Despite the fact that both workplace and training environments can be inherently demanding, these environments sometimes manage to elicit a level of engagement and enthusiasm that is surprising. The Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model has been used extensively within the workplace to predict both engagement and burnout. It suggests that high…

EngQuest, an initiative of Engineers Australia, provides an exciting, non-competitive way for students to participate in free, fun and educational engineering activities involving mathematics, science and technology. This article describes a project designed to teach middle school students how to construct a water catchment system. Water…

Rural social work education and practice in North America underwent a revival in recent decades and remains a valid praxis and pedagogic model for the 21st Century. The paper posits through rigorous literature review and analysis there are numerous elements central to North American (U.S. and Canadian) and Commonwealth of Nations (U.K., Australia,…

This report shares the findings and lessons learned from an investigation into the economics of disaggregated models for assessing and accrediting informal learners undertaking post secondary education. It presents some key economic and governance challenges for universities to consider in implementing OER assessment and accreditation policies. It…

The authors of this article report on a qualitative study of Australian community-based natural resource management groups known as Landcare groups. They discuss how four Landcare groups contributed to sustainability practices and how a policy change implemented in 2003 influenced the efforts of the groups to remain active in their activities.…

We tested a model based on the dual-process framework that assessed the relationships among personal resources, career goal appraisals, career attitudes, and career goal management, which have not been previously assessed together. The model (tested on a sample of 486 young adults: 74% female, M[subscript]age = 22 years) proposed that personal…

External referencing of assessment and students' achievement standards is a growing priority area within higher education, which is being pressured by government requirements to evidence outcome attainment. External referencing benefits stakeholders connected to higher education by helping to assure that assessments and standards within courses…

There is growing evidence that children are vulnerable to poor psychological outcomes following exposure to a range of potentially traumatic events. Teachers are in a unique and well-placed position to provide vital support to children following potentially traumatic events and to also provide a vital role in helping to identify children who may…

The demands on academic staff are increasing to the point where effective mechanisms for the allocation of their work are now necessary. Despite the inherent difficulties of categorising academic work, nearly all enterprise agreements at Australian universities include a clause designed to avoid work overload. Through a questionnaire, the…

The current methodology of estimating load in the following year at Flinders University has achieved reasonable accuracy in the previous capped funding environment, particularly at the university level, due largely to our university having stable intakes and student profiles. While historically within reasonable limits, variation in estimates at…

Sustainability has emerged as a primary context for engineering education in the 21st Century, particularly the sub-discipline of chemical engineering. However, there is confusion over how to go about integrating sustainability knowledge and skills systemically within bachelor degrees. This paper addresses this challenge, using a case study of an…

Peer review of teaching is recognized increasingly as one strategy for academic development even though historically peer review of teaching is often unsupported by policy, action and culture in many Australian universities. Higher education leaders report that academics generally do not engage with peer review of teaching in a systematic or…

Understanding the links between resource dependence and socio-economic wellbeing has long been a subject of interest amongst social scientists in North America. By contrast, relatively few Australian studies exist on this topic. This is despite the significant role of resource industries in shaping Australia's economic and social geography. Where…

As the developed world becomes more reliant on knowledge as a vital part of economic growth and development, the importance of highly skilled workers who can create, disseminate and use new knowledge becomes integral. Within Australia, recent policies relating to higher education and research have prompted new thinking about the extent to which…

Studies indicate that very few teachers entering disadvantaged contexts feel prepared academically or professionally to teach effectively. This study focuses on the impact of a model for professional learning, the RoleM Professional Learning model (RPL), situated in a disadvantaged context over a three-year period. The participating teachers (n =…