Creating cultures of disability to control young people in Australian schools

State and territory education departments across Australia have been attempting to respond to reported increases in the levels of disruption in schools. The problem is considered particularly severe in urban secondary schools. This paper examines the way in which integration or “mainstreaming” policies have been subverted in order to control disruptive young people by labeling them as defective.     

Development of auditory event-related potentials in young children and relations to word-level reading abilities at age 8 years

A relationship between brain responses at birth and later emerging language and reading skills have been shown, but questions remain whether changes in brain responses after birth continue to predict the mastery of language-related skills such as reading development. To determine whether developmental changes in the brain-based perceptual skills are systematically related to differences in word-level reading proficiency at age 8 years, brain event-related potentials (ERPs) to speech and nonspeech stimuli were recorded annually at the ages of 1 through 8 years in a sample of 109 typically developing children. Two measures of word-level reading (one that requires decoding of real words and one of pseudowords) were administered at age 8 years. Growth curve analysis, using the hierarchical linear models, related reading performance (average versus low) to the longitudinal maturation in the ERP waveform peak and latencies. Maturational changes (e.g., slope, acceleration, and cubic growth) in N1 amplitude from ages 1 to 4 were related to proficiency in decoding pseudoword stimuli only, with children who were less proficient in decoding pseudowords evidencing more steeply negative declines in amplitude with age, particularly at the frontal and parietal recording sites in response to both speech and nonspeech stimuli. In contrast, proficiency in decoding real words was related to developmental changes in N2 amplitudes from ages 4 to 8 only at the parietal recording site, and only in response to nonspeech stimuli. The early development of biologically based differences in the perception and processing of auditory information contributes to later group differences in reading proficiencies at school age.     

Teachers’ technology adoption and practices: lessons learned from the IWB phenomenon

The twenty-first century has seen unprecedented investment from governments around the world in educational technologies in schools. This paper investigates Australian teachers’ adoption and use of a popular technology that has been extensively supported by governments and school systems: the interactive whiteboard (IWB). The study suggests that a number of the barriers identified in the early days of adoption and use of this technology, such as professional support and access, still remain for many teachers, thereby impeding effective practices. The research also found that primary school teachers were using the technology in diverse ways, in contrast to secondary teachers who were using the IWB mainly for instructionist, presentational purposes. We conclude by considering various ways of reducing the effect of the identified barriers to support implementation of educational technologies in the classroom, especially the next generation of technologies promoted by governments and systems.     

Exploring Online and Blended Course Delivery in Social Group Work

Agency group work has increased, but opportunities for social work group practice in educational settings have not kept pace. One option in response is technology-based learning, and students appear to have positive perceptions of online group project work. Online courses appear to have outcomes comparable to those that occur with in-person groups but require careful monitoring of group processes and group-based technologies. The authors discuss the factors involved in developing and implementing online and blended course delivery in teaching group work.     

Two teacher quality measures and the role of context: evidence from Chile

This research examines empirically the relationship between two measures of teacher quality: one based on professional standards and a second one using teacher value-added estimates. It also studies the extent to which teacher observable characteristics, such as teacher training variables, are associated to better performance on either of these measures and whether any of these two assessments is able to effectively measure teacher quality isolated from the effect of the context where teachers work. Context in this article is defined as any variable that is not under the direct control of the teacher but plays an important role on student learning and we believe is captured by school and municipal variables. The study uses hierarchical linear models and information from national and standardized assessments from Chile, specifically from the municipal education sector. Results show a small correlation between the two measures of teacher quality, in the lower end of results from previous studies conducted in the USA, and suggest that there is only a limited relationship between both measures of teacher quality. Teacher initial education type and professional development were statistically associated only to the standard-based measure of teacher quality. Context (both the school and municipal levels) plays an important role in the teacher effect measure, and in the standard-based measures, therefore, we conclude that neither of these measures are context-free. We expect that these results will contribute to the discussion about how to best measure teacher quality and how to evaluate teacher performance both in Chile and other parts of the world.     

Quantifying physical activity in first-through fourth-grade physical education via pedometry

The aim of this study was to determine pedometry steps per minute (SPM) cutscores that accurately quantify physical activity (PA) time in first- through fourth-grade physical education. A total of 257 participants were grouped in two data pools, first- and second-grade (n = 126), and third- and fourth-grade (n = 131). Systematic observation was the PA criterion instrument and pedometry was the predictor instrument. Correlations between physical activity measures were strong (r = .82-.89, p < .01). Ten min of PA and 33.33% of the lesson time engaged in PA within a 30-min class can be quantified by 61-63 SPM for first- and second-grade, and 58-61 SPM for third- and fourth-grade. IN CONCOLUSION: (a) SPM values were a valid indicator of students achieving or not achieving PA criteria, and (b) pedometry is a valid and practical tool for physical activity surveillance within physical education.