Education In Australian Universities Research Articles

It takes it out of the textbook: Benefits of and barriers to expert by experience involvement in pre-registration mental health nursing education.

Nurse academics teaching mental health nursing have generally favourable views about the importance of expert by experience involvement. Nurse academics experience significant barriers in supporting the implementation of academic positions for experts by experience, particularly in obtaining funding. The experts by experience could contribute to mental health nursing education does not appear to be clearly understood by nurse academics. WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE?: Mental health services aspire to adopt a recovery-oriented approach to practice. Involving experts by experience in mental health nursing education can facilitate increased understanding and appreciation of recovery-oriented practice. Nurse academics could play an important role in supporting the implementation of experts by experience positions in nursing academia. To do so, they require an understanding of the benefits of EBE involvement in academia and the barriers that can be encountered when attempting to facilitate the implementation of such positions. Experts by experience contribute unique expertise, essential to the development of quality mental health services. Conveying this expertise through the educating the future nursing workforce in mental health is essential. INTRODUCTION: Involving service users in mental health nursing education is ad hoc and minimal, despite growing evidence of its benefits. Insights and experiences of nurse academics teaching mental health to pre-registration students have been underrepresented in the research to date. To seek insights and experiences of nurse academics involved in designing and delivering pre-registration mental health nursing education in Australian universities regarding involving service users in mental health nursing education. A descriptive qualitative study involving 19 nurse academics from 13 Australian universities, involved in pre-registration mental health nursing education. Data were analysed thematically. Participants reported minimal service user involvement. Most sought an increase and identified barriers. Data analysis resulted in five identified themes: (1) value-rich, (2) resource-poor, (3) imperfect processes, (4) 'part, but not all' and (5) unrecognised worth. Increasing meaningful involvement of service-users in mental health nursing education requires support and investment from multiple stakeholders. Nurse academics are crucial stakeholders in understanding the unique expertise service users bring. Service users being central to all aspects of mental health services requires their active participation in the education of health professionals. Nurse academics have an important role in realising this goal.

Readers' Letters

The Veterinary NurseVol. 13, No. 9 CorrespondenceReaders' LettersBrett Smith, Courtnay Baskerville CertII, Patricia Clarke, Jennifer HamlinBrett SmithEducators for the Allied Veterinary Health Professions in Higher Education (Australia)Search for more papers by this author, Courtnay Baskerville CertIIEducators for the Allied Veterinary Health Professions in Higher Education (Australia)Search for more papers by this author, Patricia ClarkeEducators for the Allied Veterinary Health Professions in Higher Education (Australia)Search for more papers by this author, Jennifer HamlinConsultant Editor, The Veterinary NurseSearch for more papers by this authorBrett Smith; Courtnay Baskerville CertII; Patricia Clarke; Jennifer HamlinPublished Online:25 Nov 2022https://doi.org/10.12968/vetn.2022.13.9.396AboutSectionsView articleView Full TextPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail View article References Heath P. National review of nursing education 2002: Our duty of care. Department of Education, Science and Training, Canberra. 2002. http://hdl.voced.edu.au/10707/121105 (accessed 10 November, 2022) Google ScholarReid J. Nursing education in Australian universities: A report of the national review of nurse education in the higher education sector, 1994 and beyond. Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra. 1994 Google Scholar FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails 2 November 2022Volume 13Issue 9ISSN (print): 2044-0065ISSN (online): 2052-2959 Metrics History Published online 25 November 2022 Published in print 2 November 2022 Information© MA Healthcare LimitedPDF download

Scoping recent investment in evaluation education in Australian universities

This article explores the current evaluation education program opportunities in the Australian higher education market and identifies potential research areas to inform pathways for future investment. Findings from our initial scoping phase are provided as a prelude to future work required in this space. The overarching research question investigates whether there is an opportunity to deliver further evaluation education programs in Australian higher education. Emerging from this question are three objectives: (a) to determine the current landscape of Australian university evaluation education program offerings; (b) to gain an understanding of the evaluation education discourse articulated within six selected evaluation journals and (c) to consider whether evaluation is a viable and meaningful discipline within higher education programs. An action research approach was adopted commencing with a benchmarking activity of Australian university offerings, followed by a bibliometric analysis of six evaluation journals, and concluding with a rapid scan of the literature. The selected methodologies reveal a potential gap in the higher education market, with the literature identifying inconsistent and mismatched programs while emphasising the need to invest in evaluation education. This article seeks to stimulate debate about formal higher education qualifications in evaluation and highlights the importance of potential future curriculum structure that can offer evaluators value, utility and growth.

Preparing Australian Special Educators: Courses and Content

The characteristics and content of post-graduate courses in special and/or inclusive teacher education in Australian universities were examined using publicly available material on university websites. Content analysis was guided by a set of content area elements covering desirable skills and knowledge for special educators that were identified in the Australian literature. The presence or absence of these content elements in each course and in core or elective units was coded for 28 courses from 21 universities. All or most courses covered generic content such as teaching strategies and evaluating and using research. However, more specialist content, such as explicit teaching strategies and instruction in literacy and numeracy, was absent from over half the courses. The implications of these findings are discussed in the context of the limitations necessarily imposed by the inclusion of only publicly available online information.

Primary sources, pedagogy and the politics of tertiary history in Australia

History education in Australian universities finds itself under increasing pressure in the age of neoliberalism and the crisis precipitated by COVID-19. Universities and professional associations have been forced to adopt a generic discourse of transferable ‘skills’ in order to justify the place of history in the curriculum. We show, however, that these skills may have specific or even contested meanings within disciplines. Moreover, students can only properly acquire higher-order transferable skills by practising them in disciplinary contexts. Consequently, reinvesting skills with disciplinary meaning is necessary for student outcomes even within a neoliberal rationale, enabling a new defence of the specific nature of historical work. We advance a means of working with primary sources using strategic questioning of increasing complexity as a tool for achieving these twin goals. We show how our approach is embedded in the cognitive processes of historical thinking as defined in both of the major theoretical models that have achieved currency, and posit it as a mode of pedagogical resistance in the neoliberal university landscape.

A Proposed Approach to Investigate Whether Postgraduate Health Care Management Education in Australian Universities Facilitates the Development of Informatics Competencies.

Competencies have emerged as being important in healthcare. AIDH has health informatics competencies and ACHSM has health service management competencies but as health care is rapidly changing, it is important that the required competencies continue to evolve. The aim is to investigate whether postgraduate health care management education in Australian universities facilitates the development of informatics competencies. The proposed approach followed the NWCPHP 'Steps Used to Effectively Map Preexisting Courses to Competency Sets' to map the health informatics competency statements against the ACHSM accredited and RACMA recognised, postgraduate health care management programs offered domestically in Australia. The initial results show that only 10% of the AHICF competencies were fully addressed, 12% of the AHICF competencies were mostly addressed, 28% were partially addressed, and 50% of the AHICF competencies were not addressed at all. The proposed course competency mapping approach demonstrates that there is a need to revisit the informatics competencies taught in postgraduate health care management programs in Australia.

Primary Science Education in Australian Universities: An Overview of Context and Practice.

Stagnating test scores, underwhelming student scientific literacy and declines in post-compulsory science enrolment are major issues in Australian science education. Universities are central in improving science education, as a relatively small group of 33 higher education providers can directly influence generations of primary teachers responsible for foundational science learning. Since this is a major review of primary science practice at Australian universities, factors including, but not limited to, changing employment conditions, shifts in study modes and an ever-expanding research literature base need to be considered in a more contemporary review. This paper aims to describe the reported primary science practices, challenges and strengths of Australian teacher education programs through semi-structured interviews and online surveys with 17 academics and analyses of public materials on university websites. Thematic analyses reveal noteworthy diversity in approaches, united by authenticity and student-centred learning. Key strengths included robustness of educational approaches, relevance and teaching team compositions. Key challenges included time, external pressures, resources and student capacity. These nuanced findings will be discussed as they relate to teaching and research.

Cultural cultivation for the mobility of Bangladeshi higher education students in Australia

ABSTRACT In the global education market, Australian universities have had their position confirmed as a crucial emerging destination for international students, especially among young Bangladeshi people. This article seeks to investigate the cultural factors for young Bangladeshis to become physically mobile in order to seek higher education in Australian universities. Following a qualitative methodology, this article explores purposively selected 18 young Bangladeshi students’ stories behind being physically mobile in pursuing higher education in two Australian universities. Drawing upon the theorisation of Bauman and Appadurai, it claims that not only is it the insecurity and uncertainty existing in Bangladesh, but the consumerist culture of neoliberalism in both home and the host country that motivates students to go abroad pursuing higher education. The findings of this article aim to inform researchers and policymakers in both developed and developing countries about the politics and power related to mobilities by articulating a critical analysis on present practices in globalised cultures and institutions.

Critical Thinking among Indonesian Students Studying Public Health in Australia: Autoethnography of Challenges and Strategies to Adapt

Critical thinking, as the ability to evaluate, has been a constant challenge for many Indonesians pursuing tertiary education in Australian Universities. As an essential component to the students’ competency set necessary to accomplish their degree, many Indonesian students struggle to sharpen their critical-thinking skills in appraising essays or discussing questions correctly. The struggle might be due to the difficulty in distinguishing critical thinking from other intellectual skills such as understanding, memorising and applying. This article is a reflective writing that explores the challenges faced and strategies applied by Indonesian public health students during their course to improve their critical-thinking skills. Several factors including the collective style-culture, where the students come from a home-education background, and the absence of relevant practices are responsible for their lack of critical-thinking skills. Strategies applied are frequent discussion with native students which helps in breaking the cross-culture barrier, thus increasing their confidence in critical thinking; extensive academic articles reading to familiarise the critical-thinking style; practicing self-questioning various topics and validity of evidence; and being more open to other perspectives.
 Keywords: critical thinking, students, public health, autoethnography, reflexivity

A new ERA? The changing face of journalism research in Australia

In 2011, Michael Bromley and Regan Neal’s survey of Australian journalism academics revealed low levels of critical research participation and productivity, and the under-realized potential of younger, female journalism academics. Nearly a decade on, our 2019 snapshot study, inspired by Bromley and Neal, explores the current state of journalism research and education in Australian universities. It examines the changing profile of journalism staff, their publishing productivity and the evaluation and funding of their research, as well as attitudes towards non-traditional research outputs (NTROs) and engagement and impact assessment. Our study indicates that early- and mid-career journalism researchers in Australia, particularly women, continue to need research training, mentoring and support in securing competitive external grants, as well as encouragement to collaborate and benchmark their research internationally. There is also a new imperative to help researchers and their institutions recognize excellence and diversity in journalism NTROs and to understand measures of engagement and impact. Finally, we flag the importance of monitoring changes to the classification of journalism research following the Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification review of field of research codes.

Representing language education in Australian universities: An analysis of press reporting (2007–2016)

Abstract Educational issues are a regular feature in mainstream media, and the ways in which particular issues are represented can influence public perceptions of the various discipline areas and, in turn, policy decisions that affect them. While the research literature includes media coverage analyses of a wide range of educational disciplines and sectors, missing is an understanding of the media representations of language education in the tertiary setting, despite languages being seen as a key pathway to generalised national multilingualism, social harmony, and economic prosperity. The authors address this gap using Australia as a case study, a country that has seen considerable policy and media attention to language education in general over many years. A content analysis of print newspaper coverage from 2007–2016 was conducted, revealing that the coverage of the discipline area at the tertiary level is extremely limited, is generally superficial in depth, narrow in scope, and negative in tone. This representation perpetuates the already precarious position of language education in Australian universities, and there is little support for a more positive and visible public agenda.

Students' experiences and perceptions of interprofessional education during rural placement: A mixed methods study

BackgroundInterprofessional collaboration is key to addressing the complexity of contemporary health care, therefore it is imperative that students from different disciplines have access to interprofessional education to equip them with the requisite skills and attributes. While interprofessional education promotes a person-centred approach and mutual recognition of one another's contributions to health outcomes, interprofessional education in Australian universities is fragmented and presents challenges that can be addressed through clinical placements. ObjectivesThis article reports student perceptions and readiness for interprofessional education in the rural clinical learning environment in one region of Australia. DesignA mixed methods approach. SettingsRural clinical learning environments in one geographic area in Victoria, Australia. Participants60 undergraduate healthcare students from allied health, medicine, nursing and midwifery. MethodsA survey incorporating Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale, Interdisciplinary Education Perception Scale and focused interprofessional questions. Qualitative data were collected via survey comments, interviews and focus groups. ResultsStudents had numerous opportunities for interprofessional education, to observe role modelling in the workplace and considered that learning with other professions would help them become more effective members of the health care team. Students valued learning about collaborative practice, the roles of other professions and identified activities that enhanced interprofessional engagement. ConclusionsThis study provides important insights regarding students' perceptions and readiness for interprofessional education. These results demonstrate that there are numerous opportunities to embed interprofessional education within the rural clinical learning environment and offer new insights into students' experiences and preferences for potential activities. These findings may resonate with others implementing interprofessional education in the workplace and guide facilitators in planning activities for students. Factors influencing differences in attitudes towards interprofessional education and how students acquire an understanding of their professional or disciplinary role warrant further study.

Wearing, speaking and shouting about sexism: developing arts-based interventions into sexism in the academy

This paper examines a project that developed humorous, irreverent and subversive arts-based interventions into sexism in the academy. Two workshops were run with women currently working in teacher education in Australian universities. The researchers worked with the participants collaboratively and in line with feminist practices and methodologies to develop interventions that were performed at a large multidisciplinary educational research conference. The paper outlines the origins of the project, the feminist scholarship that inspired it, the methodological framework as well as a discussion about three of the interventions and demonstrates that sexism both (re)produces structural disadvantage for women in higher education as well as being characterised by a set of micro practices that shape the everyday experiences of women in the academy. Although this research is set within an Australian context, the paper acknowledges that sexism is systemic within higher education across contexts.

Managing Expectations: A Case Study of Sessional Staff in Languages and Cultures Education in Australian Universities

In light of the increasing casualisation of the academic workforce in recent years, expectations of sessional staff in Australian universities from their academic employment are becoming more poignant. Following on from a previous report by Ferrari & Hajek (2012), this paper further highlights how these workers are affected by short-term, often only semester-long, contracts. We focus on how the brevity of employment affects sessional teachers’ perceptions of their role and perceived obligations to the university, and consequently the health of languages education. We present the results of an online survey conducted at the vast majority of Australian universities, which investigated sessional staff’s expectations. This study reveals that language sessional staff have expectations of their employment which are often at odds with their role as academics in the university environment.

What are the capabilities of graduates who study outdoor education in Australian universities? The case for a threshold concepts framework

Research has indicated that some stakeholders in the Australian outdoor education profession are uncertain about the capabilities of students graduating from university outdoor education programmes. Unfortunately, there is currently no formal or informal agreement amongst university programmes regarding the knowledge, skills, and experience that an outdoor education graduate should be expected to acquire. The situation becomes more complicated when these graduates are required by some employers, land managers, or insurers to undertake additional vocational education and training (VET)-based training to obtain activity leadership qualifications. This paper outlines a process to identify and document the forms of knowledge, skills, and experience that graduates of university outdoor education programmes need to work in the profession. In the last decade, several fields and discipline areas have used a threshold concepts framework to optimise curriculum design and pedagogical development based on the work of Meyer and Land (2003). Threshold concepts articulate critical knowledge areas that graduates entering the profession must master, and these concepts have been characterised as being transformative, irreversible, troublesome, integrative, and bounded. Using a threshold concept framework to design curriculum allows professionals to identify essential concepts and alerts academics to areas where their students are likely to experience difficulties. Suggestions for developing threshold concepts outlined in the literature are summarised, and a collaborative, consultative process is recommended to establish threshold learning outcomes in university outdoor education programmes in Australia. Some suggestions for new nomenclature that can be used to describe outdoor leaders, including graduates of university outdoor education programmes, are provided.

Sustainability and Undergraduate Management Curricula: Changes Over a 5-Year Period

AbstractGlobal initiatives and a rapidly expanding academic literature identify the responsibility that universities have to incorporate sustainability education into their curricula. This study had two aims: first, to investigate the extent to which Australian undergraduate management curricula explicitly identified a focus on sustainability and, second, to examine the changes that had occurred between 2009 and 2014. A web-based content analysis was undertaken to gain a snapshot view of the emphasis placed on sustainability in all 40 Australian universities’ business/management courses. Our findings showed that in 2014, three-quarters of the courses identified failed to include even one subject that all students must study that mentioned sustainability. This finding was only marginally different from the 2009 findings, suggesting that there is a long way to go before sustainability education in Australian universities’ undergraduate management curricula could be claimed to be fulfilling the needs of students, businesses, and the broader society.

Scale and scope economies of distance education in Australian universities

Despite compelling qualitative arguments for scale and scope economies in university-level distance education, as distinct from traditional class-based face-to-face instruction, there is little rigorous quantitative evidence in support. In this paper, we explore the scale and scope economies of distance education using a multiplicatively separable cost function and a sample of 37 Australian public universities over the 10-year period from 2003 to 2012. The results suggest strong overall scale and scope economies and product-specific scale economies for distance education. Further, the economies of scope for distance education are increasing with mean output, suggesting an increasing cost benefit of producing distance education in conjunction with traditional class-based face-to-face teaching. This provides an important implication: when allocating places for different modes of attendance or considering further expansion of student numbers, there should be a priority on distance education as a means of achieving significant cost savings.

The status of entrepreneurship education in Australian universities

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.

VET teacher education in Australian universities: who are the students and what are their views about their courses?

In Australia, the question of the level and nature of qualifications for vocational education and training (VET) teachers is a highly contested and political topic. VET teachers are only required to have a pre-university, certificate level pedagogical qualification, the Certificate IV in Training and Assessment. They possess substantially lower-level qualifications than teachers in other education sectors, although this was not always the case. The paper reports on research which investigated the experiences of VET teacher-education students studying for university qualifications. The research was undertaken in response to requests from policy stakeholders for evidence about the efficacy of higher-level qualifications. The research indicated student satisfaction with their courses and an alignment between what they saw as the benefits with the identified challenges of VET teaching. They also suggested areas for improvement. The findings are analysed with relation to the findings of a Productivity Commission inquiry into the VET workforce, which identified a number of capability gaps.

A Practitioner Based Evaluation of Project Management Knowledge and Education

Many scholars have criticized formal project management education as being based on various Bodies of Knowledge (BOKs), lacking real-world application and representing a narrow view of the profession. Through a survey questionnaire, this research inquiry has examined the alignment of project management professional needs with the aspirations of project management education within Australian universities. The research findings show positive links between project management education, increased employability, better workplace performance and successful professional careers. However, the research has also identified poor alignment of current project management education in Australian universities with project management practice and recommends possible revision of project management education programs to meet the knowledge requirements expressed by project management professionals. The findings of this research contribute to the debate in respect of bringing project management education closer to project management practice.