Victoria A. Johnson, Kevin R. Ronan, David M. Johnston and Robin Peace
The purpose of this paper is to assess the national implementation of disaster preparedness education in New Zealand primary schools through the dissemination of What's the Plan…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to assess the national implementation of disaster preparedness education in New Zealand primary schools through the dissemination of What's the Plan, Stan?, a voluntary, curriculum-based teaching resource.
Design/methodology/approach
Results and findings from a focus group study with school teachers and local civil defence staff in 2011 and a nationally representative survey of schools in 2012 were analyzed to identify intervening, facilitating and deterrent factors of uptake and use of the resource.
Findings
The main intervening factors between resource promotion and school teachers’ awareness of the resource are word of mouth among school teachers and teachers’ proactive lesson plan research. The strongest facilitating factor was school-wide use of the resource. Lack of awareness of the resource and the perceived need for teacher training are the greatest deterrents to use of the resource.
Practical implications
Based on the findings, several recommendations are provided for increasing use of the resource including use of web-based technology for teacher training, integration of disaster preparedness messaging into other children's programs, ongoing evaluation and curriculum requirements.
Originality/value
An evaluation of the implementation of What's the Plan, Stan? adds to the limited body of knowledge on the benefits and challenges to distributing a voluntary teaching resource as a national strategy for curriculum integration of disaster education. The findings and lessons are relevant for nations meeting the Core Indicators of progress toward the 2005-2015 Hyogo Framework For Action.
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Flora Antony, Victoria Makuya and Ruth Elias
This study aims to investigate the influence of the service concept on customer acquisition and when the relationship is moderated with manager’s experience in Savings and Credit…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the influence of the service concept on customer acquisition and when the relationship is moderated with manager’s experience in Savings and Credit Cooperative Societies (SACCOS) within Dar es Salaam City, Tanzania.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopts a cross-sectional research design and utilizes simple random sampling to select 226 respondents, all of whom are managers of SACCOS in Tanzania. Data were collected through a questionnaire and analyzed using a partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).
Findings
The findings indicate that service concept have a highly statistically significant impact on customer acquisition, with a p-value of less than 0.05. Conversely, managers’ experience also influences customer acquisition by the p-value of less than 0.05. The result also confirms the significance influence of positive moderating effect of manager’s experience on the relationship between service concept and customer acquisition, with a p-value of less than 0.05, therefore it shows that manager’s experience facilitate the influence of service concept to customer acquisition.
Practical implications
The findings of this study provide valuable insights for SACCOS aiming to thrive and attract more customers. By understanding the nuances of service concepts, these institutions can refine their strategies for customer acquisition effectively.
Originality/value
The study’s insights into the composite effect of service concepts hold significance for SACCOS seeking to enhance their customer acquisition strategies enhanced by manager’s experience. These findings contribute new perspectives to the SACCOS and other related financial services sector, offering fresh insights into innovation and customer-centric approaches.
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Aarhus Kommunes Biblioteker (Teknisk Bibliotek), Ingerslevs Plads 7, Aarhus, Denmark. Representative: V. NEDERGAARD PEDERSEN (Librarian).
John Pardy and Lesley F. Preston
The purpose of this paper is to trace the restructure of the Victorian Education Department in Australia during the years 1980-1992. It examines how the restructuring of the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to trace the restructure of the Victorian Education Department in Australia during the years 1980-1992. It examines how the restructuring of the department resulted in a generational reorganization of secondary schooling. This reorganization culminated in the closure of secondary technical schools that today continues to have enduring effects on access and equity to different types of secondary schooling.
Design/methodology/approach
The history is based on documentary and archival research and draws on publications from the State government of Victoria, Education Department/Ministry of Education Annual Reports and Ministerial Statements and Reviews, Teacher Union Archives, Parliamentary Debates and unpublished theses and published works.
Findings
As an outcome the restructuring of the Victorian Education Department, schools and the reorganization of secondary schooling, a dual system of secondary schools was abolished. The introduction of a secondary colleges occurred through a process of rationalization of schools and what secondary schooling would entail.
Originality/value
This study traces how, over a decade, eight ministers of education set about to reform education by dismantling and undoing the historical development of Victoria’s distinctive secondary schools system.
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It has often been said that a great part of the strength of Aslib lies in the fact that it brings together those whose experience has been gained in many widely differing fields…
Abstract
It has often been said that a great part of the strength of Aslib lies in the fact that it brings together those whose experience has been gained in many widely differing fields but who have a common interest in the means by which information may be collected and disseminated to the greatest advantage. Lists of its members have, therefore, a more than ordinary value since they present, in miniature, a cross‐section of institutions and individuals who share this special interest.
Investigates the dimensions of accounting information prepared foruse in managing non‐corporate pastoral entities in pre‐FederationWestern Victoria and the local, time‐specific…
Abstract
Investigates the dimensions of accounting information prepared for use in managing non‐corporate pastoral entities in pre‐Federation Western Victoria and the local, time‐specific environmental factors which shaped these dimensions. Based on examinations of 23 sets of surviving business records prepared during 1836‐1900, provides evidence of the structure and usage of pastoral accounting information in an unregulated financial reporting environment. Draws conclusions about the likely impact of cultural, legal and political, professional, educational, economic and other factors as key explanatory variables. Also argues a case for lost relevance based on the evidence of accounting change in the closing decades of the nineteenth century.
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The purpose of this paper is to assess recent strategic sustainability policy, planning and assessment efforts in Victoria, Australia.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to assess recent strategic sustainability policy, planning and assessment efforts in Victoria, Australia.
Design/methodology/approach
An interpretive approach to policy analysis provides the methodological foundation for the analysis. Evidence is drawn from the analysis of policy texts and semi‐structured interviews.
Findings
Sustainability attracted considerable policy attention in Victoria during the first decade of the 21st century, with stated ambitions for Victoria to become “the sustainable state” and “world leaders in environmental sustainability”. In pursuing these ambitions, Victoria's efforts centred on hosting a summit, articulating medium‐term directions and priorities, releasing a whole of government framework to advance sustainability, and establishing a Department of Sustainability and Environment, and a Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability. However, the evidence indicates these efforts would have benefited from greater public engagement and input, stronger governance arrangements, and a broader conceptualisation of sustainability.
Practical implications
The evidence presented highlights the implications associated with efforts to promote sustainability through strategic policy and planning processes.
Originality/value
This paper provides an informed, yet policy relevant, analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, challenges, and possibilities associated with pursuing sustainability at the sub‐national level. It also highlights the ways in which policy objectives can be frustrated by failing to establish the solid foundations necessary for building a robust approach to promoting sustainability. The value of progressing sustainability within a strategic improvement cycle is also highlighted.
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Using sex education at Shepparton South Technical School (South Tech) as a prism, the purpose of this paper is to analyse the Victorian Technical Schools Division policies and…
Abstract
Purpose
Using sex education at Shepparton South Technical School (South Tech) as a prism, the purpose of this paper is to analyse the Victorian Technical Schools Division policies and practices during the 1970-1980s.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on a documented history of South Tech by using a blended methodology consisting of interviews, media-centred debates and a range of documentary sources.
Findings
The Technical Director, Edward “Ted” Jackson's 1970 policy empowered principals as educational leaders, in partnership with their community, to develop courses responding to student needs. This paper analyses a controversy concerning sex education in 1980 that brought such courses under the scrutiny of the Victorian public.
Social implications
Identifying the policies and practices of a sex education course that proved successful in the past enhances the development of contemporary courses.
Originality/value
Victoria's former secondary technical schools provide an important insight into current social and vocational problems.
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Technical education in the twentieth century played an important role in the cultural life of Australia in ways are that routinely overlooked or forgotten. As all education is…
Abstract
Purpose
Technical education in the twentieth century played an important role in the cultural life of Australia in ways are that routinely overlooked or forgotten. As all education is central to the cultural life of any nation this article traces the relationship between technical education and the national social imaginary. Specifically, the article focuses on the connection between art and technical education and does so by considering changing cultural representations of Australia.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing upon materials, that include school archives, an unpublished autobiography monograph, art catalogues and documentary film, the article details the lives and works of two artists, from different eras of twentieth century Australia. Utilising social memory as theorised by Connerton (1989, 2009, 2011), the article reflects on the lives of two Australian artists as examples of, and a way into appreciating, the enduring relationship between technical education and art.
Findings
The two artists, William Wallace Anderson and Carol Jerrems both products of, and teachers in, technical schools produced their own art that offered different insights into changes in Australia's national imaginary. By exploring their lives and work, the connections between technical education and art represent a social memory made material in the works of the artists and their representations of Australia's changing national imaginary.
Originality/value
This article features two artist teachers from technical schools as examples of the centrality of art to technical education. Through the teacher-artists lives and works the article highlights a shift in the Australian cultural imaginary at the same time as remembering the centrality of art to technical education. Through the twentieth century the relationship between art and technical education persisted, revealing the sensibilities of the times.