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Calls have been made for a public pedagogy that works at the intersection of education and politics to enact a concern for "publicness." These are calls for pedagogy that values plurality in human togetherness and educational conditions in which all young people can flourish. In this paper my specific focus is exploring how "publicness of education" can be conceived in relation to encouraging inclusive, equitable and decolonial 'ways of being doing and knowing' in HPE. I adopt a genealogical approach to explore 'conditions of possibility' that have contributed to durability of a 'white' Eurocentric norm for HPE. Selected reports, curriculum documents, newspaper and reference articles are drawn on to illuminate discourses, and power relations implicated in this dominant framing. This paper represents an attempt to disrupt common sense understandings and practices of HPE founded settler-colonialism and new forms of neo-liberal colonialism. Approaches premised on activist, culturally responsive pedagogies as well as affective, embodied, relational dimensions of human togetherness are suggested. I propose that questioning 'why' 'how' and 'what' is taught in HPE is critical for reframing 'thinking and feeling' required for pedagogical and curricular practices that can enhance educational justice for Indigenous students.

This discussion paper highlights the importance of Australian nursing and midwifery students' lack of exposure to electronic medical records during their undergraduate programs. There is pressure on universities offering nursing and midwifery programs to provide students with opportunities to learn to use patient electronic medical records. This will provide authentic rehearsal with the digital technology prior to clinical placements and increase graduate work readiness. Informed by contemporary literature, we describe the benefits of implementing electronic medical records (eMR) in health organisations and identify the challenges and barriers to implementing and integrating the education of electronic records into undergraduate nursing and midwifery programs. Undergraduate students who had not experienced eMR as part of on-campus learning felt unprepared and lacked confidence when commencing clinical practice. Some international nursing and midwifery programs have found that student's skills improve in decision-making and documenting patient observations when eMR is integrated into their university education program. Successful integration of an eMR program should consider academic/teaching staff skills and confidence in technology use, initial and ongoing costs and technical support required to deliver the program. In conclusion, Australian universities need to embed eMR learning experiences into the nursing and midwifery undergraduate curricula to increase students work-readiness with a focus on patient safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper shares findings from a project that examined how schools serving marginalised communities facilitated students' substantive engagement. Through interviews with students, parents, teachers and school leaders, we determined that substantive engagement was supported by formal and informal strategies that enabled access to rich learning opportunities, the provision of welcoming school and classroom climates, and the enactment of pedagogies of care and school-wide programmes focused on substantive engagement. There were four key areas of substantive engagement: engaging curriculum and pedagogy, engaging school climate, engaging with learners, and engaging with communities. Strategies to support engagement included the removal of barriers to learning, such as assistance with breakfast or public transport, nurturing a positive school climate, providing support for ethnic groups and the delivery of alternative or flexible programmes. Drawing on the findings from five case studies, we propose four principles for substantive student engagement in complex contexts, which will be useful for school leaders and teachers who work in schools that serve marginalised communities.

There is continued pressure on universities to develop future-oriented graduates given documented skill gaps and global talent shortages. Although work experience supports work-readiness and is prioritised among graduate employers, little is known about the labour market gains from student employment compared to work experience embedded within the curriculum (e.g. internship or work placement), and how one may influence the other. Drawing on the lens of capital resources and signalling theory, this study uses national survey data from 152,226 recent Australian graduates to examine the relationship between student employment, in-curricular work experience and labour market outcomes. The findings affirm the high incidence of student employment and distinctions in labour market effects by type of work undertaken during study. Student employment influenced participation in embedded work experience and other employability-building activities facilitated by universities. Taking part in in-curricular work experience led to clear labour market gains, irrespective of the type of employment students engaged in during their university years. This paper discusses important implications for universities striving to develop student employability and achieve more uniform graduate employment outcomes among diverse cohorts.

The strengthening employability paradigm within higher education has led to a situation where the practical value of liberal arts programmes is contested. While the potential for such programmes to develop valuable generic skills is recognised, critiques of liberal arts programmes centre around their loose structure and lack of clear alignment with distinct professional employment pathways. This paper focuses on the representation of recognised employability skills within liberal arts curricula. It details the use of a Students as Partners methodology to investigate the inclusion of employability skills defined by the Future Work Skills 2020 framework within a Bachelor of Arts curriculum at an Australian comprehensive university. Our findings suggest a substantial disparity in the representation of employability skills within the curriculum studied. They prompt us to question the dynamics underlying the uptake and explication of employability skills in liberal arts contexts, and implications for the design and communication of liberal arts programme designs are discussed.

The COVID-19 crisis has led to widespread temporary school closures and a deep economic recession. School closures have threatened children's ability to learn and later return to school well prepared. The impact of the economic recession is going to be even more devastating: first for students, but also for the ability of some Catholic schools to maintain their enrollment and remain sustainable financially in countries where they do not benefit from government support. This paper, the first in a set of two, looks at some of the likely impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on Catholic Schools in developed countries with a particular focus on the United States, a country not only hard hit by the crisis but also where Catholic schools are especially vulnerable to downturns. While Catholic schools may be able to respond to the immediate challenge of school closures among others through distance learning options, their ability to maintain enrollment during the economic downturn is less clear. How schools will respond to the twin challenges of ensuring learning during school closures and beyond, and remaining affordable for families at a time of economic stress, may affect whether they are able to maintain their comparative advantage. A key aim of the paper is to make Catholic school teachers and leaders aware of some of the discussions on how to respond to the crisis, and provide links to online resources that may be useful. [For Part II of the series, see EJ1278501.]

The importance of inclusive education receives global acceptance. The current paper presents a bibliometric analysis of 8398 papers dealing with inclusive education between 1980 and 2019. The research aim is to gain information on scientific productivity, international collaboration activities, and the conceptual structure of this research field. Descriptive analyses, co-authorship collaboration analysis and co-word analysis were conducted to obtain a comprehensive knowledge map of inclusive education research. The results show a fast growing body of research in inclusive education over the years with intensive international collaboration patterns. Six research clusters could be identified. Major and intensively studied research themes are disability issues, teacher professionalisation, teacher practices, attitudes towards inclusive education, social processes, support, curricular issues, student perspective, parent perspective, intercultural education, policy, etc. Research addressing inclusive education from a queer perspective, bullying, stigmatisation, digital education and emerging technologies in inclusive settings are under-represented and should be intensified in future studies.

Stories are used for diverse pedagogical purposes. Storytelling is a culturally inclusive and widely used pedagogical technique. However, the success of storytelling interventions in education can be dependent upon how teachers engage students to analyse experiences, and events to gain deeper insights to influence change in their thinking and behaviour. This paper firstly provides a literature review which synthesises Australian Curriculum content and outcome-based approaches used in values education in primary schools including storytelling. Secondly, it offers a novel taxonomy supported by a pedagogical model for storytelling. The proposed pedagogical model contains a constructivist process that can enable teachers to catalyse students' thinking to reflect on their own ethical behaviour, values, and actions. Metaphorically, stories and the process of storytelling enable them to understand themselves through mirrors and others through windows. The pedagogical model explains how wisdom is obtained to influence students' behaviour as opposed to only developing students' understanding.

Menstrual health literacy has a direct impact on young peoples' quality of life, health, academic and professional performance. In Australia, the key learning area of Health and Physical Education [HPE] provides opportunities for students to develop menstrual health literacy. This paper reports on the findings of a survey of 5007 young Australian women aged 13-25 on their experiences of menstruation, dysmenorrhea and education. The discussion herein relates to the qualitative component that asked the question 'What was the most useful information about menstruation received in HPE [Health and Physical Education] class?' Applying a thematic analysis to the data, three key themes emerged. These include: (a) it's all just biology; (b) the cause but not the effect, and; (c) too little, too late. The findings suggest limitations in educational approaches taken by teachers potentially resulting in poor menstrual health literacy portending long-term negative health consequences for some individuals.

Presented here is a novel engineering degree initiative established at Charles Sturt University (CSU), Australia. This program embodies emerging trends and prospects in engineering education, aspiring to nurture adept engineers well-prepared for practical application. Furthermore, this paper delves into the application of this program for training the next generation of water engineers, equipping them with indispensable skills to confront novel challenges. The CSU Engineering program incorporates several attributes commonly found in progressive engineering curricula. It places significance on work-based learning and encompasses an extensive 6000-hour industrial work placement. This emphasizes student self-reflection, engineering design, robust academic leadership, the integration of educational innovation and novel tools for scholastic exploration, and comprehensive student assessment. Gaining robust industry support, the CSU Engineering program garners recognition as an exemplar for future education. The adaptability, professionalism, responsibility, and leadership exhibited by CSU cadets are highly regarded by their industrial partners. Feedback highlights the consistent advancement of cadets' soft skills, spanning teamwork, communication, leadership, community engagement, and interpersonal relations. Notably, CSU cadets receive substantial remuneration from their industrial engagements. Despite the challenges posed by COVID-19 restrictions, the CSU Engineering program continues to operate seamlessly with minimal disruption.

This paper draws on interview data to explore Australian, Canadian and Scottish teacher educators' conceptions of sustainability education (SE) within initial teacher education (ITE). Findings were generated across three themes: teacher educators' (i) conceptions of SE and SE in ITE, (ii) curriculum and pedagogical practices, and (iii) barriers, challenges and opportunities to engaging with SE. Analysis revealed inconsistency amongst teacher educators' conceptualizations of SE, and significant barriers and challenges when offering SE within ITE programs. Related opportunities highlighted destabilizing established norms within ITE programs and encouraging future thinking about the wider purposes and processes of education with preservice teachers.

This paper describes a public pedagogy project embedded into The Global Teacher, a subject within the Bachelor of Education program for student teachers at an Australian university. The subject provides a global perspective on socio-political issues that shape education. In 2013, The Global Teacher introduced an approach that asked student teachers to create a museum-style exhibition depicting six global education themes. This exhibition was displayed in the State Library and the public were invited to engage with the installations and the student teachers who created them. Our paper describes how the project was implemented by means of close collaboration between the QUT teacher educators, curators at the State Library of Queensland (SLQ), and student groups working on visually translating their understandings of global educational issues into a public exhibition. We discuss what was learned by our students and ourselves, as teacher educators, by engaging in this public pedagogy.

This paper reports on the second stage of an international study exploring the future of secondary school music education. Within a discursive context that tends to regard music education as failing to meet the needs of many students, we instigated a three-step Delphi study to capture views from educators across the English-speaking world. Interviews with leading music education researchers reported on in our first paper [McPhail, G., and J. McNeill. 2019. "One Direction: A Future for Secondary School Music Education?" "Music Education Research," 21 (4): 359-370.] identified a disconnect between how music education is currently realised in secondary school and how these researchers thought it should be taught. The findings from this expert panel were used to seed a two-round Delphi study where a wider international panel explored strategic issues facing the sector. In this paper, we report on the data generated from the first of these two wider Delphi rounds. Four areas were identified where gaps exist between actual and desirable classroom music teaching: the core purpose of music education, curricula content, curricular delivery, and context. Although panellists reached consensus on many issues, they held markedly different positions on others. These findings provide an agenda for exploration and reflection by researchers and practitioners, and raise the question -- is there a single desirable direction for twenty-first century secondary school music education?

From the vantage point of Ta Moko, this paper reads educational practices as ancestral rituals engendering antibrownness. Antibrownness is the social and analytical routine that this paper attempts to unsettle by examining the curricular practices of difference making in literacy in primary education in the US as the locus of colonial interrogation. The paper unpacks how young people reckon with difference in schools through the popular culture lens they bring with them to the classrooms. One of the curiosities driving this inquiry is the potential the visual cultures young people participate in hold to trans-form school curricula from a perspective of First Peoples and related entities. In the first section, Moko as a factual and fictive narrative situates the inquiry. Section two spells out the specifics of the location and position on this project and paper. Section three engages with antibrownness while section four zooms into Disney as a popular culture lens producing frames of mind and performances of antibrownness. Section five delves into three classroom events of difference making in literacy curriculum. The concluding section points to the youth's interruptions and gestures towards the potential of popular moving images for unsettling antibrownness.

Education in the 21st century demands a model for understanding a new culture of learning in the face of rapid change, open access data and geographical diversity. Teachers no longer need to provide the latest information because students themselves are taking an active role in peer collectives to help create it. This paper examines, through an Australian case study entitled "Design Minds," the development of an online design education platform as a key initiative to enact a government priority for statewide cultural change through design-based curriculum. Utilising digital technology to create a supportive community, "Design Minds" recognises that interdisciplinary learning fostered through engagement will empower future citizens to think, innovate, and discover. This paper details the participatory design process undertaken with multiple stakeholders to create the platform. It also outlines a proposed research agenda for future measurement of its value in creating a new learning culture, supporting regional and remote communities, and revitalising frontline services. It is anticipated this research will inform ongoing development of the online platform, and future design education and research programs in K-12 schools in Australia.

This paper presents a comparative curricular inquiry of teacher education programs of Chinese as a foreign language in China and Australia. While there is an increasing demand for qualified Chinese language teachers both within China and Western countries, pre-service teacher training is regarded as one of the major factors in impeding success in effective student learning. Using an interpretative approach, this paper captures voices from teacher educators and pre-service teachers through in-depth interviews to supplement curriculum document reviews. The results identify curriculum differences in educational aims and objectives, learning content, methods of delivery and assessment. The study suggests aspects of curriculum which must be negotiated, in moving towards the internationalisation of the curriculum, to facilitate the mobility and adaptation required in overseas teaching contexts. The study ends with a discussion for urgent development of an internationalised curriculum of Chinese language teacher education and situated teacher education programs. (Contains 1 figure and 2 tables.)

Aim: The dominance within educational settings of a traditional, binary model of gender is associated with negative outcomes for children and young people, particularly those who identify as transgender or gender diverse (TGD). The purpose of this study is to review contemporary practices in educational settings to support TGD students. Method: A systematic search of four databases retrieved 13 studies (across 16 papers), which were considered best evidence. A 'best fit' framework synthesis approach was adopted. Findings: Analysis led to the development of a new conceptual framework outlining gender-inclusive educational practice across six strands: leadership, climate, curricular and extra-curricular inclusion, collaborative approach, professional development, and policy. Limitations: Some included studies were small-scale and grey literature was not included. This review is not representative of educational practice in non-English language countries. Conclusions: The framework is recommended as a tool for school leaders to prompt reflection on current gender-inclusive practices and discussion around implementing holistic change. Educational psychologists are well-positioned to support schools with utilising the framework.

This paper describes a process of assessment reform designed to enhance Work Integrated Learning (WIL) approaches for two science courses at an Australian university. The project used a mixed-method approach involving online surveys, interviews, focus groups and workshops to gather student, industry and course team knowledge and understanding of WIL approaches to curricula. The investigation centred on the perceived value of collaborating with industry to facilitate enhancements in authentic assessment and on the barriers to, and challenges in, achieving successful outcomes. The action-research project, WIL-on-Campus (WoC), found that assessments oriented toward the inclusion of authentic tasks and processes, that contribute to the employability learning and job-readiness of students, is deemed important to students, industry and academics. However, reforms to assessment practice and process are required. For greatest impact, this study found that assessment reform processes require two critical interdependent factors: the socialisation of the shared institutional value of embedded WIL approaches to assessment, and the provision of top-down support to enable academic course teams to implement the 'imposed' changes. Further to this, while academics viewed the changes in approach to assessment design as challenging, they also noted that a shift is timely and believed that a course-wide WIL approach is possible and advantageous.

The level and rate of learning the mother tongue of individuals whose mother tongue is different from the language of the society they live is not the same compared to people who learn their mother tongue in their homeland. Turkish people who live in abroad, have to study more in order to learn Turkish compared to people in Turkey. The language students learn who live in abroad and the language they use in their homes may negatively affect either their success in their lessons or the relationships they have with people who speak the same mother tongue. It is expected from students who live in abroad to be academically successful and build healthy relationships and to learn their mother tongue as well as the language they are educated in order to sustain their culture. Providing opportunity to learn their mother tongue in schools they receive education live positively affects their success. It is extremely important especially in multi-cultured societies. Countries which adopt multi-culturalism also give importance to mother tongue education. Australia, which is a multi-cultured country, provides opportunity for different societies to learn their mother tongue. Certain hours in schools is spared for migrants to learn their mother tongue. Australia prepared and executed Turkish curriculum in 2005. In this paper, Turkish curriculum being applied in the state of Victoria in Australia was evaluated and obtained data were compared in accordance with the purpose, approach and grammar that is applied in Turkey. On the basis of this purpose, the research was conducted with document analysis among qualitative research methods. As a result, it was concluded that Turkish curriculum in Australia is prepared in order to develop metacognitive skills and corresponds to constructivist approach that is being applied in Turkey since 2005.

Research suggests graduates from music courses in Australian tertiary institutions typically undertake portfolio careers that include a combination of performing and teaching. Both of these activities could have ongoing artistic ripple effects on the musical communities the graduates inhabit. This paper reports on a qualitative post-graduate research study using Inductive Thematic Analysis to address the question: How do the pedagogical practices and curriculum content of Contemporary Popular Music (CPM) courses influence their graduates' performance practices and how, in turn, do the graduates influence the local music communities in which they perform and teach? With a specific focus on tertiary CPM guitar programs the study investigated how graduates are being influenced by Australian and non-Australian content, in the form of repertoire for ensembles and recitals, and course design. Also, how they are, in turn, influencing the local music communities through their activities. The sample for this research included current students, alumni and educators of Australian Bachelor level CPM courses. The British Invasion and the influence of the Afro-American Blues have had a lasting impact on Australian popular music. The study was designed to investigate if the pedagogical practices and curriculum content of Australian CPM courses intentionally continue to embrace this historical phenomenon, or if new advances in tertiary music education are creating new waves with further ripple effects.

The "ecologisation" of Australian primary schools brings new opportunities for curriculum expansion and renewal for sustainability education. My contribution to the broader discussion of place, geography, sustainability and literacy stems from an interest in how children are brought into contact with sustainability discourses via sensory and embodied learning in local school ground landscapes. In this paper I am interested in identifying the emergent pedagogies and new literacies that inform and shape the implementation of sustainability curriculum. The paper draws on research that uses theories of place inhabitation, relationships to food, place ecologies, and place-based pedagogies to examine the educational value of food gardens and related environmental and health initiatives in primary (elementary) schooling in Australia. Using research data from two schools, the paper illustrates how school ground settings, curriculum and pedagogy generate spatial, temporal and geographical literacies that support children's meaning making. These multimodal literacies are vital curriculum ingredients that effectively educate for sustainability.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine Anzac Day commemoration in schools during World War 1. Design/methodology/approach: Empirical research from newspapers and education department publications is used to illustrate key themes in these commemorations. Findings: Despite claims made at the time that school commemorations did not promote militarism, the available evidence proves the fallacy of these assertions. Moreover, schools became very significant sites for the institutionalising of Anzac Day and shaping it in quite specific ways. Originality/value: While other authors have examined the militarisation of schools in Australia in the early decades of the 20th century, no study has focussed on schools specifically in relation to Anzac Day.

Purpose: This paper examines the views of Australian primary school parents regarding the food and nutrition education (FNE) curriculum. Associations with personal values (Universalism and Hedonism) and demographic measures were also explored. Design/methodology/approach: An online survey was conducted among 787 parents in March 2021. Parents rated the importance of 17 FNE topics. They were also asked about their support for six curriculum improvements and to state their own improvement suggestions. Findings: Parents viewed the "Effect of food on health" and "Food hygiene" as the most important topics. Three FNE components were derived: (1) food safety and preparation, (2) health and nutrition information, (3) food origins and environmental sustainability. The "Food safety and preparation" component score was associated with both universalism-nature and hedonism values but negatively associated with parental education. The "Health and nutrition information" component score was associated with universalism-nature value and main language spoken at home. Lastly, the "Food origins and environmental sustainability" component score was associated with universalism-nature value. The two personal values, universalism-nature and hedonism, were more strongly associated with parents' views of curriculum topics than parental demographic characteristics. Parents had several criticisms of current FNE, including school food environments not resonating with FNE taught in the classroom and that FNE might increase the risk of eating disorders. They also suggested that the FNE curriculum should support both parents and teachers by providing relevant resources and training. Originality/value: Australian parents' views of the importance of FNE topics and how to improve FNE in primary schools have been under-examined.

Being literate empowers individuals to be active citizens and enhances individuals self-esteem, self-confidence, and independence. In today's society, literacy requires much more than alphabetic knowledge. Curriculum documents provide content knowledge for teachers to refer to as they assess and plan for the learning needs of their students. However, they also have embedded within them particular views on what is to be taught and how to teach writing. In this paper, we analyse how the teaching and learning of writing is represented in the official (intended) English curriculum standards of the USA, the state of Virginia, and Australia, in New South Wales. Using content analysis, we analysed the standards for the approach/es explicitly or implicitly embedded in the writing standards. We found that a skills-based approach was the dominant discourse in both US and Australian intended curricula. A process approach was present much more in the Virginia standards than NSW, while a genre approach was more prominent in NSW curricula than Virginia. The creative and critical approaches were less present in both countries. We acknowledge that the enacted curriculum may differ to that of the intended official curriculum as teachers bring their own interpretations to the official curriculum documents.

This paper reviews sociological literature to explore the challenge transnational populations pose for nation-based curriculum, and vice versa. With increasing access to dual citizenship and temporary migration, more people are living transnational lifestyles. This poses new challenges in raising the transnational child. Transnationalism has emerged 'bottom-up' from individualised choices and circumstances rather than 'top-down' through institutional strategy. As a result, education sectors are yet to respond with a reoriented curriculum that can accommodate polycentric lives. This paper adapts Beck's critique of methodological nationalism and proposes a parallel concept in the curricular nationalism underpinning much official curriculum. It then reviews literature reporting on three curricular experiments that seek to cultivate citizenships above and beyond the nation. While such transcendent designs on citizenship unsettle curricular nationalism, they fail to address the specificities of transnational child's memberships both here and there. The pedagogic principle of 'connectedness' is retooled as a pragmatic way forward.

This paper reports on the findings of a study of 211 secondary school English teachers in New South Wales, Australia. The study aimed to gather data on English teachers' work and lives, including their perspectives on workload, motivation, work satisfaction, wellbeing, and career intentions. In an educational environment dominated by a culture of 'performativity' (Ball, 2003, p. 216) manifested through the institutionalising of standards-based systems designed to codify, measure and judge teacher quality, the views and voices of teachers themselves are too often marginalised or absent from research and policy debates. In this paper, we represent English teachers' perspectives on their work and lives and draw attention to the impact of an intensified workload on their capacity for quality teaching and continued investment in teaching as a career. The findings highlight a range of professional and situated factors (Day et al., 2006) experienced by teachers as a consequence of: administrative and accountability compliance demands associated with monitoring and reporting of teacher and student performance; high-stakes test preparation, associated data gathering, administration, and heightened expectations from the school executive, students, parents and the wider community; the speed of centralised curriculum change and policy reform; and diminished resources and support, including inadequate support for implementing new curriculum. The phenomenon of an intensified and excessive workload was perceived to be the single most determinant factor in impeding English teachers' desire to focus on the 'core business' of teaching to their best. The paper calls for urgent attention to teacher workload and its far-reaching implications for quality teaching, student learning and the retention and support of high-calibre teachers in the profession.

This paper explores how a cohort of pre-service Health and Physical Education (HPE) teachers from an Australian university describe and construct their understandings of health and the body. Given that the courses that these undergraduates take in their degree programme present different perspectives on health and the body, a relevant question is to what extent these perspectives adequately equip these future HPE teachers to successfully teach the recently released Australian HPE curriculum. The participants in this study were 14 pre-service teachers, 11 females and 3 males, aged between 18 and 26 at the time of the first interview. The data used for this paper were taken from a larger study and were generated through interviews, the analysis of two undergraduate course profiles and an analysis of the new National HPE curriculum. Results reveal that there are some dominant discourses in health-related courses that may have a significant impact on these students. The purpose of HPE, the role of the HPE teacher and the idea of the HPE teacher as role model are also discussed. The results suggest that pre-service teachers face several challenges and dissonances between what they learn during their undergraduate programme and what the Australian HPE curriculum expects them to teach. How pre-service HPE teachers think about and relate to health and the body is important in terms of how they think about their professional practice and the influence they may have on their future pupils.

Curriculum theorists have acknowledged the relevance of "hermeneutics", or theory of interpretation and understanding, to curriculum studies. In the European "Didaktik" tradition hermeneutics has also been applied to the curriculum work of educators, but such an extension is rarer in the Anglo-American tradition. Educators in the latter tradition are expected to implement rather than actively interpret standardised curriculum. However, working with standardised curriculum is a process rich with hermeneutic significance. In this paper educator work with one form of standardized curriculum, so-called "competency-based" education, is investigated. The touchstone of this investigation is a small study of educator curriculum interpretation practices in the Australian vocational education system, a system that allows educators very little scope to exercise professional autonomy with respect to the content of learning. Wilhelm Dilthey's seminal hermeneutic theory is used to analyse the interpretative work of these educators. The paper foregrounds the complexity of this hermeneutic practice and challenges the assumption that the interpretation of standardised curriculum is a straightforward process. The argument is made that Australia's vocational education system underestimates the hermeneutic dimension of educator work and further complicates the process by promulgating a textual form that is hermeneutically ambiguous.

Arts education in Western Australian primary schools consist of learning opportunities outlined by mandated curriculum. However, assumptions underlying this curriculum involving access, resources and support impact schools' capacity to implement the curriculum without them being adequately addressed by the written curriculum. Drawing on the policy enactment theory of Ball, Maguire, and Braun (2012), four contextual variables (situated contexts, professional cultures, material contexts and external factors) are used to highlight the differences between the written published curriculum and the implemented, practised curriculum. Drawing on interviews with 24 participants across four schools issues of geographic location, use of arts specialists, appropriate learning spaces and the stresses associated with mandated literacy and numeracy testing are reported as contextual pressures by this study. This paper details the disruptive interference of these contextual pressures that we describe as 'noise.' The provision of a better understanding of this contextual landscape brings schools and teachers away from the 'noise' of disruption and closer to curriculum harmony.

This paper presents findings from a qualitative study of ePortfolio experiences among health professions students at a major Australasian research-intensive university. This exploratory study of the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) aims to understand the experiences and perspectives of students introduced to program-level ePortfolios across multiple curricula in the health sciences. Six key themes emerged from the data: benefits of an ePortfolio at the curriculum level, ePortfolios as an enabling technology, the value of reflection, the role of user support, the speed and quality of feedback, and mitigating distance and isolation. These data show that a program-level strategy that embeds ePortfolios across a curriculum, including delivering assessable tasks in the ePortfolio platform, is beneficial to students when a scaffolded, structured approach is taken.

This paper explores student perceptions regarding their learning in year 7, with a focus on challenges they experienced midway through their first year of secondary school. The study used a predominantly qualitative approach to collect data from a cohort of 178 students attending an Australian secondary school. The cohort completed a survey asking students to identify challenges with schoolwork and strategies that might be helpful. Data were processed by coding all responses for a content analysis before conducting a thematic analysis on the coded data. Students were concerned about their understanding of and connection to curriculum and identified challenges in managing tasks in the time allocated. They indicated that improving their organisational skills and focus might assist them. However, thematic analysis results indicated that a lack of connection to the curriculum had an impact on the students' confidence as learners.

The increase of internationalisation in Australian schools marks this as a significant teaching and learning experience for many teachers, specifically those in the secondary school. This case study of a secondary school investigated the concerns of teachers impacted by the implementation of an internationalisation policy. The study examined the teachers' responses to issues often associated with internationalisation in schools: pedagogy, curriculum and student inclusion. Four key concerns emerged in the data: (i) feelings of being ill-prepared; (ii) questions about curriculum enactment and student participation; (iii) the need for greater intercultural competence; and (iv) a lack of clarity about the relationship between language and literacy. The paper explores the implications of these concerns for teachers' practices and professional development as well as the place of international students in the school community.

The Victorian Institute of Teaching (the Institute) was established 1 January 2003, following the consultation and planning work of the Ministerial Advisory Council for the Victorian Institute of Teaching (MACVIT) in 2001-2002. Across Australia, each State and Territory established similar semi-government authorities invested with teacher registration and other responsibilities. The re-establishment of these groups followed a hiatus of about one decade when teacher registration boards had been previously closed. This paper focuses on the 'permission to teach' (PTT) aspect of the Institute's role, with a specific reference to the impact on instrumental music teachers working in Victorian schools.

Notions of creativity are increasingly central to educational scholarship and policies, but few studies attend to the intersection between "Health and Physical Education" (H/PE) and "creativity." In this paper we explore the literature on creativity in education and identify how creativity is represented across a broad spectrum of enquiry yet limited in relation to specifically H/PE. Writing from an Australian context, we examine how the key ideas and propositions from the "Australian Curriculum for Health and Physical Education" and the "Critical and Creative Thinking" capability raise important questions regarding the social emergence of educative creative purpose and potential in H/PE. We outline the utility of a 'creative ecologies' conceptual framework to consider contemporary practices in H/PE, and apply this to two purposively selected resources; to showcase their contextual eminence for creative learning in H/PE pedagogy and practice. The first resource, "Phenomenom!," was funded by Horticultural Innovation Australia to develop food literacy and is linked to cross-curriculum learning outcomes. The second resource, "Fitter. Faster. Better," is a St Martin's Youth drama-arts performance where students were prompted to design and perform a fitness programme for adults. Utilising the creative ecologies framework we illustrate the complexity of interconnected creative processes in H/PE as a series of networked elements and cultural flows (policies, practices, products, process, material environments, and partnerships). This framework is then used to identify how the two educational resources exemplify and open up a socially creative practice in both H/PE and everyday life. Our theoretical developments offer new ways to identify, design and enact quality creative and contemporary socio-cultural H/PE curriculum within a broader creative ecology.

The profession of urban planning contributes to the design and spatial arrangement of cities, and has been recognized as a key potential facilitator of action on climate change. Yet, there has been limited research to understand if, or how, urban planning students are being educated for climate change competency. This paper investigates the coverage of climate change in the curriculum of professionally accredited urban planning university degrees in Australia. Climate change coverage was assessed across three fields: (1) explicit climate change issues; (2) sustainable urban form issues (e.g. contributing to climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions), and (3) education for sustainability (with links to professional competencies relevant to climate change action). A content analysis was undertaken of: (1) the Planning Institute of Australia's "Policy for the Accreditation of Urban Planning Qualifications," and (2) a sample of nine accredited urban planning degrees. Limited coverage of explicit climate change issues and sustainable urban form issues was found. Coverage of education for sustainability themes (liberal education; civics; interdisciplinarity; cosmopolitism) was stronger. Results indicate that the professional accreditation policy, and the content of urban planning degrees should be revised to include greater coverage of explicit climate change issues.

This paper reports on an Australian national investigation of parents of school-aged children attending government schools. The research objective was to ascertain what parents thought in relation to gender and sexuality diversity-related content inclusions in the curriculum, and how a subset of these parents who had a gender and sexuality diverse (GSD) child, experience the public education system for/with their child. Here, we particularly focus on the voices of parents with a transgender or gender-diverse (TGD) child. We examine how these young people are positioned in discourses of risk and safety and how discrimination is depoliticised through bullying discourse. We note how bullying is framed as individualised, leaving broader cisnormative discourses unquestioned. A pedagogy of containment places the burden of gender identity, relationship management and education on the TGD student and family, highlighting a need for more professional development of school personnel.

It is well documented that the most effective sexuality education programmes employ a whole-school learning approach. More specifically, when schools and their leaders and teachers embrace such an approach, they view student learning in the context of the whole experience of being at school -- from the classroom, to the home and the partnerships schools form with the local community. In parallel to this, people born with intersex variations report the lack of a systematic and broad approach to recognition and inclusion of intersex variations in schools due to strong 'normativity' messaging, including that pertaining to the body. Similarly, schools fail to engage mindfully with contemporary content that promotes a positive and diverse understanding of intersex in educational spaces, guidelines, policies and the curriculum. In line with community expectations outlined by the Darlington Intersex Community Consensus Statement, peer-led intersex rights-and-health-advocacy, and intersex-affirming scholarship, this paper advocates for and seeks to offer recommendations on how schools might enact a whole-school approach for sexuality education that is inclusive, affirming, visible and supportive in promoting and upholding the rights and health of students with intersex variations.

At present, Australian sex(uality) education curricula aim to equip students with information which facilitates "healthy" sexual choices as they develop. However, this is not neutral information, but rather socially and culturally regulated discourse which encodes a normative binary of sexuality. The largely US-focused sexuality education literature tends to categorise curricula as belonging to either "comprehensive" or "conservative" factions, consisting of progressive, secular approaches or religious- or abstinence-based programmes, respectively. Neither of these factions, however, appear to be able to cater for the integration of issues relevant to gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (GLBTIQ) students nor does this binary conceptualisation represent the reality of Australian sexuality education policy and practice. This paper argues that contemporary sexuality education has a fundamentally neoliberal focus, which aims to assimilate GLBTIQ people into existing normative frameworks (economic and social), rather than challenge them. Such an approach does not foster critical student understandings of oppression, power or morality. The development of critical literacy around sexuality is regarded as essential to meaningfully address the complex needs of GLBTIQ students. The paper explores missing queer discourses within Australian teaching resources. The inclusion of these would benefit GLBTIQ students by bringing previously silenced issues to the fore.

Purpose: This paper aims to argue that substantive changes are required in both curricula and pedagogical practice in higher education institutions to challenge dominant epistemologies and discourses and to unsettle current ways of thinking about, and acting in relation to, the environment. Central to such a shift, it is argued, is the need for higher education curricula to be interdisciplinary and for pedagogical practices to work to build capacities in students for critical and reflective thinking. Design/Methodology/Approach: In this paper, a case study of our reflections is offered on a subject designed to promote capacities in students for critical and reflective thinking via an interdisciplinary approach. The paper uses data from student reflective essays and student course evaluations to make an argument for the success of this approach. Findings: Genuine transformative learning can occur within a constructivist informed pedagogical approach to teaching for sustainability. Research Limitations/Implications: Research implications are that genuine transformation can occur in students' thinking processes (which the paper argues is critical for effective education in sustainability) with appropriately designed courses in higher education. Practical Implications: More effective environmental actors and thinkers, who can critically engage with the complexity of environmental problems. Social Implications: Social implications include a more effective and socially just higher education for sustainability Originality/Value: The authors know of no other narrative that addresses attempts to educate for sustainability using this approach.

Fieldwork is viewed as integral to geography teaching and acclaimed benefits often include holistic, student-driven learning, where all the senses are engaged and the impacts are more than cognitive. While these benefits are often assumed, in this paper, I argue that geography fieldwork in schools is often teacher-led and focused on the intellectual task of knowledge acquisition and skill development. Based on a qualitative content analysis of examples of fieldwork in a state geography teachers' journal, I assert that the affective and sensory dimensions are often used to promote the benefits of fieldwork, but seldom are explicitly addressed through fieldwork pedagogy and learning activities in school geography. I contend that this is a missed opportunity for a deeper, more embodied and critical engagement with, and response to, the places visited.

The Traffic Light Report (TLR) project is an educational intervention designed for pharmacy undergraduates. This paper reports on analysis of TLR data specifically focusing on its potential as an innovative tool which combines Miller's pyramid, technology and student voice to examine a curriculum for Assurance of Learning (AoL). In 2014, educators mapped each summative assessment to the relevant National Competency Standards Framework for Pharmacists in Australia (NCS) alongside levels of expected performance on Miller's pyramid of clinical competence (Knows, Knows how, Shows how, Does). Simultaneously, students were invited to self-reflect using the same performance levels. The Miller's scale enabled a comparison between students' and their educators' understanding of the performance level demanded by assessments. Analysis highlighted a disconnect between students' and their educators' interpretations of the same assessed curriculum. The TLR facilitates quality enhancement by providing educators and their students with a logical meeting point for discussing foundation, scaffolding and integration of assessment across a course for AoL. This has portability to other professional disciplines.

This paper examines Catholic RE curriculum documents from 2 jurisdictions to assess how well they present Jews and Judaism. It finds that their representations of Jews and Judaism rely on structures of thought, reinforced by normative Catholicism, that enable the conditions to reproduce supersessionist thinking and attitudes. Its conclusion argues that current Catholic RE curricula must confront the question of how to coordinate strong and generous presentations of Jews and Judaism with Christian teachings on fulfillment. No less, they must also confront the question of how to consider Judaism and Christianity as different only in kind, and not by degree.

The Australian National Program Standards for Teacher Education prioritises knowledge of culturally inclusive practices and challenges the educational community to present research on well-structured, inclusive, cross-curricula education partnerships. This article meets this challenge as it explores a core unit of work for undergraduate teachers with Indigenous education as its foundation. Most importantly, the paper presented here provides an overview of how to develop culturally appropriate pedagogical practice through culturally inclusive curriculum. Both the unit of work and the paper are built on the principles of Constructive Alignment. In engaging with the article, the reader will use the 4Rs of reflection, as used by the pre-service teachers within the unit of work, to personally engage with curriculum conversations. This engagement demonstrates excellence in education design and offers clear alignment with the Australian Curriculum Studies Association's (ACSA's) principles for Australian curriculum.

This paper introduces "rhizocurrere", a curriculum autobiographical concept I created to chart my efforts to develop place-responsive outdoor environmental education. "Rhizocurrere" brings together "rhizome", a Deleuze and Guattari concept, with currere, Pinar's autobiographical method for curriculum inquiry. Responding to invitations from Deleuze, Guattari and Pinar, to experiment, I have adapted their ideas to create a philosophical~methodological concept that draws attention to relationships between my pedagogical and curriculum research and the contexts that have shaped my life~work. This paper outlines "rhizocurrere", its parent concepts and how I have enacted my attempts to think differently about curricula and pedagogy. The central question is not "what is rhizocurrere?" but rather "how does/could rhizocurrere work?" and "what does/might rhizocurrere allow me to do?"

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide an analytical overview of the current state of entrepreneurship education (EE) in Australia; placing emphasis on programs, curricula and entrepreneurship ecosystems. Design/methodology/approach: The authors performed a contextual review of the literature by delineating entrepreneurship education programs, the entrepreneurial ecosystem and EE learning and teaching. The review was enhanced by a systematic collection of data from higher education institutions web sites, depicting the prevailing situation of entrepreneurship programs, courses, subjects and their ecosystems. Findings: A number of interesting findings emerged from this study. From a curricular perspective, Australian universities offer 584 subjects related to entrepreneurship. This includes dominance at undergraduate level, representing 24 minors/majors and specializations in entrepreneurship. In total, 135 entrepreneurship ecosystems were identified. Research limitations/implications: This paper presents findings from university web sites and as such requires introspection to validate individual university offerings. Practical implications: The study provides the status of EE in Australia, and may guide academic and policy decision makers to further develop entrepreneurship initiatives. Originality/value: This paper provides the first analytical overview of EE in Australia and paves the way for further evaluation.

To support teachers to implement Computer Science curricula into classrooms from the very first year of school, teachers, schools and organisations seek quality curriculum resources to support implementation and teacher professional development. Until now, many Computer Science resources and outreach initiatives have targeted K-12 school-age children, with the intention to engage children and increase interest, rather than to formally teach concepts and skills. What is the educational quality of existing Computer Science resources and to what extent are they suitable for classroom learning and teaching? In this paper, an assessment framework is presented to evaluate the quality of online Computer Science resources. Further, a semi-systematic review of available online Computer Science resources was conducted to evaluate resources available for classroom learning and teaching and to identify gaps in resource availability, using the Australian curriculum as a case study analysis. The findings reveal a predominance of quality resources, however, a number of critical gaps were identified. This paper provides recommendations and guidance for the development of new and supplementary resources and future research.

School-wide curriculum initiatives are complex fields of activity, held together by a cast of heterogeneous actors who put diverse discourses to work in their everyday efforts to shape their work. This paper draws upon qualitative data collected across an 18-month period in a regional Australian primary school that, since the beginning of 2012, has implemented a school-wide science specialism. In this paper, we focus in detail on how one feature of the initiative--classroom animals--played out as the science specialism was enacted. The data provide glimpses into the practice of the curriculum initiative from a range of viewpoints. We explore the discursive positioning of the classroom animals, and the construction of teachers' work and student learning in relation to this. Tensions are explored between views of the initiative "from above"--from the perspective of the school leadership and key advocates of the initiative--and views "from the ground"--presented by classroom teachers as they reflect on their encounters with the animals. We discuss the divergent ways in which teacher practice can be constructed in relation to curriculum innovation and advocate practice-based theories as providing a generative lens for understanding and supporting teachers' innovative curriculum work and for understanding teaching practice more generally as an innovative, creative and productive undertaking.

This article reflects on ongoing research-led teaching in the area of creative industries in higher education. Specifically it reports on key work-integrated learning strategies designed to better prepare graduates for the employment sector. The creative industries sector is complex and competitive, characterized by non-linear career paths driven by the individual. Following contextualization of the key issues, a core creative industries subject and curriculum is described, which requires students to engage directly with industry practitioners via internships or case studies. In order to interrogate the impact of these activities, a sample of final reflections as well as formal student feedback on the subject were analyzed in order to draw out key themes in relation to student learning and understanding. Analysis of these data propose that direct engagement with practitioners assists students in developing new knowledge of the capacities they will require for a sustainable career. [Papers included in this "Asia-Pacific Journal of Cooperative Education" ("APJCE") Special Issue stem from selected manuscripts from the 2014 Australian Collaborative Education Network (ACEN) Conference Proceedings.]