A call for high quality early childhood education in the early years of school in Western Australia

This paper has been written in response to the growing concerns from educators of children in the early years of school (kindergarten to year 2) and university teacher educators who are experiencing first-hand a rapid increase in the formalisation of the early years of schooling in many classrooms in Western Australia (The West Australian, 2013). Concerns for the general and long term health and wellbeing of young children have surfaced in the early childhood profession as we witness increased pressure placed on improving school achievement in national literacy and numeracy tests (King & Janson, 2009; Wescombe-Down, 2013)

A call for a WA Play Strategy in Early Childhood Education and Care

In 2013, ECA WA members were invited to contribute to the development of a strategic plan that would set priorities, focus energy and resources, and work toward the core function of Early Childhood Australia: to advocate for the rights and well-being of children in early childhood education and care (ECEC). Members identified the diminishing opportunities for children (aged birth to eight years) to access quality play in these environments as a major concern necessitating it as a key priority in future planning. The vision that child-initiated and self-directed play be reinstated as a fundamental right in early education and care settings, including the early years of schooling, was similarly shared by members of other leading early childhood advocacy organisations in WA (OMEP, ECTA, EYES and the SSTUWA). Moreover, the demise of play in ECEC was considered by key stakeholder representatives (of Playgroup WA, CareWest, Family Day Care WA, Meerilinga, and Childcare Association of WA) at the ECA WA AGM (2014) during a Panel Discussion on Play. Shortly thereafter, ECA WA pledged its commitment to developing a play strategy initiative

European regulatory agenices should employ full time statisticians

No abstract available

Contextual factors among indiscriminate or larger attacks on food or water supplies, 1946-2015

This research updates previous inventories of malicious attacks on food and water to include data from 1946 through mid-2015. A systematic search of news reports, databases and previous inventories of poisoning events was undertaken. Incidents that threatened or were intended to achieve direct harm to humans, and that were either relatively large (number of victims > 4 or indiscriminate in intent or realisation were included. Agents could be chemical, biological or radio-nuclear. Reports of candidate incidents were subjected to systematic inclusion and exclusion criteria as well as validity analysis (not always clearly undertaken in previous inventories of such attacks). We summarise contextual aspects of the attacks that may be important for scenario prioritisation, modelling and defensive preparedness. Opportunity is key to most realised attacks, particularly access to dangerous agents. The most common motives and relative success rate in causing harm were very different between food and water attacks. The likelihood that people were made ill or died also varied by food/water mode, and according to motive and opportunity for delivery of the hazardous agent. Deaths and illness associated with attacks during food manufacture and prior to sale have been fewer than those in some other contexts. Valuable opportunities for food defence improvements are identified in other contexts, especially food prepared in private or community settings

Paedophiles in the community: inter-agency conflict, news leaks and the local press

This article explores the leaking of confidential information about secret Home Office plans to house convicted paedophiles within a local community (albeit inside a prison). It argues that a politics of paedophilia has emerged in which inter-agency consensus on the issue of ‘what to do’ with high-profile sex offenders has broken down. Accordingly, the article situates newspaper ‘outing’ of paedophiles in the community in relation to vigilante journalism and leaked information from official agencies. The article then presents research findings from a case study of news events set in train following a whistle-blowing reaction by Prison Officers’ Association officials to Home Office plans. Drawing from a corpus of 10 interviews with journalists and key protagonists in the story, the article discusses both the dynamics of whistle blowing about paedophiles and also what happens after the whistle has blown

A cross-sectional study of physical activity and sedentary behaviours in a Caribbean population: combining objective and questionnaire data to guide future interventions

BACKGROUND: Current understanding of population physical activity (PA) levels and sedentary behaviour in developing countries is limited, and based primarily on self-report. We described PA levels using objective and self-report methods in a developing country population. METHODS: PA was assessed in a cross-sectional, representative sample of the population of Barbados (25-54 years), using a validated questionnaire (RPAQ) and individually calibrated combined heart rate and movement sensing monitors. The RPAQ collects information on recalled activity in 4 domains: home, work, transport, and leisure. Physical inactivity was defined according to World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines; sedentary lifestyle was defined as being sedentary for 8 h or more daily; PA overestimation was defined as perceiving activity to be sufficient, when classified as 'inactive' by objective measurement. RESULTS: According to objective estimates, 90.5 % (95 % CI: 83.3,94.7) of women and 58.9 % (48.4,68.7) of men did not accumulate sufficient activity to meet WHO minimum recommendations. Overall, 50.7 % (43.3,58.1) of the population was sedentary for 8 h or more each day, and 60.1 % (52.8,66.9) overestimated their activity levels. The prevalence of inactivity was underestimated by self-report in both genders by 28 percentage points (95 % CI: 18,38), but the accuracy of reporting differed by age group, education level, occupational grade, and overweight/obesity status. Low PA was greater in more socially privileged groups: higher educational level and higher occupational grade were both associated with less objectively measured PA and more sedentary time. Variation in domain-specific self-reported physical activity energy expenditure (PAEE) by educational attainment was observed: higher education level was associated with more leisure activity and less occupational activity. Occupational PA was the main driver of PAEE for women and men according to self-report, contributing 57 % (95 % CI: 52,61). The most popular leisure activities for both genders were walking and gardening. CONCLUSIONS: The use of both objective and self-report methods to assess PA and sedentary behaviour provides important complementary information to guide public health programmes. Our results emphasize the urgent need to increase PA and reduce sedentary time in this developing country population. Women and those with higher social economic position are particularly at risk from low levels of physical activity

A Trialectic Framework for Large Group Processes in Educational Action Research: The Case of Academic Development for Syrian Academics in Exile

The term ‘large group process’ (LGP) refers to a range of participatory approaches to community engagement, geared towards exploring and/or identifying solutions to shared issues and problems, and planning change. Primarily used for applied purposes, they can be also used as a method of inductive inquiry in social research, particularly within action research projects. In this methodological paper I outline and critically evaluate an LGP design implemented within an action research project focused on the needs of Syrian academics in exile. The LGP elicited multi-level data from a geographically-dispersed community, while simultaneously constituting a relational learning experience and community action event for the participant population, and therefore aligned with the threefold aims of educational action research. The paper makes three significant contributions: a model for LGP design that elicits participants’ collective and individual meaning frames; a trialectic framework for ensuring that the research, action and learning aspects of educational action research projects are mutually-supporting; and an accompanying orientation to researcher-participant relationships that may help to enhance the epistemological validity, catalytic validity and ethical foundations of projects

Does R&D, human capital and FDI matter for TFP in OECD countries?

This study investigates the interplay between research and development (R&D), human capital (HC), foreign direct investment (FDI) and total factor productivity (TFP) in OECD countries. We divide the sample into two sub-groups; the European and the non-European states so as to account for underlying country heterogeneity. The analysis follows a panel data approach over the period 1995–2015, taking into account the modelling on non-stationarity, long-run relationships and short-run dynamics with a panel VAR. Both R&D and HC have a positive effect on TFP, whilst FDI has a positive and significant effect only in the case of non-European countries. Moreover, the contribution of R&D is higher than that of HC and FDI in all cases. Thus, based on these findings, policymakers should design and implement policies to increase resources invested in R&D, with a consistent ongoing spending review, to attract foreign direct investment, especially for the majority of the European and some of the non-European countries and to improve education system on a more productive innovation and research base