"Living on the edge" : A case of school reform working for disadvantaged adolescents
- Authors: Smyth, John , McInerney, Peter
- Date: 2007
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Teachers College Record Vol. 109, no. 5 (2007), p. 1123-1170
- Relation: http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP110102619
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- Description: The issue of why so many young adolescents around the world are disengaging from school and making the choice to drop out is one of the most intractable, vexed, perplexing, and controversial issues confronting educators. Tackling it requires courage and a radical rethinking of school reform around issues of power, ownership of learning, and the relevance of schooling and curriculum for young lives. This means a heightened institutional capacity to "listen." This article describes an instance of a disadvantaged urban Australian government school that realized it had little alternative but to try new approaches; "old ways" were not working. The article describes an ensemble of school reform practices, philosophies, and strategies that give young adolescents genuine ownership of their learning. This school stands out as a beacon that school reform is possible, even for young adolescents from the most difficult of circumstances. However, such approaches look markedly different from where mainstream educational reform is taking us at the moment. Copyright © by Teachers College, Columbia University.
- Description: 2003005576
'Getting a job' : Vocationalism, identity formation, and critical ethnographic inquiry
- Authors: Down, Barry , Smyth, John
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of Educational Administration and History Vol. 44, no. 3 (2012), p. 203-219
- Relation: http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/LP100100045
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- Description: This article examines the highly disputed policy nexus around what on the surface appears to be the helpful field of vocational education and training. Despite the promises of vocational education and training to deliver individual labour market success and global competitiveness, the reality is that it serves to residualise unacceptably large numbers of young people, especially those from disadvantaged circumstances, by reinforcing the myth that it is acceptable to have the bifurcation in which some young people work with their hands and not their minds. Furthermore, vocational education and training by itself cannot resolve the fundamental causes of poverty, unemployment, and economic inequality. This article draws on Australian research to describe the insights from a critical ethnographic inquiry in which young people themselves are key informants in making sense of 'getting a job'; how they regard the labour market; the kind of work they find desirable/undesirable; the spaces in which they can see themselves forging an identity as future citizens/workers - and how answers to these questions frame and shape viable, sustainable, and rewarding futures for all young people, not just the privileged few. © 2012 Taylor & Francis.
'Give me air not shelter': critical tales of a policy case of student re-engagement from beyond school
- Authors: Smyth, John , Robinson, Janean
- Date: 2015
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of Education Policy Vol. 30, no. 2 (2015), p. 220-236
- Relation: http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/LP100100045
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- Description: This paper tackles what is arguably one of the most pressing and intractable educational issues confronting western democracies and the disengagement and disconnection from schooling of alarming numbers of young people. The paper looks at the policy response in Victoria, Australia, and through ethnographic interviews with a small number of young people; it finds a significant mismatch between the policy intent of re-engagement programmes, and the experiences of young people themselves. It seems that this is an instance of what might be termed policy deafness, a situation that will likely produce devastating consequences unless corrected.
- Description: This paper tackles what is arguably one of the most pressing and intractable educational issues confronting western democracies – the disengagement and disconnection from schooling of alarming numbers of young people. The paper looks at the policy response in Victoria, Australia, and through ethnographic interviews with a small number of young people; it finds a significant mismatch between the policy intent of re-engagement programmes, and the experiences of young people themselves. It seems that this is an instance of what might be termed policy deafness, a situation that will likely produce devastating consequences unless corrected.
'I want to get a piece of paper that says I can do stuff': youth narratives of educational opportunities and constraints in low socio-economic neighbourhoods
- Authors: McInerney, Peter , Smyth, John
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Ethnography and Education Vol. 9, no. 3 (September 2014), p. 239-252
- Relation: http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP110102619
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- Description: The persistent failure of contemporary policies to improve school retention rates and close the achievement gap between students from low and high socio-economic (SES) backgrounds should be a matter of grave concern. In this article, we set out to show what it means to be educated in a context of disadvantage from the perspectives of young people attending a senior secondary public school in regional Australia. Acknowledging that youth are experts in their own lives, we draw extensively on student narratives of the funds of knowledge and opportunity structures that support and/or constrain education and employment opportunities in low-income neighbourhoods. Although young peoples' stories of hope and agency go some way to undermining the deficit thinking about these students and their families, we argue that the realisation of their aspirations requires institutional support and policies that address the systemic causes of educational disadvantage.
'No they're not digital natives and they're not addicted': an essay critiquing contestable labels
- Authors: Johnson, Nicola
- Date: 2011
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Fast capitalism Vol. 8, no. 2 (2011), p. 1-5
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- Description: Reducing complexity is often our focus when we explain new phenomena. However when we label things in simplistic ways, we may be in fact causing harm, in fact performing symbolic violence (Bourdieu 1998) by using and promoting essences of the phenomena in question. This essay gives examples of these simplistic, inappropriate categories that essentialize people into inflexible boxes, and argues that labeling is a simplistic practice, which gives us (mis)certainty. To me, there is a need for nuanced understandings of phenomena versus reductionist suppositions. We need insight rather than generalizations and essentializations. Many (mis)assumptions are based on a lack of evidence. This short essay argues against the constant complexity reduction apparent in popular (and to a certain extent academic) discourse. It highlights the ‘good’ of a society shaped by and shaping the Internet. It draws together the two labels of digital natives and Internet addiction to provide examples of how symbolic violence is being inflicted.
'Voiced' research as a sociology for understanding 'dropping out' of school
- Authors: Smyth, John , Hattam, Robert
- Date: 2001
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: British Journal of Sociology of Education Vol. 22, no. 3 (Spetember 2001 2001), p. 402-415
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- Description: How people obtain more complex understandings of the phenomenon of 'dropping out' of school is one of the most urgent policy and practice issues facing educational practitioners, policy-makers and sociological researchers at the moment. Smyth and Hattam argue that a different 'sociological imagination' is required--one that is simultaneously more attentive to the lifeworlds of young people and more reflexive of its own agenda.
'When students have power': Student engagement, student voice, and the possibilities for school reform around 'dropping out' of school
- Authors: Smyth, John
- Date: 2006
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: International journal of leadership in education: Theory and practice Vol. 9, no. 4 (2006), p. 285-298
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- Description: It is no coincidence, that disengagement from school by young adolescents has intensified at precisely the same time as there has been a hardening of educational policy regimes that have made schools less hospitable places for students and teachers. This paper argues that producing the circumstances necessary to turn this situation around requires invoking a radically different kind of ethos and educational leadership-one that encourages and promotes the speaking into existence of authentic forms of student voice.
- Description: C1
- Description: 2003001899
10 tips for using video analysis more effectively in physical education
- Authors: Beseler, Brad , Plumb, Mandy
- Date: 2019
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of Physical Education, Recreation and Dance Vol. 90, no. 1 (2019), p. 52-56
- Full Text: false
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- Description: In order for video replay to be an effective assessment and teaching tool, a number of steps need to be followed. This article provides some useful tips for physical educators to ensure they are implementing this video technology effectively when teaching the overarm throw.
A truncated functional behavioral assessment procedure for children with disruptive classroom behaviors
- Authors: Packenham, Melissa , Shute, Rosalyn , Reid, Robert
- Date: 2004
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Education & Treatment of Children Vol. 27, no. 1 (2004), p. 9-25
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- Description: Schools are now required by law to create behavior support plans based on functional behavioral assessment (FBA) for students with behavior problems. Although FBA has been shown to be effective, there are questions as to its feasibility in the schools. In this pilot study we examined the effectiveness of a truncated FBA procedure. The FBA used a simplified procedure for the teacher to identify the function of a behavior and to formulate a hypothesis. Results suggested that the teacher was able to select the probable function of the problem behavior, formulate a summary statement and design an intervention with guidance from the researcher. Problem behavior decreased during intervention and maintenance. Teacher acceptance of the truncated FBA procedure was confirmed with a social validity questionnaire.
- Description: C1
- Description: 2003006019
Absorptive capacity in strategic alliances with Chinese firms: Implications for strategic management education
- Authors: Lynch, David , Mardaneh, Karim , Tian, Feng
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of Strategic Management Education Vol. 8, no. 4 (2012), p. 267-281
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- Description: Absorptive capacity (ACAP) is a dynamic competence underpinning an organisation’s competitive advantage. Nowhere has the role of acquiring and developing knowledge been more tested than in the growth of Chinese firms. Supported by technology, knowledge and capital transfers by alliance partners, such firms have underpinned the Chinese economy’s unprecedented growth. But, how did this occur and should strategy educators reconsider how business education pedagogy incorporates ACAP? This paper explores ACAP’s influence on knowledge transfer performance, based on businesses from China’s Guangdong and Shanghai provinces (n=151). This paper reports on an empirical analysis of ACAP’s determinants using logistic regression and cluster analysis. This analysis found a close relationship between ACAP, organisational factors and social integration mechanisms in collaborative ventures. This study found that ACAP is an important, but complex phenomena, which needs to be recognised as such in Strategic Management education.
- Description: C1
Action, an ‘encompassing ethic’ and academics in the midst of the climate crisis
- Authors: Plowright, Susan
- Date: 2016
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Educational Philosophy and Theory Vol. 48, no. 14 (2016), p. 1442-1451
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- Description: In the midst of a crisis like the climate crisis and calls for ‘all hands on deck’, what do academics, as a microcosm of humanity, see? In Hannah Arendt’s terms, an ‘abyss of freedom’ to act or a paralysing ‘abyss of nothingness’? Some from the academy themselves, including Tamboukou, Apple and Bourdieu, make judgements more akin to the latter and mount arguments to urge action. This paper joins their call and theorises ethical and demonstrably plausible resources as a potentially generative heuristic for political action by academics in the face of ‘dark times’. I develop these resources by initially drawing on Arendt’s ethical, but limited, action process. Then, through interpreting and expanding her unfinished theory of judging and echoing Karl Jaspers' concept The Encompassing, I propose the notion of an ‘encompassing ethic’. This ethic, synthesised with Arendt’s action process, ameliorates action’s limitations and suggests the idea of ‘encompassing action’. The paper concludes by bringing these conceptual resources to life through two inspiring historical examples of such action involving academics. © 2016 Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia.
All over, red rover? The neglect and potential of Australian adult education in the community
- Authors: Golding, Barry , Foley, Annette
- Date: 2011
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Australian Journal of Adult Learning Vol. 51, no. SPEC.ISS.1 (2011), p. 53-71
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- Description: Consistent with the 'looking back, moving forward' conference theme, in this paper we undertake a critical, research-based appraisal of the current, arguably neglected state of adult education in Australia in 2010, and proceed to paint a picture of how a different and potentially more positive future might be realised. Firstly, we emphasise situations (including states and territories) in Australia in which adult education is seen to be lacking or missing for particular groups of adults. Secondly we emphasise research evidence confirming the demonstrable value of learning for purposes other than those that are immediately vocational. We identify links between lifelong and life wide learning on one hand, and health and wellbeing on the other. Part of the paper involves international comparisons with other forms of adult learning that Australia might learn from, adapt or borrow. We make particular reference to research underpinning the recent Inquiry into the Future of Lifelong Learning by NIACE in the United Kingdom. Our first main conclusion has to do with equity. Adult and community education (ACE) in Australia is currently seen to be least available or accessible to those Australians with the most limited and most negative experiences of school education, but the most need to learn in non-vocational domains. These groups include older Australians, some men and women, people not in paid work, and rural, isolated and Indigenous people. Our second main conclusion is that, to realise adult learning's future potential, we need changes to government policies, research and practice that acknowledge and actively support the broader nature and value of learning for life across all age groups. To paraphrase research from Belgium by Sfard (2008), based around Beck's (1986) exploration of reflexive modernity, the adult education function of ACE is in dire straits, unless education is seen as being much more valuable than the sum of individual vocational competencies, and particularly unless it is also recognised, valued and supported as one of many valuable outcomes of social, lifelong and lifewide learning throughout the community.
An exploration of the role that expert knowledge plays in the assessment of undergraduate clinical competence: registered nurses' experiences
- Authors: Paliadelis, Penny , Cruickshank, Mary
- Date: 2003
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Rural and remote health Vol. 3, no. 2 (2003 2003), p. 191-191
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- Description: INTRODUCTION: This phenomenological study, conducted in rural Australia, explored the experiences of registered nurses (RNs) responsible for assessing the clinical competence of undergraduate nursing students. The purpose of the study was to gain insight into the experiences of a group of registered nurses who assess student competence by exploring how they perform the assessment process. A key assumption on which this study was based is that the participants are 'expert nurses', as defined by Benner. METHOD: Participants were recruited using purposive sampling from a population of registered nurses who assessed the clinical performance of undergraduate nursing students studying at a rural university in New South Wales, Australia. Individual unstructured interviews were conducted and audiotaped with the participants' permission. The analysed data were given to all participants to check for accuracy and validation and a thematic analysis of the data was conducted. RESULTS: Four themes were identified; the major theme, described in this article, was identified in all the narratives. The participants all acknowledged that they use their expert nursing knowledge to assist them when assessing the clinical competence of nursing students. The participants used a variety of terms to describe this type of knowledge such as intuition, instinct, gut feeling and 'just knowing'. CONCLUSION: While the findings of this study confirmed that experienced nurses unconsciously use their expert nursing knowledge when making decisions about students' competence, the findings also indicated a lack of awareness or underestimation of the value of expert clinical knowledge. These findings reinforce the need for further investigation to determine the role of expert nursing knowledge in the clinical competency assessment process. This is particularly significant for rural registered nurses employed in small health-care facilities, who often assume the role of assessors of student clinical competence.
An exploratory study of international students studying and living in a regional area
- Authors: Townsend, Peter , Poh, Huay
- Date: 2008
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of Marketing for Higher Education Vol. 18, no. 2 (2008), p. 240-263
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- Description: The aim of this research is to explore the similarity and differences international students encounter while studying and living in a regional area of Australia as compared to their Asian homeland. This study builds on both academic and lifestyle issues previously identified in research and explores the international students' experiences on their academic adjustments while living in a regional area. The findings of this investigation identified three themes: education, finance, and culture. The analysis identified that students experience some level of difficulty at an initial stage but were positively accustomed to the local settings after a period of time. Finally, the findings in this paper are valuable to educational institutions, especially those of regional areas seeking to understand how international students behave and act when studying and living in a regional area. Additionally, this paper will also give prospective students an overall understanding of what to expect when they choose to study in a regional area in Australia.
Australia's great disengagement with public education and social justice in educational leadership
- Authors: Smyth, John
- Date: 2008
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of Educational Administration & History Vol. 40, no. 3 (12 2008), p. 221-233
- Relation: http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/LP0990206
- Relation: http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP0665569
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- Description: Australia has been one of the countries to most enthusiastically embrace the neo-liberal conditions conducive to the dismantling of equitably provided public schooling. The article argues that part of the explanation for the absence of any effective challenge to this trajectory lies in the contradictory nature of the Australian identity. The ensemble of policies that have been officially promoted to produce this situation, include: an official process of disparaging public education, while eulogising the alleged virtues of private education; promoting school choice as the mechanism for upholding standards and accountability; encouraging structures and school cultures that bolster marketised views; deliberately cultivating inequities in resources and funding that exacerbate exit of a fearful middle class; and generally producing a compliant view of educational leadership that is deferent to management views. The effect has been a major shift of social justice off the wider Australian educational and political agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of Educational Administration & History is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
- Description: 2003006317
Balancing the equation : Mentoring first-year female STEM students at a regional university
- Authors: Reid, Jackie , Smith, Erica , Iamsuk, Nansiri , Miller, Jennifer
- Date: 2016
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: International Journal of Innovation in Science and Mathematics Education Vol. 24, no. 4 (2016), p. 18-30
- Full Text: false
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- Description: Due to changes to Australia's economic landscape (e.g., falling productivity and the end of the mining boom) and the emergence of disruptive digital technologies, the shape of the Australian workforce is rapidly changing and the development of STEM skills is an imperative. There has been a decline, however, in the number of students studying STEM subjects in senior secondary school, and the underrepresentation of females in many STEM disciplines further compounds the problem. The University of New England is a regional Australian university where a large proportion of students are from rural and regional areas, are mature-aged, and come from low SES backgrounds. Many commence their tertiary studies in STEM with diverse backgrounds, often without the necessary assumed knowledge. A mentoring program was designed to assist female students develop STEM-related study and career goals. Important components of the program included: face-to-face and online training and professional development for participants, two mentors (one academic and one industry-based) per student, accessibility for students studying at a distance, guest speakers, and outreach activities promoting STEM to the wider community. This program could be readily adapted for other cohorts of students (e.g., indigenous students) and expanded (e.g., for all students embarking on STEM studies). The program helped students recognise and address potential roadblocks to a sustained and successful STEM-based career, build confidence in pursuing study and career goals, and develop sound decision-making skills in career planning. For mentors, the program offered STEM-related professional development opportunities. Furthermore, academic mentors reported a positive impact on their approach to STEM teaching as a result of participation in the program.
Being 'Dumped' from Facebook : Negotiating issues of boundaries and identity in an online social networking space
- Authors: Best, Gill , Hajzler, Darko , Pancini, Geri , Tout, Dan
- Date: 2011
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of Peer Learning Vol. 4, no. (2011), p. 24-36
- Full Text: false
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- Description: While Facebook, the world’s most popular Social Networking Site (SNS), has been warmly welcomed by many commentators and practitioners within the educational community, its effects, impacts and implications arguably remain insufficiently understood. Through the provision of an anecdotal and experiential account of the authors’ attempt to introduce Facebook into an existing Peer Assisted Study Sessions (PASS) student peer mentoring program at Victoria University (VU) in Melbourne, this paper aims to explore and thereby explicate some of the issues inevitably arising in relation to the adoption and utilisation of social networking technologies in educational settings. While the authors’ experiences of their own ‘Facebook experiment’ were somewhat ambiguous and ambivalent, this paper is intended to contribute to the ever-expanding body of literature concerned with the use of Facebook in education and to thereby assist in improving educators’ requisite understanding of both the potential positives and pitfalls involved. On the basis of the authors’ experience, it is suggested that careful consideration as well as explicit and iterative articulation and negotiation surrounding issues of staff and student expectations, boundaries and identity management in an online environment comprise the minimum requirements for the successful implementation of social networking into student peer mentoring programs.
Collaboration in learning at university level? An initial investigation
- Authors: Lin, Zheng , Barnett, Clem
- Date: 2005
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: The Journal Of Student Centered Learning Vol. 2, no. 2 (2005), p. 121-129
- Full Text: false
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- Description: C1
- Description: 2003001322
Comparison of health and physical education policies with practices : an evaluation of school responses within three Brisbane Catholic Education (BCE) primary schools (2005)
- Authors: Lynch, Timothy
- Date: 2008
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: ICHPER-SD Journal of Research in Health, Physical Education, Recreation, Sport and Dance Vol. 3, no. 2 (2008), p. 8-18
- Full Text: false
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Conceptualising and measuring student engagement through the Australasian Survey of Student Engagement (AUSSE) : A critique
- Authors: Hagel, Pauline , Carr, Rodney , Devlin, Marcia
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education Vol. 37, no. 4 (2012), p. 475-486
- Full Text: false
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- Description: 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. © 2012 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.