired via their participation in PASS through both quantitative and qualitative research. Quantitative and qualitative data was collected across two consecutive semesters at WSU (Autumn and Spring) in 2015. Survey responses were collected from 297 PASS attendees and 45 PASS facilitators, further incorporating data collected via focus groups with 46 PASS attendees. The evidence allowed the researchers to examine how students perceived they had gained attributes from PASS that render them more employable. The research results highlight the benefits and limitations of the methods utilised to collect data from PASS participants, and this article elaborates key insights gained as a result of the research process that may be useful to peer-learning practitioners beyond WSU. The study found that attendees and facilitators of the WSU PASS program perceive that the program contributes to student employability in a variety of ways such as improving participants' core technical skills, organisational skills, social skills, professionalism and business acumen, appreciation of mentoring, and critical thinking skills.

To properly understand sex education, it is important to consider the informal education that takes place outside the classroom. Students often seek out other resources to supplement the education they receive in school, especially to cover topics which are absent or underdeveloped in the formal sex education curriculum. A key resource for this, especially among young women, is the magazine advice column. Advice columns create a direct interaction between the reader and the magazine and encourage the disclosure of intimate, confidential information, making them a ready medium for the production and consumption of sex education. This study uses the advice columns in "Dolly," a popular Australian magazine, to investigate adolescents' concerns about normality. This research is based on a corpus of 88,000 words, with data from advice columns published 20 years apart (mid-1990s and mid-2010s), which is analyzed using keywords and concordancing. This is a unique corpus study in that it considers similarity as well as difference in the data by investigating the recurring concern with normality that is evident in both decades of the corpus.

This paper describes the development of a brief school-based instrument designed for use in research and in educational practice. The "Survey of School Promotion of Emotional and Social Health" differentiates states of high, moderate, and low implementation of whole-school policies and practices that promote the emotional and social health of students. The instrument measures the extent to which a school has implemented policies and practices in four health-promoting domains: (a) creating a positive school community, (b) teaching social and emotional skills, (c) engaging the parent community, and (d) supporting students experiencing mental health difficulties. Responses were gathered via an online survey of Principals in almost 600 Australian primary schools in New South Wales. Preliminary psychometric properties of the instrument, and the development of an implementation index using latent class analysis, are described. The final 13-item version of the survey has broad applicability for use by researchers and evaluators for comparative and multivariate analyses. School leadership may find it useful as a brief tool to guide the identification of target areas for whole-school improvement across the four important health-promoting domains.

This article presents a method to evaluate undergraduate and postgraduate course teaching efficiency systematically, alongside measuring effectiveness of curriculum content and delivery. We argue that efficiency is aligned to cost and revenue while effectiveness is a quality-related construct. These potentially antagonistic elements -- cost, revenue and quality -- must be kept in balance if courses are to be attractive to students (high quality) and financially viable. Curriculum data collection and analysis spanned micro (unit), meso (course) and macro (faculty) level. Revenue data consisted of annual teaching student enrolment numbers by unit of study, aggregated to course level. Cost data included academic and administrative staff costs, and student professional experience placement expenditure. A teaching revenue to cost of delivery ratio metric and course quality score metric were developed to enable comparisons of units and course performance. Over time, these metrics, when utilised together, could be used to determine the impact of quality improvement interventions on teaching cost and revenue and vice versa. We argue that this approach supports strategic planning and actions to improve both efficiency and effectiveness of units and courses, without negatively affecting quality.

The University of Tasmania established a project in 2009 to investigate the particular needs of casual teaching staff, identify strategies to improve access to information, and facilitate a consistent approach to employment, induction, development and recognition. The project was managed by the university learning and teaching centre, and co-ordinated by a Reference Group. A preliminary survey in 2010 explored casual teaching staff information and resource needs and a mapping exercise was undertaken to establish institutional practices. The findings of the preliminary 2010 survey and mapping exercise prompted the development of an institution-wide "Casual Teaching Staff Policy". The preliminary 2010 survey was subsequently updated and a second survey administered in 2012 to obtain additional baseline data against which to evaluate the casual teaching staff project and implementation of the "Casual Teaching Staff Policy". This paper presents the results of the 2012 survey designed with this dual focus in mind. The 2012 survey items were explicitly aligned to the "Sessional Staff Standards Framework" arising from the Benchmarking Leadership and Advancement of Standards for Sessional Teaching (BLASST) project. The 2012 survey results were mapped to the "Sessional Staff Standards Framework" guiding principles (Quality Learning and Teaching, Sessional Staff Support and Sustainability), standards (Good Practice, Minimum Standard, Unsustainable), and criteria spanning different institutional levels (Institutional Level, Faculty Level, Department Level, Individual Level). Together the quantitative and qualitative survey data results provide a rich depiction of the world of casual teaching staff at the University of Tasmania. On the one hand the results evidence examples of well-supported, fully engaged casual teaching staff; on the other hand, a distressing picture emerges for many such staff. The findings are presented with discussion regarding the requisite ensuing steps in this ongoing initiative to improve the employment, induction, development and recognition experiences of University of Tasmania casual teaching staff.

The one theorem just about every student remembers from school is the theorem about the side lengths of a right angled triangle which Euclid attributed to Pythagoras when writing Proposition 47 of "The Elements". Usually first met in middle school, the student will be continually exposed throughout their mathematical education to the formula b2 + c2 = a2, where "a" is the length of the hypotenuse. It is so important in school mathematics and in mathematical thinking that the student deserves to be able to derive the Pythagorean theorem with an appropriate degree of rigour. The aim of the authors, in this article, is to provide a repertoire of derivations that range from the visual and geometrical to the algebraic and, in doing so, expose the interconnectedness of many parts of the school curriculum. They begin by "allowing students to explore concrete examples". The simple case for a right isosceles triangle is easily seen to be true by construction. The construction can then generalised to any right-angled triangle. The student performs "dissections and recombinations of shapes", requiring no algebra or non-geometric manipulation. (Contains 6 figures and 1 footnote.)

Identity and meaning are fundamental to human experience and are particularly pertinent during adolescence and times of adversity. While identity development and meaning making can be different for vulnerable young people, who experience multiple adverse life events, there is currently little evidence of how these young people construct identity and make meaning from their experiences. This article reports on a phenomenological study, which allowed young people to start from their own understandings of identity and meaning and explore the ways they constructed their sense of self and place in the world. Interviews were conducted with 24 young people from Canberra, Australia. The study found identity constructions were profoundly influenced by an entrenched sense of autonomy, a longing to be the opposite of what they had experienced, and the expectation of living up to their own constructions of an ideal self. The findings strengthen our understanding of identity construction for this group, highlight the value of adopting narrative approaches to identity exploration, and demonstrate the value of incorporating knowledge from the field of loss and grief. Strategies to support vulnerable young people to develop positive, coherent, and achievable identity and meaning constructions are provided.

This study examined the structure of the Best Start Kindergarten Assessment (Best Start) of literacy and numeracy, with the aim of confirming a two-factor measure of attainment at school entry comparable in structure to standardised measures of literacy and numeracy administered in later school years. Administrative data from the 2009 Best Start were obtained from the New South Wales Department of Education for 37,734 children aged ~5 years (i.e. as they entered their first year of compulsory schooling) as part of the New South Wales Child Development Study. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were performed on the 11 Best Start scales using a split half methodology, with the findings supporting a two-factor solution underpinning literacy and numeracy attainment. The availability of this two-factor Best Start measure of literacy and numeracy at school entry, which precedes the repeated national assessments conducted later in the primary and high school years, facilitates research to examine pathways of academic performance over time.

This study examined associations between maltreatment and early developmental vulnerabilities in a population sample of 68,459 children (M[subscript age] = 5.62 years, SD = 0.37) drawn from the Australian state of New South Wales, using linked administrative data for the children and their parents (collected 2001-2009). Associations were estimated between (a) any maltreatment, (b) the number of maltreatment types, and (c) the timing of first reported maltreatment and vulnerability and risk status on multiple developmental domains (i.e., physical, social, emotional, cognitive, and communication). Pervasive associations were revealed between maltreatment and all developmental domains; children exposed to two or more maltreatment types, and with first maltreatment reported after 3 years of age, showed greater likelihood of vulnerability on multiple domains, relative to nonmaltreated children.

Issues of academic plagiarism in educational institutions are often played out in the public arena. Media reports that "scandals" occur in universities where plagiarism has gone undetected, or unpunished can undermine public faith in the academic integrity of higher education. Antiplagiarism software has been successfully marketed to universities as a means through which to detect and deter plagiarism. One commercially available product, Turnitin, has been embraced and implemented in many educational settings around the globe. Although Turnitin has been heralded as an effective measure to combat plagiarism, little empirical research has been undertaken to examine user perceptions of its effectiveness. This paper details a site-specific case study which explores the perspectives of seven teachers across five faculties at South-Coast University about the effectiveness and usability of Turnitin. The findings indicate that Turnitin assists in detecting passages where text matches other sources. However, the software does not indicate whether plagiarism has occurred or not. That remains the decision of the teacher. Additionally, such software should not be considered a panacea for plagiarism. Students still require explicit teaching of the concept of textual attribution, often with subject-specific examples to understand acknowledgement conventions within academia.

Increasingly, school teachers are expected to be able to teach about and across cultures, as well as teach in digitally enriched classrooms. Teacher educators are expected to prepare their teaching students for such challenges. One university designed the eTutor online environment to enhance and support the development of pre-service teachers' (PSTs) intercultural capability, as well as enhance their capability to use digital technologies in their own teaching practices. Over 450 PSTs and school students from eight schools across four countries interacted with each other online for a 14-week period. Participants posted blogs, comments, wall posts and shared images and videos centred on cultural exchange. Despite the challenges of access to technology and conflicting calendars, eTutor was seen by participating schools as a potentially useful way to engage their students in intercultural learning. The experience of interacting with children from multiple cultures in an online environment contributed positively to a shift, for the majority of PSTs, from an ethnocentric to a more ethnorelative worldview. However, PSTs found establishing relationships with students in the online environment challenging.

This article reports on an investigation into the validity of a widely used scale for measuring the extent to which higher education students employ active learning strategies. The scale is the active learning scale in the Australasian Survey of Student Engagement. This scale is based on the Active and Collaborative Learning scale of the National Survey of Student Engagement. The particular focus of the study was to investigate effects resulting from the addition of a small number of items to the active learning scale designed to capture some highly engaging, mostly online, activities. The items were developed in response to concerns that students studying in distance mode often report lower average scores on active learning scales than their on-campus counterparts. The additional items relate to activities such as working online with other students and faculty. The findings show that average scores on the Australasian Survey of Student Engagement/National Survey of Student Engagement scale increase significantly when the new items are included and that some differences between on-campus and distance education students narrow significantly. These findings have implications for the development of more robust and comprehensive instruments to measure active learning.

Worry in adults has been conceptualized as a thinking process involving problem-solving attempts about anticipated negative outcomes. This process is related to, though distinct from, fear. Previous research suggested that compared to adults, children's experience of worry is less strongly associated with thinking and more closely related to fear. The present study further explored children's worrying. Ninety-three 7- to 12-year-olds rated how much they worry, fear and think about the same list of negative outcomes, and reported on their positive beliefs about worrying. Children associated worrying more strongly with fear than with thinking. However, this relationship was moderated by age. Older children reported that worry was more closely related to thinking and less closely related to fear. Furthermore, children who reported more thinking, rather than fear, about negative outcomes were also more likely to report that worrying had beneficial effects. Results suggest important changes in the nature of worrying during late childhood.

Poor academic performance during childhood predicts later adverse outcomes, and could be targeted for improvement if detected early. This study used population-based record linkage to examine the association between early life risk factors and academic achievement at two different stages of development using two different cohorts: a kindergarten (~age 5 years) and a grade 3 cohort (~age 8 years). Similar factors were predictive of academic performance in both age groups, including positive effects of increasing maternal age and lack of maternal prenatal smoking. Female sex was associated with higher scores for literacy. The results suggest that children with less developed academic skills can be identified earlier, with effective programmes to enhance academic skills needed during the first year of school to enhance subsequent results.

Education policy in Australia has accelerated its aim to increase participation of under-represented groups in tertiary education including students who are culturally and linguistically diverse and have low socio-economic status. These students generally have not had prior access to privileged academic discourse, which can further disadvantage them in their participation and progress in tertiary education. In this article, we outline a cross-discipline curriculum initiative and pedagogy that draws on critical literacy and the metaphor of discourse community to integrate language and academic skills into community services qualifications. We argue that this--supports the genuine participation of under-represented (non-traditional) students. It aspires to not only support students' entry into the new academic terrain, but to enable students to adopt a critical stance to the discourses in which they are learning to participate. This we argue is crucial, when expertise is not just a way of meeting its ostensible purposes, but is also a way of exercising power. Although we report on the application of this initiative to entry level curricula (Diploma), we suggest that it has relevance and application to Bachelor levels in a range of disciplines, both in supporting pedagogy and for transition to Bachelor level study. (Contains 1 note.)

Undergraduate accounting students in Australian universities are dissatisfied with the feedback that they currently receive. Recent evidence from the Course Experience Questionnaire (CEQ, a national survey of Australian university graduates) suggests that the accounting discipline ranks poorly on assessment feedback when compared to other disciplines. This finding aligns with the results of local university data, which also shows that students appear dissatisfied with feedback. Similar results can be found in other jurisdictions, as noted by the Higher Education Academy in the UK. Given the importance of feedback to enhancing students' learning, these results are of concern to accounting academics and other stakeholders, including professional accounting bodies and graduate employers. To date, few studies have sought to understand in a comprehensive manner the relatively poor performance in feedback scores in the discipline of accounting. This exploratory study seeks to address this gap by investigating the reasons underlying students' dissatisfaction. We report on students' perceptions obtained from a large survey of Australian undergraduate accounting students across 12 universities. Over 2600 students responded to the survey. Our findings indicate that accounting students value feedback that is individualised, detailed, constructive and timely, and that currently they are not receiving feedback with these attributes.

Student engagement has rapidly developed a central place in the quality agenda of Australian universities since the introduction of the Australasian Survey of Student Engagement (AUSSE). The AUSSE is based on one developed in the USA. The main arguments given for adopting this survey in Australia are that it provides a valid instrument for measuring engagement and that it enables international comparisons. However, the survey instrument and scales have been adopted with little scrutiny of these arguments. This paper examines these arguments by considering different perspectives of engagement, examining the importance of contextual differences and evaluating the AUSSE engagement scales in the light of both. The paper concludes that the AUSSE results should be used by universities and policy-makers with caution. (Contains 1 table.)

Medical practitioners need the skills to find relevant information and evaluate its authenticity, validity, and reliability. The learning of information literacy has been embedded in the University of Western Australia (UWA) medical course since 2000. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the enhanced information literacy program with respect to medical students' information literacy skills. The Australian and New Zealand Information Literacy (ANZIIL) Standards were used to define the information literacy skills required by medical students, and the Information Skills Survey for Assessment of Information Literacy in Higher Education (ISS) was used to determine students' self-perception of information skills. Two cohorts of students were evaluated--one that had teachers who had been coached by librarians and one that had no teacher coaching. This study substantiates others' findings for ANZIIL Standards 2, 5, and 6 for beginning medical students. Higher median scores were obtained for Standard 2, 5, and 6. Lower median scores were obtained for Standard 3 and 4. Persistent significant positive differences were found for Standards 3, 4, and 6 at the beginning of Year 2. The coaching of teachers has made information literacy skills more explicit in the curriculum for learners and teachers as skills that need to be developed and practiced deliberately. (Contains 2 tables.)

Although children of parents with an alcohol or other drug (AOD) issue appear to assume a range of caring responsibilities within their families they have, until recently, been excluded from the growing body of young-carer research, policy and practice. This is problematic, as this group may experience greater levels of social exclusion whilst experiencing similar negative impacts of care as their caring peers. This paper discusses the findings of an exploratory qualitative research project conducted in Canberra, Australia which attempted to further understand these young people's experiences and to consider how they might best be supported. The paper challenges the way that young caring has been conceptualised and suggests that unless a number of conceptual, structural and organisational changes are made, young people caring for a parent with an AOD issue may remain relatively unsupported. (Contains 2 notes.)

Children who accompany their parents or guardians during a period of homelessness make up 37% (more than one in three) of all people accessing the Supported Accommodation Assistance Program (SAAP) services. This paper describes an Australian qualitative study that explored the experiences of children who accompanied their families during periods of homelessness. It focuses particularly on what children and young people say they want from the services that they come in contact with; particularly specialised homelessness services such as housing support services and refuges. Key themes that emerged from the research include: the need for services to engage with children as individuals in their own right, to listen to and acknowledge their stories, to have services that meet their individual needs, to act and respond when children feel unsafe and for workers who can provide support to children to talk to parents about what is going on. Children and young people wanted workers to know that they felt their parents were doing their best to keep them safe. They focused on what their parents could do and did do rather than what they were not able to provide. They called on the human service system to do the same.

The "Theory of Special Relativity" is widely regarded as a difficult topic for learners in physics to grasp, as it reformulates fundamental conceptions of space, time and motion, and predominantly deals with situations outside of everyday experience. In this paper, we describe embedding the physics of relativity into a computer game, and present the results of a study on its effectiveness for learning. The game, which is based on "Asteroids", enables learners to interact with the physics, and observe and contrast their effect with Newtonian mechanics. The principal relativistic effects of length contraction, mass dilation and time dilation are each portrayed, and key with the learning outcomes of the Australian Higher School Certificate (HSC) high school physics course. Key findings from the study conducted with both students studying HSC physics, and participants without physics training, show that the game on its own serves as a powerful introduction for building up accurate qualitative descriptions of relativistic physics effects; in addition, learners generally reported finding the game accessible and interesting. However, establishing deeper understanding of the physics requires further reflection on the part of the learners than the game itself tends to facilitate. We conclude by discussing implications for design and integration of game-based learning with traditional teaching in relation to the topic of special relativity. (Contains 6 figures and 7 tables.)

The academic success of students is a priority for all universities. This study identifies factors associated with first year academic success (performance and retention) that can be used to improve the quality of the student learning experience. A retrospective cohort study was conducted with a census of all 381 full time students enrolled in the Bachelor of Health Science at The University of Western Australia since the inception of the course in the year 2000. Factors found to be associated with successful academic performance were high matriculation score, female sex, non-Indigenous status, attendance at a government secondary school, upfront payment of university fees and completion of secondary school English Literature. The most influential factor on first year academic performance was a high matriculation score. Retention into second year was found to be influenced by participation in the university mentor scheme, non-Indigenous status and first year university marks. The factor of most influence on student retention was first year university marks. Valuable information about the performance and retention of first year Bachelor of Health Science students is provided in this study which is relevant to the operational priorities of any university.

Educational authorities in many developed countries are funding the development of online environments that aim to facilitate teacher professional learning through collegial, reflective sharing of practice. But is this a case of "if we build it they will come"? Are teachers ready to share ideas and experiences in online communities of practice to enhance their professional learning? This article examines the experiences of teachers and school leaders who participated in a pilot online environment created to support teacher professional learning and it identifies factors that facilitated use of the online environment and factors that acted as a deterrent to use. The article identifies three key sets of conditions that deter teachers' use of online communities as a model for professional learning. These include a lack of perceived commonality of purpose; an underdeveloped culture of shared, critical reflection about practice; and lack of familiarity and experience amongst teachers in using computer-mediated communications tools as part of their regular practice.

In this article, the two authors of "Becoming Critical: education, knowledge and action research" look back at the book's history since its publication 20 years ago. We describe how the book was originally written, and the diverse responses and reactions that it has produced. We identify some of the book's inadequacies and limitations, and consider some of the intellectual and educational changes that have occurred over the last 20 years that any new edition would need to address. We conclude by recognising how, in any new edition of the book, we would need to demonstrate the possibility and desirability of "staying critical" in the postmodern world.

Pathways to Prevention is a developmental prevention project focused on the transition to school in a disadvantaged multicultural urban area in Queensland. The project incorporates two elements: The Preschool Intervention Program (PIP) promotes communication and social skills related to school success; and the Family Independence Program (FIP) (parent training, facilitated playgroups, support groups, etc) promotes family capacity to foster child development. Using a quasi-experimental design (N = 597), improvements in boys' but not girls' behaviours over the preschool year were found. FIP reached more than a quarter of the target population, including many difficult-to-reach families experiencing high stress. Case studies and other qualitative data suggest positive outcomes.

The issue of multi-level classrooms and of the increasingly differentiated nature of students' learning experiences continues to be a major challenge for language teachers. It's safe to say that wherever two or more language teachers are gathered together, the "problem" of multi-level classrooms will figure somewhere in the conversation. Working recently with teachers in the Australian Capital Territory on issues of multi-level teaching, the author was reminded again of the level of anxiety and frustration currently felt by many teachers in relation to this differentiation. It's a challenge which sits squarely in the middle of broader current educational debates about difference, diversity, and inclusivity, but it involves additional complexities for language teachers. This article is a brief, simplified summary of some key points of what teachers now know about the processes involved in learning another language. The connection between such a summary and the focus of this paper may seem unclear, but the argument the author wants to make is that individuals' understanding of the processes of second language acquisition and the ways in which this understanding has redirected their thinking in terms of pedagogy hold particular promise in terms of responding to the challenges of the multi-level, differentiated classroom. The crucial link in the argument is task-based teaching and learning, the approach now recognised as being the most likely to deliver the targeted learning outcomes of foreign language programs (Skehan, 1996). The author argues that task-based learning and multi-level teaching have several potentially productive points of intersection. A brief discussion of each in turn will, the author hopes, help the argument to make itself.

The phenomenon of migration makes many careers international, and globalisation has accelerated the process. This paper reports on a program of studies, now labelled "talent flow," conducted in New Zealand with a view to increasing understanding of migration and its relationship to careers. Initial studies considered the phenomenon of "overseas experience" and its largely beneficial effects on career development. A current study focused on "brain drain" is examining the attitudes of over 2000 highly qualified New Zealand expatriates to the idea of returning to their home country. Some preliminary results are presented. Future studies of brain gain, immigration and careers are planned. (Contains 1 table.)

Examines why boys do not study languages in Australia. Focuses on what boys themselves are thinking and what their perceptions of their relationship with languages are. Looks at boys specific attitudes toward language learning, what they perceive to be the relevance of language learning, and what their perceptions are of the profile of language in the school "curriculum stakes." (Author/VWL)

This paper responds to growing concerns in human rights practice and scholarship about the confinement of people living with dementia in care homes. Moving beyond the existing focus in human rights scholarship on the role of restrictive practices in confinement, the paper broadens and nuances our understanding of confinement by exploring the daily facilitators of confinement in the lives of people with dementia. The paper draws on data from focus groups and interviews with people living with dementia, care partners, aged care workers, and lawyers and advocates about Australian care homes. It argues that microlevel interrelated and compounding factors contribute to human rights abuses of people living with dementia related to limits on freedom of movement and community access of people living with dementia, at times irrespective of the use of restrictive practices. These factors include immobilization and neglect of residents, limited and segregated recreational activities, concerns about duty of care and liability, apprehension of community exclusion, and pathologization and subversion of resistance. It is necessary to challenge the organizational, cultural, economic, and social dynamics that shape day-to-day, microlevel, routine, and compounding factors that remove the agency of people living with dementia and in turn facilitate entrenched and systematic human rights breaches in care homes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Describes the Queensland project, "Study Talk," concerned with the study of oral language, with special consideration given to the exploration and study of the uses and varieties of talk. (HOD)

The intergenerational transmission of criminality is well established. However, few intergenerational studies in Australia have examined the link between parents' offending and their children's behaviour. Even fewer have used large enough samples to examine serious maternal offending. This study uses a sample of over 21,000 Australian children and their parents to determine the prevalence and co-occurrence of offending among mothers and fathers, and the relationship between parental offending and children's conduct problems at age 11. The study found that parental offending increases a child's likelihood of conduct problems, and the offending most strongly associated with child conduct problems is maternal violent offending. It also found that the intergenerational transmission of antisocial behaviour begins early, highlighting the importance of intervention for at-risk children and programs targeted at mothers as well as fathers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the political economy of Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) in Australia, providing new insights into the relationship between government policy and its economic implications. I have rationalised state-sponsored street cameras as a component in the cultivation of consent between the state and local communities; a mechanism for government to facilitate the flow of public funds to business through arrangements that are virtually unchecked and non-evidence based; a mechanism for government to facilitate profitable opportunities in and beyond the security technologies industry; and, a mechanism to normalise hegemonic social and political relations at the level of discourse. This article explores how government has assisted growth in the security industry in Australia. I draw on a case study about Kiama Municipal Council's decision in 2014 to accept funding from the Abbott Government to install CCTV cameras through the Safer Streets Programme. This is despite historically low crime rates in Kiama and an inability to demonstrate broad support for the programme in the local community. This study reveals how politicians have cultivated support for CCTV at the local level and pressured councils to install these systems despite a lack of evidence they reduce, deter or prevent crime. Examined is how the footage captured on local council CCTV has been distributed and its meanings mediated by political and commercial groups. I argue that the politics of CCTV dissemination in Australia is entwined with the imperatives of electoral success and commercial opportunity--a coalescent relationship evident in the Safer Streets Programme. Furthermore, the efficacy of CCTV as an electoral tool in Australia is explained via the proposition that street cameras perform a central role in the discourses and political economy of the state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper presents the results of an evaluation of the longer term impact of a series of workshops conducted in four Australian cities which sought to engage representatives of the Australian public in discussions about climate change and low emission energy options. These workshops were designed to explore the public’s awareness and acceptance of the various low emissions energy technologies, including carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS), and to assess whether a large group workshop format was an effective means of affecting change in awareness and acceptance of the various energy technologies. Initial results of these workshops, presented at the International Conference on Greenhouse Gas Technologies (GHGT) in 2008, found that the workshop was indeed effective. Results from an online survey conducted in October 2009 with 95 participants of the original workshops indicate that over the longer term awareness remains at a higher level than prior to workshop attendance, while changes in participants’ attitudes were not sustained over time. However, the results of 22 follow-up in-depth interviews conducted in November and December 2009 found that many workshop participants reported a change in their awareness of and preference for the energy technologies, and that they pro-actively spoke with others and sought further information regarding the technologies and their place in a low carbon economy. While wind and solar energy were clearly favored, carbon mitigation was generally recognized as a complex issue requiring a portfolio of energy solutions. Building trust in the range of energy solutions, including carbon capture and storage, will require ongoing engagement and dialogue with members of the public. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Cosmogenic 21Ne was utilised to determine exposure ages of young subaerial basaltic lava flows from the Newer Volcanic Province, western Victoria, Australia. The ages (36–53ka) determined from co-existing cosmogenic 21Ne and 3He in olivines separated from basalts are consistent within analytical uncertainties with ages previously determined by cosmogenic 36Cl exposure dating. This paper illustrates the potential of cosmogenic neon exposure ages in studying the eruption, surface morphology, and erosion history of young volcanic rocks, which are difficult to date using other conventional methods, such as K-Ar or 40Ar/39Ar dating. The present study demonstrates that combined cosmogenic 3He and 21Ne dating, specifically measured cosmogenic 3He/21Ne ratios, on the same samples, is powerful for evaluating the validity of calculated cosmogenic 3He and 21Ne surface exposure ages. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper assesses the behaviour of international and domestic students on beaches in Queensland, Australia and their knowledge of beach safety practices. The data for the research was collected from Surf Life Saving Queensland lifeguards/savers, using a focus group interview and a questionnaire survey distributed to a convenience sample of students from The University of Queensland. The results of the research indicate that the international students are more likely to engage in 'risky' behaviour at the beach and be less aware of beach safety practices than their domestic counterparts. However, the domestic students also showed significant room for improvement in their behaviour and knowledge of safe practises while at the beach. Of particular concern is the failure of a significant number of students to operationalise their knowledge of safe beach practices to avoid swimming in potentially dangerous circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

University students engaging in study abroad experiences represent a significant and increasing population that has a large impact on the economies of destination universities and countries. This paper assesses the extent to which these students engage in sightseeing as a travel behaviour during their international studies and positions this behaviour within a broad leisure context. The paper is based on a study of the leisure behaviour of Asian students enrolled at The University of queensland, Australia. The data was collected via a questionnaire that was distributed via a hybrid convenience and snowball sampling framework to 171 international students during September/October, 2002. The results of this study show that sightseeing is an important component of the study abroad experiences of Asian international students in Australia. The results suggest that within university campuses the tourism industry could benefit by moving away from primarily catering to the international travel needs of domestic students to also serves the domestic travel desires of international students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a response to the preceding article, "Divided We Fall: The Chinese and the Melbourne Furniture Trade Union, 1870-1900." The author feels the article placed too much emphasis on racism, rather than legitimate economic grievance, as the source of anti-Chinese agitation on the part of the furniture trade unions of Melbourne, Victoria in the late 19th century. The contributions to the labor movement of the furniture union leaders W. E. Murphy and H. A. Harwood are then discussed, and more balance in the interpretation of labor history is called for.

Separate granite plutons in southeastern Australia can commonly be grouped into suites on the basis of shared similarities in field, petrographic and compositional data. Granites in different plutons of the same suite share common properties or exhibit a sequence of such features. Rocks of the same suite are cogenetic, but the details of their genesis need not be known or agreed on, to group granite units in such a way. These rocks are cogenetic in the sense that they shared a similar petrogenesis and were derived from source materials of essentially the same composition, whereas differences between suites reflect analogous differences in their source rocks. The term suite is lithologic or lithodemic in a stratigraphic sense and is closely analogous to the lithostratigraphic term group. As such, the plutons within a suite need not be of the same age, and age is not a factor in recognising a suite. However, the fact that the petrogenesis of the components of a suite resulted in such similar products means that their ages are likely to be similar. Granite plutons that share many similar features, but which also show distinct differences and which may be assigned to more than one suite, may be grouped into supersuites. The allocation of granites to suites is fundamental to understanding their petrogenesis. Suites vary in the complexity of their compositional variation. Simple suites show variations in element abundances that are highly correlated and the dispersion of composition within such suites is considered to result from varying degrees of fractionation of entrained restite from a melt. Intricate suites vary in composition in more complex ways and their variation is considered to be a consequence of processes such as fractional crystallisation. Any mineralisation is generally associated with intricate suites, and the occurrence of mineralisation and its precise character is generally specific to particular suites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]