Elements underpinning successful implementation of a national best-practice child investigative interviewing framework

The complexity and effort required to achieve the widespread implementation of best-practice child interview guidelines justifies the establishment of structures to enhance cross-jurisdictional sharing of expertise, resources and training delivery support. Australia has made great strides toward such a system via work currently being undertaken by police jurisdictions to facilitate greater consistency in education and training for practitioners in the area of investigative interviewing, strengthening collaboration between police and tertiary education institutions, and growing commitment to evidence-based policy and practice among police executives. To maximise progress, however, organisations need to consider the development of a coordinated continual quality improvement approach. This will be impeded by three structural elements: access to field interviews for practitioner feedback and organisational evaluation, interviewer tenure and case tracking. This article discusses each element, their roles within a national best-practice interview framework, and attempts by some jurisdictions to address them. It also provides recommendations to guide further reform.

The role of deliberative planning in translating best practice into good practice: from placeless-ness to placemaking

Best practice encompasses a transfer of expert knowledge developed in one setting to address a particular issue and, through achieving some recognised benchmark, that technique, model and/or policy is applied in another setting to achieve the same desired improvement. Best practice can sometimes bring with it an inherent structure and assumed knowledge that may largely be absent in the new setting to which it is being applied. This type of “best practice” approach may come to represent the placeless-ness of externally derived and applied planning knowledge; removing itself from deliberative planning, placemaking and coproduction efforts where a collective and jointly aspired-to outcome is desired. The objectives of this paper are twofold: 1) to examine the implementation of a transfer of planning ideas across distances and in planning practice by investigating two very different “best practice” case studies (one in Australia and one in Nepal); and 2) to develop an adaptive “good practice” approach that can be used to structure deliberative planning efforts in placemaking. Central to this paper is the theoretical perspective of the diversity, interdependence and authentic dialogue (DIAD) theory of collaborative rationality and its emphasis on deliberation, collaboration and use of different knowledge types to aid with decision-making. The theoretical ideas of the paper are then worked through the two case studies to also illustrate that the DIAD may be applied to site specific (design/planning) projects, thereby adding a new layer of good practice applicability to the theory.

Level of implementation of best practice policies for creating healthy food environments: assessment by state and non-state actors in Thailand

OBJECTIVE: To determine and compare the level of implementation of policies for healthy food environments in Thailand with reference to international best practice by state and non-state actors.
DESIGN: Data on the current level of implementation of food environment policies were assessed independently using the adapted Healthy Food Environment Policy Index (Food-EPI) by two groups of actors. Concrete actions were proposed for Thai Government. A joint meeting between both groups was subsequently held to reach consensus on priority actions.
SETTING: Thailand.
SUBJECTS: Thirty state actors and twenty-seven non-state actors.
RESULTS: Level of policy implementation varied across different domains and actor groups. State actors rated implementation levels higher than non-state actors. Both state and non-state actors rated level of implementation of monitoring of BMI highest. Level of implementation of policies promoting in-store availability of healthy foods and policies increasing tax on unhealthy foods were rated lowest by state and non-state actors, respectively. Both groups reached consensus on eleven priority actions for implementation, focusing on food provision in public-sector settings, food composition, food promotion, leadership, monitoring and intelligence, and food trade.
CONCLUSIONS: Although the implementation gaps identified and priority actions proposed varied between state and non-state actors, both groups achieved consensus on a comprehensive food policy package to be implemented by the Thai Government to improve the healthiness of food environments. This consensus is a platform for continued policy dialogue towards cross-sectoral policy coherence and effective actions to address the growing burden of non-communicable diseases and obesity in Thailand.

Best practice business to business survey: research recruitment for the MCM

This is a Report on research which investigated methods to encourage business compliance with requests from the Australian Bureau of Statistics to participate in a business survey relating the Management Capabilities.

How world's best public relations practice was not, but might have been achieved, in respect of a "biosolids" (stabilised sewage sludge) project

This is a case study which criticises the way a water authority has been trying to introduce “biosolids” (stabilised sewage sludge) projects. Two proposed projects have been abandoned after outcry by communities neighbouring earmarked sites. At the time of writing a third project was going ahead. This local scale clash reflects contests which are cropping up globally as water authorities are restricted in their use of land or sea dumping and ordered to introduce environmentally sustainable practices. The case study ends with a discussion of a strand of cultural theory which might have given the water authority a better understanding of the public issues involved. The article concludes that understanding cultural theory might assist organisations achieve world best practice in public relations when they face some of the pressing environmental and safety concerns of the 21st century.

How Australian and New Zealand schools of optometry prepare students for culturally competent practice

Background: This study is an investigation of how Australian and New Zealand schools of optometry prepare students for culturally competent practice. The aims are: (1) to review how optometric courses and educators teach and prepare their students to work with culturally diverse patients; and (2) to determine the demographic characteristics of current optometric students and obtain their views on cultural diversity. Methods: All Australian and New Zealand schools of optometry were invited to participate in the study. Data were collected with two surveys: a curriculum survey about the content of the optometric courses in relation to cultural competency issues and a survey for second year optometry students containing questions in relation to cultural awareness, cultural sensitivity and attitudes to cultural diversity. Results: Four schools of optometry participated in the curriculum survey (Deakin University, Flinders University, University of Melbourne and University of New South Wales). Sixty-three students (22.3 per cent) from these four schools as well as the University of Auckland participated in the student survey. Cultural competency training was reported to be included in the curriculum of some schools, to varying degrees in terms of structure, content, teaching method and hours of teaching. Among second year optometry students across Australia and New Zealand, training in cultural diversity issues was the strongest predictor of cultural awareness and sensitivity after adjusting for school, age, gender, country of birth and language other than English. Conclusion: This study provides some evidence that previous cultural competency-related training is associated with better cultural awareness and sensitivity among optometric students. The variable approaches to cultural competency training reported by the schools of optometry participating in the study suggest that there may be opportunity for further development in all schools to consider best practice training in cultural competency. © 2014 Optometrists Association Australia.

Learning and teaching assessment: reviewing the evidence

The authors have recently completed a research review on learning and teaching of assessment in social work which was commissioned by the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) and the Social Policy and Social Work Learning and Teaching Support Network (SWAPltsn) to support the development of the new social work award in England. This involved reviewing relevant literature from social work and cognate disciplines back to 1990 with the aim of identifying best practice in learning and teaching of assessment skills.

Although assessment has been recognised as a core skill in social work and should underpin social work interventions, there is no singular theory or understanding as to what the purpose of assessment is and what the process should entail. Social work involvement in the assessment process may include establishing need or eligibility for services, to seek evidence of past events or to determine likelihood of future danger, may underpin recommendations to other agencies, or may determine the suitability of other service providers. In some settings assessment is considered to begin from the first point of contact and may be a relatively short process, whereas elsewhere it may be a process involving several client contacts over an extended period of time. The assessment process may range from the collection of data on standardised proforma to a flexible approach depending on circumstances. These variations permeate the literature on the learning and teaching of assessment in social work and cognate disciplines.

Several different approaches to classroom based learning were proposed in the literature including case-based teaching, interviews with actors who have been trained to play 'standardised clients', and observation of children and families, as well as didactic lecturing and various uses of video equipment and computers. Furthermore learning by doing has long been one of the hallmarks of social work education, and there are a number of models proposed in which students learn about the assessment process through conducting assessments. The evidence to support these different approaches to learning and teaching is variable. Based on the evidence reviewed, recommendations as to what is good practice in learning and teaching about assessment will be presented.

Problem-based learning in an online IT professional practice course

Educational research suggests that Problem-Based Learning (PBL) is a pedagogy that fosters a deeper understanding of the curriculum and provides students with processes and skills for lifelong learning. According to the literature this pedagogy appears to be a suitable one for teaching undergraduate information technology, yet adoption of PBL in information technology tertiary education appears to be slow. This paper discusses characteristics and processes of PBL and describes how the approach will be used in teaching information technology professional practice. The course described will be offered to information technology students in their final year of study and will be delivered wholly online. The course will not only provide best practice aspects of PBL but it will also provide students with the opportunity of undertaking authentic tasks using multimedia resources that simulate the real world.

Conceptualising best practices in cooperative industry-based learning in information systems and information technology: an inter-institutional investigation in Australian higher education

The professional fields of information systems and information technology are drivers and enablers of the global economy. Moreover, their theoretical scope and practices are global in focus. University graduates need to develop a range of leadership, conceptual and technical capacities to work effectively in, and contribute to, the shaping of companies, business models and systems which operate in globalised settings. This paper reports a study of the operation of industry-based learning (IBL) at three Australian universities, which employ different models and approaches, as part of a series of investigations of the needs, circumstances and perspectives of various stakeholders (program coordinator, faculty teaching staff, the students, industry mentors, and the professional body which has supported the most recent stage of this study). The focus of this paper is a discussion of salient pragmatic considerations as we attempt to conceptualise what constitutes best practice in offering industry-based learning for higher education students in the disciplines of information systems and information technology.

Expanding the realm of best practices in cooperative industry-based learning in information systems and information technology : an inter-institutional investigation in Australian higher education

The professional fields of information systems and information technology are drivers and enablers of the global economy. Moreover, their theoretical scope and practices are global in focus. University graduates need to develop a range of leadership, conceptual and technical capacities to work effectively in, and contribute to, the shaping of companies, business models and systems which operate in globalised settings. This paper reports a study of the operation of industry‐based learning (IBL) at three Australian universities, which employ different models and approaches, as part of a series of investigations of the needs, circumstances and perspectives of various stakeholders (program coordinator, faculty teaching staff, the students, industry mentors, and the professional body). The focus of this paper is a discussion of salient pragmatic considerations in an attempt to conceptualize what constitutes best practice in offering industry‐based learning for higher education students in the disciplines of information systems and information technology (Asia‐Pacific Journal of Cooperative Education, 9(2), 73‐80).

Effective farmer groups for defining best practices for sustainable agriculture

Practitioners and farmers are practical people. They are likely to be more comfortable with a process that develops monitoring tools and benchmarks for natural resource management than a process of group development and social capital formation. Yet the two are intrinsically linked. Policy makers and extension workers need to understand the link, and how to use a knowledge of social processes when designing the more concrete process of developing and implementing best practice monitoring and benchmarking with groups.

This paper reflects on the experience of establishing and working with farmer groups as they go through a process of identifying environmental issues, setting and monitoring environmental benchmarks and identifying and implementing sustainable farming practices to meet the benchmarks.