Educational accountability tests, social and legal inclusion approaches to discrimination for students with disability : a national case study from Australia

The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability (CRPD) promotes equal and full participation by children in education. Equity of educational access for all students, including students with disability, free from discrimination, is the first stated national goal of Australian education (MCEETYA 2008). Australian federal disability discrimination law, the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (DDA), follows the Convention, with the federal Disability Standards for Education 2005 (DSE) enacting specific requirements for education. This article discusses equity of processes for inclusion of students with disability in Australian educational accountability testing, including international tests in which many countries participate. The conclusion drawn is that equitable inclusion of students with disability in current Australian educational accountability testing in not occurring from a social perspective and is not in principle compliant with law. However, given the reluctance of courts to intervene in education matters and the uncertainty of an outcome in any court consideration, the discussion shows that equitable inclusion in accountability systems is available through policy change rather than expensive, and possibly unsuccessful, legal challenges.

Shifting the Airline Business Model - Current Struggles of National Carriers to Become Profitable Passenger Experience Companies

National flag carriers are struggling for survival, not only due to classical reasons such as increase in fuel and tax or natural disasters, but largely due to the inability to quickly adapt to its competitive environment – the emergence of budget and Persian Gulf airlines. In this research, we investigate how airlines can transform their business models via technological and strategic capabilities to become profitable and sustainable passenger experience companies. To formulate recommendations, we analyze customer sentiments via social media to understand what people are saying about the airlines.

Speed enforcement in China : national, provincial and city initiatives and their success

China is motorizing rapidly, with associated urban road development and extensive construction of motorways. Speeding accounts for about 10% of fatalities, which represents a large decrease from a peak of 17.2% in 2004. Speeding has been addressed at a national level through the introduction of laws and procedural requirements in 2004, in provinces either across all road types or on motorways, and at city level. Typically, documentation of speed enforcement programmes has taken place when new technology (i.e. speed cameras) is introduced, and it is likely that many programmes have not been documented or widely reported. In particular, the national legislation of 2004 and its implementation was associated with a large reduction in fatalities attributed to speeding. In Guangdong Province, after using speed detection equipment, motorway fatalities due to speeding in 2005 decreased by 32.5% comparing with 2004. In Beijing, the number of traffic monitoring units which were used to photograph illegal traffic activities such as traffic light violations, speeding and using bus lanes illegally increased to 1958 by April 1, 2009, and in the future such automated enforcement will become the main means of enforcement, expected to account for 60% of all traffic enforcement in Beijing. This paper provides a brief overview of the speeding enforcement programmes in China which have been documented and their successes.

A national survey : transporting patients within Australian hospitals

A telephone survey was conducted to describe current practices and policies of patient transport in Australian hospitals.The survey had a 94% response rate. Results showed considerable variability and ambiguity throughout the samplein both practice and policy. Findings also indicated that criteria used for transport practices were predominantlyshaped by physiological and technological considerations. Factors related to human and financial resources, as well aspsychological and emotional aspects of the patient's condition, received little attention.

Incident investigation : on a collision course towards a national standardised approach

The investigation of rail incidents is a highly specialised and important area within the rail industry. Historically training for investigators has been disjointed, with no standard approach being applied consistently. Currently in Australia, rail incidents are investigated by the various rail operators and regulators of each State, with the more serious incidents investigated by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB). However, it is hoped with the introduction of a National Safety Regulator for the industry, a standardised competency framework for rail incident investigators can be developed. Consequently, this will also lead to more standardised training across the industry for these specialised career paths. A previous scoping report published by the CRC for Rail Innovation highlighted a need within the industry for a standardised competency framework and training package. Based on the results of the scoping report, a comprehensive Training Needs Analysis for the rail industry was undertaken. This paper will examine potential barriers and facilitators that the industry may face when implementing this national training. Furthermore, based on the results of the Training Needs Analysis, differences and similarities in the needs of rail organisations as well as between operators and regulators will be examined.

Responding to national curriculum goals for English language learners : enhancing reading strategies in high school content areas

The official need for content teachers to teach the language features of their fields has never been greater in Australia than now. In 2012, the recently formed national curriculum board announced that all teachers are responsible for the English language development of students whose first language or dialect is not Standard Australian English (SAE). This formal endorsement is an important juncture regarding the way expertise might be developed, perceived and exchanged between content and language teachers through collaboration, in order for the goals of English language learners in content areas to be realised. To that end, we conducted an action research project to explore and extend the reading strategies pedagogy of one English language teacher who teaches English language learners in a parallel junior high school Geography program. Such pedagogy will be valuable for all teachers as they seek to contribute to English language development goals as outlined in national curricula.

National electronic conveyancing : outline of national law and rules

This article will outline the impact of the Electronic Conveyancing National Law (ECNL) and the draft Model Participation Rules (MPR) on conveyancing practice and the obligations of lawyers and conveyancers.

Referral patterns and proximity to palliative care inpatient services by level of socio-economic disadvantage : a national study using spatial analysis

Background: A range of health outcomes at a population level are related to differences in levels of social disadvantage. Understanding the impact of any such differences in palliative care is important. The aim of this study was to assess, by level of socio-economic disadvantage, referral patterns to specialist palliative care and proximity to inpatient services. Methods: All inpatient and community palliative care services nationally were geocoded (using postcode) to one nationally standardised measure of socio-economic deprivation – Socio-Economic Index for Areas (SEIFA; 2006 census data). Referral to palliative care services and characteristics of referrals were described through data collected routinely at clinical encounters. Inpatient location was measured from each person’s home postcode, and stratified by socio-economic disadvantage. Results: This study covered July – December 2009 with data from 10,064 patients. People from the highest SEIFA group (least disadvantaged) were significantly less likely to be referred to a specialist palliative care service, likely to be referred closer to death and to have more episodes of inpatient care for longer time. Physical proximity of a person’s home to inpatient care showed a gradient with increasing distance by decreasing levels of socio-economic advantage. Conclusion: These data suggest that a simple relationship of low socioeconomic status and poor access to a referral-based specialty such as palliative care does not exist. Different patterns of referral and hence different patterns of care emerge.

Policy measures for creating an integrated and brand-focused innovation system for film industries in shadow nations : an application to Australia's national film industry

Shadow nations face particular problems in constructing competitive film industries. Shadow nations refer to nations whose relative competitiveness suffers from easy product substitutability by products initiated, produced and distributed by powerful actors, such as media conglomerates located in Hollywood. The dominant literature has so far neglected the developing policy recommendations for dealing explicitly with the challenges of shadow nations. This paper aims to develop and apply a normative model for the development of film industries in shadow nations. The model integrates insights from innovation system studies and place branding. The developed model is applied to the Australian film industry as Australia represents a typical shadow nation within the film industry.

A viable and sustainable key management approach for a national e-health environment

To protect the health information security, cryptography plays an important role to establish confidentiality, authentication, integrity and non-repudiation. Keys used for encryption/decryption and digital signing must be managed in a safe, secure, effective and efficient fashion. The certificate-based Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) scheme may seem to be a common way to support information security; however, so far, there is still a lack of successful large-scale certificate-based PKI deployment in the world. In addressing the limitations of the certificate-based PKI scheme, this paper proposes a non-certificate-based key management scheme for a national e-health implementation. The proposed scheme eliminates certificate management and complex certificate validation procedures while still maintaining security. It is also believed that this study will create a new dimension to the provision of security for the protection of health information in a national e-health environment.

A new framework of measuring national nutrients balance for international and global comparison

Nutrients balance such as nitrogen and phosphorus balance are increasingly used as an indicator of the environmental performance of agricultural sector in international and global context. However there still is a lack of harmony in the use of methods for estimating the nutrients balance among countries. This is because of the disagreement regarding the accuracy and uncertainty of different accounting methods. The lack of harmony in the methods used in different countries further increases the uncertainty in the context of the international comparisons. This paper provides a new framework for nutrients balance calculation using the farm-gate accounting method. The calculation under this new framework takes advantage of availability of data from FAO and other reliable national and international sources. Due to this, the proposed framework is highly adaptable in many countries, making the global comparison feasible. The paper also proposes three criteria including adaptability, accuracy and interpretability to assess the appropriateness of nutrients accounting method. Based on these criteria, the paper provides a comprehensive comparison of the farm-gate and soil-surface methods in accounting country-level nutrients balance of agricultural production. The paper identifies some shortcomings of the soil-surface balance and shows that the farm-gate method has a greater potential of providing a more accurate and meaningful estimation of national nutrients balance.

National architecture conference 2012

May was a particularly busy month with lots of exciting architectural things happening in Brisbane, including the sell-out 2012 National Architecture Conference. The total number of conference attendees was 1,625, which was the largest number of attendees to any Australian National Architecture Conference to date. This was the first time that the National Architecture Conference had been held in Brisbane in over 20 years, and the enormous turnout of 947 Queenslanders to the conference was testament to the positive decision to include Brisbane as a conference venue. The theme of this year’s conference was ‘experience’. Building on ideas introduced in the recent ‘natural artifice’ conference, creative directors Shane Thompson, Michael Rayner and Peter Skinner focused closely on the real, sensed experience of architecture within its natural and constructed settings and the experience of designing and making architecture. The conference attracted a variety of high profile international speakers, including architect and professor, Wang Shu, the 2012 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate and co-founder of the Amateur Architecture Studio in China. Other highlights included presentations from Peter Rich [South Africa], Kathryn Findlay [United Kingdom], Rachel Neeson [Australia], Anuradha Mathur & Dilip da Cunha [United States] and Kjetil Thorsen [Norway]. QUT had a strong presence at the conference. In addition to pleasing attendance rates from QUT School of Design students and staff, our Head-of-School Professor Paul Sanders, was given the honourable task of introducing keynote speaker Peter Rich, and facilitating the Q&A session after his presentation, which received a standing ovation. There were many events organised for students and young architects by QUT’s SONA reps, including a masterclass, opening party, collaborative design and construction of the SONA Pavilion, and finally, organisation of the all important SONA Hangover Breakfast, the morning after the closing party. The 2012 National Architecture Conference was truly memorable and an experience not to have been missed. I encourage anyone with a passion for architecture and a desire to be completely inspired by current and emerging leaders in our exciting profession, to start making plans to attend next year’s conference.

A new civics curriculum for Australian schools : is it national education?

In nation states and regions including Australia, Hong Kong, other countries of Asia, the European Economic Community and elsewhere, Civics and Citizenship education (CCE) is a contested concept. The development of The Australian Curriculum is providing a national opportunity for educators to rethink curriculum priorities and to decide on new emphases for learning in Australian schools, but policy documents have emphasized the importance of CCE for all young Australians. In this paper we discuss the notion of citizenship education as ‘national education’ in Australia. We suggest that while the development of CCE in Australia does include elements of ‘national education’, the new curriculum provides an opportunity to frame the civil, political and social components of CC for young Australians in ways that include local, national and global understandings. We argue that CCE should broaden young peoples’ world views and their passion and capacity to express their own identity, so they can be active and engaged citizens in diverse communities that include their own communities, the nation and beyond.