Searching for the public: school funding and shifting meanings of ‘the public’ in Australian education

School funding is a principal site of policy reform and contestation in the context of broad global shifts towards private- and market-based funding models. These shifts are transforming not only how schools are funded but also the meanings and practices of public education: that is, shifts in what is ‘public’ about schooling. In this paper, we examine the ways in which different articulations of ‘the public’ are brought to bear in contemporary debates surrounding school funding. Taking the Australian Review of Funding for Schooling (the Gonski Report) as our case, we analyse the policy report and its subsequent media coverage to consider what meanings are made concerning the ‘publicness’ of schooling. Our analysis reveals three broad themes of debate in the report and related media coverage: (1) the primacy of ‘procedural politics’ (i.e. the political imperatives and processes associated with public policy negotiations in the Australian federation); (2) changing relations between what is considered public and private; and (3) a connection of government schooling to concerns surrounding equity and a ‘public in need’. We suggest these three themes contour the debates and understandings that surround the ‘publicness’ of education generally, and school funding more specifically.     

Changing Preservice Science Teachers’ Views of Nature of Science: Why Some Conceptions May be More Easily Altered than Others

The purpose of this study was to assess preservice teachers’ views of Nature of Science (NOS), identify aspects that were challenging for conceptual change, and explore reasons why. This study particularly focused on why and how some concepts of NOS may be more easily altered than others. Fourteen preservice science teachers enrolled in a NOS and Science Inquiry course participated in this study. Data were collected by using a pre/post format with the Views of Nature of Science questionnaire (VNOS-270), the Views of Scientific Inquiry questionnaire (VOSI-270), follow-up interviews, and classroom artifacts. The results indicated that most students initially held naïve views about certain aspects of NOS like tentativeness and subjectivity. By the end of the semester, almost all students dramatically improved their understanding about almost all aspects of NOS. However, several students still struggled with certain aspects like the differences between scientific theory and law, tentativeness, and socio-cultural embeddedness. Results suggested that instructional, motivational, and socio-cultural factors may influence if and how students changed their views about targeted NOS aspects. Students thought that classroom activities, discussions, and readings were most helpful to improve their views about NOS. The findings from the research have the potential to translate as practical advice for teachers, science educators, and future researchers.     

Exploring the theory-practice gap in initial teacher education: moving beyond questions of relevance to issues of power and authority

The ‘theory-practice divide’ in teacher education can be viewed not simply as an acceptance of a body of knowledge but instead an acceptance of the teacher educator’s authority to determine what is relevant educational theory. This research aimed to explore student teachers’ views of ‘educational theory’ and how it was discursively positioned relative to their practice in an attempt to examine whether their acceptance or rejection of it was also related to accepting the authority of the teacher educator. Using one-to-one interviews with 23 student teachers and employing a discourse analysis, four categories of students emerged. The paper describes these four categories and discusses the implications of these findings for initial teacher education and our understanding of the ‘theory-practice’ gap.     

Temperament Dimensions in Preschool Children: Links With Cognitive and Affective Theory of Mind

Research Findings: The present cross-sectional study investigated the question of whether 6 different temperament dimensions (inhibition to novelty, social orientation, motor activity, positive emotionality, negative emotionality, and attention) influenced cognitive and affective theory of mind (ToM) in 168 children (86 three/four-year-olds and 82 four/five-year-olds). Temperament was measured via a parent-report questionnaire, cognitive ToM via a classical false-belief task, and affective ToM via a comprehensive test tapping 3 levels of emotion comprehension (external, mental, and reflexive). In addition, language competence was assessed with a direct test evaluating both receptive and expressive language. The results showed that after we controlled for language ability, inhibition to novelty predicted higher levels of cognitive ToM in 4/5-year-old children. In addition, higher levels of social orientation predicted better comprehension of the external aspects of emotion in both younger and older children. Practice or Policy: Our results highlight the importance of the early identification of less sociable children, who might benefit from training interventions aimed at increasing their affective ToM abilities. At the same time, they are also consistent with previous evidence indicating that an inhibited approach to social interaction can promote false-belief understanding.     

Patterns of participation in year 9 academic testing and factors predicting absence on the day of test

Policies aiming to improve educational outcomes are typically based on academic testing data. However, such data only reflect the performance of students who completed the tests. It is possible that students who were absent have shared characteristics. The proportion of students absent out of all eligible school students and whether they have shared characteristics has not been investigated, as this is only possible through the use of linked administrative data. Participants were born in Western Australia in 1994 and 1995, and their birth records were linked to participation status in the Year 9 academic tests to determine the proportion of students who were absent. Logistic regression was conducted to investigate characteristics which predicted absence on test day. A proportion of non-Aboriginal (3.2 %) and Aboriginal students (21.9 %) were absent on test day. Risk factors which predicted the absence included contact with Child Protection and Family Services, history of maternal mental health problems, and fathers aged below 20 years at the time of their child’s birth. A significant proportion of students was absent and therefore not represented in academic achievement information. These students were more likely to have experienced adverse events and therefore are not randomly absent. As these data are typically used to inform policies which aim to improve educational outcomes, they may lack the necessary information to adequately address the complex needs of students who are absent on test day. However, findings suggest that service providers, as well as schools may play an important role in encouraging participation in school.     

科学与怪异

近几十年来,世界上出版了许多奇谈怪论的书,它们披着科学的外衣,实际上是在宣传神灵、迷信与伪科学。……其主要内容不外是外星人已经访问过地球、上帝是宇航员、百慕大三角、飞碟、天外来客、通灵人等等。在这种情况下,美国的一批著名学者,如乔治·O·阿贝尔、艾萨克·阿西奠夫、卡尔·萨根和马丁·加德纳等,为广大读者编写了这本《科学与怪异》。他们在书中首次就一些超自然现象进行了科学的分析。     

Bancroftian filariasis in south east Madhya Pradesh: Pre-control epidemilogical observations

Lymphatic filariasis caused byWuchereria bancrofti is a major health problem next only to malaria. A study had been conducted to estimate the prevalence of microfilaraemia in a rural endemic community near Raipur. The incidence of microfilaramia in the community was found to be about 14% when studied by night finger prick method. The incidence appears to be more in males as compared to females. The infection rate in vector population i.e.,Culex quinquefasciatus was recorded at a rate of 10%. No relationship could be drawn between the rates of vector and human filarial infections or between the density of vector population and the rate of vector/human infection(s). Prior health education is essential before taking up control and preventive measures in given endemic zone.     

Synthesis of singly-terminated ladder networks by multivariable array using homogeneous polynomials

This paper discusses a multivariable array whose elements are multivariable homogeneous polynomials which may have missing terms in any of the variables. This array permits one to obtain conditions for the realizability of a driving-point function or a transfer function as a resistively terminated low-pass ladder network. By reac- tance transformations, other forms of ladder structures can be obtained. The case of cascade-separable ladder networks is discussed in detail.     

Reflections on the Academic Policy Analysis Process and the UK Identity Cards Scheme

There is an increasing rhetoric from politicians for universities to become more involved in policy analysis and policy research. In this article, we reflect on our experiences of the analysis we conducted into the legislation to introduce biometric identity cards in the United Kingdom. We highlight how our work had direct consequences for the ongoing policy deliberation around this controversial piece of legislation. In particular, we highlight our role in the debate surrounding the government's figures for identity fraud and the concerns about the likely cost of the scheme to the government and taxpayer. We end the article by discussing some of the practical realities of such a foray into real politik.     

A preliminary report on the role of yoga asanas on oxidative stress in non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus

Nineteen subjects of non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) between the age group of 30–60 yrs were studied to see the effect of specific yoga asanas on fasting and postprandial blood glucose (FBG, PPG), serum malondialdehyde (MDA) and glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA₁) in addition to drug treatment and diet control. The duration of diabetes ranged from 1–10 years. Patients with renal, cardiac and proliferative retinal diseases were excluded from the study. The same patients served as their own control. Subjects were called in the morning to the cardio-respiratory laboratory and were given training by a yoga expert. Yoga asanas included Suryanamskar, Tadasan, TriKonasan, Padmasan, Pranayam, Paschimottanasan, Ardhmatsyendrasan, Pavanmukthasan, Sarpasan and Shavasan. The asanas were done every day for 40 days for 30–40 min. FBG, PPG, serum MDA and HbA₁ were estimated before and after 40 days of yoga asanas regimen. Significant reduction was seen in FBG from 220 mg/dl to 162 mg/dl, PPG from 311 mg/dl to 255 mg/dl, MDA from 6 nmol/l to 3 nmol/l and HbA₁, from 8.8% to 6.4%. Subjects felt better and were relieved of their stresses and had an improvement in their day to day performance. The decrease was statistically significant (p<0.0001 for FBG and PPG, p<0.001 for MDA and for HbA₁).