The River of Learning: building relationships in a university,school and community Indigenous widening participation collaboration

In this article, findings of a qualitative study of an Indigenous widening participation program are presented. The program, River of Learning, has been in existence since 2010 and represents a powerful collaboration between a rural high school in New South Wales (NSW) Australia, a metropolitan university, Indigenous Elders and non-Indigenous community members. An analysis of the narrative data generated through individual and group interviews with stakeholders provided findings with respect to the program including how it has contributed to the building and strengthening of university and community relationships and how important the interaction with Indigenous Elders and school and university staff is in development of confidence to engage in higher education in the Indigenous students. These findings are discussed and the article concludes with reflections on the learnings generated through such university, school and community collaborations and what these may mean in ensuring greater Indigenous representation in higher education in Australia in the future.     

SCAN: A method of community collaboration

Recent research has highlighted the complexity of the battered child syndrome. Clinical experience suggests that treatment of troubled families is a long-term process, draining financial resources of agencies and emotional resources of professionals. The need to provide support and case consultation to professionals working in the area of child abuse and neglect evolved in the establishment, in 1968, of the Suspected Child Abuse and Neglect (SCAN) Program at Children's Hospital, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This program provides an effective method of intervention through identification, consultation, referral and follow-up of at-risk families. Weekly meetings offer multi-disciplinary case coordination, treatment recommendations, and a channel of communication for representatives of community agencies. This paper traces the history and present status of the SCAN Program, as well as the role of SCAN as a force for change of community attitudes.     

University-industry research collaboration: a model to assess university capability

Scholars and policy makers recognize that collaboration between industry and the public research institutions is a necessity for innovation and national economic development. This work presents an econometric model which expresses the university capability for collaboration with industry as a function of size, location and research quality. The field of observation is made of the census of 2001–2003 scientific articles in the hard sciences, co-authored by universities and private enterprises located in Italy. The analysis shows that research quality of universities has an impact higher than geographic distance on the capability for collaborating with industry. The model proposed and the measures that descend from it are suited for use at various levels of administration, to assist in realizing the “third role” of universities: the contribution to socio-economic development through public to private technology transfer.     

Building a whole school approach to professional experience: Collaboration and community

This paper explores one implementation of an extended, structured, collaborative professional experience program. Its context is a new partnership between a university and a professional experience school. The program draws on elements of Instructional Rounds and Lesson Study, framed around a learning community model of professional experience for peer collaboration, observations, reflections and discussions across disciplines by pre-service teachers. Results show that pre-service teachers experienced a sense of belonging, developed professional relationships and dialogue with staff and peers, linked theory with practice, and developed dispositions for on-going improvement of teaching quality, all factors likely to improve their readiness for teaching. On the other hand, participants faced challenges in terms of logistics and communication, time pressure and anxiety and power relations between novice and expert.     

Teaching five special needs children in a regular primary classroom using a consultation‐collaboration model

This study describes the use of a consultation‐collaboration model of intervention in which a psychologist and a teacher worked jointly to establish a remedial reading program for five special needs children placed in a regular primary school class. Repeated measures data showed marked increases in reading skills and book reading levels, and a substantial increase over zero baseline levels in independent reading during class reading times. The teacher commented favourably on the consultation model used and agreed with parents’ observations that significant reading gains had been made by their children.     

The resources and obstacles of creative collaboration in a long-term learning community

In the framework of a subject-centred socio-cultural approach, this study investigates creative collaboration and the resources for and obstacles to it in a long-term learning community of ten teacher students. The study focuses on five different learning situations over a 2-year period. The data were taken from teacher students’ evaluations and accounts (on given criteria) of their videotaped group-learning sessions, and their reports of the obstacles to creative collaboration. Using the students’ evaluations of the five videotaped group learning situations, the sessions they assessed as the least and most creative were compared, the aim being to discover the most important situation-specific contextual resources for collaborative creativity in the learning settings addressed. The findings showed that creative collaboration was manifested by the presentation of alternative views, and in most situations also by the production of new ideas. However, it was less evident that group discussion would in every session reveal contradictions or lead to the disclosure of opposing views concerning different meanings; nor would it necessarily create an elaborated understanding of the learning topic. The main obstacles to creative collaboration were related to the emotional atmosphere and power relations of the group. A comparison of the contextual conditions of the least and most creative evaluated situation illustrates that the least creative situation was characterised by participants’ disputational talk, aimed at invalidating opposing opinions. Here, the group atmosphere was emotionally charged in a negative sense, and mutual care taking was lacking. The unsafe atmosphere made group members afraid of being emotionally bruised by other members. The most creative situation was characterised by complementarity in participants’ talk and by inclusive utilisation of each other's views. The shared history of the group was an extremely important resource for group dialogue, allowing alternative future scenarios to be constructed reflectively. The emotional scaffolding between students was rich, and the tutor's resources were utilised. Results are discussed in terms of complementarity, emotions and power relations.     

Critiquing the school community: a qualitative study of children's conceptualizations of their school 1

Schools are traditionally seen as responsible for the educational outcomes of our children. However, schools also play an important role in the development of aspects such as self‐efficacy, participation, competence and self‐determination. As schools are often run as societies rather than communities, they offer little opportunity for these attributes (self‐efficacy, participation, competence and self‐determination) to develop. Forty‐six children aged from nine to 12 years were interviewed to ascertain their conceptualizations of the school community. The children define their school in terms of people, places for activities and interaction, a place for safety, cooperation, influence and functionality. The responses closely align to the adult conceptualizations of sense of community as purported by McMillan and Chavis (1986 McMillan, D.W. and Chavis, D.M. 1986. Sense of community: a definition and theory. Journal of Community Psychology, 14: 6–23. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Implications of this research suggest that children can and should have an integral role in designing a curriculum and systems relevant to the school context if we are at all concerned with their psychological wellness.     

Concentric collaboration: a model of leadership development for healthcare organizations

Drawing on their experience in a Midwest healthcare system, the authors propose a model of leadership development through action learning that embraces ‘concentric collaboration’ at its core. The present study suggests that the process of concentric collaboration can serve to strengthen the skills of the individual leader as well as foster collective leadership. Central to the model is the growth and development of the individual leader which extends outward to create connections with others, ultimately increasing the social capital necessary to effect organizational change. This work contributes to the leadership development literature by offering a comprehensive model that includes the process of individual growth as well as collective capacity, organizational factors that support or inhibit this process as well as implications for practice.     

Musical collaboration outside school: Processes of negotiation in band rehearsals

This paper presents a study of a series of band rehearsals run by five young people as they practised for a gig together: preparing new songs as well as developing their existing sets. The analysis specifically explores the ways in which the band members collectively develop and evaluate their musical ‘works in progress’. Their interactions were distinctive: with evidence of emotive, highly critical and sometimes conflictual dynamics in places. Within and through such processes the band members constructed a musical ‘shared knowledge’ which resourced the negotiation of their emergent band identity.     

美国农村中小学校长成长模式的变革及启示

美国农村中小学校长成长的传统模式存在着入选范围的狭窄与高质量人选的日益匮乏及培养中理论与实践相脱节的弊病,职后面临客观环境的巨大压力与专业发展的缺失而导致中途离职现象日益加剧。政府采取了拓宽入选范围、改革培养模式、提高工资福利待遇与社会地位、促进专业的可持续发展、改革评价机制等措施来促进校长成长模式的变革。