The Experiences That Form and Sustain Generation Y Religious Education Coordinators in Catholic Secondary Schools

Students in Western Australian Catholic schools learn about Catholic beliefs and practices in the Religious Education Learning Area. In Catholic secondary schools, Religious Education Coordinators (RECs) are delegated responsibility from principals, to coordinate the teaching of this learning area’s content. RECs are required to be committed Catholics who are active members of the Catholic Church. It is probable that RECs will increasingly be recruited from amongst Generation Y Catholics. For Catholic secondary school principals, recruiting religiously committed Generation Y Catholics into the position of REC will be challenging. The primary aim of the research is to identify and describe the experiences that form and sustain Generation Y RECs. The research has two foci. Firstly, the RECs’ personal and professional experiences where their Christian faith is formed and sustained are explored and described. Secondly, the research investigates how the RECs have been formed and sustained professionally. The study has social constructionism as its epistemology. Data was gathered by conducting two rounds of narrative interviews with eight RECs, with a year’s interval between the first and second round of interviews. Thematic Narrative Analysis was used to analyse the data. The research findings suggest that the Christian faith of most of the Generation Y RECs is formed and sustained through personal experiences in families, parishes and other Catholic communities. The faith and Catholic identity of several RECs were reinvigorated through professional experiences while they were employed as teachers in Catholic schools. This reinvigoration of faith consequently influenced them to pursue the position of REC. Experiences within professional networks, the support of school principals and Catholic Education Western Australia were described by most RECs as sustaining them professionally. The majority of RECs expressed a desire to progress to more senior leadership positions and a commitment to seeking out and engaging in professional and faith formation experiences. The findings of the study may inform the policies of Catholic Education Commissions and Catholic schools in Australia, in the areas of identification, recruitment and the formation of RECs

Leadership, Competencies, and Clinical Supervision: A Mixed-Methods Study of Clinical Supervision in Recreational Therapy

Clinical supervision (CS) is important to student interns and novice professionals, as it provides guidance for competency development. However, in recreational therapy (RT), there are few requirements for a CTRS to be qualified to supervise interns. There is also minimal research regarding the effectiveness of current clinical supervisory and leadership practices in RT, or their effect on competency development in interns. Therefore, the purpose of this mixed methods study was to identify the factors of CS that predict competency development among RT interns during their 560-hour internship. Additionally, this study sought to understand the prominent leadership behaviors and competencies among clinical supervisors in RT and how those behaviors and competencies impact competency development in RT interns. Purposive sampling was used to recruit supervisor-intern dyads (N=24). Self-assessment surveys were used to measure relationship quality between each supervisor and intern pair, as well as supervisor competency and intern competency change. Intern competencies at the beginning of the internship were measured retrospectively, followed by a post-internship measure. Interns who completed the quantitative portion of the study were recruited for an individual follow up interview. Semi structured interviews were completed with 10 RT interns via Zoom video conferencing software. Regression analysis was used to determine what factors predict competency development. Results indicate that competency prior to internship and intern’s perception of relationship quality are the two strongest predictors of competency development among RT interns. Five themes emerged from the qualitative data. Qualitative reports indicate that supervisor communication style, demonstrated RT competencies, mentorship, personality, and scaffolded learning approach all contributed to intern competency development. Both quantitative and qualitative results were presented side by side in a joint display table, highlighting these themes as contributors to high-quality relationships or intern competency development. Implications for the RT profession are discussed

Recasting Commodity and Spectacle in the Indigenous Americas

Indigenous artists frequently voice concerns over the commodification of their cultures, a process acutely felt by those living with the consequences of colonialism. This timely book, which features color illustrations throughout, examines the ways in which contemporary indigenous peoples in different parts of the Americas have harnessed performance practices to resist imposed stereotypes and shape their own complex identities. Essays by leading academics and practitioners show the vibrancy of a wide array of indigenous arts and cultural events in the United States, Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, Canada, Nicaragua, Ecuador, and Belize. As well as analyzing performance idioms, the authors trace the circulation of creative products and practices as commodities, as cultural capital, and/or as heritage. Making reference to aesthetic forms, intellectual property, and political empowerment, these essays weigh the impact of music, festivities, film, photography, theater, and museum installations among diverse audiences and discuss ways in which spectacles of cultural difference are remodeled in the hands of indigenous practitioners

Transport, Technology and Ideology in the Work of Will Self

This study explores depictions of various modes of transport in the fiction and non-fiction of the author and journalist Will Self (1961- ). These modes of transport range from the mechanical (cars, planes) to the physical (walking), but the argument at the centre of this thesis is that they all form valuable metaphors when it comes to analysing the inherent link between the significant technological developments of the last century, and the mental health of both individuals and collective societies that use and come to rely on said technologies. This study argues that Self’s depictions of transport form a criticism of the implicit commercial and ideological systems that exist within these technologies, and that both transport and other developments such as social media and the internet play an insidious and active role in the ways that users experience place and time. In addition to this, the study examines the impacts that these technologies have – in Self's view – on the broader contemporary literary and cultural landscape (drawing on the influences upon and contemporaries of Self, such as J. G. Ballard, W. G Sebald and Martin Amis), and even the individual capacity for imagination. It will also argue that transcending these entrapping ideological systems is extremely complex, and that Self’s fiction is a literary counterpart to this form of complexity, through both his manipulation of language and his highly imaginative but also often disturbing subject matter. To this end, the main body of the thesis draws on close literary analysis of some of Self’s major novels and short fiction – works that more explicitly focus on transport – to demonstrate how these ideological, technological and literary complexities become an important source of literary innovation in light of what Self believes is a simplistic contemporary culture