Planning for Equity at the University of South Australia

This paper details the approachtaken by one of Australia's newer universitiesto ensure institution-wide commitment to theUniversity's mission to provide educationalopportunities ... to meet the needs of groupswithin the community ... [who] have suffereddisadvantages in education ...'The paper places the University's approachwithin the context of a national policyframework for equity and access in highereducation which aims `to change the balance ofthe student body to reflect more closely thestructure and composition of the society as awhole' (DEET 1990, p. 2). This framework hasrequired all federal government-fundeduniversities to prepare annual equity plans. The allocation of federal equity funding hasbeen tied to these plans.The University of South Australia's approachhas embedded planning for equity and accesswithin the University's comprehensive annualplanning and review processes, to the extentthat each academic school and administrativeunit is required to address equityconsiderations in its annual and medium-termplan.     

Thresholds of Quality: Implications for the Social Development of Children in Center-based Child Care

We assessed the quality of center child care relationships with adults and peers for 414 children (ages 14 to 54 months). Classrooms were classified by ratio and group size provisions of the Federal Interagency Day Care Requirements (FIDCR) and by the Early Childhood and Infant and Toddler Environmental Rating Scales. Children cared for in classrooms meeting FIDCR ratios were more likely to be in classrooms rated as good or very good in caregiving and activities. Children in classrooms rated as good or very good in caregiving were more likely to be securely attached to teachers. Securely attached children were more competent with peers. Children cared for in classrooms meeting FIDCR group size were more likely to be in classrooms rated higher in activities. Children in classrooms rated high in activities were likely to orient to both adults and peers. Children with social orientations to adults and peers were more competent with peers.     

CAKES (Cultural Awareness and Knowledge Exchange Scheme): a holistic and inclusive approach to supporting international students

Transition support for international students has traditionally adopted deficit models which attempt to ‘fix’ assumed academic literacy problems. This study explores a more culturally inclusive initiative which supported international students at a UK university in a holistic and developmental way. The initiative was delivered across an academic year and a mix of focus groups and semi-structured interviews were undertaken for evaluation purposes. Although small-scale, the initiative emerged as a lively learning community which was highly successful in facilitating both academic and sociocultural transition. Qualitative data illuminate a number of fruitful methodological foci, including informality of the learning space and exploration of intercultural learning and teaching practices. Findings indicate that these cultural explorations were instrumental in helping students navigate the new learning and teaching system and forge a stronger sense of academic and social belonging. These outcomes were cultivated within an ethos that valued and enhanced the diverse skills, identities and attributes that students brought, rather than one that suppressed their previous learning practices. Findings thus demonstrate how transition and academic success can be facilitated in ways that do not problematize international students and highlight the need for more holistic and inclusive ways of supporting them.     

An appreciative exploration of how schools create a sense of belonging to facilitate the successful transition to a new school for pupils involved in a managed move

Much of the current guidance on managed moves focuses on the benefits of the ‘fresh start’ provided. This paper describes an appreciative inquiry to explore how schools in one local authority create a sense of belonging to facilitate a fresh start for pupils involved in a managed move to a new school. Six deputy head teachers with pastoral responsibility took part in a focus group using an appreciative inquiry (Ai) 4-D cycle. The discovery, dream and design phases sought to build on the current practice and identify the improvements to practice. Thematic analysis of the data identified many aspects of belonging, which are in line with those identified in the literature such as creating a school identity, developing partnerships and specific activities such as inter-form competitions and family assemblies. Generating school identity and home-school-pupil partnerships were also identified in relation to managed moves. In the destiny stage, themes were fed back and discussed with a wider Deputy Head Group and Good Practice Guidance to facilitate the successful transition to a new school for pupils involved in a managed move that was produced and circulated across the LA. The importance of empathising with the potential challenges of changing school and forming and maintaining new relationships for pupils engaging in a managed move is highlighted and the Good Practice Guidance illustrates how transition, induction and ongoing support plans can take this into account.     

The River of Learning: building relationships in a university,school and community Indigenous widening participation collaboration

In this article, findings of a qualitative study of an Indigenous widening participation program are presented. The program, River of Learning, has been in existence since 2010 and represents a powerful collaboration between a rural high school in New South Wales (NSW) Australia, a metropolitan university, Indigenous Elders and non-Indigenous community members. An analysis of the narrative data generated through individual and group interviews with stakeholders provided findings with respect to the program including how it has contributed to the building and strengthening of university and community relationships and how important the interaction with Indigenous Elders and school and university staff is in development of confidence to engage in higher education in the Indigenous students. These findings are discussed and the article concludes with reflections on the learnings generated through such university, school and community collaborations and what these may mean in ensuring greater Indigenous representation in higher education in Australia in the future.     

Affinity spaces,literacies and classrooms: tensions and opportunities

Building communicative competence in textual and multimodal literacies has become a linchpin of learning, of engagement with the world, and of participation in online and blended spaces. Young creators now compose online and with digital tools, often in what we call “user‐generated content affinity spaces” – interest‐based spaces that focus on creating and sharing self‐made content. Such spaces focus on processes of developing users' creations and sharing the products with an audience. These spaces have been inspirations for teachers to reinvigorate classroom practices and expose students to learning opportunities for creation and critique. But questions remain about models of participation in such spaces, especially those that idealise youth who are the most highly engaged while ignoring those whose participation is less visible. Here, we share three experiences of bringing user‐generated content affinity spaces into more formal learning environments and reflect on the tensions emerging from these efforts. We end by outlining steps to develop theory and interventions to navigate tensions and propel the field forward.     

Parenting Styles, Adolescents' Attributions, and Educational Outcomes in Nine Heterogeneous High Schools

This article examined the contemporaneous and predictive relations between parenting styles, adolescents' attributions, and 4 educational outcomes. Data were collected from adolescents attending 6 high schools in California and 3 high schools in Wisconsin during the 1987–1988 and 1988–1989 school years. The results of path analyses partially confirmed the central hypotheses. Adolescents who perceived their parents as being nonauthoritative were more likely than their peers to attribute achievement outcomes to external causes or to low ability. Furthermore, the higher the proportion of dysfunctional attributions made for academic successes and failures, the lower the levels of classroom engagement and homework 1 year later. Although adolescents' attributional style provided a bridge between parenting style and 2 educational outcomes, it did not fully explain the impact of parenting on those outcomes. Additional analyses within gender and ethnic subgroups reinforced the overall pattern of findings observed within the entire sample.     

Caught Between Parents: Adolescents'' Experience in Divorced Homes

This study examined adolescents' feelings of being caught between parents to see whether this construct helps to explain (1) variability in their postdivorce adjustment and (2) associations between family/child characteristics and adolescent adjustment. Adolescents 10 to 18 years old (N = 522) were interviewed by telephone 4 1/2 years after their parents' separation. Feeling caught between parents was related to high parental conflict and hostility and low parental cooperation. Being close to both parents was associated with low feelings of being caught. The relation between time spent with each parent and feeling caught depended on the coparenting relationship. Adolescents in dual residence were especially likely to feel caught when parents were in high conflict, and especially unlikely to feel caught when parents cooperated. Feeling caught was related to poor adjustment outcomes. Parental conflict was only related to adjustment outcomes indirectly, through adolescents' feelings of being caught.     

Implementing “real science” through microcomputers and telecommunications in project-based elementary classrooms

This is a study of an ongoing collaborative project in which science education faculty and upper elementary school teachers investigate the potential of a project-based, technologyrich, environmentally oriented approach to science education in an urban school serving a racially diverse population. Major conclusions based on the experience of participants in this study include: (1) teachers describe their instructional roles in terms highly consistent with student-centered, project-based, experiential learning; (2) teachers believe that what makes science real for students is the feeling that they are working on a truly current problem that is also being investigated by others outside their classroom. This is achieved by KidsNet, a microcomputer- and telecommunications-mediated curriculum, in a way that would not be possible without this technology; (3) teachers describe the actual and possible role of computer technology in terms which, while insightful and generally positive, are not clearly related to its flexible use in project-based learning; and (4) while teachers recognize meaningful connections between off-line science activities and the use of computer and telecommunications technologies, their students often do not.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, April 16, 1993, Atlanta, Georgia.This work was partially supported by a Higher Education Grant from the Dwight D. Eisenhower Mathematics and Science Education Improvement Program.     

Academic involvement at university

The call for students to become more involved in their academic study is not new. However few studies have investigated academic involvement as it is experienced by university students. This paper discusses the results of a study that was designed to explore student perceptions of the nature of academic involvement in learning. In addition students were asked to identify factors in their learning experience that encouraged or discouraged their academic involvement. The results reported here are drawn from interviews with 58 first and second year students attending Victoria University of Wellington.The results demonstrate that students experience involvement in qualitatively and quantitatively different ways that appear to be related to approach to learning. A major focus of the paper is on the interactive role personal and contextual factors play in the development of involvement. It is suggested that such factors combine to produce a particular learning climate that directly affects involvement in learning. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of this research for university policy, teaching practice and course design and makes some suggestions for further research.