Biology curriculum for the senior secondary level in Victoria, Australia

In Victoria, the Victorian Certificate of Education(VCE) is most common among certificates required to apply any tertiary institute in the Victoria State. Thus, the number of students who take the VCE course is larger than other courses in senior secondary schools. VCE Biology is one of the subjects in natural science area. The subject consists of 4 units: Unit 1 is ecology oriented, Unit 2 is cell biology oriented, Unit 3 is physiology and developmental biology oriented, and Unit 4 is systematics, genetics and evolution oriented. One of the distinctive features of the VCE Biology is its assignment. Three or four tasks are prepared in each unit of the subject. In order to complete the assignment, students should carry out some laboratory work, field studies and investigations to collect data and information from a number of sources. They also need to analyze data to write some reports. In Unit 3 and 4, Common Assessment Tasks(CATs), which include writing report and paper test, and prepared. Another distinctive feature of the curriculum is that there are some applied biological aspects in the contents of each unit.

Prevalence of genital human papillomavirus DNA in a sample of senior school-aged women in the Australian Capital Territory

Background: A strong association between persistent infection with oncogenic types of human papillomavirus (HPV) and cervical cancer is well established. Small numbers of international studies examining adolescent HPV infection and the risk factors associated are published, but there is currently no evidence on the prevalence and risk factors for HPV in an Australian, sexually active female adolescent population. Methods: To provide prevalence and risk factors for HPV in a female sexually active, senior high school population in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), a convenience sample of 161, 16–19-year-old females attending a senior high school was evaluated. The sample formed part of a larger sample recruited for a study of sexually transmitted infections and blood-borne viruses in senior high school students. A clinical record was used to collect information about sexual and other risk behaviours, while self-collected vaginal swabs were tested for HPV DNA detection and genotyping using polymerase chain reaction. Results: The prevalence of HPV DNA in this sample overall was 11.2%, with multiple genotypes in 38%. No statistically significant associations were found between HPV DNA and the number of male partners, age of coitarche, time since first sexually active, condom use, smoking or alcohol intake. Conclusions: This is the first Australian study that has examined the prevalence and risk factors for genital HPV in this demographic group. The prevalence of HPV infection is slightly lower than reported in similar age groups overseas and is lower than other Australian studies in older women and those attending sexual health centres. Of HPV-positive young women, high-risk genotypes were found in over half, with more than one-third of HPV existing as multiple genotypes. Large community-based prevalence studies are needed to guide the development of recommendations for the vaccination of young women against HPV and to support other health promotion initiatives.

Re-engaging learners in schooling through applied learning reform : exploring the Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning as an 'alternative' senior schooling pathway in Australia

The Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL) emerged in Australia to provide more relevant curriculum programs that would cater for increasing retention rates of high school students. It is also an example of the ‘new’ learning arising from contemporary debates and reforms that highlight inadequacies of the more traditional modes of learning. This book focuses on the pedagogical and sociological issues emerging from the VCAL being introduced as an ‘alternative’ learning pathway for ‘at-risk’ students within a traditional high school culture. Through the eyes of an insider- researcher, the book argues for a deeper understanding of applied learning as a ‘re-engaging’ pedagogy by studying the schooling experience of VCAL students and teachers. The book concludes that traditional modes of school teaching contribute to the social construction of ‘at-risk’ students and argues that high school pedagogy needs to be redefined as a cultural phenomenon requiring teachers to be reflexively aware of their role in bridging the gap between students’ life experiences and the curriculum.

Communicative language teaching of a foreign language : the Indonesian 1984 senior high school English syllabus

This thesis examines the implementation of the 1984 English syllabus, which is claimed to be communicative. The study was conducted in three government Senior High Schools in Singaraja, northern Bali. The results indicate that the implementation of the Communicative Approach has been constrained by the limited resources, inadequate professional development and the national examination system, the EBTANAS.

Supporting information needs of senior citizens in community aged care

To address the challenge of an ageing population in an information society, it is important to introduce information systems to assist the aged people in maintaining and improving their quality of life. An understanding of what information aged people need, how they seek and use information, and how they adopt Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is required. This paper reports the findings of an empirical study undertaken in Australia to understand the information needs of senior citizens who reside in the community. The study aims to understand how ICT can support the independent living of senior people in the community from both the social and health perspectives. We offer a new understanding of the information needs of aged people in the community and extend the information systems research in aged care. This research also contributes to the development of innovative ICT enabled aged care service solutions in community aged care.

Arresting the decline in senior school chemistry

Enrolments in Australian Year 11 and year 12 chemistry are declining. In 1992, 23% of Australian year 12 students studied chemistry, decreasing to 18% in 2010. For science as a whole, the decrease is even more dramatic, from 94% to 51%. The decrease is slowing, but is continuing.
How should we respond to the report? Firstly, we should realise that it is not all gloom and doom. Secondly, education is not solely the responsibility of curriculum authorities and teachers. Each RACI member can communicate, inform and generally educate the wider community about the excitement and value of chemical science. Just a couple of hours of your time is not a panacea, but it can still make long-lasting impacts and affect career choices: even the largest beach consists of tiny individual grains of sand.

Anthropometric profiling of elite junior and senior Australian football players

Purpose: Body structure and physical development must be addressed when preparing junior athletes for their first season in a senior competition. The aim of this preliminary study was to measure the extent of the assumption that final year junior Australian Football (AF) athletes are at a physical mismatch to their senior counterparts.

Methods: Twenty-one male participants (17.71 ± 0.27 y) were recruited from one state based elite junior AF competition and forty-one male participants (22.80 ± 4.24 y) were recruited from one club competing in the senior elite Australian Football League (AFL), who were subsequently divided into two groups; professional rookies aged 18-20 y (19.44 ± 0.70 y; n = 18) and professional seniors aged 21+ y (25.43 ± 3.98 y; n = 23). Dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) scans of all participants were completed.

Results: Despite being an average 6.0% and 6.1% lighter in total weight and lean mass respectively, no significant difference was found between the elite junior athletes and their professional AFL rookie counterparts. However, significant differences were demonstrated in comparison with the professional AFL senior athletes (P < .01). Both professional AFL groups demonstrated greater than 0.3 kg total bone mineral content (BMC) than the elite junior athletes (P < .01) and significantly greater segmental BMC and bone mineral density (BMD) results (P < .05).

Conclusion: While the results identify the differences in body composition of the elite junior athletes, development in a linear fashion is noted, providing useful information for the creation of age appropriate expectations and training programs.

Tackling health inequalities : what do senior managers think

Objective: To describe how New South Wales (NSW) Area Health Service Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) understood concepts of equity in the development of NSW Health's Equity Statement; CEO knowledge and interpretation of a given concept being one aspect of developing policy.

Design and Setting: This paper describes the process through which NSW Area Health Service CEOs were involved in developing the Equity Statement, specifically:

1. Briefings with individual CEOs on key issues and identification of possible difficulties and potential 'equity champions'.
2. A two-hour workshop to explore ('pre-mortem') why the proposed statement might fail.
3. CEO involvement in identifying strategies that promoted equity already operating locally.
4. C onsultations with selected individuals about the draft recommendations.
5. Feedback to CEOs.

The article provides a case study of consultative policy making by illustrating how participant knowledge can both inform and be strengthened by involvement in the policy development process.

Results: There was a high level of awareness among CEOs of health inequalities and an acceptance of their responsibility to address them. They saw three main ways of doing this: a) equity of resource allocation for health service delivery within and between regions; b) equity of access to health services based on need; and c) equity of health outcomes. CEOs felt that making the health system accountable for health outcomes would provide pressure for system-wide resource allocation changes. They recognised that factors substantially impacting on health outcomes were outside the control of the health system. Furthermore, finding a balance to which they could be held accountable was difficult. All CEOs saw ensuring needs-based access to services as a key area where they could potentially have an impact; and they specifically saw challenges in a conflict between equity and efficiency, marginalisation of special treatment for disadvantaged people, balancing investment in rescue services and prevention/early intervention, and developing a rational health financing system. The resulting policy has been broadly embedded within the NSW health system with strong local support.

Conclusion: The NSW Health and Equity policy was embedded because CEO leadership and acceptance of the policy enhanced local ownership.