Blending systems thinking approaches for organisational analysis: reviewing child protection in England

This paper concerns the innovative use of a blend of systems thinking ideas in the ‘Munro Review of Child Protection’, a high-profile examination of child protection activities in England, conducted for the Department for Education. We go ‘behind the scenes’ to describe the OR methodologies and processes employed. The circumstances that led to the Review are outlined. Three specific contributions that systems thinking made to the Review are then described. First, the systems-based analysis and visualisation of how a ‘compliance culture’ had grown up. Second the creation of a large, complex systems map of current operations and the effects of past policies on them. Third, how the map gave shape to the range of issues the Review addressed and acted as an organising framework for the systemically coherent set of recommendations made. The paper closes with an outline of the main implementation steps taken so far to create a child protection system with the critically reflective properties of a learning organisation, and methodological reflections on the benefits of systems thinking to support organisational analysis.

Reviewing public reason: a critique of rawls' political liberalism and the idea of public reason

This article provides a critical review of Rawls' effort in Political Liberalism to construct apolitical theory of justice compatible with the fact of reasonable pluralism. Particular attention is given to the 'idea of public reason' and political liberalism's liberal neutrality. It is argued that because of its liberal neutrality, political liberalism would preclude people from endorsing at least some reasonable comprehensive views and, therefore, as a theory it lacks the necessary stability required to be as successful as Rawls claims.

Reviewing organisational structure and governance : the Australian touch association

This article presents a case study for college sports management classes. The case discusses the Australian Touch (football) Association, (ATA) and their governance review. The ATA moved to an independently elected board of directors in 2002, and the case describes how these board members are elected within this new organizational system. The reasoning and rationale for the review are also presented. Evidence is provided detailing the ATA's financial and structure prior to the 2002 organizational review.

Learning and teaching assessment: reviewing the evidence

The authors have recently completed a research review on learning and teaching of assessment in social work which was commissioned by the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) and the Social Policy and Social Work Learning and Teaching Support Network (SWAPltsn) to support the development of the new social work award in England. This involved reviewing relevant literature from social work and cognate disciplines back to 1990 with the aim of identifying best practice in learning and teaching of assessment skills.

Although assessment has been recognised as a core skill in social work and should underpin social work interventions, there is no singular theory or understanding as to what the purpose of assessment is and what the process should entail. Social work involvement in the assessment process may include establishing need or eligibility for services, to seek evidence of past events or to determine likelihood of future danger, may underpin recommendations to other agencies, or may determine the suitability of other service providers. In some settings assessment is considered to begin from the first point of contact and may be a relatively short process, whereas elsewhere it may be a process involving several client contacts over an extended period of time. The assessment process may range from the collection of data on standardised proforma to a flexible approach depending on circumstances. These variations permeate the literature on the learning and teaching of assessment in social work and cognate disciplines.

Several different approaches to classroom based learning were proposed in the literature including case-based teaching, interviews with actors who have been trained to play 'standardised clients', and observation of children and families, as well as didactic lecturing and various uses of video equipment and computers. Furthermore learning by doing has long been one of the hallmarks of social work education, and there are a number of models proposed in which students learn about the assessment process through conducting assessments. The evidence to support these different approaches to learning and teaching is variable. Based on the evidence reviewed, recommendations as to what is good practice in learning and teaching about assessment will be presented.

Reviewing research in education in Australia and the UK: evaluating the evaluations

In many countries concerns have been expressed about the merits of educational research. This paper reports on the outcomes of a review of reviews of such research in Australia and the UK. Taken at face value, the latest round of reviews are largely critical in the UK (where they have generated much debate) and mainly favourable in Australia (where they have not). In accounting for this difference the paper suggests that it might be explained in part as a function of how the reviews were conducted. In the UK reviews have tended to begin with the research and work forward to practice whereas in Australia they have been inclined to begin with practice and work back to the research. It is suggested that policy makers, practitioners and researchers in Australia and the UK have much to learn from each other's experience, as have those in other countries planning similar reviews.

Promoting the social and emotional health of primary school-aged children: reviewing the evidence base for school-based interventions

Schools are key settings for promoting the social and emotional health and well-being of children. This study investigated the effectiveness of interventions to improve the social and emotional well-being of primary school-aged children. The protocol development stage of the proposed systematic review identified related and comparable research reviews, indicating a more useful review of reviews. Eight reviews of intervention effectiveness covering 322 primary studies were reviewed. The majority examined classroom-based interventions. Greater effectiveness results from a sustained focus on the promotion of mental health, on self-esteem and coping outcomes within the broad school climate, and on replicating positive impacts rather than the prevention of mental health problems. Conclusions are limited by short duration of studies, lack of detail of interventions, identified outcomes and socio-demographic data, and the relationship between processes and outcomes. This study has clearly shown how crucial carefully designed studies are in understanding strategies with potential to impact on the mental health and well-being of children.

Reviewing the learning organisation model in a child and adolescent mental health service

From 1995 onwards, a child and adolescent mental health service (CAMHS) applied Senge's learning organisation model. This review compared service performance with that of peer services 5 years later and explored whether any differences were associated with the application of this model. The comparison methodology used quantitative analysis of external data from the Department of Human Services, together with qualitative analysis of material including interviews with CAMHS directors and service managers. Results showed high evaluation activity and high quality, efficiency and efficacy of care compared with other services. Several restraints to the optimal application of the model were identified, including inadequate training of new managers, service overload, major external organisational change and limited investment in information systems. Other outcomes are discussed.

Reviewing the reviewers : has the education review unit contributed to improved student learning outcomes?

This article looks at the contribution the South Australian Education Review Unit (ERU). It provides a perspective from a secondary school that has undergone and ERU review. It describes ERU procedures and methodology, explains what happened with the Le Fevre High School review, and 'reviews the reviewers' and answer the question posed in the article title.

American and Australian doctoral literature reviewing practices and pedagogies

The literature review is fundamental to the doctoral enterprise of academic disciplines, yet research into how the doctoral literature review is learned, taught or experienced is limited. Responding to an apparent under-examination of the literature review as a critical feature of doctoral learning, this thesis investigates the doctoral literature review process as experienced by American and Australian doctoral candidates, doctoral supervisors and academic librarians. The research followed a qualitative approach shaped by two questions: "How is the doctoral literature review process learned?" and, "What is learned by doing a doctoral literature review?" Data were generated from in-depth interviews conducted with 42 participants in education, nursing and the physical and biological sciences. Critical literacy, critical pedagogy and critical information literacy provided frameworks for interpreting participants‘ experiences and perspectives on literature reviewing practices, disciplinary influences and mutually associated doctoral literacies.

The doctoral literature review is traditionally considered to be two segregated events—literature seeking and writing in an academic genre. The study findings challenge this perspective, proposing instead that doctoral literature reviewing is a complex, comprehensive process characterised by interdependent activities in a cycle of gathering, reflecting upon and synthesising literatures. Moreover, these findings indicate that, by engaging with disciplinary literatures and the literature review process, doctoral researchers become familiar with an array of critical doctoral literacies—disciplinary literacy, information literacy and reading and writing literacies. Thus, the doctoral literature review can be conceptualised as a pedagogy through which candidates acquire the lived practices and craft skills of disciplinary-specific research; learn to manage large bodies of information, literature and knowledge; and learn to read and write as scholars in their disciplines.

This project reconceptualises traditional perspectives on doctoral literature reviewing and recommends further exploration into its pedagogical potential. By approaching the doctoral literature review as a pedagogical process, the inquiry attempts to unpack literacies embedded within the doctoral enterprise, thereby exposing them as explicit aspects of doctoral learning. Becoming aware of the interrelatedness of critical doctoral literacies can mobilise supervisors, librarians and candidates to exploit the literature review process more fully. Ultimately, this research contributes to an international focus on a central feature of the doctorate and, as such, more broadly informs and supports doctoral pedagogy, particularly for those involved in American and Australian doctoral education.