Boarding schools: A longitudinal examination of Australian Indigenous and non-Indigenous boarders’ and non-boarders’ wellbeing

Improving educational outcomes for Indigenous Australian students is a key strategy to helping Indigenous people reach their full potential. This has resulted in well-intentioned efforts by Australian educators and governments to ensure Indigenous children have positive school experiences. However, Indigenous students still lag behind their non-Indigenous counterparts in educational outcomes. This is particularly so for Indigenous students living in rural and remote parts of Australia where educational opportunities are limited, especially in high school. One solution to this problem has been to enrol these students in boarding schools in urban and metropolitan centres. While research on the success of boarding schools for Indigenous students is scarce, what little that does exist is not encouraging. The focus of this research was to examine the effects of boarding for Indigenous (n = 11) and non-Indigenous students’ (n = 158) wellbeing (N = 1423) in two large private boys’ schools. Participating students aged 12–18 years old completed a survey measuring wellbeing constructs on two occasions, 12 months apart. Non-Indigenous boys were generally higher in wellbeing compared with Indigenous boys. There was also evidence of improved social wellbeing beyond that of non-Indigenous boarders over time. Overall, while evidence of merit was weak, boarding schools may benefit their Indigenous students’ development in social wellbeing.     

Preschoolers rely on rich speech representations to process variable speech

To learn language, children must map variable input to categories such as phones and words. How do children process variation and distinguish between variable pronunciations (“shoup” for soup) versus new words? The unique sensory experience of children with cochlear implants, who learn speech through their device's degraded signal, lends new insight into this question. In a mispronunciation sensitivity eyetracking task, children with implants (N = 33), and typical hearing (N = 24; 36–66 months; 36F, 19M; all non-Hispanic white), with larger vocabularies processed known words faster. But children with implants were less sensitive to mispronunciations than typical hearing controls. Thus, children of all hearing experiences use lexical knowledge to process familiar words but require detailed speech representations to process variable speech in real time.     

Measurement of three-dimensional hand kinematics during swimming with a motion capture system: a feasibility study

Current trends in swimming biomechanics are focused on accurate measurements. Nowadays, reliable calibration methods have been proposed to reach an accuracy of about 1 mm on rigid structure. But the question remains about the final accuracy for three-dimensional hand kinematics measurement during the underwater phase of front crawl swimming. Furthermore, most research is based on manual tracking with two or more cameras. In this paper we propose a protocol to acquire three-dimensional hand kinematics when swimming in a specific pool with a motion analysis system behind windows. Results highlight the benefits of using such a system in terms of accuracy and feasibility: the time allowed for post-processing is ten times lower and the quantified improved accuracy is better than with manual tracking.     

Consultation,negotiation and compromise: the relationship between SENCos,parents and pupils with SEN

One outcome of the UK Government's commitment to inclusive educational policies was an increase in the number of pupils with special educational needs (SEN) being taught in mainstream schools. From the perspective of SENCos, this article analyses whether parents and pupils are able and willing to influence the development of SEN provision and distribution of SEN resources, both of which aim to ensure that pupils have more meaningful experiences of mainstream education. The findings of the study cast light on the power and influence of parents when it comes to SEN provision and resources, the importance of consulting parents and the ways in which parents empower SENCos to make decisions on behalf of themselves and their children. The importance of negotiating and attempting to seek a compromise with pupils was another key issue identified in the article. Ultimately, however, the power to decide where resources go and what is done with them appears to reside with SENCos.     

Teachers as Carers: A Case Study of a Secondary School's Pastoral Process

This paper describes the review and evaluation of the house/pastoral system at the Anglican Church Grammar School. The main findings were: an overwhelming acceptance of the house system; a high level of caring and commitment; and a desire to offer new challenges and support to permeate the whole educational process. There was also an almost total disregard for and antagonism towards the tutorial system. Based on interviews with staff, a representative staff working party agreed the changes that needed to be undertaken and improvements were made. The approach to the evaluation is an example of collaboration.