The struggle for legitimacy: language provision in two ‘residual’ comprehensive high schools in Australia

Despite the contemporary policy rhetoric of global citizenry and the importance of languages and intercultural capabilities, language learning in Australian schools struggles for recognition and support. The curriculum marginalisation of languages, however, is uneven, affecting some school sectors more than others. In this article, we examine the provision of languages in two government comprehensive high schools, both low socio-economic status, located in urban areas in New South Wales, Australia’s largest state. They are termed ‘residual’ high schools because they cater for the students remaining in the local schools while others attend either private or selective government high schools. We provide a qualitative picture of language provision in these two schools from the perspectives of key stakeholders – school principals, teachers, students and parents. We also draw on observational data of language classes. The aim is to provide, within a largely social class framework, an understanding of the state of language provision in these schools. We argue that currently students in these schools are experiencing unequal access to the linguistic and cultural capital associated with language learning relative to students in more privileged communities and schools.     

Impulsiveness in pigeons living in the experimental chamber

Pigeons’ choices between larger, more delayed and smaller, less delayed reinforcers were examined while the pigeons lived in the experimental chamber for 23-h sessions. In Condition 1, 4 pigeons were food deprived prior to each session and exposed to one session every 4th day. Condition 2 was identical except that the pigeons began each session at their ad-lib weights. Condition 3 was identical to Condition 2 except that sessions were conducted on consecutive days. Condition 4 was identical to Condition 3 except that the subjects (2 pigeons from Conditions 1–3 plus a naive pigeon) could obtain reinforcers much less frequently. In all of the conditions, the pigeons consistently chose the smaller, less delayed reinforcers; the pigeons were impulsive. The restriction of food access caused a disruption in the diurnal pattern of feeding, but did not decrease impulsiveness even in this 23-h live-in procedure.     

Use of stochastic simulations to investigate the power and design of a whole genome association study using single nucleotide polymorphism arrays in farm animals

This paper presents a quick, easy to implement and versatile way of using stochastic simulations to investigate the power and design of using single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) arrays for genome-wide association studies in farm animals. It illustrates the methodology by discussing a small example where 6 experimental designs are considered to analyse the same resource consisting of 6006 animals with pedigree and phenotypic records: (1) genotyping the 30 most widely used sires in the population and all of their progeny (515 animals in total), (2) genotyping the 100 most widely used sires in the population and all of their progeny (1102 animals in total), genotyping respectively (3) 515 and (4) 1102 animals selected randomly or genotyping respectively (5) 515 and (6) 1102 animals from the tails of the phenotypic distribution. Given the resource at hand, designs where the extreme animals are genotyped perform the best, followed by designs selecting animals at random. Designs where sires and their progeny are genotyped perform the worst, as even genotyping the 100 most widely used sires and their progeny is not as powerful of genotyping 515 extreme animals.     

Using genetic markers in unpedigreed populations to detect a heritable trait

Before a breeder invests selection pressure on a trait of interest, it needs to be established whether that trait is actually heritable. Some traits may not have been measured widely in pedigreed populations, for example, a disease or deformity may become more prevalent than previously, but is still relatively rare. One approach to detect inheritance would be to screen a commercial population to obtain a sample of "affecteds" (the test group) and to also obtain a random control group. These indi- viduals are then genotyped with a set of genetic markers and the relationships between individuals within each group estimated. If the relatedness is higher in the test group than in the control group, this provides initial evidence for the trait being heritable. A power simulation shows that this approach is feasible with moderate resources.     

Tackling behaviour and attendance issues in schools in Wales: implications for training and professional development

In 2009, the Welsh Assembly Government published its Report on the review of behaviour and attendance in schools in Wales. The National Behaviour and Attendance Review (NBAR) in Wales was chaired by the author of this paper. Both the Review and the Welsh Assembly Government’s response contained recommendations related to the training and professional development needs of staff in schools and local authorities (LAs). A paper on the professional development needs of staff on behaviour and attendance based on the NBAR recommendations is published in the same edition of this journal. This follow‐up paper focuses upon the Welsh Assembly Government’s response to these recommendations and its implementation plan on which the author acted as the professional adviser. The Welsh Assembly Government accepted with cross‐party support that the training and professional development needs of teachers and LA staff in behavioural management and school attendance had been neglected over many years. For the first time, coordinated new training and continuing professional development programmes on behavioural management and school attendance will be introduced in Wales soon. The next stage will be to evaluate the effectiveness of these programmes.     

A Descriptive Analysis of Elite-Level Racquetball

In this study, we used social cognitive career theory (Lent, Brown, &; Hackett, 1994) to examine the development of female athletes' career interest in coaching and, specifically, the impact of contextual factors (female coaching role models, working hours, and perceived discrimination) on coaching self-efficacy and outcome expectations. Participants were 205 predominantly White, heterosexual female student athletes. A path analysis indicated that role models and working hours predicted coaching self-efficacy, which predicted coaching outcome expectations. Additionally, coaching self-efficacy, coaching outcome expectations, and contextual factors predicted coaching interest. Practical implications are discussed as well as suggestions for further research in this relatively unexplored area.     

Burnout in elite rugby: relationships with basic psychological needs fulfilment

In this study, we examined the utility of self-determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 2002) as a framework for understanding the antecedents of athlete burnout in elite New Zealand rugby union players (n=133). Perceptions of competence, autonomy, and relatedness (i.e. basic psychological needs) were hypothesized to be negatively related to burnout scores, while players classified as "high-burnouts" were predicted to report lower needs fulfilment than players with low burnout. Canonical correlation analysis indicated that relatedness was a low to moderate predictor of burnout, but players' competence and autonomy accounted for substantial portions of variance in two athlete burnout symptoms: reduced accomplishment and sport devaluation. The proportion of variance accounted for in the exhaustion dimension of athlete burnout was not substantive. Multivariate analysis of variance supported these results, as "high-burnout" players had lower competence and autonomy scores than athletes reporting low burnout symptoms. The two groups did not report significantly different relatedness scores. Implications of these results for researchers and practitioners are discussed.