Judith MacCallum

This study examines professional standards policy documents for teachers and school leaders in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States of America to ascertain where and how the concepts of wellbeing and resilience are addressed and enacted within each nation’s policy. Eight policy documents comprising four professional standards documents for teachers and four professional standards documents for school leaders from the four countries were selected and analysed using content and critical discourse analysis. The documents were examined through keyword search and then analysed using the policy threads framework comprising People, Place, Philosophy, Process and Power. Analysis revealed that teaching professional standards across the four nations explicitly address the wellbeing and resilience of students and school leaders but are silent on the wellbeing and resilience of teachers. Based on the findings, we propose a recalibration of core policy documents and teaching standards that explicitly address the wellbeing and resilience of teachers, particularly given the increased burden and violence teachers face in the workplace.

This study contributes to the research in Early Childhood Education for Sustainability (ECEfS) by exploring a case study of two Western Australian early childhood education classes who welcomed an Indigenous Elder to share their expertise about the native plants in the schools’ bush space. The findings from this study demonstrate the impact Indigenous perspectives had on teacher’s and children’s relationship with the bush and the development of their botanical literacies. Indigenous peoples in Australia, and across the world have botanical practices that have existed for tens of thousands of years. This study acknowledges botany as a settler colonial practice and contemplates changes to botanical practices and pedagogies that include Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing.

This longitudinal qualitative research is framed within a sociocultural perspective and examines experienced teachers and their mentor as they changed their practice. The data, sourced from three teacher focus groups, email correspondence and the mentor's reflections are analysed using Rogoff's personal, interpersonal and institutional/community planes. This small-scale study gives insights into the complex nature of professional learning, particularly when teachers are challenging the status quo which creates tensions that need to be addressed. Teachers had real concerns about time to teach the curriculum and complete the research activities. They worried about ‘fitting in’ with colleagues and parent perceptions. A collaborative self-development framework is advocated as a culturally appropriate way of for teachers to continue to learn during their careers, encourage risk taking and innovation.

This paper examines myths and misconceptions about university student volunteering. Our study explored the experiences of students, host organisations and universities participating in volunteering in Australia, identify good practice, and discover barriers to success. A qualitative approach involved 60 semi-structured interviews with stakeholders. Students were often seen as being energetic, having flexible time and having skills associated with their studies. Some organisations, however, viewed students as unreliable, hard to manage and requiring specific programs. Some hosts were viewed as not valuing student volunteers, or not having the capacity to supervise. These perceptions were found to be nuanced. Erroneous myths were seen to develop from a single event, later confirmed by a ‘related’ event; in scenarios with multiple players, motivations, and complexities. The potential for misconceptions to undermine the true value of student volunteering for all stakeholders is ameliorated when there is common understanding, clear expectation setting, and ongoing dialogue.

Technological developments allow students to access visual information from digital devices as small as phones or as large as whiteboards. Education technology research and policy typically address the software product, yet little research has focused on optimal viewing parameters or the impact it has on student users. Students with light sensitivity (migraine, concussion) potentially face a barrier with e-learning activities in the classroom. This review aimed to identify points of convergence and inconsistency across various literature sources containing guidelines for digital media use by students in schools. Inconsistencies were found between academic, manufacturer and school guidelines. Six parameters were identified for modification on behalf of students with light sensitivity relating to image colour, image flash frequency, duration of viewing, luminance and environmental lighting – both natural and artificial. The findings highlight the need for revision of school policies regarding digital learning environments and awareness raising to support inclusive access and use by students with light sensitivity.

University student volunteering is prevalent in Western countries, but has rarely been critically evaluated by researchers. Little is known about the different ways in which student volunteer programmes are organised. Using a matrix constructed from the publicly available websites of all Australian universities, and 60 interviews with key stakeholders at six universities, this paper identifies nine different models of student volunteer programmes. The models show the different ways in which universities, faculty and students are involved in organising student volunteer programmes. These nine models are presented in a continuum of increasing direct management by universities. In addition to identifying the models, the analysis revealed trends in student volunteering, particularly the way that Australian universities are packaging student volunteering as part of their service learning, leadership or employability agendas. The continuum facilitates a common language and understanding of university student volunteering, leading to cross-disciplinary recognition of the different models available.

With the trend of student mobility, talented individuals have been pursuing doctoral education opportunities abroad. Prior research addressed specific aspects or challenges of doing a PhD in a cross-cultural context, leaving a need to understand the nature of students’ experiences from a holistic perspective. To address the need, this study develops a framework that conceptualises an international doctoral student’s research, personal, and social worlds as multi-worlds, highlighting transitions across the worlds that make a difference in student experiences. It also structures the continuous, interactive, and situative nature of study abroad as a three-dimensional space to encompass the multi-worlds and transitions across and over time. Illustrated by one international student’s in-depth narrative inquiry, this framework offers both theoretical insights and practical approaches to the comprehensive understanding of PhD abroad experiences.

The research examines Indonesian vocational high school teachers’ perceptions of continuing professional development (CPD) in the context of changing policies regarding teacher CPD. Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological model is used as the conceptual framework. Six accounting teachers interviewed understood CPD as an activity for teachers’ improvement, but in different ways. They perceived CPD as teacher performance assessment and government regulation (exosystem), personal development activities (individual), and some considered religious values when they described CPD. These teachers regarded their profession as a devotion to God and CPD as part of their duty and responsibility as obedient persons (interactional factors between individual and macrosystem). Civil servant teachers participated in more structured CPD compared with their non-civil servant peers as CPD activities are more closely related to promotion. Teachers showed they have interest and capacity to further develop their CPD but need support to develop their professionalism through microsystem and exosystem factors.

In the context of internationalization, this longitudinal qualitative study explores the diverse and challenging experiences of Chinese international doctoral students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The endeavor is to identify factors that facilitate or constrain their successful completion of a PhD abroad over time. By incorporating a three-dimensional multi-world conceptual framework that highlights the relationship between an individual’s research, personal, and social worlds, this study identified six patterns of congruence or difference across the worlds and the corresponding transitions, illustrated with narratives for each pattern. Evidence shows that congruence of an individual’s multi-worlds facilitates, but difference does not necessarily mean constraint when differences are respected, understood, and accommodated. Rather, it is how the transitions are negotiated that is important for the success of transnational and transcultural PhD study. This article contributes a conceptual framework, empirical evidence, and practical implications to the understanding of doctoral study abroad experiences.

In his writing on pedology from 1928 to 1931, Vygotsky (1998) discusses how the social environment provides the context and source for human development. During the almost century since, Vygotsky’s ideas have developed to inform our understanding of groups and institutions through Cultural Historical Activity Theory. In this paper we examine the evolution of social structures which have guided development for a community of Vygotskian scholars in the Asia Pacific region over the past two decades and how it has responded to the present crisis. In this time of crisis, where the movement has been from face-to-face to online interaction, our experience of moving between intermittent online to sustained face-to-face meeting, refracted through our understandings of Vygotsky, can inform not only present experience but also help us to think about what new structures and relationships can be created as we move beyond crisis.