Constructing inclusive education in a neo-liberal context : promoting inclusion of Arab-Australian students in an Australian context

School systems are a major social change agent capable of challenging social inequalities and economic disadvantages. Yet, while schools in Australia are being confronted with increasingly culturally diverse populations as well as an increasing focus on student retention, this transformative role is increasingly being played out in a broader educational context that has been found to replicate rather than challenge patterns of social inequality. Successive governments in Australia have responded to this context with a raft of policy initiatives. This paper, based on three-year longitudinal research undertaken in the city of Melbourne, outlines this policy context and introduces the theoretical approach that underpins its innovative approach to managing cultural diversity in educational institutions. It argues for, and presents, a multidimensional model for managing cultural diversity in schools, one that provides the tools for transformative practices to be undertaken to effect positive change in school environments for the benefit of all students.

Local governance and the challenge of religious pluralism in liberal democracies : an Australian perspective

Multiculturalism has gradually retreated as a meaningful concept for Australian identity and has, instead, been replaced by principles of equal citizenship and a commitment to the core values of Australian national identity. This paper firstly locates these shifts in broader theoretical debates underpinning democratic governance and equal citizenship. Secondly, and given that local government is a key constituent of Australia's democratic system, the paper seeks to explore the attitudes of local government representatives towards multicultural services and cultural citizenship in contemporary Australia. The empirical findings of this study show that a minority of local government representatives hold a negative outlook on cultural diversity and multicultural policies. The paper argues that it is important to ensure opportunities for intercultural understanding at the local level are optimised as a way of enhancing full and equal citizenship for all and thus creating greater possibilities for successful integration among religious and cultural minorities

Authentically assessing graduate teaching: outside and beyond neo-liberal constructs

In this paper, we challenge the current focus on ‘best practice’, graduate teacher tests, and student test scores as the panacea for ensuring teaching quality and argue for ways of thinking about evidence of quality beginning teaching outside and beyond the current neoliberal accountability discourses circulating in Australia and other countries. We suggest that teacher educators need to reinsert themselves as key players in the debates around quality beginning teaching, rather than being viewed as a source of the problem. To enable teacher educators to assume accountability for quality beginning teachers, we propose the framework of a capstone teacher performance assessment—a structured portfolio called the Authentic Teacher Assessment (ATA)— and examine examples of these assessments through the lens of critical discourse analysis. As a measure of ‘readiness to teach’, the ATA is compared with supervising teachers’ assessments of preservice teachers. We argue that structured portfolios that include artefacts derived from preservice teachers’ practice in classrooms along with graduate teacher self assessments provide a stronger accountability measure of effec- tive beginning teaching and demonstrably address the current anxiety regarding ‘evi- dence’. We suggest that such an approach should be reliable enough to be ‘read’ by external assessors (and moderated across other teacher education institutions). Rigor- ous research on a national basis is called for in order to develop and implement a structured portfolio as rich evidence of graduates’ quality and readiness to teach.

From the President: On the Liberal Arts and the Lesson of Steve Jobs

Colby President Bro Adams on Steve Jobs and the liberal arts.

A flexibilização do processo de formulação de estratégias empresarias. O caso da transportadora brasileira Bolivia-Brasil

Com a maIOr interação entre povos, culturas e nações e a conseqüente abertura dos mercados, a concorrência entre as organizações tem aumentado consideravelmente, forçando-as a buscarem diferenciais que lhes garantam a criação e a manutenção de altos níveis de competitividade. A presença de algumas das técnicas de flexibilização do processo formal de formulação de estratégias pode ser um indicativo de maior preocupação das empresas com a instabilidade externa, porém, sem necessariamente, dar à organização o poder de adaptar-se continuamente às possíveis alterações. o presente estudo pretende analisar o caso da Transportadora Brasileira Gasoduto BolíviaBrasil sob o prisma das teorias de Motta, Mintzberg e Grant verificando se o processo de formulação de estratégias da citada organização se caracteriza pela criação de estratégias emergentes ou deliberadas e se demonstra flexibilidade diante do ambiente externo.