Australian school practices and the education experiences of students with a refugee background: a review of the literature

Schools have the potential for significant impact on the lives of Australian students with a refugee background. Many of these young people speak at least one language other than English, have previous histories of interrupted schooling or have experienced trauma during times of displacement and forced migration. Combined with the further challenges of settling within an unfamiliar cultural frame, these students experience a range of circumstances which are not present for many of their Australian-born peers. Australian students with a refugee background have diverse skill and abilities, with many showing independence and resilience. Opportunities for academic learning and development of social capital within the school context can be enhanced with relevant pedagogy and policy which draws upon and highlights the positive individual qualities that these students exhibit. Australian school practices are shaped by both state and federal education policies, which are interpreted and applied by individual schools within their own frameworks. This review considers recent literature on the experiences of Australian students with a refugee background as they participate in schooling, with a focus on the ways in which schools provide either opportunities or barriers to engagement.     

Attitudes and perceptions of academic authors to the preparation of distance education materials at the University of Tasmania

This study addresses three issues in the provision of distance education at the University of Tasmania. First, it examines the nature of the instructional designer/ academic author relationship; secondly, it further explores the role of the instructional designer by comparing the perceptions of academic authors with those of the instructional designers themselves and, thirdly, it identifies some institutional factors perceived by authors as impeding the development of quality instructional materials. Finally, the paper suggests steps that might be taken to alleviate some of the problems that emerge from the research.     

A contextual approach to the assessment of social skills: Identifying meaningful behaviors for social competence

An exploratory study was conducted which assessed behaviors that characterize social competence in the second and fifth grades. A contextual approach was used to gather information from second‐ and fifth‐grade children and their parents and teachers regarding the behaviors they perceived to be important for getting along well with peers. Data were gathered from children through structured interviews with the researcher. Parents and teachers provided information through open‐ended paper‐pencil surveys. Qualitative methodology was used to analyze the data in this study. Specifically, a three‐stage coding process derived from grounded theory was utilized (A. Strauss & J. Corbin, 1998). Triangulation, a technique common to qualitative research whereby multiple sources are used to verify themes identified from data, also was used throughout the coding process to enhance standards of rigor (J.W. Creswell, 1998). Results indicated substantial overlap among the types of behaviors reported by children, parents, and teachers in both grades. Likewise, a number of noteworthy similarities and differences were found among second‐ and fifth‐grade sources. Findings are discussed in terms of their implications for social skills assessment and intervention. Limitations and directions for future research also are discussed. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Psychol Schs 42: 173–187, 2005.     

Language facility and theory of mind development in deaf children

Deaf children with signing parents, nonnative signing deaf children, children from a hearing impaired unit (HIU), and oral deaf children were tested on three first-order theory of mind (ToM) tasks--a subset was also given a second-order task (Perner & Wimmer, 1985). A British Sign Language (BSL) receptive language task (Herman, Holmes, & Woll, 1999) and four nonverbal executive function tasks were also administered. The new BSL task allowed, for the first time, the receptive language abilities of deaf children to be measured alongside ToM abilities. Hearing children acted as controls. These children were given the same tasks, except the British Picture Vocabulary Scale was substituted for the BSL task. Language ability correlated positively and significantly with ToM ability, and age was correlated with language ability for both the deaf and hearing children. Age, however, underpinned the relationship between ToM and language for deaf children with signing parents and hearing children but not for nonnative signing, HIU, or oral deaf children. Executive function performance in deaf children was not related to ToM ability. A subset of hearing children, matched on age and language standard scores with signing deaf children, passed significantly more ToM tasks than the deaf children did. The findings are discussed with respect to the hypotheses proposed by Peterson and Siegal (1995, 2000) and Courtin (2000).     

Associations between Fine Motor and Mathematics Instruction and Kindergarten Mathematics Achievement

Research Findings: This study investigates the role of fine motor and mathematics instruction in mathematics achievement in an international sample of kindergarteners from the United States and China. Multilevel modeling was used to assess the interaction between students’ entering skills and classroom time spent on basic math, higher-order math and fine-motor instruction. For American children, the effect of basic math and higher-order math instruction on student achievement depended on entering skills; however, fine motor instruction had negative average effects on student achievement and did not depend on students’ entering skills. Instruction time was not a significant predictor of achievement for Chinese students. Practice or Policy: Though fine motor skills have a robust correlation with mathematics achievement, a causal link has not been established. Our study indicates that time spent in fine motor instruction does not advance mathematics achievement in kindergarten and in fact may weaken mathematics achievement, given the limited time in the instructional day. American teachers in our sample who spent more time in fine-motor instruction tended to spend less time on basic math and higher-order mathematics instruction. Educators should weigh instructional trade-offs carefully and work to tailor instruction to students’ skill levels.     

Making Science Teaching and Learning Visible Through Web-Based “Snapshots of Practice”

Documentary websites known as “snapshots of practice” provide vivid examples of teachers’ inquiries into issues they have formulated in the context of their own teaching practices and students’ learning. Designed with assistance from Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, snapshots of practice can be accessed in the K–12 section of the Gallery of Teaching and Learning (). Analysis of prospective teachers’ reflections on science-related snapshots of practice indicate that this use of technology enhanced their understanding of inquiry-based approaches to instruction. The paper also illustrates how prospective teachers used an electronic toolkit, , to construct their own snapshots of practice in order to represent what they had learned in a course on methods of teaching science in elementary school.     

College cheating: Ten years later

In this 10-year follow-up study of student cheating, we surveyed 474 university students to (1) evaluate the extent of cheating; (2) assess attitudes toward cheating; (3) identify variables that discriminate between cheaters and noncheaters; (4) assess the relative effectiveness of various deterrents to cheating; and (5) examine changes in cheating attitudes and behaviors from 1984 to 1994. Most students (61.2%) reported cheating in 1994, up significantly from 54.1% in 1984 (Haines et al., 1986). Despite this increased cheating, students in 1994 were significantly less likely than in 1984 to neutralize (rationalize) their cheating. Ten variables that discriminated between cheaters and noncheaters in 1984 did so again in 1994, and 12 additional discriminating variables were identified. A principal components analysis of these 22 variables indicated that, compared to noncheaters, cheaters are (1) less mature; (2) less reactive to observed cheating; (3) less deterred by social stigma and guilt and more likely to neutralize cheating; (4) less personally invested in their education; and (5) more likely to be receiving scholarships, but doing less well in school. Both cheaters and noncheaters rated embarrassment and fear of punishment as the strongest deterrents to cheating; disapproval of one's friends was ranked as the least effective deterrent by both groups.     

Appraisal, social support, and life events: predicting outcome behavior in school-age children

To examine the relation between social support and appraisal of life events in predicting adaptive, externalizing, and internalizing behavior in 265 school-age children, child-report on both a global and a significant other measure of social support was used. Life event scores were separated into events endorsed as negative and events endorsed as positive by the child. Using hierarchical regression analyses, the present study tested two models: main effects and moderator models of the relation between life events, social support, and behavioral outcome. Support was found for global social support and positive life events in predicting adaptive, externalizing, and internalizing behavior. Gender differences were also found. Support was found for both the main effects and moderator models of the association between life events and global social support. Appraisal of life events as positive appears to compensate for lower levels of global social support. Appraisal is discussed as a possible protective factor from maladjustment after exposure to major life events.