National Professional Development Program Research Articles

EDUCATIONAL NEEDS OF RURAL AND REMOTE AUSTRALIAN NON‐SPECIALIST MEDICAL PRACTITIONERS FOR OBSTETRIC ULTRASOUND

Objective: To determine the educational needs of rural and remote non‐specialist Australian doctors for obstetric ultrasound. Design: Survey design. Setting: The study surveyed rural and remote doctors practising in a variety of settings including general practice, rural hospitals, Aboriginal communities and flying doctor organisations throughout Australia. Subjects: Subjects included 314 solo and group practice rural general practitioners, rural hospital medical superintendents, senior medical officers, Aboriginal community controlled health service doctors, flying doctors, rural locums, registrars and two rural obstetricians. A total of 55% of the subjects were general practitioners in group practice. Respondents included 68 (22%) women and 246 (78%) men. Results: The response rate was 32%. The highest priority areas of need for education included detecting foetal abnormalities and anomalies (19.1%), basic routine ultrasonography (17.17%), placental position (17.17%), dating (17.17%), foetal viability (12.88%) and morphology scan (12.26%). The main areas where doctors stated they lacked confidence included detecting foetal abnormalities (29.09%), basic routine ultrasonography (including machine use), such as, carrying out and interpreting obstetric ultrasound scans (27.27%), morphology scans (16.36%) and placental position (14.54%). Conclusion: The study showed there was a large unmet need for education in obstetric ultrasound among rural and remote non‐specialist doctors. Information from the needs assessment was used to develop the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine national obstetric ultrasound professional development program.

Educational needs of rural and remote Australian non-specialist medical practitioners for obstetric ultrasound.

To determine the educational needs of rural and remote non-specialist Australian doctors for obstetric ultrasound. Survey design. The study surveyed rural and remote doctors practising in a variety of settings including general practice, rural hospitals, Aboriginal communities and flying doctor organisations throughout Australia. Subjects included 314 solo and group practice rural general practitioners, rural hospital medical superintendents, senior medical officers, Aboriginal community controlled health service doctors, flying doctors, rural locums, registrars and two rural obstetricians. A total of 55% of the subjects were general practitioners in group practice. Respondents included 68 (22%) women and 246 (78%) men. The response rate was 32%. The highest priority areas of need for education included detecting foetal abnormalities and anomalies (19.1%), basic routine ultrasonography (17.17%), placental position (17.17%), dating (17.17%), foetal viability (12.88%) and morphology scan (12.26%). The main areas where doctors stated they lacked confidence included detecting foetal abnormalities (29.09%), basic routine ultrasonography (including machine use), such as, carrying out and interpreting obstetric ultrasound scans (27.27%), morphology scans (16.36%) and placental position (14.54%). The study showed there was a large unmet need for education in obstetric ultrasound among rural and remote non-specialist doctors. Information from the needs assessment was used to develop the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine national obstetric ultrasound professional development program. The authors could not find any published work on the educational needs of Australian non-specialist rural and remote doctors for obstetric ultrasound. There is research about the outcome of obstetric ultrasound education for urban family physicians in the USA, but no information about rural doctors' educational needs or education outcomes. The study needed to be done so that obstetric ultrasound professional development program of the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine could be based on the real needs of the target group. As a result of this research, there is now information on the educational needs of rural and remote Australian non-specialist medical practitioners that can be used by education providers to develop quality education programs in obstetric ultrasound.

Enhancing Technological Practice: An Assessment Framework for Technology Education in New Zealand

The stated aim of technology education in New Zealand is to develop students' level of technological literacy. This paper introduces the Technology Assessment Framework (TAF) as an organisational tool for the development and delivery of technology programmes that focus on increasing students' technological literacy through the enhancement of their technological practice across technological areas and contexts. The TAF was developed and refined in 1999 and 2000 as part of a two year New Zealand Ministry of Education funded research project, and integrated within a national professional development programme in 2000 designed for preservice and inservice teacher educators in New Zealand. This paper backgrounds the sociocultural theoretical position of the TAF and explains how it reflects and furthers the aim of technology education in New Zealand. The TAF is then presented and explained with the aid of illustrative examples from classroom practice.

Interrupting the Way Things Are: Exploring new directions in school/university partnerships

During the Australian National Professional Development Program (NPDP), 1994-1996, a large action-research project, Innovative Links between Universities and Schools for Teacher Professional Development, was undertaken. The project involved a consortium of 14 Australian universities working with over 100 schools (government and non-government) across all States and the Northern Territory. It was structured around the concept of Roundtables, whereby teachers engaged in school-based projects in conjunction with an academic associate from the partner university. The role of 'academic associate' demanded a rethinking of the role of university teacher educators in relation to teacher professional development. Six 'academic associates' and two teachers from the Murdoch University Roundtable formed a collaborative research group to investigate issues arising from their work with the project. The research was a self-reflective study of the work of the participants by those participants themselves. This paper relates the insights regarding collaborative work between academics and schoolteachers that emerged from the study.

Teachers’ Workplace Learning and the Learning Portfolio

During the years 1994‐1996 the Federal Government of Australia conducted the National Professional Development Program (NPDP) for teachers. This paper reports on a project concerned with investigating the views of significant stakeholders about the issue of accreditation of teacher learning in NPDP projects and developing a means by which such accreditation could take place. The project was carried out in the final year of the NPDP and sought to provide a vehicle for teachers to gain university credit for their workplace learning in many of the projects conducted during the three years of the NPDP.

Statement on Education

Proposes two main educational initiatives:1. To revitalize preservice undergraduate curricula for future teachers2. To mount a national professional development program for inservice teachers

Workplace Learning and the use of Curriculum Statements and Profiles by Teachers of Educationally Disadvantaged Students

The development of Australian National Curriculum Statements and Profiles has significant implications for teacher professional development at the present time. In March 1994, the Commonwealth Department of Employment, Education and Training (D.E.E.T.) initiated the National Professional Development Program (NPDP) with an element for teachers of educationally disadvantaged students. In this element submissions were sought to implement the National Curriculum Statements and use student Profiles as a means of improving learning outcomes of students effected by some form of educational disadvantage. This issue has particular significance for rural schools because one of their main concerns is accessing relevant and meaningful professional development which is cost effective in terms of travel and time out of school. In this context, the Centre for Professional Development in Education at Charles Sturt University (CSU) was awarded an NPDP grant to trial a particular approach to professional development with schools in the Riverina region of the New South Wales Department of School Education and the Canberra-Goulburn Archdiocese Catholic Education Office. The approach known as 'workplace learning' was thought to have benefits for rural schools in addressing the problems of travel and cost of teacher release.

National Educational Priorities:

Describes Australian teachers′ perceptions of their professional development needs if they are to be successful in implementing emerging national priorities. Also describes some of the outcomes of a nationwide research project that was conducted with representatives of professional teacher associations in May 1993. Discusses key questions such as: what are Australian teachers′ immediate needs in relation to effective implementation of emerging national priorities in school education? What are teachers′ perceptions of “best practices” in professional development? Concludes that Australia′s teachers will support the further development and implementation of national priorities provided that a range of professional needs can be met. Announcement of the $60 million National Professional Development Program (NPDP) suggests cause for optimism in this respect.