New learning networks and their invisible students : policy as simulation or the avoidance game?

Within a climate of policy hysteria, it is often claimed that a 'preoccupation with performance' develops, focussing on individual success stories, resulting in 'fad-like waves of adoption and abandonment'. Within this increasing pace and intensity of reform, new networks are formed and new relationships developed, with key players taking on new forms of identity to morph into the constantly changing policy climate. Despite continued evidence of young people's pathways from school being more like mosaic than linear, new policy still seeks to define and limit the possible lines of flight and trajectories, closely managing the education and training of young people at risk. In Victoria, the major policy initiative has involved the establishment of LLENs, the local all purpose solution to young people who might not be sticking to the linear policy pathway. So are we involved in 'an avoidance game', filling up the post compulsory policy space with more and more policies, which in fact seek to continue to regulate and constrain young people, rather than supporting them? This paper interrogates the policies and practices which have created the learning networks, of the SGR LLEN through policy analysis and case studies.

Game theory applications in natural resource management : review of evidence, problems and potential

Game theory is a rapidly advancing approach to structure and understand complex management problems in the natural resources sector in both the developed and developing countries. Many natural resource problems are complex due to common property and public goods characteristics. Despite these limitations many researchers have used game theory to analyze water shed management, irrigation water management, grazing land management, and managing other ecological resources. The prisoner’s dilemma game has been widely used. The work of Runge shows that collective action is feasible if a critical mass of people can cooperate. The use of game theory is hindered by lack of information, paucity of empirical applications and the lack of interest by policy makers who wish quick answers to critical policy issues. The potential still remains high for game theory to be productively used both in developing and developed countries.

What`s in a game?

Computer games are among the most visible texts of the new information and communication technologies. For many parents, teachers and other adults, computer games have become a focus for their fears about social and technological change, including the changing nature of childhood and the threats to Australia's national and cultural heritage and identity posed by the multinational (and predominantly American) products that saturate the market. However, there are several alternative ways of 'reading' computer games and interpreting their possible effects. These lesson ideas invite students to explore some of these alternatives by examining the storylines and other characteristics of selected games. Through these activities students will:
• experiment with alternative ways of 'reading' selected computer games
• explore issues of gender, violence and cultural values in selected computer games
• discuss and debate the fears held by many adults about the possible effects of computer games on young people
• cooperate with others in justifying a position.

(W)reading, wrangling and the rhythm of the text: enhancing the education of young boys with game-based learning

W)reading, wrangling and the rhythm of the text: enhancing the education of young boys with game-based learning Connecting curriculum content to young people's engagement with texts outside of the classroom is increasingly recognised as a method of providing challenging learning environments (Beavis 1999). The introduction of games-based learning in areas such as literacy provides young people with a structural and conceptual framework with which many, particularly young males, may be familiar...

Our wicked foreign game : why has association football (Soccer) not became the main code of football in Australia?

This essay examines the role of soccer in Australian popular life, emphasizing the game's position of secondary importance to rugby or Australian Rules in different regions. It draws on international comparisons with the USA or white British colonies to argue that in a uniquely multicultural country like Australia with established sporting traditions, domestic experience of the game could shape the past, present and future of soccer in the country. Given the cultural diversity of the state, it should work towards a strategic competitive advantage for the popularization of soccer in contemporary Australia

All that is dark can become white: the rules of the game in Bend it Like Beckham

The “light” and uplifting film, Bend it Like Beckham (2002), is deconstructed to expose its passive ideologies that equate physical darkness with regressive cultural and social outlooks and practices. While Bend it Like Beckham constructs itself as a modern fairy tale of a girl achieving her dream of athletic opportunity and success (with a nice side-dish of romance), the film’s privileging of whiteness is both a cultural and a gendered norm that must be desired and achieved before that dream may come true.

Shut the decimal box - a mathematics dice game

The table-top game of Shut the Box is popular in Europe and England, but not well known in Australia. Sets can be purchased, but the game can be played with home-made equipment. A variant of the game which illustrates the standard rules, with a decimal twist to the scoring, is described. A list of the equipment required is also provided.

Game-centred models and teaching in culturally diverse settings

This presentation draws on the observations and experiences that we, as teacher educators, have had using Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) as a pedagogical tool with generalist pre-service teachers in two different sites: Malaysia and Australia. TGfU is a game-centred pedagogy in which students learn the „Why‟ of game playing before the „How‟ of the skills associated with the game. This concept is based on a student-centred approach to learning. The benefit of this pedagogy to generalist teachers is the notion that they are not required to be a master of many sports. This narrative relates the observations and experiences of teacher educators of Malaysian and Australian generalist pre-service teachers confronted with teaching and learning TGfU for the first time in their culturally specific contexts. The two key issues arising from teaching the TGfU model were: the disparity in the cohorts‟ experiences arising from institutionalised conceptions by the pre-service teachers of what and how learning occurs in physical education; and the pre-service teachers‟ difficulty with implementing the TGfU model in a practical situation. Crossing the cultural divide for the Malaysian and Australian pre-service teachers required them to explore more fully the range of approaches to teaching and to recognise a more student-centred approach as a valid and authentic tool. As both teachers and observers of this process, our intention was to examine the two cohorts‟ learning and subsequent teaching with the aim of developing better understandings of the challenges when teaching TGfU in tertiary settings.

Aggressive tax planning : differentiating those playing the game from those who don't

The study reported in this paper examined a group of Australian taxpayers who have expressed a preference for a creative and aggressive tax agent. The study attempted to understand how high-risk taxpayers and high-risk practitioners form their partnerships by examining aggressive taxpayers' attitudes and perceptions of the Australian tax system. Data were taken from 2040 Australian taxpayers who had responded to a national survey on tax issues. Results from a series of independent sample t-tests revealed that there are a number of important differences between 'aggressive' and 'non-aggressive' taxpayers. Finally, a logistic regression analysis was used to determine which variables most effectively differentiated aggressive taxpayers from non-aggressive taxpayers. The findings are discussed in a regulatory context and possible solutions for how tax authorities might deal with this high-risk group of taxpayer are suggested.