The School for Student leadership (SSL) provides a unique educational experience for Australian Year 9 secondary school students at a time when parental expectations may not necessarily be in alignment with student engagement and motivation. Yet there are often concerns amongst both students and their parents about spending time outside…

Recently, within the field of early childhood education, there has been an increasing emphasis on the role of social construction of knowledge and on the inter-relatedness of aspects of social and cognitive development. This study investigated a proposed relationship between young children's popularity status among peers and a representational…

Students' goals (motives) for their schooling have been the focus of much recent research and have been shown to significantly influence important aspects of their cognitive engagement and academic achievement. This paper presents the results of a qualitative investigation into the nature and characteristics of students' social and academic goals,…

When researchers evaluate social skills programs, they essentially are measuring progress towards a goal. How they measure this progress hinges on the precision of the goal statements, the identification of valid and realistic process and outcome indicators, and the selection of appropriate data and methods for collection. This paper outlines the…

This paper discusses the outcomes of a study on indirect bullying behaviors in girls and the link between girls' peer relationships and bullying behaviors. The study used self-report and peer nomination instruments to survey 987 Australian girls in individual classes from Year 6 to Year 10 in 7 South Australian Catholic and independent schools, 5…

The effect that television programs have on the socialization of children is examined. As traditional sources of socialization have declined, and children's viewing of television has dramatically increased, it is important to consider just what children are learning from television programs about the world and their place in it. A study of the…

Noting that the transition to school is one of the major challenges children face in early childhood, this study examined the perceptions of Australian parents, teachers, and children in various phases of school attendance regarding what was involved in children starting school. Data were collected by means of questionnaires given to teachers…

This paper looks at the relationship between parents' social networks and aspects of child development. It has often been suggested that parents' links with kin, neighbors, friends, and local and non-local organizations are likely to have many effects on their children's development. These effects, however, have never been systematically…

The paper examines the extent to which national identification changed among 91 Americans who immigrated to Australia from 1974 to 1978. The objective was to gain a deeper understanding of the bonds between individuals and nations by examining the decisions and decision processes of people who had actually been confronted with and taken advantage…

A study conceptualized bases for learning in workplaces, examining reciprocity between how individuals are afforded access to workplace activities and guidance and how workers elect to engage in what they are offered. These reciprocal bases for thinking, acting, and learning are called "co-participation at work." The contributions that…

The model currently used to represent the impacts of Australia's technical and further education (TAFE) programs implies a one-way flow of impact from TAFE to student to community. It may be argued that TAFE could better serve its clients by developing a social capital-based, two-way, reciprocal dynamic of vocational education and training (VET)…