Grade Repetition in Queensland State Prep Classes

An active lifestyle is a vital component of any successful preventative health strategy. Physical activity in Queensland (QLD) State schools is traditionally territorialized in the Key Learning Area (KLA) of Health and Physical Education (HPE) and school sport. The introduction of Smart Moves in QLD State schools is recognised as an ecological approach to obesity prevention that aspires to increase students' physical activity levels. This study examines the ways in which Smart Moves aims to de-territorialize health promotion and regular physical activity from its traditional settings and distributes it across broadened aspects of the curriculum in QLD State schools. Deleuzo-Guattarian post-disciplinary social theory provides a methodological lens for this document-based project. Smart Moves policy and implementation guidelines are analysed as essential components of the Smart Moves assemblage to illuminate its affective potential to increase the quality and quantity of physical activity in curriculum time. It is argued that Smart Moves opens avenues for physical activity to be deterritorialized from existing forms in HPE and school sport. However, lax school and teacher accountability controls do not ensure holistic implementation of Smart Moves. Thus, it is inferred that the lack of stringent implementation and accountability controls may limit Smart Moves affective capacity to connect with the school administrators, teachers, and ultimately students who stand to benefit significantly from the initiative.

Concentrating efforts on low-performing schools: Impact estimates from a quasi-experimental design

Grade repetition has been a controversial educational decision consisting of requiring students to remain at the same grade level for an additional school year. During the COVID-19 pandemic, in some countries where grade repetition rates are usually high, a notable decrease in these rates was observed. This study investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on teachers’ grade repetition beliefs and practices. Additionally, it examines the effect of professional development in assessment literacy on these beliefs and practices. Using data from two independent samples collected through two survey questionnaires before and after the COVID-19 pandemic, where a portion of surveyed teachers participated in an assessment literacy professional development programme, we found that while the pandemic had minimal influence on teachers’ grade repetition beliefs, professional development had a significant effect: Grade repetition beliefs were not affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, although the trend towards reducing the practice of grade repetition was positively influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic. Hence, both grade repetition beliefs and practices were positively influenced by professional development in assessment literacy. The results are consistent with the literature and institutional statistical indicators.

Grade Repetition Risk for Indigenous Students in Early Schooling in Queensland, Australia

Schooling is an important facet of the basic needs approach to development. Higher education has been shown to influence a decrease in both the infant mortality rate and the fertility rate, and furthermore appears to influence an individual's access to more remunerative employment. The provision of schools for black people in Natal by the Department of Education and Training (DET) is still far from adequate for all children of school‐going age. Moreover, in many areas, particularly rural areas and for levels above Junior primary, distances are too great for the children readily to be able to attend school. Particular problems which require confronting are farm schools (the location of which is not determined by DET and which are not always open to all neighbouring children): the inadequacy of secondary schooling in many census districts and in most rural areas; and the spatial fragmentation of Natal KwaZulu.

Writing pedagogy in the early years: A study of teacher beliefs, classroom practices and influences

Previous research has produced conflicting results regarding the effects of season of birth and age-position on cognitive attainments. In Northern Ireland the school year divides the summer season into two providing an opportunity to evaluate the relative contribution of season of birth and age-position effects. To investigate the relationship between attainment in literacy skills and month of birth for primary and secondary school pupils and to determine the relationship between motor skills and month of birth in primary school pupils. One thousand one hundred and twenty four primary school pupils participated, and results for key stage 3 (KS3) English and GCSE English Language, for 3,493 Year 10 and 3,697 Year 12 secondary school pupils, respectively, were obtained. Primary school pupils were individually assessed using standardised reading and spelling tests, as well as tests of motor skill. They were also assessed using a standardised group reading test in their class groups. For the secondary school pupils, the results for two year cohorts, in KS3 English and GCSE English language, respectively, were analysed. For the primary school pupils there was evidence of both a season of birth and an age-position effect on all of the cognitive measures, particularly in the early years of schooling. There was, also, evidence of a significant age-position effect at both KS3 and GCSE in favour of the older pupils. For the younger primary school pupils there was evidence of significant age-position effects on both motor measures. The findings from the present study suggest that month of birth may be related to both season of birth and age-position effects. These effects may be compounded, particularly in the early years of primary school, when summer born children are youngest in their year, as in England. In Northern Ireland, age-position effects are also evident in secondary school public examination results, which may have implications for long-term life choices.

This article explores country-by-country differences in academic performance and attitudes towards school between students who repeated a grade in primary school, in secondary school or never repeated a grade. The analyses use PISA 2009 for 30 countries in which a relatively high proportion of students repeated a grade before the age of 15. The comparisons across countries and the examination of models of both academic and non-academic performance contribute to shed some light on the consequences of repeating a grade for students. The estimated associations suggest that in most countries examined, at the age of 15, students who repeated a grade in secondary school tend to perform better academically than do students who repeated a grade in primary school, but worse than non-repeaters. In terms of the measure of behavioural performance chosen for this analysis, attitudes towards school, in the majority of countries, non-repeaters tend to report more positive attitudes towards schools than primary and secondary-school repeaters, but the comparison between repeaters in primary and secondary schools shows less consistent patterns across countries. These differences are observed after accounting for background characteristics of the students and exploring some differential relationships between grade repetition and education outcomes according to student characteristics. The achievement and behavioural gaps among groups of repeaters may reflect differences in the development of academic and behavioural skills over the school years, as well as differences in the way these groups of students are treated across different educational systems.

The oil and gas industry is prone to skills shortages resulting from financial cycles, as is the case with many other industry sectors. Bridging the gap in indigenous employment is in part a solution to this problem and in the Northern Territory this has become easier due to innovative developments and smart partnerships. When smart partnerships are formed that involve like-minded organisations, successful employment outcomes are inevitable. Partnerships, involving APPEA, Industries Services Training Pty Ltd (IST), the Australian Government through the National Shills Shortage Strategy (NSSS), plus the Structured Training and Employment Program—Employment Related Services (STEP ERS), which are funded through the Department of Employment Education and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) and the Department of Education and Training (DET) in the Northern Territory, have provided funding for Indigenous pre—employment training programs that are leading to positive employment outcomes in the oil and gas Industry. The model developed and implemented in the Northern Territory by IST ensures Indigenous employment outcomes follow the delivery of the Indigenous pre-employment training programs. Key factors include: Indigenous mentors; culturally appropriate trainers; Monitoring employment activities; and, Specialist project management from APPEA and IST. Methodologies and strategies employed by various partners ensure employment outcomes through the cooperation of principal subcontractors who require staff and who can service contracts let by major APPEA members. Of the 18 Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander participants who commenced the eight-week program in 2008, 16 graduates received their nationally recognised Statements of Attainment at the graduation ceremony held at the Darwin Convention Centre in October 2008. There were six female graduates of the program. Competencies included first aid, dogging, safe working at heights and OHS including risk and hazard analysis training. You may ask yourself why these courses were so successful when many others have failed. The presentation will outline difficulties; successful methodologies and strategies used by IST to ensure employment outcomes are achieved. These strategies include full-time Indigenous mentors throughout the course plus culturally appropriate trainers, smart recruitment strategies, dedicated employment service brokers soliciting employment opportunities, industry site visits, industry guest speakers and the commitment of Governments and APPEA. As a result of the successes to date, the relevant government departments have committed to further courses throughout 2009.

Discourse competence, which entails the interrelatedness of concepts in sentences in spoken and written language, is essential in the development of learners' receptive and productive English skills. Learners with excellent discourse competency skills can better grasp spoken and written texts on a local and global level. The main objective of this paper was to investigate the impact of discourse competence in grade 11 English First Additional Language (EFAL) learners’ writing skills. Halliday and Hassan’s Model of Evaluation framework, which advocates that the primary means of linking texts in discourse is through lexical cohesion, underpinned this study. This paper adopted an interpretivist paradigm. A qualitative approach was employed and a case study design was used to gather data from 40 purposely selected grade 11 learners. Document analysis was used. Findings indicated that (i) restricted knowledge of lexicon, (ii) inadequate knowledge about reiteration and collocation, and (iii) insufficient knowledge about appropriate use of cohesive and coherent devices, were among the established reasons for learners’ writing deficiencies. This paper recommends that essay writing skills can best be achieved through the implementation of the proposed recent language teaching methods such as the Text-based Approach, which uses texts to teach language structures and writing skills. The Department of Education should monitor the development of writing skills from the learners’ earliest years of schooling.

IntroductionLiteracy is fundamental for educational achievement, and in the longer term contributes substantially to a range of life skills. Literacy difficulties during the early years of school are associated with...

In this paper, a maintenance prediction model is developed for school building assets using a large data set provided by the Queensland Department of Education and Training (DET). DET data on the asset condition, historical maintenance expenditure, and asset characteristics, was analyzed to evaluate which characteristics affect the maintenance needs of the school assets. The condition of the assets was quantified using data on the estimated maintenance backlog. Using statistical methods, models for key building element groups were constructed and the statistical significance of each factor was evaluated. It was found that the school region, the gross floor area, and the maintenance expenditure significantly affected the degradation of key building element groups.

A federal report released by the Department of Families and Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA, 2009), entitled Closing the Gap on Indigenous Disadvantage: The Challenge for Australia, highlighted the inequality that exists between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students based on a restricted access to resources, issues of isolation, staff and student retention, and cultural differences and challenges. In New South Wales (NSW), the Department of Education and Training (DET) and the Aboriginal Education Consultative Group (AECG) in 2003/2004 undertook their own review of Aboriginal education in NSW Government schools that revealed significant concerns about the outcomes being achieved by Aboriginal students in NSW DET schools, confirming the more recent FaHCSIA (2009) findings. In 2006 the NSW DET implemented the Enhanced Teacher Training Scholarship Program (ETTSP) to empower 20 final-year education students to successfully engage with Indigenous students in schools and their wider community during their internship period. Using themes, this article explores the experiences of 10 University of New England scholarship holders at the end of their final year of teacher training and immersion/internship experience in 2010. The article puts forward useful recommendations for both teacher universities and students intending to teach in schools with high Indigenous student populations.

Since 1999, pre‐service teachers undertaking the Bachelor of Teaching (Secondary) Program at the University of Western Sydney have participated in an alternate practicum called Professional Experience 3 (PE3). This practicum encourages students to engage in broader educational settings within local communities. Increasingly, a number of service‐learning opportunities have been developed, most notably, senior student tutoring programs and the involvement of students in the Plan‐It Youth project in conjunction with the Department of Education and Training (DET) and the South‐western Sydney Institute of TAFE. A focus of these programs has been to address the issues related to students at risk of leaving school early within the local South‐western Sydney community. In this paper we discuss the benefits of these programs to the university, pre‐service‐teachers, school students and school communities, and the broader local community. Specifically, we examine service learning as a conduit for the development and maintenance of meaningful symbiotic relationships between the university and the educational community, and pre‐service teachers and the local community. Finally, we look towards the future and highlight the challenges and opportunities for service‐learning programs within the practicum.

This article presents a summary of results from a Swiss nationwide empirical study of the determinants of grade retention, its effects on learning, and its social and emotional consequences. Results show that the decision for grade retention does not rest only on the pupil's actual academic performance but also on the teacher's attitudes and evaluations. With regard to improvement in learning, the study yields contrasting short- and medium-term results: They are positive in the case of same-grade comparisons and negative when same-age comparisons are applied. However, globally, the effectiveness of grade retention is rather unsatisfactory, particularly when one considers its long-term consequences, although there is no evidence of negative social or emotional consequences. It is nevertheless suggested that grade retention should be avoided at the primary school level.