Orientations to Critical Literacy for English as an Additional Language or Dialect (EAL/D) learners: A case study of four teachers of senior English

Recently, the debate around critical literacy has dissipated as literacy education agendas and attendant policies shift to embrace more hybrid approaches to the teaching of senior English. This paper reports on orientations towards critical literacy as expressed by four teachers of senior English who teach culturally and linguistically diverse learners. Teachers’ understandings of critical literacy are important given the emphasis on Critical and Creative Thinking as well as Literacy as General Capabilities underpinning the Australian Curriculum. Using critical discourse analysis and Janks' (2010) Synthesis Model of Critical Literacy, interview and classroom data from four teachers of English as an Additional Language or Dialect (EAL/D) learners in two high schools were analysed for the ways these teachers constructed critical literacy in their talk and practice. While all four teachers indicated significant commitment to critical literacy as an approach to English language teaching, their understandings varied. These ranged from providing access to powerful genres, to rationalist approaches to interrogating text, with less emphasis on multimodal design and drawing on learner diversity. This has significant implications for what kind of learning is being offered to EAL/D learners in the name of English teaching, for syllabus design, and for teacher professional development.

Intra-arterial waveform analysis: a study of senior nurse knowledge in a general intensive care unit

The aim of this small-scale study was to assess what knowledge senior nurses within a general intensive care unit (GICU) had in relation to intra-arterial blood pressure (IABP) waveform analysis. Its core objective was: To assess what knowledge was held by the senior nursing team with regard to arterial waveform interpretation, arterial waveform morphology and the technical aspects associated with arterial waveform monitoring.

Career journeys and turning points of senior female managers in small construction firms

There is under-representation of senior female managers within small construction firms in the United Kingdom. The position is denying the sector a valuable pool of labour to address acute knowledge and skill shortages. Grounded theory on the career progression of senior female managers in these firms is developed from biographical interviews. First, a turning point model which distinguishes the interplay between human agency and work/home structure is given. Second, four career development phases are identified. The career journeys are characterized by ad hoc decisions and opportunities which were not influenced by external policies aimed at improving the representation of women in construction. Third, the 'hidden', but potentially significant, contribution of women-owned small construction firms is noted. The key challenge for policy and practice is to balance these external approaches with recognition of the 'inside out' reality of the 'lived experiences' of female managers. To progress this agenda there is a need for: appropriate longitudinal statistical data to quantify the scale of senior female managers and owners of small construction firms over time; and, social construction and gendered organizational analysis research to develop a general discourse on gender difference with these firms.

Prevalence of genital human papillomavirus DNA in a sample of senior school-aged women in the Australian Capital Territory

Background: A strong association between persistent infection with oncogenic types of human papillomavirus (HPV) and cervical cancer is well established. Small numbers of international studies examining adolescent HPV infection and the risk factors associated are published, but there is currently no evidence on the prevalence and risk factors for HPV in an Australian, sexually active female adolescent population. Methods: To provide prevalence and risk factors for HPV in a female sexually active, senior high school population in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), a convenience sample of 161, 16–19-year-old females attending a senior high school was evaluated. The sample formed part of a larger sample recruited for a study of sexually transmitted infections and blood-borne viruses in senior high school students. A clinical record was used to collect information about sexual and other risk behaviours, while self-collected vaginal swabs were tested for HPV DNA detection and genotyping using polymerase chain reaction. Results: The prevalence of HPV DNA in this sample overall was 11.2%, with multiple genotypes in 38%. No statistically significant associations were found between HPV DNA and the number of male partners, age of coitarche, time since first sexually active, condom use, smoking or alcohol intake. Conclusions: This is the first Australian study that has examined the prevalence and risk factors for genital HPV in this demographic group. The prevalence of HPV infection is slightly lower than reported in similar age groups overseas and is lower than other Australian studies in older women and those attending sexual health centres. Of HPV-positive young women, high-risk genotypes were found in over half, with more than one-third of HPV existing as multiple genotypes. Large community-based prevalence studies are needed to guide the development of recommendations for the vaccination of young women against HPV and to support other health promotion initiatives.

Supporting information needs of senior citizens in community aged care

To address the challenge of an ageing population in an information society, it is important to introduce information systems to assist the aged people in maintaining and improving their quality of life. An understanding of what information aged people need, how they seek and use information, and how they adopt Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is required. This paper reports the findings of an empirical study undertaken in Australia to understand the information needs of senior citizens who reside in the community. The study aims to understand how ICT can support the independent living of senior people in the community from both the social and health perspectives. We offer a new understanding of the information needs of aged people in the community and extend the information systems research in aged care. This research also contributes to the development of innovative ICT enabled aged care service solutions in community aged care.

The Indetermination of Senior

The commitments and working requirements of abstract, applied, and art of, economics are assessed within an analogy with the fields of inert matter and life. Abstract economics is the pure logic of the phenomenon. Applied positive economics presupposes many distinct abstract sciences. Art presupposes applied economics and direct knowledge of the specificities which characterize the time-space individuality of the phenomenon. This is an indetermination clearly formulated by Senior and Mill; its connection with institutionalism is discussed. The Ricardian Vice is the habit of ignoring the indetermination; its prevalence in mainstream economics is exemplified, and its causes analyzed.

The Ricardian vice and the indetermination of senior

The general commitments and working requirements of abstract, applied, and art of science, including economics, are assessed. Pure economics deals with the logic of the phenomenon. Positive socio-economics presupposes pure economics and many distinct sciences. Art presupposes socio-economics and direct knowledge of the specificities which characterize the time-space individuality of the phenomenon. This indetermination was partially formulated by Senior and Mill; graduate education in economics is considered in its light. The habit of ignoring it is the Ricardian Vice, as named by Schumpeter; the prevalence of the vice is exemplified, and its causes analyzed.

The indetermination of senior (or the indetermination of Wagner) and Schmoller as a Social Economist

The propositions of pure economics, whatever be their generality and their truth, do not authorize normative concluaions, but cannot be ignored. The latter, namely what ought not to be done, is derivable from socio-economics. The derivation is to be qualified by the specificities of the case. I have called this the Indetermination of Senior; Wagner and Marshall were quite aware of it. The habit of ignoring it is the Ricardian Vice; Schmoller's fight may have been a reaction against the latter. The Methodenstreit was the first great paradigmatic conflict between pure and social economists.