Introduction : Picture Books ... Then, Now and Beyond

Picture books are known and familiar objects to many children and adults. They have been variously described as art objects, cultural documents, hybrid texts and verbal-visual art forms. They have also been variously categorised according to their readership – ranging from very young children to older readers, the latter can extend through the primary years to high school and even into adulthood. Scholars and students study picture books as part of an evolving literary and cultural landscape which has given rise to new genres and trends, such as ‘multicultural picture books’, ‘environmental picture books’ and ‘postmodern picture books’, and what Cherie Allan terms, ‘postmodernesque picture books’, that is, ‘picturebooks about postmodernity’ (Allan, 2012, p. 141). Picture books are also the staple literature in many early years and primary school classrooms for literacy and literary development, thus supporting the designated strands for literacy, literature, and language in the Australian Curriculum: English.

Transforming the core business of teaching and learning in classrooms through ICT

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has become an integral part of societies across the globe. This study demonstrates how successful technology integration by 10 experienced teachers in an Australian high school was dependent on teacher-driven change and innovation that influenced the core business of teaching and learning. The teachers were subject specialists across a range of disciplines, engaging their Year Eight students (aged 12–14 years) in the Technology Rich Classrooms programme. Two classrooms were renovated to accommodate the newly acquired computer hardware. The first classroom adopted a one-to-one desktop model with all the computers with Internet access arranged in a front-facing pattern. The second classroom had computers arranged in small groups. The students also used Blackboard to access learning materials after school hours. Qualitative data were gathered from teachers mainly through structured and unstructured interviews and a range of other approaches to ascertain their perceptions of the new initiative. This investigation showed that ICT was impacting positively on the core business of teaching and learning. Through the support of the school leadership team, the built environment was enabling teachers to use ICT. This influenced their pedagogical approaches and the types of learning activities they designed and implemented. As a consequence, teachers felt that students were motivated and benefited through this experience.

From music student to industry professional: An entrepreneurial learning design

This design-based research project addresses the gap between formal music education curricula and the knowledge and skills necessary to enter the professional music industry. It analyses the work of a teacher/researcher who invited her high school students to start their own business venture, Youth Music Industries (YMI). YMI also functioned as a learning environment informed by the theoretical concepts of communities of practice and social capital. The students staged cycles of events of various scales over a three-year period, as platforms for young artists to engage and develop new, young audiences across Queensland, Australia. The study found that students developed an entrepreneurial mindset through acquisition of specific skills and knowledge. Their learning was captured and distilled into a set of design principles, a pedagogical approach transferrable across the creative industries more broadly.

2014 GO423 Symposium

The Game On program and the Game On Symposium supports sector building and sustainability of the local game making industry through strengthening community networks and fostering recognition of our local game making industry. The Game On Symposium – GO423 is a two-day festival focused on Queensland practitioners and community – from leaders in the field to emerging professionals and students (High School and tertiary level). With a program of presentations, debates, discussions, and exhibition around interactive screen culture and practice, GO423 promotes an understanding of the Queensland and Australian screen production industry within a broad global context.

Which values?: Matching Schwartz's ten values constructs with the Nine Values for Australian Schooling

This study set out to determine which values are represented in the National Framework for Values Education in Australian Schools by matching Schwartz's ten values constructs to the Nine Values for Australian Schooling and examining the values orientations of contemporary young people, specifically Grade 8 girls from one State High School in South East Queensland. This was achieved by using the Schwartz Portrait Values Questionnaire (PVQ) as well as thematic analysis. Key findings were that there was a match between the Grade 8 girls values and some of the Nine Values however not others. Also, that not all of Schwartz's values are represented in the Nine Values for Australian Schooling, and certain values could be said to be omitted from the Framework and certain privileged.

Accolades or achievement? Addressing the unforeseen consequences of therapeutic pedagogy

Commentary "We have found little to indicate that indiscriminately promoting self-esteem in today’s children or adults, just for being themselves, offers society any compensatory benefits beyond the seductive pleasure it brings to those engaged in the exercise. (Baumeister, Campbell, Krueger, & Vohs, 2005)" In June this year, Wellesley High School became a focus of attention worldwide, following a graduation speech made by a teacher at the school. Departing from the traditional rhetoric of such ceremonies, English teacher David McCullough told the assembled graduates that they were neither special nor exceptional, but may well believe they were because they had been ‘pampered, cosseted, doted upon, helmeted, and bubble-wrapped, feted and fawned over’, an effect, he argued, of Americans’ ‘love of accolades more than genuine achievement’ (Christakis, 2012, p. 1). This assertion struck a chord not only in his home country, but more widely in the Western world, with many educators, childcare workers and parents experiencing a sense of unease about the extent to which this claim was justifiable, and if so, what sort of corrective might be needed.

Inventory of pedagogy and practice: Confirmatory factor analysis of multiple facets of teaching

Student perceptions of teaching have often been used in tertiary education for evaluation purposes. However, there is a paucity of research on the validity, reliability, and applicability of instruments that cover a wide range of student perceptions of pedagogies and practices in high school settings for descriptive purposes. The study attempts to validate an inventory of pedagogy and practice (IPP) that provides researchers and practitioners with a psychometrically sound instrument that covers the most salient factors related to teaching. Using a sample of students (N = 1515) from 39 schools in Singapore, 14 factors about teaching in English lessons from the students’ perspective were tested with confirmatory factor analysis (classroom task goal, structure and clarity, curiosity and interest, positive class climate, feedback, questioning, quality homework, review of students’ work, conventional teaching, exam preparation, behaviour management, maximizing learning time, student-centred pedagogy, and subject domain teaching). Two external criterion factors were used to further test the IPP factor structure. The inventory will enable teachers to understand more about their teaching and researchers to examine how teaching may be related to learning outcomes.

Walking and talking with living texts: Breathing life against static standardisation

Current educational reform, policy and public discourse emphasise standardisation of testing, curricula and professional practice, yet the landscape of literacy practices today is fluid, interactive, multimodal, ever-changing, adaptive and collaborative. How then can English and literacy educators negotiate these conflicting terrains? The nature of today’s literacy practices is reflected in a concept of living texts which refers to experienced events and encounters that offer meaning-making that is fluid, interactive and changing. Literacy learning possibilities with living texts are described and discussed by the authors who independently investigated the place of living texts across two distinctly different learning contexts: a young people’s community arts project and a co-taught multiliteracies project in a high school. In the community arts project, young people created living texts as guided walks of urban spaces that adapt and change to varying audiences. In the multiliteracies project, two parents and a teacher created interactive spaces through co-teaching and cogenerative dialoguing. These spaces generate living texts that yield a purposefully connected curriculum rich in community-relevant and culturally significant texts. These two studies are shared with a view of bringing living texts into literacy education to loosen rigidity in standardisation.

Differential segmentation responses to an alcohol social marketing program

Objective This study seeks establish whether meaningful subgroups exist within a 14-16 year old adolescent population and if these segments respond differently to the Game On: Know Alcohol (GOKA) intervention, a school-based alcohol social marketing program. Methodology This study is part of a larger cluster randomized controlled evaluation of the Game On: Know Alcohol (GOKA) program implemented in 14 schools in 2013/2014. TwoStep cluster analysis was conducted to segment 2114 high school adolescents (14-16 years old) on the basis of 22 demographic, behavioral and psychographic variables. Program effects on knowledge, attitudes, behavioral intentions, social norms, expectancies and refusal self-efficacy of identified segments was subsequently examined. Results Three segments were identified: (1) Abstainers (2) Bingers (3) Moderate Drinkers. Program effects varied significantly across segments. The strongest positive change effects post participation were observed for the Bingers, while mixed effects were evident for Moderate Drinkers and Abstainers. Conclusions These findings provide preliminary empirical evidence supporting application of social marketing segmentation in alcohol education programs. Development of targeted programs that meet the unique needs of each of the three identified segments is indicated to extend the social marketing footprint in alcohol education.

Taking the right road to somewhere

What do you with a teenager that no high school in Queensland wants sitting in its classrooms? A child that's disruptive, violent, who won't turn up? Who, it seems, the system has given up on? Any police officer, or child welfare worker will tell you what's likely to happen... a story with an unhappy ending, usually involving brushes with the law and then jail. But a unique project being run in Brisbane is trying to break that cycle.

A behavioural economics inquiry into inequality in education: Three empirical essays

This thesis investigates behavioural processes for inequality in education and solutions to mitigate such effects, applying conceptual and methodological insights from behavioural and experimental economics. It explores relative age differences in economic preferences of young individuals, the influence of stereotypes and positive discrimination on performance, and evaluates a program that offers strong encouragement for educational achievement of indigenous high school students.

The prevalence of anisometropia, amblyopia and strabismus in schoolchildren of Shiraz, Iran

PURPOSE To determine the prevalence of amblyopia, anisometropia, and strabismus in schoolchildren of Shiraz, Iran. MATERIALS AND METHODS A random cluster sampling was used in a cross-sectional study on schoolchildren in Shiraz. Cycloplegic refraction was performed in elementary and middle school children and high school students had non-cylcoplegic refraction. Uncorrected visual acuity (UCVA) and best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) were recorded for each participant. Anisometropia was defined as spherical equivalent (SE) refraction difference 1.00D or more between two eyes. Amblyopia was distinguished as a reduction of BCVA to 20/30 or less in one eye or 2-line interocular optotype acuity differences in the absence of pathological causes. Cover test was performed for investigating of strabismus. RESULTS Mean age of 2638 schoolchildren was 12.5 years (response rate = 86.06%). Prevalence of anisometropia was 2.31% (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.45 to 3.16). 2.29% of schoolchildren (95% CI, 1.46 to 3.14) were amblyopic. The prevalence of amblyopia in boys and girls was 2.32% and 2.26%, respectively (p = 0.945). Anisometropic amblyopia was found in 58.1% of the amblyopic subjects. The strabismus prevalence was 2.02% (95% CI, 1.18 to 2.85). The prevalence of exotropia and esotropia was 1.30% and 0.59%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS Results of this study showed that the prevalence of anisometropia, amblyopia, and strabismus are in the mid range. The etiology of amblyopia was often refractive, mostly astigmatic, and non-strabismic. Exotropia prevalence increased with age and was the most common strabismus type.

Prevalence and risk factors of refractive errors among schoolchildren in Shiraz, Iran

Purpose: To determine the prevalence and risk factors of refractive errors among schoolchildren in Shiraz, Iran. Methods: In a cross-sectional study, using random cluster sampling, 3065 Shiraz schoolchildren were selected in this study. The participants totaled 2683; 1872 elementary and middle school and 811 high school students. For the primary and middle schoolchildren, cycloplegic refraction and for the high school students, non-cycloplegic autorefraction was measured. Myopia, defined as spherical equivalent (SE) refraction -0.50 diopter (D) or worse, hyperopia as SE +2.00D and +0.50D or more for cycloplegic and noncycloplegic refractions respectively, and astigmatism as cylinder -0.75D or worse. Results: The prevalence of refractive errors in elementary and middle school students was: myopia 4.35 % (95% confidence interval (CI), 2.89 -5.81), hyperopia 5.04 % (95%CI, 3.49 -6.58) and astigmatism 11.79 % (95%CI, 10.21 -13.38). For high school students, these rates were 22.4 % (95%CI, 18.44 -26.36), 10.52 % (95%CI, 6.75 -14.29) and 20.99% (95%CI, 16.55 -25.44), respectively.The prevalence of myopia increased with age in primary and middle school students (OR=1.15, 95% CI, 0.98 to1.33, p=0.073). Conclusions: The result of this study indicated a relatively low prevalence of refractive errors among schoolchildren in Shiraz according to the protocol by "Refractive Error Study in Children" (RESC) in other investigations.

An entrepreneurial music industry education in secondary schooling: The emerging professional learning model

There is widespread agreement that entrepreneurial skills are crucial for young people today, yet there are few studies of high school students engaging in entrepreneurship education that might prepare them for music industry careers. This study has been developed in response to these challenges. It explores a group of high school students (15 – 17 years) who alongside their teacher, have co-designed, developed and driven a new business venture, Youth Music Industries (YMI) since 2010. This venture staged cycles of differently scaled events featuring young artists for a young audience. The project was designed to give students a real business situation for developing their project management skills and a broader understanding of working in the music industry. Informed by concepts of social capital and communities of practice, the study examines the process of learning with and through others. This high-stakes environment increased their sense of presence and participation and made it possible for these young people to distribute expertise and learn from each other in a reciprocal and more democratic way. The ongoing success of this organisation can be attributed to the entrepreneurial competencies students developed. The resulting model and design principles talk to an ongoing challenge that has been identified in music education, and creative industries more generally. These principles offer a way forward for other music and creative industries educators or researchers interested in developing models of, and designs for, nurturing an entrepreneurial mindset.

Policies and Procedures to Address Bullying at Australian Universities

While bullying is often researched in children and adolescents and in the workplace, there is limited research in the emerging adult population, especially in students at university. This is perhaps due to the fact that bullying generally declines as children and young people become older (e.g., Nansel et al., 2001; Wang, Iannotti, & Nansel, 2009). Although this may indeed be the case, it is apparent that bullying does not completely abate when students graduate from high school. The plethora of literature evidencing workplace bullying, clearly shows that bullying continues beyond the school years (e.g., Hoel, Cooper, & Faragher, 2001; Privitera & Campbell, 2009). With the advent of cyberbullying in the last decade it has been shown that this particular form of bullying may not decrease with age as does traditional bullying (Kowalski & Limber, 2007; Raskauskas & Stoltz, 2007). In addition, we know there is a spike in prevalence rates during the transition from primary to high school Pellegrini et al., 2010), so it is possible that new university students are at an increased risk of victimisation due to this being a transition period. This has led to some interest in examining the prevalence of bullying in the emerging adult population at universities (Chapell, Casey, & de la Cruz, 2004; Pontzer, 2010; Wensley & Campbell, 2009).