Teachers’ perceptions of the impact of COVID-19 on writing instruction in Australia

Education interruption can influence educational outcomes for students, particularly those already experiencing disadvantage. Little is known about how education interruption caused by COVID-19 has influenced the literacy learning of Australian students. This article provides insights into the impact of COVID-19 related education interruption on writing instruction of primary school aged children from the perspectives of their teachers. Drawing on data from a single-stage mixed-methods survey tool, it explores extent of perception of an impact of COVID-19 writing instruction in Australia, as well as capturing data on the nature of this perceived impact. As expected, the COVID-19 pandemic had an impact on writing instruction in the majority of cases, with impact typically perceived to be negative, though for some respondents, an unexpected benefit of the disruption was the collaborative response of educators and education systems. The diverse facets of the nature of this perceived impact were identified by respondents, some of which were related to context and home affordances, with findings highlighting how uneven levels of parental and technological resourcing at home can support or impede student learning of writing skills. The findings can be drawn upon to mitigate barriers to the teaching of writing during times of education interruption

The Development and Validation of the Thai-Translated Irrational Performance Beliefs Inventory (T-iPBI)

© 2018, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature. One of the most commonly employed cognitive-behavioural approaches to psychotherapy is rational-emotive behaviour therapy, but researchers have been troubled by some of the limitations of irrational beliefs psychometrics. As a result, Turner et al. (Eur J Psychol Assess 34:174–180, 2018a. https://doi.org/10.1027/1015-5759/a000314) developed the Irrational Performance Beliefs Inventory (iPBI), a novel measure of irrational beliefs for use within performance domains. However, the linguistic and cross-cultural adaptation of the iPBI into other languages is necessary for its multinational and multicultural use. The purpose of this paper is to develop the Thai-translated version of the iPBI (T-iPBI) and examine the validity and reliability of the T-iPBI. Data retrieved from 166 participants were analysed using SPSS and AMOS software packages. Thirty-three participants completed two follow-up T-iPBI measurements (1- and 3-week repeat assessment). After the linguistic and cross-cultural adaptation processes, the T-iPBI demonstrated excellent levels of reliability, with internal consistency and test–retest reliability, as well as construct, concurrent, and predictive validity. The current findings indicate that the 20-item T-iPBI can be used as a self-assessment instrument to evaluate individual’s irrational performance beliefs in a Thai population. We also highlight the implications of this study and suggest a variety of future research directions that stem from the results

Should Google Scholar be used for benchmarking against the professoriate in education?

In the neoliberal environment of contemporary academia, an individual’s research rankings and outputs can shape their career security and progression. When applying for ongoing employment and promotional opportunities, academics may benchmark their performance against that of superior colleagues to demonstrate their performance in relation to their discipline. The H-index and citation rates are commonly used to quantify the value of an academic’s work, and they can be used comparatively for benchmarking purposes. The focus of this paper is to critically consider if Google Scholar be used for benchmarking against the professoriate in education, by weighting up issues of data reliability and participation. The Google Scholar profiles of full professors at top ranked universities in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States of America are analysed to explore how widespread Google Scholar use is in the education professoriate. Quartiles of impact are established in relation to H-index, with exploration of how gender is distributed across these quartiles. Limitations of using Google Scholar data are highlighted through a taxonomy of quality confounders, and the utility of Google Scholar as a legitimate tool for benchmarking against the professoriate in education is strongly challenged. As metrics continue to rise in their importance for academics’ job security and promotional prospects, reliance on metrics of dubious quality and uneven participation must be questioned

Does organisational culture affect dysfunctional behaviour in information system security?

Information system (IS) security incidents occur, in part, because employees undermine security policy. While existing studies suggest organisational culture influences employee behaviour in ways that can comprise IS security, examining organisational culture as a single component, or investigating only one dimension of culture, can put the discipline at harm. This is because organisational culture is a conjugation of multifaceted collective beliefs that materialises in actions and artefacts. Investigating organisational culture at only its higher order level can mask dimensional effects of culture at its lower order factors. This study provides additional insight into the body of knowledge in IS security by examining organisational culture at its higher order and at its dimensions in order to investigate how these dimensions play their roles in the realm of IS security noncompliance and intentional violations

The influence of access to eReaders, computers and mobile phones on children's book reading frequency

Regular recreational book reading is a practice that confers substantial educative benefit. However, not all book types may be equally beneficial, with paper book reading more strongly associated with literacy benefit than screen-based reading at this stage, and a paucity of research in this area. While children in developed countries are gaining ever-increasing levels of access to devices at home, relatively little is known about the influence of access to devices with eReading capability, such as Kindles, iPads, computers and mobile phones, on young children's reading behaviours, and the extent to which these devices are used for reading purposes when access is available. Young people are gaining increasing access to devices through school-promoted programs; parents face aggressive marketing to stay abreast of educational technologies at home; and schools and libraries are increasingly their eBook collections, often at the expense of paper book collections. Data from the 997 children who participated in the 2016 Western Australian Study in Children's Book Reading were analysed to determine children's level of access to devices with eReading capability, and their frequency of use of these devices in relation to their recreational book reading frequency. Respondents were found to generally underutilise devices for reading purposes, even when they were daily book readers. In addition, access to mobile phones was associated with reading infrequency. It was also found that reading frequency was less when children had access to a greater range of these devices

Empowering parents to encourage children to read beyond the early years

Enjoyment of reading books is related to reading proficiency, and fostering students’ enjoyment of reading is imperative to support continued reading engagement. However, not all students understand that reading is important, and not all students are regularly engaged in recreational reading. Children typically read for pleasure less often as they age, leading researchers to seek effective ways that social influences can support them to be lifelong readers beyond the early years. Parents can play an important role in communicating the continued importance of reading and fostering positive attitudes toward reading. However, after independent reading skill acquisition, parents may become a less potent encouraging and supportive force. The authors explore older students’ experiences of both independent and shared reading and their perception of parental support, involvement, and modeling to highlight potential roles that parental figures can play in reading beyond the early years

Children’s perceptions of the importance and value of reading

Fostering children’s engagement in regular recreational reading beyond independent skill acquisition is beneficial to promote continued literacy engagement. Regular recreational reading is associated with both literacy skill acquisition and maintenance across the life span. Children’s perceptions of the importance and value of reading can influence their motivation to read. However, it is not currently known if children continue to perceive the value of reading beyond the period of independent reading skill acquisition. Findings from a sample of 997 older elementary children indicate that some children may not recognise the value of reading beyond independent reading skill acquisition. This is particularly significant, as children who valued the practice of reading read with greater frequency. In addition, children’s subjective task valuing of reading was revealed through the scope of benefits they associated with engagement in the practice, which influenced their conceptualisation of its value. These findings have implications for future educational reading interventions, as fostering greater valuing of regular reading may enhance children’s reading engagement, with valuing of reading found to be an important component of children’s reading motivation

Accountability via social and financial performance of the hospitality sector: The role of market orientation

Purpose This study aims to examine the three dimensions of market orientation, namely, customer orientation, competitor orientation and inter-function coordination, which influence the accountability in the financial and social performance of tourism operators in large touristic cities. Design/methodology/approach In total, 95 usable questionnaires as the required data were collected from the top managers of four- and five-star hotels in Iran. Findings Partial least squares (PLS) results confirm that customer orientation and inter-function coordination influence both the financial and social performance of the hospitality sector yet reveal that competitor orientation has no significant relationship with social performance. Research limitations/implications These findings not only highlight the compatibility of PLS with various forms of statistical analyzes but also furthers the current understanding of hospitality networks in megacity economies, where literature are scarce. Practical implications The findings of this study can help policymakers, tourism associations and practitioners enhance the accountability and sustainable financial and social performance of the hospitality industry in megacities. This study proposes some unique measurements for the social and financial performance of the hospitality sectors. Originality/value The paper states some new measurements for the social performance of the hospitality sectors. In addition, measuring the impacts of market orientation on the financial and social aspects of hotels is totally unique

Teachers’ perceptions of their preparedness for supporting struggling literacy learners in secondary English classrooms

The initial and ongoing professional education of teachers to prepare them to support students’ literacy development warrants research attention. The importance of meeting the needs of struggling literacy learners in secondary school does not diminish as students move through the years of schooling. This paper reports on data from the 2019 Supporting Struggling Secondary Literacy Learners mixed-methods project, which sought to explore the challenges of meeting the needs of struggling literacy learners in Australian secondary schooling, from the perspectives of teachers of mainstream English classrooms. Adequacy of initial teacher education to support struggling literacy learners seems to have been low for the majority of teachers, and for both recent and earlier graduates. Where gaps were indicated, qualitative data provided valuable insights. Findings can be used to inform initial teacher education programmes and ongoing professional development opportunities, to ensure that such learning experiences are reflective of current teacher needs

Integrated reporting quality and corporate tax avoidance practices in South Africa’s listed companies

Purpose This study aims to examine the relationship between integrated reporting (IR) quality and corporate tax avoidance (CTA). IR is an emerging reporting mechanism, while CTA practices are considered a hindrance to inclusive and sustainable growth. The study also assesses the moderating role of firm complexity on the IR-CTA relationship. Additionally, this study also envisages that CTA practices are not static. Hence, it also analyses the IR-CTA relationship across different intensity levels of CTA practices. The study focusses on listed companies in South Africa, the only country that has mandated IR practice so far. Design/methodology/approach Ordinary least square and quantile regressions are used to analyse archival and content analysis data for firms listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange from 2011 to 2017. Findings This study finds that IR quality negatively associates firms CTA practices. It further concludes that although firms’ transparency level increases due to IR quality, firm complexity reduces the significant negative relationship between IR and CTA practices. The findings also indicate that the IR-CTA relationship is not constant but instead differs across the CTA quantiles. At aggressive levels of CTA, no relationship is established between IR quality and firms’ CTA practices. Practical implications The findings provide a useful and more detailed description of the relationship between information quality and CTA practice, focussing on IR, an emerging reporting mechanism that is considered innovative and transparent. Social implications Considering the IR-CTA relationship found in this study, IR quality implementation may indirectly contribute to attaining sustainable development goals by reducing CTA practices. Originality/value This study examines the relationship between reporting quality and firms’ CTA practices from the perspectives of an emerging reporting mechanism, with a focus on South Africa, the only country that has mandated IR practice. Furthermore, the distributional mean effects of IR quality on firms’ CTA practices explored in this study extend beyond the usual IR-CTA relationship