Structuring cooperative group work in classrooms

Cooperative, small-group learning is widely recognised as a pedagogical practice that promotes learning and socialisation across a range of curriculum areas from primary school through to high school and college. When children work cooperatively together, they learn to give and receive help, share their ideas and listen to other students’ perspectives, seek new ways of clarifying differences, resolving problems, and constructing new understandings and knowledge. The result is that students attain higher academic outcomes and are more motivated to achieve than they would be if they worked alone. This paper provides an overview of five different studies that the author has conducted that demonstrate clearly the importance of explicitly structuring cooperative small-group work in classrooms if children are to derive the benefits widely attributed to this pedagogical practice.

What the family brings: Gathering evidence for strengths-based work

Families attending child and adolescent mental health (CAMH) services are often assumed to have problems in key areas such as communication, belonging/acceptance and problem-solving. Family therapy is often directed towards addressing these difficulties. With increasing emphasis in family therapy and human services fields over the last decade on identifying and building from strengths, a different starting point has been advocated. This paper describes a large survey of the self-reported pre-therapy functioning of children and families using a public CAMH service (n = 416). Before commencing family therapy parents identified family strengths across a range of key areas, despite the burden of caring for children with moderate to severe mental health problems. This evidence supports theoretical and clinical work that advocates a strengths perspective, and highlights how resilience framed in family (and social) rather than individual terms enables a greater appreciation of how strengths may be harnessed in therapeutic work.

Physical activity as a dimension of family life for lower primary school children

While questions of children's engagement in physical activity are being widely debated, little is known about how physical activity is valued and managed within families. This paper reports on qualitative data from a multi-method study on lower primary aged children. The focus of the broader study was to determine the relationships between young children's physical activity patterns, skills, and recreational interests, and their families' location, income, commitment to physical activity, and other responsibilities. Drawing on interviews with 12 purposively selected families, it was found that physical activity was highly valued across different family contexts, that children's engagement was shaped by their interests, friendships, and safety, and that issues such as income, family configuration, parental work commitments, and transport were potential barriers to further engagement.

Occupational information: What children want to know

The present exploratory-descriptive cross-national study focuses on what information children believe they need to find out about jobs. In total, 511 South African and 372 Australian children participated in the study. The present paper reports on the findings related to one item of the Revised Career Awareness Survey used in the study. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The study revealed that the nature of information the children needed to find out was related to life/career implications and life/career management tasks and to a lesser extent to interests and personal characteristics and the nature of work. The implications of the findings for career guidance and counseling practice are discussed.

Family, work and health - The impact of marriage, parenthood and employment on self-reported health of Australian men and women

We investigate multiple-burden and multiple-attachment hypotheses for the association among marriage, parenthood, employment and health for Australian men and women. Using longitudinal data from the Australian panel survey, 'Negotiating the Lifecourse', we find that men and women employed full time report better health than those employed part time or not employed. Previously married women report worse health than married women, but there is no association between marital status and health for men. We also find that men with preschool children in the household report worse health than men with older children, whereas women with preschool children report better health than women with older children. In addition for women we find evidence of a role-burden where combining full-time employment and children has a negative impact on health, but combining children with part-time or no employment has a beneficial health effect. There are no health effects of combining roles for men.

Motherhood plans among young Australian women - Who Wants children these days?

Fertility rates in the developed world have been below replacement level for 25 years, and it is often assumed that this results from deliberate, unconstrained individual choice. Data from 7448 childless women aged 22 to 27, participating in the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health, indicate that 9 per cent aspire to childlessness, with 72 per cent wanting I or 2 children and 19 per cent more. Differences in psychological functioning disappear after adjustment for socioeconomic variables. Women wanting 1 or 2 children also want paid work, while those wanting many children generally have traditional aspirations. Policy-makers need to consider strategies that support women to negotiate motherhood and paid work.

Knowledge, perceptions and expectations of nurses in e-health: results of a survey in a children's hospital

We surveyed all nurses working at a tertiary paediatric hospital (except casual staff and those who were on leave) from 27 hospital departments. A total of 365 questionnaires were distributed. There were 40 questions in six sections: demographic details, knowledge of e-health, relevance of e-health to nursing profession, computing skills, Internet use and access to e-health education. A total of 253 surveys were completed (69%). Most respondents reported that that they had never had e-health education of any sort (87%) and their e-health knowledge and skills were low (71%). However, 11% of nurses reported some exposure to e-health through their work. Over half (56%) of respondents indicated that e-health was important, very important or critical for health professions while 26% were not sure. The lack of education and training was considered by most respondents (71%) to be the main barrier to adopting e-health. While nurses seemed to have moderate awareness of the potential benefits of e-health, their practical skills and knowledge of the topic were very limited.