If teams are so good.. : science teachers' conceptions of teams and teamwork

The focus of this study is the phenomenon of teams and teamwork. Currently the Professional Standards of Queensland’s teachers state that teams are critical to teachers’ work. This study uses a phenomenographic approach to investigate science teachers’ conceptions of teams and teamwork in the science departments of fifteen Queensland State secondary schools. The research identifies eight conceptions of teams and teamwork. The research findings suggest that the team represents a collective of science teachers bounded by the Science Department and their current timetabled subject. Collaboration was found in the study to be an activity that occurred between teachers in the same social space. The research recognises a new category of relationship between teachers, designated as ‘ask-and-receive’. The research identifies a lack of teamwork within the science department and the school. There appears to be no teaming with other subject departments. The research findings highlight the non-supportive team and teamwork policies, procedures and structures in the schools and identify the lack of recognition of the specialised skills of science teachers. The implications for the schools and science teachers are considerable, as the current Professional Standards of Education Queensland and the Queensland College of Teachers provide benchmarks of knowledge and practice of teams and teamwork for teachers. The research suggests that the professional standards relating to teams and teamwork cannot be achieved in the present school environment.

The development of a "Good Practice Guide" for first year curriculum development, revision and evaluation : a moving feast

Since 2002 QUT has sponsored a range of first year-focussed initiatives, most recently the Transitions In Project (TIP) which was designed to complement the First Year Experience Program and be a capacity building initiative. A primary focus of TIP was The First Year Curriculum Project: the review, development, implementation and evaluation of first year curriculum which has culminated in the development of a “Good Practice Guide” for the management of large first year units. First year curriculum initiates staff-student relationships and provides the scaffolding for the learning experience and engagement. Good practice in first year curriculum is within the control of the institution and can be redesigned and reviewed to improve outcomes. This session will provide a context for the First Year Curriculum Project and a concise overview of the suite of resources developed that have culminated in the Good Practice Guide.

Good nutrition for good surgery: clinical and quality of life outcomes

Undernutrition is common in patients admitted for surgery and is often unrecognised, untreated and worsens in hospital. The complex synergistic relationship between nutritional status and the physiological responses to surgery puts patients at high nutritional risk. There are clear prospective associations between inadequate nutritional status and the risk of poorer outcomes for surgical patients, including infection, complications and length of stay. However, practically and ethically evidence that nutritional interventions can significantly reduce these poor outcomes is difficult to obtain. Nevertheless health professionals have a duty of care to ensure our patients are properly fed, by whatever means, to meet their physiological requirements.

Good results for early treatment of clinically isolated syndrome prior to multiple sclerosis with interferon beta-1b and glatiramer

Background: The first sign of developing multiple sclerosis is a clinically isolated syndrome that resembles a multiple sclerosis relapse. Objective/methods: The objective was to review the clinical trials of two medicines in clinically isolated syndromes (interferon β and glatiramer acetate) to determine whether they prevent progression to definite multiple sclerosis. Results: In the BENEFIT trial, after 2 years, 45% of subjects in the placebo group developed clinically definite multiple sclerosis, and the rate was lower in the interferon β-1b group. Then all subjects were offered interferon β-1b, and the original interferon β-1b group became the early treatment group, and the placebo group became the delayed treatment group. After 5 years, the number of subjects with clinical definite multiple sclerosis remained lower in the early treatment than late treatment group. In the PreCISe trial, after 2 years, the time for 25% of the subjects to convert to definite multiple sclerosis was prolonged in the glatiramer group. Conclusions: Interferon β-1b and glatiramer acetate slow the progression of clinically isolated syndromes to definite multiple sclerosis. However, it is not known whether this early treatment slows the progression to the physical disabilities experienced in multiple sclerosis.

Good practice for enhancing the engagement and success of commencing students

There is widespread recognition that higher education institutions (HEIs) must actively support commencing students to ensure equity in access to the opportunities afforded by higher education. This role is particularly critical for students who because of educational, cultural or financial disadvantage or because they are members of social groups currently under-represented in higher education, may require additional transitional support to “level the playing field.” The challenge faced by HEIs is to provide this “support” in a way that is integrated into regular teaching and learning practices and reaches all commencing students. The Student Success Program (SSP) is an intervention in operation at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) designed to identify and support those students deemed to be at risk of disengaging from their learning and their institution. Two sets of evidence of the impact of the SSP are presented: First, its expansion (a) from a one-faculty pilot project (Nelson, Duncan & Clarke, 2009) to all faculties and (b) into a variety of applications mirroring the student life cycle; and second, an evaluation of the impact of the SSP on students exposed to it. The outcomes suggest that: the SSP is an example of good practice that can be successfully applied to a variety of learning contexts and student enrolment situations; and the impact of the intervention on student persistence is sustained for at least 12 months and positively influences student retention. It is claimed that the good practice evidenced by the SSP is dependent on its integration into the broader First Year Experience Program at QUT as an example of transition pedagogy in action.

The ‘good’ parent in relation to early childhood literacy : symbolic terrain and lived practice

In this paper we consider the place of early childhood literacy in the discursive construction of the identity( ies) of ‘proper’ parents. Our analysis crosses between representations of parenting in texts produced by commercial and government/public institutional interests and the self-representations of individual parents in interviews with the researchers. The argument is made that there are commonalities and disjunctures in represented and lived parenting identities as they relate to early literacy. In commercial texts that advertise educational and other products, parents are largely absent from representations and the parent’s position is one of consumer on behalf of the child. In government-sanctioned texts, parents are very much present and are positioned as both learners about and important facilitators of early learning when they ‘interact’ with their children around language and books. The problem for which both, in their different ways, offer a solution is the ‘‘not-yet-ready’’ child precipitated into the evaluative environment of school without the initial competence seen as necessary to avoid falling behind right from the start. Both kinds of producers promise a smooth induction of children into mainstream literacy and learning practices if the ‘good parent’ plays her/his part. Finally, we use two parent cases to illustrate how parents’ lived practice involves multiple discursive practices and identities as they manage young children’s literacy and learning in family contexts in which they also need to negotiate relations with their partners and with paid and domestic work.

Of ivory towers and boundary spanners

We all live in a yellow submarine… When I go to work in the morning, in the office building that hosts our BPM research group, on the way up to our level I come by this big breakout room that hosts a number of computer scientists, working away at the next generation software algorithms and iPad applications (I assume). I have never actually been in that room, but every now and then the door is left ajar for a while and I can spot couches, lots (I mean, lots!) of monitors, the odd scientist, a number of Lara Croft posters, and the usual room equipment you’d probably expect from computer scientists (and, no, it’s not like that evil Dennis guy from the Jurassic Park movie, buried in chips, coke, and flickering code screens… It’s also not like the command room from the Nebuchadnezzar, Neo’s hovercraft in the Matrix movies, although I still strongly believe these green lines of code make a good screensaver).

Identifying good re-engagement practice : case studies from Brisbane North and West Youth Connections action research

This report summarises the action research undertaken by the Brisbane North and West Youth Connections Consortium during 2010 and facilitated by staff from QUT. The Consortium consists of a lead agency which undertakes both program coordination and direct service delivery (Brisbane Youth Service) and four other agencies across the region who undertake direct service delivery. Funds for Youth Connections are provided by the Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations. This report describes and analyses the participatory action research (PAR) undertaken in 2011, including eight case studies exploring questions seen as important to the re-engagement of young people in education and training.

Acknowledging social justice and equity through good practice for monitoring student learning engagement in FYE

As higher education institutions respond to government targets to widen participation, their student populations will become increasingly diverse, and the issues around student success and retention will be more closely scrutinised. The concept of student engagement is a key factor in student achievement and retention and Australasian institutions have a range of initiatives aimed at monitoring and intervening with students who are at risk of disengaging. Within the widening participation agenda, it is absolutely critical that these initiatives are designed to enable success for all students, particularly those for whom social and cultural disadvantage have been a barrier. Consequently, for the sector, initiatives of this type must be consistent with the concept of social justice and a set of principles would provide this foundation. This session will provide an opportunity for participants to examine a draft set of principles and to discuss their potential value for the participants’ institutional contexts.

The source of the good faith obligation in the performance and enforcement of commercial contracts

There are many issues associated with good faith that will ultimately confront the Australian High Court and a number of these have been well canvassed. However, one significant issue has attracted relatively little comment. To date, a number of Australian courts (lower in the judicial hierarchy) have been prepared to hold directly, tacitly accept or assume (without making a final determination) that good faith is implied (as a matter of law) in the performance and enforcement of a very broad class of contract, namely commercial contracts per se. This broad approach is demonstrated in decisions from the Federal Court, the New South Wales Court of Appeal, the Supreme Courts of Victoria and Western Australia and has crept into pleadings in commercial matters in Queensland

Good faith in contractual performance and enforcement : Australian doctrinal hurdles

In the ongoing and spirited debate about the relative merits of an obligation of good faith in contractual performance and enforcement, widely divergent views have been expressed about the appropriateness and content of the putative obligation. However, relatively less time has been devoted to discussion of the sparseness of tools available to facilitate doctrinal development and the hurdles necessarily imposed by such limited doctrinal resources. This article seeks to examine the Australian doctrinal position against the backdrop of good faith as it finds application in the wider global context.