Queensland Studies Research Articles

Situating Race in Cultural Competency Training: A Site of Self-Revelation

Indigenous cross-cultural training has been around since the 1980s. It is often seen as a way to increase the skills and competency of staff engaged in providing service to Indigenous clients and customers, teaching Indigenous students within universities and schools, or working with Indigenous communities (Fredericks and Bargallie, “Indigenous”; “Which Way”). In this article we demonstrate how such training often exposes power, whiteness, and concepts of an Indigenous “other”. We highlight how cross-cultural training programs can potentially provide a setting in which non-Indigenous participants can develop a deeper realisation of how their understandings of the “other” are formed and enacted within a “white” social setting. Revealing whiteness as a racial construct enables people to see race, and “know what racism is, what it is not and what it does” (Bargallie, 262). Training participants can use such revelations to develop their racial literacy and anti-racist praxis (Bargallie), which when implemented have the capacity to transform inequitable power differentials in their work with Indigenous peoples and organisations.

Research in the Field of Down Syndrome: Impact, Continuing Need, and Possible Risks from the New Eugenics

AbstractResearch in the field of Down syndrome is under threat. There are two issues behind this threat: first availability of research funding could be limited by the perception that Down syndrome has become a rare condition. The second is that some believe the important work on Down syndrome is complete. In this commentary, the implications of the “new eugenics” on Down syndrome research are discussed, through reflecting on the impact of research arising from the 40 year Down Syndrome Research Program at The University of Queensland and other studies. This body of research has led to remarkable improvements in the quality of life of individuals with Down syndrome and those around them. The current context, particularly in the time of widespread availability of prenatal screening, gives a renewed imperative for research to improve the broader understanding of disability in the community enabling informed decisions at critical points in time. There are at least two potential benefits for continuing research on Down syndrome: for the individual and family; and for society in general. When a baby with Down syndrome is conceived, what might have been viewed as a tragedy may be seen very differently by those with lived experience. Understanding that lived experience and sharing the findings is the work of researchers in the field of Down syndrome, and there is much more work to be done.

Aboriginal yards in remote Australia: Adapting landscapes for indigenous housing

As the global predictions and effects of climate change have been emerging in recent years, thermal comfort is a growing concern for the marginalised, remote populations of the world including First Nations peoples. This paper draws on data from a qualitative climate change study with Australian Aboriginal people in the remote semi-arid region of Northwest Queensland and other regional studies to explore ways that yards can enhance thermal performance around conventional housing. Our investigations demonstrate that despite evidence of appropriate housing designs, living spaces outside of the house continue to be overlooked and under-utilised. Aboriginal people have modified their behaviour and made changes to their external living environments, often without sufficient resources, to achieve social and cultural continuity, energy efficiency and particularly to enhance thermal comfort. For these reasons, yards demand greater attention in the policy, planning and provision of housing and associated services for Aboriginal people.

The impact of national agenda on a local education authority's website: a visual semiotic analysis

This paper reports an analysis of the website of an education authority in the state of Queensland, Australia during the changeover from a state-based curriculum to a national curriculum. The paper’s value lies in the capture of an exact moment of change. Kress and van Leeuwen’s grammar of visual design is employed to analyse the changes to the Queensland Studies Authority’s website from 2009 to 2010. The significant changes to the site show the impact of policy that has been borrowed from the UK and the USA around testing and accountability, and as such has bearing on the international policy environment. The impact of these testing and accountability measures is twofold. First, that regimes of accountability and testing outweigh the significance of changes to curriculum and pedagogy and, second, that this understanding has implications for teacher education and teacher professionalism. We argue that borrowed policy from the international sphere, through a national agenda and then on to a local education authority, has hollowed out and narrowed the provision of education information and assistance available to readers of the site. This is most notable in the shift we observe from informed teacher professionalism through links to professional development available on the site in 2009 to prescription most notably evident in the absence of professional development hyperlinks on the site in 2010. The inference we draw, for example, is that teachers in the state of Queensland are to follow the prescriptions on the web page without access to policy learning through professional development. This has implications for teacher education and teacher professionalism.

Assessment for learning in the accountability era: Queensland, Australia

Developments in school education in Australia over the past decade have witnessed the rise of national efforts to reform curriculum, assessment and reporting. Constitutionally the power to decide on curriculum matters still resides with the States. Higher stakes in assessment, brought about by national testing and international comparative analyses of student achievement data, have challenged State efforts to maintain the emphasis on assessment to promote learning while fulfilling accountability demands. In this article lessons from the Queensland experience indicate that it is important to build teachers’ assessment capacity and their assessment literacy for the promotion of student learning. It is argued that teacher assessment can be a source of dependable results through moderation practice. The Queensland Studies Authority has recognised and supported the development of teacher assessment and moderation practice in the context of standards-driven, national reform. Recent research findings explain how the focus on learning can be maintained by avoiding an over-interpretation of test results in terms of innate ability and limitations and by encouraging teachers to adopt more tailored diagnosis of assessment data to address equity through a focus on achievement for all. Such efforts are challenged as political pressures related to the Australian government's implementation of national testing and national partnership funding arrangements tied to the performance of students at or below minimum standards become increasingly apparent.

Standards-driven reform years 1–10: Moderation an optional extra?

While externally moderated standards-based assessment has been practised in Queensland senior schooling for more than three decades, there has been no such practice in the middle years. With the introduction of standards at state and national levels in these years, teacher judgement as developed in moderation practices is now vital. This paper argues, that in this context of assessment reform, standards intended to inform teacher judgement and to build assessment capacity are necessary but not sufficient for maintaining teacher and public confidence in schooling. Teacher judgement is intrinsic to moderation, and to professional practice, and can no longer remain private. Moderation too is intrinsic to efforts by the profession to realise judgements that are defensible, dependable and open to scrutiny. Moderation can no longer be considered an optional extra and requires system-level support especially if, as intended, the standards are linked to system-wide efforts to improve student learning. In presenting this argument we draw on an Australian Research Council funded study with key industry partners (the Queensland Studies Authority and the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment of the Republic of Ireland). The data analysed included teacher interview data and additional teacher talk during moderation sessions. These were undertaken during the initial phase of policy development. The analysis identified those issues that emerge in moderation meetings that are designed to reach consistent, reliable judgements. Of interest are the different ways in which teachers talked through and interacted with one another to reach agreement about the quality of student work in the application of standards. There is evidence of differences in the way that teachers made compensations and trade-offs in their award of grades, dependent on the subject domain in which they teach. This article concludes with some empirically derived insights into moderation practices aspolicy andsocial events.

'Contested Territory'

This article provides an overview of the contribution to colonial Queensland studies by the late Bill Thorpe, explaining the reasons for his enduring association with Queensland, and reviewing his long-standing collaborations with former PhD supervisor Raymond Evans and members of the Ipswich Aboriginal community. It argues that the belated appearance of his doctoral thesis on the subject was a significant intellectual event in seeking to theorise colonialism in Queensland, drawing upon interdisciplinary insights and examples. The article spans his career, from the ambitious class analysis of his early writing to an assessment of his local study of the Deebing Creek Reserve in late career, in order to identify his strengths as a social and economic historian, and to situate his work in the context of generational change and the reconceptualisation of Queensland studies.

A Dog of a Qcat: Collateral Effects of Mandated English Assessment in the Torres Strait

Abstract This paper critiques a 2008 Queensland Studies Authority (QSA) assessment initiative known as Queensland Comparable Assessment Tasks, or QCATs. The rhetoric is that these centrally devised assessment tasks will provide information about how well students can apply what they know, understand and can do in different contexts (QSA, 2009). The QCATs are described as “authentic, performance based assessment” that involves a “meaningful problem”, “emphasises critical thinking and reasoning” and “provides students with every opportunity to do their best work” (QSA, 2009). From my viewpoint as a teacher, I detail my professional concerns with implementing the 2008 middle primary English QCAT in one case study Torres Strait Islander community. Specifically I ask “QCATs: Comparable with what?” and “QCATs: Whose authentic assessment?” I predict the possible collateral effects of implementing this English assessment in this remote Indigenous community, concluding, rather than being an example of quality assessment, colloquially speaking, it is nothing more than a “dog”.

Insights into the intrinsic and extrinsic challenges for implementing technology education: case studies of Queensland teachers

This study, embedded within the Researching School Change in Technology Education (RSCTE) project in Queensland, Australia, aimed to gain insights into the intrinsic and extrinsic challenges experienced by teachers during the implementation of technology education within primary school settings. The official publication and launch of the Technology years 1–10 syllabus and associated curriculum materials by the Queensland Studies Authority during 2003 saw the first formal Technology curriculum for primary schools in Queensland. The Queensland Government announced that all Queensland schools were to aim for full implementation of this new Key Learning Area (KLA) by 2007. This presented a challenge for Queensland teachers as they began to understand this new KLA and subsequently, were required to implement technology education for the first time. Education Queensland released a number of different strategies that were designed to assist this implementation, including research partnerships with universities. Thus, the RSCTE project, a partnership project between Education Queensland and Griffith University included implementation research within schools. Through the identification of insights into intrinsic and extrinsic challenges, this study, while recognising the limitations of transferability beyond the case studies presented, provides suggestions to assist the implementation of technology education.

A Linkage Study of Academic Skills Defined by the Queensland Core Skills Test

This study used genome-wide linkage analysis to detect Quantitative Trait Loci (QTLs) implicated in variation in general academic achievement as measured by the Queensland Core Skills Test (QCST) (Queensland Studies Authority, 2004). Data from 210 families were analysed. While no empirically derived significant or suggestive peaks for general academic achievement were indicated a peak on chromosome 2 was observed in a region where Posthuma et al. (2005) reported significant linkage for Performance IQ (PIQ) and suggestive linkage for Full Scale IQ (FSIQ), and Luciano et al. (this issue) observed significant linkage for PIQ and word reading. A peak on chromosome 18 was also observed approximately 20 cM removed from a region recently implicated in reading achievement. In addition, on chromosomes 2 and 18 peaks for a number of specific academic skills, two of which were suggestive, coincided with the general academic achievement peaks. The findings suggest that variation in general academic achievement is influenced by genes on chromosome 2 which have broad influence on a variety of cognitive abilities.

Relationship between farm size and reforestation activity: evidence from Queensland studies

This paper reviews the findings of nine studies carried out over about the last decade by a forestry socio-economic research group in Queensland, Australia. On the basis of survey evidence and landholder typology research, the questions of who plants trees and for what reasons are addressed, and inferences are drawn about the impact of land fragmentation on farm forestry. It is concluded that forestry is less popular on the larger and commercially viable farms than on smaller holdings of similar land type, and plantation establishment is often supported by off-farm income, so that farm fragmentation may actually lead to increased tree planting. However, whether this would lead to increased timber production is less clear, because of the strong interest of people on small holdings in environmental plantings and because of difficulties in marketing small quantities of the variable quality timber from mixed-species plantings. Also, the quality of silviculture appears to be positively correlated with area planted. Some implications are drawn for land-use policy.

Multivariate Genetic Analysis of Academic Skills of the Queensland Core Skills Test and IQ Highlight the Importance of Genetic <I>g</I>

This study examined the genetic and environmental relationships among 5 academic achievement skills of a standardized test of academic achievement, the Queensland Core Skills Test (QCST; Queensland Studies Authority, 2003a). QCST participants included 182 monozygotic pairs and 208 dizygotic pairs (mean 17 years +/- 0.4 standard deviation). IQ data were included in the analysis to correct for ascertainment bias. A genetic general factor explained virtually all genetic variance in the component academic skills scores, and accounted for 32% to 73% of their phenotypic variances. It also explained 56% and 42% of variation in Verbal IQ and Performance IQ respectively, suggesting that this factor is genetic g. Modest specific genetic effects were evident for achievement in mathematical problem solving and written expression. A single common factor adequately explained common environmental effects, which were also modest, and possibly due to assortative mating. The results suggest that general academic ability, derived from genetic influences and to a lesser extent common environmental influences, is the primary source of variation in component skills of the QCST.

Multivariate Genetic Analysis of Academic Skills of the Queensland Core Skills Test and IQ Highlight the Importance of Geneticg

AbstractThis study examined the genetic and environmental relationships among 5 academic achievement skills of a standardized test of academic achievement, the Queensland Core Skills Test (QCST; Queensland Studies Authority, 2003a). QCST participants included 182 monozygotic pairs and 208 dizygotic pairs (mean 17 years ± 0.4 standard deviation). IQ data were included in the analysis to correct for ascertainment bias. A genetic general factor explained virtually all genetic variance in the component academic skills scores, and accounted for 32% to 73% of their phenotypic variances. It also explained 56% and 42% of variation in Verbal IQ and Performance IQ respectively, suggesting that this factor is genetic g. Modest specific genetic effects were evident for achievement in mathematical problem solving and written expression. A single common factor adequately explained common environmental effects, which were also modest, and possibly due to assortative mating. The results suggest that general academic ability, derived from genetic influences and to a lesser extent common environmental influences, is the primary source of variation in component skills of the QCST.

The Genetic Basis of Academic Achievement on the Queensland Core Skills Test and its Shared Genetic Variance with IQ

First, this study examined genetic and environmental sources of variation in performance on a standardised test of academic achievement, the Queensland Core Skills Test (QCST) (Queensland Studies Authority, 2003a). Second, it assessed the genetic correlation among the QCST score and Verbal and Performance IQ measures using the Multidimensional Aptitude Battery (MAB), [Jackson, D. N. (1984) Multidimensional Aptitude Battery manual. Port Huron, MI:Research Psychologist Press, Inc.]. Participants were 256 monozygotic twin pairs and 326 dizygotic twin pairs aged from 15 to 18 years (mean 17 years+/-0.4 [SD]) when achievement tested, and from 15 to 22 years (mean 16 years+/-0.4 [SD]) when IQ tested. Univariate analysis indicated a heritability for the QCST of 0.72. Adjustment to this estimate due to truncate selection (downward adjustment) and positive phenotypic assortative mating (upward adjustment) suggested a heritability of 0.76 The phenotypic (0.81) and genetic (0.91) correlations between the QCST and Verbal IQ (VIQ) were significantly stronger than the phenotypic (0.57) and genetic (0.64) correlations between the QCST and Performance IQ (PIQ). The findings suggest that individual variation in QCST performance is largely due to genetic factors and that common environmental effects may be substantially accounted for by phenotypic assortative mating. Covariance between academic achievement on the QCST and psychometric IQ (particularly VIQ) is to a large extent due to common genetic influences.

'Boobarran Ngummin'

Opening address by Paddy Jerome, Jarowair elder and Bunya Mountains custodian, to the Bunya Symposium hosted by the Queensland Studies Centre and Global Arts Link for the On the Bunya Trail Project at the ECO Centre, Griffith University, 24 April 2002.

Writing in Brisbane during the Second World War

What follows is an edited transcript of a panel session entitled ‘Reading and Writing the War’, which was held at the Warana Writers' Festival at the Old Customs House, Brisbane, in September 1995. The moderator was Patrick Buckridge (PB), then Director of the Queensland Studies Centre, and the panellists were Estelle Runcie Pinney (ERP), Don Munro (DM), Val Vallis (VV), and David Rowbotham (DR).

Queensland Regional Radio

This is a transcript of the key-note address delivered by David Anderson at the ‘Beyond the Brisbane Line Conference’, Queensland Studies Centre, Griffith University, in collaboration with the University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, November 1994. David Anderson is the presenter of ABC Radio's Queensland Sunday program.

Beyond the Brisbane Line

‘Beyond the Brisbane Line’ was the theme of the second Public Address of an annual series organised by the Queensland Studies Centre. Held in conjunction with the Centre's annual conference, the Public Address was presented in Toowoomba on 25 November 1994.

Queensland

‘Growing Up in Queensland and Queensland Growing Up’ was the theme of the first Public Address of an annual series organised by the Queensland Studies Centre to mark the anniversary of Separation Day (10 December 1859). Hosted by Griffith University on 8th December 1993, the inaugural Public Address also served to launch the Centre's first major conference, which was organised around the related theme of ‘Defining Queensland: Histories and Futures’.

The Use of Rescaled Teacher Assessments in the Admission of Students to Tertiary Study

This paper summarizes the results of a number of Queensland studies of selection of students for admission to tertiary institutions. Data presented allow a comparison of external public examinations, school assessments moderated through a process of teacher consultation, and school assessments moderated by rescaling against a measure of scholastic aptitude in terms of their use as a basis for such selection. The value of each approach for students and tertiary institutions is considered and appropriate selection indices for each are described. Evidence of the validity of the scholastic aptitude measure for the rescaling task and of the predictive validity of all the different selection indices is provided. This evidence suggests that statistically rescaled teacher assessments predict tertiary success as effectively as external examinations.