The influence of parents in identifying and developing Australian female tennis talent

This study investigated the role of parents in developing Australian female professional tennis players. Top WTA ranked Australian singles players (n=10) and their parents (n=10) responded to written questionnaires. Participants were asked to recall their tennis
background and describe the current role of parents and compare these to possible earlier roles. Further, participants were asked to make recommendations to parents who wanted to help a player develop her talent. A series of inductive content analyses was conducted to analyze the data. These analyses revealed a significant, and changing, role of parents in a development process extending over 10 years. Sacrifices were necessary in order to pursue a tennis career but positive benefits were generally reported by players and their parents. The importance of a caring and respectful home environment for aspiring players was highlighted.

Being the right kind of male teacher : the disciplining of John

In a context where the lack of male teachers is constructed as a worrying concern for many Western education systems, men who make the decision to become teachers, particularly in early childhood and primary education, are often adulated. However, alongside this adulation sits an expectation to be a ‘real man’. This paper tells the story of John, a male primary school teacher who left the teaching profession after one year as a result of incommensurable differences between the expectations held of him as a male teacher and his identity as a primary school teacher. While not an attempt to position John as a victim, this paper suggests that expectations of male teachers, such as to be effective disciplinarians, have normalising effects on men within the teaching profession that, in this case, led to a rejection of teaching as a career path. We contend that the image of the ‘imagined male teacher’ that underpins both current calls for more male teachers and John’s departure from schooling is likely to have a negative impact upon all students (boys and girls) and also denigrates the work of female teachers.

Female physical educators in all boys' schools - opportunities for enhancing social interactions?

The significance of physical education (PE) and sport in a boys’ school has long been highlighted as a device for the privileging of hyper-masculine identities (tough, stoic & assertive) at the expense of marginalised masculinities and femininities. The propensity for some “members of male sporting clique’s to engage in practices of bullying, shaming, violating and excluding” (Hickey, 2008, p. 148) raises important questions about how the practice of boys’ PE and sport can sometimes lead to unhealthy and damaging social interactions between different types of boys. In response to this rhetoric, some boys’ schools have acted to employ female PE teachers to disrupt “concern about the codes of unity, entitlement and privilege that can be forged among groups of boys whose identities are strongly aligned with sporting forms of hyper-masculinity” (Hickey, 2008, p. 148). Given this potential, we suggest that there is something unique or different about working in spaces or contexts around boys’ physicality. More specifically this paper raises questions about the particular implications for a PE teacher’s professional work, particularly as a female PE teacher.

In current educational climates the performance of boys in social and educational contexts attracts considerable concern. Better understanding the contributions and capacities of female PE teachers in all boys’ schools, (as localised social and political environments in which gendered identities are formed) is warranted. Professional identities and “the meaning of gender is negotiated in everyday interactions” (Priola, 2007, p. 23) implicating the culture of all boys’ schools as significant in the development of ideas around effective, gender inclusive, pedagogical practices. Drawing on case study data, this paper seeks to explore how notions of effectiveness about boys’ PE are formed, with intent to make visible the extent to which female PE teachers influence dominant gendered practices of social interaction in all boys’ PE settings.

How did I get here? The experiences of female physical education teachers in all boys' schools

Historically, physical education and sport were constructed as curriculum practices for boys to explore, channel and hone their masculinity. While much has changed since their induction into the curriculum, there is a prevailing view that sport and physical education continue to operate as powerful conduits to the dominant masculinity. In a climate where the underachievement of boys’ in social and educational contexts is becoming increasingly concerning, much of the literature attributes factors such as a lack of male role models, the feminisation of education and the lack of ‘boy friendly’ curriculum and pedagogy as key contributors to the current dilemma. The role of physical education and sport in the gender socialisation process poses some important questions about the place of female physical educators in this ‘male component’ of the curriculum. Foremost here are questions about the capacity of female physical educators to provide effective learning and socialising opportunities to young males. This paper draws on research into the experiences of female physical education teachers working in all-boy schools to discuss issues of gender, power and pedagogy.

Negotiating gender boundaries : tensions in developing a professional identity as a female physical educator in boys' schools

Historically, gendered boundaries and their impacts on education have been widely contested. The global gender policy debate over the last sixty years has significantly vacillated between prioritising issues of educational and social practice that appear to privilege one gender over another (Lingard, Martino & Mills, 2009). The very nature of the title ‘Boys’ school’ conveys a hard gendered boundarying. In a socio-political climate where boys’ supposed underachievement has been attributed to the presumed “feminisation of teaching” (Hoff Sommers, 2000) it is not surprising that the rhetoric around the purpose and intent of boys’ education privileges masculinist discourses and practices. Physical Education (PE) and sport is often implicated as prominent curriculum spaces where the tensions produced through gendered discourse-power relations are played out, often at the expense of marginalised others.

The silicon ceiling : women managers and leaders in ICT in Australia

When I was in high school, it was always talked up that women could do science, engineering and technical [work] too. While we are just as capable as men, when we get into these industries, we face other challenges. There have been brave women who have done their bit to overcome these challenges, but it also requires brave men to challenge the attitudes of these industries to women participating in their workplaces. (APESMA, 2010) Silicon: Elemental silicon has a large impact on the modern world economy ... Because of wide use of silicon in integrated circuits, the basis of most computers, a great deal of modern technology depends on it. (Wikipedia, 2011) The chapter begins with a historical and current analysis of female participation in the workforce, in education and in leadership. The second section focuses on the information and communication technology (ICT) workforce in particular. The third section presents findings from a recent case study that gathered both quantitative and qualitative data from a diverse group of professional women in ICT. The case study provides a view into the ICT profession from the female perspective and identifies a selection of factors that would make a significant difference to female participation and longevity in the profession. The conclusion reached after this investigation is that the silicon ceiling is certainly not visible, yet remains fixed due to nonessential job characteristics that persist in the industry. The future looks bleak unless more female managers and male champions ensure that these nonessential employment characteristics are removed from ICT positions.

Perceptions of engineering from female secondary college students in regional Victoria

Survey and focus group interviews with female students in regional Victoria resulted in identification of four perceived barriers that influence them to exclude engineering as a career choice. These barriers were identified as a lack of interest in the perceived image, a lack of knowledge, a traditionally maledominated industry, and limited recognisable role models. This paper reports on what Year 10 females are saying about the barriers and, consequently, how engineering can be promoted to overcome these barriers.

The legal profession and the business of law

‘Professional Responsibility and Ethics’ is one of the ‘Priestley 11’ law subjects compulsorily undertaken by Australian law students who aspire to be admitted to practice. Many of the brightest join the major corporate law firms. Nevertheless, there is little theoretical analysis of how those firms are functioning to affect the professional and ethical conduct of their practitioners in the neoliberal state. In this article it is argued that in the mature and highly competitive marketplace for legal services, rather than working as autonomous professionals, corporate lawyers are now finding themselves working more and more as functionaries subservient to the dictates of their corporate clients. Drawing on interviews with Australian major law firm corporate lawyers and Charles Derber’s theory on the proletarianisation of professional workers, it is argued that corporate lawyers are losing key elements of their professional identity in the impetus to maintain the client list and the profit motive. Furthermore, as the balance of power in the corporate legal sector is shifting from law firms to clients, the professional ethics of law firm lawyers are at risk of being compromised as they find themselves being reduced to little more than ‘flush’ factory fodder for the major corporations.

Incorporating mindfulness into an internet-based intervention for female sexual dysfunctions

This thesis presents four articles focusing on an online treatment for female sexual dysfunctions (FSDs). The treatment extended prior research by incorporating mindfulness and chat-groups. Article 1 reviews manualised FSD treatments. Articles 2, 3 and 4 present data from the online treatment.