A life jacket with holes- : a case study of 'temporary engagement' : a strategy used by Education Queensland to employ beginning secondary teachers

This research investigated the impact of Education Queensland's employment policy and practices for beginning secondary teachers appointed on temporary engagement. The context was the public secondary school sector within the state of Queensland, Australia. The study was set within a context of the changing nature of work from full-time permanent employment towards casual, fixed-term contracts, temporary and part-time employment, a trend reflected in the employment patterns for teachers within Australia. Two broad categories of literature relating to the research problem of this thesis were reviewed, namely the beginning teacher and permanency or tenure. The focus in the research literature on beginning teachers was the professional experiences of teachers within the classroom and school. There was a paucity of research that considered the working and industrial conditions of temporary employment for beginning teachers or the personal and professional implications of this form of employment. The review of the context and literature was conceptualised as a Beginning Temporary Teacher Theoretical Framework which served to inform the study. Using a qualitative case study methodology, the research techniques employed for the thesis were semi-structured interview and document analysis. A simultaneously conducted research project in which the researcher participated entitled 'Winning the Lottery? Beginning Teachers on Temporary Engagement' foregrounded this thesis in terms of refining the research question, contributing to the literature and in the selection of the participants. For this case study the perspectives of four distinct yet inter-related categories of professionals were sought. These included four beginning secondary teachers, three school administrators, a Senior Personnel Officer with Education Queensland, and a representative from the Queensland Teachers' Union. The research findings indicated that none of the beginning teachers or other professionals viewed starting a career in teaching on temporary engagement as the ideal. The negative features identified were the differential treatment received and the high level of uncertainty associated with temporary employment. Differential treatment tended to indicate 'less' entitlements, in terms of access to induction and professional development, recreational and sick leave, acceptance by and expectations of other colleagues, and avenues of redress in grievance cases. Moreover, interviews indicated a high level of uncertainty in terms of starting within the teaching profession, commencing at a new school, and a regular income. In addition, frequent changes in schools and/or cohorts of students exacerbated levels of uncertainty. The beginning teachers reported significantly decreased motivation, self-esteem and sense of belonging, and increased stress levels. There was an even more marked negative impact on those beginning teachers who had experienced a higher number of temporary engagements and schools in their first year of teaching. Conversely, strong staff support and a reasonable length of time in the one school improved the quality of the beginning teachers' experiences. The overall impact of being on temporary engagement resulted in delayed permanent position appointments, decreased commitment to particular schools and to Education Queensland as the employing authority, and for two of the beginning teachers, it produced a desire to seek alternative employment. The implementation of Education Queensland's policies relating to working conditions and entitlements for these temporary beginning teachers at the school level was revealed to be less than satisfactory. There was a tendency towards 'just-in- time' management of the beginning teacher on temporary engagement. The beginning teachers received 'less-than-messages' about access to and use of departmental documentation, support through induction and professional development, and their transition from temporary to permanent employment. To ensure a more systematic, supportive and inclusive process for managing the temporary beginning teacher, a conceptual framework entitled 'Continuums of Tension' was developed. The four continuums included permanent employment - temporary employment; system perspective - individual perspective; teaching as a profession - teaching as a job; and the permanent beginning teacher - university graduate. The general principles of the human resource policies of Education Queensland were based on a commitment to permanent employment, a system's perspective, viewing teaching as a profession and a homogeneous group of permanent beginning teachers. Contrasting with this, the beginning teacher on temporary engagement tended to operate from the position of temporary employment and a perspective that was individually based. Their priorities therefore included the 'occupational' aspects of being a temporary teacher striving to become permanent. Thus there existed a tension or contradiction between the general principles of human resource policies within Education Queensland and the employment experiences of beginning teachers on temporary engagement. The study proposed three actions for resolution to address the aforementioned tensions. The actions included: (a) the effective provision and targeted communication of information; (b) support, induction and professional development; and (c) a coordinated approach between Education Queensland, Queensland Teachers' Union, the Universities and the beginning teacher. These actions are fm1her refined to include: (a) an induction kit to suppm1 the individual through the pre-employment to permanent employee phases, (b) an extrapolation of the roles and responsibilities of Education Queensland personnel charged with supporting the beginning temporary teacher, and (c) a series of recommendations to effect a coordinated approach amongst the key stakeholders. The theoretical and conceptual frameworks have provided a means of addressing the identified needs of the beginning teacher on temporary engagement. As such, this study has contributed to the research literature on teacher employment and professionalism and aims to provide a beginning temporary teacher with managed professional and occupational support.

Standards, teacher judgement and moderation in contexts of national curriculum and assessment reform

This paper puts forward a proposal for reviewing the role and purpose of standards in the context of national curriculum and assessment reform more generally. It seeks to commence the much-needed conversation about standards in the work of teachers as distinct from large-scale testing companies and the policy personnel responsible for reporting. Four key conditions that relate to the effective use of standards to measure improvement and support learning are analysed: clarity about purpose and function; understanding of the representation of standards; moderation practice; and the assessment community. The Queensland experience of the use of standards, teacher judgement and moderation is offered to identify what is educationally preferable in terms of their use and their relationships to curriculum, improvement and accountability. The article illustrates how these practices have recently been challenged by emerging political constraints related to the Australian Government’s implementation of national testing and national partnership funding arrangements tied to the performance of students at or below minimum standards.

Identifying child sexual abuse within school contexts : policy problems and solutions, and a landmark case

As a strategy to identify child sexual abuse, most Australian States and Territories have enacted legislation requiring teachers to report suspected cases. Some Australian State and non-State educational authorities have also created policy-based obligations to report suspected child sexual abuse. Significantly, these can be wider than non-existent or limited legislative duties, and therefore are a crucial element of the effort to identify sexual abuse. Yet, no research has explored the existence and nature of these policy-based duties. The first purpose of this paper is to report the results of a three-State study into policy-based reporting duties in State and non-State schools in Australia. In an extraordinary coincidence, while conducting the study, a case of failure to comply with reporting policy occurred with tragic consequences. This led to a rare example in Australia (and one of only a few worldwide) of a professional being prosecuted for failure to comply with a legislative duty. It also led to disciplinary proceedings against school staff. The second purpose of this paper is to describe this case and connect it with findings from our policy analysis.

Integrating information security policy management with corporate risk management for strategic alignment

Information security policy defines the governance and implementation strategy for information security in alignment with the corporate risk policy objectives and strategies. Research has established that alignment between corporate concerns may be enhanced when strategies are developed concurrently using the same development process as an integrative relationship is established. Utilizing the corporate risk management framework for security policy management establishes such an integrative relationship between information security and corporate risk management objectives and strategies. There is however limitation in the current literature on presenting a definitive approach that fully integrates security policy management with the corporate risk management framework. This paper presents an approach that adopts a conventional corporate risk management framework for security policy development and management to achieve alignment with the corporate risk policy. A case example is examined to illustrate the alignment achieved in each process step with a security policy structure being consequently derived in the process. It is shown that information security policy management outcomes become both integral drivers and major elements of the corporate-level risk management considerations. Further study should involve assessing the impact of the use of the proposed framework in enhancing alignment as perceived in this paper.

ePortfolio use by university students in Australia : Informing excellence in policy and practice. Supplementary report : October 2010

In April 2007, the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC)commissioned a study to examine the diverse approaches to ePortfolio use by students in Australian universities. The goals were to consider the scope, penetration and reasons for use of ePortfolios, and to examine the issues associated with their implementation in higher education. One of the central research activities in the project was a national audit which sought to establish a picture of current and emerging ePortfolio activities in Australian academic institutions. The data collection activities took place in late 2007 and the findings were presented and discussed in the final project report, published in October 2008. In 2010, the idea of a ‘follow up survey’ was developed. The resulting supplementary research activity was undertaken to update the data collected by the AeP project team in late 2007. The plan behind this ‘postscript to AeP’ project was to refresh the picture of ePortfolio practice in Australia by collecting new data to identify and map the use of ePortfolios in adult learning across the higher education, vocational education and training (VET) and the adult community education (ACE) sectors. The supplementary project has been referred to as the ‘AeP PS survey’.

Aboriginal community control and decolonizing health policy : a yarn from Australia

This chapter outlines: a brief history of Australian Aboriginal health and health policy and then moves on to demonstrate how the Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (VACCHO) undertakes its work and is an example of 'decolonizing policy in action'. Moreover, it highlights how Aboriginal participation in the development of policy and in the planning, delivery, management and evaluation of health programs enables policies and programs to respond effectively to the needs of Aboriginal people and to change future health outcomes for them. It showcases how Aboriginal decision-making has gone some way to decolonizing policymaking and has addressed the power imbalance - both of which have been critical in the improvement in Aboriginal health outcomes.

A policy case study of blood in Australia

In 2008 the Australian government decided to remove white blood cells from all blood products. This policy of universal leucodepletion was a change to the existing policy of supplying leucodepleted products to high risk patients only. The decision was made without strong information about the cost-effectiveness of universal leucodepletion. The aims for this policy analysis are to generate cost-effectiveness data about universal leucodepletion, and to add to our understanding of the role of evidence and the political reality of healthcare decision-making in Australia. The cost-effectiveness analysis revealed universal leucodepletion costs $398,943 to save one year of life. This exceeds the normal maximum threshold for Australia. We discuss this result within the context of how policy decisions are made about blood, and how it relates to the theory and process of policy making. We conclude that the absence of a strong voice for cost-effectiveness was an important omission in this decision.