Editorial.
In The Chronicle of Higher Education (2013), Rachel Toor commented
that 'academic research is often driven by real passion, but by the
time it turns into scholarly prose, the heat has long since
dissipated'.
On 28 February of this year, Stephen Dinham delivered the annual
Phillip Hughes Oration to the Australian College of Educators in
Canberra. It must have been very clear to the audience that, for Dinham
at least, the heat had not dissipated--in fact, if asked at the time, he
may well have said that he was just warming up. The case he made was so
compelling because it was well-researched, and because it was delivered
with passion.
At the time, the Phillip Hughes address received favourable press
coverage, but I carne to the view that, unless it was published in a
journal of record, the importance of the case that Dinham made might be
forgotten over time. I am grateful for the opportunity to publish a
revised and updated version of his address in this issue of the AJE.
Although it has been adapted as necessary to meet scholarly conventions,
I am confident that the fire has been retained and the case has been
made in equally compelling manner. If you care about the quality of the
teaching that schools provide, and about our capacity to sustain that
quality, this article is for you.
Passion shows itself in many ways, but not only through advocacy.
Leanne Lester and her colleagues Donna Cross, Julian Dooley and Therese
Shaw are passionate about child health, and in particular about the
impact of bullying in schools. In a three-year longitudinal study
covering the period of transition from primary to secondary school, they
found significantly higher levels of victimisation as children move into
secondary school, accompanied by higher levels of loneliness and lower
levels of peer support, connectedness to school and feelings of safety
at school. If whole-school bullying programs are to have their maximum
impact, this might be a good place to start.
We can always learn from other countries, particularly, as in the
cases of Canada and New Zealand, when there are many similarities
between our country and theirs. In this issue, Laura Perry and Andrew
McConney look to Canada, Michael Irwin to New Zealand, while Bilal Rafi
and Phil Lewis look to the experiences of Indian students in Australia.
Perry and McConney seek direct comparison based on PISA
results--not on overall level, but on their distribution. They identify
structural differences in educational outcomes that relate to structural
differences in educational provision. This ought to be cause for
concern, and just might be addressed if the Gonski reforms go ahead (at
the time of writing, that is by no means certain). Irwin, while engaging
in no direct comparison, paints a vivid picture of the lives led by
adolescent schoolboys in New Zealand--a picture that invites readers in
any country to make their own comparisons.
Australian universities (and even some Australian secondary
schools) have been becoming increasingly dependent on revenue from
international students). India ranks second only to China in terms of
the numbers of international students arriving in Australia each year.
But in these times of economic instability, the supply of overseas
students has become more volatile. This has been the case for India,
more so than for any other country--both with regard to the total
numbers of students and to their distribution among the further,
vocational and higher education sectors. Bilal and Lewis present
evidence that Indian students are very responsive to changes in
Australia's labour market, immigration and student visa policies.
As these things change, so will the availability of students from India
(and, presumably, from other countries upon which we have become
dependent). Officials in Higher Education who see international students
as a stable and reliable source of revenue might find read this article
and find pause for thought.
Finally, in this issue, Christopher Drew looks at another aspect of
the recruitment of students--this time by schools in New South Wales.
Focussing on the schools most subject to market forces (15 elite
boarding schools), he examines how school websites are used--for
administrative purposes, for information flow, and increasingly for
impression management and self-promotion. The fact that the latter is
seen to take precedence is a triumph for the marketers. But will it
yield us better schools?
Each in their own way, the authors represented in this issue have
shown passion, and in some cases, bravery. And, as Toor (2013)
concluded, 'bravery in academic writing may not be rewarded with a
standing ovation; it may, in fact, cause some trouble'.
That is why we need journals such as this one. Let's maintain
the passion--and the bravery!
DOI: 10.1177/0004944113494523
Reference
Toor, R. (2013). Writing with soul. The Chronicle of Higher
Education. Retrieved from
http://chronicle.com/article/Writing-With-Soul/139405/
