Generalizing curriculum policy across boarders : crossing boundaries

"This essay is a critique of the scientific and policy rationales for transnational standardization. It analyzes two examples of policy export: early childhood standards in one of North America’s oldest Indigenous communities and the ongoing development of international standards for university teaching. It examines calls for American education to look to Finland, Canada, and Singapore for models of reform and innovation, focusing on the complex historical, cultural, and political settlements at work in these countries. The author addresses two affiliated challenges: first, the possibility of a principled understanding of evidence and policy in cultural and political-economic context, and second, the possibility of a mediative educational science that might guide policy formation." -- EDUCATIONAL RESEARCHER November 2011 vol. 40 no. 8 367-377

A Summative Evaluation of the Stronger Smarter Learning Communities Project : Vol 1 and Vol 2

This is a summative evaluation of the Stronger Smarter Learning Communities (SSLC) project that examines whether and how the SSLC project had an impact on Australian state schools which adopted its models and approaches. Drawing from qualitative and quantitative data sets, it also presents the largest scale and most comprehensive analysis of Indigenous education practices and outcomes to date. It includes empirical findings on: success in changing school ethos and community engagement; challenges in progress at closure of the 'gap' in conventionally measured achievement and performance; schools' and principals' choices in curriculum and instruction; profiles of teachers' and principals' training and views on teacher education; and a strong emphasis on community and school Indigenoous voices and views on Indigenous education.

The legacy of Ian Hunter's work on literature education and the history of reading practices : some preliminary remarks

Ian Hunter's early work on the history of literature education and the emergence of English as school subject issued a bold challenge to traditional accounts that have in the main focused on English either as knowledge of a particular field or as ideology. The alternative proposal put forward by Hunter and supported by detailed historical analysis is that English exists as a series of historically contingent techniques and practices for shaping the self-managing capacities of children. The challenge for the field is to advance this historical work and to examine possible implications for English teaching.

Disrupting Preconceptions : Postcolonialism and Education

This is a fine collection of papers, from some leading educational scholars. They argue that the contemporary corporatised policies of education such as international education limit the possibilities of transformative practice. They demonstrate how the local (the national) and the global (the imperial) are interconnected phenomena, acting upon one another to construct indigeneity and racialised identities, and even hybridation, in ways that engender inequalities, restrict human rights, and infridge on the democratic and civil rights of the colonised and the marginalised. At the same time, they point to the possibilities of resistance, conditions that provide pedagogic opportunities for the creation of counter-hegemonic ideas, expressions, practices and structures. This book is highly recommended.Fazal RizviProfessor in Educational Policy Studies,University of Illinois, Urbana- Champaign, USA

Co-constructing decimal number knowledge

This mathematics education research provides significant insights for the teaching of decimals to children. It is well known that decimals is one of the most difficult topics to learn and teach. Annette’s research is unique in that it focuses not only on the cognitive, but also on the affective and conative aspects of learning and teaching of decimals. The study is innovative as it includes the students as co-constructors and co-researchers. The findings open new ways of thinking for educators about how students cognitively process decimal knowledge, as well as how students might develop a sense of self as a learner, teacher and researcher in mathematics.

Developing media production skills for literacy in a primary school classroom : digital materials, embodied knowledge and material contexts

This chapter investigates the relationship between technical and operational skills and the development of conceptual knowledge and literacy in Media Arts learning. It argues that there is a relationship between the stories, expressions and ideas that students aim to produce with communications media, and their ability to realise these in material form through technical processes in specific material contexts. Our claim is that there is a relationship between the technical and the operational, along with material relations and the development of conceptual knowledge and literacy in media arts learning. We place more emphasis on the material aspects of literacy than is usually the case in socio-cultural accounts of media literacy. We provide examples from a current project to demonstrate that it is just as important to address the material as it is the discursive and conceptual when considering how students develop media literacy in classroom spaces.

Changes to airborne pollen counts across Europe

A progressive global increase in the burden of allergic diseases has affected the industrialized world over the last half century and has been reported in the literature. The clinical evidence reveals a general increase in both incidence and prevalence of respiratory diseases, such as allergic rhinitis (common hay fever) and asthma. Such phenomena may be related not only to air pollution and changes in lifestyle, but also to an actual increase in airborne quantities of allergenic pollen. Experimental enhancements of carbon dioxide (CO) have demonstrated changes in pollen amount and allergenicity, but this has rarely been shown in the wider environment. The present analysis of a continental-scale pollen data set reveals an increasing trend in the yearly amount of airborne pollen for many taxa in Europe, which is more pronounced in urban than semi-rural/rural areas. Climate change may contribute to these changes, however increased temperatures do not appear to be a major influencing factor. Instead, we suggest the anthropogenic rise of atmospheric CO levels may be influential.

Teaching sociology within teacher education : revisiting, realigning and re-embedding

This paper uses theoretical resources from the sociology of education to consider the teaching of sociology in teacher education programs in Australia. Once a disciplinary ‘pillar’ of teacher education, sociology’s contribution has become less explicit while more integrated, with consequences for disciplinary identity. Here we explore how sociology is taught in teacher education curricula on two fronts. Firstly we outline how sociology is embedded as one of a number of competing perspectives in foundational studies, and its pedagogic consequences. Then we consider the powerful contribution of sociology in literacy studies, amidst public debate about literacy performance. The analysis draws on Bernstein’s (2000) distinction between singular disciplinary curriculum design and practically-oriented regional curriculum design. We seek to trouble the commonsense binary between theory and practice that structures debates around professional education in higher education more broadly, and to dignify service sociology as a valuable, generative site for the discipline’s future.

InterLACE : a new international collaboration for a Life course approach to women's reproductive health and chronic disease events.

Evidence from population-based studies of women increasingly points to the inter-related nature of reproductive health, lifestyle, and chronic disease risk. This paper describes the recently established International Collaboration for a Life Course Approach to Reproductive Health and Chronic Disease. InterLACE aims to advance the evidence base for women's health policy beyond associations from disparate studies by means of systematic and culturally sensitive synthesis of longitudinal data. Currently InterLACE draws on individual level data for reproductive health and chronic disease among 200,000 women from over thirteen studies of women's health in seven countries. The rationale for this multi-study research programme is set out in terms of a life course perspective to reproductive health. The research programme will build a comprehensive picture of reproductive health through life in relation to chronic disease risk. Although combining multiple international studies poses methodological challenges, InterLACE represents an invaluable opportunity to strength evidence to guide the development of timely and tailored preventive health strategies.

Reconciling dilemmas of social justice in literacy lessons : a case study of preservice primary teachers

Literacy is promoted as one factor in overcoming disadvantage. In this paper, we employ Fraser’s (1997 & 2008) framing of social justice in order to analyse the disparate agendas of literacy education for improved outcomes in national policy. We do this to better understand the dilemmas confronting preservice teachers as they prepare to become teachers in complex education contexts. We then examine what 20 preservice primary teachers say about social justice in interview responses to a scripted scenario. Our findings demonstrate that most preservice teachers are trying to demonstrate that they have a well-placed commitment to teaching for social justice, however, most of our respondents are yet to frame productive practices that might work in providing socially just education for the students they will teach. These outcomes raise possibilities for future iterations of preservice teacher courses at the case study site and beyond.

Exploring the Possibilities and Methodological Challenges of Evaluation Practice : A Democratic Question

In our exploration of the methodological possibilities and challenges of evaluation practice that foregrounds a democratic approach, we argue that having sensitivity to participants’ different positions, ideological perspectives, and values, and an understanding of the existing power relationships are paramount for the evaluators if the evaluation is to achieve its goals. This chapter draws on our experiences as evaluators in Australia, where school leaders and teachers are currently experiencing significant curriculum and assessment changes, and now work in a context of heightened accountability. Our evaluation practices with schools are used to illustrate how democratic practices can be incorporated into evaluation in ways that provide opportunities and support for school self-evaluation. It is paramount to recognise that evaluation is a political and ideological practice, and therefore is not a neutral process. Our argument is that it remains the responsibility of evaluators to design spaces that build sustainable relationships with participants and the targets of the programmes being evaluated; ensure that dialogue and deliberation are valued between all stakeholders; represent a range of interests; and give a service back to the evaluated communities by offering understandings and promoting reflective practice and informed decision-making throughout programme implementation.

Prevention of surgical site infection in total joint arthroplasty : an international tertiary care center survery

Background Prevention strategies are critical to reduce infection rates in total joint arthroplasty (TJA), but evidence-based consensus guidelines on prevention of surgical site infection (SSI) remain heterogeneous and do not necessarily represent this particular patient population. Questions/Purposes What infection prevention measures are recommended by consensus evidence-based guidelines for prevention of periprosthetic joint infection? How do these recommendations compare to expert consensus on infection prevention strategies from orthopedic surgeons from the largest international tertiary referral centers for TJA? Patients and Methods A review of consensus guidelines was undertaken as described by Merollini et al. Four clinical guidelines met inclusion criteria: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's, British Orthopedic Association, National Institute of Clinical Excellence's, and National Health and Medical Research Council's (NHMRC). Twenty-eight recommendations from these guidelines were used to create an evidence-based survey of infection prevention strategies that was administered to 28 orthopedic surgeons from members of the International Society of Orthopedic Centers. The results between existing consensus guidelines and expert opinion were then compared. Results Recommended strategies in the guidelines such as prophylactic antibiotics, preoperative skin preparation of patients and staff, and sterile surgical attire were considered critically or significantly important by the surveyed surgeons. Additional strategies such as ultraclean air/laminar flow, antibiotic cement, wound irrigation, and preoperative blood glucose control were also considered highly important by surveyed surgeons, but were not recommended or not uniformly addressed in existing guidelines on SSI prevention. Conclusion Current evidence-based guidelines are incomplete and evidence should be updated specifically to address patient needs undergoing TJA.