Volume 12 Issue 2

Avondale College of Higher Education has been offering tertiary courses for over 120 years. In the past two decades, this institution has extended its programs to include distance courses for students who opt to study online or are not able to attend on-campus courses at Avondale’s Lake Macquarie and Sydney campuses. While all of the institutions courses are evaluated on a regular basis, no formal evaluation had ever been undertaken of the distance education program as a whole. During 2017, a mixed methods research project was conducted to gather evaluative data from recent and current distance students using questionnaires and focus groups. The results of the study provide insight into the extent to which the distance education program at the College provides a space in which learning relationships can develop in online communities. Also, suggestions for future improvement and further research recommendations are provided. Findings of this study may be of interest to educators and administrators who incorporate online components in their curricula.

Final year pre-service teachers at a private provider of Christian higher education were surveyed to discover their perceptions of the special character of a wide spectrum of Australian Christian faith-based schools. They each completed an eight week placement, spread over two sessions, in a Christian school. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected through open-ended written responses and a questionnaire. The results indicated that a special Christian character was visible to the preservice teachers, with evidence that Christian worldview alignments in the areas of school culture, relationships, service and discipleship in Christian schools is easier to identify than in the learning and teaching aspects of schools’ operations.

Teacher educators at Seventh-day Adventist tertiary institutions across the South Pacific will seek to collaborate on development and research after attending an inaugural conference

This book makes a valuable contribution to Christian education. Avoiding the all-toofamiliar clichés found in some of the literature in this field, the author provides the reader with a rich tapestry of ideas and reflections, both philosophical and practical.

Nelson Mandela said: “Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world”. Education, however, is not only about passing on skills and knowledge but also about developing character or, as the authors of Developing Tenacity, put it: developing capabilities or dispositions that will aid the learner not only at school but all through life.

Around ANZAC Day this year, some suggested that we, as Australians, probably should not try to date our identity from the Gallipoli campaign. No doubt these comments were treated as heresy by many celebrating on the day but they do raise an interesting argument surrounding the “Who am I?” question. One of the points being made is that we could hardly call ourselves fully Australian because of Gallipoli, when the original inhabitants have called the continent home for tens of thousands of years.

209 junior school students, ranging from year four to year six, and their nine teachers participated in this study that explored how the psychological factors of growth mindset: the belief in one’s ability to learn and succeed, selfcontrol: the ability to resist temptation and remain focused on a goal, and grit: applying passion and perseverance for long term goals, impact junior school students’ academic achievement. This study found that growth mindset, selfcontrol and grit can all play a part in helping students to achieve academically in primary schools. The two factors, grit and growth mindset were found to have a direct, significant influence on academic achievement. Grittier students were more likely to outperform their peers in academic achievement. Students with a higher growth mindset were also more likely to outperform their peers. Growth mindset had a significant positive relationship with grit. Although the present study did not find a significant difference in grit based on gender, the structured equation model indicated that boys had a significant direct link to grit, but girls compensated through the significant indirect link to grit via self-control. The present study found a highly positive correlation between self-control and grit. Students with higher levels of self-control were more likely to exhibit higher levels of grit.

The purpose of this cross-sectional, nonexperimental descriptive design study was to determine college students’ perception of family influence impacting their health and lifestyle. The sample included 120 college students in a faithbased institution and each student completed a Likert-type survey (4-point agreement scale) that investigated their perception of health, and the degree of influence peers and family had on their health. This second data analysis reports correlations between variables and group differences related to health perceptions and behaviours. The strongest correlation is between ‘family demonstration of positive health habits’ and ‘personal health practices being like my families’ (r = 0.671, p < 0.01), a moderate relationship supported by other weaker positive correlations to specific health outcomes. Negative correlations between ‘my friends display more positive health habits than family’ and both ‘family has influenced my idea of health’ and ‘my health practices are similar to my family’ indicate the potential for other contextual factors to effect family impact. While differences relating to health influence and outcomes between groups formed by age, gender, ethnicity, family structure and religion were found, the variable related to most healthy lifestyle transmission elements was ‘My family demonstrates positive health habits’. Recommendations supporting improved societal health are offered, together with suggestions for further research. Group classifications that are fixed but might inform interactions with elements of cohorts are identified, together with group memberships which might be changed to enhance health options. Caution in the generalisation of these findings is advised due to the explained limitations of this study.

Foetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorder (FASD) is a cluster of conditions that are the result of prenatal exposure to alcohol. Children with FASD may have noticeable facial features as well as intellectual, social, emotional and behavioural difficulties. Providing a loving, structured and supervised learning environment has significant positive impacts on the development of a child with FASD. A teacher can assist a student with special needs in reaching their full potential, through establishing an effective individualized learning plan and building strong relationships with the child and guardian.

In a series of introductory classes on wellbeing in schools this year, my primary pre-service students and I looked at wellbeing from four different perspectives.