Factors influencing mathematics and science teachers' self-assessment as teaching 'out-of-field' in rural and regional schools

Teaching 'out-of-field' occurs when teachers teach a subject for which they have no disciplinary or methods qualification. The incidence of out-of-field mathematics, science and technology teaching are particularly high in rural and regional areas. Given that mathematics and science are key areas of policy concern, there is an urgent need to understand teachers‟ position in this increasingly common practice in order to provide appropriate system responses. This paper asks the question, how are mathematics and science teachers‟ professional identities influenced by having to teach out-of-field? Twenty teachers who had taught science or mathematics at some time in their career, two school leaders, and two support staff, took part in semi-structured interviews, which I then transcribed. This paper reports on a thematic analysis of a subset of the data that isolated factors influencing teachers‟ self-assessment of themselves as out-of-field or in-field. Excerpts from the interviews are used to introduce and contextualise these factors within rural and regional settings. These factors are used to generate a theoretical model, the Boundary Between Fields (BBF) Model, that enables analysis of the impact of these factors on identity construction during a boundary crossing event. The Model highlights the influence of support mechanisms, contextual factors and personal resources on the nature of teachers‟ negotiation of subject boundaries and its impact on professional identity. This innovative model provides a platform for re-conceptualising these experiences as opportunities for professional learning occurring within schools as communities of practice, where teachers are supported and enabled to expand their professional identity. These findings provide insight for policy-makers, school leaders and teacher educators, into the complexity of the issue for teachers, as well as the conditions required for such teaching to be considered learning opportunities.

Still plucking figures out of the air? Markarian and the affirmation of the instinctive synthesis

The High Court of Australia recently had the opportunity to reconsider the appropriate sentencing methodology to be adopted in the sentencing of offenders under Australian criminal law in the case of Markarian v The Queen. The High Court had to decide whether to continue with the instinctive synthesis approach to sentencing or a process that exposed in greater clarity the basis upon which sentencing was to occur. Ultimately, a majority of the Court favoured the continuance of the instinctive synthesis approach to sentencing in criminal cases. The article will consider the decision in Markarian and the implications that it will have for the sentencing of offenders in the States and Territories of Australia.

Bringing shared values out of the shadows

As part of its wider promotion of a world that is peaceful and tolerant, the United Nations declared 2005 the International Year of Sport and Physical Education. At the fore of the UN's proclamation was recognition of the important role sport and PE play in nurturing the health and harmony of society. Sport and PE, the UN declared, provide important nodes for social connection around which shared values and understandings can be formed. In the wake of the UN's endorsement of the role that sport and PE can play in fostering social and emotional development, it is more important that ever that we reflect on and refine our practices towards this end. This paper draws on two research narratives to illustrate how easily this potential can be undermined. Indeed, behind some of the wonderful opportunities for connection that exist through a participation in PE and sport exists a dark shadow of alienation and oppression. The challenge raised through this paper centres on the need for PE teachers and coaches to work deliberately and strategically towards the cultivation of inclusive, tolerant and responsible forms of participation, and not leave their development to chance.

Reconstituting the invisible out of structure and repetition: a walk through diary V3.2.

This presentation will discuss the production of an interactive personal diary constructed in digital form as an interactive CD-Rom: Diary V 3.2. This diary was conceived as a digital version of the family photo album of the artist's nuclear family, which unfortunately disintegrated during 4 years of the diary's making. As a result Diary V 3.2 became more a documentation of the mood and state of mind of the maker than the family it began to focus on. It acted more as a trace or a remnant of mood, an artifact of loss. This was communicated not so much through narrative but ideas of loss and erasure. Another layer to this work concerns the migration of images, technique from the old analogue technology to the new digital technology which can act as a replay of the migrant experience.

Getting out of deficit: pedagogies of reconnection

The fact that children growing up in poverty are likely to be in the lower ranges of achievement on standardised literacy tests is not a new phenomenon. Internationally there are a myriad of intervention and remedial programmes designed to address this problem with a range of effects. Frequently, sustainable reforms are curtailed by deficit views of families and children growing up in poverty. This article describes an ongoing research study entitled "Teachers Investigate Unequal Literacy Outcomes: Cross-Generational Perspectives", which made teacher researchers central in examining this long-standing dilemma. It outlines the research design and rationale, and analyses how two early career teachers worked their ways out of deficit analyses of two children they were most worried about. It argues that disrupting deficit discourses and re-designing new pedagogical repertoires to reconnect with children's lifeworlds is a long-term project that can best be achieved in reciprocal research relationships with teachers.

Out-of-home food outlets and area deprivation: case study in Glasgow, UK

Background
There is a popular belief that out-of-home eating outlets, which typically serve energy dense food, may be more commonly found in more deprived areas and that this may contribute to higher rates of obesity and related diseases in such areas.

Methods
We obtained a list of all 1301 out-of-home eating outlets in Glasgow, UK, in 2003 and mapped these at unit postcode level. We categorised them into quintiles of area deprivation using the 2004 Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation and computed mean density of types of outlet (restaurants, fast food restaurants, cafes and takeaways), and all types combined, per 1000 population. We also estimated odds ratios for the presence of any outlets in small areas within the quintiles.

Results
The density of outlets, and the likelihood of having any outlets, was highest in the second most affluent quintile (Q2) and lowest in the second most deprived quintile (Q4). Mean outlets per 1,000 were 4.02 in Q2, 1.20 in Q4 and 2.03 in Q5. With Q2 as the reference, Odds Ratios for having any outlets were 0.52 (CI 0.32–0.84) in Q1, 0.50 (CI 0.31 – 0.80) in Q4 and 0.61 (CI 0.38 – 0.98) in Q5. Outlets were located in the City Centre, West End, and along arterial roads.

Conclusion
In Glasgow those living in poorer areas are not more likely to be exposed to out-of-home eating outlets in their neighbourhoods. Health improvement policies need to be based on empirical evidence about the location of fast food outlets in specific national and local contexts, rather than on popular 'factoids'.

Food and activity in out of school hours care in Victoria

Objective: To describe characteristics of the Victorian out of school hours care (OSHC) sector to assess its potential role in promoting healthy lifestyles to children and their families.

Design: Written questionnaires were sent to 1100 Victorian OSHC programs to collect information about the services, foods and activities offered to children, the training and resources utilised by staff and the type of information sent home to parents/guardians.

Subjects: A total of 426 Victorian OSHC coordinators completed questionnaires in the present descriptive study (39% response rate).

Setting: Out of school hours care provides care for 5–12 years olds before school, after school and/or during school holidays.

Results: Over 80% of coordinators reported offering fruit, breads, cereals, and milk and dairy products. One-third offer vegetables as part of meals or snacks. One-third reported offering cakes, biscuits and/or slices, and chips and/or pastries. About 17% reported offering water, whereas 24% reported offering cordial/soft drinks and fruit juice. Cooking was offered as an after-school activity by about half of those surveyed. Active games were common (62%) as were indoor active games and sports (36%). Sedentary activities were also commonplace (37–51%). Only about 30% of OSHC coordinators had participated in nutrition and/or physical activity training in the previous two years. Few OSHC programs sent home health information to parents/guardians.

Conclusion and application: Opportunities exist to help Victorian OSHC programs with nutrition and physical activity information, resources and training. Although the findings of the present study are specific to Victoria, they highlight the potential role of the growing OSHC sector to help improve the health of Australian children.

Out of pocket costs to stroke patients during the first year after stroke - results from the North East Melbourne stroke incidence study

Non-reimbursed ‘out of pocket’ costs to stroke patients have not been included in existing cost of illness studies. We aimed to determine the nature and magnitude of ‘out of pocket’ costs to stroke patients during the first year after stroke. ‘Out of pocket’ costs during the first year after stroke were documented for 165 persons registered in a community-based stroke incidence study during 1996/1997. Virtually all cases reported some ‘out of pocket’ costs. The average cost over 12 months was A$1110. The highest cost items were home modifications, aids and equipment. The most commonly incurred expense was for prescription medications. Total ‘out of pocket’ costs incurred by first-ever stroke patients in Australia in 1997 were estimated to be A$29 million or 5% of the total cost of stroke. The majority of ‘out of pocket’ costs relate to post-acute care aimed at minimising disability and handicap rather than to ‘acute’ healthcare.

Youth and sexualities : pleasure, subversion and insubordination in and out of schools

These cutting-edge international essays challenge dominant narratives of queer youth predicated on oppression and victimization. As school systems address the emergence of Gay-Straight Alliances and calls to provide equal educational access, researchers, educators and youth workers are paying increasing attention to sexuality, gender and schooling. Yet present discourses are limited to liberal understandings of tolerance, safety, and equity that are defined by a separation of "queer" and "normal." This text documents and offers radical interpretations of the creativity of queer youth in challenging existing practices. Interdisciplinary analyses offer multiple vantage points for reconceptualizing adolescent sexual subjectivities and institutional and cultural practices.

Opting out of shareholder governance rights: a new perspective on contractual freedom in Australian corporate law

One of the classic debates in corporate law relates to whether the rules of corporate law are ar should be 'mandatory', in that companies must comply, or 'enabling' - meaning a set of default rules which companies have the choice of adopting or 'opting out' of through alternative contractual arrangements. The so-called 'mandatory/enabling' debate has been especially prominent in the United States fro numerous reasons, yet has also received some attention in Australia. That said, the extent to which companies can 'opt out' of corporate law has rarely been considered as a practical issue in Australia - particularly whether Australian companies can 'opt out' of provisions under the Corporations Act ("the Act"). However, just recently, two high-profile events in Australia have made 'opting out' of corporate law a relevant issue, especially the question of whether companies are free to 'opt out' of provisions of the Corporations Act  which provide express governance rights to shareholders. These events were Boral's constitutional amendment in 2003 to restrict the ability of shreholders to propose amendments to the company's constitution, and the contemplation and introduction of so-called 'pre-nuptial' agreements- designed to by-pass the right of shreholders to vote on removing directors in public companies. In the light of these two recent events, in this article the authors revisit the mandatory/enabling debate. However, rather than going over old ground as to whether a mandatory or enabling approach to corporate regulation is desirable, the authors approach the issue from a fresh perspective: that Australian Securitiesand Investments Commission's ("ASIC") existing relief powers under the Act should be extended to provide a means for companies to opt out of provisions containing shareholder governance rights.

Measuring tourism website communication out of Central America

This study analyses website communication out of Central American nations using content analysis. The official government tourism websites of seven countries were analysed and mapped. We found that some countries communicate far more specific messages than others, in a way that allows the personality of the country – often termed its “brand” – to shine through. Others are currently failing to communicate distinctly. This article illustrates an easy and relatively inexpensive way for international tourism marketers to examine their brands as they are communicate online. The contribution of this study is the use of a simple research approach and set of tools that both tourism researchers and managers can use.