Leadership for creating a thinking school at Buranda State School

This article explores the role of principal leadership in creating a thinking school. It contributes to the school leadership literature by exploring the intersection of two important areas of study in education - school leadership and education for thinking - which is a particularly apt area of study, because effective school leadership is crucial if students are to learn to be critical and creative thinkers, yet this connection has not be widely investigated. We describe how one principal, Hinton, turned around an underperforming school by using critical and creative philosophical thinking as the focus for students, staff and parents. Then, drawing on the school leadership literature, the article describes seven attributes of school leadership beginning with four articulated by Leithwood and colleagues (2006) (building vision and setting direction; redesigning the organisation; understanding and developing people; managing the teaching and learning program), and adding three others (influence; self-development; and responding to context). This framework is then used in a case study format in a collaboration between practitioner and researchers to first explore evidence from empirical studies and personal reflection about Hinton's leadership of Buranda State School, and second to illuminate how these general features of school leadership apply to creating a thinking school. Based on the case study and using the general characteristics of school leadership, a framework for leading a thinking school is described. Because the framework is based on a turnaround school, this framework has wide applicability: to schools that are doing well as an indication of how to implement a contemporary approach to curriculum and pedagogy; and to schools that are underperforming and want a rigorous, high expectation and contemporary way to improve student learning.

Mentoring pre-service teachers on school students’ differentiated learning

This Australian study explores the mentoring of pre-service teachers in selecting and implementing teaching strategies to meet students‟ learning needs. Two case studies involving 28 mentor teachers in a professional development program and a mentor-mentee partnership during a four week practicum provided data about mentoring teaching strategies for differentiated learning. Findings showed that contexts for learning about differentiation occurred at the pre action, in-action, and post-action stages. Central to each stage were pedagogical knowledge practices such as planning, preparation, classroom management, assessment, and problem solving (reflection-in-action to present solutions to problems) as key to in-action strategising and the mentoring processes. Mentoring pre-service teachers on how to devise teaching strategies for differentiated learning needs to be researched with a wider range of mentors and pre-service teachers, including those at different stages of development.

Using ‘think aloud’ as a strategy for improving clinical reasoning in high fidelity case-based simulation for undergraduate nursing students.

Theme Paper for Curriculum innovation and enhancement theme AIM: This paper reports on a research project that trialled an educational strategy implemented in an undergraduate nursing curriculum. The project aimed to explore the effectiveness of ‘think aloud’ as a strategy for improving clinical reasoning for students in simulated clinical settings. BACKGROUND: Nurses are required to apply and utilise critical thinking skills to enable clinical reasoning and problem solving in the clinical setting (Lasater, 2007). Nursing students are expected to develop and display clinical reasoning skills in practice, but may struggle articulating reasons behind decisions about patient care. The ‘think aloud’ approach is an innovative learning/teaching method which can create an environment suitable for developing clinical reasoning skills in students (Banning, 2008, Lee and Ryan-Wenger, 1997). This project used the ‘think aloud’ strategy within a simulation context to provide a safe learning environment in which third year students were assisted to uncover cognitive approaches to assist in making effective patient care decisions, and improve their confidence, clinical reasoning and active critical reflection about their practice. MEHODS: In semester 2 2011 at QUT, third year nursing students undertook high fidelity simulation (some for the first time), commencing in September of 2011. There were two cohorts for strategy implementation (group 1= used think aloud as a strategy within the simulation, group 2= no specific strategy outside of nursing assessment frameworks used by all students) in relation to problem solving patient needs. The think aloud strategy was described to students in their pre-simulation briefing and allowed time for clarification of this strategy. All other aspects of the simulations remained the same, (resources, suggested nursing assessment frameworks, simulation session duration, size of simulation teams, preparatory materials). Ethics approval has been obtained for this project. RESULTS: Results of a qualitative analysis (in progress- will be completed by March 2012) of student and facilitator reports on students’ ability to meet the learning objectives of solving patient problems using clinical reasoning and experience with the ‘think aloud’ method will be presented. A comparison of clinical reasoning learning outcomes between the two groups will determine the effect on clinical reasoning for students responding to patient problems. CONCLUSIONS: In an environment of increasingly constrained clinical placement opportunities, exploration of alternate strategies to improve critical thinking skills and develop clinical reasoning and problem solving for nursing students is imperative in preparing nurses to respond to changing patient needs.

Suicidal ideation and behaviours among university students in Australia

Objective: The aim of the study was to investigate the prevalence and demographic correlates of suicidal ideation and behaviours among university students in Australia and the utilisation of mental health services by this population. Method: Suicidal ideation and behaviours and demographic variables were assessed in a population of 1,678 undergraduate students by use of a modified Suicide Ideation Scale (SIS) and questionnaire. Results: Sixty two percent of students surveyed showed some suicidal ideation and 6.6% reported one or more suicide attempts. Over half of the group who reported suicide attempts did not use any type of mental health services. Suicidal ideation was found to be highly correlated with previous use of mental health services, In examining the relationship between suicidal ideation (SI) end demographic variables, SI was not significantly different for gender or parental marital status but was related to living arrangements, racial groups, religious affiliation and father's education. Conclusions: The results suggest that a higher proportion of students reported suicidal ideation and behaviours than that documented in related studies undertaken in the USA. While these findings draw attention to a higher level of suicidal ideation in students who utilise mental health assistance, more than half of those who reported suicide attempts did not use any kind of mental health service. The study has particular implications for detecting and assisting young people with a high suicide risk within the university environment.

The story behind the stories: Qualitative criminology research in Australia

Qualitative Criminology: Stories from the Field brings to life the stories behind the research of both emerging and established scholars in Australian criminology. The book’s contributors provided honest, reflective, and decidedly unsanitised accounts of their qualitative research journeys - the lively tales of what really happens when conducting research of this nature, the stories that often make for parenthetical asides in conference papers but tend to be excised from journal articles. This book considers the gap between research methods and the realities of qualitative research. As such, it aims to help researchers and students who conduct qualitative criminological research reflect upon their role as researchers, and the practical, ideological and ethical issues which may arise in the course of their research. It is also a call to criminologists to make public the ‘failures’ and missteps of their research endeavours so that we can learn from one another and become better informed and more reflexive qualitative criminologists.

The cost of being perfect : perfectionism and suicide ideation in university students

Objective: The aim of the study was to assess the relationship between dimensions of perfectionism and suicide ideation in a tertiary student population in Australia. Method: The methodology involved 405 students completing the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) which includes a subset of questions which can be used to assess suicide ideation, and the Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale. Results: The presence of suicide ideation was associated with higher scores on total perfectionism and two perfectionism dimensions, and total GHQ scores. There were significant differences between participants with high levels of perfectionism and participants with moderate to low levels of perfectionism on a measure of suicide ideation. Neither gender nor age were associated with differences in the scores, with results indicating high levels of perfectionism may indicate a vulnerability to suicide ideation. Conclusions: Perfectionism is a valued attribute in high-achieving populations. The question needs to be asked, however, at what cost? The findings indicate that high levels of perfectionism may be associated with an increased vulnerability to suicide ideation. Future research is needed to gain a better understanding of the complex interrelationship between personality and temperament, environmental factors and self-destructive behaviour.

Problems and awareness of support services among University students

Although Australian universities have allocated significant resources toward the development of student support services, administrators have little systematic information about the problems undergraduate university students experience or students' knowledge about available support services. The author surveyed 441 students in an urban, nonresidential university to examine the prevalence of difficulties associated with learning, sexual harassment, discrimination, emotional distress, health problems, course and career concerns, financial difficulties, and difficulties with lecturers; he also assessed students' knowledge of support services in each of these areas. Course concerns were the most common problem, followed by emotional distress, worry about career choices, financial difficulties, and problems with lecturers. More than half of the students were unaware of the support services available to them to address a range of concerns from sexual harassment and discrimination to emotional distress. Approximately 20% of the students reported having used university counseling or career services. Implications for targeting specific areas for outreach programs are discussed.

Whom to group with - a Bourdieusian narrative analysis of international students in an Australian university

Introduction to the topic or context and/or mapping of the literature Increasing degree-seeking, self-funded, international students from affluent Asian countries, who use English as an additional language (EAL), have contributed to cultural and linguistic diversities in Australian universities. Such diversities further posed challenges in pedagogy and assessment. In particular, these students' English proficiency and cultural attributes were highlighted as factors in productive group discussions, and equitable group assessment. The focus in the research literature thus far is on how EAL international students can better English proficiency and adaptability to group participation. However, little is known from sociological perspectives about the power relations involved in EAL students' choice of group members in group discussions.

What vs how : comparing students' testing and coding skills

The well-known difficulties students exhibit when learning to program are often characterised as either difficulties in understanding the problem to be solved or difficulties in devising and coding a computational solution. It would therefore be helpful to understand which of these gives students the greatest trouble. Unit testing is a mainstay of large-scale software development and maintenance. A unit test suite serves not only for acceptance testing, but is also a form of requirements specification, as exemplified by agile programming methodologies in which the tests are developed before the corresponding program code. In order to better understand students’ conceptual difficulties with programming, we conducted a series of experiments in which students were required to write both unit tests and program code for non-trivial problems. Their code and tests were then assessed separately for correctness and ‘coverage’, respectively. The results allowed us to directly compare students’ abilities to characterise a computational problem, as a unit test suite, and develop a corresponding solution, as executable code. Since understanding a problem is a pre-requisite to solving it, we expected students’ unit testing skills to be a strong predictor of their ability to successfully implement the corresponding program. Instead, however, we found that students’testing abilities lag well behind their coding skills.

Work integrated research higher degree studies : experiences, benefits, barriers and coping strategies

Attributed to the changing social, political and economic landscape of the ‘knowledge economy’, Australian universities are under pressure to produce researchers that have a variety of skills which meet the demands of an increasingly diverse job market. As a consequence, the Australian PhD now includes a range of doctoral degrees. This paper reports on the experiences of two PhD students engaged in an informally managed research higher degree program described in this paper as a Work Integrated Research Higher Degree (WIRHD). Their learning process shares the attributes from both the traditional PhD program and professional doctorates. However, because of the blended nature of the learning contexts, what students need to manage within the WIRHD is much more complicated than the established RHD programs. An exploratory case study approach exploring experiences, benefits, barriers and coping strategies was conducted with the view to develop a preliminary integrative framework that attempts to explain the various contexts that influence the learning experience of WIRHD candidates. The paper concludes with some recommended strategies for helping WIRHD candidates to manage the challenges associated with their learning process.

The adoption of e-learning 2.0 in higher education by teachers and students : an investigation using mixed methods approach

This paper describes an approach to investigate the adoption of Web 2.0 in the classroom using a mixed methods study. By using a combination of qualitative or quantitative data collection and analysis techniques, we attempt to synergize the results and provide a more valid understanding of Web 2.0 adoption for learning by both teachers and students. This approach is expected to yield a better holistic view on the adoption issues associated with the e-learning 2.0 concept in current higher education as opposed to single method studies done previously. This paper also presents some early findings of e-learning 2.0 adoption using this research method

Work-integrated learning courses : an essential component for preparing students to work in statutory child protection?

Undergraduate programs can play an important role in the development of individuals wanting professional employment within statutory child protection agencies: both the coursework and the work-integrated learning (WIL) components of degrees have a role in this process. This paper uses a collective case study methodology to examine the perceptions and experiences of first year practitioners within a specific statutory child protection agency in order to identify if they felt prepared for their current role. The sample of 20 participants came from a range of discipline backgrounds with just over half of the sample (55 per cent) completing a WIL placement as part of their undergraduate studies. The results indicate that while some participants were able to identify and articulate specific benefits from their undergraduate coursework studies all participants who had undertaken a WIL placement as part of their degree believed the WIL placement was beneficial for their current work.

Compounding practices in Queensland : experiences and perceptions of pharmacists and pharmacy students

Background: Changes in the roles of the contemporary pharmacist has seen a decline in the number and variety of extemporaneously compounded dosage forms. Pharmacy curricula reflect this change with a reduction in the emphasis on extemporaneous compounding practice. Aim: To elicit information about extemporaneously compounded dosage forms and perceptions of compounding practice from pharmacists and pharmacy students. Method: Self-administered surveys were mailed to 1063 pharmacists and offered online to 896 pharmacy undergraduates across the 4 years of a Bachelor of Pharmacy program in Queensland. Results: 382 (36%) pharmacists and 455 (51%) students completed the survey. Most pharmacists (96%) reported compounding a product in the 12 months prior to the survey, particularly semi-solids (89%) and liquids (64%) for external use. Most pharmacies (> 96%) owned basic compounding equipment, such as a slab and spatula, mortar and pestle, and cylindrical/conical measures. Half of the pharmacies used mechanical rather than electronic balances. Students expressed greater confidence in their ability to use basic compounding equipment and to perform basic compounding tasks as they progressed through the 4-year degree course. Pharmacists’ views on students’ ability to compound basic products at the end of their degree were generally similar to the proportion of final-year students who reported they could confidently complete the task. Conclusion: Despite a decline in extemporaneously compounded products in community pharmacy, pharmacy graduates need to be competent in compounding techniques.