iResearch Ed

The complexity of the purposes and the operational administration of Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) services is little understood. This critical ethnography explores what appears below the surface of the circumstances in two Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) services located on school sites. The research was conducted at a time of critical change for operation and administration of services of Queensland OSHC. Habermas’ Theory of Communicative Action was used to investigate the state of affairs and analyse the consensual and coercion meaning-making that occurred in the interactions between the stakeholders, particularly the OSHC coordinators and school principals. The study found that the distorted communicative action that took place within the OSHC settings exhibited the pathologies of alienation, withdrawal of legitimation and lack of collective identity. This critical ethnography pinpoints sources of power and unease contributing to the concerns for the outside school hours sector and recommends ways to develop these programs.

Conservatories all over the world are re-examining their educational roles and practices in a changing cultural and economic context, including re-evaluating their function as sites of relevant learning. This dissertation by publication contributes to this re-examination by investigating understandings of assessment, evaluative reflection, the relationship between know-how and knowledge, autonomous learning, community of practice and the student experience of these pedagogies in one Queensland conservatorium.

The role of subject master, then head of department, has long been part of the culture, indeed a characteristic, of public education in Queensland. A significant feature of the role has been its almost exclusive link to particular curriculum areas which identified departments. As the culture of public education changed so too did the structure and organization of departments, and the role of heads of department. This research employed a multi case study to describe the role within the process of change. Heads of department and principals in four schools took part in the study. The research described a role quite different from the one it replaced. It was one characterised by diversity. The role appeared to be one influenced far more by situational factors, largely through school based management. Instructional leadership, formerly a key aspect of the role, had been replaced by the need for management. Consequently, the skills the role demanded had shifted. Heads of department recognized this and highlighted the need for professional development.

A hybridized society, Kuwait meshes Islamic ideologies with western culture. Linguistically, English exists across both foreign language and second language nomenclatures due to globalization and internationalization. Originally consisting of listening, speaking, reading and writing, the English curriculum in Kuwait was reduced in 2002 to focus only on the development of oral English skills, and to exclude writing. Since that time, both Kuwaiti teachers and parents have expressed dissatisfaction with this curriculum on the basis that this model disadvantages their children. In Grade 1, however, the teaching of pre-writing has remained as part of the curriculum.

This research analyses the parameters of English pre-writing in Grade 1 Kuwaiti classrooms, investigates Grade 1 English pre-writing teaching, and gathers insights from parents, teachers and students regarding the appropriateness of the current curriculum. Through interviews and classroom observations, and an analysis of curriculum documents, this case study found that the relationship between oral and written language is more complex than suggested by either the Kuwaiti curriculum reform, or international literature concerning the delayed teaching of writing. Intended curriculum integration across Kuwait subjects is also far more complex than first believed, due to a developmental mismatch between English pre-writing skills and Arabic language capabilities. Findings suggest an alternative approach to teaching writing may be more appropriate and more effective for Grade 1 students in the current Kuwait curriculum context.

The digital representation of Aboriginal knowledge traditions is increasingly important for both Aboriginal people and a diverse range of scientific disciplines. Most representations do not present a holistic view of Aboriginal knowledge. This study examines the requirements of methodology that will inform the design, construction and implementation of two iterations of Digital Songlines, a virtual simulated world for representing Aboriginal knowledge. The decision to use Actor Network Theory is justified in terms of its ability to address ontological, epistemological and technical aspects of the project. Implications for a wide range of projects involved with Aboriginal knowledge traditions are discussed.

This doctoral study examines the role of the school in the recognition, classification, diagnosis and treatment of children with "Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder". Instead of a traditional linear argument, this thesis by publication follows a cartographical route - instead of traditional thesis chapters, there are seven scholarly journal articles. Whilst related, these papers each concentrate on different threads of the problem we call "Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder". Connected by short linking summaries, they constitute a cartographic survey utilising Foucault's (1972; 1977) notion of a discursive/technological grid to examine "ADHD" as a discursive formation and schooling as a system of formation of "disorderly" objects.

Teachers are required to constantly change their pedagogy throughout their career, either in response to new theoretical approaches or new technological innovations.

Despite claims that creative workers offer unique capabilities which are essential to economic growth and social well-being in the conceptual age, artists experience the highest levels of unemployment and the lowest salaries of any occupational grouping. Labour force statistics suggest that many creative workers are engaged in ‘boundaryless’ or ‘protean’ careers, characterised by finite-term transactional relationships with employers, where the individual is challenged to rely less on organisationally-based career development and instead actively navigate their own career path. This study uses a nonparametric regression tree methodology to identify key career self-management competence, dispositional and contextual predictors of career success in two samples of artists: (i) a group of 310 professional artists; and (ii) using a prospective approach over 12 months, 122 graduating students from undergraduate Creative Industries programs.