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School teachers are likely to experience highly stressful events through their work. Thus, it is important to understand emotion regulation factors, such as savoring the moment, that might protect a school teacher's psychological adjustment following a highly stressful work event. First, we examined whether school teachers' ability to savor the moment buffers the psychological impact of a highly stressful work event on school teacher psychological adjustment. Second, we examined whether, following a highly stressful work event, savoring the moment relates to better psychological adjustment in school teachers through greater meaning in life. We surveyed 110 Australian school teachers (M = 40.15 years) who completed measures of psychological impact of a stressful work event, savoring the moment, psychological adjustment, and meaning in life. Regression results showed that 1) savoring the moment buffered the negative psychological impact of a highly stressful work event on psychological adjustment outcomes of depression and anxiety; and 2) meaning in life mediated the relationship between savoring the moment and psychological adjustment. The findings have theoretical and practical implications for school teacher psychological adjustment.

Previous research into the knowledge required for teaching has focused primarily on pre-service and in-service teachers' knowledge. What is less researched, however, is the role of the teacher educator in helping pre-service teachers (PSTs) develop the knowledge needed in order to teach mathematics to students. The focus thus shifts from examining school teachers' knowledge for teaching mathematics to school students, to studying teacher educators' knowledge for teaching teachers. This raises the question of what is the nature of this knowledge as required by teacher educators, and how evident is it in their practice? This paper documents the interactions among two teacher educators and two cohorts of PSTs enrolled in a unit designed to teach mathematics pedagogy to early childhood and primary PSTs. Over one semester, two teacher educators observed each other's classes, engaged in reflective professional conversations, and surveyed PSTs about lesson material and delivery. The results indicated there were a number of issues faced by the teacher educators that could be interpreted through the use of a teacher knowledge framework, with examples for this study focussing on a representative lesson. The findings add to the field of research into teacher educator knowledge and have implications for mathematics teacher educators and the pre-service teachers they teach.

Sufficient and state-of-the-art research equipment is one component required to maintain the research competitiveness of a R&D organisation. This paper describes an approach to inform more optimal allocation of equipment expenditure levels in a large and diverse R&D organisation, such as CSIRO. CSIRO is Australia's national science agency, is comprised of individual research units and conducts R&D across many disciplines. CSIRO's research equipment expenditure allocations have been to some extent based on both previous years' expenditures and current operating performance. In an effort to refine this process, a method was developed to consider the difference in expenditure profiles across research areas and calculate a benchmark (or expected level) for research units within CSIRO. The approach also allowed CSIRO to compare its actual equipment expenditure levels to benchmark (or expected) levels derived from expenditure data from US academic institutions. This comparison found that CSIRO's overall level of expenditure was below the benchmark levels and assisted in guiding the allocation of available funds more fairly across research units with different equipment needs. Several datasets were used for this analysis. R&D equipment expenditure patterns across disciplines are available for USA academic institutions and the differences in levels between disciplines was calculated. For example, in the Biological Sciences equipment expenditure is 3% of total R&D expenditure, whereas in Physics it is 3-fold greater. Using research publication subject classifications, discipline profiles were constructed for the entire CSIRO and each of its units. Publication subject categories were also mapped to the research fields used by the USA source. These datasets were combined to determine an overall benchmark value for CSIRO and each unit. The value varied by a factor of 2.2 fold across individual CSIRO units. Actual equipment expenditure for CSIRO was determined using internal finance records. This was compared to the benchmark levels and some units were below the calculated benchmark values and a few were close to or above. The results of this study were considered by CSIRO managers when deciding equipment expenditure allocations and the implications of the findings for the organisation are discussed. Furthermore, it was found that there are very few studies on research equipment expenditure readily available and it is hoped that this study will encourage further discussion and research on this topic.

When integrated within a holistic literacy program, phonics applications can be used in classrooms to facilitate students' self-directed learning of letter-sound knowledge; but are they designed to allow for such a purpose? With most phonics software applications making heavy use of image cues, this project has more specifically investigated whether the design of the images used in such applications may impact on the effectiveness of their self-directed use in classrooms. Using a quasi-experimental study, we compared two types of pictorial mnemonics used in tablet applications, along with teacher-led activity in three first-year classrooms from the one school. The difference between teacher-led activity and integrated picture cues was significant, with teacher-led activity proving more effective. The difference between teacher-led activity and form-taking picture cues, however, was not statistically significant. Given that the outcomes of this small-scale study suggest that image design may be a significant design feature contributing to the educational value of using phonics applications in the classroom, we recommend that the design features of phonics software applications attract further research.

Aim/Purpose: This paper focuses on understanding undergraduate computing student-learning behaviour through reviewing their online activity in a university online learning management system (LMS), along with their grade outcome, across three subjects. A specific focus is on the activity of students who failed the computing subjects. Background: Between 2008 and 2020 there has been a multiplicative growth and adoption of Learning Analytics (LA) by education institutions across many countries. Insights gained through LA can result in actionable implementations at higher institutions for the benefit of students, including refinement of curriculum and assessment regimes, teacher reflection, and more targeted course offerings. Methodology: To understand student activity, this study utilised a quantitative approach to analyse LMS activity and grade outcome data drawn from three undergraduate computing subjects. Data analysis focused on presenting counts and averages to show an understanding of student activity. Contribution: This paper contributes a practical approach towards LA use in higher education, demonstrating how a review of student activity can impact the learning design of the computing subjects. In addition, this study has provided a focus on poor performing students so that future offerings of the computing subjects can support students who are at risk of failure. Findings: The study found that: (1) Collecting data relating to student activity and analysing the activity is an important indicator of engagement, with cross referencing the data to grade outcome providing information to support modification to the learning design of the computing subjects (2) The computing subjects in this study all had the majority of the assessment marks awarded at the later part of the study period; (3) Students that fail subjects are active within the LMS for the period of the subject even when they submit no assessments; and (4) Assessment weight and the time of delivery could influence the out-comes Recommendations for Practitioners: The collection and analysis of student activity in the LMS can enable learning designers and practitioners to better reflect the subject design and delivery to provide more informed ways of delivering the learning material. Recommendation for Researchers: Collecting LA requires a thought-out process, designed well in advance of the teaching period. This study provides useful insight that can impact other researchers in the collection of assessment related analytics. Impact on Society: The cost of education is expensive to those that undertake it. Failing, although expected, potentially can be reduced by examining how education is designed, delivered, and assessed. The study has shown how information on how students are engaging has the potential to impact their outcomes. Future Research: Further work is needed to investigate whether intervention may assist the poor performing students to improve their grade outcomes relative to activity levels, subsequently impacting their retention.

Secondary school English is shaped not only by complex institutional and discursive forces but also by the mundane reality of available resources. Among the resources used by teachers are commercial textbooks. Classroom textbooks can play a significant role in determining what gets taught in English lessons. They can also influence assumptions about the larger purpose and goals of English. Despite this influence, there have been few recent attempts to analyse rigorously the makeup of English textbooks. This paper describes a method of content analysis that offers a detailed anatomy of the manifest and latent content of English textbooks. We show how the claims of publishers and the rationales offered by textbook authors can be tested against content, activities and design-work in the textbook itself. We also show how a detailed quantitative analysis of textbooks can be used to assess their alignment with official curricula and with prevailing philosophies of English.

In Victoria, Australia teachers' aides (TAs) are employed to provide support to students with disabilities in accessing their education. The role of the TAs varies within and across school settings. Drawing from the findings of a quantitative study, the purpose of this paper is to develop an understanding of teachers' aides' perceptions of their preparedness to perform 18 student-related tasks within the state secondary school setting in Victoria, Australia. In all, 163 participants completed the on-line questionnaire. The results of the study showed that that in general TAs perceive there are tasks relevant to their roles in supporting students with disabilities; and there are tasks that are not applicable to that role. The TAs in this study considered that they had training that enabled them to effectively perform the listed student related tasks to support students with disabilities in the secondary school environment.

Social and participatory media offer opportunities to interact and share user-generated content. After some investigation and research, the authors are in their initial stages of using such media to provide a pathway for thinking about learning design in higher education. Using the concept of remixing, the authors aim to creatively blend and manipulate ideas to build a sustainable approach to course/program enhancement. Remixing is touted as one of the most important practices within the field of open educational resources, but it is not mainstream practice in educational thinking or design. This article highlights the authors' approach and uses their pre-service teacher education program and their previous high school study as an example of remixing. The high school study involved the integration of social and participatory media into the face-to-face classroom; Author 1 was the practitioner researcher in the high school study. This article articulates the use of online social environments at the high school level to highlight concepts of sharing and remixing as a creative and social approach to designing learning in higher education. It also attempts to consider this within a course-wide approach.

This paper demonstrates how teacher accreditation requirements can be responsibly aligned with a scholarly impetus to incorporate digital literacies to prepare pre-service teachers to meet changing educational needs and practices. The assessment initiatives introduced in the newly constructed four year undergraduate Bachelor of Education program at one Australian university are described and analysed in light of the debates surrounding pre-service primary teachers' literacy capabilities. The findings and subsequent discussion have implications for all literacy teacher educators concerned about the impact of standardised assessment practices on the professional future of teachers. (Contains 1 footnote.)

Mathematical inquiry is an approach whereby students respond to ill-structured, open-ended questions that reflect the authentic problems we encounter in 'real' life (Allmond, Wells & Makar, 2010). An open-ended ill-structured question has no single correct answer and often contains ambiguities in the problem that require students to make a number of decisions (Makar, 2012). In an inquiry-based lesson, students are required to negotiate the question meaning and context; decide on the mathematical evidence that would be needed to address the question; decide how to collect, organize, and represent the evidence collected; interpret the evidence; and, present and justify the findings in the form of a conclusion with supporting evidence (Fielding-Wells, 2010). In this article, the authors present a framework for guiding mathematical inquiry and use it to explore the age-old question: Are athletes getting better over time? Their research, once again, underscores the benefit of having students explore data representations and interpretation in authentic contexts.

Government-provided services are caught in the jaws of a "cost-tax vice". On the cost side, the long-term trend of rising relative prices of services, including education, seems set to continue. The other jaw of the vice is the high efficiency cost of raising additional taxes. Recent research making the case for public provision of post-compulsory education has concentrated on the difficult task of quantifying its economic and social benefits. However, given the effects of the cost-tax vice, this paper argues that it may be wise to change the focus of research and to direct more attention to new ways of financing adult and community education.

Inquiry-based learning (IBL) is a pedagogical approach in which students address complex, ill-structured problems set in authentic contexts. While IBL is gaining ground in Australia as an instructional practice, there has been little research that considers implications for student motivation and engagement. Expectancy-value theory (Eccles and Wigfield 2002) provides a framework through which children's beliefs about their mathematical competency and their expectation of success are able to be examined and interpreted, alongside students' perceptions of task value. In this paper, Eccles and Wigfield's expectancy-value model has been adopted as a lens to examine a complete unit of mathematical inquiry as undertaken with a class of 9-10-year-old students. Data were sourced from a unit (~10 lessons) based on geometry and geometrical reasoning. The units were videotaped in full, transcribed, and along with field notes and student work samples, subjected to theoretical coding using the dimensions of Eccles and Wigfield's model. The findings provide insight into aspects of IBL that may impact student motivation and engagement. The study is limited to a single unit; however, the results provide a depth of insight into IBL in practice while identifying features of IBL that may be instrumental in bringing about increased motivation and engagement of students in mathematics. Identifying potentially motivating aspects of IBL enable these to be integrated and more closely studied in IBL practises.

This paper analyses a community-based educational program involving private and public sector partners instituted in a small city in northern Tasmania. The program represents part of a state-wide initiative to challenge the persistence of structural educational disadvantage and what is understood to be an entrenched "culture" that is insufficiently attuned to the necessity of further education. In this paper, we analyse this program from the perspective of key community partners drawing on a series of semi-structured interviews. We offer an analytic framework that suggests an integrated approach to thinking about supporting educational achievement, attainment and retention in regional Australia. It is our view while there is much that regional communities struggling with change can learn from this program, there are conceptual limitations in the way the problem of educational achievement is understood that should be enhanced by a more comprehensive understanding.

This paper provides initial evidence of the effectiveness of an educational program in a Tasmanian regional community that has experienced ongoing industrial restructuring. In response to these changes, community and civic leaders adopted a multifaceted strategic plan to address employment needs and opportunities. Part of this plan involved targeting school children to help them explore a broader range of educational and career options. The program, "Aspire High," involves Year 5 children visiting workplaces, the local Year 11 and 12 college, the local technical college, and a local university campus. This paper reports results from student interviews and surveys. While it is difficult to attribute changes in students' attitudes and aspirations solely to "Aspire High," it is evident that they were enthusiastic about the program. Secondary findings showed that students become less positive towards school by Year 8, and that boys are less likely to be positive towards school and more likely to choose a traditionally gendered occupation.

Research into the experiences of casual relief teachers (CRTs) (substitute or supply teachers) across Australia and internationally has reported feelings of marginalisation among participants. These findings are concerning when one considers that students might be in the care of CRTs for an equivalent of 1 year or more throughout their schooling. When CRTs describe such feelings there is a suggestion that they do not feel a part of the community of practice in which they work. Accordingly, their opportunities for professional learning are often compromised, which has implications for their ability to maintain pedagogical knowledge and skills. This study used cluster sampling survey data to offer insights into professional challenges faced by CRTs. The discussion examines the self-determined skills of 59 Australian CRTs and the way schooling is organised that may leave them feeling excluded rather than members of what should be their "communities of practice."

There has been much critical comment in recent years about the tensions between the regulation imposed on public universities and the flexibility needed to compete effectively in international and national markets for students and funding. In the partisan world of politics each side points the finger at the other as the author of "too much" regulation. Yet there is a shared set of underlying assumptions about the interplay between regulation and markets that has led to more regulation without necessarily improving the outcomes for or from universities. Australia has created a vibrant international education presence, now recognized as a major contributor to the economy as the third largest export earner in Australia. Australian universities have also become more flexible and responsive to changing student and industry needs. However, difficulties have been created by increasing competitive pressures between institutions while at the same time requiring more detailed regulation of what is done and how it is done. In this article, the authors discuss how regulation and financing arrangements should be redrawn to help achieve better outcomes from and for Australian universities. They contend that policymakers should reconsider the whole regulatory framework for higher education. Until regulation moves away from selective interventions and over-concentration on directing the behavior of Australian's "public universities," the benefits of an increasingly internationalised and significant sector for the country's future and economy will not be realised.

Aims: Little is known about the possible influence of different social settings on changes in patterns of ecstasy use over time. This study explores the relationship between engagement with different types of nightlife venues and subsequent frequent ecstasy use in an Australian young adult population sample. Methods: Longitudinal data are from a population-derived sample of Australian young adult ecstasy users (n = 265). Attendance at four types of venues (nightclubs, electronic dance music events/music festivals, venues playing live music, and pubs/bars) was measured at 6 months. Frequency of recent ecstasy use (last 12 months) was measured at 12 and 30 months. A prediction model of frequent ecstasy use at 30 months was developed using Poisson regression reporting adjusted relative risk. Findings: Regular attendance at nightclubs (=monthly, adjusted relative risk 6.21, confidence interval 2.30-16.76) was associated with frequent ecstasy use at 30 months, independently of ecstasy use expectancies, ecstasy availability, ecstasy and methamphetamine dependence, frequent use of methamphetamine and alcohol, and other dimensions of ecstasy involvement (i.e. length of ecstasy use career and lifetime ecstasy consumption). Conclusions: Compared with attendees of other venues, nightclub attendees may be a special priority group for ecstasy harm and demand reduction interventions.

Teachers' professional learning can be enhanced by positioning teachers as practitioner researchers and professionals who are capable of generating change within their local educational communities. In this article a teacher's story is used to show how teacher knowledge was developed and how teachers designed research questions, gathered evidence about their teaching and used this evidence to inform their practice and have a positive impact on their students' learning. The article then presents a mapping of elements of professional learning that became apparent in one professional learning program in which teachers were given space to develop skills to research their everyday practice; skills that they can continue to use to refine their practice as teachers in the future. A mapping of the elements that contributed to the overall effectiveness of the professional learning program is presented to contribute to the debate surrounding the characteristics of effective professional learning.

Traditional teaching styles practiced at universities do not generally suit all students' learning styles. For a variety of reasons, students do not always engage in learning in the courses in which they are enrolled. New methods to create and deliver educational material are available, but these do not always improve learning outcomes. Acknowledging these truths and developing and delivering educational material that provides diverse ways for students to learn is a constant challenge. This study examines the use of video tutorials within a university environment in an attempt to provide a teaching model that is valuable to all students, and in particular to those students who are not engaging in learning. The results of a three-year study have demonstrated that the use of well-designed, assessment-focused, and readily available video tutorials have the potential to improve student satisfaction and grades by enabling and encouraging students to learn how they want, when they want, and at a pace that suits their needs. (Contains 5 figures.)

The author analyzes the inflation-targeting model that underlies recent textbook expositions of the aggregate demand-aggregate supply approach used in introductory courses in macroeconomics. He shows how numerical simulations of a model with inflation inertia can be used as a tool to help students understand adjustments in response to demand and supply shocks of various kinds. (Contains 6 figures, 1 table and 4 notes.)

Technology-mediated instruction is changing the educational environment by adding another dimension to teaching and learning. Despite the advances in technology and the way we use technology, little attention has been given to providing technology solutions that help create, conduct, and manage the central task of assessment. Software to manage and conduct assessment presents many challenges. This article examines a stand-alone, flexible software environment designed to provide all the tools required to view, mark, store, and deliver results efficiently while improving the feedback to the students. A description of the software and its functions, the techniques and methods developed to overcome the limitations that software presents when used to conduct assessment is examined. Case studies are presented that describe: (a) the types of assessment the software has been used to conduct and manage; (b) the types of problems that were encountered; and (c) the solutions and techniques that were discovered and used to overcome the problems. (Contains 13 figures.)

Draws on a study of socioeconomically disadvantaged children's acquisition of school literacies to investigate how children's writing and drawing might be key elements in developing critical literacies in elementary school settings. Focuses on how such classroom writing can be a mediator of emotions, intellectual and academic learning, social practice, and political activism. (Author/SD)

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic triggered a rapid scale-up of telehealth services in Australia as a means to provide continued care through periods of physical restrictions. The factors that influence engagement in telehealth remain unclear. Objective: The purpose of this study is to understand the experience of Australian people who engaged in a telehealth consultation during the pandemic period (2020-2021) and the demographic factors that influence engagement. Methods: A web-based survey was distributed to Australians aged over 18 years that included 4 questions on frequency and type of clinical consultation, including with a general practitioner (GP), specialist, allied health, or nurse; 1 question on the experience of telehealth; and 2 questions on the quality of and satisfaction with telehealth. Statistical analysis included proportion of responses (of positive responses where a Likert scale was used) and regression analyses to determine the effect of demographic variables. Results: Of the 1820 participants who completed the survey, 88.3% (1607/1820) had engaged in a health care consultation of some type in the previous 12 months, and 69.3% (1114/1607) of those had used telehealth. The most common type of consultation was with a GP (959/1114, 86.1%). Older people were more likely to have had a health care consultation but less likely to have had a telehealth consultation. There was no difference in use of telehealth between metropolitan and nonmetropolitan regions; however, people with a bachelor's degree or above were more likely to have used telehealth and to report a positive experience. A total of 87% (977/1114) of participants agreed or strongly agreed that they had received the information they required from their consultation, 71% (797/1114) agreed or strongly agreed that the outcome of their consultation was the same as it would have been face-to-face, 84% (931/1114) agreed or strongly agreed that the doctor or health care provider made them feel comfortable, 83% (924/1114) agreed or strongly agreed that the doctor or health care provider was equally as knowledgeable as providers they have seen in person; 57% (629/1114) of respondents reported that they would not have been able to access their health consultation if it were not for telehealth; 69% (765/1114) of respondents reported that they were satisfied with their telehealth consultation, and 60% (671/1114) reported that they would choose to continue to use telehealth in the future. Conclusions: There was a relatively high level of engagement with telehealth over the 12 months leading up to the study period, and the majority of participants reported a positive experience and satisfaction with their telehealth consultation. While there was no indication that remoteness influenced telehealth usage, there remains work to be done to improve access to older people and those with less than a bachelor's degree. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What are the extent and characteristics of clinical placements in private practice for physiotherapy students? What do university clinical education managers perceive to be the benefits, risks, barriers and enablers of clinical placements in private practice for physiotherapy students? What training and support are available for private practitioners? Mixed methods study combining a national survey and in-depth, semi-structured focus group interviews. Twenty clinical education managers from Australian universities who had graduating students in entry-level physiotherapy programs in 2017 (95% response rate) responded to the survey with data on 2,000 students. Twelve clinical education managers participated in the focus groups. It was found that 44% of physiotherapy graduates in Australia in 2017 completed a 5-week private practice placement. Private practice placement experiences were perceived to be safe and beneficial for students, private practices and universities. The main risks identified by clinical education managers were related to the quality and consistency of the student's experience on placement and not risks to service or clients. The main perceived barriers were time costs (both practitioner and university clinical education managers) and perceived lost earning capacity. Clinical education managers emphasised that more time and resources to establish and support private practitioners would enable them to reduce risk and overcome barriers to increasing private practice placement capacity and quality. Engaging private practitioners and working collaboratively appear vital for establishing, monitoring and supporting private practice placements. By working collaboratively, universities and private practice physiotherapists can enhance private practice placement capacity and quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) is a notorious economic and environmental pest species in its invasive range. To better understand the population and range dynamics of this species, 41 yr of abundance data have been collected from 116 unique sites across a broad range of climatic and environmental conditions in Australia. We analyzed this time series of abundance data to determine whether interannual variation in climatic conditions can be used to map historic, contemporary, and potential future fluctuations in rabbit abundance from regional to continental scales. We constructed a hierarchical Bayesian regression model of relative abundance that corrected for observation error and seasonal biases. The corrected abundances were regressed against environmental and disease variables in order to project high spatiotemporal resolution, continent‐wide rabbit abundances. We show that rabbit abundance in Australia is highly variable in space and time, being driven primarily by internnual variation in temperature and precipitation in concert with the prevalence of a non‐pathogenic virus. Moreover, we show that internnual variation in local spatial abundances can be mapped effectively at a continental scale using highly resolved spatiotemporal predictors, allowing "hot spots" of persistently high rabbit abundance to be identified. Importantly, cross‐validated model performance was fair to excellent within and across distinct climate zones. Long‐term monitoring data for invasive species can be used to map fine‐scale spatiotemporal fluctuations in abundance patterns when accurately accounting for inherent sampling biases. Our analysis provides ecologists and pest managers with a clearer understanding of the determinants of rabbit abundance in Australia, offering an important new approach for predicting spatial abundance patterns of invasive species at the near‐term temporal scales that are directly relevant to resource management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines early literacy development as embedded within social contexts. Stresses the importance of approaches to teaching that build on children's earlier classroom experiences and strive to create literate communities in classrooms. (RAE)

The article focuses on a research project funded by the Australian Literacy Educators Association National Council that surveyed the literacy capabilities of graduate and preservice teachers. It describes commentaries on the findings of the online survey of primary school teachers' experiences and perceptions of their literacy capabilities. It also discusses the implications of the results for the initial teacher education curriculum and the transition arrangements of new teachers in Australia.

The article focuses on the efforts of a teacher at Woodville Gardens school Adelaide, Australia to teach the students about local community, environment and field study through place-based education (PBE). Topics discussed are chart on curriculum planner, learning the impact of environment on the people, and learning from field trips and making story board.

The article presents information on disclosure by the companies in Australia. It discusses the political genesis of the legislation that prohibited disclosure of information especially the banking sector and also discusses the statutory schemes. Information on the adoption of precautions like liability control by the councils for the extension of legislation and the effect of the legislative drafts on the implication of disclosure is also presented.

Abstract: The extinction of the Australian megafauna is presently one of the most hotly contested debates in Australian Quaternary sciences. [Roberts et al., 2001. U-series and ESR analyses of bones and teeth relating to the human burials from Skhul. Journal of Human Evolution. 49, 316–334.] proposed contentiously that the megafauna went extinct within a short time period somewhere in the range of 39,000–52,000 years ago. Being tucked away at the continental fringe, Kangaroo Island offers an ideal refuge for the megafauna for survival. Initial radiocarbon analyses of soil organic matter, ESR of teeth and OSL of quartz provided consistent age assessments, which strongly suggested that the site could be as young as 20,000years. However, it turned out that the sediments contained extreme disequilibria in the U-decay chain, with 230Th/238U ratios in the range of 0.3 and 210Pb/238U ratios around 0.1. Furthermore, in situ laser ablation analysis revealed that uranium migrated into the teeth at a very late stage during the Holocene. Contrary to expectations, insoluble organic matter was considerably younger than the soluble fraction. After combining all analytical results, a complex geochemical history can be reconstructed, implying that organic matter and large amounts of uranium were injected into the megafauna-bearing layers around the Last Glacial Maximum. When combined U-series/ESR dates are calculated, they all turn out older than the proposed extinction window. This was confirmed by a subsequent OSL study. The Black Creek Swamp site is another example that the parametric early (EU) and linear U-uptake (LU) ESR age models, particularly when applied to teeth with high-U concentrations, may provide completely unreliable age results. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

There is a growing demand for psychiatric services for adolescents in Australia. The provision of residential treatment units as part of such a service raises a number of issues. This paper examines the questions whether such units are effective, whether justified, and what the optimal numbers of beds and staff are. A facilitative treatment model for the majority of disturbed adolescents is briefly described. The case for providing residential treatment units for adolescents is reaffirmed.

A survey was carried out to determine the need for mental health services for adolescents in the Hunter Region. Based on health surveys elsewhere, it was estimated that 21,400 of the population of 13 to 18 year-olds in the Hunter Psychiatric Catchment Area would be mildly to seriously disturbed. A sample of disturbed youngsters making demands on agencies in the City of Newcastle and on community health teams and school guidance in the rest of the Region suggests that during November 1980 only about one in 20 of those in need were receiving help from these agencies. Eighty-five per cent involved major family issues. Of those receiving help, at least 40% would have been referred to an adolescent mental health service, had there been one. Of the alternatives that had to be used, about 75% were estimated to have been less than adequate.