Reverse Discrimination as Justice in the Senior Promotion of Female Teachers

This essay examines a report by the Anti-Discrimination Board regarding discriminatory preference for female principals at girls' high schools and male principals at boys' high schools in New South Wales. It analyses some of the ethical issues raised by the criteria of the report and argues that an acceptable educational philosophy demands a form of positive discrimination in order to redress the balance regarding promotion procedures for female teachers in New South Wales. Such discrimination must of necessity be a combination of both compensation and reparation.     

Sunshine Isn't Everything!

In recent years the decline in morale among Australian teachers has been reflected in the high drop-out rate of teacher trainees. In an attempt to account for this situation, a pilot study was conducted with a sample of experienced teachers in New South Wales. An overview is given of the hierarchical importance which the respondents ascribed to a number of professional, educational and social considerations.     

Willingness to Pay for Rehabilitation Versus Punishment to Reduce Adult and Juvenile Crime

Punitive penal policies are often justified on the assumption that members of the public demand punitive responses to crime. The current study employed a contingent valuation survey design to assess the extent to which this is true in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The survey investigated public willingness to pursue crime control policies that rehabilitate offenders versus those that punish. Using a quota‐based telephone survey, 1885 taxpaying residents in the state of New South Wales, Australia, were asked how much additional tax they would be willing to pay to produce a 10 per cent reduction in serious crime. A 2times2 randomised factorial design was employed, with one factor being the means offered to reduce crime (rehabilitation versus imprisonment) and the other factor being the population under study (adults versus juveniles). There were no significant differences in willingness to pay for crime reduction across any of the four resulting groups. The findings suggest that the NSW public are equally disposed to reducing crime by rehabilitating offenders as they are to imprisoning them for longer. There would therefore seem every reason to pursue rehabilitation with greater vigour, especially in light of the relative cost‐effectiveness of rehabilitation programs over incarceration.     

‘The Bang’ and SNAP: Controversial Issues in Schools

Over the last few years there has been a series of ‘moral panics’ over the introduction of Peace Studies into educational institutions. This case study examines the recent public controversy over an educational play call The Bang presented in secondary schools in New South Wales, and the associated attacks on student interest groups called Students for Nuclear Awareness and Peace (SNAP). The case study raises questions about power relations in the social construction of ‘controversy’ and ‘objectivity’ and the strategic dilemmas these imply for progressive teaching about social issues in schools.     

Sexual harassment in the heartland? Community opinion on the EEOC suit against Mitsubishi Motor Manufacturing of America

The number of sexual harassment cases filed annually with the EEOC has more than doubled, from 6000 in 1990 to over 15,000 in 1996, and monetary settlements reached through the EEOC have risen from $7.7 million in 1990 to $27 million in 1996. This article reports the results of a survey of community responses to the sexual harassment suit filed by the EEOC against the Mitsubishi Motor Manufacturer of America (MMMA), plant in Normal, Illinois. Eighty-seven percent of the respondents reported following the case and half said they believe the women’s claims are legitimate. But when asked to assume that they were a member of the jury hearing the sexual harassment case, only 33 percent said they would find MMMA guilty.     

Alternative Rural Communities: A Solution to Urban Unemployment?

The quest for solutions to urban unemployment prompted the federal government to give serious consideration to providing support and encouragement to alternative rural communities. It hoped that residents in these communities would withdraw from the formal labour market and establish alternatives to conventional employment. A study of 20 rural land sharing communities in New South Wales indicates that at the present time these communities do not provide a supply-side ameliorator of unemployment and that their future economic viability would depend on substantial government support for local employment initiatives. What the lifestyle in these communities clearly offers, however, is a quality of life denied to those on the dole.     

Influences on Authorship Issues: An Evaluation of Receiving,Not Receiving,and Rejecting Credit

A survey on credit issues was conducted of academic chemists in Ph.D. granting institutions in the United States. Six-hundred faculty members responded representing 16% of the survey recipients. Fifty percent of the respondents reported not receiving appropriate credit for contributions they had made to published projects. Neither the number of years after receiving their Ph.D., their fields of expertise, their total number of publications, nor their total number of single-author publications showed any significant relationship with the perception of not receiving appropriate credit. Twenty percent of the respondents had discovered that they were an author of a paper, after that paper had been submitted to a journal. Forty-nine percent reported that they had asked to have their name deleted as an author. Relationships between these perceptions and academic background factors were examined. For example, respondents who had asked to be removed from authorship were more likely to give authorship or an acknowledgement to others and were also more likely to have had an authorship problem with others, both of these factors being related to longevity as a publishing scientist.     

Survey of Voluntary Recreation Workers in New South Wales

Two surveys were conducted of volunteers working for recreation organizations in four New South Wales regions. The results highlight the dependence of these organizations on volunteers. Volunteers were found to be heavily engaged in instructing and organizing recreation activities. Few have any specific training for the role although further training is frequently considered desirable by respondents. Many respondents indicated that the government could assist voluntary work by providing— ? training at the local level, ? general financial assistance, and ? subsidies for equipment and facilities. Generally, responses indicate that the government should play a supportive rather than controlling role in recreation.     

Mandatory reporting of child abuse and neglect: does it really make a difference?

Mandatory reporting of child abuse and neglect has its origins in the USA, where model statutes for laws designed to introduce this process were first drafted in the early 1960s. Indeed, every state and the District of Columbia passed a child abuse reporting law between 1963 and 1967. Some 10 years later, in 1977, New South Wales was the first Australian state to pass comparable legislation. Mandatory reporting of suspected cases of child abuse and neglect is now in place in all Australian states and territories, with the exception of Western Australia. The question considered in this paper is: ‘What evidence is there that children are abused and neglected less in jurisdictions where mandatory reporting exists by comparison with jurisdictions where it does not exist?’ This question is examined by way of a comparison between two states, New South Wales and Western Australia. This paper also raises questions about the cost of mandatory reporting and the extent to which it diverts financial resources away from support services for families. There is also a question about the new New South Wales child protection legislation that extends mandatory reporting and possible negative consequences for ordinary families. The final question is about the role assigned to health care and education professionals under this legislation.     

Off-reservation boarding high schools teachers: How are they perceived by former American Indian students?

This study focuses on American Indian adults who attended 4 all-Indian off-reservation boarding high schools located in the Southwest and run by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (B.I.A). A century after openning these off-reservation boarding schools, the B.I.A. shifted its emphasis to closing them. Because of the emphasis placed on closing off-reservation high schools, I was interested in obtaining former American Indian students' perspectives of teacher-student relationships in these off-reservation boarding high schools. I interviewed American Indians asking them to recall their perceptions of former teachers in the off-reservation boarding high schools. This paper focuses on two questions: What were these American Indians' recollections of the teacher-student relationships they had with their former teachers in the boarding school setting? Was the process of assimilation fostered within the context of the all-Indian boarding schools?     

Public Choices Between Life Saving Programs: The Tradeoff Between Qualitative Factors and Lives Saved

In a telephone survey 1000 adults were confronted with pairs of life saving programs that differed in number of lives saved and asked which program in each pair they would choose to implement. Respondents were also asked to rate qualitative program characteristics on 10 point scales. For most respondents, lives saved are significant in explaining program choices, as are psychological risk characteristics. The rate of technical substitution between these characteristics and lives saved is, however, inelastic. It is noteworthy that for about 20 percent of respondents, choices among programs appear to be insensitive to lives saved.     

The political participation of social workers: a comparative study

This article reports on a comparative study that examined the political participation of social workers in KwaZulu-Natal province in South Africa, the state of New South Wales (excluding the Hunter region) in Australia, and New Zealand. Each of these contexts had roughly the same number of social workers, that is, approximately 1,200. It was found that social workers in New Zealand tended to be more politically active than their counterparts in New South Wales and KwaZulu-Natal, and the reasons for this are examined. In the process, New Zealand is presented as a case study of the way in which social work has responded to its political context. Finally, conclusions are drawn as to the engagement of social workers in the policy cycle and of the need for them to become more active politically.     

Rape Trends in New South Wales: A Discussion on Conflicting Evidence

Two sources of evidence regarding rape trends in New South Wales are presented, one showing a steep increase, the other showing none. Since both sources accurately represent official figures, this raises questions about the reliability of the statistics as well as the interpretations flowing from them. The claim that there has been no change, and hence no need for public concern, is disputed in the light of the alternative data, which appear more satisfactory.     

An Investigation of Adolescents' Attitudes to Aspects of Their School Life

The attitudes of 4,585 pupils in 27 New South Wales secondary schools to four aspects of school life (school in general, choice of subjects, discipline, and uniforms) were examined in relation to sex, form, and type of school. Marked sex differences in attitudes were obtained, with the girls generally showing more favourable attitudes to school than the boys. Differences in attitudes between forms were found which suggested that pupils tend to reject school values with increased age. Differences between types of schools classified on the basis of geographical location and whether single sex or coeducational did not show clear cut trends. Possible reasons for the findings are discussed as well as the educational implications of the direction and level of pupil opinion about the topics investigated.     

Balancing Qualified Staff Requirements with Shortage of Recruits in Child Care – The NSW Experience

In Australia and many other countries, government regulations require that children's services, such as long day care centres and preschools, employ certain numbers of qualified early childhood teachers. This recognises that training and experience of staff are the most significant factors determining the quality of care. At the same time Australia is facing a shortage of qualified early childhood teachers, and governments are grappling with how staff requirements can be met. In this article we examine the New South Wales Government approach, which waives temporarily the requirement to employ qualified teachers if children's services providers can show that they have made all reasonable effort at recruiting the required staff. We consider the impact of the temporary waiver on quality of care, and whether it is necessary to compromise government standards in this way. Our research concludes that most providers committed to good quality care do not resort to using the temporary waiver.     

Moving The Mentally Ill Into The Community: The Problem Of Acceptance And The Effect Of Contact

Community acceptance of the mentally ill is fundamental to a successful change to community-based care, now being implemented in New South Wales. This policy was based on an inquiry that viewed acceptance optimistically and postulated that contact with the mentally ill would be a favourable influence. The applicability of this extension of the ‘contact hypothesis’ from its original racial context is tested in one area of Sydney. The results indicate that the type of contact arising from community mental health facilities is not an effective catalyst of relevant attitude change, and suggest particular difficulties among the lower two socioeconomic classes.     

The influence of perception of school principal’s leadership on teachers’ job satisfaction in the interior of Sabah,Malaysia: a case study in Beaufort

This study investigates the relationship between teachers’ perceptions of the school principal’s leadership and their job satisfaction in Beaufort, a multiethnic semirural area in the interior of Sabah, Malaysia. Results of the research showed that there is a significant positive relationship between the perceived leadership of the school principal and job satisfaction among the teaching staff, and the relationship is not influenced by the demographic attributes of the study participants. The results accentuate the importance of developing the leadership of principals in public schools to enhance the commitment and job satisfaction of the teaching staff, which indirectly affects the overall performance of schools and students.     

What children want to know about in‐ and out‐groups,and how knowledge affects their intergroup attitudes

One of the key factors contributing to the development of negative attitudes toward out‐groups is lack of knowledge about them. The present study investigated what type of information 3‐ to 4‐ and 5‐ to 6‐ year‐old Jewish Israeli children (N = 82) are interested in acquiring about unfamiliar in‐ and out‐group individuals, and how providing children with the requested information affects their intergroup attitudes. Children were shown pictures of individuals from three groups—an in‐group (“Jews”), a “conflict” out‐group (“Arabs”), and a “neutral” out‐group (“Scots”)—and were asked what they would like to know about them. The experimenter responded by either answering all of children's questions, half of the questions, or none. Children's attitudes toward the groups were also assessed. It was found that children asked the most questions in regard to conflict out‐group individuals. Moreover, the older age group asked more questions regarding the psychological characteristics, and fewer questions regarding the social identity, of the conflict out‐group than of the other two groups. Finally, full provision of information improved attitudes toward the groups, especially among 3‐ to 4‐year olds, and especially regarding the conflict out‐group. These findings have implications for understanding the sources of intergroup biases, and for developing interventions to reduce them.     

Some Caveats on Community in Schools

Community involvement in schools is currently being fostered in Australian education systems both by education departments and by interested groups within the wider society. It is a social issue which needs careful consideration both to avoid the errors of other countries and to ascertain whether such involvement has any real benefits for those who work in schools, namely, the teachers and students.