A comparative analysis of facework strategies of Australians and Sri Lankans working in Australia

This study investigates facework (communicative) strategies of Sri Lankans working in Australia and compares them with strategies used by Australians of European origin working in Australia. The study also explores the values of those Sri Lankans as a reflection of their facework, and how Sri Lankans have adjusted their facework to the Australian culture. The study used a survey questionnaire and interviewed Sri Lankans working in Australia for this investigation. The survey questionnaire was used to understand the facework similarities and difference between the Sri Lankans and Australians as explained in Oetzel and Ting-Toomey’s Face Negotiation Model. The survey revealed that Sri Lankans are higher in interdependent self construal, self face concern and other face concern than the Australians. Nonetheless, Sri Lankans are similar to the Australians in other facework strategies. The interviews clarified that Sri Lankans do not change their values by living in Australia, yet they make some changes to how they do things.

The challenge of working in mental health settings: perceptions of newly graduated occupational therapists

Working in mental health settings is a growing area of practice for occupational therapists. The work nowadays is mostly within the community, where occupational therapists may be found in a wide variety of teams. This study investigated the specific challenges that new graduate occupational therapists are faced with when commencing work in a mental health setting. One-to-one semi-structured interviews were carried out with 15 newly graduated occupational therapists, working in mental health settings in south-east Queensland. The interview transcripts were analysed using a consensual qualitative research approach. Three domains were identified from the transcripts. The first related to the ideas of the participants about the skills and knowledge needed by new graduates commencing mental health practice; the second related to the extent to which undergraduate studies had prepared them for practice; and the third related to the means by which they acquired capacity to practise and overcame deficits in skills and knowledge. The core ideas and themes associated with these domains are examined and the implications of the findings for education and training and for orientation to practice are discussed.

A Taxonomy for Homework Used by Mental Health Case Managers When Working with Individuals Diagnosed with Severe Mental Illness

A survey was completed by 122 case managers describing the types of homework assignments commonly used with individuals diagnosed with severe mental illness (SMI). Homework types were categorized using a 12-item homework description taxonomy and in relation to the 22 domains of the Camberwell Assessment of Need (CAN). Case managers predominately reported using behaviourally based homework tasks such as scheduling activities and the development of personal hygiene skills. Homework focused on CAN areas of need in relation to Company, Psychological Distress, Psychotic Symptoms and Daytime Activities. The applications of the taxonomy for both researchers and case managers are discussed.

Watching football in marvellous Melbourne : spectators, barrackers and working class rituals

A study of crowds drawn to Australian football matches in colonial Victoria illuminates key aspects of the code's genesis, development and popularity. Australian football was codified by a middle-class elite that, as in Britain, created forms of mass entertainment that were consistent with the kind of industrial capitalist society they were attempting to organise. But the 'lower orders' were inculcated with traditional British folkways in matters of popular amusement, and introduced a style of 'barracking' for this new code that resisted the hegemony of the elite football administrators. By the end of the colonial period Australian football was firmly entrenched as a site of contestation between plebeian and bourgeois codes of spectating that reflected the social and ethnic diversity of the clubs making up the Victorian competition. Australian football thereby offers a classic vignette in the larger history of 'resistance through ritual'.

Data modeling in elementary and middle school classes : a shared experience

This paper argues for a renewed focus on statistical reasoning in the elementary school years, with opportunities for children to engage in data modeling. Data modeling involves investigations of meaningful phenomena, deciding what is worthy of attention, and then progressing to organizing, structuring, visualizing, and representing data. Reported here are some findings from a two-part activity (Baxter Brown’s Picnic and Planning a Picnic) implemented at the end of the second year of a current three-year longitudinal study (grade levels 1-3). Planning a Picnic was also implemented in a grade 7 class to provide an opportunity for the different age groups to share their products. Addressed here are the grade 2 children’s predictions for missing data in Baxter Brown’s Picnic, the questions posed and representations created by both grade levels in Planning a Picnic, and the metarepresentational competence displayed in the grade levels’ sharing of their products for Planning a Picnic.

Professional growth through working together : a study of reciprocal benefits for teacher and education advisor through classroom based professional development

Teacher professional development provided by education advisors as one-off, centrally offered sessions does not always result in change in teacher knowledge, beliefs, attitudes or practice in the classroom. As the mathematics education advisor in this study, I set out to investigate a particular method of professional development so as to influence change in a practising classroom teacher’s knowledge and practices. The particular method of professional development utilised in this study was based on several principles of effective teacher professional development and saw me working regularly in a classroom with the classroom teacher as well as providing ongoing support for her for a full school year. The intention was to document the effects of this particular method of professional development in terms of the classroom teacher’s and my professional growth to provide insights for others working as education advisors. The professional development for the classroom teacher consisted of two components. The first was the co-operative development and implementation of a mental computation instructional program for the Year 3 class. The second component was the provision of ongoing support for the classroom teacher by the education advisor. The design of the professional development and the mental computation instructional program were progressively refined throughout the year. The education advisor fulfilled multiple roles in the study as teacher in the classroom, teacher educator working with the classroom teacher and researcher. Examples of the professional growth of the classroom teacher and the education advisor which occurred as sequences of changes (growth networks, Hollingsworth, 1999) in the domains of the professional world of the classroom teacher and education advisor were drawn from the large body of data collected through regular face-to-face and email communications between the classroom teacher and the education advisor as well as from transcripts of a structured interview. The Interconnected Model of Professional Growth (Clarke & Hollingsworth, 2002; Hollingsworth, 1999) was used to summarise and represent each example of the classroom teacher’s professional growth. A modified version of this model was used to summarise and represent the professional growth of the education advisor. This study confirmed that the method of professional development utilised could lead to significant teacher professional growth related directly to her work in the classroom. Using the Interconnected Model of Professional Growth to summarise and represent the classroom teacher’s professional growth and the modified version for my professional growth assisted with the recognition of examples of how we both changed. This model has potential to be used more widely by education advisors when preparing, implementing, evaluating and following-up on planned teacher professional development activities. The mental computation instructional program developed and trialled in the study was shown to be a successful way of sequencing and managing the teaching of mental computation strategies and related number sense understandings to Year 3 students. This study was conducted in one classroom, with one teacher in one school. The strength of this study was the depth of teacher support provided made possible by the particular method of the professional development, and the depth of analysis of the process. In another school, or with another teacher, this might not have been as successful. While I set out to change my practice as an education advisor I did not expect the depth of learning I experienced in terms of my knowledge, beliefs, attitudes and practices as an educator of teachers. This study has changed the way in which I plan to work as an education advisor in the future.

Labouring for leisure? Achieving work-life balance through compressed working weeks

Flexible work practices spreading work times across the entire week have reduced the time to engage in leisure activities and for some have compounded the problem of a lack of defined break between work weeks. This study examines time spent outside of the workplace through a multiple case study of working time and leisure in the construction industry. A framework of synchronous leisure is used to examine the interplay of work and non-work arrangements. The effects of changing work arrangements to deliver a longer break between working weeks and the consequent impact on leisure activities are analysed. Interviews and focus groups across four construction sites revealed that while leisure is important to relieve fatigue and overwork, a work schedule allowing a long break between working weeks, specifically on a weekend, enables workers to achieve synchronous time, particularly with family, and improves work-life balance satisfaction. It was found that a well-defined break across a weekend also offers the opportunity to synchronize schedules with others to spend time away on short breaks.

Problematising the processes of participation in networks : working through the rhetoric

Participation in networks, both as a concept and process, is widely supported in environmental education as a democratic and equitable pathway to individual and social change for sustainability. However, the processes of participation in networks are rarely problematized. Rather, it is assumed that we inherently know how to participate in networks. This assumption means that participation is seldom questioned. Underlying support for participation in networks is a belief that it allows individuals to connect in new and meaningful ways, that individuals can engage in making decisions and in bringing about change in arenas that affect them, and that they will be engaging in new, non-hierarchical and equitable relationships. In this paper we problematize participation in networks. As an example we use research into a decentralized network – described as such in its own literature - the Queensland Environmentally Sustainable Schools Initiative Alliance in Australia – to argue that while network participants were engaged and committed to participation in this network, 'old' forms of top-down engagement and relationships needed to be unlearnt. This paper thus proposes that for participation in decentralized networks to be meaningful, new learning about how to participate needs to occur.

Using turning technologies to engage tutors and facilitate effective marking and moderation in large classes

Audience Response Systems (ARS) have been successfully used by academics to facilitate student learning and engagement, particularly in large lecture settings. However, in large core subjects a key challenge is not only to engage students, but also to engage large and diverse teaching teams in order to ensure a consistent approach to grading assessments. This paper provides an insight into the ways in which ARS can be used to encourage participation by tutors in marking and moderation meetings. It concludes that ARS can improve the consistency of grading and the quality of feedback provided to students.

Using technology to facilitate grading consistency in large classes

University classes in marketing are often large, and therefore require teams of teachers to cover all of the necessary activities. A major problem with teaching teams is the inconsistency that results from myriad individuals offering subjective opinions. This innovation uses the latest moderation techniques along with Audience Response Technology (ART) to enhance the learning experience by providing more consistent and reliable grading in large classes. Assessment items are moderated before they are graded in meetings that employ ART. Results show the process is effective when the teaching team is very large, or there is a diverse range of experienced and inexperienced teachers. This “behind the scenes” innovation is not immediately apparent to students, but results in more consistent grades, more useful feedback for students, and more confident graders.

Dietetic confidence working with clients with depression/anxiety is associated with client-focused practice and advocacy skills

Confidence in a professional role is a key element in the successful transition to competent practice. New graduate dietitians report that whilst they are confident about their general dietetic ability, they are not as confident when working with clients experiencing depression or anxiety. This study aimed to develop and validate a scale which measured confidence about working with clients with depression/anxiety. The 21-item Dietetic Collaborative Practice Scale was developed using research about dietetic practice in mental health (Dowding et al., 2011), coping self-efficacy literature (Chesney et al., 2006) and collaboration with industry experts. A convenience sample of 189 Australian dietitians completed the questionnaire. Exploratory factor analysis suggests that dietetic confidence is best represented by a two-dimensional solution consisting of (a) Client-focused practice (CFP, 50.8% variance); and (b) Advocacy for self and client care (ASC, 9.7% variance). The alpha coefficient of both dimensions (CFP α=.95, ASC α=.84) demonstrates the internal consistency of components. Combined, these two components account for 60.5% of variance. The scale components were not related to years of practice or working with mental health clients but were significantly related to overall dietetic confidence (ODC). Correlation coefficients between ODC and CFP were .501 (p<.01), ODC and ASC were correlated at .465 (p<.01) and CFP and number of years as a dietitian were weakly correlated at 0.24 (p<.05). Results have implications for dietetic training and professional development. Client focus and advocacy for self and client appear to be important factors in overall confidence as a dietitian.