UniSA Open Journal System (Univ. of South Australia)
Not a member yet
409 research outputs found
Sort by
Refinement and Evaluation of the Effects of University Study on Lifestyle Questionnaire (EUSLQ) upon students’ anxiety and depression
No full textBackground: The incidence of clinical anxiety and depression among university students is significantly elevated above that for the rest of the population, and has been shown to be an outcome of the specific stressor demands encountered by that group.
Aims: To revise a scale that will reliably identify those stressors and the effects they have on student anxiety and depression.
Sample: From advertising of the project, 398 Australian university student volunteers were recruited.
Method: Participants completed the Revised Effects of University Study on Lifestyle Questionnaire (the R-EUSLQ), which measured the incidence of stressors and lifestyle changes brought about by university study, plus the Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale and Self-Rating Depression Scale.
Results: Psychometric data were satisfactory and significant correlations existed between total scores from the three scales. Factor analysis of the REUSLQ revealed five components, only three of which significantly predicted anxiety or depression.
Conclusions: Students’ principal source of stress that was associated with anxiety and depression was their feelings of isolation and consequent psychological distress. The R-EUSLQ has the potential to be used in research into student stress and also within clinical settings
Rewired: Understanding the iGeneration and the way they learn
No full textLarry D. Rosen argues for the need to more fully embrace technology and to incorporate digital media when educating young technologically advanced student cohorts. Rewired: Understanding the iGeneration and the Way They Learn is a good introduction to recent research on the use of technology by young people, and the pedagogical potential of utilising the rapid and unique changes in behaviour of this demographic. However, the book lacks consideration of the ethics of such a pedagogical approach in terms of the implications for students' health, labour and other environmental factors.
View PDF for the full revie
The assessment of ethics
No full textThat Australian universities value the development of qualities broadly related to ethics is evidenced through their inclusion in institutional statements of graduate attributes (GA). Early GA implementation strategies largely emphasised the mapping of specific attributes against existing programmes or courses. There is now a growing acknowledgement that authentic implementation does not occur unless GAs are embedded in assessment. The assessment of GAs is a problematic and challenging task, a situation attributed partly to difficulties in conceptualising GAs in ways that facilitate their operationalisation in teaching and assessment and partly to inadequacies in the development of assessment strategies and instruments. For many academics, the moral dimension of ethics so intensifies the assessment challenge that they are often not assessed at all. While these difficulties are acknowledged, this paper argues the case for the explicit inclusion of ethics in course
teaching and assessment plans and illustrates some of the contexts, including the student university learning experience, in which the development and assessment of ethics can be undertaken
Developing wellbeing in first year pre-service teachers: Reflections on a personal approach to professional education.
No full textThe general health of Australians is a growing concern, particularly with the current focus on reducing the prevalence of preventable risk factors for disease and overweight in children and adults. Schools are becoming increasingly responsible for health promotion, and educating young people about healthy lifestyle behaviours, yet there has not been an increase in required health education training for primary school teachers.
The likely place for training future teachers to adapt to the demands of a changing curriculum is during their pre service training, but the health of university students is a concern in itself. The transition to university and the university environment, with its increase in personal responsibility and culture of alcohol consumption; and the focus on competition and success in personal and academic areas can place students at risk of a multitude of health problems. In addition these students are typically at an age where risk taking is common and they rarely know or care about the consequences for their health in the future.
To address these issues, a first year undergraduate health education subject was developed and delivered to all Bachelor of Education students at the Bendigo campus of La Trobe University in Australia. This subject was designed to utilise behaviour change theory and best practice in pre-service teacher preparation to focus on improving student’s personal health behaviours in order to prepare them for teaching about such health issues in schools. Program details, staff reflection and student feedback are discussed and suggestions for application in teacher education are also given
Professional well-being and learning: a study of administrator-teacher workplace relationships
No full textThe study of workplace relationships in schools has been important since the
phenomenon of school organisational climate was first identified in the 1960s by
Halpin and Croft (Halpin 1966). They developed a reliable and well-respected
instrument for describing and measuring climate called the Organizational Climate
Descriptive Questionnaire (OCDQ). This was based on teachers’ perceptions of
eight types of peer and administrator/peer interactions, different combinations of
which constituted six categories of climate from ‘open’ to ‘closed’
Explaining effective teaching: self-efficacy and thought control of action
No full textTeaching is complex and demanding. Teachers require not only qualities such as passion and enthusiasm, but capacities for resilience, survival and innovation. To enable this, teachers need to cope with the demands of their external world – stresses that arise from curriculum and assessment changes, and other mandated educational reorganisations, most of which are beyond their immediate control. But teachers also need to develop the capacity to exercise control over their internal world, including such influences as their emotions, thoughts and beliefs, and how these relate to them as teachers and to their teaching. In this paper I explain and discuss the influence of teachers’ self-efficacy on teaching, specifically regarding their need to exercise thought control in teaching. I suggest that teachers’ personal sense of control, and their beliefs in their capability to exercise control of their thinking during teaching, impacts on how they think, feel and teach. These findings have significant implications for how we consider and deliver preservice and in-service teacher education programmes. Therefore, a central focus of teacher education should be less on knowledge and skills (though these are important), and more on developing teachers’ self-efficacy and thought control over their actions
What are teachers saying about new managerialism?
No full textSince the mid-1970s, successive federal and state governments have redefined the
governance structure of Australian schooling in accordance with the principles of
the market and its corollary new managerialism (Hartley 1997; Marginson 1997;
Robertson 2000; Yeatman 1990). Morley and Rassool (1999, p 61) argue that ‘the
introduction of markets and managers has been a generic transformational device
designed to restructure and reorient public service provision’. According to Yeatman
(1990, p 14), this structural and ideological shift has resulted in a corporate-style
bureaucracy whereby public sector activity is ‘reduced to the effective, efficient and
economic management of human and capital resources’. As the dominant style of
public administration and public service, it seeks to make government efficient by
doing more with less, focusing on outcomes and results and managing change better.
The common elements have involved site-based management, the language of
improvement and budgetary devolution (Morley & Rassool 1999).
Commenting on the British experience, Hoggett (1996, p 12) argues that
three fundamental but interrelated strategies of control have been implemented over
the last decade to drive these reforms. First, competition has been introduced as a
means of coordinating the activities of decentralised units. Second, there has been an
attempt to decentralise operations whilst centralising strategic command. Third,
there has been the extended development of performance management techniques.
Against this backdrop, we set out in this article to examine how six senior
teachers in one secondary school in the northern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia
have experienced and responded to these generic managerial reforms. In doing so,
we are keen to re-insert ‘the missing voices of teachers’ (Smyth 2001, p 149) back
into the reform debate that raged in Western Australian schools in the late 1980s and
simmered throughout the 1990s following the introduction of the mandated Better
schools in Western Australia: a programme for improvement (Ministry of
Education, Western Australia 1987)
Problem-based learning in initial teacher education: taking the agenda forward
No full textProblem-based learning (PBL) is not new; in one form or another, it has been around
for considerable time. Indeed, as Menon (1997) points out, it may be seen as
originating with Dewey at the turn of the century. In this article I examine
definitions of PBL, and some of the challenges and problems it presents. I look at
the evolution of PBL, and some of the applications of this methodology - together
with some of the detailed research which has been undertaken in this field. I also
discuss the current United Kingdom models of initial teacher education, outline
possible uses of PBL in this area, and describe research carried out in the University
of Glasgow. Finally, I provide some discussion about the applicability of PBL in the
area of initial teacher education
Crisis management in schools: evidence based
No full textCritical incidents in or involving schools include shootings, stabbings, other
forms of homicide, terrorist activity, suicide, road traffic accidents, major
fires and natural disasters, which result or might result in death and/or serious
injury to students and staff. Where crisis management plans exist, they might
be based on ‘common sense’ or clinical judgement, risking worsening rather
than improving outcomes. The relevant evidence base is scattered and of very
various quality. This systematic review addresses these difficulties. This first
part of the review considers definitions, prevention (resilience building and
mental health promotion), preparation (planning, education, training and
practice) and response (prompt implementation of effective actions and
mobilisation of appropriate resources). The beginnings of an evidence base
can be seen. In ‘prevention’, effectiveness has been demonstrated for some
suicide prevention, anti-depression and resilience-building programs. In
‘preparation’, the literature is largely descriptive and founded mainly on
clinical judgement. This is also true for ‘response’, but there is evidence that
media portrayal of suicide generates more suicide. Although there is as yet no
direct empirical evidence for the effectiveness of crisis management planning
in schools, it would seem a wise course, provided it is not rigid and
bureaucratic. Other implications for policy, practice and future research are
outlined