Lessons on sin and forgiveness : a crisis in the Roman Catholic Church

One of the greatest challenges facing the Roman Catholic Church (the Church) across the world continues to be found in addressing complaints of child sexual abuse (csa) by clergy. The list of Catholic clergy in Australia who have been criminally processed for sexual offences against children is disturbingly long. As disturbing as this list is, more disturbing are the accounts of clergy who have not been criminally prosecuted, but protected within the cloister of the Church. It is increasingly recognised that the significant difficulty with child sexual abuse in Catholic Churches, in particular, has not been the presence of perpetrators but the response of Church leadership to allegations of csa by clergy. Those who have faced criminal charges have often done so due to the resilience of victim/survivors and not because of the support of Church structures or culture. The Church has been slow to come to terms with the realities of the perpetration of csa by its clergy and even slower to recognise the need to prioritise victims in any effective, just response. The church has been slowest of all recognising that there are significant cultural and discursive challenges to confront in addressing the management of csa by clergy. There is, however, progressive recognition of the role that discursive constructs of forgiveness have played in perpetuating the crises and ultimately in perpetuating abuse. The institutional praxis of forgiveness can be demonstrated not only in the Church, but in lessons learned from use of forgiveness as an institutional response to mass violations of human rights. This paper explores the juncture between criminality, church culture and forgiveness in responding to csa by clergy.

'These are my photos of when I was little' : Locating Media Arts in the Primary School Curriculum

‘Media Arts’ has been included as a fifth area of the Arts for the Australian Curriculum which will become mandatory learning for all Australian children from pre-school to Year Six (Y6) from 2014. The current curriculum design is underpinned by an approach familiar to media educators who combine creative practice and critical response to develop students’ media literacies. Media Arts within the Australian Curriculum will place Australia at the forefront of international efforts to promote media education as an entitlement for all children. Even with this mandated endorsement, however, there remains ongoing debate about where to locate media education in school curricula. Historically, media education in Australia has been approached through diverse curriculum activities at the secondary school level. These include subject English’s critical literacy objectives; vocationally oriented media and technology education or ICTs education; and Arts courses using new media technologies for creativity. In this chapter we consider the possibilities and challenges for Media Arts, specifically for primary school student learning. We draw on empirical evidence from a research project that has trialled a Media Arts curriculum with students attending a primary school in a low socio-economic status and culturally diverse community on the outskirts of Brisbane, Queensland.

"More tick-the-box": the challenge of promoting interdisciplinary learning in the middle years through the Australian history curriculum

The Australian Curriculum marks national reforms in social science education, first with the return to the disciplines of history and geography and second, through a new approach to interdisciplinary learning. This paper raises the question of whether the promise of interdisciplinary learning can be realised in the middle years of schooling if teachers have to teach history as a discipline rather than within an over-arching integrated curriculum framework. The paper explores the national blueprints and considers the national history curriculum in light of theories of teachers’ knowledge and middle school education. Evidence from teacher interviews indicates that historical understanding can be achieved through integrated frameworks to meet the goals of middle schooling.

Design and Anthropology

Design and Anthropology challenges conventional thinking regarding the nature of design and creativity, in a way that acknowledges the improvisatory skills and perceptual acuity of people. Combining theoretical investigations and documentation of practice based experiments, it addresses methodological questions concerning the re-conceptualisation of the relation between design and use from both theoretical and practice-based positions. Concerned with what it means to draw 'users' into processes of designing and producing this book emphasises the creativity of design and the emergence of objects in social situations and collaborative endeavours. Organised around the themes of perception and the user-producer, skilled practices of designing and using, and the relation between people and things, the book contains the latest work of researchers from academia and industry, to enhance our understanding of ethnographic practice and develop a research agenda for the emergent field of design anthropology. Drawing together work from anthropologists, philosophers, designers, engineers, scholars of innovation and theatre practitioners, Design and Anthropology will appeal to anthropologists and to those working in the fields of design and innovation, and the philosophy of technology and engineering.

Staying in touch and crafting mementoes

Designers of systems that attempt to support people in maintaining social connectedness should pay attention to the physical interaction characteristics of the systems they create. Systems today mostly accept the dominant computer interface configuration of screens, keyboards and mice, which are not always a good fit for settings outside the office, such as the home. We argue by reference to two design exemplars for a design philosophy that engages a broader range of people's abilities for skilled physical action when designing for social connectedness.

Re-imagining utopias: The bat/human project

The making of the modern world has long been fuelled by utopian images that are blind to ecologi- cal reality. Botanical gardens are but one example – who typically portray themselves as miniature, isolated 'edens on earth', whereas they are now in many cases self-evidently also the vital ‘lungs’ of crowded cities, as well as critical habitats for threat- ened biodiversity. In 2010 the 'Remnant Emergency Art lab' set out to question utopian thinking through a creative provocation called the 'Botanical Gardens ‘X-Tension’ - an imagined city-wide, distributed, network of 'ecological gardens' suited to both bat and human needs, in order to ask, what now needs to be better understood, connected and therefore ultimately conserved.

Creating fashion professionals for the 21st century : a tale of pedagogical tensions and emerging challenges

The ‘Fashion Tales’ Conference identifies three fashion discourses: that of making, that of media, and that of scholarship. We propose a fourth, which provides a foundational base for the others: the discourse of fashion pedagogy. We begin with the argument that to thrive in any of these discourses, all fashion graduates require the ability to navigate the complexities of the 21st century fashion industry. Fashion graduates emerge into a professional world which demands a range of high level capabilities above and beyond those traditionally acknowledged by the discipline. Professional education in fashion must transform itself to accommodate these imperatives. In this paper, we document a tale of fashion learning, teaching and scholarship – the tale of a highly successful future-orientated boutique university-based undergraduate fashion course in Queensland, Australia. The Discipline consistently maintains the highest student satisfaction and lowest attrition of any course in the university, achieves extremely competitive student satisfaction scores when compared with other courses nationally and internationally, and reports outstanding graduate employment outcomes. The core of the article addresses how the course effectively balances five key pedagogical tensions identified from the findings of in-depth focus groups with graduating students, and interviews with teaching staff. The pedagogical tensions are: high concept/ authenticity; high disciplinarity/ interdisciplinarity; high rigour/ play; high autonomy/ scaffolding; and high individuality/ community, where community can be further divided into high challenge and high support. We discuss each of these tensions and how they are characterised within the course, using rich descriptions given by the students. We also draw upon the wider andragogical and learning futures literatures to link the tensions with what is already known about excellence in 21st century higher and further education curriculum and pedagogic practice. We ask: as the fashion industry becomes truly globalised, virtualised, and diversified, and as initial professional training for the industry becomes increasingly massified and performatised, what are the best teaching approaches to produce autonomous, professionally capable, enterprising and responsible graduates into the future? Can the pedagogical balances described in this case study be maintained in the light of these powerful external forces, and if so, how?

Self-proxy agreement and weekly school travel behaviour in a sectarian divided society

Proxy reports from parents and self-reported data from pupils have often been used interchangeably to identify factors influencing school travel behaviour. However, few studies have examined the validity of proxy reports as an alternative to self-reported data. In addition, despite research that has been conducted in a different context, little is known to date about the impact of different factors on school travel behaviour in a sectarian divided society. This research examines these issues using 1624 questionnaires collected from four independent samples (e.g. primary pupils, parent of primary pupils, secondary pupils, and parent of secondary pupils) across Northern Ireland. An independent sample t test was conducted to identify the differences in data reporting between pupils and parents for different age groups using the reported number of trips for different modes as dependent variables. Multivariate multiple regression analyses were conducted to then identify the impacts of different factors (e.g. gender, rural–urban context, multiple deprivations, and school management type, net residential density, land use diversity, intersection density) on mode choice behaviour in this context. Results show that proxy report is a valid alternative to self-reported data, but only for primary pupils. Land use diversity and rural–urban context were found to be the most important factors in influencing mode choice behaviour.

Nambour : the model rural school

This paper examines the Rural Schools of Queensland. Starting with Nambour in 1917, the scheme incorporated thirty schools, and operated for over forty years. The rhetoric of the day was that boys and girls from the senior classes of primary school would be provided with elementary instruction of a practical character. In reality, the subjects taught were specifically tailored to provide farm skills to children in rural centres engaged in farming, dairying or fruit growing. Linked to each Rural School was a number of smaller surrounding schools, students from which travelled to the Rural School for special agricultural or domestic instruction. Through this action, the Queensland Department of Public Instruction left no doubt it intended to provide educational support for agrarian change and development within the state; in effect, they had set in motion the creation of a Queensland yeoman class. The Department’s intention was to arrest or reverse the trend toward urbanisation — whilst increasing agricultural productivity — through the making of a farmer born of the land and accepting of the new scientific advances in agriculture.

School-based programs for increasing connectedness and reducing risk behavior : a systematic review

School connectedness has a significant impact on adolescent outcomes, including reducing risk taking behavior. This paper critically examines the literature on school-based programs targeting increased connectedness for reductions in risk taking. Fourteen articles describing seven different school-based programs were reviewed. Programs drew on a range of theories to increase school connectedness, and evaluations conducted for the majority of programs demonstrated positive changes in school connectedness, risk behavior, or a combination of the two. Many of the reviewed programs involved widespread school system change, however, which is frequently a complex and time consuming task. Future research is needed to examine the extent of intervention complexity required to result in change. This review also showed a lack of consistency in definitions and measurement of connectedness as well as few mediation analyses testing assumptions of impact on risk taking behavior through increases in school connectedness. Additionally, this review revealed very limited evaluation of the elements of multi-component programs that are most effective in increasing school connectedness and reducing adolescent risk taking.

Dichotomy in the design studio : adapting to new blended learning environments

Since the architectural design studio learning environment was first established in the early 19th century at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, there has been a complete transformation in how the discipline of architecture is practiced and how students of architecture acquire information. Digital technologies allow students to access information instantly and learning is no longer confined to the rigid boundaries of a physical campus environment. In many schools of architecture in Australia, the physical design studio learning environments however, remain largely unchanged. Many learning environments could be mistaken for those last refurbished 30 years ago, being devoid of any significant technological intervention. While some teaching staff are eagerly embracing new digital technologies and attempting to modify their pedagogical approaches, the physical design studio learning environment is resistant to such efforts. In a study aimed at better understanding how staff and students adapt to new blended learning environments, a group of 165 second year architecture students at a large school of architecture in Australia were separated into two different design studio learning environments. 70% of students were allocated to a traditional design studio setting and 30% to a new, high technology embedded, prototype digital learning laboratory. The digital learning laboratory was purpose designed for the case-study users, adapted Student-Centred Active Learning Environment for Undergraduate Programs [SCALE-UP] principles, and built as part of a larger university research project. The architecture students attended the same lectures, followed the same studio curriculum and completed the same pieces of assessment; the only major differences were the teaching staff and physical environment within which the studios were conducted. At the end of the semester, all staff and students were asked to complete a questionnaire about their experiences and preferences within the two respective learning environments. The questionnaire response rate represented the opinions of 100% of the 10 teaching staff and over 70% of the students. Using a qualitative grounded theory approach, data were coded, extrapolated and compared, to reveal emerging key themes. The key themes formed the basis for in-depth interviews and focus groups of teaching staff and students, allowing the researchers to understand the data in more detail. The results of the data verified what had become increasingly evident during the course of the semester: an underlying negative resistance to the new digital studio learning environment, by both staff and students. Many participants openly exhibited a yearning for a return to the traditional design studio learning environments, particularly when the new technology caused frustration, by being unreliable or failing altogether. This paper reports on the study, discusses the negative resistance and explores the major contributors to resistance. The researchers are not aware of any similar previous studies across these particular settings and believe that it offers a necessary and important contribution to emergent research about adaptation to new digital learning environments.

Enacted Cartography : Formations - 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale

RESEARCH BACKGROUND Enacted Cartography documents 10 years of creative research practice by Ian Weir Research Architect and was developed as standalone exhibition to support Dr Weir’s selection by the Australian Institute of Architects to represent innovative architectural practice via the Institute’s review entitled Formations: New Practices in Australian Architecture – which took the form of an exhibition and book presented in Venice, Italy for 13th International Architecture Exhibition (Venice Architecture Biennale). All works exhibited in Enacted Cartography are original works by Dr Weir and are generated either from or for the remote biodiverse landscapes of the Fitzgerald Bioregion on the south coast of Western Australia. RESEARCH CONTRIBUTION As a creative work in its own right, the Enacted Cartography exhibition makes the following contributions to knowledge: 1. Expands understandings of architectural practice by presenting a geographically-specific but multimodal form of architectural practice - wherein practitioners cross over discipline boundaries into art practice, landscape representation, website design, undergraduate university teaching and community advocacy. 2. Contributes to understandings of how such a diverse multimodal form of practice might be represented through both digital media and traditional print media in an exhibition format. 3. Expands understandings of how architectural practitioners might work within a particular place to develop a geographically-specific sense of identity, a ‘landscape of resistance’. RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE Enacted Cartography was presented to an international audience during the 13th International Architecture Exhibition (Venice Architecture Biennale). The significance of Dr Weir’s research is evidence by his selected by the Australian Institute of Architects to represent innovation in architectural practice for the Biennale. Enacted Cartography addresses problems of national and international importance including: 1. The sustainable development of biodiverse remote landscapes; 2. The reconciliation of bushfire safety and biodiversity conservation; 3. The necessity for rethinking of architectural design methodologies to meet the complexity of landscape management and design; 4. It challenges orthodox forms of landscape representation (aerial photography, for example) which are demonstrably inadequate registrations of biophysical and cultural landscapes.

What can grassroots leadership teach us about school leadership

This paper explores grassroots leadership, an under-researched and often side-lined approach to leadership that operates outside of formal bureaucratic structures. The paper’s central purpose is the claim that an understanding of grassroots leadership and tactics used by grassroots leaders provides valuable insights for the study of school leadership. In this paper, we present and discuss an original model of grassroots leadership based on the argument that this under-researched area can further our understanding of school leadership. Drawing upon the limited literature in the field, we present a model consisting of two approaches to change (i.e. conflict and consensus) and two categories of change (i.e. reform and refinement) and then provide illustrations of how the model works in practice. We make the argument that the model has much merit for conceptualizing school leadership, and this is illustrated by applying the model to formal bureaucratic leadership within school contexts. Given the current climate in education where business and management language is pervasive within leadership-preparation programs, we argue that it is timely for university academics, who are responsible for preparing school leaders to consider broadening their approach by exposing school leaders to a variety of change-based strategies and tactics used by grassroots leaders.

The Yonder project : literacy and social competency development in primary school students through co-creation of live performance

Since 2007 Kite Arts Education Program (KITE), based at Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC), has been engaged in delivering a series of theatre-based experiences for children in low socio-economic primary schools in Queensland. The artist in residence (AIR) project titled Yonder includes performances developed by the children with the support and leadership of teacher artists from KITE for their community and parents/carers,supported by a peak community cultural institution. In 2009,Queensland Performing Arts Centre partnered with Queensland University of Technology (QUT) Creative Industries Faculty (Drama) to conduct a three-year evaluation of the Yonder project to understand the operational dynamics, artistic outputs and the educational benefits of the project. This paper outlines the research findings for children engaged in the Yonder project in the interrelated areas of literacy development and social competencies. Findings are drawn from six iterations of the project in suburban locations on the edge of Brisbane city and in regional Queensland.

ICT driven pedagogies and its impact on learning outcomes in high school mathematics

ICT (Information and Communication Technology) creates numerous opportunities for teachers to re-think their pedagogies. In subjects like mathematics which draws upon abstract concepts, ICT creates such an opportunity. Instead of a mimetic pedagogical approach, suitably designed activities with ICT can enable learners to engage more proactively with their learning. In this quasi-experimental designed study, ICT was used in teaching mathematics to a group of first year high school students (N=25) in Australia. The control group was taught predominantly through traditional pedagogies (N=22). Most of the variables that had previously impacted on the design of such studies were suitably controlled in this yearlong investigation. Quantitative and qualitative results showed that students who were taught by ICT driven pedagogies benefitted from the experience. Pre and post-test means showed that there was a difference between the treatment and control groups. Of greater significance was that the students (in the treatment group) believed that the technology enabled them to engage more with their learning.