Showing papers by "Australian Catholic University published in 1997"

Authenticity in leadership: an emerging perspective

Abstract: First describes the current context of cynicism about the quality and integrity of many of our leaders in contemporary public and private sector organizations and the culture of “artifice” prevailing in many of these organizations. Then presents a conceptual framework for authenticity in leadership in organizations. The elements of the framework include: the need to identify “authentic self” in terms of significant values and relationships; the centrality of authentic relationships to effective leadership; the need in organizations for conditions for authentic learning; the way in which governance and organization can facilitate or inhibit authentic relationships and learning. Proposes a leadership praxis which links the theory, practice and ethics of leadership, responds to many of the concerns about the lack of honesty and integrity in leadership, and acts as a counterbalance to the artifice and deception prevalent in leadership in many contemporary organizations.

The dark side of mentoring

Abstract: Ron is Joan’s informal mentor. Joan has been hesitant over whether to accept a certain assignment, one that would redefine aspects of her position. Ron says that it would be a great career opportunity and that her reluctance is borne from inappropriate self-doubt and not something to act on. He convinces her to take it on. Later, when she flounders and is overwhelmed and turns to him, Ron argues -persuasively -that he should stay out of it and that she needs to learn how to do this on her own. Joan is confused – about herself, about Ron, about the task. And so are we. Is Ron genuine or politically/psychologically motivated? Is he accurate or misguided? And what about Joan? Is she self-assessing accurately or out of fear? What are the psychological consequences for Joan if Ron has a hidden agenda in talking her out of her feelings?

Leadership for a New Century: Authenticity, Intentionality, Spirituality and Sensibility

Abstract: This article proposes a framework for authentic leadership based on: authenticity in leadership actions and interactions; vision derived from the good intentions-intentionality-of committed people; spirituality which is built from engagement in meaningful relationships and from a sense of being connected to something larger than self; and from sensibility to the feelings, aspirations and needs of others, with special reference to the multicultural settings in which many leaders operate, and in the light of the increasing globalization trends in life and work. The authors argue that authenticity in leadership can help restore human, ethical, moral and spiritual dimensions to organizational relationships, thus making organizations better places in which to work, both in terms of productivity and quality of life.

Above- and below-ground biomasses of two species of mangrove on the Hawkesbury River estuary, New South Wales

Abstract: Above- and below-ground biomasses of two species of mangrove, Avicennia marina and Aegiceras corniculatum, were estimated in a range of intertidal environments along the Hawkesbury River. Estimates of biomass of Avicennia communities in freshly accreted brackish substrata were in the order of 40 kg m–2, the highest figure ever recorded for temperate mangrove communities. The above-ground biomass communities of each species declined with increasing substratum salinity, whereas root/shoot ratios increased with increasing substratum salinity.

Relationship between school‐level and classroom‐level environments in secondary schools

Abstract: Investigates relationships between school and classroom environment Explains how in Australian secondary schools, instruments were developed and validated for assessing seven dimensions of school environment (empowerment, student support, affiliation, professional interest, mission consensus, resource adequacy and work pressure) and seven dimensions of classroom environment (student affiliation, interactions, co‐operation, task orientation, order and organization, individualization and teacher control) The study involved a sample of 2,211 students in 104 year nine and year 12 religious education and science classes and 208 teachers of religious education and science in Catholic and government secondary schools Indicates that weak relationship between school and classroom environments emerged, suggesting that the school environment cannot be assumed to transmit automatically to the classroom

Above- and below-ground biomass of mangroves in a sub-tropical estuary

Abstract: Above- and below-ground biomass of five species of mangroves was estimated for the Mary River, south-eastern Queensland. Below-ground : above-ground biomass ratios of species in the upstream reaches (Avicennia marina, Aegiceras corniculatum and Excoecaria agallocha) averaged <0.5, and those of species in the saline conditions of the mouth (Avicennia marina, Rhizophora stylosa) ranged between 0.9 and 1.5. Within the estuary mouth, above-ground biomass of Avicennia marina and Ceriops tagal decreased between frontal saline and upper-intertidal hypersaline environments, and this was reflected in the below-ground : above-ground biomass ratios, which increased to approximately 3.5 for both species.

Quality of school life and students' achievement in the HSC : A multilevel analysis

Abstract: THIS study examines the relationship between Year 12 students' perceptions of life in Catholic schools and their achievement in the Higher School Certificate (HSC) examination It investigates whet

Teacher Education Students' Number Sense: Initial Explorations.

Abstract: Use of number sense can assist learners in their understanding of, and calculating in, mathematics. This paper reports on these aspects which were investigated with six primary pre-service teacher education students at the commencement of a semester unit in mathematics education. Various mathematical examples were completed by each student in individual sessions which suggested that the students had at least a limited development of number sense.

The Clash of Cultures: Learning Through English in Papua New Guinea

Abstract: When expatriate academics teach Papua New Guineans, there is often a cultural dynamic at play that is inconsistent with that operating in ‘Western’ universities. Insights into some of these issues, particularly language, may assist expatriates to restructure accepted assumptions about teaching and learning in English to more appropriately meet the needs of students from a different culture. This paper argues that language problems occur because students are educated in a language in which their teachers themselves lack facility. Moreover, in the Papua New Guinea context the learning problems with English are associated with a lack of equivalence between the concepts in the academic discourse and the students’ existing conceptual framework. Learning problems in English are more about concept acquisition than translation.

The Influence of Family Background on Teachers' Ratings of Children Starting School

Abstract: A survey of teachers' ratings of classroom behaviour was conducted with respect to children who had recently commenced school. Three subscales of learning behaviour: Distractible, Apprehensive and Uncooperative (The Learning Behaviours Scale, LBS; Stott, McDermott, Green, & Francis, 1988) were employed, together with brief scales of teacher expectations of academic success and of their personal reactions to the children. Fathers' occupational status (SES) was found to be a significant predictor of learning behaviour on the three LBS scales and of teachers' expectations of later academic success, although the variance accounted for was only between 5 and 16% for boys, and was generally negligible for girls' learning behaviour. The effects of SES were found to be mainly evident in children considered “at risk” in various learning behaviours. For boys, this reflected a striking dichotomy between blue collar and white collar backgrounds, with teachers expecting the former group of boys to be four tim...

Peer review. A strategy to enhance cooperative student learning.

Abstract: Peer review is an activity that encourages self-regulation in nursing practice. A learning activity was designed and implemented in an Australian nursing program to encourage student familiarity and proficiency in peer review. The experience of implementing this innovative learning and assessment strategy is discussed.

Are Educational Outcomes Relevant to Environmental Education Addressed by Primary School Teachers

Abstract: Concern exists over the extent to which environmental education Is being addressed in Australian primary school curricula. This is especially so since the release of the nationally developed Statements and Profiles in eight key areas of learning because no documents specifically relating to environmental education were produced. This paper reports the results of a study In which a survey based on outcomes relevant to environmental education, as drawn from curriculum documents in use in the Australian states of New South Wales and Victoria, was completed by a sample of primary teachers from both states. Results indicated that, in most schools, outcomes relevant to environmental education were being given significant attention. However, the extent to which different outcomes were addressed varied widely, as did the extent to which individual schools addressed outcomes over the years kindergarten/preparatory to year 6 (K/P-6). Implications for teacher education drawn from the findings are discussed.

Spiritual chaos: an alternative conceptualisation of grief.

Abstract: Grief is examined in this article as spiritual chaos, rather than stages to be worked through. Major characteristics of grief and spirituality are identified as well as ways in which chaos theory can help us understand grief. Indigenous approaches to death, dying and grief are explored, and the role of the ritual elder, particularly in terms of creating a safe space in which grief can be safely sampled. Guidance from experienced helpers such as ritual elders assists persons experiencing grief to deal with issues in a more conscious way. It is argued that holistic health care teams require spiritual carers as full members, and that the role of spiritual carer may at times need to be undertaken by various members of the health care team.

The current status of nursing informatics in undergraduate nursing programs: comparative case studies between Sweden and Australia.

Abstract: During the last ten years, the inclusion of education in health information systems has assumed an important role in graduate programs for health professionals. More recently, attention has focused ...

Generating ideas for teaching mental health nursing.

Abstract: University teachers who prepare mental health nurses require a variety of teaching techniques to encourage students to engage with the subject matter and to prepare for unknown future problems and dilemmas that they must resolve. Mental health nursing requires the development of specific discipline knowledge, intellectual skills, such as the ability to think laterally and make ethical decisions, and personal attributes, such as maturity and tolerance, as well as practical experience in collaborative care. This article offers a number of strategies that teachers may use in their classes to promote the development of these mental health nursing skills. Other teachers might use these examples to trigger the development of their own repertoire of teaching skills for beginning mental health nurses.

Information systems effectiveness and organisational culture: an underlying model for ITEM evaluation

Abstract: How to determine the effectiveness of an organisation’s information systems is the subject of continued debate in the IS community. Difficulties surround such issues as agreement on evaluation criteria, agreement on quantitative and qualitative methods, and the politicising of the evaluation process. In this paper, the author relates the nature of school information systems to mainstream information systems research. The literature surrounding Information Technology in Educational Management (ITEM) is reviewed, and an underlying model for school IS evaluation is presented. Using previous results as a basis, the author proposes a strategy for investigating the link between a school’ s culture and its IS emphases.

Another Country: Non-Aboriginal Tertiary Students' Perceptions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples

Abstract: Even though Aboriginal people are from Australia it does not mean they speak the English language (non-Aboriginal tertiary student). Jo Lampert's (1996) research discussed in her article Indigenous Australian perspectives in teaching at the University of Queensland speaks volumes about the challenges of attempting to make university curricula inclusive of Indigenous Australian perspectives. She documents the often ambivalent attitudes of academics towards opening up the curriculum to Indigenous Australians. The research discussed here seeks to add to our understanding of this process, focussing this time on the response of students to the introduction of Australian Indigenous perspectives into a single unit within a Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Teaching program. The impetus to reflect on the process came with the shock of reading student papers, written at the end of the unit, and finding that effective communication about the educational needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples did not seem to have taken place, making a closer analysis of the teaching/learning process imperative. This investigation will address questions abouthowuniversities can communicate effectively about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Beauty, Providence and the Biophilia Hypothesis

Abstract: Etude de la signification spirituelle du monde naturel dans le cadre du theisme traditionnel represente par F. R. Tennant. Examinant l'argument du dessein de la beaute naturelle a la lumiere des developpements recents en sciences sociales et sciences de la biologie, l'A. montre que l'identite posee entre la beaute naturelle et la presence de Dieu dans la monde resiste aux objections probabilistes opposees a l'argument du dessein, d'une part, et s'avere compatbile avec l'hypothese de la biophilie defendue par E. O. Wilson (in «Biophilia», 1984)

Wisdom as Parental Teaching in Proverbs 1–9

Abstract: It is the contention of this article that Proverbs chs. 1–9 is a literary unity in which wisdom has the denotation of the parental household teaching. Teachings which have other contexts in other parts of the Old Testament have in Pr. 1–9 a parental teaching context. Besides denoting the parental teaching, personified speaking Wisdom has the personal features of a teacher. Both Wisdom’s features and her message serve to reinforce the parental teaching. Personified Wisdom also denotes the teaching of the entire Book of Proverbs. Through the device of personified Wisdom, the wisdom of Solomon enshrined in the Book of Proverbs is re-located from the royal court to the individual Israelite household. This is evident in the literary design of the book. It also reflects the situation of the book’s redaction in post-exilic Judaism.

Technological Communities of Learning: A Model for the Use of New Information Technologies by Indigenous Students

Abstract: This project was designed to enhance the academic success and profiles of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) through increased proficiency and awareness of computer technology. The program attempted to establish a community of practice with technology, that focused on teaching and mentoring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students by supporting their use of computer technology. Prior to this project, there was no sound base of support for encouraging the use of technology with this group of students in the university and thus they were reluctant and apprehensive about its use in their studies.Initially, we focused on the development of the students' proficiency in word processing so that they could apply their newly learned skills directly to their coursework and assessment in the specific degree that they were studying. Secondly, we introduced the students to the Internet and finally we assisted them with the location of information in the Library and from other sources. Consequently, the key notions of the project related primarily to improving the students' skills in writing, communications, and searching and accessing information.

Simplicity, personhood, and divinity

Abstract: L'A. defend la possibilite d'une voie moyenne entre l'approche individualiste de Dieu developpee par R. Swinburne et la conception classique de Dieu defini comme un etre pur et simple. Rejetant l'idee d'un agent digne d'adoration ou d'un maitre du monde, l'A. montre que l'idee d'un dieu personnel n'est acceptable qu'a la lumiere de la notion de simplicite: additionnant les tendances elementaires de l'existence, la divinite est definie comme capacite a representer l'unite de la nature de l'etre en general

End-of-life decisions in Australian medical practice.

Abstract: To the Editor: The recently published study by Kuhse et al.' has two stated objectives: to describe the characteristics of medical endof-life decisions in Australia and to compare these data with medical end-of-life decisions in the Netherlands, where euthanasia is practised openly. It fails on both counts. The study categorises decisions to withhold or withdraw potentially life-prolonging treatments which are judged too burdensome, costly or risky with decisions to withhold or withdraw treatment with the intention of hastening death. The authors thereby confuse good medical practice according to traditional medical law and ethics with other practices which are illegal and clearly contrary to medical ethics. The authors compound this obfuscation by drawing conclusions about all medical endof-life decisions based on the responses of a small, self-selecting sample of doctors who were asked about one death, and then generalising from deaths involving a medical end-of-life decision to all Australian deaths. Therefore, the authors' claim that \"in 30% of all Australian deaths, a medical end-oflife decision was made with the explicit intention of ending the patient's life\" is unsubstantiated by their research and defamatory of the medical profession. The study by Kuhse et al. is not comparable in size, scope or design to the 1995 study by van der Maas et al. of medical endof-life practices in the Netherlands.! The National Health and Medical Research Council assessors rightly complained that the research proposal adopted only one part of the three-pronged Dutch study (as indicated in the report provided by the Department of Human Services and Health to the Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee), but this was not corrected. Not only is the use of a mailed questionnaire as the sole data-gathering tool problematic, but the authors also used a mistranslation of the crucial question from the Dutch study and agreed to add two new questions (regarding euthanasia legislation), thereby prejudicing the results. In any

Midlife mysteries: A groupwork response

Abstract: For a variety of reasons, women may find the middle years a difficult time and their health and well-being may suffer as a result. Some are isolated and have no one to share their concerns with and this may make the situation worse. The purpose of this paper is to show how a theme-centred, feminist groupwork approach can be an effective form of intervention for these women. Such an approach provides the opportunity to bring women together to share their experiences and work collectively and constructively on common issues of midlife.

The Liberal-National Government and Youth: ‘Training for Real Jobs’

Abstract: The Liberal-National party government is making major changes to a number of policy settings. It pledged a commitment to a strict program of budgetary restraint in its first Budget of August 1996. Its Workplace Relations and Other Legislation Amendment Bill (1996) signified its intention to introduce a ‘revolutionary new era’ in Australian industrial relations. This involved introducing individual employment contracts, limiting the Australian Industrial Relations Commission's (AIRC) powers and reducing unions' role in enterprise bargaining. Less noticeable has been the government's pursuit of major reforms to Australia's education and training policies. These education and training initiatives are taking place in a context of seemingly permanent unemployment or what has been called ‘the end of work’ (Rifkin 1995). If such claims overstate the case, the training and education initiatives are occurring in the wake of ‘normal, autonomised processes of modernisation’ which are opening paths to a new post-industrial order (Beck 1994: 3). But there are a number of questions to be raised about the extent to which a concern for equity and the protection of those most at risk in such a process may be compromised by complete faith in, and too eager a support for, market processes.

OSCA: Assessing to Unite Theory and Practice

Abstract: Assessment of clinical performance is a common concern for all educators responsible for preparing health practitioners for practiced 2 Objective Structured Clinical Assessment (OSCA) has been employed as a method of assessing theory and practice at the Australian Catholic University (ACU) since 1990. This assessment method provides evidence of theoretical application to clinical performance as necessary in the practical setting.2 It is within this context that the following information reviews the implementation of OSCA’s as an assessment method at this university.

Reflective Practice and Clinical Placements

Abstract: Over the last decade reflective practice has provoked immense interest in educators from all disciplines. This interest is founded from the notion that reflective practice increases the likelihood of the clinical placement being a valuable learning experience. Reflective practice has been regarded as a significant characteristic of professionalism and its promotion central to competent clinical practice.12 It is within this context, that research on reflective practice and phenomena which influence reflectivity were investigated.