Parental perspectives of the role of school factors in school refusal

The aim of this study was to explore parents’ perspectives on the role of school factors in school refusal (SR). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 parents who had experienced SR with their own child. They identified several school factors related to SR. Some of these findings suggest that students who are prone to SR need more predictability and more teachers’ support than they sometimes get in school. Their need for predictability seems to occur particularly during less structured activities and during transitions in school. Findings also imply that disruptive behavior among classmates and harsh management from teachers affects perceived predictability and support for SR-prone students. All parents expressed concern about bullying, and roughly a third of them reported that their child had been a victim of bullying. Insufficient adaptation of schoolwork was also mentioned relatively frequently. Parents emphasized that adaptation of schoolwork needs to be done in close cooperation with the student and parents to avoid negative differentiation from classmates or stigma. Finally, several parents commented that teachers and schools need more knowledge about SR and felt that schools needed a more coordinated approach to supporting students who are at risk of SR.     

Primary school playgrounds as spaces of inclusion/exclusion in New South Wales,Australia

The purpose of this study was to determine how the design and organisation of primary school playground spaces may result in the inclusion or exclusion of some groups of children. Two primary school playgrounds in rural New South Wales, Australia, were selected for this investigation. Data were collected through observations and unstructured interactional interviews. Data analysis revealed the design and organisation of primary school play spaces may lead to segregation among school children. Gender, safety concerns and school rules were also established as factors restricting full use of the playground space. The identification of these factors is vital in guiding future school reform programmes and policies aimed at enhancing participation in play and a sense of belonging for all children. The results suggest that there is need to promote schools’ understandings of the significance of playground spaces in children’s social lives so children can fully benefit from the time they spend in school playgrounds.     

Principal leadership changes and their consequences for school performance in South Africa

School leadership changes are gaining momentum in South Africa as larger proportions of incumbent principals near retirement age. While this presents opportunities to replace weaker school leaders with better ones, these changes may also destabilize school environments and impede on learning. This study explores this issue using payroll data on public school principals in South Africa linked to national data on schools and matriculation examination outcomes. School fixed effects and propensity score matching with difference-in-difference estimations confirm that principal changes are indeed detrimental to school performance with larger disruptive effects observed in poorer schools.     

Changing patterns of school enrolment in Australia

The various explanations offered for the decline in government school enrolments since the mid-1970s are considered in this article. Changing parental perceptions of the educational strengths and weaknesses of school systems are held to be of critical importance. Changes in government funding policy have been very important too, in their effects not only on enrolments but also on the educational policies of some non-government schools and, indeed, whole systems. The need is stressed for further research into parental concerns about education and the effects of funding policies on educational decisions.     

Parental preferences in the choice for a specialty school

Choosing a specialty school involves huge challenges for families. This research aims to understand the behavioral process that leads families to choose among various specialty school programs. Discrete choice models, based on revealed preferences data from middle school applications in a large school district in Florida, are estimated using both, the top and all-ranked alternatives. This study returns insights into geographic settings, theme specialties and socioeconomic characteristics of applicants, schools and their relationships. Distance from home, the school’s academic quality, the school’s theme specialty, and the high percentage of applicant’s own race are found to be the strongest factors related to the decision to apply.     

From school to higher education in Australia

This paper addresses the question of why young people go on from school to higher education in Australia. A person-situation interactionist theory to explain decisions taken in the matter is developed, and in the light of this theory a model to predict entry to higher education is advanced. The model is tested using data from separate studies in two Australian States, Victoria and Queensland. Results of bivariate and logistic regression analyses are generally consistent with expectations from the model. Certain interactive effects of variables in the model upon entry to higher education are reported.     

Enrolment trends in school science education in Australia

Investigations were carried out to find the amount of science portrayed by terrestrial television in the UK and the public comprehension of that science as shown on television. UK terrestrial programming was derived from the Radio Times . Advertisement information was derived from UK terrestrial commercial television commercials. Public opinions were solicited by a survey of 200 members of the public ( n = 196). Science-based programming formed 5.36% of all terrestrial broadcasting time, with people watching an average of 1.75 science programmes per week (approx. 0.2% of programmes possible). 65% of all television advertisements were found to be science-based, although only 26% of advertisement categories were recognized as being science-based by the public. If interest in science is reflected in the amount of science programmes watched then the public are not interested in science. The lack of comprehension of the scientific basis of many advertisements is indicative of the lack of relevance of science education to people in modern society.     

How home gets to school: Parental control strategies predict children's school readiness

At-risk families’ control style (autonomy support and coercive control) was examined in relation to children's school readiness; children's social skills and mastery motivation were hypothesized mediating variables. In two different, low-income samples from diverse ethnic backgrounds, one preschool sample recruited from Head Start (N = 199) and a school transition sample composed of children entering elementary school (N = 344), parental control styles were related to children's academic readiness modestly but significantly in the preschool sample and weakly in the school transition sample. Children's social skills and mastery motivation skills (persistence and goal orientation) were significantly related to the academic measures of school readiness, and fully mediated the association between parents’ use of coercive behavioral control and academic readiness. Such mediation could not be tested for parental support of children's autonomy. The results indicate that a developmental cascade exists between parental control strategies and academic indices of school readiness, emphasizing the importance of family context models of school readiness. Furthermore, strong correlations between the domains of school readiness were found in both samples, reinforcing calls for a multidimensional approach to supporting school readiness in early childhood education programs.     

澳大利亚高中职业教育最新概况及启示

澳大利亚是世界上职业教育发达的国家之一,近年来以高中为本位的职业教育培训受到了职教界的关注。本文介绍了澳大利亚高中职业教育的最新概况,分析了澳大利亚高中职业教育培训的特点,总结了此种教育体制对我国的启示,对我国职业教育有一定的借鉴作用。     

Mentoring for school based teacher education in Australia

This article is to explore the possibilities of mentoring for school based teacher education in Australia. Traditionally, supervision at the school level during the practicum in Australia has been focused on the classroom teacher whose role was to oversee and watch the direct work of the student teacher. However with the reforms in teacher education within the higher education sector which began in the late 1980s, a new challenge has arisen, which emphasises a shift of focus within the practicum from the role of classroom teacher as supervisor to one of mentor. Therefore, teachers who wish to become mentors will require new skills and competencies which extend beyond those of supervision, which necessitates the need for further training and education of classroom teachers. This article examines the mentoring role and the skills needed by teachers in supporting the development and education of student teachers into the teaching profession. The article also briefly examines the implications that this shift in focus from supervisor to mentor may bring for the participants involved in the education of student teachers.     

Parental risk attitudes and children's secondary school track choice

Although it is well-known that individuals’ risk attitudes are related to behavioral outcomes such as smoking, portfolio decisions, and educational attainment, there is virtually no evidence of whether parental risk attitudes affect the educational attainment of their dependent children. We add to this literature and examine children's secondary school track choice in Germany where tracking occurs at age ten and has a strong binding character. Using risk indicators for different domains, we mainly find evidence of an inverse relation between parental risk aversion and children's secondary school track, with some heterogeneity depending on whether parents’ risk willingness is modeled separately or jointly, by child gender, or by the risk measure used.     

Diversity and progress in school accountability systems in Australia

School education in Australia is a complex interplay between federal and state governments, and between government and non-government schools. This article explores the supervision of schools in Australia through school accountability systems. Utilising publicly available documents a systematic analysis of the state and territory systems for government schools is provided. It is a paper that attempts to document rather than critique school accountability, although a conceptual framework utilising contractual, moral and professional accountability is used to analyse the different accountability processes reported upon. Contractual and moral accountability is supported by most systems, whilst there is potential to foster professional accountability in only two systems. Fostering professional accountability is important because this is where the internal motivation of teachers helps to drive school improvement. When compared to leading-edge systems, Australian accountability systems are lacking in judgements on teaching practice in individual classrooms, and the use of sophisticated measures of learning and value-added analysis.     

Parental contributions,school‐level finances and decentralization: an analysis of Nicaraguan autonomous school budgets

The Nicaraguan Autonomous School Programme is notable among the growing number of school governance decentralization reforms in the Americas in the degree of control given to parents, especially in decisions regarding the allocation of school resources. Much of schools’ discretionary spending was accumulated through various school charges. This paper analyses rare school‐level budget data to determine the proportion of resources that derived from parental contributions and other school‐based commercial activity. We find the contributions to be significant, highly varied, and correlated with income. The results have implications for many decentralization reforms that encourage local contributions as part of both their financing and accountability strategies.     

Mathematical literacy of school leaving pupils in South Africa

This paper discusses some results of South African (SA) grade 12 pupils on an international test of mathematical literacy, administered in the framework of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) under the auspices of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). Three questions are addressed: (1) What are the strengths and weaknesses of SA school-leavers in mathematical reasoning and social utility from an international comparative perspective?: (2) What is the growth of SA pupils' mathematical literacy from grade 8 to 12? (3) What are the background variables that influence the level of mathematical literacy of SA school-leavers? Finally some implications of the results for SA education will be discussed.     

Clinical supervision: The perceptions andexperiences of school counselors in Australia

This Australian study examined the experiencesof clinical supervision of school counselors.The participants perceived the amount of timespent on clinical supervision as inadequate,and described their use of an informal supportnetwork.     

Parental involvement and academic achievement among elementary and middle school students

Asia Pacific Education Review - This study investigates the associations between parental involvement and academic achievement across three criteria: school level (elementary and middle school),...     

Parental involvement: an issue for Swiss primary school teacher education

Abstract

This article is the Swiss contribution to the European project ‘Collaboration on Improving Students’ Preparation for Family–School Partnerships’. It presents results from a study investigating how Swiss Schools of Teacher Education prepare primary school students for cooperation with the parents of four- to thirteen-year-old pupils. Nine Schools of Teacher Education in the German-speaking part of Switzerland were surveyed. The study conducted questionnaire surveys, key informant interviews and document analysis on this topic. This article focuses on the results for primary school teacher education. The findings show that Swiss primary school teacher education programmes accord importance to family–school cooperation. All Schools of Teacher Education cover the topic of family–school cooperation either by conducting special courses on this subject or by connecting the subject with other courses. However, the content and extent of the coverage of and linkages to family–school cooperation in the courses largely depends on the individual educator. Moreover, preparing for family–school cooperation is an important issue during in-field training. The results of this study differ from those in other countries and contradict common prejudices in public perception on the issue in Switzerland.     

Adaptive leadership in school boards in Australia: an emergent model

When school boards are confronted with the challenge of unfamiliar, changing contexts, opportunities and governance responsibilities, they have to be able to respond appropriately. The research reported in this paper investigated the response of five Western Australian primary school boards to such situations. It analyses interview data from 49 board members on their roles and responsibilities using elements of Heifetz' framework of adaptive leadership, and explores the implications of these findings for the boards and their leaders. The findings reinforce the importance of the leader's role in choreographing the learning of the board members, and raise questions about the effect that the composition of boards may have on their capacities for strategic thinking. The paper concludes with a model of adaptive leadership appropriate for school boards, emphasising key elements that are necessary for sustained change.