The policy problem: the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and implications for access to education

This paper explores the changing terrain of disability support policy in Australia. Drawing on a critical disability framework of policy sociology, the paper considers the policy problem of access to education for people with disabilities under recent reform by means of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), which commenced full roll-out across the country from July 2016. The paper reviews NDIS reports, legislation and associated literature to consider how eligibility to scheme participation and education services are shaped, and how education is positioned in the development and implementation of the NDIS. The analysis highlights tensions that exist for people with disabilities and their families who both access the scheme and who might draw on its provision to support their education, because of the way the policy is oriented towards pathological categorisation, standardised outcomes and service delineation rather than integrated support and informed involvement. The paper concludes by arguing that despite the policy priority across Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries of increasing lifelong learning opportunities, fragmented NDIS policy in Australia prevents people with disabilities from achieving this ideal.     

A qualitative critique of teacher labor market studies

Qualitative studies of the teacher labor market suggest that problems and remedies generated by quantitative research fail to capture the most dynamic variables which are affecting the supply and demand of public school teachers. For example, quantitative research has not accounted for (1) the continual exiting and reentering of urban teachers, (2) the considerable bifurcation between urban and rural teacher labor markets as reflected in teacher mobility and cultural economic opportunities, (3) local definitions of labor market needs and teacher quality, and (4) the demanding and stressful working conditions of teaching, which are having a systemic and adverse effect on the occupation.     

Examining Intermediate Omitted Levels in Hierarchical Designs via Latent Variable Modeling

This article outlines an interval estimation procedure that can be used in a 3-level setting to evaluate the proportion of outcome variance attributable to the second level of clustering. The method is useful for examining the necessity of including a possibly omitted intermediate level of nesting in analyses of data from a multilevel study, and represents an informative addendum to current statistical tests of second-level variance. The approach is developed within the framework of latent variable modeling and can be used as an aid in the process of choosing between 2-level and 3-level models in a hierarchical design. The discussed procedure is illustrated with an empirical example.     

Disciplinary Literacies and Learning to Read for Understanding: A Conceptual Framework for Disciplinary Literacy

This article presents a framework and methodology for designing learning goals targeted at what students need to know and be able to do in order to attain high levels of literacy and achievement in three disciplinary areas—literature, science, and history. For each discipline, a team of researchers, teachers, and specialists in that discipline engaged in conceptual meta-analysis of theory and research on the reading, reasoning, and inquiry practices exhibited by disciplinary experts as contrasted with novices. Each team identified discipline-specific clusters of types of knowledge. Across teams, the clusters for each discipline were grouped into 5 higher order categories of core constructs: (a) epistemology; (b) inquiry practices/strategies of reasoning; (c) overarching concepts, themes, and frameworks; (d) forms of information representation/types of texts; and (e) discourse and language structures. The substance of the clusters gave rise to discipline-specific goals and tasks involved in reading across multiple texts, as well as reading, reasoning, and argumentation practices tailored to discipline-specific criteria for evidence-based knowledge claims. The framework of constructs and processes provides a valuable tool for researchers and classroom teachers' (re)conceptualizations of literacy and argumentation learning goals in their specific disciplines.     

Core competencies and high leverage practices of the beginning teacher: a synthesis of the literature

Teacher competency frameworks comprise a number of competencies that enable a teacher to develop effective teaching practices. However, their conception, value, use and recognition vary widely. Equally, assessment and measurement of such competencies differ across contexts. More recently, a body of research has emerged which focuses the lens of teacher preparation on the inclusion of high leverage practices. The focus of this study is to report a synthesis of the literature pertaining to the ‘core competencies’ and ‘high leverage practices’ selected for inclusion in teacher preparation. A systematic review of the literature was conducted in order to synthesis available evidence. Results are presented in two sections; competency-based approaches; and high leverage practice approaches in teacher preparation. Findings are discussed from the perspective of epistemological and methodological questions emerging from the research and the implications for teacher preparation.     

The unintended consequences of school inspection: the prevalence of inspection side-effects in Austria,the Czech Republic,England, Ireland,the Netherlands,Sweden, and Switzerland

It has been widely documented that accountability systems, including school inspections, bring with them unintended side effects. These unintended effects are often negative and have the potential to undo the intended positive effects. However the empirical evidence is limited. Through a European comparative study we have had the rare opportunity to collect empirical evidence and study the effects (both intended and unintended) of school inspections (a key system of accountability) in a systematic way, across seven countries. We present the findings of the unintended effects in this paper. Survey self-report responses from school principals in each country, with differing school inspection systems, are analysed to measure the prevalence of these unintended effects and to investigate the part played by pressure to do well in inspections. A key finding is that increasing pressure in school inspection systems is associated with the undesired effect of the narrowing and refocusing of the curriculum and instructional strategies. We also show that a proportion of school principals admit to misrepresenting the school in data sent to the inspectorate and show evidence for formalisation/proceduralisation (excessive focus on records) and ossification (fear of experimentation in teaching), although these factors are less related to changes in pressure.     

Enterprise Systems: Curriculum design and assessment

We present a curriculum that prepares students for supporting large Enterprise Information Systems (EIS). EIS is best explained through the evolution of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). These systems evolved over the last years driven by (1) changing business requirements and (2) new development capabilities provided by technologies evolution and software vendors’ innovation. These developments led to a new discipline—Enterprise Information Systems, which deals with issues whose focus is on creating and sustaining business benefits through the utilization of corporate IT infrastructure assets. Currently, EIS knowledge is essentially acquired on the job after substantial time of experience building and longer career ladder scale. This paper presents an experience of a curriculum implementation that prepares students for the pervasive EIS landscape in meeting today’s corporate needs. Our IT-based educational approach is evaluated as an alternative to prevailing Business-based approaches to EIS instruction. In this IT-rooted approach, the curriculum is divided into four sections: a Core IT block of courses followed by two progressive-levels of advanced EIS-related specialized subjects, and an industry-oriented field-training experience. Initially, a Core IT background provides a foundation for IT innovation in developing EIS components at sophomore-level. A junior-level of specialized instruction introduces integrated modules which form EIS platforms. Finally, supporting technologies of EIS-related processes and workflows are presented at senior-level of specialized EIS instruction. An assessment case study of the proposed Enterprise System programs is carried out through which we discuss the results of the curriculum performance.     

高职园林工程技术专业“园林树木学’’课程改革初探

为适应城市建设和房地产行业的迅猛发展,作为园林工程技术专业（园林规划设计方向）的核心课程《园林树木学》的课程教学必须进行迅速而深刻的改革,应结合国内园林专业学生就业形势以及高职教育的本身特点,改革教学内容、更新教学方法,建立适应市场需要的人才培养新模式,采用多元化考核评定方式,以培养有人才市场、有竞争优势、服务于园林建设行业的专业人才。     

Winning the Battle,Losing the War: Bilingual Teachers and Post-Proposition 227

The implementation of Proposition 227 has created chaos, uncertainty, and a hostile environment for bilingual education teachers. This study describes the experiences of 20 bilingual education teachers in Southern California. In in-depth interviews, teachers speak out about the challenges, frustrations, fears, and the increasing animosity they face on a daily basis, and how they resist and contest the language enforcer role in various ways. Out of the chaos that has been created by Proposition 227, these bilingual teachers have emerged as the language civil rights activists of the new millennium.     

Career maturity of Lebanese students in higher education

The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which Lebanese Baccalaureate II students' (Freshmen in american colleges) perceptions of their academic abilities match their actual achievements in both school and government examinations. A population sample of 2999 students were selected from a representative school sample (n = 122) throughout Lebanon. Students' demographic data, occupational choices and perceptions of their achievement were collected by a three-part questionnaire. Their cumulative grade averages in school and in government examinations were standardized and used to assess their career maturity. Findings indicated that most students wanted to become engineers or physicians while their actual achievement scores in school was average and in the government examination below average. Most correlational values between perceptions and actual achievement scores were either negative or insignificant. Students were found to make immature career decisions mainly because of the lack of any formal guidance programs in schools.