200 research outputs found
Theorising, Writing and Ethics: the Production of Ethnography
No full textThis work brings together some of the leading writers on feminism to discuss all aspects of how they work. Drawing from a range of different areas such as literature, sociology, film, law, TV and history, they explore how feminist research and theoretical work is done. The methods discussed include textual analysis, ethnography, film history, interviewing, memory and audience responses. By making explicit the processes involved in theorising and researching, they show that what comes to the reader as a coherent piece of work was the product of difficult, often tortuous, activity. Each author analyzes her own method's motivations and strategies and so gives a rounded picture of how the field of feminist cultural theory is currently being shaped
How reflective practice can support GP teams in times of crisis
No full textClinical psychologist and author Bev Thomas explains how group meetings after a traumatic event can help all members come to terms with their experiences
Foundation Paper: Age Appropriate Pedagogies for the Early Years of Schooling
No full textThis report provides a review key literature and research on age-appropriate pedagogies in the early years of schooling. It examines the features of age-appropriate pedagogies that engage young children and achieve effective learning outcomes, and considers the alignment of these learning and teaching approaches with current school accountability expectations.
The paper is guided by a belief that debates which position pedagogical approaches as binary opposites are unhelpful. For example, it rejects the notion that play and explicit instruction are mutually exclusive, offering instead the view that they can co-exist and that both are beneficial,
dependent upon the participants, context, purpose, and duration of learning experiences. As such, this report adopts the view that pedagogies need to be varied and also recognises the co-constructed nature of pedagogy. This perspective recognises that pedagogies need to take account
of age, background, and abilities of individual learners as well as the interests of both children and teachers. These beliefs frame this discussion and are provided here in order to ensure that the possibilities inherent within a range of pedagogical approaches, including play-based approaches,
are presented. There are six sections in the paper.Full Tex
Agency and leadership by Indigenous education workers for family-school-community engagement
No full textThis paper presents a single-site case study to explicate some of the issues that relate to developing a genuine and successful role for Indigenous education workers (IEWs) especially those who reside in remote Australian communities. It draws attention to the lost opportunities for agency and leadership in culturally relevant literacy teaching with families, schools and community. The study employs a social justice framework to explore a theory of intended change resultant from the inclusion of IEWs in a professional learning coalition of school leaders, teachers, and Indigenous elders with university researchers throughout an 18-month project. This evidence of intended change focuses on the IEWs’ display of agency in leading families and community in the production of culturally relevant story texts to support children’s reading inside and outside school. The paper contributes to a scant body of literature highlighting the valuable work conducted by IEWs, and justifies more meaningful employment and formal leadership roles in schools and in the community. This work lays the foundation for further research involving IEWs’ leadership in producing culturally relevant criteria for measuring change in children’s literacy outcomes and change in family-community engagement in children’s reading.Full Tex
Culture-switching in different worlds:Young children’s transition experiences
No full textThe constructs of 'three w orlds' and culture-switching were developed during a longitudinal study of the literacy experiences of a small group of culturally diverse children in Australia who encountered differing social and cultural contexts as they were transitioning from preschool to Year 1. Drawing on sociocultural perspectives and using a case study design, the report examines the ways in which five children negotiated culture, literacy, and schooling at home and in the classroom. The study establishes sufficient evidential warrant for further investigation into the nature and dimensions of world-building and culture-switching that seemingly characterise such literacy experiences. It may also provide insights for teachers of young, culturally diverse children starting school.Arts, Education & Law Group, School of Education and Professional StudiesFull Tex
Modelling of Electric Powertrain for Heavy-Duty BEV
No full textThe automotive industry plays a crucial role in battling the climate crisis and reducing emissions. Medium-duty and heavy-duty vehicles alone contribute to one-fourth of global emissions in the transport sector and there is a positive trend in the demand for these vehicles. Battery Electric Trucks have the potential to transform the growing logistics industry.DAF Trucks N.V., one of the largest truck manufacturers in Europe, aims to transition to zero-emission vehicles and advance in this future of electric mobility. This project aims to model the powertrain of their CF Electric model and explore viable options for future designs. The thesis work can be defined in three parts.The first part of the research focuses on modelling the electric powertrain in MATLAB/Simulink. Here, more focus is given in the calculation of individual motor and inverter losses. These losses are reverse engineered and extracted from the motor drive efficiency map using Particle Swarm Optimisation (PSO) algorithm.The second part of the project focuses on performing sensitivity analysis to identify the key parameters that have the most influence on the energy efficiency of the Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV). This helps to prioritise and focus on optimisation of these parameters for future models. A comparison is drawn between the percentage change in the range each parameter has with small changes.Lastly, in the third part of the thesis, different powertrain architectures are studied and modelled to under- stand their influence on the range of the BEV and the challenges involved in implementing such layouts
The impact and effects of attempts to implement leadership for reading 'both ways': A case study in an Indigenous school
No full textA 'both ways' leadership model underpins the design, implementation and research phases of the Principals as Literacy Leaders with Indigenous Communities project (PALLIC). The project was developed by Griffith University in partnership with the Australian Primary Principals Association (APPA) to provide support to Principals as they lead reading improvement in Indigenous schools. This paper reports on the approaches undertaken by one school located in a very remote Australian community as it begins to apply a literacy leadership learning blueprint introduced in the project. We draw on interview data from the principal, teachers and Indigenous community leaders to describe the impacts and effects associated with combining mainstream and Indigenous cultural knowledge and experiences as the foundation for meaningful literacy learning programmes for Indigenous children. In so doing, we offer some commentary on the merit of the blueprint as a way to connect leadership work with the improvement of student learning.Arts, Education & Law Group, School of Education and Professional StudiesFull Tex
The role of a group coach in the professional learning of school leaders
No full textGroup coaching has the potential to foster social learning for school leaders. In this article, we investigate the role of the coach in a group coaching process drawing on data from interviews and observations in a pilot study. The Professional Learning through Feedback and Reflection (PROFLEC) study ran in 10 countries and was funded by the European Commission. We report on data from two countries which took part in the study: Norway and Australia. We examine the steps used in an established group coaching protocol and identify critical aspects of the coaching role. We discuss the complexities of the role of the group balancing a goal-oriented coaching process along with the facilitation process. We suggest that the coaching role requires a unique set of skills and argue that research is needed to support the development of evidence-based training programmes to prepare coaches for this complex and challenging role.No Full Tex
What Does it Cost Society to Raise a Dollar of Tax Revenue? The Marginal Cost of Public Funds
No full textThe marginal cost of public funds measures the welfare loss a society incurs in raising an additional dollar of tax revenue. Tax increases distort economic decisions and erode tax bases because of tax avoidance and tax evasion by taxpayers. This Commentary uses econometric estimates of the effects of higher provincial tax rates on the provinces’ corporate income tax, personal income tax, and sales tax bases to calculate the marginal cost of public funds (MCF) for these taxes. The results indicate that the cost of increasing provincial tax revenues through a corporate tax rate increase is very high, and in some provinces, corporate tax rate reductions in 2006 would have increased the present value of the provincial government’s total tax revenues. The results also suggest that significant welfare gains would accrue from reducing provincial corporate income tax rates. As well, increasing provincial corporate and personal income tax rates can cause significant reductions in federal tax revenues because the federal and provincial governments levy taxes on the same tax bases. Finally, Canada’s system of the equalization grants might reduce the perceived MCF of recipient provinces.Fiscal and Tax Competitiveness, marginal cost of public funds (MCF)
- …
