The geography of creative people in Germany

It has been argued that creativity is an important source of regional growth. This paper investigates the geography of people in creative occupation in Germany. The population share of the Creative Class as well as of bohemians and artists is relatively high in larger cities, but smaller places and rural regions may also have a considerable proportion of people with a creative job. While ethnical and cultural diversity and a high level of public supply in health care and education can explain the distribution of creative people, employment opportunities seem to play only a minor role. A high share of creative occupations seems to be conducive to regional growth; however, the exact nature of this relationship is still unclear.

Recognising Torres Strait Islander women’s knowledges in their children’s mathematics education

This paper discusses women’s involvement in their children’s mathematics education. It does, where possible, focus Torres Strait Islander women who share the aspirations of Aborginal communities around Australia. That is, they are keen for their children to receive an education that provides them with opportunities for their present and future lives. They are also keen to have their cultures’ child learning practices recognised and respected within mainstream education. This recognition has some way to go with the language of instruction in schools written to English conventions, decontextualised and disconnected to the students’ culture, Community and home language.

Politics and school education in Australia : a case of shifting purposes

Purpose – The paper aims to argue that there has been a privileging of the private (social mobility) and economic (social efficiency) purposes of schooling at the expense of the public (democratic equality) purposes of schooling. Design/methodology/approach – The paper employs a literature review, policy and document analysis. Findings – Since the late 1980s, the schooling agenda in Australia has been narrowed to one that gives primacy to purposes of schooling that highlight economic orientations (social efficiency) and private purposes (social mobility). Practical implications – The findings have wider relevance beyond Australia, as similar policy agendas are evident in many other countries raising the question as to how the shift in purposes of education in those countries might mirror those in Australia. Originality/value – While earlier writers have examined schooling policies in Australia and noted the implications of managerialism in relation to these policies, no study has analysed these policies from the perspective of the purposes of schooling. Conceptualising schooling, and its purposes in particular, in this way refocuses attention on how societies use their educational systems to promote (or otherwise) the public good.

Teachers' and education students' perceptions of and reactions to children with and without the diagnostic label 'ADHD'

Thirty-four elementary school teachers and 32 education students from Canada rated their reactions towards vignettes describing children who met attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptom criteria that included or did not include the label “ADHD.” “ADHD”-labeled vignettes elicited greater perceptions of the child's impairment as well as more negative emotions and less confidence in the participants, although it also increased participants' willingness to implement treatment interventions. Ratings were similar to vignettes of boys versus girls; however, important differences in ratings between teachers and education students emerged and are discussed. Finally, we investigated the degree to which teachers' professional backgrounds influenced bias based on the label “ADHD.” Training specific to ADHD consistently predicted label bias, whereas teachers' experience working with children with ADHD did not.

Surveying the state of higher education in energy efficiency, in Australian engineering curriculum

This paper presents the method and results of a survey of 27 of the 33 Australian universities teaching engineering education in late 2007, undertaken by The Natural Edge Project (hosted by Griffith University and the Australian National University) and supported by the National Framework for Energy Efficiency. This survey aimed to ascertain the extent of energy efficiency (EE) education, and to identify preferred methods to assist in increasing the extent to which EE education is embedded in engineering curriculum. In this paper the context for the survey is supported by a summary of the key results from a variety of surveys undertaken over the last decade internationally. The paper concludes that EE education across universities and engineering disciplines in Australia is currently highly variable and ad hoc. Based on the results of the survey, this paper highlights a number of preferred options to support educators to embed sustainability within engineering programs, and future opportunities for monitoring EE, within the context of engineering education for sustainable development (EESD).

Improving the provision of learning assistance services in higher education

This study is motivated by the need to look continually for ways to improve Griffith University's learning assistance services so that they meet the changed needs of stakeholders and are at the same time cost-effective and efficient. This study uses the conceptual tools of cultural-historical activity theory and expansive visibilisation to investigaate the developmenet and transformation of learning assistance services at Griffith University, one of Australia's largest mult-campus universities.