Deepening our understanding about school leadership : learning from educators and non-educators

Increasingly, leadership is argued as a way forward to improve performance and practice in a variety of contexts. School leadership is no different. There is little doubt that in the current globalised world characterized by change and complexity, effective school leadership is a key requirement. The contribution of this chapter is framed around a synthesis of current research, writing and theoretical insights regarding leadership. It draws upon three bodies of writing, Firstly, it begins by distilling several key themes and trends regarding educational leadership from the current research and writing. Secondly, it reports on the findings of a current research project carried out by the authors that explored the leadership stories of ten outstanding leaders from non-educational settings in Australia. Finally, it concludes by referring to some of the paradoxes and tensions inherent in the work of school leaders. It is argued that understanding and endeavouring to reconcile these dilemmas is a pre-requisite for school leaders as they continue to operate in an environment fraught with change and complexity.

Who is publishing in the Journal of Sociology? an analysis of author trends 1965–2008

This paper presents the author characteristics of papers published in The Australian Sociological Association (TASA) journal, the Journal of Sociology (formerly the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Sociology) between 1965 and 2008. The aim of the paper is empirically to identify trends in authorship. The review examines all articles published in the period (excluding book reviews). The rationale of the study is to reveal trends in who publishes in the journal in terms of authors’ academic rank, gender, institution, and country. A table of those who have published the greatest number of papers is also presented. Findings show that over time the gap between the proportion of males and females publishing has closed; more PhD students and research fellows are publishing in the journal in recent decades; the highest proportion of authors consistently come from the Australian National University and The University of Queensland; and most authors are located in Australia. Information such as this can inform editorial practices and serve to inform the membership and readership on the nature of the journal.

Is implementing criterion-referenced assessment worth the effort with gen Y?

Well implemented criterion-referenced assessment (CRA) requires dedicated time and effort, especially in describing realistic expectations of evidence of achievement to students in the form of criteria sheets (or grading rubrics). It is also takes time out of delivering content to teach students how to judge their own work using criteria sheets. In 2007, to engage third year Microbiology students in using criteria sheets for the first time in their degree, we devised an innovative assessment tutorial supported by online resources. We were sceptical of much of the literature that reported ‘agreed’ characteristics of our predominantly gen Y cohort, because of the older ages of the majority of authors. These authors claim gen Y has a propensity for digital media, overconfidence in their own abilities and a collaborative orientation. We rejected this stereotype when developing the tutorial. Evaluations by students were positive and there was no dramatic change to grades for the unit. These results are similar to those in the literature for non gen Y cohorts. This lends support to our claim that giving students control over their own learning, irrespective of their generational label, is worth the time and effort.

What is the relationship between social governance and schooling?

The most frequently told story charting the rise of mass schooling should be fairly familiar to most of us. This story normally centres around the post-enlightenment social changes of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and details how society slowly became more caring and more humane, and how we all decided that rather than simply being fodder for the mills, all children – including those from the working-classes - had the right to an education. The more civilised we became, the more we pushed back the school leaving age, until we eventually developed schools which clearly reflected the values and ambitions of the wider community. After all, are school not simply microcosms of society at large? In addition to this, the form that modern schooling takes is regarded as an unproblematic part of the same story. Of course we should organise our learning in the way we do, with the emphasis on formalised learning spaces, graded curricula, timetables of activities, various forms of assessment, and a clear hierarchy of authority. These features of the contemporary education merely reflect the fact that this is self-evidently the best system available. After all, how else could education possibly be organised?

What is in the name of a fashion designer

Currently, fashion quite comfortably covers the space between unique pieces and serialisation, mobilising as necessary the discourses of art or commerce; however, the question of what a fashion designer is remains open. Historically, the image of the fashion designer has been constructed within a heroic and Romantic narrative centred on the concept of designers as artists and hence authors. The recent development of the fashion industry as an image-driven industry, on the one hand, and the placement of fashion in museum contexts on the other, requires a re-thinking of the function of the designer. This paper does not set out to identify a theory that establishes a truthful answer to the position and significance of the fashion designer within the fashion system, but it proposes that an analytical and critical understanding of the fashion designer requires a contextualisation of the philosophies and institutions (including fashion magazines and fashion criticism) that support it.

Designing for engagement : building IT systems

Context The School of Information Technology at QUT has recently undertaken a major restructuring of their Bachelor of Information Technology (BIT) course. Some of the aims of this restructuring include a reduction in first year attrition and to provide an attractive degree course that meets both student and industry expectations. Emphasis has been placed on the first semester in the context of retaining students by introducing a set of four units that complement one another and provide introductory material on technology, programming and related skills, and generic skills that will aid the students throughout their undergraduate course and in their careers. This discussion relates to one of these four fist semester units, namely Building IT Systems. The aim of this unit is to create small Information Technology (IT) systems that use programming or scripting, databases as either standalone applications or web applications. In the prior history of teaching introductory computer programming at QUT, programming has been taught as a stand alone subject and integration of computer applications with other systems such as databases and networks was not undertaken until students had been given a thorough grounding in those topics as well. Feedback has indicated that students do not believe that working with a database requires programming skills. In fact, the teaching of the building blocks of computer applications have been compartmentalized and taught in isolation from each other. The teaching of introductory computer programming has been an industry requirement of IT degree courses as many jobs require at least some knowledge of the topic. Yet, computer programming is not a skill that all students have equal capabilities of learning (Bruce et al., 2004) and this is clearly shown by the volume of publications dedicated to this topic in the literature over a broad period of time (Eckerdal & Berglund, 2005; Mayer, 1981; Winslow, 1996). The teaching of this introductory material has been done pretty much the same way over the past thirty years. During this period of time that introductory computer programming courses have been taught at QUT, a number of different programming languages and programming paradigms have been used and different approaches to teaching and learning have been attempted in an effort to find the golden thread that would allow students to learn this complex topic. Unfortunately, computer programming is not a skill that can be learnt in one semester. Some basics can be learnt but it can take many years to master (Norvig, 2001). Faculty data typically has shown a bimodal distribution of results for students undertaking introductory programming courses with a high proportion of students receiving a high mark and a high proportion of students receiving a low or failing mark. This indicates that there are students who understand and excel with the introductory material while there is another group who struggle to understand the concepts and practices required to be able to translate a specification or problem statement into a computer program that achieves what is being requested. The consequence of a large group of students failing the introductory programming course has been a high level of attrition amongst first year students. This attrition level does not provide good continuity in student numbers in later years of the degree program and the current approach is not seen as sustainable.

A news story as big as a doctoral thesis? : deploying journalistic methodology in academic research

The purpose of this paper is to identify and recommend the emergence of an academic research methodology for Journalism the academic discipline, through reviewing various journalistic methods of research – those making up a key element in such methodology. Its focus is on journalistic styles of work employed in academic contexts especially research on mass media issues. It proposes that channelling such activity into disciplined academic forms will enhance both: allowing the former to provide more durable and deeper outcomes, injecting additional energy and intensity of purpose into the latter. It will briefly consider characteristics of research methodologies and methods, generally; characteristics of the Journalism discipline, and its relationship with mass media industries and professions. The model of journalism used here is the Western liberal stream. A proposition is made, that teaching and research in universities focused on professional preparation of journalists, has developed so that it is a mature academic discipline. Its adherents are for the most part academics with background in journalistic practice, and so able to deploy intellectual skills of journalists, while also accredited with Higher Degrees principally in humanities. Research produced in this discipline area stands to show two characteristics: (a) it employs practices used generally in academic research, e.g. qualitative research methods such as ethnographic studies or participant observation, or review of documents including archived media products, and (b) within such contexts it may use more specifically journalistic techniques, e.g. interviewing styles, reflection on practice of journalism, and in creative practice research, journalistic forms of writing – highlighting journalistic / practitioner capabilities of the author. So the Journalism discipline, as a discipline closely allied to a working profession, is described as one where individual professional skills and background preparation for media work will be applicable to academic research. In this connection the core modus operandi will be the directly research-related practices of: insistent establishment of facts, adept crafting of reportage, and economising well with time. Prospective fields for continuing research are described:- work in new media; closer investigation of relations among media producers and audiences; journalism as creative practice, and general publishing by journalists, e.g. writing histories.

Mood and self-efficacy : impact of joy and sadness on perceived capabilities

Examined the impact of happy and sad moods on efficacy judgments concerning a variety of activities in 16 undergraduates who scored between 9 and 12 on the Harvard Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility—Form A. The mood was induced by having hypnotized Ss recall and revive their feelings about a romantic success or failure. Changes in efficacy that these memories induced were not restricted to the romantic domain but were also seen on interpersonal, athletic, and other activities remote from romance. Results suggest that emotional states have widespread impact on judgments by making mood-congruent thoughts more available. Implications for self-efficacy theory and practical applications are discussed.

Writing together, learning together : the value and effectiveness of a research writing group for doctoral students

The high level of scholarly writing required for a doctoral thesis is a challenge for many research students. However, formal academic writing training is not a core component of many doctoral programs. Informal writing groups for doctoral students may be one method of contributing to the improvement of scholarly writing. In this paper, we report on a writing group that was initiated by an experienced writer and higher degree research supervisor to support and improve her doctoral students’ writing capabilities. Over time, this group developed a workable model to suit their varying needs and circumstances. The model comprised group sessions, an email group, and individual writing. Here, we use a narrative approach to explore the effectiveness and value of our research writing group model in improving scholarly writing. The data consisted of doctoral students’ reflections to stimulus questions about their writing progress and experiences. The stimulus questions sought to probe individual concerns about their own writing, what they had learned in the research writing group, the benefits of the group, and the disadvantages and challenges to participation. These reflections were analysed using thematic analysis. Following this analysis, the supervisor provided her perspective on the key themes that emerged. Results revealed that, through the writing group, members learned technical elements (e.g., paragraph structure), non-technical elements (e.g., working within limited timeframes), conceptual elements (e.g., constructing a cohesive arguments), collaborative writing processes, and how to edit and respond to feedback. In addition to improved writing quality, other benefits were opportunities for shared writing experiences, peer support, and increased confidence and motivation. The writing group provides a unique social learning environment with opportunities for: professional dialogue about writing, peer learning and review, and developing a supportive peer network. Thus our research writing group has proved an effective avenue for building doctoral students’ capability in scholarly writing. The proposed model for a research writing group could be applicable to any context, regardless of the type and location of the university, university faculty, doctoral program structure, or number of postgraduate students. It could also be used within a group of students with diverse research abilities, needs, topics and methodologies. However, it requires a group facilitator with sufficient expertise in scholarly writing and experience in doctoral supervision who can both engage the group in planned writing activities and also capitalise on fruitful lines of discussion related to students’ concerns as they arise. The research writing group is not intended to replace traditional supervision processes nor existing training. However it has clear benefits for improving scholarly writing in doctoral research programs particularly in an era of rapidly increasing student load.

An examination of the relationship between workload and fatigue within and across consecutive days of work: Is the relationshiop static or dynamic?

Cognitive-energetical theories of information processing were used to generate predictions regarding the relationship between workload and fatigue within and across consecutive days of work. Repeated measures were taken on board a naval vessel during a non-routine and a routine patrol. Data were analyzed using growth curve modeling. Fatigue demonstrated a non-monotonic relationship within days in both patrols – fatigue was high at midnight, started decreasing until noontime and then increased again. Fatigue increased across days towards the end of the non-routine patrol, but remained stable across days in the routine patrol. The relationship between workload and fatigue changed over consecutive days in the non-routine patrol. At the beginning of the patrol, low workload was associated with fatigue. At the end of the patrol, high workload was associated with fatigue. This relationship could not be tested in the routine patrol, however it demonstrated a non-monotonic relationship between workload and fatigue – low and high workloads were associated with the highest fatigue. These results suggest that the optimal level of workload can change over time and thus have implications for the management of fatigue.

Optimal allocation and sizing of capacitors to minimize the transmission line loss and to improve the voltage profile

To allocate and size capacitors in a distribution system, an optimization algorithm, called Discrete Particle Swarm Optimization (DPSO), is employed in this paper. The objective is to minimize the transmission line loss cost plus capacitors cost. During the optimization procedure, the bus voltage, the feeder current and the reactive power flowing back to the source side should be maintained within standard levels. To validate the proposed method, the semi-urban distribution system that is connected to bus 2 of the Roy Billinton Test System (RBTS) is used. This 37-bus distribution system has 22 loads being located in the secondary side of a distribution substation (33/11 kV). Reducing the transmission line loss in a standard system, in which the transmission line loss consists of only about 6.6 percent of total power, the capabilities of the proposed technique are seen to be validated.

Innovation and learning for sustainable competitive advantage : preliminary findings

Achieving and sustaining competitive advantage is a major challenge for firms in today’s dynamic global marketplace. The notion of sustained competitive advantage has been investigated through a number of paradigms, from the resource based view of the firm to dynamic capabilities. This paper reports preliminary findings from research which investigates the characteristics of innovative firms that have demonstrated competitive advantage over time, targeting factors that contribute to the firm’s performance. Key factors to sustaining competitive advantage include working with demanding customers, team based organizational cultures, engaging in challenging projects to make new to the world products, and using projects to generate the necessity for learning by doing, learning by using and learning by interacting in new product and process development.

There is no relationship : service provider staff on how LGBT young people experience policing

There has been an extended engagement with how young people experience policing, with a focus on the intersection between policing and indigeneity, ethnicity, gender, and social class. Interestingly, sexuality and/or gender diversity has been almost completely overlooked, both nationally and internationally. This paper reports on LGBT youth service providers’ accounts about police and LGBT young people interactions. It overviews the outcomes of semi-structured interviews with key LGBT youth service providers in different regions of Brisbane, Queensland. As the first qualitative engagement with these issues from the perspective of service providers, it highlights not only how LGBT young people experience policing, but also how service providers need to ‘work the system’ of policing to produce the best outcomes for LGBT young people.

Under great pressure, a diamond is being formed: The SBS over time

This article observes a paradox in the recent history of the Special Broadcasting Service. It is argued that, in contrast to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the role and general direction of SBS were not extensively debated as part of the ‘culture wars’ that occurred during the years of the Howard government. While that made SBS a less fraught space during that period, it may now be a factor in the comparative lack of support being given by the Rudd Labor government to SBS in comparison with the ABC, as some of the ‘special’ status of SBS has been blunted by its drift towards more mainstream programming and a mixed economy of commercial advertising, as well as government funding.