Australia’s Engagement with Asia in the National Curriculum

Aunty Mary Graham, Kombu-merri elder and philosopher, says: "You are not alone in the world." We have a responsibility to each other, as well as to the land; and violence is the refusal of this relationship that binds us (Rose). In this paper, I use Emannuel Levinas’s ethics as first philosophy and epistemological violence to consider how non-Indigenous educators come to know Indigenous people. In his philosophy, Levinas presents a paradox: that to act as if one is a free being, as first philosophy, is to ignore that one is not alone in the world and that the presence of others evokes responsibility. However, to claim to know another is to bring them into one’s totality, one’s knowledge framework; an act of reducing another to who you think they are. We must find a new relationship to knowledge, one that is not based on possession. For non-Indigenous educators learning about teaching Indigenous students and perspectives in schools, much of the curricular material draws on the corpus of knowledge constructed by non-Indigenous researchers, politicians, and professionals about Indigenous people (Nakata, Cultural Interface). This material is already bound by others' interests and motivations. How can non-Indigenous educators engage with Indigenous peoples, histories and knowledges in a way that foregrounds the responsibility that our entanglement prompts? In this paper, I present data from my research into pre-service teachers undertaking a compulsory university subject in Indigenous education, where the pre-service teachers wrote weekly reflective learning journals. This data is drawn primarily from the end of the semester, where students reflected on what their learning would mean as they moved into future practice. I explore the role of responsibility in regards to the ethical violence that Levinas discusses.

Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis indicates a framework for helping the researchers or planners to identify and priorities the business's goals, and to further identifies the strategies of achieving them. SWOT analysis is a technique to analyze the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threats of business. In all countries, farming practices have vital role to food security. Population growth is the major reason for increased food demands and it puts additional pressure on the natural resource. Countries with rapid population growth face especially difficult challenges in ensuring food security. Therefore, using SWOT analysis identify strategies for agricultural development especially in farming systems and helping the researchers or planners to management and priorities them for achieving food security. The location of research was rural areas of Shadervan district of Shouahtar Township, Iran. The population of study was wheat farmers (N=1950). The sample size (n=165) selected by random sampling. Based on the results of SWOT, strategies for farming system management were prioritized. It include: development of poor local market opportunities and infrastructure, planting of crops with high economic values, development of governmental supports, preparing strategic plans to development organic farming, considering quality of crops, considering farm sustainability indexes, using sustainable water resources management and development of extension programs based on farmers needs. Key words: SWOT, farming, management.

In this paper, we report on an investigation into sustainability education in schools in the Australian state of Tasmania following the implementation of the Australian Curriculum. Sustainability is one of three cross-curriculum priorities in the new national curriculum and is the focus of this research (sustainability cross-curriculum priority (CCP)). Principals and Curriculum Leaders (PCLs) from all schools in Tasmania were invited to complete a survey that asked them about their understanding of various aspects of sustainability and how the sustainability CCP was integrated across learning areas. Sixty-eight PCLs (24%) responded to the survey. They reported generally good understandings of sustainability and education for sustainability, but lesser understandings of the sustainability CCP and the nine organising ideas. Respondents’ understandings of sustainability were dominated by an environmental focus. The PCLs’ responses in relation to sustainability implementation across learning areas gave insights into ways that the sustainability CCP can serve as a pivot for cross-curricular teaching and learning, which is strongly advocated for achieving transformative sustainability education. We conclude this paper with a discussion of how the sustainability CCP is an important asset in the necessary reorientation of the Australian formal education system for a more sustainable future. We note the importance of professional support so that educators may better understand sustainability and its complexity as a cross-curricular priority and envision ways in which the sustainability CCP can be realised within education.

ᅟThis Garth Boomer Memorial Lecture contextualises in the broadest sense the creation of the Australian curriculum. As such, this sociological account will argue that the national curriculum is both a response to and articulation of globalisation, set against the intricate complexities of Australian educational federalism. The analysis will demonstrate how this emergence had a long and slow gestation and was enabled by the political contingency in 2007 of all Labor governments at the federal, state and territory levels. The Australian curriculum now has an institutional home in the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) and appears to have bipartisan political support, apart from ideological debates about what should be included. The lecture considers the Australian curriculum as working together what knowledge students need to know (disciplines) and what sort of people they ought to become (cross-curriculum priorities and general capabilities). The argument will situate the national curriculum against the broader national schooling policy assemblage (NAPLAN, My School, Melbourne Declaration, teacher and school leader standards) and interrogate it in terms of the limitations imposed by this contingent framing. These limiting factors include lack of an intellectual rationale, the distance of ACARA from schools, classrooms and teachers, and the restrictive legislative and compositional character of the Australian Institute for Teachers and School Leaders (AITSL), which frames standards for teachers, who are central to the productive enactment of the Australian curriculum. The overall argument is set against Garth Boomer’s innovative curriculum theorising

Selecting an appropriate strategy is very important to the Green Manufacturing implementation. Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis is a commonly used tool for strategic management. Here SWOT analysis in combination with AHP is used to the selection of GM strategy. The strategic factors system of SWOT analysis for GM strategy is constructed by analyzing internal and external environments of the enterprise. Then AHP based SWOT analysis is introduced in detail. A case study demonstrates the application of AHP based SWOT analysis in GM strategy selection and shows its feasibility and validity.

The phased introduction of a new national curriculum for Australian schools from 2010 was the educational substantiation of a national desire to create a foundation so that future generations of Australians could participate effectively and meaningfully in a changing world. In addition to the content and skills embedded in the learning area curricula themselves, the inclusion of general capabilities that are now widely designated as essential 21st-century 'soft' skills, such as critical and creative thinking, along with cross-curriculum priorities that included a focus on Australia's engagement with Asia, were indicators of a wish by its designers to prepare young people for a highly globalised world, one very different from the one in which previous generations had grown up. However, the Australian Curriculum was not developed on modern conceptions of ideas such as intercultural understanding, thinking and globalisation, deriving its direction from understandings about thinking, culture and demographic transnationalism that dated back to the 1990s and longer, rather than being more reflective of the trends likely to emerge as the 21st century progressed. Using a critical analysis of the conceptual base of the Australian Curriculum, with reference to a range of learning areas, this chapter will argue that, in order to be fully effective as a prism of 21st-century learning, the Australian Curriculum needs to be reconfigured to encompass notions of transnationalism, thinking and culture that are more in tune with the reality of a highly mobile and diverse global society in which future Australians will live.

Purpose Requests for increased support within mainstream school settings within the field of autism tend to take place across most international educational scenarios. In light of such recommendation, the purpose of this paper is to outline how the implementation of a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis within educational settings might be beneficial in order to improve the support provided for learners on the autism spectrum (AS). Design/methodology/approach Although a SWOT analysis framework is generally carried out in corporate domains for companies and firms to investigate their competitive impact within the marketplace so as to develop future concepts, this analysis structure may also be usefully applied within educational settings so as to inform practice. Findings If implemented in an effective manner, a SWOT analysis will potentially provide a comprehensive synopsis of the issues and concerns which are relevant for considering and evolving the provision of support for students. Indeed, it will enable educational environments to enhance their strengths so as to increase appropriate opportunities and address the weaknesses within their services in order to potentially overcome their barriers and enhance the quality of life of learners on the spectrum. Originality/value This paper includes the viewpoint of the author in relation to a SWOT analysis so as to inform practice for learners on the AS.

Background: Malaria is a major public health problem in Sudan and causes an enormous burden of morbidity in the country. Malaria is generally controlled in Sudan using five main approaches, which are environmental management, space spraying (SS), insecticide-treated nets (ITNs), larviciding with abate (LWA) and indoor residual house spraying (IRHS). However, it is not clear which options or mix of options present the most economically viable means in terms of financing and delivery, for malaria control.                                                                                                    Methods: The study used an interviewer-administered questionnaire administered to malaria control managers at national and sub-national levels, as well as the review of documents to collect information at three levels of service delivery: National, State and Local. Three localities were selected from each state to represent an urban, peri-urban and rural area. Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis is undertaken on the financing and delivery schemes. The respondents assigned scores based on several SWOT indicators, which were: dependability, sustainability, timeliness, equity, sufficiency, and affordability. The scores for the different SWOT indicators were added-up for each vector control mechanism.                                                         Findings: The funding for the four strategies was dependable but only the funding for ITNs was rated highest on the sustainability criterion and financing of IRHS and SS were deemed not to be sustainable. Overall, financing of LWA followed by ITNs had the highest SWOT analysis scores on the financing criterion. The delivery strategies of three out of four vector control activities were rated poorly efficient, integrated, and timely. Only the delivery of ITNs and LWA were rated by the control managers as optimally sustainable. Overall, the delivery of LWA, followed by ITNs, was rated highest on the delivery criterion.Conclusion: SWOT analysis revealed critical issues with financing and delivery of the different malaria vector control interventions. These issues need to be resolved for optimal malaria control activities in Sudan.Keywords: Financing and delivery mechanisms; mosquito control tools; SWOT analysis; Sudan.

There is an identifiable gap between Australian government policy aspiration and curriculum guidance found in the content of the renewed Australian Curriculum (2018) that has been designed to support the cross-curriculum priority (CCP) of Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia. We have employed an inductive, interpretative research methodology to analyse the curriculum guidance as data to examine how the Australian government’s policies that are predicated on strengthening its partnerships with Asia are being supported by the Australian Curriculum and its State and Territory derivatives. We found that Australian Curriculum content that has been included to support the CCP Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia is minimal, unevenly distributed across the key learning areas, and that the inclusion of content is different between the overall Australian Curriculum and its State and Territory derivatives across key ideas, learning areas, and explanatory materials. Identifying a gap, we critically discuss two aspects of our findings: content real estate and its location, and the skills and knowledge assumed of teachers.

National curriculum development is a complex and contested process. By its very function, a national curriculum serves to organise diverse interests into a common framework, a task fraught with cultural and political tensions and compromises. In the emergent Australian Curriculum these tensions are manifest in and around the cross-curriculum priorities (CCPs): sustainability, Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures. These priorities have been under fire since their introduction to the curriculum and the announcement of a review of the emerging curriculum prompted fears of a renewed attack. Studies from diverse fields of education research suggest that a lack of high-level institutional support for initiatives such as the CCPs places them in jeopardy. This paper focuses on two priorities: Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures. It employs interest convergence theory as a framework to understand connections between the intentions behind the inclusion of the CCPs and the outcomes of the Review of the Australian Curriculum. Furthermore, this paper draws on interview-based research that explores how the priorities are constructed by those who are expected to work with them, from pre-service through to experienced teachers. This theoretical framework provides an explanation for the perennially precarious nature of these kinds of curriculum initiatives.

This paper focuses on the ‘problem’ of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education represented in the Australian Curriculum’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures cross-curriculum priority. Looking beyond particular curriculum content, we uncover the policy discourses that construct (and reconstruct) the cross-curriculum priority. In the years after the Australian Curriculum’s creation, curriculum authors have moulded the priority from an initiative without a clear purpose into a purported solution to the ‘Indigenous problem’ of educational underachievement, student resistance and disengagement. As the cross-curriculum priority was created and subsequently reframed, the ‘problem’ of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education has thereby been manifested in policy, strategised as curriculum content and precipitated in the cross-curriculum priority. These policy problematisations perpetuate contemporary racialisation and actively construct Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, histories and knowledges as deficient.

This systematic literature review (SLR) investigates the enablers and constraints which impact the enactment of Traditional Indigenous Games within curriculum. SLR methodology was used to identify all potential literature within Australia and internationally, between February 2022 and April 2022. Searches were limited to peer-reviewed literature, written in English and published between 2002 and 2022. Search protocols employed to investigate relevant literature were based upon the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) model with the following databases explored: A+ Education via Informit online, AEI ATSIS, ERIC Proquest, Taylor & Francis and Sage Journals (Education). The following search terms were used: ALL FIELDS, (‘Traditional Indigenous games’ OR ‘Indigenous games’ OR Yulunga OR ‘Indigenous sport’ OR ‘Aboriginal sports’ OR ‘Torres Strait Islander sports’ AND ‘Australian curriculum’ OR ‘cross curriculum priorities’ OR ‘Indigenous pedagogy’ AND ‘Indigenous perspectives’ OR ‘Indigenous knowledge’s’ OR ‘Embedding Indigenous perspectives’ AND ‘health and physical education’ OR ‘physical education teacher education’ OR ‘health & PE’ AND ‘Cultural competency’ OR ‘cultural safety’ AND ‘Initial teacher education’ OR ‘pre-service physical education teachers’). Results suggest that culturally relevant pedagogy is a dominant enabler, whilst curriculum and teacher cultural awareness are dominant constraints which impact the enactment of Traditional Indigenous Games within curriculum.

The soon to be implemented Australian Curriculum aims to integrate a futures orientation across subject areas. Guidelines and support for this specific initiative are being finalized. Only a little is known about the current teaching of a futures orientation or of secondary teacher interest, understanding and support for this important but challenging direction. This initial study surveyed 115 teachers from twelve secondary schools in Western Australia and aims to provide a basis for implementing the futures oriented elements into the year 7 to 10 curriculum. Most questions of respondents related directly to elements of the Australian Curriculum’s cross-curriculum priority of sustainability and of the general capabilities; these were extended to include a general appraisal of teachers’ interest in broader global issues, their self-efficacy in pursuing their interests and their suggestions for curriculum support. In overview, this initial study has shown that many Western Australian teachers are very receptive to developing a futures orientation into their classrooms in keeping with the rationale in the new national curriculum. It provides a foundation for follow up studies, supporting existing school interest and exploring specific opportunities for enhancing a futures orientation. It raises the possibility of engaging further with highly motivated teachers and schools in implementing the futures orientation components of the Australian Curriculum through its cross-curriculum priorities and general capabilities.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) banking industry has emerged as one of the most dynamic in the region, converting the country into a financial centre for the Middle East. It also plays an important role in the county's economic development and in meeting the needs of its public demands by providing Sharia compliant financial institutions (Referred as Islamic Banking).The UAE has 52 commercial banks, out of which 24 are National Banks with 795 branches, and 28 are Foreign Banks with 153 branches. In addition, the UAE has 2 Investment Banks, 2 Wholesale Banks, 24 Finance Companies with 23 branches, and 20 Investment Companies (Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates, 2009). This large subset of financial sector needs to regulated and monitored because of two reasons. First, the microeconomic concerns that relates to the ability of bank creditors (depositors) to monitor the risks originating on the lending side. Second, the macroeconomic concerns that relates to the stability of the banking system in the case of a bank crisis (Heimler, 2006).The focus of this paper is two folds. First, it describes the UAE banking regulatory and market framework to give a better understanding of UAE banking regulatory industry. Second, Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis was conducted on 6 banks (selected based on the availability of primary data) to see if its support the UAE efforts to be the centre of excellence.The paper concludes that the bank regulatory and market framework within the UAE is well-regulated. In addition, the SWOT analysis provides insight into banking industry, but further work needs to be done to collect more data which can be utilised to bring further improvements in baking industry within the UAE.

This article draws on research data from a state-wide case study, intertwined with three key moments that occurred in late 2014, to critically engage with the hopes and prospects of the Sustainability Cross-Curriculum Priority (CCP) in Australian schools. These key moments — theIPCC 5th Assessment Synthesis Report(Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2014), the conclusion of the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, 2005–2014 (UNDESD), and the release of the Australian Government'sReview of the Australian Curriculum: Final Report(Donnelly & Wiltshire, 2014) — illuminate both the imperative of societal change towards sustainability and the difficulty associated with integrating sustainability learning into Australian schools. The research findings presented in this article suggest that while there is reasonable support for the Sustainability CCP in some Tasmanian schools, there are many concerns that may be preventing effective integration of sustainability into curriculum. Most notably, there is a limited level of teacher understanding or capability in relation to the Sustainability CCP, which is probably compounded by a distinct lack of professional learning and development. As the spotlight is increasingly focused on the CCPs, we argue for structural change to the curriculum, alongside increased support for schools and teachers, in order to see sustainability learning effectively weaved into Australian schooling.