‘I’m coming back again!’ The resilience process of early career teachers

Early career teachers face a range of challenges in their first years of teaching and how these challenges are managed as career implications. Based on current literature, this paper presents a model of early career teacher resilience where resilience is seen as a process located at the interface of personal and contextual challenges and resources. Through a semi-structured interview the challenges faced by 13 Australian early career teachers and the resources available to manage these challenges are examined. Findings show that beginning teachers experience multiple, varied and ongoing challenges and that personal and contextual resources are both important in sustaining them through the beginning year(s) of their teaching careers. The study emphasises the critical roles played by family and friends and the importance of relationships in the resilience process. Implications for future research and teacher education are discussed.     

Effect of stride length manipulation on symptoms of exercise-induced muscle damage and the repeated bout effect

This study assessed the effects of stride length on symptoms of exercise-induced muscle damage after downhill running and whether the extent of the symptoms sustained in a repeated bout of downhill running are influenced by stride length manipulation in the first bout. Eighteen males aged 21.1 - 0.6 years (mean - s) were allocated to one of three groups for bout one: preferred stride frequency, overstride and understride. Bout two was performed 2 weeks later at the participants' preferred stride frequency. Maximal isometric force and perceived muscle soreness were assessed pre-test and 30 min, 24, 48 and 72 h post-exercise for each downhill run. Threefactor analyses of variance with repeated measures on time and bout were used for analysis. Results revealed a three-way interaction for soreness (F 8,60 = 3.56, P ? 0.05) and relative isometric strength (F 5.0,37.8 = 3.2, P ? 0.05). Post-hoc analyses revealed that, after bout one, the overstride group perceived most soreness and the understride group retained most strength. After the second bout, the overstride and preferred stride frequency groups perceived less soreness than the preferred stride frequency group in bout one. Strength retention was greater after bout two for all groups. In conclusion, strength retention after a repeated bout appears to be independent of the damage experienced in the initial bout of downhill running. However, understriding may provide least protection against soreness in a subsequent bout.     

High-intensity intermittent running and field hockey skill performance in the heat

Nine well-trained, unacclimatized female hockey players performed the Loughborough Intermittent Shuttle Test (LIST) interspersed with three field hockey skill tests in hot (30°C, 38% relative humidity) and moderate (19°C, 51% relative humidity) environmental conditions. Field hockey skill performance declined in both the hot and moderate conditions following 30 and 60?min of the LIST compared with pre-LIST values (P <?0.01). This decrement in performance was compounded in the hot environment with a 6% poorer performance in the heat recorded for the second skill test at 30?min (P <?0.05, hot 101.7?±?3.6 vs moderate 95.7?±?2.9?s; mean ±?s _x). However, no difference was found in the decision-making element of the skill test. Fifteen-metre sprint times were slower in the hot condition (P <?0.01). In the hot environment, rectal temperature (P?<?0.01), perceived exertion (P?<?0.05), perceived thirst (P?<?0.01), blood glucose concentration (P?<?0.05) and serum aldosterone concentration (P?<?0.01) were higher. Estimated mean (?±?s _x) sweat rate was higher in the hot trial (1.27?±?0.10?l?·?h^?1) than in the moderate trial (1.05?±?0.12?l?·?h^?1) (P?<?0.05). Body mass was well maintained in both trials. No differences in serum cortisol, blood lactate, plasma volume or plasma ammonia concentrations were found. These results demonstrate that field hockey skill performance is decreased following intermittent high-intensity shuttle running and that this decrease is greater in hot environmental conditions. The exact mechanism for this decrement in performance remains to be elucidated, but is unlikely to be due to low glycogen concentration or dehydration.     

Foot loading characteristics during three fencing-specific movements

Abstract

Plantar pressure characteristics during fencing movements may provide more specific information about the influence of foot loading on overload injury patterns. Twenty-nine experienced fencers participated in the study. Three fencing-specific movements (lunge, advance, retreat) and normal running were performed with three different shoe models: Ballestra (Nike, USA), Adistar Fencing Lo (Adidas, Germany), and the fencers' own shoes. The Pedar system (Novel, Munich, Germany) was used to collect plantar pressures at 50 Hz. Peak pressures, force–time integrals and contact times for five foot regions were compared between four athletic tasks in the lunge leg and supporting leg. Plantar pressure analysis revealed characteristic pressure distribution patterns for the fencing movements. For the lunge leg, during the lunge and advance movements the heel is predominantly loaded; during retreat, it is the hallux. For the supporting leg, during the lunge and advance movements the forefoot is predominantly loaded; during retreat, it is the hallux. Fencing-specific movements load the plantar surface in a distinct way compared with running. An effective cushioning in the heel and hallux region would help to minimize foot loading during fencing-specific movements.     

‘I can't read it; I don't know’: young children's participation in the pedagogical documentation of English early childhood education and care settings

This article discusses the findings about pedagogical documentation which were drawn from a study which the author co-directed in a range of English early childhood education and care settings and which focused on children's views of the early years curriculum. The article poses questions provoked by the study and uses the work of Rinaldi and Carr to interrogate the English context for documenting early learning. The article analyses documentation in theoretical terms such as deciding, decentralising, disciplining, didactic and dialogue and also considers accounts by practitioners and researchers of practical strategies. The argument is illustrated with a selection of the data from the original study by Garrick et al. and contends that the purpose of pedagogical documentation should be to enable adult and child communicative cooperation, rather than to provide statements about children's progress which feed into the ‘discourses of quality in early childhood’.     

The Tasmanian nursing student population: A study of the demographic characteristics of hospital and higher education cohorts

This study reports the findings from a study of nursing students in hospital and higher education programs in the state of Tasmania. Analysis was performed on data supplied by students on a questionnaire. No significant difference was found on the gender composition of the two institutional groups. Recruits to higher education programs were more likely to delay entry after the completion of secondary school than were their hospital colleagues. There was no difference in the geographical location of the high school attended by students which suggests that country students will not be disadvantaged by the national transfer of nurse education into the mainstream of higher education.     

Q-Rhetoric and Controlled Equivocation: Revising “The Scientific Study of Subjectivity” for Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration

ABSTRACT

This article offers a revision to an existing social science methodology, Q methodology, through “Q-Rhetoric.” After detailing Q methodology’s theoretical underpinnings and practical method, and persistent critiques of the methodology, the article employs perspectives from rhetorical theory and Amerindian anthropology to suggest a methodological correction. It concludes by detailing the use of Q-Rhetoric to intervene in a Wisconsin stream management controversy, proposing Q-Rhetoric as a pragmatic and theoretically sound methodology for working across disciplinary divides.     

Choosing a University: A conjoint analysis of the impact of higher fees on students applying for university in 2012

Tertiary Education and Management - In the light of the forthcoming policy shift to full-cost fees for English undergraduates, this study examines the impact of fee changes on how students weigh up...     

Motivators and Inhibitors for University Faculty in Distance and e-learning

This article reports on four United States studies of how rewards systems, extrinsic and intrinsic, could play an important role in providing incentives for university faculty to teach (or remain teaching) electronic and distance education courses. The first three studies conducted prior to 2003 reported faculty were inherently motivated to teach e-learning and distance education. The fourth study in 2003 reported key findings that differed from the earlier studies. Using a principal components analysis, the researchers found nine indicators of motivation to participate or not participate in electronic or distance education. The implications from the fourth study indicated that, while faculty members were inherently committed to helping students, faculty members wanted their basic physiological needs met by university administration through extrinsic motivators, such as salary increases and course releases.