Ambivalent relations : the 'tricky footwork' of parental involvement in school communities

Parental involvement in schools, generally seen to be a good thing, is now closely linked through policy to the educational achievement of their children. In this Victorian case study, teacher and parent responses to policies advocating parental involvement are examined. It explores the intersections of gender and class in the context of changing home/school relationships characterised by policies and processes of institutionalisation, familialisation and individualisation that are shaping parental involvement. It suggests that the current discursive construction of parent/school relationships around partnerships for student learning fail to recognise the complexity of parent/teacher relations and its gendered nature. Feminist critical policy analysis framed by the sociology of the family inform our understandings of the ways changing discourses and practices currently are informing parental involvement in a culturally and socio-economically diverse school.

Restructuring of education and training in Vietnam : a development and application of arts management training in Australia to Vietnam

The adoption of a more market-oriented economy under doi moi has paved the way for Vietnam to record remarkable human development achievements in the past decades. The Vietnamese education system has been undergoing continuous changes for almost twenty years. Key reforms have been implemented in the education and training sector such as privatising the sector; expanding the schooling system, the vocational education and training (VET) system, and higher education. This paper examines: (1) key reforms implemented in the education and training sector, placed in a broader context of economic reforms in Vietnam; (2) a development of arts management training courses in Vietnam to assist cultural organisations to adjust to social changes, as Vietnamese education institutions have not had much experience in designing training courses in arts and culture management; (3) several arts management training courses in Australian institutions to see the possibility to apply training in arts management in Australia to Vietnam. The findings indicate that a variety of management training modes in Australia can be adapted and applied to the Vietnamese training context. Some factors such as differences in culture, education and training systems, shortages in training staff and resources are also considered in this paper.

Visual guidance during competition performance and run-through training in long jumping

To ensure precise foot placement on the take-off board, long jumpers visually regulate their stride pattern during their run-up. A relationship between how much visual guidance they use and the horizontal distance they jump has not, however, been quantified. Run-up precision is often practiced using run-throughs, which exclude the take-off and, therefore, the high physical stress of the complete long jump. The validity with which this common training method simulates the long jump approach remains, however, to be verified. Four state-standard long jumpers and two heptathletes completed two sessions, each comprising six run-throughs and six competition long jumps. A 50 Hz video camera was manually panned from an elevated platform to film each trial, to enable subsequent gait characteristic evaluations. Linear regression analyses identified that a longer visual regulation phase, measured in time, distance or number of strides, was a key predictor of long jump distance. The number of strides that were visually regulated during the long jump approach was, accordingly, positively correlated with long jump distance (r = 0.67, p = 0.001). The amount of visual regulation used during run-throughs was, however, less than half (p = 0.001) of that observed during long jump approaches. Our results should compel long jump coaches to supplement run-through training with additional visual guidance exercises, to encourage their athletes to visually regulate more of their long jump approach.

Alcohol use and related harms in school students in the USA and Australia

Recognizing there have been few methodologically rigorous cross-national studies of youth alcohol and drug behaviour, state student samples were compared in Australia and the USA. Sampling methods were matched to recruit two independent, state-representative, cross-sectional samples of students in Grades 5, 7 and 9 in Washington State, USA, (n = 2866) and Victoria, Australia (n = 2864) in 2002. Of Washington students in Grade 5 (age 11), 10.3% (95% CI 7.2–14.7) of boys and 5.2% (95% CI 3.4–7.9) of girls reported alcohol use in the past year. Prevalence rates were markedly higher in Victoria (34.2%, 95% CI 28.8–40.1 boys; 21.0%, 95% CI 17.1–25.5 girls). Relative to Washington, the students in Victoria demonstrated a two to three times increased likelihood of reporting substance use (either alcohol, tobacco or illicit drug use), and by Grade 9, experiences of loss-of-control of alcohol use, binge drinking (frequent episodes of five or more alcoholic drinks), and injuries related to alcohol were two to four times higher. The high rates of early age alcohol use in Victoria were associated with frequent, heavy and harmful alcohol use and higher overall exposure to alcohol or other drug use. These findings reveal considerable variation in international rates of both adolescent alcohol misuse and co-occurring drug use and suggest the need for cross-national research to identify policies and practices that contribute to the lower rate of adolescent alcohol and drug use observed in the USA in this study.

Use and cost effectiveness of computer based training in the insurance industry

Training is essential to the growth and economic well-being of a nation. This need for training pervades all levels of industry, from a national level where a country’s well being is enhanced by training, to each company where productivity is improved, down to the individual whose skills are enhanced and as a result improve their position in the employment marketplace. The Australian Bureau of Statistics report ‘Training and Education Experience –Australia’ (ABS 1993) indicates that training in Australia is undertaken at a significant level with some 86% of employers undertaking some form of training. This is slightly higher in the Finance industry at a little over 89%. On the job training is undertaken by 82% of employers and off the job training is used by 47% of employers. In 80% of the off the job cases these courses were conducted in a conventional manner using an instructor. The remaining 20% of cases were either self paced (14%) or instructor based (6%). These latter cases could involve Computer Based Training (CBT). The report, referred to in the last paragraph, also indicates that a significant aspect of business in Australia is that 95% of businesses have less than 20 staff. This poses significant problems in that the ability to deliver effective training is limited. With businesses as small as these their size does not permit them to carry specialist training personnel so this role falls to the senior staff. These people already have a full workload and their ability to be able to take on training duties is limited. In addition these people were employed for their technical skills, not training. It may be that their ability to fill the role of a trainer is not good and as a result the training may not be very effective. In addition, small business has difficulty in releasing staff for training, The difficulties faced by small business were recognised by the Australian National Training Authority in their 1995 report which indicated that there was a need to develop a ‘training culture’ among small business employers. The authority made a commitment to provide flexible delivery strategies. This includes Computer Based Training (CBT). CBT has existed since the 1970’s. It came on to the scene with a flourish and tended to provide ‘page turning’ programs or ‘drill and practice programs’. In limited areas this form of training became popular but its popularity waned in the 80’s. With the advent of better graphical displays, larger and faster memory, and improved programs in the 1990’s the quality of CBT today is superior to those offered in the 70’s and has greater appeal. Today, still photographs and video clips can be displayed and made interactive. Because of this CBT is making a comeback and starting to have a greater impact. The insurance industry covers a wide range of companies in Australia, these companies vary in size from companies with employees in the thousands to companies with less than five staff. While the needs of the employees of each are similar the ability of these companies to deliver the training varies significantly. Any training can be divided into two parts. Internal or on the job training and external. External training deals with those aspects that concern the industry as a whole whereas internal training affects the individual company. Internal training would deal with matters like company procedures, company products and the like. External training deals with matters such as legislation, products generally, and the like. In the insurance industry the major problem arises with the small companies. Insurance companies would tend to be large in size and able to cover their training costs but the insurance brokers who would make up, numerically, the major number of companies would have a significant number of companies that fall into the 20 staffer less category. In fact many would have a staff of less than 5. While CBT can benefit all companies it is these small companies that could benefit from it the most. This thesis examines: • The place of CBT in training, its cost and effectiveness. • The incidence of CBT in the insurance industry and how the industry determines its effectiveness. • If a program that meets an industry need is able to be produced at a realistic price?

Similar metabolic adaptations during exercise after low volume sprint interval and traditional endurance training in humans

Low-volume ‘sprint’ interval training (SIT) stimulates rapid improvements in muscle oxidative capacity that are comparable to levels reached following traditional endurance training (ET) but no study has examined metabolic adaptations during exercise after these different training strategies. We hypothesized that SIT and ET would induce similar adaptations in markers of skeletal muscle carbohydrate (CHO) and lipid metabolism and metabolic control during exercise despite large differences in training volume and time commitment. Active but untrained subjects (23 ± 1 years) performed a constant-load cycling challenge (1 h at 65% of peak oxygen uptake before and after 6 weeks of either SIT or ET (n = 5 men and 5 women per group). SIT consisted of four to six repeats of a 30 s ‘all out’ Wingate Test (mean power output ∼500 W) with 4.5 min recovery between repeats, 3 days per week. ET consisted of 40–60 min of continuous cycling at a workload that elicited ∼65% (mean power output ∼150 W) per day, 5 days per week. Weekly time commitment (∼1.5 versus ∼4.5 h) and total training volume (∼225 versus ∼2250 kJ week&minus;1) were substantially lower in SIT versus ET. Despite these differences, both protocols induced similar increases (P < 0.05) in mitochondrial markers for skeletal muscle CHO (pyruvate dehydrogenase E1α protein content) and lipid oxidation (3-hydroxyacyl CoA dehydrogenase maximal activity) and protein content of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ coactivator-1α. Glycogen and phosphocreatine utilization during exercise were reduced after training, and calculated rates of whole-body CHO and lipid oxidation were decreased and increased, respectively, with no differences between groups (all main effects, P < 0.05). Given the markedly lower training volume in the SIT group, these data suggest that high-intensity interval training is a time-efficient strategy to increase skeletal muscle oxidative capacity and induce specific metabolic adaptations during exercise that are comparable to traditional ET.

Socio-economic and demographic variations in school lunch participation of French children aged 3-17 years

Objective: To assess school canteen attendance in a French nationally representative sample of children and to analyse its association with the socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of the children and their families.
Design: Data from the second French national cross-sectional food consumption survey (INCA2), performed in 2006–2007, were used. Information on usual weekly school canteen attendance was collected through a self-reported questionnaire, and demographic and socio-economic variables through a face-to-face questionnaire. The associations between school canteen attendance and the socio-economic and demographic variables were investigated by multivariate logistic regression analyses.
Setting: The INCA2 sample was representative of the children aged 3–17 years in France.
Subject: Analysis was performed on 1413 schoolchildren who completed the school canteen attendance questions.
Results: Some 65?6% of schoolchildren aged 3–17 years had school lunch at least once weekly. This rate of attendance was positively correlated with age. Whatever the school level, school canteen attendance was positively associated with the educational level of the caregiver/parent. In pre- and elementary-school children, enrolment at the school canteen was also higher when the caregiver/parent worked, or in single-parent families. In secondary-school children, school lunch participation decreased with children living in more densely populated areas and increased with the level of the household’s living standards.
Conclusions: School canteen attendance was positively associated with children’s socio-economic background. This could reduce the effectiveness of the forthcoming school meal composition regulations designed to improve the diet of children from deprived backgrounds, who are more likely to have unhealthy food habits.

BDNF, metabolic risk factors, and resistance training in middle-aged individuals

Introduction and Purpose: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and physical inactivity contribute to the development of the metabolic syndrome (MetS). There appears to be an association between BDNF and risk factors for MetS, and the effects of resistance training (RT) on BDNF and metabolic risk in middle-aged individuals with high and low numbers of metabolic risk factors (HiMF and LoMF, respectively) are unclear and are the focus of this research.

Methods: Forty-nine men (N = 25) and women (N = 24) aged 50.9 ± 6.2 yr were randomized to four groups, HiMF training (HiMFT), HiMF control (HiMFC), LoMF training (LoMFT), and LoMF control (LoMFC). Before and after 10 wk of RT, participants underwent tests for muscle strength and anthropometry, and a fasting blood sample was taken. Data were analyzed using Spearman correlations and repeated-measures ANOVA.

Results: BDNF was positively correlated with plasma triglycerides, glucose, HbA1C, and insulin resistance. BDNF was elevated in HiMF compared with LoMF (904.9 ± 270.6 vs 709.6 ± 239.8 respectively, P = 0.01). Training increased muscle strength and lean body mass but had no effect on BDNF levels or any examined risk factors.

Conclusion: BDNF levels correlated with risk factors for MetS and were elevated in individuals with HiMF. RT had no effect on BDNF levels or other risk factors for MetS. As RT has an effect on muscle strength and lean body mass, it should be added to other nonpharmacological interventions for middle-aged individuals with HiMF such as aerobic and/or diet.

Inflammation, hepatic enzymes and resistance training in individuals with metabolic risk factors

Aims Increases in inflammatory markers, hepatic enzymes and physical inactivity are associated with the development of the metabolic syndrome (MetS). We examined whether inflammatory markers and hepatic enzymes are correlated with traditional risk factors for MetS and studied the effects of resistance training (RT) on these emerging risk factors in individuals with a high number of metabolic risk factors (HiMF, 2.9 ± 0.8) and those with a low number of metabolic risk factors (LoMF, 0.5 ± 0.5).

Methods Twenty-eight men and 27 women aged 50.8 ± 6.5 years (mean ± sd) participated in the study. Participants were randomized to four groups, HiMF training (HiMFT), HiMF control (HiMFC), LoMF training (LoMFT) and LoMF control (LoMFC). Before and after 10 weeks of RT [3 days/week, seven exercises, three sets with intensity gradually increased from 40–50% of one repetition maximum (1RM) to 75–85% of 1RM], blood samples were obtained for the measurement of pro-inflammatory cytokines, C-reactive protein (CRP), -glutamyltransferase (GGT) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT).

Results At baseline, HiMF had higher interleukin-6 (33.9%), CRP (57.1%), GGT (45.2%) and ALT (40.6%) levels, compared with LoMF (all P < 0.05). CRP, GGT and ALT correlated with the number of risk factors (r = 0.48, 0.51 and 0.57, respectively, all P < 0.01) and with other anthropometric and clinical measures (r range from 0.26 to 0.60, P < 0.05). RT did not significantly alter inflammatory markers or hepatic enzymes (all P > 0.05).

Conclusions HiMF was associated with increased inflammatory markers and hepatic enzyme concentrations. RT did not reduce inflammatory markers and hepatic enzymes in individuals with HiMF.