Living with the Legacy of Conquest and Culture : Social Justice Leadership in Education and the Indigenous Peoples of Australia and America

Indigenous peoples have survived the most inhumane acts and violations against them. Despite acts of genocide, Aboriginal Australians and Native Americans have survived. The impact of the past 500 years cannot be separated from understandings of education for Native Americans in the same way that the impact of the past 220 years cannot be separated from the understandings of Australian Aboriginal people’s experiences of education. This chapter is about comparisons in Aboriginal and Native American communities and their collision with the dominant, white European settlers who came to Australia and America. Chomsky (Intervention in Vietnam and Central America: parallels and differences. In: Peck J (ed) The Chomsky Reader. Pantheon Books, New York, p 315, 1987) once remarked that if one took two historical events and compared them for similarities and differences, you would find both. The real test was whether on the similarities they were significant. The position of the coauthors of this chapter is in the affirmative and we take this occasion to lay them out for analysis and review. The chapter begins with a discussion of the historical legacy of oppression and colonization impacting upon Indigenous peoples in Australia and in the United States, followed by a discussion of the plight of Indigenous children in a specific State in America. Through the lens of social justice, we examine those issues and attitudes that continue to subjugate these same peoples in the economic and educational systems of both nations. The final part of the chapter identifies some implications for school leadership.

The rise of government in Early Childhood Education and Care following the Child Care Act 1972 : the lasting legacy of the 1990s in setting the reform agenda for ECEC in Australia

Less than twenty years on from the proclamation of the Child Care Act 1972, and introduction of funding for not-for-profit child care centres, a series of market-driven public policies paved the way for the emergence of Australia’s current ECEC quasi-market. Seeking to respond to increasing demand for work-related child care in the 1990s, and to manage associated costs, a succession of Australian Governments turned to market theory and New Public Management (NPM) principles to inform ECEC policy. Reflecting on an era of high policy activity within ECEC, this paper examines a series of policy events and texts that set the course for the reform agenda that was to ensue in ECEC.

Nurses' experiences of practice and political reform in long-term aged care in Australia : implications for the retention of nursing personnel

Keywords gerontological nursing;health care reform;health policy;long-term care;recruitment and retention Aim  The aim of the study was to explore registered nurses’ experiences in long-term aged care in light of the political reform of aged care services in Australia. Background  In Australia, the aged care industry has undergone a lengthy period of political and structural reform. Despite reviews into various aspects of these reforms, there has been little consideration of the effect these are having on the practice experiences and retention of nursing staff in long-term care. Methods  In this critical hermeneutic study, 14 nurses from long-term care facilities in Australia were interviewed about their experiences during the reform period. Results  The data revealed a sense of tension and conflict between nurses’ traditional values, roles and responsibilities and those supported by the reforms. Nurses struggled to renegotiate both their practice roles and values as the reforms were implemented and the system evolved. Nursing management support was an important aspect in mediating the effect of reforms on nursing staff. Conclusion  This research highlights both the tensions experienced by nurses in long-term aged care in Australia and the need to renegotiate nursing roles, responsibilities and values within an evolving care system. This research supports a role for sensitive and proactive nursing management during periods of industry reform as a retention strategy for qualified nursing personnel.

Searching for value : the influence of policy and reform on nurses’ sense of value in long-term aged care in Australia.

Contemporary literature on long-term aged care focuses heavily on issues associated with the recruitment and retention of nursing staff, such as job satisfaction and attitudes towards caring for older people. This paper aims to highlight one aspect of a larger study of registered nurses' experiences in long-term aged care in Australia and the influence that government policy and reform has in shaping that experience. This insight into aspects of nurses' everyday experience also contributes to a broader understanding of job satisfaction in long-term care. Findings from this study suggest that registered nurses experience tension in their search for value in their practice, which incorporates professional, political and social mediators of value and worth. These issues are discussed in relation to the impact of policy and reform on nurses' sense of value in long-term aged care and highlight the need for sensitive policy initiatives that support issues of value in nursing practice.

How can Australia sustain middle school education?

Middle school is a crucial area of education where adolescents experiencing physiological and psychological changes, and require expert guidance. As more research evidence is provided about adolescent learning, teachers are considered pivotal to adolescents’ educational development. Reform measures need to be targeted at the inservice and preservice teacher levels. This quantitative study employs a 40-item, five part Likert scale survey to understand preservice teachers’ (n = 142) perceptions of their confidence to teach in a middle school at the conclusion of their tertiary education. The survey instrument was developed from the literature, with connections to the Queensland College of Teachers' professional standards. Results indicated that they perceived themselves as capable of creating a positive classroom environment with seven items greater than 80%, except with behaviour management (< 80% for two items), and they considered their pedagogical knowledge to be adequate (i.e., 7 out of 8 items > 84%). Items associated with implementing a middle school curriculum had varied responses (e.g., implementing literacy and numeracy were 74%, while implementing learning with real world connections was 91%). This information may assist coursework designers. For example, if a significant percentages of preservice teachers indicate that they believe they were not well prepared for assessment and reporting at the middle school level, then course designers can target these areas more effectively.

A review of the educational needs of nurses administering cancer chemotherapy in rural and remote areas of Queensland

This paper describes current issues in chemotherapy nursing practice in rural and remote Australia. There is a trend to refer chemotherapy clients back to their rural and remote health facility for treatment from major oncology centres in Australia. However, it is increasingly apparent that the majority of nurses administering chemotherapy in smaller centres lack the theoretical and clinical knowledge to ensure optimum client outcomes and nurse/client safety. There are also issues unique to rural and remote life which will influence optimum chemotherapy service delivery. The research program described in the paper will ascertain the education requirements of rural and remote nurses administering chemotherapy and the design and delivery of a chemotherapy education package specific to the rural and remote context. Similar programs will ensure the best standards of chemotherapy practice in non-metropolitan areas by enhancing the practical and theoretical knowledge base of rural and remote nurses.

Retaining rural and remote area nurses : The Queensland, Australia experience

Because higher-than-average turnover rates for nurses who work in remote and rural areas are the norm, the authors conducted a study to identify professional and personal factors that influenced rural nurses’ decisions to resign. Using a mail survey, the authors gathered qualitative and quantitative data from nurses who had resigned from rural and remote areas in Queensland, Australia. Their findings, categorized into professional and rural influences, highlight the importance of work force planning strategies that capitalize on the positive aspects of rural and remote area practice, to retain nurses in nonmetropolitan areas.

The Current State of BPM Education in Australia : Teaching and Research Challenges

As business processes, services and relationships, are now recognized as key organizational assets, the demand for the so-called boundaryspanning roles and process-aware professionals is continuing to grow. The world-wide demand for these roles will continue to increase, fueled by the unprecedented interest in Business Process Management (BPM) and the other emerging cross-functional disciplines. This, in turn, creates new opportunities, as well as some unforeseeable challenges for BPM education, both in university and industry. This paper reports on an analysis of the current BPM offerings of Australian universities. It presents a critical review of what is taught and how it is taught, and identifies a series of gaps and concerns. Explanations and recommendations are proposed and a call made for BPM educators worldwide, for urgent action.

Much confusion about inclusion in Australia's largest education system

Over the last three decades, growing international recognition of the right of students with a disability to attend their local school has prompted change in the formation of education policies, schooling structures and pedagogical practice. Inclusion, as the movement has become known, has since been taken up and developed to different degrees in different regions and to differing degrees of success. Yet, despite sincere attempts to better include students with physical, sensory and intellectual disabilities, new and different forms of exclusion have arisen since the late 1990s; particularly for students with social, emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. In this lecture, Dr Linda Graham reports on findings from a three year ARC Discovery project to consider the impact of inclusion on the New South Wales government schooling sector, Australia’s largest education system.

Critical care nurses' perceptions of their educational needs

A survey of nurses working in critical care units in 89 Queensland hospitals was conducted to investigate their perceptions of critical care nurses' educational needs. Two thirds of the 62 respondents were from rural units and one third were from metropolitan units. Most respondents, irrespective of geographic location, wanted critical care education to be located in hospitals and to be accredited as a graduate diploma course. Rural and metropolitan nurses had similar educational needs and many worked for hospitals that were not offering adequate orientation or inservice critical care education. The findings that nursing staff turnover was a problem in metropolitan units and that the rural workforce was more stable have implications for the development of educational programs.

The project approach in early childhood education for sustainability : examplars from Korea and Australia

Sustainability is a global issue that urgently needs addressing, and for which the most serious consequences are for children and future generations. This insightful research text tackles one of the most significant contemporary issues of our times – the nexus between society and environment – and how early childhood education can contribute to sustainable living. By offering international and multidisciplinary research perspectives on Early Childhood Education for Sustainability, each chapter explores and investigates the complex topic of sustainability and its relationship to early childhood education. A particular emphasis that runs through this text is young children as empowered citizens, capable of both contributing to and creating change for sustainability. The chapter authors work from, or are aligned with, a transformative education paradigm that suggests the socio-constructivist frameworks currently underpinning Early Childhood Education require reframing in light of the social transformations necessary to address humanity’s unsustainable, unjust and unhealthy living patterns. This research text is designed to be provocative and challenging; in so doing it seeks to encourage exploration of current understandings about Early Childhood Education for Sustainability, offers new dimensions for more deeply informed practice, and proposes avenues for further research in this field.

COPD self-management education : Vietnamese nurses' intention to educate, influencing factors and knowledge base

This thesis used a cross-sectional survey to examine how Vietnamese nurses educate COPD patients about the self-management of their disease. Further, the study also describes the characteristics of Vietnamese nurses working in COPD specialty areas as well as examining their COPD knowledge and the factors which influence their delivery of COPD self-management education when caring for COPD patients. The study found that while Vietnamese nurses are likely to deliver self-management education to the COPD patients they care for, there are areas for improvement in nurses' knowledge in all areas of COPD management and self management education.

School based youth health nurses and attrition : the reasons for moving on

Like the UK, Australia has a number of school nursing models and programmes. The School Based Youth Health Nurse Program (SBYHNP) is a new and unique model of school nursing in Queensland, Australia. The SBYHNP represents a philosophical and structural shift from traditional school nursing programmes. The purpose of this qualitative case study is to explore the reasons School Based Youth Health Nurses (SBYHN) leave school nursing. Sixteen in-depth interviews were conducted with participants who practiced as SBYHN and left the SBYHNP. This case study reveals six themes: The politics’: Navigating the organisational divide, 'Unconditional positive regard’: Surviving without team cohesion, 'Absolutely exhausted’: Maintaining physical and emotional strength, ‘Definitely geographical’: Managing the tyranny of time and distance, ‘If things fell into place’: Thinking about what could have been, and ‘A stepping stone’: Moving on to the next nursing position. This case study suggests nurses considering school nursing as a specialty should seek opportunity to understand this complex role, ensure realistic expectations and ndertake relevant qualifications. This approach may secure the investment made by nurses and schools and create demand for a highly sort after position.

From policy borrowing to implementation : an illuminative evaluation of learning and teaching in higher education in Australia (2002 to 2008)

This study documents and theorises the consequences of the 2003 Australian Government Reform Package focussed on learning and teaching in Higher Education during the period 2002 to 2008. This is achieved through the perspective of program evaluation and the methodology of illuminative evaluation. The findings suggest that the three national initiatives of that time, Learning and Teaching Performance Fund (LTPF), Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC), and Australian Universities Quality Agency (AUQA), were successful in repositioning learning and teaching as a core activity in universities. However, there were unintended consequences brought about by international policy borrowing, when the short-lived nature of LTPF suggests a legacy of quality compliance rather than one of quality enrichment.