Objective measurement of physical activity in youth : current issues, future directions

Second-generation activity monitors have revolutionized the way in which we measure youth physical activity. Use of the monitors avoids the problems associated with self-report methods and allows for the estimation of physical activity patterns over time. This article examines important methodological issues related to the use of activity monitors in children and adolescents.

Personal injuries sustained in the course of employment - claim against employer under Workcover Queensland Act 1996

In Devlin v South Mole Island Resort [2003] QSC 020 the Court concluded the applicant was entitled to pursue a concurrent claim he alleged he had against the respondent under the Personal Injuries Proceedings Act 2002 in respect of injuries sustained in the course of employment, and also that the Workcover Queensland Act 1996 did not abolish the applicant's right to proceed against the respondent.

Requiem for a beast : a case study in controversy

In 2008, Matt Ottley’s Requiem for a Beast: A Work for Image, Word and Music was awarded the Book of the Year: Picture Book by the Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA). Ottley’s book is challenging in its form and content: it uses words, illustrations, and music to tell a sustained, multi-layered narrative about one young man’s attempts to reconcile his family’s and his nation’s shameful history of violence against Aboriginal Australians, while also coming to terms with his own attempts to commit suicide. Given the ways in which the CBCA’s annual book awards are used by teachers, librarians, and parents to select the “best” books for young readers, it is unsurprising that the prizing of Requiem for a Beast stirred up controversy. Responses to the book proliferated across professional and popular outlets—it even received coverage on an Australian tabloid television program—and initiated a variety of conversations about what constitutes appropriate reading for young people. Perhaps more significantly, the controversy over Requiem winning picture book of the year forced the CBCA, teacher librarians, and caregivers to examine (and, often, defend) their roles and responsibilities in the circulation and promotion of children’s literature. This paper reads the Requiem controversies as a case study for understanding the complementary and contradictory roles of institutions and individuals in the ethical circulation of children’s literature in contemporary Australia and beyond.

Diversity or perversity?: Award-winning children's literature and the Australian curriculum

Two of the three cross-curriculum priorities for the national Australian Curriculum prescribed by the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) are focussed on what might be called diversity education: “Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and culture”, and "Asia and Australia's Engagement with Asia” (ACARA, “Cross”). One need not be versed in complex rhetorical theory to understand that, laudable and legitimate as such priorities are, their existence implies that mainstream education in Australia has been or is characterised by the marginalisation or erasure of Australia's history—the original Indigenous cultures are not only living and vibrant today, but also have tens of thousands of years’ “head start” on Australia’s settler cultures—and of its geography—Australia is, after all, located in some physical proximity to Asia. Some might even suggest that Australia is in Asia. These temporal and spatial “forgettings” constitute a kind of cultural perversity which the cross-curricular priorities both seek to address and serve to reinscribe. Even as ACARA requires Australian school students to engage with Aboriginal and Asian histories, cultures, societies, they imply that such histories, cultures, and societies are “diverse”, that they are not those of the students in Australian classrooms; producing them as objects of study rather than as lived experience. This should not necessarily be surprising. Michael W. Apple has provocatively argued that: “one of the perverse effects of a national curriculum actually will be to ‘legitimise inequality.’ It may in fact help create the illusion that whatever the massive differences in schools, they all have something in common” (18). In the Australian context, attempts to mitigate such perversity are articulated via the selection of literary texts. As educators move to resource ACARA’s cross-curricular priorities, ACARA notes that “Teachers and schools are best placed to make decisions about the selection of texts in their teaching and learning programs that address the content in the Australian Curriculum while also meeting the needs of the students in their classes” (ACARA, “Advice”). This assertion appears on a webpage called “Advice on selection of literary texts” which is notable first and foremost for its total lack of any literary texts being named, and its list of weblinks pointing to lists of texts compiled elsewhere, by other organisations, and in the main, compiled to serve agendas other than the Australian curriculum. One of the major resources referred to by ACARA for literary text selection is the Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA). Of course, the CBCA’s annual book awards do not share ACARA’s educational priorities, but do have a history of being drawn upon by schools as a curriculum resource. In this paper, I consider the literary texts which have been prized by the CBCA in recent years attending to their engagements with Aboriginal cultures.

The impact of employment-level characteristics on work-life interference in school aged children

Work–life interference is important for school-aged workers because it influences their educational outcomes/career aspirations. Although research highlights the role of work hours in determining work–life interference for these workers, work/job-level characteristics have received limited attention. Using survey data from Queensland school students who work part-time, we assess the influence of a range of employment-level variables on work–life interference. The results of multiple regression analysis indicate work–life interference is exacerbated by having low trust in managers and limited scope to refuse work hours and stability in work hours, emphasising the importance of organisational variables in integrating work and non-work spheres for school-aged workers.

Building the youth sector from the bottom up : case studies from the Queensland CPLAN Initiative 2012-2013

As part of YANQ's decentralisation across the state, YANQ have set up 10 Networks across Queensland, with Facilitators based in each of the regions. We encourage you to get in contact with your local Facilitator if you would like to have input on Workforce Development or youth policy issues. CPLANs aim to create an ongoing and sustainable structure across ten regions in Queensland to support a consistent focus on: ⋅ Policy issues relevant to young people; and ⋅ Workforce development strategies for the youth sector from a local, regional and state perspective. The ten CPLANs fall under the existing structure of YANQ and utlise and lever off the comprehensive network of youth inter-­‐agencies and networks across the state. The ten CPLANs are made up of representatives from the youth sector in each region who have an interest in contributing to policy development and workforce issues.

School based youth health nurses and attrition : the reasons for moving on

Like the UK, Australia has a number of school nursing models and programmes. The School Based Youth Health Nurse Program (SBYHNP) is a new and unique model of school nursing in Queensland, Australia. The SBYHNP represents a philosophical and structural shift from traditional school nursing programmes. The purpose of this qualitative case study is to explore the reasons School Based Youth Health Nurses (SBYHN) leave school nursing. Sixteen in-depth interviews were conducted with participants who practiced as SBYHN and left the SBYHNP. This case study reveals six themes: The politics’: Navigating the organisational divide, 'Unconditional positive regard’: Surviving without team cohesion, 'Absolutely exhausted’: Maintaining physical and emotional strength, ‘Definitely geographical’: Managing the tyranny of time and distance, ‘If things fell into place’: Thinking about what could have been, and ‘A stepping stone’: Moving on to the next nursing position. This case study suggests nurses considering school nursing as a specialty should seek opportunity to understand this complex role, ensure realistic expectations and ndertake relevant qualifications. This approach may secure the investment made by nurses and schools and create demand for a highly sort after position.

What predicts mental health in midlife and older women? Results from the Australian Healthy Aging of Women Study

Objectives: Previous research has linked unhealthy lifestyle with a range of negative health outcomes in women. As women age however, they may have fewer performance expectations, but may view their health more positively. Clearly, the experiences of midlife and older women in relation to health and wellbeing need further exploration. The purpose of this study is to examine the factors associated with poor health-related quality of life in midlife (HRQoL) and older Australian women. Methods: The Australian longitudinal Healthy Aging of Women (HOW) study prospectively examines HRQoL, chronic disease and modifiable lifestyle factors midlife and older women as they age. Random sampling was used to select rural and urban based women from South-East Queensland, Australia. Data were collected from 386 women at three time points over the last decade (2001, 2004 and 2011). Results: The average age of women in this study was 65 years (SD = 2.82). Almost three-quarters (73%, n = 248) of the sample were married or living as though married, nine per cent (n = 30) were separated or divorced and a small proportion were had never married (n = 13). Most (86%, n = 291) of the women sample reported being Australian born, around one quarter (34%, n = 114) had completed additional study since leaving school (university degree or diploma). Over half (55%, n = 186) of participants were retired, one quarter (25%, n = 85) were in paid employment and the remained were unemployed (1%, n = 4), unable to work because of illness (2%, n = 6) or worked within the home (17%, n = 56). Using data collected over time we examined the relationship between a range of modifiable lifestyle factors and mental health using structural equation modelling. The overall model exhibited a good fit with the data. Poor sleep quality was associated with reduced mental health while better mental health was reported in women who exercised regularly and satisfied with their currently weight. As hypothesized, past mental health was a significant mediator of current mental health. Conclusions: These findings demonstrate that the mental health of women is complex and needs to be understood not only in terms of current lifestyle but also in relation to previously reported health status.

Building the science and innovation base: work, skills and employment issues

This Special Issue of New Technology, Work and Employment has been prompted by the increasing awareness in many countries of the need to maintain and grow their science and innovation base. The development of science, engineering, technology and mathematics (STEM) skills and capacity is seen as vital for economic development and prosperity through its impact on national and regional research and development (R&D), technological advancement, and innovation potential.

A Submission to the Advisory Council on Intellectual Property in Relation to the Issues Paper Relating to the Enforcement of Trade Marks - February 2002

With respect to “shape” marks, there would appear to be a “break”, imposed by the Australian Courts, in the logical conclusion that registration of a shape, which performs a functional purpose, or even further, is indistinguishable from the shape of the item or product, creates a perpetual monopoly in the manufacture of that product.

Submission to the Legal Affairs and Community Safety Committee Youth Justice and Other Legislation Amendment Bill

This submission addresses the Youth Justice and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2014 the objectives of which are to: 1. Permit repeat offenders’ identifying information to be published and open the Children’s Court for youth justice matters involving repeat offenders; 2. Create a new offence where a child commits a further offence while on bail; 3. Permit childhood findings of guilt for which no conviction was recorded to be admissible in court when sentencing a person for an adult offence; 4. Provide for the automatic transfer from detention to adult corrective services facilities of 17 year olds who have six months or more left to serve in detention; 5. Provide that, in sentencing any adult or child for an offence punishable by imprisonment, the court must not have regard to any principle, whether under statute or at law, that a sentence of imprisonment (in the case of an adult) or detention (in the case of a child) should only be imposed as a last resort; 6. Allow children who have absconded from Sentenced Youth Boot Camps to be arrested and brought before a court for resentencing without first being given a warning; and 7. Make a technical amendment to the Youth Justice Act 1992.

Nondelegable duty : the implications of Woodland v Essex County Council

English law has long recognised that nondelagable duties exist, but it does not have a single theory to explain when or why - arguable, one might add, until now. That is the value of the reasons for judgement in Woodland v Essex County Council.