The leaders and the press

Overall, as in 2001 and 2004, the print media provided substantial coverage of the election campaign; and, as in recent campaigns, the Prime Minister received greater coverage than the Opposition Leader. As in previous campaign coverage a small number of topics—including opinion polling—generated the majority of stories. Two features were different in the 2007 campaign, namely the gradual increase in the number of positive stories about the Opposition Leader; and an increase in the number of negative stories about and unflattering images of the Prime Minister.

The emotional labour of the aspirant leader: traversing school politics

The emotions of the aspirant leader are underexplored. In this chapter, we detail how aspirants experience the transition from teacher to leader and report on the kinds of emotional labour associated with the transition. This was examined during events of high emotional arousal for 130 school aspirants: when they felt professionally wounded, either by colleagues, leaders, parents or students. During a time of wounding, emotional work and emotional labour hinged on the dissonance between 'display rules' of the school and what aspirants' actually felt. Exploring the wounding stories revealed common display rules, which were often broken. Breaking these rules always had consequences and emotional correlates. The most prevalent form of emotional labour was surface acting. The.final discovery was the resilience of the aspirants as they recovered. Invariably, aspirants progressed through an emotion cycle of Regrouping, Recovery and Resolution. The quality of collegial relationships was the key to resolving the woundings.

The role of the educational leader in long day care – how do they perceive their role?

National reforms introduced into the early childhood education and care sector across Australia have created a requirement for each service to appoint an ‘educational’ leader to provide curriculum direction to ensure that children achieve quality care and education to lead to positive outcomes. Leadership in the early childhood has often been contested and complex, but the addition of a new leadership for building pedagogy and practice has created additional complexities. This paper reports the findings of a small-scale qualitative research study investigating how a small number of educational leaders working in long day care settings in urban Australia perceive their role. The study identified that these educational leaders came to the position unwillingly and felt poorly prepared and supported to meet the challenges presented.

The charismatic persona of Colonel Qaddafi

In any list of dictators and antagonists of the West the name of Libya’s Colonel Muammar Qaddafi will always rank highly as one of the most memorable, colourful and mercurial. The roles he played to his fellow Libyans, to regional groupings, to revolutionaries and to the West were complex and nuanced. These various roles developed over time but were all grounded in his self-belief as a messianic revolutionary figure. More importantly, these roles and behaviours that stemmed from them were instrumental in preserving Qaddafi’s rule and thwarting challenges to it.

These facets of Qaddafi’s public self accord with the model of “persona” described by Marshall. Whilst the nature of political persona and celebrity in the Western world has been explored by several scholars (for example Street; Wilson), little work has been conducted on the use of persona by non-democratic leaders. This paper examines the aspects of persona exhibited by Colonel Qaddafi and applied during his tenure. In constructing his role as a revolutionary leader, Qaddafi was engaging in a form of public performance aimed at delivering himself to a wider audience. Whether at home or abroad, this persona served the purpose of helping the Libyan leader consolidate his power, stymie political opposition and export his revolutionary ideals.

The Εffects of censoring and the spiral of silence on focus group interviews: a case study of discussions on immigration

Focus groups assess the oral expressions of opinions of participants on a particular topic under discussion. They have several advantages over other qualitative research methodologies such as depth interviews because focus groups can discover people's attitudes and motivations while revealing the underlying views or values held by them. However, as focus groups elicit more socially expressed and contested opinions and discourses than Individual opinions, their discussions can be contaminated by the situational constraints and social pressures within the group. These include group dynamics, confonnity, censoring, the Group Leader Effect, the Groupthink Syndrome, the effects of the Spiral of Silence, characteristics of group members, and the climate of opinion within the group and in society at the time. This case study examines the effects of these factors on the 'horizontal interactions' between group members during a discussion with undecided voters about immigration, using two situations where focus group members took offence at comments made by another and challenged them, when the topic under discussion was personally relevant to them. Other members of the group, offending or otherwise, then remained silent, retracted their opinions to placate the challenger, and expressed neutral or conciliatory opinions in an effort to return the discussion to a state of equilibrium. It then examines some measures that can reduce such contaminations, including
methodological triangulation, where several methods and methodological
approaches are used to examine a given phenomenon, instead of just one method, such as the sole use of transcripts of focus group discussions.

Wellbeing of Australians : work, wealth and happiness : part A

The Australian Unity Wellbeing Index monitors the subjective wellbeing of the Australian population. Our first survey was conducted in April 2001 and this report concerns the 17th survey, undertaken in April 2007. Our previous survey had been conducted six months earlier in October 2006. This intervening period was relatively uneventful in terms of events likely to change population wellbeing. A new leader of the opposition Labor Party was appointed (Kevin Rudd) who seemed more likely than
his predecessors to wrest power from long-serving Prime Minister John Howard (Liberal Party) in an election to be held around the end of 2007.
Each survey involves a telephone interview with a new sample of 2,000 Australians, selected to represent the national population geographic distribution. These surveys comprise the Personal Wellbeing Index, which measures people’s satisfaction with their own lives, and the National
Wellbeing Index, which measures how satisfied people are with life in Australia. Other items include a standard set of demographic questions and other survey-specific questions. The specific topics for Survey 17 are time at work, and anticipated happiness at doubling or halving household income.

Delivering the link : using student feedback studies to improve student learning in dissertation studies

Student feedback is essential to enable lecturers to understand whether attempts to improve learning and education experience lead to improvement (George and Cowan, 1999; Gibbs, 1993). Current UK practice relies largely on end of module questionnaires to feedback levels of student satisfaction (Cowan, 2002), however there are inherent weaknesses in this approach; it seldom leads to change for that particular cohort; it relies on uncorroborated opinion, and finally, it may derive from superficial feedback from a minority of students with the remainder suffering from questionnaire fatigue.

This research project involved a cohort of final year building surveying students at Sheffield Hallam University, in England, who were undertaking a dissertation in two modules. During 2002/3 the use of Blackboard software had also been adopted by the module leader as an educational tool to support student learning in the module. The lecturer wanted to identify how students used Blackboard and what they thought about the most appropriate use of the medium. The research methodology sought to redress some of the issues identified above with student feedback, regarding timing of feedback, implementation of change during the teaching period and the lack of depth in the data. Using principles adopted by Angelo and Cross (1993), this research formatively evaluated student perceptions and levels of satisfaction with the dissertation module, the teaching materials, the workshops, the supervisory arrangements and relationships. This paper presents the findings of the research and illustrates the changes that were made during the year and the student’s views of these changes. The paper demonstrates how linking teaching with research has been delivered at Sheffield Hallam.

Improving student learning in dissertation research through feedback studies. The Sheffield Hallam Building surveying experience

According to George and Cowan (1999) student feedback is essential to enable lecturers to understand whether attempts to improve learning and educational experience lead to improvement. Current UK practice uses end of module questionnaires to feedback levels of satisfaction (Cowan, 2002). There are inherent weaknesses, namely that it seldom leads to a change for that particular cohort of students, secondly it relies on uncorroborated opinion, and may derive from superficial feedback from a minority of students with the remainder suffering from questionnaire fatigue. Finally the data may not be especially relevant to a particular module, a particular weakness (Heywood, 2000).

Using principles identified by Angelo and Cross (1993), this research adopted a methodology to formatively evaluate student perceptions and levels of satisfaction with the dissertation module. Using a cohort of Building Surveying students at Sheffield Hallam University, in England, views on course materials, the use of Blackboard software, the workshops and the relationships with supervisors were gathered and analysed.

A number of measures were identified as a result of this study, that may, if implemented, improve student learning. Examples are the use of checklists for student for each research / dissertation stage to ensure nothing is forgotten. Provision of additional ‘drop in’ workshops where students could see the module leader with specific issues. Additional optional workshops for questionnaire coding and review of previous theses for example.

It will not be possible to measure whether this student cohort’s learning and performance improves until the summer of 2003 and the final dissertations are assessed. A statistical analysis, comparing their dissertation marks against marks for other topics will show whether there is improvement in marks as a result of this student feedback study. The 2002/3 cohort result can also be analysed against previous cohorts to establish whether any improvement is evident.

Leader-follower consensus control of a class of nonholonomic systems

In this paper, we propose a systematic solution to the leader-follower consensus of a class of nonholonomic chained form systems. The control design, which is reminiscent of terminal sliding mode and multi-surface sliding mode control methods, is presented to guarantee the convergence of multiple sliding surfaces, which also implies the convergence of the proposed consensus error function. On these sliding surfaces, the desired leader-follower consensus can be reached for multi-agent network formed by the nonholonomic chained form systems.

Winds of change in Myanmar? Implications for international cooperation In poverty alleviation

We are witnessing the beginnings of what could well be significant change in Myanmar. Elections in November 2010 were quickly followed by the release of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, then by the resignation of Senior-General Than Shwe, dissolution of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), the opening of parliament, and the inauguration of Thein Sein as President on 30th March 2011. Thein Sein's inauguration speech called for national reconciliation and an end to corruption, promised a more market-oriented economy, and vowed to create employment opportunities. He also pledged to develop the health and education sectors in cooperation with international organisations, and to alleviate poverty. While some fear this may only be rhetoric, a growing number of indications suggest that major political and economic reform may indeed be getting underway. This paper traces these recent developments and the possibility of significantly improved international development cooperation in Myanmar, particularly as it affects the prospects of poverty alleviation efforts and cooperation with Western INGO and multilateral agencies. It analyses the implications of this reform on international development assistance and cooperation from the perspectives of humanitarian needs, international relations theory, development theory, and political philosophy.

Welcome workers from 'bipolar' Pacific

The article focuses on the comments concerning the Australian government's Pacific Seasonal Worker Pilot Scheme in Papua New Guinea. It has been perceived that it could not help the employment problems in the country and other countries included. Its objective has been questioned by Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson. Many believed that few people to be included in the scheme would only make an insignificant difference to the problems of under-and unemployment with which they are faced.

The contribution of creativity to human development in a new nation: a case study of Afalyca community art centre, Timor-Leste

This article describes the contribution of creativity to human development in the new nation of Timor-Leste, exemplified in a case study of community art centre Afalyca. By taking a creative approach to the challenges of life in his developing country, the young leader of this enterprise, Marqy da Costa, is realising his own potential more fully and offering enriching experiences to others. The impact of his centre on a range of stakeholders, including staff, participants and the wider community is discussed. For participants, the outcomes of their involvement include enjoyable opportunities for creative expression; valued recognition from national and international audiences; the broadening of life experience to encompass new possibilities for self-actualisation; skill development and income from employment and sales.

The factors that have contributed to Afalcya's creative achievements are examined. These include inspiration and assistance received from organisations and individuals in and outside of Timor, family support, and the age and gender of leaders. Also significant are founder Marqy's personal characteristics of artistic talent, social and language skills, love of learning, persistence and conciliatory approach to conflict. Barriers to the realisation of Afalcya's potential include lack of systemic recognition of the value of creativity for sustainable development, unsupportive bureaucracy and gender related restrictions of participation for women. The potential for similar initiatives to contribute to a positive future for Timorese people is explored.

Principal led school improvement and teacher capacity building in the Barwon South Network : final report, May 2013

The period of interest for this report is the beginning of 2011 to the end of 2012. The period commenced when the Regional Network Leader of the Barwon South Network of schools in the Barwon South Region of the Department of Education and Early Childhood contacted the School of Education at Deakin University, Waurn Ponds Campus Geelong. The Regional Network Leader outlined a desire to engage with Deakin University to research a short-term-cycle model of school improvement to be implemented in the region. While the model was expected to be taken on by all schools in the region the research was limited to the 23 schools in the Barwon South Network with four schools to be investigated more closely for each of two years (2001 & 2012) – eight focus schools in total.

Many positive outcomes flowed from the implementation of short-term-cycle school improvement plans and their associated practices but there was wide variation in the nature and degrees of success and of the perception of the process. The research team asked the following questions of the data:

1. What aspects of the School Improvement Plan (SIP) approach were important for initiating and supporting worthwhile change?
2. What might we take from this, to provide guidance on how best to support change in teaching and learning processes in schools?

The School Improvement Plan (SIP) worked in a range of ways. At one level it was strongly focused on school leadership, and a need to improve principals’ capacity to initiate worthwhile teaching and learning processes in their schools. Underlying this intent, one might think an assumption is operation is that the leadership process involves top down decision-making and a willingness to hold staff accountable for the quality of their practice.

The second strong focus was on the translation into practice and the consequent effect on student learning, involving an emphasis on data and evidence led practice. Hence, along with the leadership focus there was a demand for the process of school improvement to reach down into students and classrooms. Thus, the SIP process inevitably involved a chain of decision-making by which student learning quality drove the intervention, and teachers responsible for this had a common view. The model therefore should not be seen as an intervention only on the principal, but rather on the school decision-making system and focus. Even though it was the principal receiving the SIP planning template, and reporting to the network, the reporting was required to include description of the operation of the school processes, of classroom processes, and of student learning. This of course placed significant constraints on principals, which may help explain the variation in responses and outcomes described above.

The findings from this study are based on multiple data sources: analysis of both open and closed survey questions which all teachers in the 23 schools in the network were invited to complete; interviews with principals, teachers and leaders in the eight case study schools; some interviews with students in the case study schools; and interviews with leaders who worked in the regional network office; and field notes from network meetings including the celebrations days. Celebrations days occurred each school term when groups of principals came together to share and celebrate the improvements and processes happening in their schools. Many of the themes emerging from the analysis of the different data sources were similar or overlapping, providing some confidence in the evidence-base for the findings.

The study, conducted over two years of data collection and analysis, has demonstrated a range of positive outcomes in at the case study schools relating to school communication and collaboration processes, professional learning of principals, leadership teams and classroom teachers. There was evidence in the survey responses and field notes from ‘celebration days’ that these outcomes were also represented in other schools in the network. The key points of change concerned the leadership processes of planning for improvement, and the rigorous attention to student data in framing teaching and learning processes. This latter point of change had the effect of basing SIP processes on a platform of evidence-based change. The research uncovered considerable anecdotal and observational evidence of improvements in student learning, in teacher accounts in interview, and presentations of student work. Interviews with students, although not as representative as the team would have liked, showed evidence of student awareness of learning goals, a key driver in the SIP improvement model. It was, however, not possible over this timescale to collect objective comparative evidence of enhanced learning outcomes.

A number of features of the short-term-cycle SIP were identified that supported positive change across the network. These were: 1) the support structures represented by the network leader and support personnel within schools, 2) the nature of the SIP model – focusing strongly on change leadership but within a collaborative structure that combined top-down and bottom-up elements, 3) the focus on data-led planning and implementation that helped drill down to explicit elements of classroom practice, and 4) the accountability regimes represented by network leader presence, and the celebration days in which principals became effectively accountable to their peers. We found that in the second year of the project, momentum was lost in the case study schools, as the network was dismantled. This raised issues also for the conduct of research in situations of systemic change.

Alongside the finding of evidence of positive outcomes in the case study schools overall, was the finding that the SIP processes and outcomes varied considerably across schools. A number of contextual factors were identified that led to this variation, including school histories of reform, principal management style, and school size and structure that made the short-term-cycle model unmanageable. In some cases there was overt resistance to the SIP model, at least in some part, and this led to an element of performativity in which the language of the SIP was conscripted to other purposes. The study found that even with functioning schools the SIP was understood differently and the processes performed differently, raising the question of whether in the study we are dealing with one SIP or many. The final take home message from the research is that schools are complex institutions, and models of school improvement need to involve both strong principled features, and flexibility in local application, if all schools’ interests in improving teaching and learning processes and outcomes are to be served.

Special sauce in sesame seed buns: legal strategy and public policy in the fast-food industry

Lewis Bertly, a top lawyer with leading London law firm LL&B, is retained to defend a case with the potential to change the laws that affect fast-food marketing. Through its Department of Health, the Government of Australia seeks legislation for warning labels on fast-food packaging. To prepare a potential defense against this legal action for McDonald's Bertly is reviewing the history of legal action against the industry in fast-food labeling, nutrition and health. This history is important because the industry's actions through the decades in food nutrition and marketing are likely to be raised as evidence. He also hopes this will help him find a framework to map the way social expectations, a company's innovation, the legal system, and legislation combine to shape an industry. What he learns from this history and especially about the market leader, McDonald's, will inform how the defense approaches this case.