ABSTRACT Background Indonesia’s implementation of inclusive education continues to help support students’ development of academic abilities and social skills. However, it also poses challenges for several parties involved in the administration of inclusive education in rural areas: in particular, teachers from general education backgrounds. Purpose This study aimed to investigate teachers’ teaching strategies in inclusive education in a sample of public primary schools in rural Indonesia, in order to better understand the strategies used and the teachers’ perspectives on inclusive education. Methods Participants were 40 classroom teachers from 10 public primary schools in rural Indonesia. The participants taught students from grades 2 to 6 (student ages 8 to 12) and had at least one student with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in their class. Observations were conducted to determine the extent to which teachers used differentiation, collaborative learning and inclusive classroom management strategies. After the observations, short interviews were conducted with the teachers in order to explore their perceptions of inclusive education. Data were analysed qualitatively. Findings Analysis of observation data showed that only a small number of teachers used teaching strategies that were considered effective inclusive strategies, such as differentiation and collaborative learning. The interview findings indicated that most of the teachers did not feel confident in using inclusive strategies, due to factors including limited knowledge of strategies, and class size. Conclusions This small-scale study suggests that the implementation of inclusive education remains at an early stage and is challenging in some parts of Indonesia. It highlights that sustaining and advancing teacher education is crucial: through professional development, teachers can be enabled to increase their competence and knowledge of inclusive education strategies, ultimately benefiting all students in the classroom.

ABSTRACT Background: On an annual basis, students across Australia in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 are assessed on their literacy and numeracy skills via the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN), with the student performance data used for purposes including national accountability. Purpose: Against this backdrop of large-scale national assessment, this practitioner-research case study explored the possibilities of using existing NAPLAN writing assessment rubrics as a basis for formative assessment purposes. Specifically, the aim was to galvanise and encourage a culture of self-assessment within one school, using the notion of intelligent accountability. Sample: Participants included seven teachers and 126 students in Years 2, 4 and 6 (students aged approximately 7, 9 and 11 years), at an independent school in Northern Territory, Australia. Design and methods: The data presented here derive from a larger study which aimed to explore ways in which assessment can be used to scaffold students’ ability to self-regulate their learning, as part of a classroom writing project. Data sources included planning templates, writing samples, interviews with students and teachers, and email correspondence with teachers. The data were analysed for emerging themes and interpreted within a framework of social cognitive theory. Findings: The analysis identified that students used the self-assessment process to set specific learning goals for developing a number of aspects of their writing. In terms of intelligent accountability, three elements of difference were distinguished: time, confidence and experience. Conclusions: The findings from this study highlight the crucial role of self-assessment within classroom practice. The researcher-practitioner self-assessment framework developed suggests the potential for utilising large-scale assessment rubrics as a basis for formative assessment activity.

ABSTRACT Background To prepare students to become productive 21st century citizens, universities have to be more engaged with society. Shifting towards community service learning (CSL) enables students to participate in, and reflect on, services that both benefit the public and also contribute to their own learning. There has been considerable research conducted on the improved student competencies, both academic and personal, resulting from CSL. There is, however, no consensus on how to integrate CSL into courses successfully, owing to the diverse contextual factors that influence implementation. Purpose By means of conducting a review, this study aimed to establish general design principles to help guide course coordinators in implementing CSL in their academic courses. Design and methods A systematic review was conducted of articles describing the implementation of CSL in academic courses within various disciplines. Implementation elements and principles were extracted from the articles and inductively grouped together, thereby identifying various design principles. Findings Our analysis of the literature highlighted three steps that, according to the literature, are important in the implementation of CSL: (1) aligning course objectives and format; (2) establishing a relationship with the community partner; and (3) defining a reflection and evaluation strategy. We found that the nature of the design principles and specific approaches underlying these implementation steps should depend on the students’ capabilities, which include their pre-CSL experiences. Conclusion The implementation steps and underlying design principles uncovered by this review may help guide and support course coordinators in their efforts to integrate CSL in their academic courses. The diverse range of design principles makes it possible to acknowledge students’ pre-CSL experiences and, thus, construct appropriate scaffolding, which is necessary for students to attain the improved academic and personal competencies envisaged through CSL, and ultimately to become productive 21st century citizens.

ABSTRACT Background While open-cohort blended education programmes allow for accessible and flexible study trajectories, they may present social challenges to learners. Social presence is a possible a way of enhancing adult learners’ success. It can lead to an increased perception of community, which may result in lower rates of dropping out. Purpose This study investigates how social presence may be enacted in blended adult education programmes with open cohorts. The paper reports on the first phase of a design-based research study focused on programme-level strategies to establish social presence. This includes three distinct phases: (1) a contextual analysis and jointly agreed problem setting, (2) a literature review to identify and develop social presence strategies, grounded in theory, and (3) a qualitative study to scrutinise the perceptions of adult learners and programme coordinators regarding the embedding of the social presence strategies in the ecological setting. Method Based on a review of the literature that addressed the strategies to enact facets of social presence, three intervention scenarios for practice were elaborated. These were deliberately specified at the programme level – hence encompassing multiple separate courses. Each intervention scenario proposed activities carried out by particular actors, at particular time points during a programme, by means of a certain medium and targeting a certain group size. Each intervention scenario was systematically assessed by means of semi-structured interviews with adult learners and programme coordinators, using an approach based on Kano matrices. Findings The analysis indicated that learners and programme coordinators were not in favour of a series of programme-wide interventions which lead to enactment of social presence. However, the study also showed they were, though, in favour of shared course-related experiences. Although there were contradictory perceptions among learners and staff, the allocation of time and the compulsory nature of social presence activities seemed to be decisive factors. Conclusions This study highlights that it is crucial to assess the perceptions of the full range of stakeholders prior to an intervention, in order to establish shared priorities.

ABSTRACT Background The proportion of young people suffering from poor mental health is on the increase, including in Scandinavian countries. This increase seems paradoxical, as Scandinavian countries are among those with the lowest degree of material deprivation, economic inequality, and social exclusion. Purpose The aim of the study was firstly to investigate, on an individual level, young people’s own sense-making of poor mental health: their experiences of vulnerability and their explanations of the factors leading to vulnerability and mental health problems. Secondly, the purpose was to further analyse the young people’s experiences by combining them with ideal-typical conceptualisations of social pathologies and an overview of recent structural developments in the educational and social system. Methodology The study was based on explorative, in-depth, focus group interviews conducted in two large Danish cities with 17 young people aged 18–28 years. The interviewees had previously struggled with mental health problems and, on these grounds, had volunteered as ‘youth experts’ to help other young people. As part of the explorative approach, the interviewees themselves thematically clustered the different factors that they considered had led to vulnerability and substantiated the connection within each cluster. Data analysis followed these initial-coded clusters. Findings The analysis of the three broad themes that emerged – Expectations and performance pressure, Self-perception and self-doubt, and Taboo feelings – identified a substantial gap between expectation and lived experience. The expectations were of an abundance of life and educational options, and a dominating discourse that young people in Scandinavia can become whatever they wish. These expectations were in stark contrast with the lived experiences of feeling pressure to perform and an awareness of the limitation of the opportunities for those who fail to perform, within a landscape of recent structural changes. It was the gap between the discourse of the abundance of options on the one hand and highly regulated actual opportunities on the other that seemed to be the common denominator in the young people’s stories about the distress they felt. The societal discourse of almost endless options appeared to cause the young people in this study to individualise the responsibility for success as well as failure. Conclusions The study suggests that the gap between individualised expectations and a lived reality that does not measure up to these expectations could be a central contributing factor in explaining young people’s experiences of poor mental health.