Understanding the nature of school partnerships with business in delivery of vocational programmes in schools in Australia

This article seeks to provide a school perspective on the nature and quality of the partnerships which schools form with businesses in order to deliver work placements and workplace learning in Australia. It found that the ability of schools to engage with external partners depended on the ability of school leaders to define and communicate the role of VET within the school and its broader community. This dependence on individuals and leadership is vulnerable to changes in key personnel and the informality of some of the processes and relationships can lead to problems in monitoring, evaluating and replicating programmes. Our study shows that a balance is required between carefully documented processes and the flexibility required to operate programmes successfully. The study also noted the tension between the perceived needs of the school and those of industry. A successful partnership necessarily requires school flexibility – in the decisions as to what programmes should be offered and how work placements and timetabling should be organised.     

The effects of caffeine ingestion on performance time, speed and power during a laboratory-based 1 km cycling time-trial

There is little published data in relation to the effects of caffeine upon cycling performance, speed and power in trained cyclists, especially during cycling of approximately 60 s duration. To address this, eight trained cyclists performed a 1 km time-trial on an electronically braked cycle ergometer under three conditions: after ingestion of 5 mg x kg-1 caffeine, after ingestion of a placebo, or a control condition. The three time-trials were performed in a randomized order and performance time, mean speed, mean power and peak power were determined. Caffeine ingestion resulted in improved performance time (caffeine vs. placebo vs. control: 71.1 +/- 2.0 vs. 73.4 +/- 2.3 vs. 73.3 +/- 2.7 s; P = 0.02; mean +/- s). This change represented a 3.1% (95% confidence interval: 0.7-5.6) improvement compared with the placebo condition. Mean speed was also higher in the caffeine than placebo and control conditions (caffeine vs. placebo vs. control: 50.7 +/- 1.4 vs. 49.1 +/- 1.5 vs. 49.2 +/- 1.7 km x h-1; P = 0.0005). Mean power increased after caffeine ingestion (caffeine vs. placebo vs. control: 523 +/- 43 vs. 505 +/- 46 vs. 504 +/- 38 W; P = 0.007). Peak power also increased from 864 +/- 107 W (placebo) and 830 +/- 87 W (control) to 940 +/- 83 W after caffeine ingestion (P = 0.027). These results provide support for previous research that found improved performance after caffeine ingestion during short-duration high-intensity exercise. The magnitude of the improvements observed in our study could be due to our use of sport-specific ergometry, a tablet form and trained participants.     

She Poses,He Performs: A Visual Content Analysis of Male and Female Professional Athlete Facebook Profile Photos

Using branding theory and a content analysis of the visual components of male and female professional athlete Facebook profile photos, this study suggests that hegemonic gender portrayals persist in visual representations of athletes. Female athletes were more likely to pose for photos and smile while male athletes were more likely to look away from the camera and be in motion. Athletes most often were visually represented in their uniforms, while sexualized visual portrayals of athletes of either gender were not affirmed in this study.     

The self-evaluating school — a case study of a special school

School self-evaluation allows staff to review the quality of their work in relation to local contexts. In this article, Peter Neil, senior lecturer in education, Alex McEwen, professor of education, and Karen Carlisle and Damian Knipe, both research assistants in the Graduate School of Education at Queen's University, Belfast, discuss a research project focusing on the process of self-evaluation carried out by staff at a special school in Northern Ireland. The project involved the participants in the completion of a research journal over a four-week period. The authors describe the ways in which the outcomes of the project were fed back to staff and the impact the project had on a range of issues, including teaching and learning and the school's professional development agenda.     

Hierarchical Logistic Regression in Course Placement

Whether hierarchical logistic regression can reduce the sample size requirement for estimating optimal cutoff scores in a course placement service where predictive validity is measured by a threshold utility function is explored. Data from courses with varying class size were randomly partitioned into two halves per course. Non-hierarchical and hierarchical analyses were performed on each half. Compared to their nonhierarchical counterparts, hierarchically estimated cutoff scores from different halves were more stable and predicted course outcomes in the other half more accurately. These differences were most pronounced with small samples. Sample size requirements for developing cutoff scores for course placement can be substantially reduced if hierarchical logistic regression is used.     

Student Motivation and Learning in Mathematics and Science: A Cluster Analysis

The present study focused on an in-depth understanding of student motivation and self-regulated learning in mathematics and science through cluster analysis. It examined the different learning profiles of motivational beliefs and self-regulatory strategies in relation to perceived teacher autonomy support, basic psychological needs (i.e. autonomy, competence, and relatedness), motivational regulations, and academic achievement. Grounded in self-determination theory, this study examined the learning profiles of 782 students from eight secondary schools in Singapore. The cluster analyzes revealed four distinct learning profiles, and they were compared in association with perceived teacher autonomy support, needs satisfaction, motivational regulations, and grades. Cluster profiling enables teachers to have better understanding of their students’ self-regulated learning so that they can apply effective teaching strategies to foster their motivation. The findings offer a perspective to secondary students’ psychological needs along with some insights into their perceived task value and self-efficacy in the contexts of mathematics and science.     

The role of personality traits and online academic self-efficacy in acceptance,actual use and achievement in Moodle

Education and Information Technologies - Informed by the educational conditions shaped by the novel coronavirus pandemic and an increased reliance upon online learning solutions and technologies,...     

The Impact of Performance Level Misclassification on the Accuracy and Precision of Percent at Performance Level Measures

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) performance mandates, embedded within state accountability systems, focus school AYP (adequate yearly progress) compliance squarely on the percentage of students at or above proficient. The singular importance of this quantity for decision-making purposes has initiated extensive research into percent proficient as a measure of school quality. In particular, technical discussions have scrutinized the impact of sampling, measurement, and other sources of error on percent proficient statistics. In this article, we challenge the received orthodoxy that measurement error associated with individual students' scores is inconsequential for aggregate percent proficient statistics. Synthesizing current classification accuracy research with techniques from randomized response designs, we establish results which specify the extent to which measurement error—manifest as performance level misclassifications—produces bias and increases error variability for percent at performance level statistics. The results have direct relevance for the design of coherent and fair accountability systems based upon assessment outcomes.