Victorian Secondary Schools Research Articles

Improving our understanding of childhood obesity and the need for early intervention: Nutrition and health behaviours of Victorian primary and secondary school students

Improving our understanding of childhood obesity and the need for early intervention: Nutrition and health behaviours of Victorian primary and secondary school students

Geographical information systems in Victorian secondary schools: current constraints and opportunities

Whilst widespread diffusion and adoption of spatial enabling technology, such as geographic information systems (GIS), is taking place within Australian public and private sectors, the same cannot be said for GIS within Australian secondary schools and state-based geography curricula. In the Australian state of Victoria, information regarding the status of GIS diffusion within secondary-school geography departments is currently limited, and in this setting, its adoption and use is recognised as relying upon the individual drive of committed geography teachers and schools, rather than any policy innovation. This paper reports the findings of a survey regarding the current state of GIS-based geography education in Victorian secondary schools, which was administered to Victorian secondary geography teachers via an anonymous online survey instrument during 2008. Results show that there are many barriers and constraints affecting adoption and use of GIS for geography teaching and learning in Victorian secondary schools. They include “bottom-up” resistance that might be overcome by GIS-based geography teacher training and “top-down” failure to support GIS-based education in secondary geography curriculum. In recognition of policy documents and statements by lead agencies in favour of GIS-based geography curriculum in Australian and Victorian secondary schools (including documentation relating to a proposed National Geography Curriculum), the survey results reported here can be regarded as important baseline information prerequisite to consensus-building regarding the place of GIS-based geography teaching and learning.

Streaming for mathematics in years 7–10 in Victoria: An issue of equity?

Streaming for mathematics remains a contentious issue and particular forms of the practice have been considered inequitable. In the study reported here, the focus was on the extent to which streaming is used for mathematics at years 7–10 in Victorian secondary schools. Also of interest were the forms of streaming adopted and the criteria for selection into class groups; and teachers’ views on streaming, their beliefs on whether all students benefit equitably from the practices adopted, and if they modify the curriculum and/or pedagogy in streamed classes. The findings indicated that forms of streaming were fairly widespread, were supported by many mathematics teachers, and were more prevalent as year level increased. Curriculum differentiation and pedagogical change that appeared to support high achievers, but which might limit low achievers’ future mathematics options, were reported. Some teachers recognised some of the limitations associated with streaming, and that particular students might be disadvantaged as a result. The teachers participating in the study did not identify students’ gender, socioeconomic, or ethnic/Indigenous backgrounds as factors of disadvantage linked to streaming. The implications of the findings and recommendations for future research are discussed.

Discourses of antagonism and desire: marketing for international students in neighbourhood schools

This paper explores the consequences of these discourses for the ways that international students are identified and positioned within school communities. My argument is developed in four sections. The first describes my ongoing exploration into the impact of international student programmes in Australia. The second exemplifies my argument: exploring the day‐to‐day experiences of vice principals in two Victorian government state secondary schools as they market their schools, and examining the systemic and ontological discourses played out within those conversations. The third interrogates discourses of identity and difference, neo‐liberalism and naïve cosmopolitanism which I find shape teacher conversations about international student programmes. In the final section, I argue that the impact of the discourse formations implicit in teacher talk about international student programmes has been the objectification of international students and their ambivalent inclusion within the school community.

Are adolescents who moderate their cannabis use at lower risk of later regular and dependent cannabis use?

To examine whether moderation of cannabis use among adolescent cannabis users is associated with reductions in cannabis use frequency and risk of dependence in young adulthood. Ten-year representative cohort study with six surveys in adolescence (mean age 14.9-17.4 years) and two in young adulthood (mean age 20.7 and 24.1 years). Inception cohort of 1943 Victorian secondary school students (96% response rate), with 1520 (78% of adolescent participants) interviewed in the final wave. Participants were classified into six groups according to the maximum level of adolescent use and the extent of subsequent moderation in such use: non-users, occasional to abstinence, occasional persisting, weekly to abstinence, weekly to occasional and weekly persisting. Outcome measures were weekly+ cannabis use and DSM-IV cannabis dependence at 20 and 24 years. Thirty-one per cent reported cannabis use during adolescence. Most adolescent users had moderated their use: from occasional to abstinence (71% of occasional users), weekly to abstinence or weekly to occasional (28% and 48% of weekly+ users, respectively). By age 24, both occasional use groups were at similar, elevated risk of regular and dependent cannabis use compared to non-users. Weekly+ adolescent users were at greatest risk of these outcomes, although the weekly to abstinence group exhibited lower risk than those in the weekly persisting and weekly to occasional groups, who were at similar risk. While many young people have dynamic cannabis use patterns, a pattern of moderating adolescent cannabis

Footprints Forwards Blocked by a Failure Discourse: Issues in Providing Advice about Medicine and other Health Science Careers to Indigenous Secondary School Students

A dominant discourse constructs Indigenous secondary school students as likely to leave school early and unlikely to take up a health career. We believe that this failure discourse shapes the school and tertiary transition experience for the majority of Indigenous students, regardless of their capabilities and aspirations. Career development practitioners have the potential to change the experiences of Indigenous school students and play a part in closing the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous health outcomes. However, only 18% or 26 out of 144 Victorian secondary school career advisers or guidance counsellors who responded to our survey demonstrated the knowledge, skills and understanding to effectively advise and support an Indigenous student who expressed an interest in a health career.

Examining the Development of the Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning and Its Implications for Schools and Teacher Education in Australia

The Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL) is a very successful senior secondary school qualification introduced in the Australian state of Victoria in 2002. Applied learning in the VCAL engages senior students in a combination of work-based learning, service-learning, and project-based learning and aims to provide them with the skills, knowledge, and attitudes to make informed choices regarding pathways to work and further education. The program has enjoyed rapid growth and its system-wide adoption by Victorian secondary schools, Technical and Further Education (TAFE) institutions, Registered Training Organizations (RTOs), and Adult and Community Education (ACE) providers has broadened significantly the range of senior schooling pathway options for young people. This paper will examine reasons for developing an applied learning senior secondary certificate and its rapid growth in Victoria since 2002. The authors draw on a number of case studies to profile the unique nature of applied learning in the VCAL, including its dimensions of service learning, work-based learning, and project-based learning. These case studies are also used to discuss a number of implications that have emerged from the use of applied learning in the VCAL, including approaches to teaching and assessment that will support applied learning and the development of new partnerships between VCAL providers and community partners. Finally, the paper considers significant implications the VCAL has created for teacher education in Victoria by discussing the new Graduate Diploma of Education (Applied Learning) developed by Deakin University.

Nurturing Students' Spiritual Well-Being: Caring for the Whole Child

Spiritual well-being is reflected in up to four sets of relationships that people have; namely with themselves, with others, with the environment, and/or with God. Details are provided about quantitative measures for spiritual well-being used with students and teachers in Victorian Christian primary and secondary schools. The results obtained are presented and discussed. Case studies illustrate how such quantitative measures can be used to inform pastoral care of students to help ensure the holistic development of each child in our schools.

Language learning

Language learning

Language learning

Language learning

The Dietary, Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviours of Victorian Regional Secondary School Students

The aim of this study was to investigate the dietary, physical activity and sedentary behaviours of adolescents from four secondary schools in Warrnambool, regional Victoria. In 2004, a random sample of students (n=712), stratified by school year level, was generated from school enrolment databases and 443 students completed a lifestyle questionnaire. Twenty per cent of students were physically active for 60 minutes or more per day; 28 per cent used electronic media in free time for a maximum of two hours per day. Only seven per cent of students met these two Australian physical activity recommendations. Fruit, vegetables and dairy products were consumed every day by 39 per cent, 40 per cent and 71 per cent of students respectively; three serves per day of each of these foods are recommended for Australian adolescents. Compared with boys, girls were less physically active (p<0.001), consumed more fruit (p=0.011) and vegetables (p<0.001), but fewer dairy products (p<0.024). Seventeen per cent of students were overweight or obese; these students were less physically active than normal weight peers (p<0.018). The dietary, physical and sedentary behaviours of regional Victorian secondary school students in this study were inadequate when compared with Australian recommendations. Dietary and physical activity habits are still evolving in adolescence and unhealthy habits can still be changed.

Some outdoor educators’ experiences of outdoor education

Abstract The phenomenological study presented in this paper attempts to determine, from outdoor educators, what it meant for them to be teaching outdoor education in Victorian secondary schools during 2004. In 1999, Lugg and Martin surveyed Victorian secondary schools to determine the types of outdoor education programs being run, the objectives of those programs, who was teaching them, the work conditions of the outdoor education staff and issues those staff faced. In this paper connections or disconnections are drawn between the backdrop provided by Lugg and Martin's survey and the lived experience of some outdoor education teachers. Introduction If ever conducted, we would probably be alarmed at, or wouldn't want to see the results of a research study that examined the effects of our profession on the destruction of our interpersonal and family relationships. (Gass, 1998, p. 16) School staff made 910 stress claims in the five years to 2000, while police, prison and fire brigade staff made 995. (Webber, 2001, p.1) The comments above suggest a disconcerting picture of the situation of people involved in either outdoor educating or teaching respectively. Gass (1998) argues that the very attributes that make outdoor educators effective, for example independence, strong commitment and lifestyle investment, are the ones that most threaten their longevity in the field. The recognition of high stress levels among teachers is not uncommon (Dinham, 1993; Dinham & Scott, 1996; Webber 2001) and has been connected to the rapid social, cultural and economic changes occurring in contemporary industrial societies (Ball & Bowe, 1992; Bessant & Woock, 1997; Dinham & Scott, 1996). These changes have created tensions in education and altered the nature of teaching. Yet little is known of the lived experience of the people who work in the outdoor education field. The research project described in this paper investigates the lived experience of the research participants as teachers in Victorian secondary schools and, more specifically, as outdoor educators and provides insight into the nature of teaching outdoor education in Victorian secondary schools. Specifically, this paper will focus on a comparison between the lived experience of teaching outdoor education as reported by the participants in this project and a survey completed in 1999 by Lugg and Martin (2001) looking at the nature and scope of outdoor education in Victorian schools. Methodological considerations The most appropriate method for investigating the lived experience of teaching is a qualitative one. The reduction of human experience to numbers or standard descriptive phrases, as is often the case in quantitative research, does little to inform the reader of the actual experience of the people involved. Teaching is a very human experience, a very emotional project (Connell, 1985; Dinham & Scott, 1996) and, therefore, the lived experience of teaching can be affected by a wide variety of factors. The time of the year, time of the week and time of the day can all have significant impacts. Outside-of-school experiences will impact on teachers' and students' inside-school experience; location of the school and even the weather can make a difference. With teaching providing such a diversity of possible experiences in a wide range of contexts any attempt to establish a priori variables, as is required in quantitative research, becomes extremely difficult. Qualitative methodologies provide a more apposite means of researching complex human experience (Guba & Lincoln, 1994, Porter, 1998). As a qualitative methodology, phenomenology guards against the risk of overgeneralisation as it focuses on the essential themes of a particular lived experience (Crotty, 1996; Van Manen, 1990; Willis, 1999). Phenomenology questions the assumption (that seems foundational to much quantitative research) that we all experience the world in the same way. …

Teaching Democracy in Victorian Secondary Schools in Australia

Teaching Democracy in Victorian Secondary Schools in Australia

Policies, Practices and Professional Development: A Study of Curriculum Implementation in an Australian High School

The overall aim of this portfolio is to discuss [...] understanding of the curriculum process surrounding the development of the Health and Physical Education Curriculum and Standards Framework II (HPE CSFII) and its implementation in a Victorian secondary school. The unit of analysis was a group of physical educators from Newviews Secondary College. Throughout 2002, interviews, surveys and document analysis were used to see how 'how and if' the HPE CSFII was being adopted and 'implemented' by the group.%%%%Doctor of Philosophy

The Nature and Scope of Outdoor Education in South Australia: A Summary of Key Findings

This paper reports on a survey of South Australian secondary Schools conducted in 2000 regarding the nature and scope of outdoor education in South Australian secondary schools. The survey was.adapted from Lugg and Martin (2000,) study of outdoor education implementation in Victorian secondary schools, ajid was sent to all outdoor and physical education coordinators, as well as school principals of every secondary school in South Australia. The survey results suggest that most secondary schools in South Australia offer outdoor education in the curriculum in one form or another. Perceived outcomes by teachers were largely in the personal and social development domain. Environmental outcomes, although perceived to be of reasonable importance, were largely not achieved through outdoor education in South Australia. The outdoor education curriculum area has strong links to physical education in this state with most teachers having a background in physical education, and outdoor education was often taught as part of a physical education program. Despite this, the outcomes of outdoor education did not appear to be closely related to physical education. Outdoor education was generally valued within the curriculum, but structural (logistics, cost, staffing, etc.) issues appeared to restrict the implementation of outdoor education. The survey generally indicates that outdoor education is a well-established component of the curriculum of South Australian secondary schools.

The Teaching of Economics in Schools: A Problem in the Making?

Over the last decade there has been a sea change in student preferences towards undertaking business subjects instead of economics at secondary school. This paper suggests that the popularity of business subjects at secondary schools is one of the key factors behind the relatively static numbers undertaking economics at university. Detailed empirical evidence of the decline in economics education within Victorian secondary schools over a three-year period reveals an alarming portent for all economic instructors. The paper attempts to offer reasons why today’s generation of secondary school students remain strangely averse towards economics.

Development of a skin education program for secondary schools

Issue addressed: The skin education program was developed to improve the outlook for secondary school students who are affected by common skin conditions. Methods: Prior to development of pilot resources, a skin health questionnaire was distributed to a sample of Victorian secondary schools and focus groups were conducted with a sample of teachers, parents and students. Following a trial period in a group of schools, teacher interviews, student focus groups, teacher questionnaires and student questionnaires were conducted. Subsequently, the resource material was refined and distributed to all secondary schools in Victoria. Results: The skin health questionnaire found that schools considered teaching students about common skin conditions was important and there was a need for education material. In the initial focus groups, parents, teachers and students expressed a need for accurate information about skin conditions and made suggestions regarding the format for resources. Pilot resources comprised a teacher resource folder and student booklets. After piloting of the material, teachers and students suggested a number of changes. Conclusion: Consultation with the target group enabled appropriate educational material for all Victorian secondary schools to be produced. (author abstract)

Teachers with laptops: The first tentative steps

The ‘Laptop for Teachers’ program was introduced by the Victorian Department of Education to provide every teacher in the state system with a laptop computer. It forms part of a larger strategy to expand the use of information technology and multimedia in Victorian schools. At the heart of this program is a belief that computing technology will not only bring about a dramatic change in the way students interact with teachers, but will give new meaning to ‘knowledge’ and provide a different approach to the way knowledge is generated and transmitted. At the same time, little indication was given to teachers as to how this might be realised with the laptop computer. This paper reports on the initial attempts of a group of teachers in a Victorian government secondary school to explore the possibilities for computers in their work. The author carried out this research as one of the twenty-nine teachers at the school who received a laptop computer in the first-round allocation in 1998.

Wages And Conditions Of The Victorian Outdoor Education Profession

Abstract The aim of this research is to investigate remuneration packages and working conditions of the Victorian Outdoor Education profession. A varying range of Outdoor Educators working in a diverse range of programs and conditions were surveyed at the Victorian Outdoor Education Association's (V.O.E.A.) state wide 'Conference 2000'. The results reflect variability within remuneration packages and working conditions, however, some clear trends were evident. These included the majority of participants receiving such benefits as public liability insurance, superannuation and workcover. However, no participants indicated that they received overtime; rather they received time off in lieu of additional hours worked. The majority of participants received a benefit such as a company vehicle, meals, accommodation and usage of a mobile phone whilst physically working on programs, however, the data indicated that these benefits were not continued for the majority of participants for personal use. When the results are compared to data obtained in similar research that was carried out in South Australia, the average remuneration for the Victorian outdoor educator is generally higher than that of South Australian colleague. This research attempts to provide a more in-depth examination of what remuneration and working conditions exist for the Victorian outdoor educator, however, for a more comprehensive reflection of the industry standards a greater cross section of participants may be useful. Further investigation on not only a state wide level, but perhaps more importantly, a national level is recommended to obtain greater insight and understanding of remuneration and working conditions for Victorian and Australian outdoor educators Background Over the past decade in the profession of Outdoor Education there has always been some intermittent and spasmodic dialogue about longevity, pay and working conditions for the outdoor education professional. In more recent years this dialogue has appeared with more regularity. In April 2000, a forum in South Australia was held to examine the issue of professional wages and conditions in the Outdoor Education and Recreation professions (Polley, 2000). Results from this forum in South Australian indicated that there was a great variation in pay rates: and conditions. A 'summary of pay scales and levels of responsibilities and qualifications' was developed. It was suggested that this be used, as a starting point for further discussion, and that other issues raised in relation to pay and working conditions should be investigated further. In Victoria Lugg and Martin (2000) were focusing on the working conditions in Victorian secondary schools and Cheney and Thomas (2000) were examining the common practices of residential outdoor campsites including staff turnover and human resource management practices. Lugg and Martin (2001) found that in the Victorian Education sector, Outdoor Education is taught predominately by "enthusiastic, underqualified, overworked teachers who are trying to achieve in their own time what most other teachers get paid to do during work hours" (Lugg & Martin, p48, 2001). McArthur (1999) found when he examined benchmarks for best practice in Outdoor Education that a senior school teacher package has been promoted as a benchmark for wages and conditions for a well qualified outdoor educator. He argues, however, that clients are not prepared to pay commercial rates for their outdoor experiences and therefore stand-alone programs cannot provide salaries and conditions that meet this benchmark. Edwards and Gray (1998) explored the reasons for burnout within the outdoor profession. They suggested that we look after our clients/students better than we look after ourselves, and as a result the outdoor profession is plagued by high rates of attrition and instructor turnover. McArthur (1999) supports this, saying that there is an acceptance in the outdoor profession that staff who work full time in field positions, have a 3 -5 year 'shelf life'. …

The Nature And Scope Of Outdoor Education In Victorian Schools

In 1999 a collaborative project between the Victorian Outdoor Education Association (VOEA) and the Department of Outdoor Education and Nature Tourism at La Trobe University Bendigo investigated the nature and scope of Outdoor Education being offered in Victorian secondary schools. The aim of the study was to attain a clearer understanding of who is teaching Outdoor Education, where it is being taught, what programmes are being offered, what objectives are emphasised and what issues or problems are encountered by Outdoor Education teachers or principals in the implementation of Outdoor Education in Victorian schools. Findings paint a picture of Outdoor Education in schools as personal development education, conducted beyond school hours, by staff who are largely lacking in qualifications. Significant findings are: (1) the majority of Outdoor Education teachers do not have specific Outdoor Education training, (2) most principals and Outdoor Education teachers responding to the survey see the development of group cooperation, self esteem and responsibility as the main objectives of Outdoor Education, (3) most Outdoor Education teachers are expected to work during out of school hours but receive minimal or po compensation for this, (4) the nature of programmes offered in Government schools is significantly different to that offered in Independent schools (non-Catholic). Many practical issues identified related to the difficulties of including Outdoor Education in the traditional school programme structure and particularly to problems with finding appropriate staff for Outdoor Education practical trips.