The most private private education : home education in Australia

In Australia, the decision to home educate is becoming increasingly popular (cf. Townsend, 2012). The popularity of home education is in spite of a large number of publically funded, financially affordable private and public schools that offer a range of educational alternatives to parents (cf. English, 2009). In spite of its increasing popularity, the reasons home education is chosen by Australian families is under-researched (cf. Jackson & Allan, 2010). This paper reports on a case study that set out to explore the reasons Australian parents choose to home educate and whether this decision is related to the choice of a private school in Australia. In-depth, qualitative interviews were conducted with a group of home education families in one of Australia’s most populated cities. Data were thematically analysed. The analysis revealed that there were similarities between the discourses of parents who privately educate and parents who home educate. In particular, it reveals the parents’ fears about schools, their negative experiences of schools and their hopes for their children’s futures.

Physical activity promotion as a school priority : what do parents think?

The demands and responsibilities placed on schools in contemporary education systems are vast. However, with growing obesity levels and physical inactivity, the prevention of chronic disease has focused on youth populations, with schools playing the focal educative asset in this strategy. Parents play a decisive role in their child’s educational setting, and as fee and tax payers, are ultimately a consumer. Parents (82 males and 208 females) of secondary school children were recruited from three private (n=151) and two government schools (n=150) in Brisbane, Australia. The mean (standard deviation) age was 44.57 (6.21) years. Participants responded to a series of questions about physical activity at their child’s school, in addition to completing the International Physical Activity Questionnaire. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, frequency distributions and logistic regressions. Parents were deemed sufficiently physically active if they participated in at least 150 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per week. Overall, 83 (59.7%) parents from private and 60 (50.8%) parents from government schools were deemed sufficiently physically active. Concerning whether physical activity promotion should be a priority at their child’s school, 111 (73.5%) parents from private schools either agreed or strongly agreed, as opposed to 97 (64.7%) parents from government schools. Logistic regressions indicated that the concept of physical activity promotion being prioritised at schools was dependent on whether the child attended a private school (OR =1.34, z = 2.30, p = 0.02), and whether the participant was sufficiently active (OR =.71, z = -2.48, p = 0.01). Physical activity promotion within schools may provide substantial future benefits on a population scale. The demands on schools may need to be addressed to meet the needs of students and the desires of their parents.

Literacy, place, and pedagogies of possibility: Working against residualization effects and deficit discourses in poor school communities

Australia has a long history of policy attention to the education of poor and working-class youth (Connell, 1994), yet currently on standardized educational outcomes measures the gaps are widening in ways that relate to social background, including race, location and class. An economic analysis of school choice in Australia reveals that a high proportion of government school students now come from lower Socio-Economic Status (SES) backgrounds (Ryan & Watson, 2004), indicating a trend towards a gradual residualisation of the poor in government schools, with increased private school enrolments as a confirmed national trend. The spatial distribution of poverty and the effects on school populations are not unique to Australia (Lupton, 2003; Lipman, 2011; Ryan, 2010). Raffo and colleagues (2010) recently provided a synthesis of socially critical approaches towards schooling and poverty arguing that what is needed are shifts in the balances of power to reposition those within the educational system as having some say in the ways schooling is organized. ‘Disadvantaged’ primary schools are not a marginal concern for education systems, but now account for a large and growing number of schools that serve an ever increasing population being made redundant, in part-time precarious work, under-employed or unemployed (Thomson 2002; Smyth, Down et al 2010). In Australia, the notion of the ‘disadvantaged’ school now refers to those, mostly public schools, being residualised by a politics of parental choice that drives neoliberalising policy logic (Bonner & Caro 2007; Hattam & Comber, forthcoming 2014; Thomson & Reid, 2003)...

"Has Gothic cake and eats it too : dreaming of Amelia" by Jaclyn Moriarty

Dreaming of Amelia (2009) recounts a small group of HSC students’ final year of high school. Told from multiple perspectives, the novel focuses on shifting senses of self, maturity, and agency as the protagonists move from adolescence to adulthood. The central conflict of the novel results from two ‘bad kids from the bad crowd at bad Brookfield High’ (blurb) transferring to wealthy private school, Ashbury; Amelia and Riley are scholarship students who do not fit with Ashbury’s profile of 'normal student' as it is understood by the school’s students or staff, and their presence in the school community forces many people to reassess their understanding of individual value (or, at least, that’s what the novel claims happens). In the shifting of perceptions, allegiances, and relationships, each of the main characters achieves a stronger sense of their identity, and Dreaming of Amelia is thus firmly located within the tradition of Young Adult (YA) literature, with all its stereotypes of adolescence.

Equity management strategies in the Australian private sector

This paper outlines the methods and outcomes of a study into equity management strategies in Australian private sector organisations reporting to the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency. Reports from 1976 organisations indicate eleven key factors characterising equity management in Australia. The study highlights differences within previously identified social structural policies, temperamental and opportunity policies and identifies a further policy type, categorised as “support policies”. Differences have also been identified in relation to distribution structures, suggesting that gender is not the sole consideration in determining equity management strategies. The principle of distribution also figures strongly in equity management implementation.

Public-private partnerships in ICT for education

A recent World Bank report notes that across the world, per capita economic growth is driven by three information and communication technology (ICT)-related factors: investments in equipment and infrastructure, investments in human capital (i.e. in education and innovation), and efficient use of labour (human resource) and capital that increases productivity (Schware 2005). These three factors have a direct impact on the provisioning of education. For one, the demand to adopt ICT-supported education services, or e-education, is outweighing the capacity of governments to adequately support education reform and expansion.

Traps for the unwary : reform stories of private sector managers entering public service

The purpose of this research is to capture and interpret the stories of “outsider” managers who make the transition to the public sector. These experiences are considered in the context of efforts to shift public management culture in a direction consistent with meeting contemporary demands placed on public sector organisations. It is often noted that an important strategy for changing culture is the infusion of outsiders. Outsiders are thought to bring new perspectives that, through a dialectical process (Van de Ven 1995), create the potential for change. While there have been cross-sector comparisons (Broussine 1990; Silfvast 1994; Redman 1997), little attention has been given to the experience of those who make the transition in the context of efforts to reform public sector management culture. Not only is the infusion of private sector managers into the public sector a potential culture change strategy, it is also a personal experience for those who make the transition. Boundary crossing is typically an anxiety provoking experience (Van Maanen & Schein 1979) and the quality of this experience influences decisions to commit, engage, disengage or exit. The quality of the experience is likely to be affected by how the public organisation responds to people making this transition, that is, their investment in people processing (Saks 2007). The cost of recruitment and selection processes at middle and senior management levels warrants a greater research focus on this transition. In this paper we argue that the experiences of those who make the transition from private to public sectors has much to tell us about the traps that transition managers experience in making this change, the implications for injecting outsider managers as a strategy for achieving public management culture change, and how reform-oriented public organisations can manage the transitions of outsider managers into the public sector in order that best value might be achieved for both the individual and organisational change goals.

Determinants of knowledge transfer and learning in hybrid public private alliances

This paper uses the case study of a hybrid public-private strategic alliance as data to complement and contrast with the traditional views on knowledge transfer and learning between alliance partners. In particular, the paper explores whether the concept of competitive collaboration conceptualized by Hamel (1991) in his seminal work holds true for all forms of strategic alliances. Conceptualizing the knowledge boundaries of organisations in alliances as a ‘collaborative membrane’, we focus attention on the permeability of these boundaries rather than the actual location of the boundaries. In this vein, we present a case study of a major public sector organization that illustrates how these principles have allowed it to start rebuilding its internal capabilities adopting a more collaborative stance and ensuring their knowledge boundaries are highly porous as they move more major projects into hybrid public private alliance contracts.

Stability of the learning and development survey : findings for mature aged local government and private healthcare organisations.

This article investigates work related learning and development amongst mature aged workers from a lifespan developmental psychology perspective. The current study follows on from research regarding the construction and revision of the Learning and Development Survey (LDS; Tones & Pillay, 2008). Designed to measure adaptive development for work related learning, the revised LDS (R-LDS) encompasses goal selection, engagement and disengagement from individual and organisational perspectives. Previous survey findings from a mixed age sample of local government workers suggest that mature aged workers aged over 45 years are less likely to report engagement in learning and development goals than younger workers, which is partly due to insufficient opportunities at work. In the current paper, exploratory factor analysis was used to investigate responses to the R-LDS amongst two groups of mature aged workers from a local government (LG) and private healthcare (PH) organisation to determine the stability of the R-LDS. Organisational constraints to development accounted for almost a quarter of the variance in R-LDS scores for both samples, while remaining factors emerged in different orders for each data set. Organisational opportunities for development explained about 17% of the variance in R-LDS scores in the LG sample, while the individual goal disengagement factor contributed a comparable proportion of variance to R-LDS scores for the PH sample. Findings from the current study indicate that opportunities for learning and development at work may be age structured and biased towards younger workers. Implications for professional practice are discussed and focus on improving the engagement of mature aged workers.

At work or play : a comparison of private property vehicle crashes with those occurring on public roads in north Queensland.

Objective: To define characteristics of vehicle crashes occurring on rural private property in north Queensland with an exploration of associated risk factors. Design: Descriptive analysis of private property crash data collected by the Rural and Remote Road Safety Study. Setting: Rural and remote north Queensland. Participants: A total of 305 vehicle controllers aged 16 years or over hospitalised at Atherton, Cairns, Mount Isa or Townsville for at least 24 hours as a result of a vehicle crash. Main outcome measure: A structured questionnaire completed by participants covering crash details, lifestyle and demographic characteristics, driving history, medical history, alcohol and drug use and attitudes to road use. Results: Overall, 27.9% of interviewees crashed on private property, with the highest proportion of private road crashes occurring in the North West Statistical Division (45%). Risk factors shown to be associated with private property crashes included male sex, riding off-road motorcycle or all-terrain vehicle, first-time driving at that site, lack of licence for vehicle type, recreational use and not wearing a helmet or seatbelt. Conclusions: Considerable trauma results from vehicle crashes on rural private property. These crashes are not included in most crash data sets, which are limited to public road crashes. Legislation and regulations applicable to private property vehicle use are largely focused on workplace health and safety, yet work-related crashes represent a minority of private property crashes in north Queensland.

Developing a best practice framework for implementing public private partnerships (PPP) in Hong Kong

Public Private Partnership (PPP) is a well established methodology for procuring public works projects. By incorporating the private sector’s expertise, efficiency, innovation, business sense, risk sharing, financing etc. into public works projects, the quality of public services and facilities can be uplifted. Like many jurisdictions, Hong Kong is also keen to take aboard this methodology which is so familiar but yet so distant. Although they have been one of the first jurisdictions to utilise the private sector in public works projects, their comfortable financial reserves has meant that there has been no urge to push the movement until recently. PPP has become increasingly popular amongst governments. The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government is no exception. Some of the more active works departments have commissioned studies to investigate the best ways to deliver these projects, others have even trialed the method themselves. The efficiency Unit of the HKSAR government has also become an active arm in conducting research in this area. Although so, the information that is currently available is still very broad. Building from their works there is a need to develop a best practice framework for implementing PPP projects in Hong Kong by incorporating international experiences. To develop a best practice framework will require thorough investigation into the benefits, difficulties and critical success factor of PPP. PPP should also be compared with other procurement methods. In order to do so it is important to clearly understand the local situation by an analysis of projects conducted to date. Lessons learnt can further be derived from other countries and incorporated to those derived locally. Finally the best conditions in terms of project nature, complexity, types, and scales for adopting PPP should be derived. The aim and objectives of this study were achieved via a comprehensive literature review, in-depth case analyses, interview survey with experts from both Hong Kong and overseas, and finally a large scale data collection was conducted via a questionnaire survey with PPP practitioners. These findings were further triangulated before they were used as the basis to form the best practice framework presented in this thesis. The framework was then further validated by PPP experts to ensure it is comprehensive, objective, reliable and practical. This study has presented a methodology that can be adopted for future studies. It has also updated our knowledge on the development trends of PPP as well as opened up the experiences of other jurisdictions. The findings have shown that the local industry is familiar with “what” should be done in PPP projects but they are unsure of “how” these goals can be achieved. This framework has allowed this further knowledge to be delivered to PPP practitioners. As a result, the development of this framework can help to resolve the current economic crisis by encouraging more developments and business opportunities for the private sector. In addition, the correct projects can be delivered by PPP, the advantages of PPP can be maximised, and the general public can benefit from the private sector’s participation.