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In Australia, political imperatives that drive the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) and Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) call for a new understanding of assessment at the tertiary level. Assessment strategies are under the microscope to provide accountability but are increasingly called to measure a wider set of attributes considered important in equipping graduates to meet 21st century opportunities and challenges. This paper reports on a shared benchmarking exercise between two universities to ensure the current assessment strategies in their undergraduate early childhood programs meet such requirements.

Data were collected using qualitative methodology and conceptualised using an interpretivist frame that enabled the collaborative groups to socially construct the meaning of assessment and identify what was specific, unique and different across the two programs. A cross-case analysis enabled a robust examination of the data.

Findings identified key structural and procedural differences between the two benchmarked university programs in terms of cohort size, university policies around assessment points, the use of exams and the choices surrounding professional experience placements.

Implications of the research note the complexity of contextual factors such as university policies on assessment and the impact these have on the quality of assessment.

This paper is unique in that it used the conceptual framework for self-evaluation from TEQSA and followed their six key phases of benchmarking.

This chapter narrows the focus of inclusive practices and principles in literacy education to find the role that science, combined with literature can play in helping children of all abilities. Through the use of implicit and explicit language with active, social, hands-on inquiry related to science concepts and procedures children can construct new knowledge that leads to a firmer understanding of the world in which they live. The chapter demonstrates how children of all backgrounds and needs can work with others through their own investigations, and the guidance of an educator to develop, implement and present findings of scientific investigations that also develop literacy skills. The chapter also addresses the professional responsibility of educators to acknowledge and respect individual curiosity, growth, culture and diversity to plan thoughtfully, to use science language that is acceptable and understandable for children of different abilities and enhance scientific knowledge and literacy through the use of literature that evokes the sense of wonder within the children.

A distinction must be drawn between a dismissal on the one hand, and on the other a repudiation of a contract of employment as a result of a breach of a fundamental term of that contract. When such a repudiation has been accepted by the innocent party then a termination of employment takes place. Such termination does not constitute dismissal (see London v. James Laidlaw & Sons Ltd (1974) IRLR 136 and Gannon v. J. C. Firth (1976) IRLR 415 EAT).

The purpose of this paper is to explore the theme of dependence on mutual aid identified in a previous paper. It is a theme which to date, has had very little empirical attention, especially in a UK context.

A phenomenological approach was adopted. Interviews with service users, mentors and professional staff involved with the Learning to Live Again project were undertaken over a ten-month period of data collection. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data.

It was found that service users with very little access to recovery capital or social support are at risk of developing a dependency on mutual aid. Dependence seemed to manifest itself in two different forms – those that over engaged with the project and those that under engaged with the project. Consequently, there were a cohort of service users identified that seemed to strike a balance with the project and their life outside the project that was “just right”. They were referred to as the “Goldilocks group”.

This paper explored a theme which has had very little attention paid to it. The theme of dependence on mutual aid will raise the awareness of such a threat, thus helping to identify those in treatment most at risk of developing dependency on mutual aid, thus detrimentally impacting on mental wellbeing.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on the issue of professional development education for school board members. The research question that guides this mixed study is: does school board member professional development have an effect on student achievement?

The standardized protocol for this study was to send a developed questionnaire to 50 directors of state school board associations. An inductive analysis was made of the state school board directors' responses on whether they felt professional development had a positive effect on student achievement. Their responses were then compared with Education Week's 2009 rating of state education systems.

From the response from the 26 responding state directors, the study found that most states do not require professional development for school board members. State board directors did feel that school board professional development had a positive effect on student achievement. Of the states that did require school board professional development, they received an overall rating of B or C according to the Education Week 2009 rating, while those states that did not require professional development received a rating of C or D.

Mixed research such as this adds to the conversation of the need for required school board professional development but the findings need to be re‐analyzed with all 50 states responding.

The practical implications are profound in that it is desired that children should succeed and learn in quality schools. School board members' lack of education (i.e. they only require high‐school diploma or GED) has an effect on student achievement. School board members need to take required professional development in all areas of public schooling so that quality decisions can be made for children's education.

The social implications are that school board member professional development sends a message to students that continued adult learning is necessary in all walks of life for the USA to continue its leadership in the world.

School board members with the barest qualifications are elected to, in essence, run public schools. Little research has been done about the effects of school board member education on student achievement. This paper explores the voices of state directors in relation to professional development for school board members in US public school discourse and fills some of the gaps in the research.

Not many weeks back, according to newspaper reports, three members of the library staff of the School of Slavonic and East European Studies in London were dismissed. All had refused to carry out issue desk duty. All, according to the newspaper account, were members of ASTMS. None, according to the Library Association yearbook, was a member of the appropriate professional organisation for librarians in Great Britain.

This paper reports a national study which investigated the involvement of infection control professionals in (and their views about) the formal processes of contracting for health care in the NHS internal market. Health care professionals needed to be involved contracting, if it was to be effective. The study found that many infection control professionals were not, in fact, involved in contracting, while the importance of both contracts and informal professional networks were recognised. But respondents did not think that their professional networks entirely compensated for their lack of involvement in contracting. As formal agreements continue to be central to achieving quality of care in the post‐internal market NHS, infection control professionals need to be involved in specification and implementation of these arrangements.

While both perceived job autonomy and self-leadership are assumed to be important for optimal functioning of healthcare workers, their mutual relationship remains unclear. This cross-lagged study aims to theorize and test that perceived job autonomy and self-leadership have a reciprocal relationship, which is moderated by need for job autonomy.

Two-wave panel data were used to measure cross-lagged relationships over a time period of three months. Self-leadership is indicated by both self-leadership strategies and self-leadership behavior. The data were analyzed using hierarchical multiple regression (HMR).

Job autonomy was not causally nor reverse related to self-leadership strategies, but did relate to self-leadership behavior in both directions. Need for job autonomy did not influence the causal and reverse relationships between job autonomy and self-leadership (strategies and behavior). Instead, need for job autonomy discarded the influence of job autonomy on self-leadership behavior, and predicted self-leadership behavior over time.

For optimizing healthcare jobs, human resource management (HRM) policy makers need to consider other interventions such as training self-leadership, or developing an autonomy supportive work environment, since job autonomy does not lead to more use of self-leadership strategies.

This study used a cross-lagged study design which gives the opportunity to investigate causal relationships between job autonomy and self-leadership. Both self-leadership strategies and self-leadership behavior are included.