Career facilitators and obstacles of Australian football development coaches

Career development is considered integral to the success of individuals, organisations and professions. Coaches play a vital role in the success of sport, yet little is known about their career development. Despite the advances in career development for athletes, there has been very little scholarly attention, nor resources provided for coach career development, especially for coaches working outside elite and professional sport. This pilot study explored the career development facilitators and obstacles of junior development Australian football coaches. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data on the career development of six practicing junior development Australian football coaches. These six (of only 12 employed) coaches worked in the main elite junior development league for Australian football, the Transport Accident Commission Cup. The themes that emerged from the data revealed that the career development of junior development Australian football coaches was facilitated first by their high motivation to coach because of their enjoyment of seeing young players develop and transition into the elite competition. The second facilitator was the coach’s awareness of their career development needs and their willingness to do their own career development despite limited opportunity, guidance or support. The key obstacles to Transport Accident Commission Cup coach career development included a lack of opportunity to spend time at elite clubs to observe and interact with elite coaches; a lack of time due to having a non-coaching job to financially support their coaching work and their family as well; the high demands of the coaching role had a negative impact on their work–life balance and often conflicted with time they would rather spend with their families; and finally, the lack of institutional support for coaches who were asked to work long hours for low wages and little reward despite their vital role in the elite player development pathway for the Australian Football League. This research suggests that junior development Australian football coaches have a clear understanding of their role and how it changes as their career develops; however, the coaches are limited by external forces in their career development. Junior development Australian football coaches are vital for Australian Football League development; however, there is disconnection between Australian Football League goals and their capacity to nurture elite athletes into the sport’s system due to part-time coaching roles, limited resources and few opportunities for coaches to develop their careers.

Cognitive cultural intelligence and life satisfaction of migrant workers: the roles of career engagement and social injustice

This paper examines the mediating effect of career engagement on the relationship between cognitive cultural intelligence (CQ) and life satisfaction among international migrant workers in Australia. It also examines the moderating effect of perceived social injustice on the cognitive CQ–career engagement relationship, as well as on the indirect cognitive CQ–life satisfaction relationship via career engagement. Using survey data from four hundred and sixty-two migrant workers in Australia, it was found that cognitive CQ was positively related to life satisfaction and that career engagement mediated this relationship. Social injustice moderated the impact of cognitive CQ on career engagement such that the impact was stronger among those perceiving a higher rather than a lower level of social injustice. Furthermore, the indirect effect of cognitive CQ on life satisfaction via career engagement was also stronger for those perceiving higher social injustice. These findings provide new insights regarding the antecedents of life satisfaction as well as reveal a vocationally relevant mechanism underlying the relationship between cognitive CQ and life satisfaction. The results inform potential practical strategies to enhance the career progression and life satisfaction of international migrant workers.

The Relationship of Instructor Technical Literacy to the Academic Performance of Students in Career Academies

Career Academy instructors’ technical literacy is vital to the academic success of students. This nonexperimental ex post facto study examined the relationships between the level of technical literacy of instructors in career academies and student academic performance. It was also undertaken to explore the relationship between the pedagogical training of instructors and the academic performance of students. Out of a heterogeneous population of 564 teachers in six targeted schools, 136 teachers (26.0 %) responded to an online survey. The survey was designed to gather demographic and teaching experience data. Each demographic item was linked by researchers to teachers’ technology use in the classroom. Student achievement was measured by student learning gains as assessed by the reading section of the FCAT from the previous to the present school year. Linear and hierarchical regressions were conducted to examine the research questions. To clarify the possibility of teacher gender and teacher race/ethnic group differences by research variable, a series of one-way ANOVAs were conducted. As revealed by the ANOVA results, there were not statistically significant group differences in any of the research variables by teacher gender or teacher race/ethnicity. Greater student learning gains were associated with greater teacher technical expertise integrating computers and technology into the classroom, even after controlling for teacher attitude towards computers. Neither teacher attitude toward technology integration nor years of experience in integrating computers into the curriculum significantly predicted student learning gains in the regression models. Implications for HRD theory, research, and practice suggest that identifying teacher levels of technical literacy may help improve student academic performance by facilitating professional development strategies and new parameters for defining highly qualified instructors with 21st century skills. District professional development programs can benefit by increasing their offerings to include more computer and information communication technology courses. Teacher preparation programs can benefit by including technical literacy as part of their curriculum. State certification requirements could be expanded to include formal surveys to assess teacher use of technology.

El teatro cómico de Enrique García Álvarez

Enrique García Álvarez (Madrid, 1883-1931) belonged to the group of writers who stood out in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth in what was known as “género chico”, label used to oppose this kind of theater to the dramaturgy considered serious. It was composed of brief and comic works whose intention was to generate a fun time for the spectators. Our author was one of the leading representatives and his numerous creations appeared profusely in the posters of the theaters per hour. In the twentieth century, he adapted to the new forms imposed on the scene. Despite his enormous fame at the time, nowadays Enrique García Álvarez remains completely unknown, not only in the eyes of the general public but also to the more knowledgeable circles of our literature. Studies of his dramatic work are almost nonexistent and basically limited to their collaborations with other authors who had more luck as Arniches or Muñoz Seca. The purpose of this thesis is, therefore, to complete a thorough study of the figure and production of Enrique García Álvarez, as well as its impact on the literature. The opening chapter is a reconstruction of the life and work of the author. In the following chapters, we proceeded to the analysis of structural features such as theme, time, space, and characters of his dramatic world. At the end of these pages, we have included a photographic appendix that illustrates some moments of his personal and professional career. We have also developed appendices to classify his librettos chronologically, by collaborator and by genre...

Telling tales: the value of storytelling for early career teachers

This article examines how early career teachers, participants in a research project, make sense of their experiences through storytelling. The teachers’ stories provide a significant counterpoint to the way standards-based reforms construct their professional development, prompting us as teacher educators to think again about what it means for our students to make the transition from initial teacher education into the institutional setting of a school. We draw on Ricoeur’s understanding of narrative to show the complexity of the identity work they perform and how their stories position them as authorities when it comes to the experience of beginning teaching and of negotiating a pathway within existing policy environments. Close attention to the language of these narratives produces rich insights into early career teachers’ experiences and raises questions as to how researchers might solicit and respond to such narratives.

Constructs in Knowledge Organization Systems: Rhythm in Time, Intention, and Form

In the context of the International Society for Knowledge Organization, we often consider knowledge organization systems to comprise catalogues, thesauri, and bibliothecal classification schemes – schemes for library arrangement. In recent years we have added ontologies and folksonomies to our sphere of study. In all of these cases it seems we are concerned with improving access to information. We want a good system.And much of the literature from the late 19th into the late 20th century took that as their goal – to analyze the world of knowledge and the structures of representing it as its objects of study; again, with the ethos for creating a good system. In most cases this meant we had to be correct in our assertions about the universe of knowledge and the relationships that obtain between its constituent parts. As a result much of the literature of knowledge organization is prescriptive – instructing designers and professionals how to build or use the schemes correctly – that is to maximize redundant success in accessing information.In 2005, there was a turn in some of the knowledge organization literature. It has been called the descriptive turn. This is in relation to the otherwise prescriptive efforts of researchers in KO. And it is the descriptive turn that makes me think of context, languages, and cultures in knowledge organization–the theme of this year’s conference.Work in the descriptive turn questions the basic assumptions about what we want to do when we create, implement, maintain, and evaluate knowledge organization systems. Following on these assumptions researchers have examined a wider range of systems and question the motivations behind system design. Online websites that allow users to curate their own collections are one such addition, for example Pinterest (cf., Feinberg, 2011). However, researchers have also looked back at other lineages of organizing to compare forms and functions. For example, encyclopedias, catalogues raisonnés, archival description, and winter counts designed and used by Native Americans.In this case of online curated collections, Melanie Feinberg has started to examine the craft of curation, as she calls it. In this line of research purpose, voice, and rhetorical stance surface as design considerations. For example, in the case of the Pinterest, users are able and encouraged to create boards. The process of putting together these boards is an act of curation in contemporary terminology. It is describing this craft that comes from the descriptive turn in KO.In the second case, when researchers in the descriptive turn look back at older and varied examples of knowledge organization systems, we are looking for a full inventory of intent and inspiration for future design. Encyclopedias, catalogues raisonnés, archival description, and works of knowledge organization in other cultures provide a rich world for the descriptive turn. And researchers have availed themselves of this.

Form, Intention, and Indexing: The Liminal and Integrated Conceptions of Work in Knowledge Organization

This paper proposes a dual conception of work in knowledge organization. The first part is a conception of work as liminal, set apart from everyday work. The second is integrated, without separation. This talk is the beginning of a larger project where we will characterize work in knowledge organization, both as it is set out in our literature (Šauperl, 2004; Hjørland 2003 Wilson, 1968), and in a philosophical argument for its fundamental importance in the activities of society (Shera, 1972; Zandonade, 2004).But in order to do this, we will co-opt the conception of liminality from the anthropology of religion (Turner, 1967), and Zen Buddhist conceptions of moral action, intention, and integration (Harvey, 2000 and cf., Harada, S., 2008).The goal for this talk is to identify the acts repeated (form) and the purpose of those acts (intention), in knowledge organization, with specific regard to thresholds (liminal points) of intention present in those acts.We can then ask the questions: Where is intention in knowledge organization liminal and where is it integrated? What are the limits of knowledge organization work when considered at a foundational level of the intention labor practices? Answering such questions, in this context, allows us to reconsider the assumptions we have about knowledge organization work and its increasingly important role in society. As a consequence, we can consider the limits of classification research if we see the foundations of knowledge organization work when we see forms and intentions. I must also say that incorporating Zen Buddhist philosophy into knowledge organization research seems like it fits well with ethics and ethical responses the practice of knowledge organization. This is because 20th Century Western interpretations of Zen are often rooted in ethical considerations. This translates easily to work.

Pedagogical interventions to overcome communication apprehension in employment interviews among career students.

Career programs in the Cegep system base their training on various learning activities, which are followed by a practicum. The objective is to achieve a certain number of competencies, deemed necessary by the Ministry of Education, for entry-level occupations in to the workforce. The Graphic Communications program offered at Champlain College Saint-Lambert is a three-year career program that leads to employment in the field of graphics. Many students have part-time jobs during their schooling period but most of those jobs do not relate to their field of study. Several graduates stated they were unable to persuade employers to hire them for an externship or stage at the end of their program. While jobs are important for their general skills, since they are not directly related to the field, these jobs may not have given the students a suitable model for the conduct of an employment interview. Practice interviews may be one of many successful training methods to lower communication apprehension (CA) levels. CA is defined as "an individual's level of fear or anxiety associated with either real or anticipated communication with another person or persons." This paper examines the literature on CA and employment interviews and evaluates whether pedagogical interventions, including monitored phone calls to employers and practice-videotaped interviews, allow students to feel more confident about interviewing for a future job. A qualitative tool was used to gather scientific measurements of the participants' levels of CA both at the beginning and at the end of the Career Planning course. Open-ended reflective journals gathered quantitative data on the impact specific instructional strategies had on the participants. The pedagogical interventions that were examined and tested were as follows: preparation of scripts, monitored phone calls, videotaped practice interviews, and inclass access to professional assistance. Results indicate that all interventions had a positive impact on lowering levels of CA. It is clear that positive conclusions were drawn by the students as to usefulness of these activities. Overall, participants who responded to the reflective journal questions felt positive about the contribution of this preparatory career course to their CA levels. The results of the quantitative tool were consistent with previous research and the analysis of the reflective journals gave additional support to the usefulness of the interventions on students' confidence levels. Recommandations for improvements to the curriculum include the need for students to be taugh formally about metacognition and how to monitor it. Students need to be exposed to videotaped interviews more often. They should be better prepared for unexpected interview questions, and they should experience formal rehearsals with one of their instructors before the actual practice interview. Some of these recommendations have already been successfully implemented in the program's curriculum.||Résumé:Le but de ce travail était de vérifier si certaines activités pédagogiques sont efficaces pour faire baisser le niveau d'anxiété lié à la communication orale lors de leurs entrevues d'embauche. L'objectif des programmes techniques au Québec est de fournir aux étudiants un certain nombre de compétences définies par le ministèe de l'Éducation, des Loisirs et du Sport afin que ces derniers puissent fournir des services de techniciens spécialisés aux entreprises. Le programme nommé Office Systems Technology (412) du collège Champlain de Saint-Lambert, a choisi la voie de la spécialisation en microédition et hypermédia en 1999 et a changé son nom pour Graphic Communications en 2005. Les programmes techniques au Cégep incluent un stage en milieu de travail à la fin d'un programme de trois ans et par le fait même, une entrevue pour obtenir un stage en entreprise. La compétence visée par cette étude est l'intégration au marché du travail et le cheminement professionnel des étudiants. Lors d'enquêtes informelles, plusieurs étudiants du programme ont fait part de leurs difficultés à trouver un stage en fin d'études. Certains auteurs suggèrent que ces étudiants n'ont pas de modèles appropriés lors de la tenue d'une entrevue d'emploi. Ils proposent de diminuer le niveau d'anxiété lié à la communication orale lors d'entrevues d'embauche en offrant des pratiques d'entrevue aux étudiants. Cette recherche a examiné la littérature au sujet de l'anxiété de communication, plus précisément lors d'entrevues. Elle avait pour mandat d'évaluer si les activités pédagogiques d'un cours de préparation à la carrière ont été efficaces pour faire baisser les taux d'anxiété en communication orale lors d'entrevues. En plus, une conseillère à l'emploi fut invitée à plusieurs reprises afin de fournir un support professionnel en classe, étant donné que les étudiants ne prennent pas nécessairement le temps de consulter des professionnels en raison de leurs activités personnelles trop nombreuses. Le type d'enseignement évalué est considéré comme stratégique, étant donné qu'il agit au niveau cognitif et métacognitif de l'étudiant. Le cours de préparation à l'emploi débute par la vérification des acquis antérieurs des étudiants et il tient compte de leur motivation scolaire et professionnelle. De plus, il est axé sur la construction du savoir en proposant des activités de plus en plus complexes, débutant par la rédaction de textes à utiliser lors d'appels aux employeurs, en passant par la préparation et la pratique d'appels et se terminant par des entrevues d'emploi qui serviront de modèle à perfectionner par chaque étudiant. Ces entrevues se font avec des employeurs qui ont déjà embauché des étudiants du programme de Graphic Communications au collège Champlain de Saint-Lambert et sont enregistrées sur bande vidéo afin de permettre une visualisation ultérieure et cohérente avec les objectifs visés. La méthodologie de cette recherche inclut deux outils, un quantitatif et un qualitatif. L'outil quantitatif permet de mesurer scientifiquement les taux d'appréhension en communication des étudiants au début et à la fin du cours de préparation à l'emploi. Cet outil est la fusion de deux outils, le Personal Report of Communication Apprehension ou PRCA-24, qui fut développé par McCroskey (1984), en tandem avec celui de Wongprasert & Ayres (2000), qui lui met l'accent sur les entrevues d'emploi. Les réponses à cet outil combiné sont évaluées sur une échelle Likert de cinq points. L'outil qualitatif est une série de questions auxquelles les étudiants ont répondu quatre fois lors de la session. Les réponses à ces questions ont été analysées et les commentaires des étudiants évalués. Il découle de cette analyse que les niveaux d'anxiété des étudiants qui ont participé (14) étaient définitivement à la baisse en fin de cours. La pratique téléphonique structurée, dans un laboratoire avec les téléphones, a été très révélatrice pour les étudiants. Ils ont appris comment utiliser un script comme piste de départ pour un appel et qu'il était possible de contourner certains obstacles de façon professionnelle. Ensuite, lors d'une visite d'une compagnie de graphisme, ils ont pu observer divers modèles d'emploi. Ils ont eu la possibilité de poser des questions sur le fonctionnement et les besoins de l'entreprise. Ceci facilita la rédaction de leur curriculum vitae en leur permettant de mieux décrire leurs acquis en fonction d'emplois recherchés. Par la suite, ils se sont préparés pour une pratique d'entrevue, filmée. Les interviewers avaient déjà travaillé avec le collège et avaient déjà embauché certains étudiants de ce programme, donc ils connaissaient leur potentiel. Une liste de questions possibles fut suggérée mais il n'en restait pas moins que les interviewers pouvaient les modifier, ceci étant représentatif du marché de l'emploi. Même si le collège fournit un enseignement en anglais, un des intervieweurs donna ses entrevues en français. Trois étudiants se sont portés volontaires, mais deux ont constaté qu'ils auraient dû pratiquer leur script en français avant l'entrevue pour mieux diminuer leur niveau d'anxiété. Finalement, les étudiants durent visionner leur segment d'entrevue : ceci leur a permis de voir si leur attitude non-verbale concordait avec ce qu'ils ressentaient en entrevue et d'emmener les correctifs appropriés. Les taux d'anxiété furent vérifiés une deuxième fois en fin de session et les résultats ont démontré une baisse des taux d'appréhension. Les résultats de cette étude concordent donc avec ceux trouvés dans la littérature et donnent de bonnes pistes pour l'amélioration de ce cours de préparation à la carrière. L'auteur recommande d'enseigner la métacognition de façon formelle et ainsi de faciliter la prise de conscience des apprentissages que les étudiants effectuent. De plus, les étudiants devraient être filmés en studio au moins une fois par année pour diminuer le facteur de stress causé par les caméras et finalement ils pourraient certainement bénéficier de pratiques formelles d'entrevue avec un instructeur avant l'entrevue filmée. L'augmentation des pratiques a déjà été mise en oeuvre dans le programme et des résultats positifs se sont ensuivis.

Selecting an IMC Career: Influences, Choices and Destinations

Integrated marketing communication incorporates both customer and non-customer stakeholder groups. While the literature commonly refers to this distinction as marketing communication and corporate communication, respectively, and practitioners accept the need for these roles, this study aims to explore the student perspective. US-based research suggests that students are more interested in marketing communication activities such as promotion that target customer stakeholders, and less interested in corporate communication activities that target non-customer stakeholders including employees, investors, and government (Bowen, 2003). The findings of this study match its US counterpart, and present implications for both the education and practice of marketing communication