Implementation Issues: a ‘FRIENDS for life’ course in a mainstream secondary school

“FRIENDS for life” is a manualised, 10 week, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) based programme designed to be run in school and community settings. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of “FRIENDS for life” when implemented in a mainstream secondary school by school staff. Data regarding implementation of the programme were collected and analysed using activity theory. A Single Case Experimental Design was used to monitor the impact of the intervention on the emotional distress and coping strategies of five secondary school participants. The findings suggest that participation in FRIENDS did not result in the hypothesised reductions in emotional distress, or improvement in coping skills. However programme implementation was incomplete. Analysis using activity theory suggested that factors such as lack of time, space for delivery, and experience and training impacted upon implementation and could be further supported by educational psychologists when developing these interventions.     

Teacher education for rural–regional sustainability: changing agendas,challenging futures,chasing chimeras?

Rural schooling has remained a concern for policy‐makers, employers, teacher education providers and schools throughout our recent history. In particular, the allegedly variable quality of teaching and learning in rural Australia is a major concern for teacher educators and educational leaders alike, with the provision of quality services for rural Australians a major equity issue in social as well as political terms. Working from an explicitly situated perspective, this paper explores these issues in relation to a set of current and recent research projects and government reports, with particular reference to a study currently exploring the articulation of teacher education and rural schooling in New South Wales. This is contextualized within a larger agenda of national and environmental sustainability which raises the key issue of social policy and educational priorities as we look forward into a radically uncertain future for teacher education, rural schooling and rural‐regional sustainability.     

The effects of upper‐secondary education and training systems on skills inequality. A quasi‐cohort analysis using PISA 2000 and the OECD survey of adult skills

Research tells us much about the effects of primary and lower‐secondary schooling on skills inequality, but we know less about the impact of the next stage of education. This article uses a differences‐in‐differences analysis of data on literacy and numeracy skills in PISA 2000 and SAS 2011/12 to assess the contribution of upper‐secondary education and training to inequalities in skills opportunities and outcomes. It finds that greater parity of esteem between academic and vocational tracks, as found in German‐speaking and Scandinavian countries, has some positive effects in mitigating skills inequality. However, the most important factors seem to be high completion rates from long‐cycle upper‐secondary education and training and mandatory provision of Maths and the national language in the curriculum.     

Web tutorials: bibliographic instruction in a new medium

Libraries are adding electronic resources of all kinds at an increasing pace to provide service to users outside the library and around the world. To meet this new demand, libraries are turning more and more to the use of online tutorials as a valuable means of providing instruction on how to access and use important resources. This article describes the Health Sciences Library and Biocommunications Center's work and experiences while creating tutorials, the ideas used, and ways the work was evaluated.     

比较教育研究在全球化时代的意义和作用

本文缩编自格林教授的一篇早期论文①,旨在提炼其有关当代比较教育研究的理论与观点,以期对改善和提高我国比较教育研究的质量和水平有所助益。本文主要聚焦三个问题:全球化如何改变着教育?因全球化而引发的教育变革对比较教育有何启示?比较教育研究如何做到真正意义上的比较?