Specialist training in investigative and evidential interviewing: is it having any effect on the behaviour of professionals in the field?

While numerous concerns have been voiced over the past decade regarding the inappropriate question styles of investigative and evidential interviewers, there has been relatively little research, discussion, and critique in relation to the content, structure, and efficacy of existing interviewer training courses. This article provides a brief up-to-date summary of the essential elements of an investigative or evidential interview, followed by a review of research relating to the effectiveness of training programs for forensic interviewers and the factors that are needed to promote the use of appropriate questioning techniques. Finally, this article offers recommendations for future research and for the revision of existing training programs in forensic interviewing.

Back from the brink: reclaiming `quality` in the pursuit of a transformative education agenda

Discussions about ‘quality’ and ‘quality assurance’ abound in contemporary Australian universities. Since 1992, the Australian federal government has ‘promoted’ and/or mandated the use of particular quality assurance mechanisms within higher education and in 2001 The Australian University Quality Agency began to conduct the first of a series of ‘audits’ aimed at determining how well particular institutions meet standards and achieve
outcomes overseen, at least indirectly, by government agencies.

Home, school, community and their role in the provision of music education

The Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST), is supporting under the Australian Government Quality Outcomes Programme, a National Review of School Music Education. The review, which is intended to submit its report in mid 2005, is interested in investigating the current quality of teaching and learning of music in both primary and secondary schools. It aims to provide examples of best practice of teaching and learning of music, along with a set of recommendations for the development of future approaches and directions to improve the quality of music education offerings in Australian schools. This paper puts forward some proposals for consideration that will be forwarded to the Review and aims to generate debate about future approaches to the delivery of music education in Australian primary schools.
It argues that the home, school and community all have an important part to play in the music education of children, but that at present these three entities are insufficiently connected on a number of fronts, not least being an understanding about the purpose of young people’s engagement with music. There is no doubt that interest in the arts amongst Australians generally is high. A recent Australia Council report revealed that 85 per cent of its respondents agreed the arts are and should be an important part of the education of every young Australian and that what was needed was better arts education and opportunities for all young people. However, the opportunities need not be confined to those offered by the school sector. Engagement with out-of-school music includes both music encountered in the home, which may be affected by family influence, and music provided by the diversity of community organizations, which serve a real and complimentary role to classroom learning and achieve learning outcomes that schools often do not have the resources to foster. A number of proposals for action are suggested for consideration by those involved in education as a means of progressing the discussion. It asserts that there is much valuable activity occurring within the three locales of school, home and community, but a firmer relationship could be forged across all three to ensure young people’s on-going, life-long enjoyable engagement with music.

The application of non-profit marketing in the international higher education sector

This study considers the impact of the university service and learning environments (which we define as non educational factors) on student satisfaction among international postgraduate students from Asia studying in Australian universities. It is based on the expectations/perceptions paradigm and analyses the relationship between key variables and overall satisfaction of student groups in respect of their service and learning environments. The aim of this paper is to consider the importance of non-educational factors in international postgraduate university students, in particular, with regard to information and communication, infrastructure, and university recognition. The data used in this study is derived from a mail survey conducted among international postgraduate students from China, India, Indonesia and Thailand studying in five universities in Victoria. Structural Equation Modelling was used to understand the relationship between the constructs in this study. The results indicate that noneducation related factors are very important to international postgraduate students and they are predictors of overall satisfaction.

Flexible delivery in the Australian vocational education and training sector: Barrier to success identified in cases studies of four adult learners

Government policy in Australia is increasingly encouraging training organisations in the Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector to adopt flexible delivery approaches, but some researchers are sounding a note of caution. Evidence is emerging that Australian VET learners are not universally ready for flexible delivery, and this is reflected in high attrition rates and low pass rates. The literature on flexible delivery identifies a number of specific factors that can impact on the success of adult learners. However, there seems to be agreement that failure or dropout is not determined by a single factor, but by the interaction of a number of factors that build up over time. To understand these factors, we need to understand the learners - what their participation in education means to them, the context in which they are studying, and the numerous inter-connected factors that contribute to their failure to achieve a successful outcome. This paper discusses four case studies from a research project that followed up a small number of adult learners who enrolled in flexible delivery VET courses but did not achieve a successful outcome.

Think global, act local: from naive comparison to critical participation in the teaching of strategic international human resource management

In this paper, we examine the implications of ethnocentrism and paternalism in teaching approaches for the field of strategic international human resource management (SIHRM), as an example of management studies. We argue that the teaching of SIHRM has been approached in a colonizing fashion, joining and extending the territories of human resource management and organizational strategy through the definition and teaching of a new language and conceptual vocabulary. We explore philosophical approaches and processes involved in teaching SIHRM, and consider implications of pedagogical developments in this field of management education.

Exploring our nation's capital: exploring the role of cultural institutions in the teaching of history and social education in the primary classroom

Explores the role of cultural institutions in the teaching of history and social education in the primary classroom in Australia. Keys to effective teaching and learning of history; Potential of cultural institutions to foster historical interest, relevance, importance and significance; Practicalities of accessing cultural institutions.

River pilots for time`s flow: identifying factors to guide on-line distance education students in the use of their learning time

This research draws on recent studies of student time perception and use.
Case studies are used contrast the time use experiences of tertiary distance
education (on-line) students with tertiary students studying in traditional faceto-face classes with an online component. Previous studies and experience highlight a mismatch between the measurable and hence ”real” amount of time students spend at their computer and online, with the perceived” (and resented) time spent in online learning. This study uses investigates the recognition and application of factors affecting student perception of time spent in studying and learning online. It also compares the effectiveness of these factors when applied to distance education based wholly online classes, and face-to-face classes with an online component.
Some of the factors were measurably successful in reducing students’
perceptions of time “wasted” online, while others produced considerable
insight into face-to-face students perceptions of time used in study. The
factors included much greater focus on the person who was a student and
their expectations and time/life experiences while learning; the support and
use of alternative technologies such as mobile phones as learning and
communication too; a higher level of administrative and academic technical
support for the students; convergence of delivery methods; and strategic
involvement of teaching staff in design and delivery of learner management
systems.

Optimising the impact of education for community pharmacy in Australia

Aims & rationale/Objectives : This paper examines the extent to which different models of community pharmacist continuing education (CE) are evidence-based. It also describes the impact of varying education models on attendance and attitudes within the profession.

Methods : A literature review was conducted to establish principles that should be applied to health professional education, and pharmacy in particular. Interviews were conducted with representatives from four organisations involved in the education of pharmacists to understand their current models. Four focus groups were held with community pharmacists to understand their educational experiences and attitudes.

Principal findings : The purpose of CE is to improve the clinical performance of health practitioners. Literature examining outcomes from CE underlines the importance of adult learning principles. Focus groups supported the view that consideration of these principles is beneficial. These principles, including problem-based learning, clinical applicability, relevance, and active involvement in the learning process, are currently incorporated into educational models to varying extents. Access problems such as cost, distance, insufficient flexibility in delivery, and poor promotion of educational opportunities prevent many pharmacists from taking responsibility for their own learning. A lack of appropriate assessment by some registering authorities is counterproductive to achieving CE outcomes in clinical practice. Participants already engaged in continuing professional development (CPD) agreed with the principles of its introduction.

Discussion : Optimising outcomes from CE requires considerable input from numerous stakeholders. The recent introduction of mandatory pharmacist CPD across Australia should encourage an individual focus on learning outcomes. Focus group participants are likely to be education enthusiasts and may not represent the views of the entire profession.

Implications : This study identifies the need for a system-wide approach for achieving outcomes from CE. It is therefore advisable that a coordinated strategy be developed by all stakeholders for education delivery so as to optimise the impact of CE.

Ethiopian-Australian students experience of secondary schooling in the Australian education system in the state of Victoria

This paper is aimed at investigating the secondary school experiences of Ethiopian (Ethio)-Australian students living in Melbourne. A qualitative methodology was employed using interviews and observations as data collection instruments. Secondary school students, their teachers and parents acted as participants of the study. The findings of the study included a deeper understanding of the exclusionary forces that contributed to the students' attendance and learning in the secondary schools when they relocated between schools and countries. Based on the data collected and the analysis made, appropriate recommendations were forwarded to teachers, parents, schools and policy makers.

Mother and toddler activity in the zone of proximal development for pretend play as a predictor of higher child IQ

This study investigated the pretend play of mother—toddler dyads in relation to later child IQ. Twenty-one toddlers were videotaped in monthly play sessions with their mothers, from age 8 to 17 months, and later assessed at 5 years of age on the Stanford-Binet IV. Children's and mothers' pretend play levels and frequencies were measured using Brown's (1997) Pretend Play Observation Scale. Dyadic play activity was analyzed using the conceptual frameworks of scaffolding and Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). Toddlers later assessed as having higher IQ demonstrated more rapid learning in the ZPD for pretend play and experienced earlier maternal transfer of responsibility for play. These findings support other evidence on the differential early development of high ability or gifted children and the role of caregiver interactions in that development.

Putting the Research to Use: This study provides evidence that gifted children show differential development, in this case more rapid learning, from the first year of life. It also demonstrates how responsive parental interactions can support this advanced development. For family and professional caregivers, the findings imply that optimum caregiving for the young gifted child involves interactions that are both responsive to individual potential and appropriately challenging. In regard to the methodological challenges of researching early giftedness, the study demonstrated that the constructs of the ZPD and scaffolding were useful frameworks for investigating early gifted development and caregiver influences on that development. Pretend play activity was also shown to be an effective measure and a useful context for the study of gifted development in infants and toddlers. It would be valuable for future researchers in this area to utilize similar approaches that are grounded in the unique developmental characteristics of young children, and that aim to account for the interactive contexts that are so important in children's lives. The field of gifted education, in general, would also benefit from an increased awareness and exploration of the role of play in the development of intellect, imagination and creativity.