How evidence-based teaching practices are challenged by a Deweyan approach to education

The claim is made in this paper that the discourse of education offers a challenge to evidence-based practices because this latter approach is embedded in the discourse of management. Although claiming the status of being 'scientific', this latter development is drawn upon problematically by policy makers to provide the warrant for stipulating rules and procedures for 'best practices' to which educators are being held accountable. This paper shall draw mostly upon Dewey and is structured into three sections. The first section will attempt to explain the flaw in this evidence-based approach by providing a comparison between empiricism and science. Second, a review of Dewey's recommendation for educators to become more scientific in attitude will then follow, leading to the final section, in which the case will be made that educational practice needs to become as scientific, philosophical and democratic as possible in order for educators to resist being de-professionalised.

Fundamental elements in examining a child’s right to education : a study of home education research and regulation in Australia

Home education provides valuable educational and developmental opportunities for children. An examination of Australia’s research indicates many best educational practices, including more informed mediation, contextualised learning, and opportunities to exercise autonomy. Key features include learning embedded in communities and program modification in response to students’ needs. Current state and territory legal requirements are examined within the context of this research and Australia’s obligations to international human rights treaties. All jurisdictions accept home education as one way to meet compulsory education requirements. The extent to which respective laws then reflect understanding of home education research and practice varies. Most jurisdictions allow for a variety of educational approaches. Some oversight regulation could however be modified to reflect a better understanding of home education. Consultation with home educators and reference to research would assist the development of more uniform legislation and policy across Australia, and enable better regulatory practice.

Five-year change in cardiovascular risk factors according to education level : the Australian diabetes, obesity and lifestyle (AusDiab) study

Background: Lower socioeconomic status (SES) is strongly associated with a higher prevalence of major cardiovascular risk factors, but few studies have examined changes in these risk factors over time according to SES. We aimed to determine whether SES is a predictor of the change in cardiovascular risk factor levels in a contemporary Australian adult cohort

Methods: Participants in the population-based AusDiab study aged 25+ years who attended both baseline and 5-year follow-up examinations (n=5 954) were categorised according to their level of education at baseline. Cardiovascular risk factor data at both time points were ascertained through questionnaire and physical measurement. Analysis was stratified by gender.

Results: The mean levels of systolic blood pressure, total cholesterol and the prevalence of smoking decreased between the two time points across all educational categories. Increases were also seen in mean BMI and the prevalence of diabetes. For blood pressure, the smallest decrease was seen among men with lower education (age-adjusted difference from higher education 2.8 mmHg, 95% CI 1.0 to 4.6). For total cholesterol, the decrease was greatest among women with lower education (age-adjusted difference from higher education 0.11 mmol/l, 95% CI 0.19 to 0.02). Among those "not at risk" at baseline for each risk factor, women with lower education were more likely than those with higher education to progress to being "at risk" for BMI (age-adjusted odds ratio 1.60, 95% CI 1.09 to 2.35).

Conclusion: Educational gradients narrowed for total cholesterol in women, but widened for systolic blood pressure in men and remained static for other risk factors. Lower education was also associated with an earlier onset of overweight or obesity in women. Given current socioeconomic gradients in risk factors levels, these findings suggest that social inequalities in CVD will persist and may even widen in the future.

Labour productivity measurement with variable returns to scale in Australia's construction industry

As an important productivity indicator, the change of labour productivity is one indispensable marker in determining the rise or fall of overall industrial performance. This study aims to address whether the labour productivity level of the Australian construction industry has, in fact, shown a huge improvement during the last few decades. This article constructs a measuring method estimating labour productivity changes based on the data envelopment analysis technique with variable returns to scale. By adopting a production frontier approach, the labour productivity index can be broken down into components attributable to efficiency change, technological progress and capital accumulation. The numerical results exemplified by a single-input and single-output system indicate that the average annual labour productivity levels of the construction industry are slowly growing in all the Australian states and territories. However, the year-on-year change in the overall labour productivity performance does not maintain a long-term increase over the period 1990–2008. The study forms the basis for further industrial productivity research. Proposals and recommendations are expected to be beneficial for making policy and strategic decisions to improve the performance of the construction industry.

Healing the physical/spiritual divide through a holistic and hermeneutic approach to education

In this special edition of the journal, attention is being given to the two dimensions of spirituality and physicality. In this particular paper I argue that there is an unhelpful divide that is often assumed to exist between these two dimensions and that this divide can be transcended or healed' through a holistic and hermeneutic approach to education. Rather than give our focus to narrower concerns such as spiritual education and physical education, we ought instead to pursue education in such a way that it is understood to necessarily be inclusive of both the physical and the spiritual simultaneously. That is, our spirituality is necessarily embodied in the physical. In order to make this argument, references to holistic education shall mainly draw upon the works of Dewey and Gadamer.

Impact of policy changes on the efficiency and returns-to-scale of Japanese financial institutions: an evaluation

This paper examines the impact of FSA's (Financial Services Agency) recent policy changes on the efficiency and returns-to-scale (RTS) of Japanese financial institutions including banks, securities companies and bank holding companies. Three kinds of efficiency are investigated namely, technical efficiency (TE), pure technical efficiency (PTE) and scale efficiency (SE) using the non-parametric methodology named data envelopment analysis (DEA). The DEA analysis shows a substantial improvement in the overall efficiency of Japanese banks, albeit a significant difference of efficiency scores between the major/city banks and the regional banks. Results are robust to alternative specifications of efficiency and scale changes.

Using irregularly spaced returns to estimate multi-factor models: application to Brazilian equity data

Multi-factor models constitute a useful tool to explain cross-sectional covariance in equities returns. We propose in this paper the use of irregularly spaced returns in the multi-factor model estimation and provide an empirical example with the 389 most liquid equities in the Brazilian Market. The market index shows itself significant to explain equity returns while the US$/Brazilian Real exchange rate and the Brazilian standard interest rate does not. This example shows the usefulness of the estimation method in further using the model to fill in missing values and to provide interval forecasts.

Equity and Efficiency in Education: motivations and targets

The recently released "Educational PAC" attempts to place basic education at the center of the social debate. We have subsidized this debate, offering a diagnosis of how different education levels can impact individuals' lives through broad and easily interpreted indicators. Initially, we analyze how much each educational level reaches the poorest population. For example, how are those in the bottom strata of income distribution benefited by childcare centers, private secondary education, public university or adult education. The next step is to quantify the return of educational actions, such as their effects on employability and an individual's wages, and even health as perceived by the individual, be that individual poor, middle class or elite. The next part of the research presents evidence of how the main characters in education, aka mothers, fathers and children, regard education. The site available with the research presents a broad, user-friendly database, which will allow interested parties to answer their own questions relative to why people do not attend school, the time spent in the educational system and returns to education, which can all be cross-sectioned with a wide array of socio-demographic attributes (gender, income, etc.) and school characteristics (is it public, are school meals offered, etc.) to find answers to: why do young adults of a certain age not attend school? Why do they miss classes? How long is the school day? Aside from the whys and hows of teaching, the research calculates the amount of time spent in school, resulting from a combination between absence rates, evasion raters and length of the school day. The study presents ranks of indicators referring to objective and subjective aspects of education, such as the discussion of the advantages and care in establishing performance based incentives that aim at guiding the states in the race for better educational indicators.