Festivals as a tool to integrate cultural identities in the city of Belfast

During the past few decades Belfast has witnessed a growing interest in festivals celebrating local cultural and historical traditions. In order to understand the context of festival development in Belfast an understanding of the city's history is essential. Belfast has around half a million inhabitants of two ethnic backgrounds, Irish nationalist (predominately Catholic) and British Unionist (predominately Protestant) (Russell 2005). Ethnicity in Northern Ireland mainly refers to the Catholic and Protestant populations. The people of Northern Ireland are predominantly white, with only o.8s per cent of them having non-Irish backgrounds. This percentage increases slightly to 1.3 per cent in Belfast, with 29 per cent of these being of Chinese origins.

Impro-exchange '10 no. 3

lmpro Exchange brought together practicing artists primarily from NSW but also from other states in Australia to articulate questions and as physically expressed and evoked through improvisation. It was curated by two of Australia's most senior and respected performing artists in the contemporary dance/performance scene- Tess De Quincey and Martin Del Amo. Dialogue across the different backgrounds was both challenging and stimulating. For example, dancers came from Japanese, Pacific Islander, Aboriginal, German and Anglo-Saxon Australian cultural backgrounds. These dancers also spoke/danced from their respective cultural understandings about dance and from the ways of moving these cultures embody. The dancers also ranged across different generations thus requiring negotiation as to what dance means at different ages and how dialogue can be achieved with such different physical capacities. Made possible by the flexibility of improvisation as a medium, the dialogue was important in a sector where dancing careers usually end when dancers reach their early thirties. Equally important, and with such a large group of dancers, was the 'working through' of performance problems about how improvisation can be improvised and composed with such a multiplicity of voices, backgrounds, styles and practices. These negotiations were presented in a one-hour public performance.

Cross-cultural learning and international collaboration: evaluation of a study tour to Thailand

Purpose:
To evaluate cross-cultural learning among Thai staff and host students from the Faculty of Nursing, Mahidol University (MU) and Australian guest students from the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Deakin University (DU), who participated in a study tour.

Design:
Descriptive exploratory evaluation.

Methods:
Key stakeholders were invited to participate resulting in a convenience sample of seven MU staff, five MU and 22 DU students. Data were collected using mixed methods. Qualitative data were theme analysed and quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics.

Main findings:
The semi-structured interviews with MU staff, focus group with MU students and free response questions in the online survey with DU students indicated the themes of enhanced and valuable cross-cultural learning and relationship building, the challenges of different social behaviours and the importance of tolerance and acceptance. In the online survey, over 77% (n = 17) of DU students reported high satisfaction with their cross-cultural learning on the study tour. The online survey included the validated Miville-Guzman Universality-Diversity scale short form (M-GUD-S). All Australian students reported seeking diversity of contact (X ± SD = 23.1 ± 4.4), relativistic appreciation (X ± SD = 24.7 ± 3.9), and comfort with differences (X ± SD = 26.2 ± 3.0), indicating high levels of openness to cultural diversity and similarity on the M-GUD-S. 

Conclusion and recommendations:
This study provides an example of an evaluated study tour emphasising cross-cultural relationship building. Findings indicate that nursing education should include opportunities for intercultural exchange among nursing students. Nurses require excellent skills in cross-cultural nursing and relating to meet the future global challenges to health care over the next millennium.

Cultural tools to enhance learning

The cultural tools to connect, communicate, and prepare learners for future academic and workplace activities underpin today’s education. In the 21st century, the use of technologies, and in particular social technologies, provide a paradigm shift in the way teachers become engaged and personalize professional development. The technologies are the cultural tools (Vygotsky, 1975, p. 3) deployed to communicate and analyze learners’ realities; however, some experienced teachers are reluctant to embrace these realities. However, there are other teachers who are adopting the 21st century cultural tools to make their learning and the learning of their students relevant, social and personal. This paper examines how social practices and cultural tools deployed, in a study with experienced teachers, adds value to teacher professional development. It examines the scaffolding with social technologies to enable learners to progress to higher order development in a Zone of Proximal Development (Vygotsky, 1978) in Higher Education.

Challenges for undergraduate speech pathology students undertaking cross-cultural clinical placements

Background: Two Australian undergraduate speech pathology students completed a series of clinical placements working with people with complex communication needs in cross-cultural contexts. Aims: To describe the challenges that the students faced and how best to prepare future students for such experiences. Methods & Procedures: The students completed the placements in Thailand, Nepal, Bangladesh, India and South Africa. They used personal journaling to record their experiences. The students used the journals as the basis for reflective discussion when considering the challenges they experienced in applying their knowledge and skills. Outcomes & Results: The challenges were (1) to prepare adequately ahead of the placements; (2) to select appropriate models of service delivery; (3) to use existing service approaches, resources and infrastructure appropriately; (4) to access professional support; (5) to define their professional role; (6) to manage variable shared language proficiency; (7) to adapt personally; and (8) to work using an undergraduate level of knowledge, skills and experience. Conclusions: The students encountered challenges related to their clinical preparation and their capacity to adapt in both a professional and personal sense. Future students preparing to undertake such placements need to attain at least minimum clinical competencies before placements. They will be helped if they have some clinical experience in working with people with complex communication needs in cross-cultural contexts, information about the cultures they will visit, and if they set professional and personal learning goals for each clinical placement. This preparation will aid students in maximizing their learning experience.

Environmental and cultural correlates of physical activity parenting practices among Latino parents with preschool-aged children: Niños Activos

Latino children are at high risk of becoming obese. Physical activity (PA) can help prevent obesity. Parents can influence children's PA through parenting practices. This study aimed to examine the independent contributions of (1) sociodemographic, (2) cultural, (3) parent perceived environmental, and (4) objectively measured environmental factors, to PA parenting practices.

Cross-cultural comparison of motor competence in children from Australia and Belgium

Motor competence in childhood is an important determinant of physical activity and physical fitness in later life. However, childhood competence levels in many countries are lower than desired. Due to the many different motor skill instruments in use, children's motor competence across countries is rarely compared. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the motor competence of children from Australia and Belgium using the Körperkoordinationstest für Kinder (KTK). The sample consisted of 244 (43.4% boys) Belgian children and 252 (50.0% boys) Australian children, aged 6-8 years. A MANCOVA for the motor scores showed a significant country effect. Belgian children scored higher on jumping sideways, moving sideways and hopping for height but not for balancing backwards. Moreover, a Chi squared test revealed significant differences between the Belgian and Australian score distribution with 21.3% Belgian and 39.3% Australian children scoring "below average." The very low levels reported by Australian children may be the result of cultural differences in physical activity contexts such as physical education and active transport. When compared to normed scores, both samples scored significantly worse than children 40 years ago. The decline in children's motor competence is a global issue, largely influenced by increasing sedentary behavior and a decline in physical activity.

Cultural influence on global assessment of higher education service quality: The case of Central Queensland University, Australia

© 2014 by IGI Global. All rights reserved. This study compares students' cultural influence on global assessment of higher education service quality. In particular, this study surveyed the full-time students (that is at least 24 credit points of study in a semester) studying at the Central Queensland University (CQU), Australia. CQU has ten campuses and is one of the largest universities in Australia, with more than 14,000 students, in which 3,000 students are enrolled as full-time students and 11,000 as part-time students. An online survey was undertaken, and 227 responses from full-time students were returned for data analysis. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were performed to determine valid and reliable dimensions of perceived service quality. Tests of differences such as ANOVA and t-test were conducted to examine the differences of perceived service quality in terms of four cultural dimensions; namely, power distance, individualism, uncertainty avoidance, and masculinity. Findings show that different cultures perceive service quality differently; especially administrative service quality and physical facilities service quality.