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To promote better collaboration for patient care, interprofessional education (IPE) is required in many health professions courses. However, successful IPE implementation at scale can be challenging because of complicated logistics and competing priorities. Implementing across multiple geographies adds further complexity. This paper describes the implementation of a full cohort IPE activity for medical and pharmacy students delivered at both the Australian and Malaysian campuses of Monash University. We designed a 150-minute, blended learning activity centred around asthma care for second-year medical and pharmacy students. Student perceptions were measured with a pre- and post-activity survey using the validated ten-item, three-factor, SPICE-R2 instrument. Analysis focused on differences between professions and countries. All second-year medicine (N = 301 in Australia and N = 107 in Malaysia) and pharmacy students (N = 168 in Australia and N = 117 in Malaysia) participated in the learning activity. A total of 326/693 (47%) students participated in the associated research by completing both the pre- and post-activity surveys. The pre-activity survey showed significant differences in four items between medicine and pharmacy students in Australia and two items in Malaysia. Post-activity, we observed significant changes in 8/10 items when the two professions were combined. Specifically, we noted changes across the countries in perceptions of roles and responsibilities for collaborative practice and patient outcomes from collaborative practice. IPE across different professions and countries is feasible. Positive outcomes in role understanding and perceived patient outcomes are achievable through a context-sensitive, locally driven approach to implementation. Longitudinal experiences may be required to influence perceptions of teamwork and team-based care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a study of students choosing the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma over state-based curricula in Australian schools. The IB Diploma was initially designed as a matriculation certificate to facilitate international mobility. While first envisaged as a lifestyle agenda for cultural elites, such mobility is now widespread with more people living 'beyond the nation' through choice or circumstance. Beck and others highlight how the capacity to cross national borders offers a competitive edge with which to strategically pursue economic and cultural capital. Beck's 'border artistes' are those who use national borders to their individual advantage through reflexive strategy. The study explored the rationales and strategy behind the choice of the IB Diploma curriculum expressed by students in a focus group interview and an online survey. This paper reports on their imagined transnational routes and mobile orientations, and how a localised curriculum limits their imagined mobile futures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper describes a recent review of Library and Information Management courses offered by the School of Information Studies at Charles Sturt University, and the resulting program of curriculum renewal and expansion. This program aimed to address concerns over the long-term sustainability of the courses and respond to an increasingly converging professional landscape. The courses were redesigned in a way that allowed them to maintain their relevance to the School's established librarianship market, while at the same time develop a significant application to other information fields. This was achieved by essentially turning the curriculum on its head. Instead of a library focussed core with electives in other information areas, the new curriculum offers core subjects that cover the information-people-technology nexus in generic fashion and provides a foundation for a wide range of specialisations. This transformation represents what could be described as a move from a traditional Library and Information Studies (LIS) approach to a broader Information Studies (IS) orientation, accommodating advanced areas of study in specific fields, including Librarianship (L). The paper goes on to discuss key issues concerning the implementation of the course redesigns, and the results of their implementation to date. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper closely examines factors affecting students' progression in their engineering programs through fieldwork conducted at three Australian universities. To extract clues on how specific teaching methods can be used to maximise learning, the investigation considered factors such as understanding how students take in, process and present information. A number of focus groups were conducted with students, and the data gathered was combined with survey results of students' and academics' learning styles. The paper reports on the process followed and provides some analysis of the gathered data, as part of an Australian Learning and Teaching Council Associate Fellowship program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to present the results of a study into how student attributes influence their experience of problem-based learning (PBL) in virtual space. Some engineering faculties in Australia are turning to the PBL paradigm to engender necessary skills and competence in their graduates. At the same time, due to economic and other factors, some faculties are moving towards distance education. Logically, questions are being asked about the effectiveness of PBL for technical fields such as engineering and surveying when delivered in virtual space. This paper outlines an investigation of how student attributes such as final course grade, age, academic study major and interaction with their team facilitator affect the student learning experience in PBL courses offered in virtual space. A phenomenographical study was carried out on a suitable PBL course. A frequency distribution was then superimposed on the outcome space to assist analysis and to aid interpretation of results. This frequency distribution was then used to analyse the effect of different student attributes on the learning experience. It was discovered that the quality, quantity and style of facilitator interaction had the greatest impact on the student learning experience. This highlighted the need to establish consistent student interaction plans, and to set and ensure compliance with minimum standards with respect to facilitation and student interactions. The findings also have ramifications for future staff professional development activities before starting as facilitators in these courses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Master of Engineering Practice is a University of Southern Queensland distance education program accredited by Engineers Australia that enables experienced engineering technologists to become professional engineers. This innovative program allows students to use their workplace learning to demonstrate their achievement of the objectives in up to half of the courses in the program. More than 170 students have been admitted to the program since it was first offered in 2004, and 22 have graduated. The paper describes the educational strategies used to develop the program and the flexible teaching and assessment approaches used to manage student diversity and facilitate student learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Private schools in Australia are a large, influenced and heavily subsidizing sector of secondary education, offering academic and social advantages to their mainly professional and managerial clients. Their influence on patterns of inequality in higher education and career recruitment is usually seen as a function of their homogeneity of intakes and higher resources levels. This paper argues that these factors become important, not through the operation of networks and family allegiances, but because of the way in which private schools exploit the curriculum. Private schools enable families to exercise scholastic power, not only social and political power. But this depends on maintaining an academic curriculum and on the ability of private schools to exploit the cultural values embedded in this curriculum. success reinforces the authority of the curriculum over all schools, not just private non-Catholic establishments, and through this a wider influence is exerted over social structure. This argument is developed through an analysis of the changing relationship of Australian private schools to the curriculum over the first four decades of the post-war period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inclusion of Drama as a subject in the Australian Curriculum is largely a result of the unwavering advocacy of national associations (like Drama Australia) and alliances, in particular the National Advocates for Arts Education (NAAE). This article briefly outlines stages in national curriculum development in Australia and delineates key organisations and individuals who have contributed to the inclusion of drama within Australia’s national curriculum. The paper draws from previously published material, interviews with representatives from each state professional association, and extended interviews with members of the NAAE. The authors propose that the most significant contributing factor to the inclusion of drama in the educational entitlement for all young people in the Australian national curriculum has been collaborative advocacy, carefully managed by a national advocacy collective. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Discusses the factors being considered in national curriculum-making in Australia. Trends in the Australian economy; Costs of education in relation to the outcomes of schooling; Integration of education and youth policies.

This article reports perceptions of citizenship held by teachers, parents and students in one school in Australia. Three issues are explored: the extent of congruence among the three participating groups; implications of their perceptions about citizenship for teaching and learning; and strategies for managing effective curriculum innovation in citizenship education. The author argues that effective citizenship education programs require teachers, students, and parent to have a shared understanding about what it means to be "good citizen." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on the education of Aborigines in Australia. With the attainment of nationhood in 1901, Australia's colonial history ended, for most Australians. However, for a significant minority of inhabitants, Australia's indigenous population, colonialism remained a political reality. Colonialism has now existed for almost 20 years. The article argues that theories of internal colonialism provide an important framework of analysis that can be used to explain policies and practices in Aboriginal education. One of the main features of colonialism is a deep belief in the racial-cultural superiority of the colonizing civilization and people. One form of ideology which legitimated nineteenth century racism in Australia was Christianity. The assumption of the superiority of White British Christian civilization allowed little respect for Aboriginal culture. In the case of Australian Aborigines, economic imperatives legitimated a definition of the oppressed as a race of savages. This in turn defined the limits of schooling and the curriculum. Missionaries used schools as instruments for the inculcation of civilization. English language was the dominant medium of instruction.

Examines the development of a social studies curriculum in a state education system in Australia. Changes in the curriculum development within the state education system; Accountability of the curriculum; Role of teachers in curriculum planning and implementation.