A model to enable organisational cultural change using systemic strategic human resource management

Cultural change in organisations is both difficult to implement and hard to achieve. In this paper, theory from strategic human resource management, organisational cultural change, systemic thinking and practice, and punctuated equilibrium, is integrated in order to build a model for organisational culture change. Evidence is provided showing the capacity of the model to enable researchers and organisational change agents to improve the success of organisational cultural change programs.

Reflective practice in teacher education : learning from case studies of environmental education

This book is focused on ten action research and evaluative case studies in environmental education carried out by teacher educators and teachers. The case studies range across five European countries: Austria, Hungary, Italy, Sweden and Switzerland. They are followed by cross-case comparisons which explore issues emerging from the documented reflective practice: aims of environmental education in the educational policy context of the countries, their relationship to the disciplines and the traditional knowledge transmission position, the role of action research approaches for innovation and reflection, and institutional conditions of collaboration in teacher education. This international case study project is research based in adopting professional development approaches that are informed by action research principles. It represents examples of innovation that challenge established practice in schools and teacher education institutions. It provides study material for all who attempt to describe, change and improve their own education practices and who want to adopt an action research approach to professional or program development.

Constructivism in environmental education beyond conceptual change theory

Constructivism, as a set of theories about how learners learn, has been an important discourse in the educational research literature for a number of years. Interestingly, it has been far more visible in science education research than in environmental education research. This article considers conceptual change theory within constructivism as a contested concept, outlines differing expressions of constructivism in science education and environmental education, and argues for approaches to environmental education that adopt socially constructivist perspectives with respect to the character of the subject matter content as well as to learners' apprehension of such content. In considering implications for research, this perspective is juxtaposed with a recent United States Education Act, which prescribes a far more objectivist approach to educational research and which serves as a reminder that research itself is a powerful factor in shaping how we construct the nature of subject matter, learning and the implications of these for teaching practice.

Workplace change & the care of the self : health and wellbeing as a professional duty of care?

This paper examines the ways in which transformations in the organisation and practice of teacher’s work have witnessed large numbers of teachers being seen, and seeing themselves, as stressed. These understandings of teacher stress have provoked a number of strategies designed to encourage individuals to take care of themselves – and to take care of themselves in ways that will make schools more effective.

The key learning area movement : A force for pedagogical change or a facade for continued conservatism?

Throughout the early 1990s the formal curriculum across all Australian States and Territories was re-organised to accommodate a Key Learning Area (KLA) focus.  The KLA approach to schooling marked a departure from an historical reliance on individualised school subjects as the organisers of disciplinary knowledge.  Indeed a KLA structure has the potential to promote interdisciplinary teaching and learning, a focus on the skills, values, attitudes and knowledge students are to learn and to break away from the sometimes divisive subject subcultures that permiate schools.  In short the potential for a KLA 'movement' of positive benefit to teaching and learning exists.

Over the last decade however, the impact of the 'KLA movement' on teacher practice has become more apparent.  Far from being a force for pedagogical change, some KLAs are merely re-badged versions of traditionalist conceptions of school subject and knowledge.  This paper draws on data from a study of New South Wales (NSW) history and Human Society and Its Environment (HSIE) teachers and provides an evidenced argument about the use and misuse of Key Learning Areas.

Towards solutions for a liveable future: progress, practice, performance, people: Proceedings of the 41st Annual Conference of the Architectural Science Association ANZAScA

There is hope! Since Al Gore disclosed the inconvenient truth, the climate has changed. The time of denial is over; the era of well-informed action and sound development is with us. Sustainability has now moved from the fringe, into the mainstream of politics, society, architecture and building practice. In this new context architectural science will contribute to two main tasks: prevent further damage to our environment, and respond to challenges invoked by climate change.
The built environment and human activity within it account for a large part of the problem. Architectural science and architectural practice are part of the solution. The ANZAScA 2007 conference focuses on the solutions architectural science has to offer toward a liveable future through the following generic themes:
progress – the evaluation and improvement of built facilities, new and existing, in terms of energy intensity, financial reward and environmental impact.
practice – the relationship between our cultural heritage, new facility design, retrofit design and its realisation
through construction.
performance – the connection between building operation targets, validation of performance, and user comfort and interaction in new and existing environments.
people – the effect of space on user behaviour, user responsibility and social wealth.
In response to this challenge, architectural science researchers including students, educators, and practitioners at ANZAScA 2007, present a broad range of research activity and concern within the built environment from global issues down to the specific actions of individuals.

Nursing handover : it's time for a change

Nursing handover is a common part of nursing practice that is fundamental to safe patient care. Despite this, the literature provides little direction on the best way to conduct handover. This project aimed to examine nurses' perceptions of handover and to determine the strengths and limitations of the handover process. A staff survey was distributed to nurses in all inpatient wards at a metropolitan tertiary hospital. A total of 176 nurses responded to the staff survey. The findings revealed conflicting opinions about the effectiveness of the handover process; although a number of nurses were positive about current handover practice, indicating they were provided with sufficient information about patients and given opportunity to clarify patient care information, other nurses identified aspects of handover that could be improved. These included: the subjectivity of handover information, the time taken to conduct handover, repetition of information that could be found in the patients' care plans, and handing over of information by a nurse who has not cared for the patient. Some attention needs to given to addressing the perceived weaknesses associated with the handover process.

Conceptualising the policy practice and behavioural research relationship

Background
Policy is frequently identified in the behavioural nutrition and physical activity research literature as a necessary component of effective research and practice. The purpose of this commentary is to promote a dialogue to contribute towards the further development of conceptual understandings and theories of the relationship between policy practice and behavioural research and how these two activities might work synergistically to improve public health outcomes.

Methods
Drawing on policy and public health literature, this commentary presents a a conceptual model of the interaction and mediation between nutrition and physical activity-relevant policy and behavioural nutrition and physical activity research, environments, behaviours and public health implications. The selling of food in school canteens in several Australian states is discussed to illustrate components of the relationship and the interactions among its components.

Results
The model depicts a relationship that is interdependent and cyclic. Policy contributes to the relationship through its role in shaping environmental and personal-cognitive determinants of behaviours and through these determinants it can induce behaviour change. Behavioural research describes behaviours, identifies determinants of behaviour change and therefore helps inform policy development and monitor and evaluate its impact.

Conclusion
The model has implications for guiding behavioural research and policy practice priorities to promote public health outcomes. In particular, we propose that policy practice and behavioural research activities can be strengthened by applying to each other the theories from the scientific disciplines informing these respective activities. Behavioural science theories can be applied to help understand policy-making and assist with disseminating research into policy and practice. In turn, policy science theories can be applied to support the 'institutionalisation' of commitments to ongoing behavioural research.

What do general practitioners think depression is? A taxonomy of distress and depression for general practice

Objective:
To create a taxonomy of distress and depression for use in primary care, that mirrors the thinking and practice of experienced general practitioners.

Design:
Qualitative study, using an ethnomethodological approach, with observation of videotaped routine GP–patient consultations and in-depth interviews with GPs.

Setting and participants:
The study was conducted in metropolitan Melbourne in 2005. Fourteen GPs conducted 36 patient consultations where depression was a focus; nine GPs participated in in-depth interviews to elicit details of how they recognised and diagnosed depression in their patients.

Results:
GPs consider distress and depression in three steps. In the first step, a change in a group of symptoms and signs is observed (eg, facial expression, loss of drive). The second step categorises the syndrome according to whether or not there is an identifiable environmental cause (reactive or “endogenous”), with the final step categorising the reactive syndromes according to their most prominent symptoms: either anxiety and worry, or helplessness and hopelessness. The resulting taxonomy includes: endogenous depression (a chronic and perhaps characterological depression characterised by a lack of interest and motivation); anxious depressive reaction (stress or worry); and hopeless depressive reaction (demoralisation).

Conclusion:
This simple and parsimonious taxonomy has validity based on its derivation from within the primary care setting.

Creating ambiguity, creating social change

Current government policy in Victoria, as elsewhere, is seeking to change the provision of maternity care from an obstetric-led system to a flatter, more collaborative system that brings midwives to the front line as primary carers, at least in the public sector.

However, dominant medical discourses continue to exert a sedimentary effect on contesting claims from midwives that deny the high-risk nature of the majority of births and which valorise the competence of the female body. Although there have been modifications in maternity arrangements (and the incumbent government is currently considering more), medical discourses continue to legitimate obstetric power via legal and professional structures, fortify the obstetric ‘habitus’, infect mainstream popular consciousness and undermine autonomous midwifery practice. Drawing from research material gleaned from in-depth interviews with nine obstetricians and thirty midwives conducted in 2004 and 2005, I argue that alternative discourses may strategically undermine obstetric dominance. Specifically, reversing stereotypes; inverting the binary opposition and privileging the subordinate term (or substituting the negative for positive); and defamiliarizing what is perceived to be fixed and given, all play on the ambiguities of representation and present social activists (midwives, childbirth educators and women) with valuable opportunities to challenge fundamentalist medical orthodoxies.

Investigating the factors of professional development programs that effect change in the classroom

This paper reports on the implementation of two professional development programs designed to support ICT based pedagogies in Victorian (Australia) schools. In both programs the teachers participated in an intensive program of professional development designed to assist them in embedding ICT into their classroom practice. There was a large diversity of circumstances experienced by the schools, not only in terms of ICT availability and use, and teacher experience, but also in issues of cultures of curriculum planning and integration, size, communication, and pedagogical presumptions. Both projects were successful in implementing change; however there were teachers in both projects who failed to take advantage of the PD. Some of the limitations with both studies include the high expectations of time comittment by the teachers – who are already fully committed with full teaching loads, and the high expectations of the change that will occur in the teaching and
learning as a result of the PD, wthout consideration of the time needed to learn and adopt new pedagogical practice. In some cases, teachers and the school did not appreciate the necessary commitment to take full advantage of the opportunity being provided. This was compounded by the lack of support and recognition by school management.

Sexualities and gender in the classroom : changing teacher practice

Despite significant changes in policy and practice, same-sex attracted young people in Australian schools continue to experience high levels of abuse and violence.  The majority of schools are at worst openly homophobic and at least neglectful.  There is a reluctance by health education teachers to recognise and affirm gender and sexual diversity.  This book examines the challenging process teachers go through as they gain the skills needed to be more inclusive in their teaching.  In the context of anew professional learning program, the journey of 14 diverse, yet characteristic, health education teachers is documented and analysed.  The study concludes that whilst there is a range ofpersonal and structural barriers inhibiting change, teachers were nabled to implement many aspects of their professional learning through supported risk-taking.  The findings and analysis will be of itnerst to academics and professionals in health and sexuality education and to those working in health and sexuality education more broadly.

Teaching EBP : part 2 – making sense of clinical practice guidelines

Previously, we indicated that we wanted to address the dialogue pertaining to education and teaching approaches to increase the use of specific types of evidence that exist to guide and inform practice, and began this by focusing on Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPG). This column builds on that knowledge to highlight how educators can use CPGs in practice and change situations whilst also raising awareness of the limitations of these tools in terms of their impact on practice.

Living with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis/motor neurone disease (ALS/MND) : decision-making about 'ongoing change and adaptation

Aims and objectives. To present a model that explicates the dimensions of change and adaptation as revealed by people who are diagnosed and live with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis/motor neurone disease.

Background. Most research about amyotrophic lateral sclerosis/motor neurone disease is medically focused on cause and cure for the illness. Although psychological studies have sought to understand the illness experience through questionnaires, little is known about the experience of living with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis/motor neurone disease as described by people with the disease.

Design. A grounded theory method of simultaneous data collection and constant comparative analysis was chosen for the conduct of this study.

Methods. Data collection involved in-depth interviews, electronic correspondence, field notes, as well as stories, prose, songs and photographs important to participants. QSR NVivo 2® software was used to manage the data and modelling used to illustrate concepts.

Findings. Participants used a cyclic, decision-making pattern about 'ongoing change and adaptation' as they lived with the disease. This pattern formed the basis of the model that is presented in this paper.

Conclusion. The lives of people living with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis/motor neurone disease revolve around the need to make decisions about how to live with the disease progression and their deteriorating abilities. Life decisions were negotiated by participants to maintain a sense of self and well-being in the face of change.

Relevance to clinical practice. The 'ongoing change and adaptation' model is a framework that can guide practitioners to understand the decision-making processes of people living with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis/motor neurone disease. Such understanding will enhance caring and promote models of care that are person-centred. The model may also have relevance for people with other life limiting diseases and their care.

Coerced offender rehabilitation : a defensible practice?

The use of the criminal justice system to force offenders to receive psychological treatment is one of the most controversial aspects of service provision for offenders. Coerced treatment needs to be distinguished from pressured treatment, both having objective and subjective dimensions. In this paper some arguments for and against coerced offender rehabilitation are discussed. We suggest that coercing offenders into attending rehabilitation programmes (or placing legal pressure on them to attend) is unlikely by itself to lead to poorer outcomes. Rather, the individual's perception of coercion will be more influential in determining how an offender approaches treatment. Even when offenders perceive they are being coerced, it is likely that pre-treatment anti-therapeutic attitudes can change over the course of a programme, such that therapeutic gains (risk reduction) can occur. Coercion and its effects on treatment engagement and rehabilitation outcomes require further empirical research and conceptual analysis.