Master of Arts / Department of Communication Studies, Theatre, and Dance / Timothy R. Steffensmeier / Previous language policy research and lawsuit rulings have shown that employers will implement language policies as a means to unify the workplace in hopes of creating a less hostile and more productive environment, which in turn, they believe will increase profits (Bergman, Watrous-Rodriquez, & Chalkely 2007; Crowe 2005; Pakiela 2002; Scott 2007). This study examined the values of an organization in order to determine how they are implemented and perceived by their employees in relationship to language policies. The reason this study looks to values is because they provide a foundation for culture and, subsequently, identity. A three part qualitative analysis utilizing Glaser and Strauss’s (1967) constant comparative method (CCM) was conducted to identify the values within the culture of one organization. It was uncovered that the current climate of the organization was not the result of the implementation of language policies. Instead, the language barriers and complications within the organization were the result of merging companies and the lack of one cohesive culture.

Advancements in media technologies have resulted in increased student usage causing teachers to struggle to be able to engage and hold student’s interest in a typical classroom. As students’ needs change, the field of education changes. One strategy that is gaining in popularity among teachers is the implementation of the “flipped classroom” also known as the “inverted classroom” or “reverse instruction” - a method incorporates technology to “flip” or “reverse” what is typically done in class with what is typically done as homework. Through teacher interviews of eight core teachers, this study attempts to discover teacher perceptions of the use of this method. Results of the study reveal that perceptions of the method are more positive among teachers who typically use lecture as a primary mode of information dissemination.

This study investigated stereotype threat of women in petroleum engineering, a traditionally male-dominated industry. There were two main purposes to understanding communicative aspects of stereotype threat: 1) the creation of a typology of stereotype threats received and 2) the elaboration of coping strategies used to mitigate threats. This research examined contextual factors that influence women’s coping, including socialization, psychological inoculations, and memorable messages. This work is a contribution to communication research as it examines these components through the lens of scripts, which considers stereotype threat from a new perspective that suggests people are active participants in mitigating threats. To complete this study, I performed 61 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with current or former female petroleum engineers. Through constant comparison (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) I analyzed the data and produced an initial set of 13 different stereotype threats and 11 distinct coping strategies. Upon further comparison, the threats and coping strategies were each consolidated further to five core categories. This typology aligns threats on a spectrum that runs from passive actions to overt actions, and threats closely adhere to the underperformance benchmarks of previous stereotype threat research (Aronson & McGlone, 2009). The coping strategies address specific actions women take to mitigate threats, and the strategies align with the long-term responses to stereotype threat proposed by Block, Koch, Liberman, Merriweather, and Roberson (2011). In addition, the coping strategies execute problem- and emotion-based coping (Folkman and Lazarus, 1980). A distinctive feature of coping is dualistic subversions, which is when women use a subverted stereotype threat to mitigate it. Finally, this study suggests that stereotype threats and coping strategies result from childhood socialization practices, a process that writes scripts workers rely upon throughout their careers. This study is a contribution to organizational communication in how it examines ways messages are communicated in male-dominated careers and how women can use communication to mitigate negative expectations that arise in those environments. In addition, it looks at communication events that encourage women to enter male-dominated careers. Finally, it adds to communication theory because it uncovers additional ways that people use scripts to mitigate stereotyping. / text

Over the last decade out-of-home care in Australia has experienced a period of considerable turmoil as royal commissions, parliamentary inquiries, departmental audits, empirical research and industry reports have highlighted the dire straits of the care system. A constant theme throughout has been the failure of the sector to adequately meet the needs of children and young people in care. Within this context the purpose of this study was to examine the needs of children and young people in care in Australia, giving voice to the full range of stakeholders, whose views were expressed in multiple documentary types. Specifically, the aim was to develop an in-depth understanding of their needs and formulate this into a formal taxonomy of needs. Using document analysis and the constant comparative method within the constructivist paradigm of social inquiry, the study involved analysis of 580 non-traditional, naturalistic and secondary documents relating to out-of-home care in Australia. The document sample consisted of five data types: primary data (letters, submissions to inquiries, transcripts of interviews and public hearings, and personal accounts); secondary data (reports resulting from commissions of inquiries and departmental reviews, audits and investigations); empirical data (the published findings from empirical research); legislative and policy data (legislation, regulation and quality frameworks); and industry and practitioner data (reports by academics, peak bodies and advocacy groups, and writings by out-of-home care practitioners). Further, the document sample included stakeholders from five major groups: children and young people in care (and former wards ); their parents and extended family; carers, agency staff and practitioners; statutory workers; and academics, advocates, and representatives of state and national peak bodies. The findings include a series of prominent themes of care; salient findings that highlight the experiences and needs of children and young people in care; and the taxonomy of needs. The prominent themes include the importance of natural family connectedness, cultural identity and connectedness, and counselling and therapeutic support. Issues relating to placement stability and disruption, safety and protection and, transition from care also featured prominently. The salient findings include an exploration of the overwhelming emotions of care, emotional putdowns, vicarious trauma and the witnessing of violence and abuse in out-of-home care, characteristics of children and young people who survive and thrive in care and beyond, characteristics of quality carers, symptom intolerance, disenfranchised grief – the never-ending story, and the defensive behaviours of children and young people in care. The taxonomy of needs provides a comprehensive overview of the needs of children and young people in care across 89 attributes and 21 attribute sub-categories, within 21 dimensions, and across three domains (the personal, placement, and community-of-care domains). The dimensions in the personal domain include attachment, physical development and health, personal growth, education and vocational attainment, development of the inner-self, and hope in life and for the future. The placement domain includes basic needs, basic entitlements, caring relationships, positive-parenting-practices, activity programming, focused-support, peer-relations and positive group management, and preparation for and transition from care. The community-of-care domain includes clinical intervention, family connectedness and involvement in placement, friends and social outlets, significant others, cultural-religious-spiritual connectedness, departmental worker capacity and support, and after care support. The principal theoretical, practice, and methodological conclusions derived from this study are that children and young people in care in Australia have considerable needs, are largely unable to meet their own needs, and experience harm when their needs are not met. Consequently, the out-of-home care sector has an inescapable obligation to provide for these needs if children and young people in care are to avoid harm and experience personal wellbeing. Further, children and young people in care have experienced considerable need deprivation, and if their needs are not to be forgotten, then a shift to a ‘needs-based’, ‘needs-focused’ paradigm of care is needed to inform out-of-home care policy, service design, and day-to-day practice. And finally, document analysis using non-traditional, naturalistic, and secondary data (representing the full range of stakeholder perspectives) within a constructivist paradigm of inquiry, provides an effective, indeed powerful methodology for exploring the needs of children and young people in care, and for giving voice to the many stakeholders who voices may never have been heard again.

Over the last decade out-of-home care in Australia has experienced a period of considerable turmoil as royal commissions, parliamentary inquiries, departmental audits, empirical research and industry reports have highlighted the dire straits of the care system. A constant theme throughout has been the failure of the sector to adequately meet the needs of children and young people in care. Within this context the purpose of this study was to examine the needs of children and young people in care in Australia, giving voice to the full range of stakeholders, whose views were expressed in multiple documentary types. Specifically, the aim was to develop an in-depth understanding of their needs and formulate this into a formal taxonomy of needs. Using document analysis and the constant comparative method within the constructivist paradigm of social inquiry, the study involved analysis of 580 non-traditional, naturalistic and secondary documents relating to out-of-home care in Australia. The document sample consisted of five data types: primary data (letters, submissions to inquiries, transcripts of interviews and public hearings, and personal accounts); secondary data (reports resulting from commissions of inquiries and departmental reviews, audits and investigations); empirical data (the published findings from empirical research); legislative and policy data (legislation, regulation and quality frameworks); and industry and practitioner data (reports by academics, peak bodies and advocacy groups, and writings by out-of-home care practitioners). Further, the document sample included stakeholders from five major groups: children and young people in care (and former wards ); their parents and extended family; carers, agency staff and practitioners; statutory workers; and academics, advocates, and representatives of state and national peak bodies. The findings include a series of prominent themes of care; salient findings that highlight the experiences and needs of children and young people in care; and the taxonomy of needs. The prominent themes include the importance of natural family connectedness, cultural identity and connectedness, and counselling and therapeutic support. Issues relating to placement stability and disruption, safety and protection and, transition from care also featured prominently. The salient findings include an exploration of the overwhelming emotions of care, emotional putdowns, vicarious trauma and the witnessing of violence and abuse in out-of-home care, characteristics of children and young people who survive and thrive in care and beyond, characteristics of quality carers, symptom intolerance, disenfranchised grief – the never-ending story, and the defensive behaviours of children and young people in care. The taxonomy of needs provides a comprehensive overview of the needs of children and young people in care across 89 attributes and 21 attribute sub-categories, within 21 dimensions, and across three domains (the personal, placement, and community-of-care domains). The dimensions in the personal domain include attachment, physical development and health, personal growth, education and vocational attainment, development of the inner-self, and hope in life and for the future. The placement domain includes basic needs, basic entitlements, caring relationships, positive-parenting-practices, activity programming, focused-support, peer-relations and positive group management, and preparation for and transition from care. The community-of-care domain includes clinical intervention, family connectedness and involvement in placement, friends and social outlets, significant others, cultural-religious-spiritual connectedness, departmental worker capacity and support, and after care support. The principal theoretical, practice, and methodological conclusions derived from this study are that children and young people in care in Australia have considerable needs, are largely unable to meet their own needs, and experience harm when their needs are not met. Consequently, the out-of-home care sector has an inescapable obligation to provide for these needs if children and young people in care are to avoid harm and experience personal wellbeing. Further, children and young people in care have experienced considerable need deprivation, and if their needs are not to be forgotten, then a shift to a ‘needs-based’, ‘needs-focused’ paradigm of care is needed to inform out-of-home care policy, service design, and day-to-day practice. And finally, document analysis using non-traditional, naturalistic, and secondary data (representing the full range of stakeholder perspectives) within a constructivist paradigm of inquiry, provides an effective, indeed powerful methodology for exploring the needs of children and young people in care, and for giving voice to the many stakeholders who voices may never have been heard again.

Over the last decade out-of-home care in Australia has experienced a period of considerable turmoil as royal commissions, parliamentary inquiries, departmental audits, empirical research and industry reports have highlighted the dire straits of the care system. A constant theme throughout has been the failure of the sector to adequately meet the needs of children and young people in care. Within this context the purpose of this study was to examine the needs of children and young people in care in Australia, giving voice to the full range of stakeholders, whose views were expressed in multiple documentary types. Specifically, the aim was to develop an in-depth understanding of their needs and formulate this into a formal taxonomy of needs. Using document analysis and the constant comparative method within the constructivist paradigm of social inquiry, the study involved analysis of 580 non-traditional, naturalistic and secondary documents relating to out-of-home care in Australia. The document sample consisted of five data types: primary data (letters, submissions to inquiries, transcripts of interviews and public hearings, and personal accounts); secondary data (reports resulting from commissions of inquiries and departmental reviews, audits and investigations); empirical data (the published findings from empirical research); legislative and policy data (legislation, regulation and quality frameworks); and industry and practitioner data (reports by academics, peak bodies and advocacy groups, and writings by out-of-home care practitioners). Further, the document sample included stakeholders from five major groups: children and young people in care (and former wards ); their parents and extended family; carers, agency staff and practitioners; statutory workers; and academics, advocates, and representatives of state and national peak bodies. The findings include a series of prominent themes of care; salient findings that highlight the experiences and needs of children and young people in care; and the taxonomy of needs. The prominent themes include the importance of natural family connectedness, cultural identity and connectedness, and counselling and therapeutic support. Issues relating to placement stability and disruption, safety and protection and, transition from care also featured prominently. The salient findings include an exploration of the overwhelming emotions of care, emotional putdowns, vicarious trauma and the witnessing of violence and abuse in out-of-home care, characteristics of children and young people who survive and thrive in care and beyond, characteristics of quality carers, symptom intolerance, disenfranchised grief – the never-ending story, and the defensive behaviours of children and young people in care. The taxonomy of needs provides a comprehensive overview of the needs of children and young people in care across 89 attributes and 21 attribute sub-categories, within 21 dimensions, and across three domains (the personal, placement, and community-of-care domains). The dimensions in the personal domain include attachment, physical development and health, personal growth, education and vocational attainment, development of the inner-self, and hope in life and for the future. The placement domain includes basic needs, basic entitlements, caring relationships, positive-parenting-practices, activity programming, focused-support, peer-relations and positive group management, and preparation for and transition from care. The community-of-care domain includes clinical intervention, family connectedness and involvement in placement, friends and social outlets, significant others, cultural-religious-spiritual connectedness, departmental worker capacity and support, and after care support. The principal theoretical, practice, and methodological conclusions derived from this study are that children and young people in care in Australia have considerable needs, are largely unable to meet their own needs, and experience harm when their needs are not met. Consequently, the out-of-home care sector has an inescapable obligation to provide for these needs if children and young people in care are to avoid harm and experience personal wellbeing. Further, children and young people in care have experienced considerable need deprivation, and if their needs are not to be forgotten, then a shift to a ‘needs-based’, ‘needs-focused’ paradigm of care is needed to inform out-of-home care policy, service design, and day-to-day practice. And finally, document analysis using non-traditional, naturalistic, and secondary data (representing the full range of stakeholder perspectives) within a constructivist paradigm of inquiry, provides an effective, indeed powerful methodology for exploring the needs of children and young people in care, and for giving voice to the many stakeholders who voices may never have been heard again.

Over the last decade out-of-home care in Australia has experienced a period of considerable turmoil as royal commissions, parliamentary inquiries, departmental audits, empirical research and industry reports have highlighted the dire straits of the care system. A constant theme throughout has been the failure of the sector to adequately meet the needs of children and young people in care. Within this context the purpose of this study was to examine the needs of children and young people in care in Australia, giving voice to the full range of stakeholders, whose views were expressed in multiple documentary types. Specifically, the aim was to develop an in-depth understanding of their needs and formulate this into a formal taxonomy of needs. Using document analysis and the constant comparative method within the constructivist paradigm of social inquiry, the study involved analysis of 580 non-traditional, naturalistic and secondary documents relating to out-of-home care in Australia. The document sample consisted of five data types: primary data (letters, submissions to inquiries, transcripts of interviews and public hearings, and personal accounts); secondary data (reports resulting from commissions of inquiries and departmental reviews, audits and investigations); empirical data (the published findings from empirical research); legislative and policy data (legislation, regulation and quality frameworks); and industry and practitioner data (reports by academics, peak bodies and advocacy groups, and writings by out-of-home care practitioners). Further, the document sample included stakeholders from five major groups: children and young people in care (and former wards ); their parents and extended family; carers, agency staff and practitioners; statutory workers; and academics, advocates, and representatives of state and national peak bodies. The findings include a series of prominent themes of care; salient findings that highlight the experiences and needs of children and young people in care; and the taxonomy of needs. The prominent themes include the importance of natural family connectedness, cultural identity and connectedness, and counselling and therapeutic support. Issues relating to placement stability and disruption, safety and protection and, transition from care also featured prominently. The salient findings include an exploration of the overwhelming emotions of care, emotional putdowns, vicarious trauma and the witnessing of violence and abuse in out-of-home care, characteristics of children and young people who survive and thrive in care and beyond, characteristics of quality carers, symptom intolerance, disenfranchised grief – the never-ending story, and the defensive behaviours of children and young people in care. The taxonomy of needs provides a comprehensive overview of the needs of children and young people in care across 89 attributes and 21 attribute sub-categories, within 21 dimensions, and across three domains (the personal, placement, and community-of-care domains). The dimensions in the personal domain include attachment, physical development and health, personal growth, education and vocational attainment, development of the inner-self, and hope in life and for the future. The placement domain includes basic needs, basic entitlements, caring relationships, positive-parenting-practices, activity programming, focused-support, peer-relations and positive group management, and preparation for and transition from care. The community-of-care domain includes clinical intervention, family connectedness and involvement in placement, friends and social outlets, significant others, cultural-religious-spiritual connectedness, departmental worker capacity and support, and after care support. The principal theoretical, practice, and methodological conclusions derived from this study are that children and young people in care in Australia have considerable needs, are largely unable to meet their own needs, and experience harm when their needs are not met. Consequently, the out-of-home care sector has an inescapable obligation to provide for these needs if children and young people in care are to avoid harm and experience personal wellbeing. Further, children and young people in care have experienced considerable need deprivation, and if their needs are not to be forgotten, then a shift to a ‘needs-based’, ‘needs-focused’ paradigm of care is needed to inform out-of-home care policy, service design, and day-to-day practice. And finally, document analysis using non-traditional, naturalistic, and secondary data (representing the full range of stakeholder perspectives) within a constructivist paradigm of inquiry, provides an effective, indeed powerful methodology for exploring the needs of children and young people in care, and for giving voice to the many stakeholders who voices may never have been heard again.

No description available.

No description available.

Within Australia, Vocational Education and Training (VET) encompasses the Technical and Further Education (TAFE) sector, private providers, community education and training, and work-based training. Additionally, some VET activities are embedded within the secondary school and university sectors. As the major provider of Government-funded vocational education and training, TAFE has undergone significant change since its establishment in the 1970's. Historically, TAFE has provided broader education and social opportunities for individuals beyond a narrower focus on the achievement of training outcomes for economic benefits. However, shifts in policy direction in 1980's and 1990's have seen the delineation between broader education and economic outcomes becoming less distinct. While this is perhaps true of all education sectors, it has potentially impacted more on TAFE than any other sector. This thesis investigated these impacts within the context of TAFE's social service and economic utility roles. This was undertaken by analysing seven seminal Commonwealth and Queensland documents and by analysing the findings of interviews with six senior executives within Queensland's Department of Employment and Training and TAFE. The key findings of this thesis indicate that TAFE Queensland continues to perform a number of functions or activities that can be associated with a social service role. However, the findings also indicate that, for TAFE Queensland, there has been a shift towards an economic utility role. Since the Kangan Report (1974), TAFE's role has become more focussed on meeting Queensland's economic and industry needs within a broad view that Australia needs a flexible workforce, qualified to industry standards of competence and able to compete in a globalised world.