The limitations of front-end loading in undergraduate university programs

This paper shows how Mead’s theory of emergence can prove explanatory in how the theory-practice gap is co-created and sustained in front-end loading university programs. Taking teacher education as an exemplar, we argue that the trainee teacher encounters different and oft-times conflicting environmental, social and cultural conditions in the two “fields of interaction” of the training program, namely, on-campus work and in-school experience. The argument draws on interview and focus group data collected via a study of first-year graduate teachers of an Australian teacher education program. We conclude that role taking and self-regulated behaviour within the two environmental fields of interaction in front-end loading programs inhibit the trainee professional from exercising the power of agency to implement theory learned at university in practice in the workplace. Further, we propose that Mead’s theory of emergence proves effective in explaining a major limitation of front-end-loaded university programs.

Problems of implementing offender programs in the community

Rehabilitation of offenders is, at present, an important focus among many correctional departments. A substantial body of international research literature now exists to guide the design and development of new programs that aim to reduce re-offending. However, successful implementation of these programs has been challenging for many correctional authorities. Drawing on the experience of a community correctional agency in Australia, this paper identifies and examines a number of barriers to successful delivery of community-based offender rehabilitation programs and services. The findings suggest that basing interventions on scientific knowledge about “what works” in offender rehabilitation is necessary but not sufficient for effective programs and services. More careful attention needs to be paid to how correctional authorities can take this research and implement it in practice.

Complexities of teaching — features of teacher education programs and professional learning practices to support their development

This publication is the editorial for Vol 15.2 of MTED which summarises and synthesises the articles published in the issue. The extent to which those whose learning is the focus controlled the learning situations in which they participated is the key concept discussed and the factors contributing to the extent of control are elucidated.

A methodological approach to quality assurance of programs in an independent school

This paper reports on ways in which one Australian independent school seeks to develop and sustain best practice and academic integrity in its programs through a quality assurance system of ongoing program reviews, and findings of a study that we conducted into staff perceptions of the different program reviews. First, we outline the overarching methodological and conceptual approaches used in the school’s program reviews. Second, we present and discuss the findings of the study.

Enriching interdisciplinary connections : student engagement in theory and practice in higher education programs in Australia and the UK

This paper provides insight into how postgraduate students in two pre-service disciplines, namely medicine and education, identify and make meaning of their circumstances in the globalised era of tertiary education.
Drawing on elements of Giddens’ theory of structuration, we discuss some of the tensions students have reported encountering in an era which is characterised by greater internationalisation of the student body and more globalised curricula.

Another minority group: use of aged care day programs and community leisure services by older people with lifelong disability

Objective: This study examined the extent to which programs available to the general aged community are accessible to older people with lifelong disability. Method: Forty Victorian generic aged day activity and community leisure programs used by older people responded to a survey that sought information on the extent to which such services are used by older people with a lifelong disability. Results: More than half of these services are accessed by a small number of people with lifelong disability and overall there was a willingness to include this group in generic services. Barriers and solutions to successful generic service use were reported. Conclusions: The findings indicate that the issues for people with lifelong disability differ little from those of other minority groups. It is proposed that disability services have a role in brokering services for their older clients, and continued planning and collaboration between disability and aged services will benefit all older people.

Tuning the migrant voices : a study of Sinhala language ethnic radio programs in Melbourne

Ethnic radio was initiated in Australia to fulfill the issues of migrants through their language. This research, using the Sinhala language listeners in Melbourne as the target group analysed how the ethnic radio programs helped to achieve these goals.

Solving DC programs using the cutting angle method

In this paper, we propose a new algorithm for global minimization of functions represented as a difference of two convex functions. The proposed method is a derivative free method and it is designed by adapting the extended cutting angle method. We present preliminary results of numerical experiments using test problems with difference of convex objective functions and box-constraints. We also compare the proposed algorithm with a classical one that uses prismatical subdivisions. © 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York.

Supporting healthy communities through arts programs

There are some evaluations, critical descriptions of programs and systematic reviews on the benefits to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities from participation in arts programs. These include: improved physical and mental health and wellbeing; increased social inclusion and cohesion; some improvements in school retention and attitudes towards learning; increased validation of, and connection to, culture; improved social and cognitive skills; and some evidence of crime reduction.The effects of arts programs can be powerful and transformative. However, these effects tend to be indirect.For example, using these programs to reduce juvenile anti-social behaviour largely work through diversion: providing alternative safe opportunities to risk taking, maintenance of social status, as well as opportunities to build healthy relationships with Elders and links with culture.Art forms such as song, dance and painting, coupled with ceremony, are integral to cultural continuity and cultural maintenance in Indigenous Australian communities.

Mentoring programs for indigenous youth at-risk

There is a range of risk factors that may make young people of any ethnicity more likely to engage in antisocial behaviours. These factors include the young person’s own attitudes; relationships within the family; and growing up in communities where there is widespread violence, alcohol and other substance abuse, poverty, poor health and poor-quality housing. Indigenous young people face the additional challenges ofdispossession, discontinuity of culture and intergenerational trauma.A strong connection to culture—coupled with high self-esteem, a strong sense of autonomy, and with living in cohesive, functioning families and communities—can be protective factors that result in Indigenous young people choosing productive life pathways.Mentoring is a relationship intervention strategy that can assist in building some of these protective factors. A growing body of research demonstrates that mentoring can have powerful and lasting positive effects in improving behavioural, academic and vocational outcomes for at-risk youth and, to a more limited extent, in reducing contact with juvenile justice systems.In an Indigenous context, mentoring is a particularly promising initiative because it fits well with Indigenous teaching and learning styles and can help to build strong collective ties within a community.Mentoring programs can involve adult or peer mentors and can be implemented in a range of ways, such as one-on-one or in groups.Although positive results can be achieved with single-intervention mentoring for at risk youth, integrating mentoring into broader programs produces a greater level of positive change.The way the mentoring program is run and the nature of the relationship between mentor and mentee are crucial in determining the outcomes of youth mentoring programs.

Supporting healthy communities through sports and recreation programs

There is some evidence, in the form of critical descriptions of programs and systematic reviews, on the benefits to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities from participation in sport and recreational programs. These include some improvements in school retention, attitudes towards learning, social and cognitive skills, physical and mental health and wellbeing; increased social inclusion and cohesion; increased validation of and connection to culture; and crime reduction.Although the effects of sports and recreation programs can be powerful and transformative, these effects tend to be indirect. For example, using these programs to reduce juvenile antisocial behaviour largely work through diversion, providing alternative safe opportunities to risk taking, maintenance of social status, as wellas opportunities to build healthy relationships with Elders and links with culture.Although Indigenous Australians have lower rates of participation in sport than non-Indigenous people, surveys suggest that around one-third of Indigenous people participate in some sporting activity (ABS 2010). That makes sports a potentially powerful vehicle for encouraging Indigenous communities to look at challenging personal and community issues.Within Indigenous communities, a strong component of sport and recreation is the link with traditional culture. Cultural activities such as hunting are generally more accepted as a form of sport and recreation than traditional dance. Therefore sport and recreation are integral in understanding ‘culture’ within Indigenous communities, as well as highlighting the culture within which sport and recreation operate.

Maternal overnutrition programs changes in the expression of skeletal muscle genes that are associated with insulin resistance and defects of oxidative phosphorylation in adult male rat offspring.

Children of obese mothers have increased risk of metabolic syndrome as adults. Here we report the effects of a high-fat diet in the absence of maternal obesity at conception on skeletal muscle metabolic and transcriptional profiles of adult male offspring. Female Sprague Dawley rats were fed a diet rich in saturated fat and sucrose [high-fat diet (HFD): 23.5% total fat, 9.83% saturated fat, 20% sucrose wt:wt] or a normal control diet [(CD) 7% total fat, 0.5% saturated fat, 10% sucrose wt:wt] for the 3 wk prior to mating and throughout pregnancy and lactation. Maternal weights were not different at conception; however, HFD-fed dams were 22% heavier than controls during pregnancy. On a normal diet, the male offspring of HFD-fed dams were not heavier than controls but demonstrated features of insulin resistance, including elevated plasma insulin concentration [40.1 ± 2.5 (CD) vs 56.2 ± 6.1 (HFD) mU/L; P = 0.023]. Next-generation mRNA sequencing was used to identify differentially expressed genes in the offspring soleus muscle, and gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) was used to detect coordinated changes that are characteristic of a biological function. GSEA identified 15 upregulated pathways, including cytokine signaling (P < 0.005), starch and sucrose metabolism (P < 0.017), inflammatory response (P < 0.024), and cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction (P < 0.037). A further 8 pathways were downregulated, including oxidative phosphorylation (P < 0.004), mitochondrial matrix (P < 0.006), and electron transport/uncoupling (P < 0.022). Phosphorylation of the insulin signaling protein kinase B was reduced [2.86 ± 0.63 (CD) vs 1.02 ± 0.27 (HFD); P = 0.027] and mitochondrial complexes I, II, and V protein were downregulated by 50-68% (P < 0.005). On a normal diet, the male offspring of HFD-fed dams did not become obese adults but developed insulin resistance, with transcriptional evidence of muscle cytokine activation, inflammation, and mitochondrial dysfunction. These data indicate that maternal overnutrition, even in the absence of prepregnancy obesity, can promote metabolic dysregulation and predispose offspring to type 2 diabetes.