The magnitude of educational disadvantage amongst indigenous minority groups in Australia.

Indigenous groups are amongst the most disadvantaged minority groups in the developed world. This paper examines the educational disadvantage of indigenous Australians by assessing academic performance at a relatively early age. We find that, by the age of 10, indigenous Australians are substantially behind non-indigenous Australians in academic achievement. Their relative performance deteriorates further over the next 2 years. School and locality do not appear to be important determinants of the indigenous to non-indigenous achievement gap. However, geographic remoteness, indigenous ethnicity and language use at home have a marked influence on educational achievement. A current focus of Australian indigenous policy is to increase school resources. Our results suggest that this will not eliminate indigenous educational disadvantage on its own

Adapting the community sector for climate extremes

Abstract People experiencing poverty and inequality will be affected first and worst by the impacts of climate change to infrastructure and human settlements, including those caused by increasingly frequent and intense extreme weather events and natural disasters. They have the least capacity to cope, to adapt, to move and to recover. Community service organisations (CSOs) play a critical role in supporting individuals, families and communities experiencing poverty and inequality to build resilience and respond to adverse changes in circumstances. As such, the services they provide comprise a critical component of social infrastructure in human settlements. However, very little is understood about CSOs own vulnerability to – or their role in managing and mitigating risks to their clients and the community from – climate change impacts to physical infrastructure. The Extreme Weather, Climate Change and the Community Sector – Risks and Adaptations project examined the relationship between physical and social infrastructure (in the form of CSO service provision). Specifically, the ways in which the climate-driven failure of CSO service delivery worsens risks to the individuals and communities they serve and, on the other hand, how preparedness may reduce vulnerability to climate change and extreme weather impacts to human settlements and infrastructure.The research comprised a comprehensive and critical scoping, examination and review of existing research findings and an audit, examination and judgment-based evaluation of the current vulnerabilities and capacities of CSOs under projected climate change scenarios. It employed three key methods of consultation and data collection. A literature review examined research conducted to date in Australia and comparative countries internationally on the vulnerability and climate change adaptation needs of CSOs. A program of 10 Community Sector Professional Climate Workshops consulted over 150 CSO representatives to develop a qualitative record of extreme event and climate change risks and corresponding adaptation strategies specific to CSOs. A national survey of CSOs, which resulted in the participation of approximately 500 organisations, produced a quantitative data set about the nature of CSO vulnerability to climate change and extreme weather impacts to infrastructure, whether and how CSOs are approaching the adaptation task and key barriers to adaptation.While the methods employed and the absence of empirical data sets quantifying CSO vulnerability to climate change impacts create limitations to the evidence-base produced, findings from the research suggest that CSOs are highly vulnerable and not well prepared to respond to climate change and extreme weather impacts to physical infrastructure and that this underlying organisational vulnerability worsens the vulnerability of people experiencing poverty and inequality to climate change. However, the project results indicate that if well adapted, CSOs have the willingness, specialist skills, assets and capacity to make a major contribution to the resilience and adaptive capacity of their clients and the community more broadly (sections of which will be plunged into adversity by extreme events). Despite this willingness, the evidence presented shows that few CSOs have undertaken significant action to prepare for climate change and worsening extreme weather events. Key barriers to adaptation identified through the research are inadequate financial resources, lack of institutionalised knowledge and skills for adaptation and the belief that climate change adaptation is beyond the scope of CSOs core business. On the other hand, key indicators of organisational resilience to climate change and extreme weather impacts include: level of knowledge about extreme weather risks, past experience of an extreme weather event and organisational size.Given its size, scope and the critical role the Australian community sector plays in building client and community resilience and in assisting communities to respond to and recover from the devastating impacts of extreme weather events and natural disasters, the research identifies serious gaps in both the policy frameworks and the research base required to ensure the sector’s resilience and adaptive capacity – gaps which appear to have already had serious consequences. To address these gaps, a series of recommendations has been prepared to enable the development and implementation of a comprehensive, sector-specific adaptation and preparedness program, which includes mechanisms to institutionalise knowledge and skills, streamlined tools appropriate to the needs and capacity of a diverse range of organisations and a benchmarking system to allow progress towards resilience and preparedness to be monitored. Future research priorities for adaptation in this sector have also been identified

Shade tolerance of tree species : an analysis based on the databank of Bavarian natural forest reserves

Anhand eines Datensatzes von 1.708 Vegetationsaufnahmen aus 154 bayerischen Naturwaldreservaten wurde die realisierte ökologische Nische von 25 Baumarten hinsichtlich Lichtbedarf bzw. Schattentoleranz untersucht. Für jede Baumart wurde die Stetigkeit des Vorkommens in Baumschicht und Verjüngung berechnet. Für jede Aufnahme wurde die dem Bestandesunterwuchs zur Verfügung stehende Lichtmenge durch Berechnung des mittleren ungewichteten Licht-Zeigerwertes (mL) aller vorkommenden Arten (ohne Baumschicht) auf einer Relativskala geschätzt. Für jede 0,5-Einheiten-Stufe von mL wurde die Präferenz jeder Baumart, getrennt nach Baum- (> 5m) und Verjüngungsschicht (< 5m), als Differenz zwischen relativer Häufigkeit der jeweiligen Art und der relativen Häufigkeit aller Aufnahmen in der mL-Stufe im gesamten Datensatz berechnet. Die Präferenzprofile von Baumschicht und Verjüngungsschicht bildeten die Grundlage einer numerischen Klassifikation von 6 lichtökologischen Nischen typen. Diese Typen werden hinsichtlich ihrer Bindung an bestimmte Entwicklungsphasen und Strukturen der natürlichen Walddynamik diskutiert, mit geläufigen Einteilungen der Baumarten verglichen und im Hinblick auf eine Prognose des Verhaltens unter sich ändernden Umweltbedingungen ausgewertet. – Während sich Edellaubbäume des Tilio-Acerion in den Reservaten sehr ähnlich wie Fagus und Abies verhalten, bilden die Baumarten der Eichenmischwälder eine lichtökologische Gruppe mit rückläufiger Verjüngungstendenz. Unter den übrigen Halbschattbaumarten hebt sich eine Gruppe heraus, welche sich in geschlossenen Beständen vorausverjüngt und nach Störung in die Baumschicht vordringt. Pionierbaumarten bleiben in Naturwaldreservaten weitestgehend auf Sonderstandorte, wo ihre Verjüngung viel Licht vorfindet, beschränkt.On the basis of 1,708 phytosociological relevés from 154 natural forest reserves in Bavaria, the ecological niche of 25 tree species with respect to shade tolerance was investigated. Constancy of occurrence of species was calculated separately for tree and regeneration layer. For each relevé relative light availability was estimated by calculating unweighted averages of Ellenberg values for light (mL) for all plant species occurring in the forest understorey. For each 0.5 segment of mL the preference of the tree species, differentiated by tree layer and regeneration, was calculated as the difference between relative frequency of occurrence and frequency of the mL-segment in the entire data set. Preference profiles of tree layer and regeneration formed the basis of a numerical classification of six types of shade tolerance, which are discussed with respect to their role in certain stages and structures of natural forest dynamics, compared to existing categorisations and interpreted with respect to future succession under environmental change. – While deciduous trees of the ash-sycamore maple group (Tilio-Acerion) behave very similarly to Fagus and Abies in the reserves, tree species of mixed oak woodlands form a group with a tendency towards decreasing regeneration. Among the remaining semi-tolerant species one group is conspicuous for the ability to establish advance-regeneration in rather closed stands and, after disturbances, to grow into the canopy. Shade-intolerant pioneer species remain largely restricted to suitable extreme habitats with ample light availability

Embedding mutually supportive implementation of the Plant Treaty and the Nagoya Protocol in the context of broader national policy goals: A Workshop for National Teams of Policy Actors, 16th – 20th November 2015

This report provides highlights from a workshop entitled “Embedding mutually supportive implementation of the Plant Treaty and the Nagoya Protocol in the context of broader national policy goals. A workshop for national teams of policy actors”. The workshop brought together eleven national teams comprised of National Focal Points for the Nagoya Protocol, the Plant Treaty and the GEF and representatives of lead national agencies dealing with climate change adaptation and agriculture and national finance and planning authorities. As the title of the workshop suggests, the participants examined options to embed the implementation of the Nagoya Protocol and the Plant Treaty in national programmess and strategies to promote climate change adaptation, poverty alleviation, food security and conservation. It was organized by the ABS Capacity Development Initiative and Bioversity International in cooperation with the African Union Commission and the Secretariats of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, held at the International Livestock Research Institute, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 16th – 20th November 2015

Evaluation im BLK-Modellprogramm Demokratie lernen und leben: Skalen zur Befragung von Schüler/-innen, Lehrer/-innen und Schulleitungen. Dokumentation der Erhebungsinstrumente 2006

Das Skalenhandbuch bietet eine Dokumentation der Erhebungsinstrumente, die in der Abschlussbefragung zum BLK-Programm „Demokratie lernen und leben“ verwendet wurden. Dazu werden sowohl die einzelnen Fragen und Antwortalternativen aufgeführt, als auch die testtheoretische Überprüfung der Zugehörigkeit von Fragen zu übergeordneten Konstrukten (Faktorenanalysen, Reliabilitätsanalysen). Diese Veröffentlichung wendet sich vor allem an Adressaten, die selbst im Themenbereich Schule/Schulentwicklung und Demokratie empirisch forschen wollen, kann aber auch Anregungen zur Selbstevaluation bieten. (DIPF/abu

Imbrication de la mise en oeuvre concertée et solidaire du Traité sur les ressources phytogénétiques et du Protocole de Nagoya dans le conexte d’objetifs de politiques nationales plus larges: un atelier destine à des équipes nationales d’acteurs de politiques

This report provides highlights from a workshop entitled “Embedding mutually supportive implementation of the Plant Treaty and the Nagoya Protocol in the context of broader national policy goals. A workshop for national teams of policy actors”. The workshop brought together eleven national teams comprised of National Focal Points for the Nagoya Protocol, the Plant Treaty and the GEF and representatives of lead national agencies dealing with climate change adaptation and agriculture and national finance and planning authorities. As the title of the workshop suggests, the participants examined options to embed the implementation of the Nagoya Protocol and the Plant Treaty in national programmess and strategies to promote climate change adaptation, poverty alleviation, food security and conservation. It was organized by the ABS Capacity Development Initiative and Bioversity International in cooperation with the African Union Commission and the Secretariats of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, held at the International Livestock Research Institute, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 16th – 20th November 201

Pädagogische Entwicklungsbilanzen an Studienseminaren (PEB-Sem). Auswahl und statistische Analyse der Erhebungsinstrumente

Das Skalenhandbuch stellt die Erhebungsinstrumente aus dem Evaluations- und Forschungsprojekt "Pädagogische Entwicklungsbilanzen an Studienseminaren" (PEB-Sem) dar. Es wird sichtbar, welche theoretischen Konstrukte dem Projekt zugrunde liegen, in welcher Weise die Kompetenzstandards mit den KMK-Standards zur Lehrerbildung kompatibel sind und wie diese in den bisherigen Befragungen bei mehr als 2.400 Referendar/-innen, sowie mehr als 700 Ausbilder/-innen und Mentoren/-innen erfasst wurden. Dazu werden umfangreiche Skalenanalysen durchgeführt und übersichtlich dargestellt (Hauptkomponentenanalysen und Reliabilitätsanalysen). Neben jeweils mehreren Skalen zur Organisation der Arbeit im Studienseminar, zur Beurteilung von Ausbildungstätigkeiten, zur Gestaltbarkeit der individuellen Bedingungen und zum professionellen Selbstverständnis werden 56 einzelne Kompetenzstandards zu vier zentralen Kompetenzbereichen zusammengefasst. Die Skalen sind für die drei beteiligten Personengruppen Referendar/innen, Ausbilder/innen und Mentor/innen dargestellt. (DIPF/Autor