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This study reports the findings from a survey of 201 recent teacher education graduates from a university in the north-western United States of America regarding the factors that influenced their decision to take a teaching position in a rural or urban community following graduation. Results indicate that an in-depth rural practicum experience, being close to family, and the size of school influenced new graduates' decisions. Other factors such as school culture and administrative support were also found to be important to new graduates' decision making. The article will also share insights that can help to inform state and local educational agencies about strategies in attracting new graduates and in retaining new teachers in rural schools.

An increasing emphasis on university internationalisation, global citizenship education and outbound mobility experiences (OMEs) has seen international study travel become a key staple of tertiary education. University students undertake learning experience for academic credit overseas for a period shorter than a semester under the guidance of an academic staff member. With student participation increasing, greater consideration needs to be given to the ability of OMEs to deliver high quality learning outcomes to students, particularly within an intensive shortterm format. A majority of existing literature relays the experiences of academic staff in designing and facilitating OMEs (Brokaw, 1996; Gordon & Smith, 1992; Koernig 2007; Schuster, 1993), but an emerging literature also considers student experiences (Downey, Gothard & Gray, 2012; Evans, Finch, Toncar & Reid, 2008; Weaver & Tucker, 2010). While these evaluations are insightful, the observations may not be relevant to all of the wide variety of OMEs now being offered. This paper promotes a reconstructed Jafari (1987) tourism model as a framework to understand the various components of the student and staff travel experience while participating in an OME, especially short-term overseas study trips.

Universities around the world seek to internationalise students to prepare them for an increasingly globalised world. Outbound mobility experiences (OMEs) are recognised as one of the most effective ways to foster independent thinking, cultural sensitivity, and a sense of "worldmindedness". This article takes a case study from an Australian university and explores efforts to increase student participation rates in OMEs. Through a mixed-method study of three student cohorts (n = 223), important data was gathered relating to how OMEs are perceived by undergraduate and post-graduate students. The results are filtered through thematic discourse analysis and suggest that the university needs to do more to build awareness, explain the professional and employability benefits, and create a travel culture where students are encouraged to grow their international skills and communication competencies. This research has important implications for universities seeking to increase international student mobility and prioritise a global outlook.

This paper shares an innovative methodology to 'co-create' a curriculum with eleven international community development organisations from seven countries to prepare undergraduate students for international work-integrated learning activities. The co-creation process was complex, messy, and always evolving. Here we reflect on and document the process, identifying three key methodological principles that might guide the co-creation process for others. These principles embrace the unpredictable, emotional, and personal reality of bringing together diverse ideas and perspectives, as well as opening up possibilities for more creative ways of communicating and listening to what is seen, heard, and felt.

The aim of the current study was to examine the role of fluid intelligence, personality traits, and emotional intelligence (EI) in predicting female Year 9 students' grade point average (GPA) and to determine whether any differences in scholastic performance were related to differences in EI or Personality. Two-hundred and forty-three female secondary students who were enrolled in Year 9 (age: "M" = 14.63 years, "SD" = 0.49) completed the Adolescent Swinburne University EI Test, Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices, and the Mini International Personality Item Pool (Mini-IPIP) and a GPA was calculated from the core subjects. The results revealed that higher GPAs were related to higher levels of Emotional Management and Control (EMC), Conscientiousness, and lower levels of Extraversion. The stepwise regression analysis revealed that variation in GPA was accounted for by IQ (21.8%), Conscientiousness, Extraversion, and EMC. It was concluded that the consistent predictive efficacy of EI skills in relation to scholastic outcomes, although modest in comparison to IQ, should be considered important, especially in the context of students achieving grades appropriate to their intellect across their schooling experience.

The purpose of this study was to explore how connections between families, communities and educators can be facilitated in teacher education courses through the use of playgroups. Barriers to building relationships, as well as the perceived benefits of these relationships to families and pre-service teachers, were also explored. Participants were involved in weekly university-based community playgroups. Focus group interviews were conducted and the constant comparative method was used to analyse interview transcripts. Themes of "Constraints" and "Enablers" emerged from pre-service teachers' transcripts, indicating that they were initially uncomfortable with community and family involvement but eventually made connections as to why this was important. The theme of "positive relationship building" emerged from parents' transcripts, indicating that they saw building relationships with families and communities as an important role of early childhood educators. Implications for the importance of authentic learning situations for fostering these relationships in teacher education courses are discussed.

A case study of an Australian gay teacher in a rural community explores issues related to being in "the closet," which is seen as a patriarchal construction designed to maintain itself. Despite legal protection to equal rights, gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered teachers experience significant discrimination, fueled largely by public perceptions that gays are pedophiles. (Contains 25 references.) (TD)

Capitalising on the food and fibre opportunities of a burgeoning global population requires a high performing and resilient agribusiness sector. Necessarily, this includes a business focus to identify opportunities and implement strategies to ensure the delivery of food and fibre products demanded by the global marketplace while managing impacts of a dynamic operating environment. Current agriculture policy in Australia recognises the varying capacity of rural businesses to thrive in this environment and provides both indirect and direct welfare support. One example is the provision of a publicly funded financial counselling service to rural business in financial stress. This research has used interpretive description to better understand the drivers of the financial hardship experienced by businesses accessing the Rural Financial Counselling Service (RFCS). Guided interviews were conducted with 32 Rural financial Counsellors (RFC) who had at least five years experience in the role. Thematic analysis of the interviews highlighted the social, environmental and financial complexities impacting the successful operations of a rural business. The key finding of this research is that despite the myriad influences impacting businesses in this cohort, business failure reflected a lack of business skills, which could be aggregated under the umbrella terminology of business acumen. These skills are more nuanced than simply poor financial literacy, extending to the manner in which business operators understand the fundamentals of their business environment and are able to intervene to maximise the opportunities and mitigate the threats. Consequently, decision-makers focussed on production preferentially to the business of capitalising on that production. The research identified opportunities for research relating to the challenge of enhancing the business acumen of rural business decision-makers, as well as illuminating the business and social context of gender in rural business sustainability. • Rural businesses were examined through the lens of the Rural Financial Counsellor. • Complex financial, social and environmental factors influence business performance and expose inherent weaknesses. • Failure results from a lack of a business-focus and poor business acumen and skills. • The place of gender in rural business success is an important emerging question. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Family farming remains the most common form of agricultural enterprise across the world and in Australia, 90% of farms are owned and operated by farm families However, restructuring in the agricultural sector and climate change have resulted in considerable diversity amongst family operated farming businesses that now extends from smaller, marginal enterprises to larger, intergenerational, more entrepreneurial and commercially viable businesses. Australian family farms remain embedded within a pervasive agrarian mythology characterised by tight constructions of gender and family relations that often hide more complex realities. Attention to Australian agricultural policy suggests a commitment to gender mainstreaming is required to address the perpetuation of gender inequalities through institutional means. However, the ways those advising farmers construct gender remains under-researched. This article utilised the feminisation in agriculture thesis and a small story narrative approach to examine how 32 Rural Financial Counsellors from across Australia construct their gender and the gender of service users who experience considerable financial hardship. Most small stories were of integration, competition and progressive feminisation. Findings suggest that rural financial counsellor training could focus more attention on gender relations in contemporary farming families. Future studies could examine how those advising more successful farmers construct gender. • RFC skills include the 'soft' skills more commonly characterised as feminine • 'Good' farmer ideals and femininity in Australian family farming may be dynamic • Narratives of entrepreneurship were absent, and reconstitutive feminisation rarely expressed • Talk of separation positioned women's work as critical to family farm business sustainability • Stories suggest a need to modernize RFC training to attend to gendered family relationships [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Universities around the world seek to internationalise students to prepare them for an increasingly globalised world. Outbound mobility experiences (OMEs) are recognised as one of the most effective ways to foster independent thinking, cultural sensitivity, and a sense of 'worldmindedness'. This article takes a case study from an Australian university and explores efforts to increase student participation rates in OMEs. Through a mixed-method study of three student cohorts (n=223), important data was gathered relating to how OMEs are perceived by undergraduate and post-graduate students. The results are filtered through thematic discourse analysis and suggest that the university needs to do more to build awareness, explain the professional and employability benefits, and create a travel culture where students are encouraged to grow their international skills and communication competencies. This research has important implications for universities seeking to increase international student mobility and prioritise a global outlook. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]