“Learning the Ropes”: Pre-service Arts Teachers Navigating the Extracurricular Terrain

Arts teachers undertake a multitude of extracurricular activities. Yet, while these activities consume considerable time and require specific expertise, little attention is afforded to developing these skills and expertise during pre-service training. This article presents findings from a study into the value of a pre-service teacher production as a form of professional development, from both the technical and personal development perspectives. Thirty pre-service secondary Arts teachers participated in the production. Through focus-group interviews, participants indicated the benefits of building technical understanding as well as personal benefits of engaging in an ensemble experience. All spoke of the potential transferability of what they learned to their future teaching practice. Given that Arts teachers are expected to facilitate extracurricular activities as part of their professional work, this article advocates the importance of examining ways in which rich experiences such as the production examined here should be formally embedded into pre-service teacher training courses

Examined Lives: The Transformative Power of Active Interviewing in Narrative Approach

An unexamined life is not worth living Socrates (470-399 BC) In this article I reveal transformative experiences stemming from non-verbal communication in the context of active interviewing in narrative research. Drawing upon my recent experience interviewing positive veteran teachers about the relationships they believe vital in maintaining their passion and enthusiasm for teaching, I explore the unique nature of narrative research in fostering intra-personal transformation. The goal of the article is to highlight transformation as an outcome in narrative research, with particular focus upon non-verbal communication in active interviewing. The article is constructed to examine transformation in thinking and understanding within the relational nature of narrative research in education; to highlight the complexity of non-verbal communication in the context of narrative research; and, to consider the nature of personal reflective practice in examining one\u27s ontological and epistemological framework for establishing respectful and ethical relationships between researcher and participants in narrative research

Reappraising the AITSL Professional Engagement Domain: Clarifying Social Capacity Building for School Leaders to Enhance Overall Teacher Job Satisfaction and Career Longevity

The Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (AITSL, 2018) stipulate what teachers should know and do through each career stage. School leaders are complicit in promoting the Standards are met by all staff, including Professional Engagement (Standards Six and Seven). While the Standards emphasise content and pedagogical capacity building, we contend that teaching is a social enterprise. Although social capacity building is implied in the Professional Engagement domain through terms such as ‘collegiality, collaboration and dialogue’, we question the degree to which it is understood by school leaders. We ask this in light of influential studies by Waldinger (2010) and Vaillant (1977) which highlight the importance of workplace social connection in terms of job satisfaction and career longevity. Using an Appreciative Inquiry lens, we interviewed a number of positive school leaders about social capacity building among their staff against the Professional Engagement domain. While interviews affirmed many inspiring examples of its application, we also uncovered a degree of uncertainty, lack of clarity and practical difficulties experienced by these exemplary leaders. As per our research approach, we do not suggest that there is any fundamental problem with the Professional Engagement domain per se. However, findings indicate value for AITSL in reappraising this domain in relation to its wording, implications and application. A more explicit emphasis on the social context may in turn help address some of the issues confronting Australia’s aging teaching workforce

An elixir for veteran teachers: The power of social connections in keeping these teachers passionate and enthusiastic in their work

This article is based upon the premise that there are many veteran teachers who maintain positive attitudes towards teaching throughout their careers. According to The Grant Study (Waldinger, 2015), positive attitudes towards life and work stem from close relationships and adaptive behaviours that people engage in throughout adult life. This article describes a study undertaken in Australia which revealed that, in line with Grant Study findings, positive veteran teachers (aged 40-70+ years) build and maintain supportive social connections among colleagues in their school and others outside school, plus spouse (or long-term partner) and close family, that contribute to their sense of emotional and physical wellbeing. In a highly relational career such as teaching, our article highlights the credibility positive veteran teachers ascribe to their social connections, including the derived benefits in terms of their teaching and their own wellbeing. We then discuss the implications of the findings, including the role of school leadership in acknowledging the importance of, and fostering healthy social connections within their schools, as a way of sustaining engagement for all teachers

An Elixir for Veteran Teachers: The Power of Social Connections in Keeping These Teachers Passionate and Enthusiastic in Their Work

This article is based upon the premise that there are many veteran teachers who maintain positive attitudes towards teaching throughout their careers. According to The Grant Study (Waldinger, 2015), positive attitudes towards life and work stem from close relationships and adaptive behaviours that people engage in throughout adult life. This article describes a study undertaken in Australia which revealed that, in line with Grant Study findings, positive veteran teachers (aged 40-70+ years) build and maintain supportive social connections among colleagues in their school and others outside school, plus spouse (or long-term partner) and close family, that contribute to their sense of emotional and physical wellbeing. In a highly relational career such as teaching, our article highlights the credibility positive veteran teachers ascribe to their social connections, including the derived benefits in terms of their teaching and their own wellbeing. We then discuss the implications of the findings, including the role of school leadership in acknowledging the importance of, and fostering healthy social connections within their schools, as a way of sustaining engagement for all teachers

“Just like breathing”: A portrait of an 85-year-old veteran teacher

Through a phenomenological lens of portraiture methodology, this article explores the career experiences of a veteran acting teacher who, at the age of 85 years, remains highly passionate and dedicated to his work with younger aspiring actors. The article reveals how for this veteran teacher, his strong teacher identity characterised by a quest for challenge and a commitment to career-long professional development are significant to maintaining relevance and passion for teaching. As many countries grapple with issues surrounding the retention of veteran teachers, understanding the ways in which he maintains his passion and commitment over succumbing to stress and burn out like so many teachers in the performing arts is timely

An automated growth enclosure for metabolic labeling of Arabidopsis thaliana with 13C-carbon dioxide - an in vivo labeling system for proteomics and metabolomics research

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Labeling whole <it>Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) </it>plants to high enrichment with ¹³C for proteomics and metabolomics applications would facilitate experimental approaches not possible by conventional methods. Such a system would use the plant's native capacity for carbon fixation to ubiquitously incorporate ¹³C from ¹³CO₂gas. Because of the high cost of ¹³CO₂it is critical that the design conserve the labeled gas.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A fully enclosed automated plant growth enclosure has been designed and assembled where the system simultaneously monitors humidity, temperature, pressure and ¹³CO₂concentration with continuous adjustment of humidity, pressure and ¹³CO₂levels controlled by a computer running LabView software. The enclosure is mounted on a movable cart for mobility among growth environments. <it>Arabidopsis </it>was grown in the enclosure for up to 8 weeks and obtained on average >95 atom% enrichment for small metabolites, such as amino acids and >91 atom% for large metabolites, including proteins and peptides.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The capability of this labeling system for isotope dilution experiments was demonstrated by evaluation of amino acid turnover using GC-MS as well as protein turnover using LC-MS/MS. Because this 'open source' <it>Arabidopsis </it>¹³C-labeling growth environment was built using readily available materials and software, it can be adapted easily to accommodate many different experimental designs.</p

International Journal of Human Resource Management (IJHRM) Special Issue on:International human resource management in contexts of high uncertainties

The aim of this special issue is to examine more closely of the implementations of international human resource management (IHRM) practices in the contexts of high uncertainties. It seeks contexts of relevance, encompassing those experiencing financial crisis, economic sanctions, political and civil uncertainty, environmental collapse and/or deep recession. It aims to supplement the Danger and Risk as Challenges for HRM in the IJHRM special issue which encompasses terrorism, violent disorder, crime and other physical risks, by focusing on initially seemingly peaceful forms of uncertainty, even if their consequences might lead to societal collapse. While appreciating that these contexts are very different, the key theme that cuts across all of these contexts are the unexpected changes that they brought, creating considerable ambiguity for businesses, and how they manage their people. Businesses will face the challenges of coping in such contexts, with unpredictability in demand, and in supplier relations, in adding greater time pressure to the decision-making process, and in terms of work and employment relations (Pearson & Clair, 1998). Through operating in different settings, multinational enterprises (MNEs) may be able to hedge risk, but at the same time protecting their own interest from a distance can be extremely difficult (Cantwell, Dunning, & Lundan, 2010). They will also impact on MNE decisions to invest and reinvest in particular settings (Oh & Oetzel, 2011). However, reducing or eliminating their presence in the host location is not always possible. MNEs may have substantial resources and infrastructural interests in the host location that need to be protected. Again, there is often a pressing need of MNEs to use expatriates on international assignments to complete strategically critical tasks, but the same time managing expatriate staff becomes much more difficult when countries of domicile become less certain. However, these situations often present golden opportunity for businesses. Studies have found that the option value of MNEs in entering a country under the uncertain conditions can be high (Miller, 1998). This is because government and international bodies often inject considerable amount of investments into the affected countries in aiding the recovery and rebuilding process and, in turn, pumped up the local aggregate demands, opening new opportunities for MNEs in relevant industries (Vigdor, 2008). At the same time, consumers’ demand for products and services may change; demand may not necessarily decline, but what consumers may want may be different, and this will impact on the demands placed on a firm’s human resources. These MNEs may therefore experience expansion of workforce under these situations.Full Tex