Melbourne Graduate School of Education - Research Publications
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ItemNo Preview AvailableA therapeutic songwriting intervention to promote reconstruction of self-concept and enhance well-being following brain or spinal cord injury: pilot randomized controlled trial(SAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD, 2019-06-01)OBJECTIVE: To determine the size of the effects and feasibility (recruitment and retention rates) of a therapeutic songwriting protocol for in-patients and community-dwelling people with acquired brain injury or spinal cord injury. DESIGN: Randomized controlled trial with songwriting intervention and care-as-usual control groups, in a mixed measures design assessed at three time points. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 47 participants (3 in-patients with acquired brain injury, 20 community participants with acquired brain injury, 12 in-patients with spinal cord injury, and 12 community participants with spinal cord injury: 23 1208 days post injury). INTERVENTIONS: The intervention group received a 12-session identity-targeted songwriting programme, where participants created three songs reflecting on perceptions of past, present, and future self. Control participants received care as usual. MEASURES: Baseline, postintervention, and follow-up measures comprised the Head Injury Semantic Differential Scale (primary outcome measure), Patient Health Questionnaire-9, Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, and Satisfaction with Life Scale. RESULTS: No significant between group pre-post intervention differences were found on the primary self-concept measure, the Head Injury Semantic Differential Scale ( p = 0.38, d = 0.44). Significant and large effect sizes from baseline to post between groups in favour of the songwriting group for Satisfaction with Life ( p = 0.04, n2 p = 0.14). There were no significant between group pre-post interaction effects for the Emotion Regulation Suppression subscale ( p = 0.12, n2 p = -0.08) although scores decreased in the songwriting group over time while increasing for the standard care group. There were no significant differences in baseline to follow-up between groups in any other outcome measures. Recruitment was challenging due to the small number of people eligible to participate combined with poor uptake by eligible participants, particularly the in-patient group. Retention rates were higher for the community-dwelling cohorts. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates the challenges in recruitment and retention of participants invited to participate in a music therapy study. Findings suggest this identity-focused therapeutic songwriting protocols may be more beneficial for people who have transitioned from in-patient to community-contexts given the greater proportion of participants who consent and complete the intervention. Preliminary effects in favour of the intervention group were detected in a range of well-being measures suggesting that a larger study is warranted.
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ItemArts programs in schools : Seven models and a decision-making matrix for school leaders(Australian Council for Educational Leaders, 2019-09-01)The provision of arts programs in Australian schools is diverse. Studies of music have shown that the quality of music education in private schools is high and well resourced, but in government-funded schools there is greater variation with schools in some states offering little to no embedded programs. Because the arts are not considered core, school leaders have the freedom and responsibility to determine how much, how often, and what kinds of programs should be offered. Without mandated guidelines, our research shows that this is often influenced by leaders' personal experiences of music in their history or family context. School leaders have also described needing to overcome significant barriers in order to justify the provision of programs. Further complicating the picture are the varying views held by school leaders and staff about exactly which benefits arts programs afford. While most agree on the intrinsic value related to artistic skills and creativity more generally, some are less sure about additional benefits such as psychosocial wellbeing benefits or community building, with a diversity of perspectives also reflected in policy documents.
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ItemRepresenting Australian Indigenous Voices: Text Selection in the Senior English Curriculum(Australian Association for the Teaching of English (AATE), 2019-01-01)This paper reports findings from a study investigating trends in character, historical setting, authorship and themes across Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) text selection lists between 2010 and 2019. We address the fictionalisation and imagining of Australian history through narratives about Indigeneity and settler-colonisation. While we will describe positive trends that have emerged over time, by and large this study agrees with Leane’s (2016) and Langton’s (1993) assertions regarding the transmission of knowledge and representation of Indigeneity and Australian history in the classroom; namely, there is an under-representation of Indigenous authors, poets, playwrights, film directors, and complex, non-stereotypical charactertypes and an over-representation of non-Indigenous authors representing themes and stories of Indigeneity, reconciliation and colonisation.
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ItemDeveloping Educational Leaders for the Future: New Ways to Consider Leadership Preparation(Commonwealth Council for Educational Administration and Management, 2019)
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ItemOn teaching critical thinking. Some reflections L’insegnamento del pensiero critico. Alcune riflessioni(RicercAzione, 2019-12-01)What is critical thinking and how does one teach it? How does a teacher, often dragooned into teaching critical thinking, identify, develop, implement, assess and report on a capability that is often ill-understood, commonly feared, but widely acknowledged as being one of education’s core business? In what follows, I detail three notable developments in our understanding of the pedagogy of critical thinking: the uptake of community of inquiry practices, the advent of argument-mapping and the use of a questioning type that demands the enactment of higher-order thinking. I argue that questioning remains a critical thinking teacher’s primary pedagogical tool.
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ItemPreparing the Next Generation of Educational Leaders: Initiating a Leadership Discourse in Initial Teacher Education(Commonwealth Council for Educational Administration and Management, 2019)Within the context of major international policy reforms impacting on the structure and delivery of initial teacher education, increasing principal attrition, a rise in distributed leadership practice and teacher leadership research, this paper considers the potential of introducing leadership studies to pre-service teachers in their formative education. Utilising a qualitative research design, existing literature is explored which considers the introduction of leadership studies within initial teacher preparation programmes, the prevalence of this practice, and the structure and focus of leadership studies offered. The paper reviews initial teacher education courses offered by top ranking international education universities, revealing a trend in the promotion and attainment of leadership skills and capabilities. The paper also draws upon research within engineering and medicine which have explored the affordances of introducing students to leadership studies prior to entering the profession. It is hoped that this paper will advance educational leadership research by exploring the role of initial teacher education providers in preparing the next generation of school leaders.
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ItemSpotlight on the Special Education Needs Coordinator (SENCO): Why Are SENCOs Indispensable in Today’s Schools and How to Support Their Middle Level Leadership(Commonwealth Council for Educational Administration and Management, 2019)Middle level leaders play a key role within school and educational networks. Their function can be more effective if they are enabled to act in a distributed leadership perspective. This is particularly evident with the role of the Special Education Needs Coordinator (SENCO). The rise and prominence of SENCOs in coordinating whole school approaches to support students with special needs has resulted in their visibility as leaders. The evolution of the SENCO role has seen the need to recognize their unique position as middle level leaders in developing and overseeing special needs care. A proposition which remains largely foreign in many countries. What remains undeniable is that a SENCO’s positioning within a school can significantly impact on their legitimacy and effectiveness. This paper examines the results of a qualitative research project, aimed at reconstructing an interpretative framework of the SENCO’s middle level leadership functions. The study highlights on the one hand their management and leadership functions, and on the other, the elements that facilitate or hinder their role. The study also highlights the emergence of widespread leadership through the creation of a third space where SENCOs join together through the creation of networks which function as communities of practice.
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ItemEarly psychosis workforce development: Core competencies for mental health professionals working in the early psychosis field(WILEY, 2019-04-01)AIM: The aim of this study was to identify the core competencies required of mental health professionals working in the early psychosis field, which could function as an evidence-based tool to support the early psychosis workforce and in turn assist early psychosis service implementation and strengthen early psychosis model fidelity. METHOD: The Delphi method was used to establish expert consensus on the core competencies. In the first stage, a systematic literature search was conducted to generate competency items. In the second stage, a panel consisting of expert early psychosis clinicians from around the world was formed. Panel members then rated each of the competency items on how essential they are to the clinical practice of all early psychosis clinicians. RESULTS: In total, 1023 pieces of literature including textbooks, journal articles and grey literature were reviewed. A final 542 competency items were identified for inclusion in the questionnaire. A total of 63 early psychosis experts participated in 3 rating rounds. Of the 542 competency items, 242 were endorsed as the required core competencies. There were 29 competency items that were endorsed by 62 or more experts, and these may be considered the foundational competencies for early psychosis practice. CONCLUSION: The study generated a set of core competencies that provide a common language for early psychosis clinicians across professional disciplines and country of practice, and potentially are a useful professional resource to support early psychosis workforce development and service reform.
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ItemA primer on healing school systems(Teacher Learning Network (TLN), 2019)