Exploring reasons why Australian senior secondary students do not enrol in higher-level mathematics courses

In this research paper, I present the reasons why senior secondary students elect not to enrol in a higher mathematics course. All Year 11 and Year 12 mathematics students within Western Australian secondary schools were invited to participate in an online survey comprised chiefly of qualitative items. The key reasons espoused by students include an expressed dissatisfaction with mathematics, the opinion that there are other more viable courses of study to pursue, and that the Australian Tertiary Admissions Ranking (ATAR) can be maximised by taking a lower mathematics course. In addition, student testimony suggests that there are few incentives offered for undertaking a higher mathematics course

Proof by mathematical induction: Professional practice for secondary teachers

Mathematical induction is a proof technique that can be applied to establish the veracity of mathematical statements. This professional practice paper offers insight into mathematical induction as it pertains to the Australian Curriculum: Mathematics (ACMSM065, ACMSM066) and implications for how secondary teachers might approach this technique with students. In particular, literature on proof—and specifically, mathematical induction—will be presented, and several worked examples will outline the key steps involved in solving problems. After various teaching and learning caveats have been explored, the paper will conclude with some mathematical induction example problems that can be used in the secondary classroom

‘Who’s on My Side?’ In what ways can creativity be used to discover what young people with behavioural, social and emotional difficulties think of the multi-agency services they receive? (Sharing our experience, Practitioner-led research 2008-2009; PLR0809/056)

In what ways can creativity be used to discover what young people with behavioural, social and emotional difficulties think of the multi-agency services they receive? The research investigates the effectiveness of using creativity as a catalyst for successful consultation with young people with behavioural, social and emotional difficulties. The aims of the research were to explore what the sample group thought of the integrated workings of the multi-agency services they received. The sample group consisted of eight young people from CYCES and the research encompassed the following areas: boundaries and clarity of purpose; confidentiality and organizational limitations; and informed consent. CYCES is a service delivered and maintained by The Together Trust and is for eight to 16 year olds with emotional, social and behavioural difficulties. The Together Trust is a charitable organization (established in 1870) that schools and homes young people in the care service. Each pupil received a pack of toy soldiers. One soldier represented the pupil and the rest represented the professional adults involved in their lives, both past and present. They were asked to choose which soldiers they felt were on their side and which were not. They were then asked to discuss their choices. Film was used as my method of recording and presenting data and involved recording the sessions with the young people and analysing the information obtained. The research discovered several important findings: • Having a physical representation of services allowed pupils to make and challenge connections in a way conversation alone would not. • There is a need for appropriate youth activities and recreational services for young people. The integration of home and school services at CYCES is successful. Giving young people responsibility for other young people promotes greater understanding and betterment of children’s services. In times of change, children need services the most

Children and citizenship

As an adjunct to the National Evaluation of On Track the Home Office Commissioned this qualitative research addressing the question of citizenship. The study included on children and young people from 7-15 years old, exploring their understandings of social and moral responsibility, community involvement, and political literacy. These works demonstrated the sophisticated reasoning and understanding of young children, the importance to them of perceived unfairness in the enforcement of rules, somewhere safe to play or ‘hang out’, and their cynicism about national and local politics. The results were published as a Home Office Development and Practice Report

Book Review: Paul Collins, \u3cem\u3eBelievers: Does Australian Catholicism Have a Future?\u3c/em\u3e, University of New South Wales Press, 2008

The text Believers: Does Australian Catholicism Have a Future? explores the historical, contemporary, and present role of Roman Catholicism within Australian society. Central to six engaging, challenging, and perhaps controversial chapters is the question: “Is the Church in a state of decline within Australia?” In his book Paul Collins highlights certain aspects of Australian culture and society that have flourished due to the influence of the Church, and critically examines some factors attributed to the apparent “failure” of Catholicism to permeate this same culture fully. Despite his criticism of the localized Church, the author remains optimistic for the future of Roman Catholicism in Australia

The trailing spouse : a qualitative study looking into the expectations and reality of expatriate life in Shanghai, China : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University

This exploratory study looks at the experiences of eleven female trailing spouses living as expatriates in Shanghai, China. Semi structured interviews were conducted and questions centred around expectations of life as a trailing spouse in Shanghai as compared with their real life experiences. Grounded theory was used to analyse the data and identified five major themes to the study; Identity, Control, Relationships, Culture and Coping Mechanisms. Analysis found that many accompanying spouses were dissatisfied with the support given by the company during the relocation process. It was felt that companies could significantly improve on their procedures and processes by investing more time and money into their staff before sending them overseas. Analysis also showed that some female trailing spouses experience a loss in identity, self-esteem and self-confidence during the initial stages of relocating. Without suitable support and information these feelings can linger and be the cause of premature repatriation for the family. Learning the local language, having a purpose during the stay and getting involved with social groups aided in minimising this identity crisis and seems to play an invaluable role in successful adjustment in a foreign environment. This study contributes to highlighting the complexity of living abroad and the importance organisations should place on considering the spouse and family members when relocating employees

Costs of Interchange: A Review of the Literature.

Interchange within mode influences the demand for that mode through the effect it has on time spent waiting, time spent transferring between vehicles and the inconvenience and risks involved, whilst interchange between modes has additional implications in terms of information provision, through ticketing and co-ordination. The valuation and behavioural impact of each of these factors will vary with an individual’s socio-economic and trip characteristics as well as with the precise features of the interchange. A reduction in the costs of interchange brought about by an improvement to any of the above factors will lead to increasingly ‘seamless journeys’ and such benefits which must be quantified. Indeed, this issue has been identified as an area of key importance in the Government’s Transport White Paper (DETR, 1998a) which states: Quick and easy interchange is essential to compete with the convenience of car use. This message was reiterated by the draft guidance for Local Transport Plans (DETR, 1998b), which called for: more through-ticketing, better connections and co-ordination of services, wider availability of information and improved waiting facilities. Rather than being perceived simply as a barrier to travel, quality interchange is now also being regarded as an opportunity to create new journey opportunities. A recent report on the subject of interchange (Colin Buchanan and Partners, 1998) claimed that : It will become more sensible and economic to base public transport networks around the concept of interchange rather than the alternative of trying to avoid it. whilst in response to the diffuse travel patterns made possible by increased car availability, CIT (1998) commented: people should readily be able to complete a myriad of journeys by changing services (and modes) if a through facility is not available. Ease of interchange should be something we take for granted. Regardless of the precise direction in which transport policy and public transport provision develop, practical constraints and the fact that the most heavily trafficked routes tend to have through services places limitations on the extent to which the need to interchange can be reduced whilst no matter how fully integrated different modes of transport are the need to transfer between them cannot be removed. In contrast, the need to change would inevitably increase with the adoption of a practice of building networks around interchange to create new journey opportunities. However, there is considerable scope to improve existing interchange situations or to design new ones which impose minimum costs. Although previous empirical research has focused on the need to interchange or not, and this remains important, it is essential that research is also directed at improvements which facilitate interchange.The aims of this study, as set out in the terms of reference, are centred around the demand side response to interchange rather than the technical supply side issues relating to improving interchange and integration which have been covered in other studies (Colin Buchanan and Partners, 1998; CIT, 1998). The objectives are: to explore the extent to which the reality and perception of interchange deters public transport use, absolutely and in relation to other deterrents to investigate how public transport users perceive interchange; how they make choices and trade-offs in travel cost and time and the influence of interchange attributes (e.g. information, through ticketing) on those choices to assess which components of interchange act as the greatest deterrent to travel to investigate the extent to which interchange penalties vary according to journey purpose, distance and time of travel (or other factors)

Are there any winners in high-stakes mathematics testing? A qualitative case study exploring student, parent and teacher attitudes towards NAPLAN numeracy tests in years 3 and 5

Through the annual implementaion of National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN), testing of mathematical standards across Australia invokes questions about the impact that high-stakes testing has for the teaching and learning of mathematics. According to recent studies on high-stakes testing, the role of the teacher is instrumental in children\u27s achievement results. The purpose of this case study is to explore perspectives about NAPLAN from key participants at one Western Australian Primary School, namely: students, teachers, and parents. The paper will report on the extent to which instructional pedagogy at one school has been affected by the implementation of NAPLAN testing and subsequent publication of results. Consistent with a phenomenological perspective, the qualitative data for this investigation were collected through semi-structured interviews and field notes. These data offered particular insights into how key participants viewed the impact of NAPLAN testing has had on the instructional pedagogy in Year 3 and Year 5 classrooms

Readiness to teach secondary mathematics: A study of pre-service mathematics teachers\u27 self-perceptions

This study evaluated pre-service teachers’ (PSMTs) perceptions of their own readiness to teach secondary mathematics. The study was conducted at an Australian university across two campuses, in different states. Specifically, PSMTs’ perceptions of their preparedness were explored in terms of mathematical content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, and mathematical knowledge for teaching. Findings indicate that while the majority of participants feel that they have the requisite content knowledge to confidently teach Lower School secondary mathematics, further training is required to develop their content and pedagogical knowledge, especially for upper secondary mathematics