A methodological approach to quality assurance of programs in an independent school

This paper reports on ways in which one Australian independent school seeks to develop and sustain best practice and academic integrity in its programs through a quality assurance system of ongoing program reviews, and findings of a study that we conducted into staff perceptions of the different program reviews. First, we outline the overarching methodological and conceptual approaches used in the school’s program reviews. Second, we present and discuss the findings of the study.

A review of program evaluations in an Australian independent school: participants’ perspectives

This paper reports on ways in which one Australian independent school seeks to develop and sustain best practice and academic integrity in its programs through a system of ongoing program evaluation, involving a systematic, cyclical appraisal of the school’s suite of six faculties. A number of different evaluation methods have been and continue to be used, each developed to best suit the particular program under evaluation. In order to gain an understanding of the effectiveness of this process, we conducted a study into participants’ perceptions of the strengths and weaknesses of the four program evaluations undertaken between 2009 and 2011. Drawing on documentary analysis of the evaluation reports and analysis of questionnaire data from the study participants, a number of findings were generated. These findings are provided and discussed, together with suggestions about ways in which the conceptualisation and conduct of school program evaluations might be enhanced.

Leadership for rural school community partnerships

This paper presents a model for examining effective leadership for rural school community partnerships, derived from Australian research supported by the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation. The research team investigated effective school community partnerships in five different Australian rural locations. Four government and one independent school featured in the study. Partnership effectiveness was confirmed by seeking advice from a range of experts including State, Commonwealth, independent school and Catholic education authorities, as well as rural education professionals. The particular focus of the study was on the community outcomes of such partnerships.

The model is consistent with, but further develops, earlier partnership models. It uses the leadership process, rather than the leader, as the unit of analysis. The model outlines a five-stage process of partnership development: trigger, initiation, development, maintenance and sustainability. While the stages of the process appear to be consistent across study sites, the way in which the model is implemented differs according to context, with factors such as the level of maturity of the school community partnership influencing the process. The flexibility of the model, in terms of better understanding the contextualised nature of educational leadership, suggests it has broader application beyond rural school community partnerships.

A comparison study of children's independent mobility in England and Australia

We compared independent mobility (freedom to move around the neighbourhood – or similar – without adult accompaniment) among English and Australian schoolchildren. Parents reported mobility licences granted to their children (e.g. allowing them to cross main roads alone) and accompaniment on local trips. Children reported travel mode to school. We examined associations between mobility licences and independent school journeys, and accompaniment on local trips. Among 10–12-year-olds, English children had more licences than Australian children. Mobility licences were directly associated with independent school journeys among primary but not among secondary schoolchildren who travelled further; and inversely associated with parental accompaniment to other destinations. Influences on parental restrictions should be examined to promote children's independent mobility.

Futures in education

Futures education (FE) in a rapidly changing world is critical if young people are to be empowered to be proactive rather than reactive about the future. Research into young people's images and ideas of the future lead to the disturbing conclusion that, for many, the future is a depressing and fearful place where they feel hopeless and disempowered. On the other hand, as Richard Slaughter writes, 'young people are passionately interested in their own futures, and that of the society in which they live. They universally 'jump at the chance to study something with such intrinsic interest that also intersects with their own life interests in so many ways'. FE explicitly attempts to build on this interest and counter these fears by offering a profound and empowering set of learning strategies and ideas that can help people think and act critically and creatively about the future, without necessarily trying to predict it. Futures educators have, over the past decades, developed useful tools, ideas and a language for use with students of all ages to enable them to develop foresight literacy. Most of us tend to view the future as somehow beyond the present and rarely consider how decisions and choices made today profoundly affect not just one fixed future but any number of futures. The underlying goal of FE is to move from the idea of a single, pre-determined future to that of many possible futures, so that students begin to see that they can determine the future, that they need not be reactive and that they are not powerless. How does one do that? Ideas include, but are not limited to: timelines and Y-diagrams, futures wheels and mind maps, and 'Preferable, possible and probable' futures - a.k.a. the 3Ps. Current Australian curricula present education about the future in various implicit or explicit guises. A plethora of statements and curriculum outcomes mention the future, but essentially take 'it' for granted, and are uninformed by FE literature, language, ideas or tools. Science, the humanities and technology tend to be the main areas where such an implicit futures focus can be found. It also appears in documents about vocational education, civics and lifelong learning. Explicit FE is, as Beare and Slaughter put it, still the missing dimension in education. Explicit FE attempts to develop futures literacy, and draws widely upon futures studies literature for processes and content. FE provides such a wide range of ideas and tools that it can be incorporated into education in any number of ways. Programs in two very different schools, one primary and one secondary, are described in this article to provide examples of some of these ways. The first school, Kimberley Park State Primary School in Brisbane, operates with multi-age classrooms based on a 'thinking curriculum' developed around four organisers: change, perspectives, interconnectedness and sustainability. The second school, St John's Grammar School in Adelaide, is an independent school where FE operates as an integrated approach in Year Seven, as a separate one-semester subject in Year Nine and in separate subjects at other levels. Teachers both at Kimberley Park and St John's are very positive about FE. They say it promotes valuable and authentic learning, assists students to realise they have choices that matter and helps them see that the future need not be all doom and gloom. Because students are interested in the Big Questions, as one teacher put it, FE provides a perfect opportunity to address them, and to consider values that are fundamental for them and the future of the planet. Like any innovation, the long-term success of FE in schools depends on an embedding process so that the innovation does not depend on the enthusiasm and energy of a few individuals, only to disappear when they move on. It requires strong leadership, teacher knowledge, support and enthusiasm, and the support and understanding of the wider school community.

Evaluation of the intercultural understanding field trial

In 2011, the Innovation and Next Practice Division (INP) of the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (DEECD) conducted a field trial on intercultural understanding in partnership with a research and evaluation team from the University of Melbourne and La Trobe University. The field trial was sponsored by the Languages, English as another Language (EAL) and Multicultural Education Division of DEECD.

Beyond anonymity and the every-day: celebrity and the capture of educational leadership

This conceptual paper traces the development of the culture and capture of celebrity in the field of educational leadership. Drawing on Rojek’s (Celebrity. London: Reaktion Books, 2001) typology of celebrity, we examine the emergence of celebrity of leadership that is activated via the current policy environment that compels schools and school leaders to be recognised and well-known. It is this well-knownness that subsequently contributes to the school as a marketable commodity that “people like us” desire. We highlight the complex convergence of these two phenomena in our reading of the independent school sector in Victoria (Australia).

Teacher attitudes and perceptions of primary school music education at independent schools in South Africa

As South Africa enters the new millennium and is currently in its second term of democracy, the question remains: is outcomes-based education preliminary the way forward for learners in South Africa. The new education system recognises the importance of arts education and specifically music education at the primary school level. This article focuses on music education at independent schools in Gauteng, South Africa. The reporting of this article is based on the author's doctoral thesis entitled "Outcomes-based music education in the foundation phase at independent schools in Gauteng, South Africa". The principal form of research was a questionnaire sent to music teachers at primary schools registered with the Independent Schools Council (ISC). The purpose of the questionnaires was to contribute to a study on teachers' perceptions, attitudes and opinions regarding music education and outcomes-based education. The questionnaire was divided into three main sections, namely: personal and professional details, outcomes-based education and general information. Both open and closed types of questions were employed. The questionnaire yielded both ambivalent views about the change of the education system as well as the inclusion of music as an area of learning within "Arts and Culture". It also identified current teaching trends and exposed areas of weakness that call for attention.

School health policies and practices in Victoria- a comparison involving socio-economic status

Issue addressed: Health programs have been part of the responsibility of Victorian school education for 90 years. Yet rarely have there been studies to identify what is happening in school health promotion, or what the differences between schools might be, particularly in relation to the socioeconomic status of the school community and whether the school is in a metropolitan or regional area. Methods: In 1997 all Victorian schools (primary and secondary) in the State, Catholic and Independent systems were sent questionnaires in order to promote broader awareness about health promotion, and to identify what health programs, policies and activities the schools believed existed within their school community. A response rate of 43% was achieved, and results were collated under the six domains of the Health Promoting School model as outlined by the Western Pacific Regional Office of the World Health Organisation. Data analysed in this paper compared highest versus lowest quartiles for socioeconomic status (SES), and schools in metropolitan Melbourne versus regional areas. Results: Most differences between schools based on socioeconomic status occurred in secondary schools and were related mainly to environmental policies and practices, use of back packs, the presence of safety policies, involvement of parents in school activities and the provision of services for mental and social health needs. All differences were in favour of the highest SES quartile schools. Environmental policies and procedures, and school-based health and welfare services were present more often in metropolitan schools than in regional and rural schools. Conclusion: Although there were notable differences between schools, the audit results pointed to more similarities than differences between schools in the highest and lowest SES quartiles for health-related policies and practices; there were even fewer differences between metropolitan and non-metropolitan schools. So what: Regardless of the actual advantages and disadvantages schools experience with respect to location or socioeconomic status, it is important to understand that school staff perceive that they can and do have reasonably comprehensive health policies, procedures and practices to address health issues. Nevertheless, clear differences between schools did emerge in certain health areas and findings will assist policy making and the allocation of limited resources.

The nature of children's social interactions at school

Interpersonal interactions are important for emotional and psychological wellbeing. One attempt to systematically assess social interactions among gifted children was presented by Manor-Bullock et al. (1995) in their Social Interaction Questionnaire (SIQ). However, no psychometric properties of this scale or the nature of the factors that form students' social interactions have been reported. The aim of this study to ascertain the underlying factor structure of students' social interactions on scores on the SIQ and to compare the responses of children attending a regular school to those in Manor-Bullock et al.'s cohort of gifted children. Two independent factors emerged from the data: social/popular and confident/studious with internal reliability of {alpha} = 0.82 and {alpha} = 0.60 respectively. There were no gender differences on these factors in the current data. Chi square analyses revealed concordance between gifted and regular-school children on seven of 16 comparable items. Discussion of the items demonstrating an association is presented. Confirmation of the current factor structure is necessary and a matched comparison with gifted children is recommended.

Family risk factors for cannabis use: a population-based survey of Australian secondary school students

The objective of this study was to investigate relationships between adolescent cannabis use and indices of parent - child attachment, family functioning and parent attitudes to drugs and delinquency. A total of 2848 year 9 and 2363 year 11 students participated in the Victorian Adolescent Health and Well-Being Survey (1999). The study was a school-based random sample of 535 metropolitan and rural, government and non-government secondary schools throughout Victoria, Australia. Cannabis use was defined as 'any' and 'weekly' use in the last 30 days. Multivariate logistic regression was used to identify independent associations between cannabis use and parent - child attachment, family functioning and parent attitudes to drugs and delinquency. Cannabis use in year 9 was associated with permissive parent attitudes to drugs and delinquency (any use: adjusted odds ratio (OR) = 8.1; weekly use: adjusted OR = 7.6), and was particularly sensitive to small changes in the quality of the parent - child relationship with risk increasing threefold for those describing their attachment as 'good' compared with 'very good' (any use: adjusted OR = 2.8, weekly use adjusted OR = 2.9). A similar, but more moderate pattern association was evident in year 11. After adjusting for other family and background factors, poor family functioning showed minimal association with level of cannabis use at both year levels. Results suggest that intervention efforts might sensibly target strengthening parent - children relationships and promoting less permissive parent attitudes to drug use.

Women primary principals in independent schools : creativity and inspiration

The purpose of my research is to reinvigorate educational leadership through improved understandings of women primary principals in Independent schools, thereby rethinking the current directions. By 'reinvigorate' I mean investigate what serves as inspiration for current women primary leaders and explore how this might be better used to generate the kinds of educational change that lead to more dynamic primary school leadership. These 'improved understandings' are expected to suggest a reconceptualizing of primary school leadership by, what I coin 'response-ability'. By 'response-ability' I mean to expose untapped potentials in primary leadership performance so that the leader utilizes the full range of their knowledge, skills and values.

There are acknowledged gaps in the primary school Independent sector concerning women in leadership both theory and practice and in this instance the Victorian context. Considerable research surrounds educational leadership [Peter Hill (2003), Neil Cranston (2001), Frances Townsend (1999),Helen Telford.(1996) and Caldwell & Spinks (1992)]. In particular Jill Blackmore's, (1999) research analysed a number of projects focusing on women secondary principals. As a critique of leadership her research exposed the gendered influences reinforced through culture, values and language

However there has been limited research into women in primary leadership and the implications for the Independent sector. In summary this research aims to understand women in primary educational leadership and investigate the significance of their untapped knowledge, skills, attitudes and values. Furthermore to propose what may constitute 'Response-able' leadership that could serve to highlight ethical principles, authenticity and creativity.

Double disadvantage : the influence of ethnicity over socioeconomic position on childhood overweight and obesity: findings from an inner urban population of primary school children

Objective: To examine the relationship between overweight/obesity in children, socioeconomic status and ethnicity/cultural background.

Design: Cross-sectional survey of children aged 4–13 years.

Setting: A total of 23 primary (elementary) schools in an inner urban municipality of Melbourne, Australia.

Participants: A total of 2685 children aged 4–13 years and their parents.

Main exposure measures: Ethnicity/cultural background – maternal region of birth; socioeconomic position (SEP) indicators – maternal and paternal educational attainment, family employment status, possession of a healthcare card, ability to buy food, indicator of disadvantage (Socioeconomic Index for Areas, SEIFA) score for school; parental weight status.

Main outcome measure: Prevalence of overweight/obesity.

Results: Prevalence of overweight/obesity approached 1 in 3 (31%) in this sample. Prevalence of overweight/obesity was greater for children of both North Africa and Middle Eastern background and children of Southern, South Eastern and Eastern European background compared with children of Australian background. This difference remained after adjusting for age, sex, height, clustering by school, SEP indicators and parental weight status; odds ratio, OR=1.57 (95% confidence interval, CI 1.12–2.19) and 1.88 (95%CI 1.24–2.85), respectively.

Conclusions: There is a clear independent effect of ethnicity above and beyond the effect of socioeconomic status on overweight and obesity in children. Further research is required to explore the mediators of this gradient.