Investigating homework as a social practice : a qualitative approach

This thesis examines the social practice of homework. It explores how homework is shaped by the discourses, policies and guidelines in circulation in a society at any given time with particular reference to one school district in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. This study investigates how contemporary homework reconstitutes the home as a pedagogical site where the power of the institution of schooling circulates regularly from school to home. It examines how the educational system shapes the organization of family life and how family experiences with homework may be different in different sites depending on the accessibility of various forms of cultural capital. This study employs a qualitative approach, incorporating multiple case studies, and is complemented by insights from institutional ethnography and critical discourse analysis. It draws on the theoretical concepts of Foucault including power and power relations, and governmentality and surveillance, as well as Bourdieu’s concepts of economic, social and cultural capital for analysis. It employs concepts from Bourdieu’s work as they have been expanded on by researchers including Reay (1998), Lareau (2000), and Griffith and Smith (2005). The studies of these researchers allowed for an examination of homework as it related to families and mothers’ work. Smith’s (1987; 1999) concepts of ruling relations, mothers’ unpaid labour, and the engine of inequality were also employed in the analysis. Family interviews with ten volunteer families, teacher focus group sessions with 15 teachers from six schools, homework artefacts, school newsletters, homework brochures, and publicly available assessment and evaluation policy documents from one school district were analyzed. From this analysis key themes emerged and the findings are documented throughout five data analysis chapters. This study shows a change in education in response to a system shaped by standards, accountability and testing. It documents an increased transference of educational responsibility from one educational stakeholder to another. This transference of responsibility shifts downward until it eventually reaches the family in the form of homework and educational activities. Texts in the form of brochures and newsletters, sent home from school, make available to parents specific subject positions that act as instruments of normalization. These subject positions promote a particular ‘ideal’ family that has access to certain types of cultural capital needed to meet the school’s expectations. However, the study shows that these resources are not equally available to all and some families struggle to obtain what is necessary to complete educational activities in the home. The increase in transference of educational work from the school to the home results in greater work for parents, particularly mothers. As well, consideration is given to mother’s role in homework and how, in turn, classroom instructional practices are sometimes dependent on the work completed at home with differential effects for children. This study confirms previous findings that it is mothers who assume the greatest role in the educational trajectory of their children. An important finding in this research is that it is not only middle-class mothers who dedicate extensive time working hard to ensure their children’s educational success; working-class mothers also make substantial contributions of time and resources to their children’s education. The assignments and educational activities distributed as homework require parents’ knowledge of technical school pedagogy to help their children. Much of the homework being sent home from schools is in the area of literacy, particularly reading, but requires parents to do more than read with children. A key finding is that the practices of parents are changing and being reconfigured by the expectations of schools in regard to reading. Parents are now being required to monitor and supervise children’s reading, as well as help children complete reading logs, written reading responses, and follow up questions. The reality of family life as discussed by the participants in this study does not match the ‘ideal’ as portrayed in the educational documents. Homework sessions often create frustrations and tensions between parents and children. Some of the greatest struggles for families were created by mathematical homework, homework for those enrolled in the French Immersion program, and the work required to complete Literature, Heritage and Science Fair projects. Even when institutionalized and objectified capital was readily available, many families still encountered struggles when trying to carry out the assigned educational tasks. This thesis argues that homework and education-related activities play out differently in different homes. Consideration of this significance may assist educators to better understand and appreciate the vast difference in families and the ways in which each family can contribute to their children’s educational trajectory.

Reliability of the Five Factor Wellness Inventory among male adolescents

Measuring adolescent wellness can assist researchers and practitioners in determining lifestyle behaviors in which adolescents are deficient. An appropriate objective assessment may assist male adolescents who feel uncomfortable revealing behaviors that may indicate wellness deficits. The authors examined the test-retest reliability of the Five Factor Wellness Inventory (5F-Wel) with a sample of male adolescents. Thirty-five participants self-completed the 5F-Wel on two separate occasions, 7 days apart. Limits of agreement, intraclass correlation coefficients, and paired t tests were calculated to investigate agreement and whether systematic differences existed between administrations. The initial findings indicate the 5F-Wel is reliable for use among male adolescents and support its use in research.

The artful life story : the oral history interview as fiction

This practice-led PhD project consists of two parts. The first is an exegesis documenting how a fiction writer can enter a dialogue with the oral history project in Australia. I identify two philosophical mandates of the oral history project in Australia that have shaped my creative practice: an emphasis on the analysis of the interviewee’s subjective experience as a means of understanding the past, and the desire to engage a wide audience in order to promote empathy towards the subject. The discussion around fiction in the oral history project is in its infancy. In order to deepen the debate, I draw on the more mature discussion in ethnographic fiction. I rely on literary theorists Steven Greenblatt, Dorrit Cohn and Gerard Genette to develop a clear understanding of the distinct narrative qualities of fiction, in order to explore how fiction can re-present and explore an interviewee’s subjective experience, and engage a wide readership. I document my own methodology for producing a work of fiction that is enriched by oral history methodology and theory, and responds to the mandates of the project. I demonstrate the means by which fiction and the oral history project can enter a dialogue in the truest sense of the word: a two-way conversation that enriches and augments practice in both fields. The second part of the PhD is a novel, set in Brisbane and based on oral history interviews and archival material I gathered over the course of the project. The novel centres on Brisbane artist Evelyn, who has been given an impossible task: a derelict old house is about to be demolished, and she must capture its history in a sculpture that will be built on the site. Evelyn struggles to come up with ideas and create the sculpture, realising that she has no way to discover who inhabited the house. What follows is a series of stories, each set in a different era in Brisbane’s history, which take the reader backwards through the house’s history. Hidden Objects is a novel about the impossibility of grasping the past and the powerful pull of storytelling. The novel is an experiment in a hybrid form and is accompanied by an appendix that identifies the historically accurate sources informing the fiction. The decisions about the aesthetics of the novel were a direct result of my engagement with the mandates of the oral history project in Australia. The novel was shortlisted in the 2012 Queensland Literary Awards, unpublished manuscript category.

Chaotic soul - messy heart : the phenomenon of experiencing auditory hallucinations

Globally, it is estimated that 24 million people live with schizophrenia (WHO, 2008), while 1.2 million people have been diagnosed with schizophrenia in Indonesia. Auditory hallucinations are a key symptom of schizophrenia according to the DSM IV-TR (Frances, First, & Pincus, 2002). It is estimated that the prevalence of auditory hallucinations in people with schizophrenia range from 64.3% to 83.4% (Thomas et al., 2007). Until recently, the majority of studies were conducted in Western societies the primary focus of which, has been on the causes and treatments of auditory hallucinations (Walton, 1999) and on the biological and cognitive aspects of the phenomenon (Changas, Garcia-Montes, de Lemus & Olivencia, 2003). While a few studies have explored the lived experience of people with schizophrenia, there is little research about the experience of auditory hallucinations. Therefore, the focus of this study was on an exploration of the experience of auditory hallucinations as described by Indonesian people living with schizophrenia. Based on the available literature, there have been no published qualitative studies relating to the lived experience of auditory hallucinations as described by Indonesian people diagnosed with schizophrenia. Husserlian descriptive phenomenological approach was applied in explicating the phenomenon of auditory hallucinations in this study. In-depth audio-taped interviews were conducted with 13 participants. Analysis of participant transcripts was undertaken using Colaizzi.s (1973) approach. Eight major themes were explicated: Feeling more like a robot than a human being - feeling compelled to respond to auditory hallucinations; voices of contradiction - a point of confusion; a frightening experience, the voices emerged at times of loss and grief; disruption to daily living; tattered relationships and family disarray; finding a personal path to living with auditory hallucinations; seeking relief in Allah through prayer and ritual. Experiencing auditory hallucinations for people diagnosed with schizophrenia is a journey of challenges as each individual struggles to understand their now changed life-world, reconstruct a sense of meaning within their illness experience, and to carve out a pathway to wellness. The challenge for practitioners is to learn from those who have experienced auditory hallucinations, to be with them in their journey of recovery and wellness, and to apply a person-centered approach to care within the context of a multidisciplinary team.

Exploring intercultural and ethical understanding through ‘Ethical Intelligence’ and drama, in Asian texts for the Australian curriculum : English

This paper focuses on Australian texts with Asian representations, which will be discussed in terms of Ethical Intelligence (Weinstein, 2011) explored through drama. This approach aligns with the architecture of the Australian Curriculum: English (AC:E, v5, 2013); in particular the general capabilities of 'ethical understanding' and 'intercultural understandings.' It also addresses one aspect of the Cross Curriculum Priorities which is to include texts about peoples from Asia. The selected texts not only show the struggles undergone by the authors and protagonists, but also the positive contributions that diverse writers from Asian and Middle Eastern countries have made to Australia.

A novel device using the Nordic hamstring exercise to assess eccentric knee flexors strength : a reliability and retrospective injury study

STUDY DESIGN: Reliability and case-control injury study. OBJECTIVES: 1) To determine if a novel device, designed to measure eccentric knee flexors strength via the Nordic hamstring exercise (NHE), displays acceptable test-retest reliability; 2) to determine normative values for eccentric knee flexors strength derived from the device in individuals without a history of hamstring strain injury (HSI) and; 3) to determine if the device could detect weakness in elite athletes with a previous history of unilateral HSI. BACKGROUND: HSIs and reinjuries are the most common cause of lost playing time in a number of sports. Eccentric knee flexors weakness is a major modifiable risk factor for future HSIs, however there is a lack of easily accessible equipment to assess this strength quality. METHODS: Thirty recreationally active males without a history of HSI completed NHEs on the device on 2 separate occasions. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs), typical error (TE), typical error as a co-efficient of variation (%TE), and minimum detectable change at a 95% confidence interval (MDC95) were calculated. Normative strength data were determined using the most reliable measurement. An additional 20 elite athletes with a unilateral history of HSI within the previous 12 months performed NHEs on the device to determine if residual eccentric muscle weakness existed in the previously injured limb. RESULTS: The device displayed high to moderate reliability (ICC = 0.83 to 0.90; TE = 21.7 N to 27.5 N; %TE = 5.8 to 8.5; MDC95 = 76.2 to 60.1 N). Mean±SD normative eccentric flexors strength, based on the uninjured group, was 344.7 ± 61.1 N for the left and 361.2 ± 65.1 N for the right side. The previously injured limbs were 15% weaker than the contralateral uninjured limbs (mean difference = 50.3 N; 95% CI = 25.7 to 74.9N; P < .01), 15% weaker than the normative left limb data (mean difference = 50.0 N; 95% CI = 1.4 to 98.5 N; P = .04) and 18% weaker than the normative right limb data (mean difference = 66.5 N; 95% CI = 18.0 to 115.1 N; P < .01). CONCLUSIONS: The experimental device offers a reliable method to determine eccentric knee flexors strength and strength asymmetry and revealed residual weakness in previously injured elite athletes.

‘We don’t leave our identities at the city limits’ : Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in urban localities

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who live in cities and towns are often thought of as ‘less Indigenous’ than those who live ‘in the bush’, as though they were ‘fake’ Aboriginal people — while ‘real’ Aboriginal people live ‘on communities’ and ‘real’ Torres Strait Islander people live ‘on islands’. Yet more than 70 percent of Australia’s Indigenous peoples live in urban locations (ABS 2007), and urban living is just as much part of a reality for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as living in remote discrete communities. This paper examines the contradictions and struggles that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people experience when living in urban environments. It looks at the symbols of place and space on display in the Australian cities of Melbourne and Brisbane to demonstrate how prevailing social, political and economic values are displayed. Symbols of place and space are never neutral, and this paper argues that they can either marginalise and oppress urban Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, or demonstrate that they are included and engaged.

Developmental lessons from the Capricornia Arts Mob : ‘learning to speak with one voice’

The Capricornia Arts Mob also known as CAM is a collective of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander visual artists, sculptors, photographers, carvers and writers based in the Rockhampton Region. Its members are eclectic and include an 18 year old through to Elders. CAM has already had a major exhibition in Rockhampton and is submitting work to a range of arts festivals, events and exhibitions. While their achievements are steadily growing and they have been meeting for 18 months, they have been reluctant to incorporate or implement a formalised structure. In learning how to work together there have been tensions and struggles, there has also been the exhilaration of working collaboratively as artists from diverse Indigenous cultures who utilise different mediums. This has resulted in an incredible vibrancy in creative praxis. Members will share some of CAM’s learnings of the developmental process to date and thoughts and dreams about the future.

Out of control : Emergent cultural landscapes and political change in urban Vietnam

This paper plots the recent changes in the uses of public space in Hanoi, Vietnam. It is argued that the economic and social changes in contemporary Vietnam have paved the way for a dramatic transformation in the ways in which streets, pavements and markets are experienced and imagined by the populace. The efflorescence of individual mobility, street-trading and public crowding around certain popular events has led to the emergence of a distinct public sphere, one which is not immune from state control and censure but which is a flagrant rebuttal of the state's appeal. The immediate struggles over space herald a new discursive arena for the contest over Vietnamese national imagery as represented in cultural heritage and public space, memorials and state-controlled events which the public are rapidly deserting. The paper concludes by suggesting that the everyday cultural practices that have created a bustling streetlife in urban Vietnam will inevitably provide the vitality and spectacle for the destabilisation of state control in a struggle for meanings in public space.

V: Rewriting and reclaiming history : an analysis of the emergence of restorative justice in western criminal justice systems

During the last three decades, restorative justice has emerged in numerous localities around the world as an accepted approach to responding to crime. This article, which stems from a doctoral study on the history of restorative justice, provides a critical analysis of accepted histories of restorative practices. It revisits the celebrated historical texts of the restorative justice movement, and re-evaluates their contribution to the emergence of restorative justice measures. It traces the emergence of the term 'restorative justice', and reveals that it emerged in much earlier writings than is commonly thought to be the case by scholars in the restorative justice field. It also briefly considers some 'power struggles' in relation to producing an accepted version of the history of restorative justice, and scholars' attempts to 'rewrite history' to align with current views on restorative justice. Finally, this article argues that some histories of restorative justice selectively and inaccurately portray key figures from the history of criminology as restorative justice supporters. This, it is argued, gives restorative justice a false lineage and operates to legitimise the widespread adoption of restorative justice around the globe.

Capturing the 'authentic voice' : challenges and opportunities for voice and self-representation in two ABC storytelling projects

In recent years there has been a noticeable move by various public institutions, such as public service broadcasters and community media organisations, to capture and disseminate the voices and viewpoints of ‘ordinary people’ through inviting them to share stories about their lives. One of the foremost objectives of many such projects is to provide under-represented individuals and groups with an opportunity to express and represent themselves; as such, the capture and broadcast of ‘authentic voices’ is a central value. This paper discusses the notion of ‘authentic voice’, and questions the framing role of public media organisations in storytelling projects that aim to provide individuals with space for self-expression and self-representation. It considers the ways in which tensions arise on multiple levels when individuals are asked to express and represent themselves within projects and spaces that are managed by institutions. This paper begins by discussing the challenges and opportunities that arise within storytelling projects that are facilitated by public institutions and community media arts organisations, and that aim to amplify the voices of “ordinary people” (Thumim, 2009). It examines ways in which ‘voice’ is facilitated, curated, broadcast and distributed within such projects, particularly questioning the ways in which project facilitation and the curation of stories for public broadcast can both help and hinder the amplification of ‘authentic voice’. Furthermore, we seek to discuss how ‘authentic voice’ is defined, and what is involved in the process of amplification. The paper moves on to discuss a case study in order to demonstrate some of the tensions that are evident within a storytelling project that is managed by a public institution – Australia’s national broadcaster – and the ways these tensions impact upon the capture and broadcast of an ‘authentic voice’ for project participants. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s (ABC) ‘Heywire’ project is a storytelling competition and website that aims to ‘give voice’ to 16-22 year olds who live in rural, regional and remote parts of Australia. Looking at tensions that exist on organisational, political and philosophical levels within the Heywire project reveals a number of conflicts of interest and objectives between the institution and project participants. This leads us to question whether institutionally-managed storytelling projects can effectively support individuals to have an ‘authentic voice’, and whether struggles of aims and objectives diminish the personal benefits that people may derive from expressing and representing themselves within such projects.

The national railway of Sarah Island : Richard Flanagan's Gould's Book of Fish

In the latter half of the nineteenth century the railway became an emblem of technological advancement, stood for the improvement and progression of European life, and became a recognizable symbol for the achievements of governments and citizens. The implementation and use of the railway became closely linked with notions of national identity and character. The railway became an identifiable artefact in official history but at the same time it became a part of everyday life. Richard Flanagan’s Gould’s Book of Fish retells the life-story of a fictionalized convict sent to Sarah Island and who paints fish, eventually he metamorphoses into one. It could be thought that a novel set in convict times would have little to do with notions of national identity, technological advancement, and railway travel. However, Richard Flanagan, in this very complex, almost surreal, novel, has used the construction of a fictional national railway as one of the ways to explore Australia's complex relationship with history and space. The novel tells of the plans of a history-loving Commandant and his desire to build a national railway on Sarah Island. This paper explores how Sarah Island becomes a metonym for Australia as a whole and Flanagan's novel takes on a metaphysical dimension as he reveals the struggles that emerge when official history collides with non-official versions. The fabulations of the novel contribute to an historical reconstruction of the spatial/architectural history of the Tasmanian colonial project.

Physiotherapists have accurate expectations of their patients’ future health-related quality of life after first assessment in a subacute rehabilitation setting

BACKGROUND Expectations held by health professionals and their patients are likely to affect treatment choices in subacute inpatient rehabilitation settings for older adults. There is a scarcity of empirical evidence evaluating whether health professionals expectations of the quality of their patients' future health states are accurate. METHODS A prospective longitudinal cohort investigation was implemented to examine agreement (kappa coefficients, exact agreement, limits-of-agreement, and intraclass-correlation coefficients) between physiotherapists' (n = 23) prediction of patients' discharge health-related quality of life (reported on the EQ-5D-3L) and the actual health-related quality of life self-reported by patients (n = 272) at their discharge assessment (using the EQ-5D-3L). The mini-mental state examination was used as an indicator of patients' cognitive ability. RESULTS Overall, 232 (85%) patients had all assessment data completed and were included in analysis. Kappa coefficients (exact agreement) ranged between 0.37-0.57 (58%-83%) across EQ-5D-3L domains in the lower cognition group and 0.53-0.68 (81%-85%) in the better cognition group. CONCLUSIONS Physiotherapists in this subacute rehabilitation setting predicted their patients' discharge health-related quality of life with substantial accuracy. Physiotherapists are likely able to provide their patients with sound information regarding potential recovery and health-related quality of life on discharge. The prediction accuracy was higher among patients with better cognition than patients with poorer cognition.

Recognition and moral progress : a case study about discourses on disability in the media

This article aims to discuss the notion of moral progress in the theory of recognition. It argues that Axel Honneth's program offers sophisticated theoretical guidance to observe and critically interpret emancipatory projects in contemporary politics based on ideas of individuality and social inclusiveness. Using a case study – the investigation, through frame analysis, of transformations in the portrayal of people with impairment as well as in public discourses on the issue of disability in major Brazilian news media from 1960 to 2008 – this article addresses three controversies: the notion of progress as a directional process; the problem of moral disagreement and conflict of interest in struggles for recognition; and the processes of social learning. By articulating empirically based arguments and Honneth's normative discussions, this study concludes that one can talk about moral progress without losing sight of value pluralism and conflict of interest.

Telling bodies, mapping knowledge : recontextualising the dancer’s corporeality using a modular choreographic model

Creative Development: The Body and Light. Within the current cultural climate, the independent choreographer struggles to pursue and establish their artistic career outside the infrastructure of mainstream dance companies. The independent choreographer is challenged to articulate alternative choreographic models without the support of that infrastructure. My research examines that challenge by exploring my own independent choreographic practice through a number of performance-based dance projects. This exploration will be underpinned by theoretical research to enable clarification of the tacit understandings of an embodied practice and the point of intersection between practice and theory so as to articulate alternative choreographic models. As a starting point for that enquiry, an example is provided of how questions that emerge from within the choreographic practice can be discussed in terms of research through an initial investigation exploring light in relation to the moving body and the implications of atmospheres.