SUMMER 2014
The RIPPLE Effect
From the Interim Director
Welcome to the second edition of
The RIPPLE Effect for 2014.
It has been a privilege to serve as
Interim Director of the Research
Institute for Professional Practice,
Learning and Education throughout
2014. As the year draws to an end,
we are busy preparing for the
Federal Government’s 2015
Excellence in Research in Australia
(ERA) evaluation of the quality of
research undertaken in Australian
universities. I would like to thank Dr
Brian Hemmings and Lisa McLean
for their academic and administrative
leadership in this enormously time
consuming but important task.
As this issue of The RIPPLE Effect
highlights, it has been yet another
successful year for RIPPLE, with this
snapshot covering only a crosssection of the contributions and
achievements of our members. We
hope you enjoy it.
Move to head up teachers
college in Jamaica
We farewelled RIPPLE Assistant
Director Dr Laurette Bristol in
November as she left to take up the
position of President of the Catholic
College of Mandeville (CCM), a
small rural teachers college in
Jamaica. Laurette joins CCM at an
exciting time in its development and
the College will be a good home for
her work on practice architectures,
focusing on leading, professional
learning and institutional
transformation.
Laurette has been a wonderful asset
to the RIPPLE team, both in her
management role and as a
researcher. This year she has been
a strong driver of our packed
program of five workshops,
showcase event and web overhaul.
She has also been a valued
researcher in the community and is
currently completing the second of
two collaborative rural-urban school
development projects between CSU
and the NSW Department of
Education and Communities.
Have you watched the latest
instalment of the Life series,
screened on ABC TV earlier this
year? The Life series uses research
findings from Growing Up in
Australia: The Longitudinal Study of
Australian Children (LSAC).
Life at 9 continues the life journey
of eight Australian children as they
learn to deal with life’s hurdles and
challenges at the pivotal age of nine.
The two episodes focus on the
children’s creativity and emerging
independence.
RIPPLE researcher Professor Linda
Harrison was involved in the
development of the LSAC study.
Many of our other researchers,
particularly those in the Excellence
in Research in Early Years
Education Collaborative Research
Network (CRN), have used data
from the study in their research.
Current and previous episodes are
available on the ABC website.
CONTENTS
Welcome
1
PNG Cultural Mathematics
2
CPS Child and Family Centre
4
Researcher Prof Bob Perry
5
Research News
6
PhD Updates
9
Postdoctoral Updates
11
Visiting Scholars
12
Achievements, New Funding 14
Thank you for your support in 2014
and best wishes for the Festive
Season.
Professor Jennifer Sumsion
Life at 9
Rural-urban professional network
showcase in Goulburn in November
Presenting Research
15
New Books
19
Contact RIPPLE
20
RESEARCH PROJECTS
PNG cultural mathematics
experiences and videos to create an
e-resource that looks like a website
with internal hyperlinks for providing
information in a visual as well as
written format.
“[We were able to] create
a design that was really
meaningful to
participants and filled a
current gap in teacher
thinking and planning.”
The other highlight has been the
workshops themselves and working
with elementary trainers and staff.
Everyone really worked hard and
was creative.
RIPPLE researcher Dr Kay Owens
Early last year we were pleased to
announce Australian Development
Research Award (ADRA) funding for
a project to design principles for
teaching cultural mathematics and
technology-enhanced professional
learning appropriate for remote
areas of Papua New Guinea (PNG).
The four-year project (2013-16) is
being carried out by RIPPLE
researcher Dr Kay Owens, along
with colleagues from the University
of Goroka and a linguist/teacher
from Charles Darwin University.
Kay has over 40 years of experience
with education in PNG, including
teaching mathematics at the PNG
University of Technology, and
conducting research focused on
ethnomathematics (which studies
the relationship between maths,
education and cultures) in many
villages spanning many local
languages.
We spoke to Kay for an in-depth
update on how the PNG cultural
maths project is progressing.
What have been the highlights
from the project so far?
One of the best aspects has been to
create a design that was really
meaningful to participants and which
filled a current gap in teacher
thinking and planning in terms of
cultural mathematics for elementary
schools. We were able to use our
The RIPPLE Effect: Summer 2014
The workshops have all been in
remote or village areas of PNG. I
was blown away by having 60
people (some others were turned
away by organisers) coming to one
workshop when we had planned to
have 25. We scraped up enough
materials for 35 teachers. These
men and women had often walked a
day or two to get to the workshop.
We were wonderfully provided for in
terms of meals. The organisers,
working with communities across a
large area, managed to source
garden food from the subsistence
farmers for so many.
“I was blown away by
having 60 people coming
to one workshop when
we had planned to have
25 … These men and
women had often walked
a day or two to get to the
workshop.”
What are some of the challenges
you have faced, particularly
working with different cultures
and languages?
The biggest challenge has been time
for PNG lecturers to participate in
the workshops with a lack of people
to release them from teaching. We
also faced disruption from landslides
and subsequent road blocks and
strife.
We have a multicultural PNG team
whose expectations, and whose
community expectations, are
considerably different. There has
been a growth in the role that
government, and aid money, is
expected to operate within the ‘big’
leader role of a community.
Another challenge is communication,
when the place runs on mobile
phones which might not be charged,
have limited access, get stolen, and
units have to be purchased. The
landline can only be used in the
province to someone else with a
landline—and people are rarely in
their offices.
Where people have email, then it is
easier, but that is in few places—
even two of the teacher education
institutes do not have it. Fortunately,
we have excellent email contact
between Charles Sturt University
and the University of Goroka.
“We also faced disruption
from landslides and
subsequent road blocks
and strife.”
Language of communication is a
challenge. English is not often
spoken by the teachers, so having a
workshop in English (English is the
official language of instruction)
requires code-switching which is
hard to do in the short timeframe we
had for the workshops. Getting
questionnaires back from villages
and writing responses are two
difficulties for collecting data.
Above: The emblem for the Glen
Lean Ethnomathematics Centre that
Kay works with at the University of
Goroka. The emblem summarises
well the aims of the research project:
“A Research Centre promoting the
advancement of Indigenous
Mathematical Knowledge through
Teaching, Research and
Preservation of Ethnomathematical
Heritage of Papua New Guinea”.
2
What impacts and results have
you noticed?
A number of teachers have
completed questionnaires or part of
the questionnaires. That is evidence
of reflection on the ideas from the
project and their teaching. We do
know that teachers have used the
ideas we used in workshops in their
classes but not necessarily planning
with the full approach we introduced.
Nevertheless, the introduced inquiry
model together with the key
principles has had a significant effect
on all the curriculum officers and key
trainers we have worked with in their
own way of thinking about
mathematics for their country. They
are keen for the design to be more
widely spread and incorporated into
training and teacher’s guides. Senior
officials, on hearing of the project at
a conference, also wanted the
materials to be further disseminated.
We have now run six workshops in
different ecologies, languages and
cultures (as well as two small
workshops), and assisted trainers
and teachers-in-charge to teach the
content.
In workshop evaluations, participants
are able to articulate key points and
give details of what they have learnt.
They want more workshops like
these. They love the early reading
books about mathematical concepts,
particularly ones with photographs
taken in PNG.
We know from our reflections the
teacher's manual can be streamlined
and integrated with the training
activities. We are exploring
alternative technologies including
micro-SD cards on mobiles as well
as solar-powered computers. As a
design research study we are
improving the design of principles
slightly each time but mostly
improving the manual. We also want
to have more PNG video footage.
We’ve delivered papers at
conferences in PNG, Australia and
Mozambique; written reports; and
prepared a journal article. The study
has also contributed to my new
book, Visuospatial reasoning, the
first comprehensive book on
mathematical reasoning in PNG but
with a much wider application (see
page 19).
The RIPPLE Effect: Summer 2014
There are plenty of unexpected
events and challenges in PNG
research, but it has been a joy to
work with amazing hard-working,
resilient PNG administrators,
trainers, teachers and educators.
The project has been greatly helped
by the determination and
organisational skills of Vagi Bino
from the University of Goroka and
the insights and strengths of our
Australian linguist-teacher-educator,
Cris Edmonds-Wathen.
“There are plenty of
unexpected events and
challenges in PNG
research, but it has been
a joy to work with
amazing hard-working,
resilient PNG
administrators, trainers,
teachers and educators.”
The government decision was also
to move away from outcomes-based
education to use standards, so the
cultural mathematics curriculum is
currently being rewritten for 2015.
Hence, giving any sequencing of
concept development is difficult
partly because this would not be
culture/place-based education and
because we do not know what will
be in the new curriculum.
Photos of a remote district workshop for
elementary and prep school teachers in
Papua New Guinea
Are there any current issues
related to your project that you
would like to comment on?
Just before we were to start our
project, the government decided that
the language of instruction in
elementary schools should be
English. There was a growing
disquiet among the community that
children were not becoming literate
in English or numerate, with the
elementary schools using the
vernacular.
There is a lot of evidence to show
that if the vernacular is spoken well
and used in teaching, then children
learn to read in it and grasp
mathematical concepts well, but
many teachers have little training
and no facilities (books) to support
literacy.
We have talked about ‘language
treasures’ in our project because
there are many cultural ways of
thinking that actually provide a ‘big
picture’ of mathematics, and can be
used comparatively with English
western mathematics to strengthen
mathematical concepts. However,
the languages of PNG are so
different from English that it requires
considerable discussion for teachers
and the community to consider the
mathematical register of their
vernacular whether it is used orally
or in written form.
This project is funded by an Australian
Research Development Award. The
views expressed in the comments are
those of Dr Kay Owens and not
necessarily those of the Commonwealth
of Australia which accepts no
responsibility for any loss, damage or
injury resulting from reliance on any of
the information or views contained in this
update.
3
Award for centre helping
vulnerable families
Research Fellow Dr Loraine
Fordham is studying an Australianfirst early years’ education program
that aims to determine the impact of
high quality education and care on
vulnerable children’s long-term
social and educational outcomes.
Operated by the Children’s
Protection Society (CPS) and
established in 2010, the Child and
Family Centre is located in a lowsocioeconomic, high-need area in
North East Melbourne. CPS is
collaborating with the University of
Melbourne’s Departments of
Economics and Paediatrics and The
Murdoch Children’s Research
Institute to undertake a randomised
controlled trial of the cost-benefit of a
three-year early intervention
program for children under three
years of age who experience
significant family stress and social
disadvantage.
CPS also has a research partnership
with Charles Sturt University to
investigate the nature and quality of
the early years education program
(EYEP). Loraine’s study aims to
document and analyse the every day
practices and relationships within the
centre in order to support
dissemination of the learning from
this model of early intervention to the
wider education and care sector.
“All the children at the centre are atrisk or come from vulnerable
backgrounds,” Loraine explained.
“The children receive at least 25
hours a week of high-quality
education and care for 50 weeks of
the year for three years.”
Program features include high staff
to child ratios; qualified staff;
attachment focused and trauma
informed care; a child-centred
curriculum based on the Early Years
Learning Framework; integration
The RIPPLE Effect: Summer 2014
with family support services; support
from infant mental health
professionals and partnerships
between educators and parents.
These features help to support
sustained participation by the
children and families.
“What the studies are hoping to
show is that if you provide three
years of high-quality education and
care for children starting before the
age of three, you can significantly
improve their long-term outcomes,”
said Loraine. “Even though there’s a
high cost to providing these three
years of intervention, ultimately there
could also be savings made to
society.”
“Their internal and their
external spaces aren’t
that large but what they
do with them is so
creative. Every time I visit
there are subtle changes
to things they have done
to accommodate the
children’s interests.”
“My research will provide evidence
on the unique features of the EYEP
that we can share with the wider
sector.”
“We know that vulnerable children
and families are the least likely to
engage with early education and
care services which means that
identifying how the CPS centre has
sustained participation by the
children and families will provide
practical information for universal
services wanting to engage with and
support these families.”
The researchers are committed to
creating an evidence-base for
Australian early intervention with atrisk families. “Often when we talk
about working with children from
vulnerable backgrounds, we cite
American research,” said Loraine.
“In collaboration with CPS the
Melbourne University team have
designed a study that while informed
by American research has unique
features that reflect the Australian
context.” Similar research programs
in the US found significant
improvements in children’s
performance on IQ tests, long-term
employment and earnings.
Earlier this year, the Centre was the
first in Victoria to receive the honour
of becoming a Centre of Excellence,
recognised by the Australian
Children’s Education and Care
Quality Authority (ACECQA).
In summary, Loraine’s research
documents what makes the centre
so special. The practical strategies
she uncovers can then be effectively
replicated or adapted by mainstream
or specialist service providers for the
meaningful inclusion of children at
risk and their families.
RIPPLE Adjunct Dr Anne Kennedy is
the curriculum advisor for the EYEP
and a member of the CPS Research
Advisory Sub Committee that
provides advice to CPS on the
research being undertaken at the
centre.
In tandem with the University of
Melbourne’s research, Loraine’s
project describes the quality of work
that happens in the Centre. “My job
is to unpack the essence of the
program and to describe the high
quality practices and relationships
that children and families experience
on a daily basis,” she said.
Anne believes that the two research
projects will provide valuable
evidence in relation to the complex
interaction between structural and
process matters of quality education
and care that can make a significant
difference for children and families
living with complex issues.
4
RESEARCHER PROFILE
Professor Bob Perry
preschool, particularly seeing I also
finally graduated with my doctorate
in 1976”.
When Bob returned to Australia later
the same year, he became a
founding member of MERGA, the
Mathematics Education Research
Group of Australasia. Their first
conference was held a year later,
where Bob presented a paper on
preschool maths.
Teaching has always been Bob’s
number one interest. “The greatest
influence in my career, and there
have been many of them, was my
Year 3 school teacher, Mr Asquith.
He convinced me that I wanted to be
a teacher just like him. I have always
wanted to be a teacher and continue
with that endeavour,” said Bob,
before adding, “maybe one of these
days I’ll get to be good at it.”
Professor Bob Perry is one of the
most well-known names in
educational transitions research.
Now preparing to retire, Bob
reflects on decades spent helping
families as their children
transition to school.
If you have school-age children, you
likely have benefited from the work
of a dedicated team of educational
transition researchers at CSU, led by
Professors Sue Dockett and Bob
Perry. The team’s research is
recognised both nationally and
internationally, and includes a
recently released resource for
transition to school and school-age
care for the Federal Government.
Bob’s connection with CSU goes
back to the beginning of his career in
higher education, when he joined the
Mitchell College of Advanced
Education in Bathurst (now CSU) in
1972. Prior to that, he worked as a
secondary mathematics teacher
while also embarking on doctoral
studies in pure mathematics.
Since the early 70s, Bob has been
continually employed in higher
education—in Australia as well as
holding a number of visiting positions
overseas. Although beginning his
career in pure mathematics, Bob
quickly changed focus to maths
education. “Within four years [1976] I
was on study leave in England
studying preschool maths,” Bob
explained. “This was quite a move
from the pure maths orb to
The RIPPLE Effect: Summer 2014
In 1979, Bob moved from Bathurst to
Sydney, where he joined the Sydney
College of Advanced Education,
followed by the University of
Western Sydney (then the Macarthur
Institute of Higher Education) in
1985. He held a suite of high-profile
positions including Head of School,
Associate Dean, and Pro ViceChancellor (Education). When he left
UWS in 2007, Bob was a researchintensive Associate Professor.
The other great influence on Bob’s
career has been his partner, Sue
Dockett, whom he first met at UWS.
“We worked in quite different fields,”
said Bob. “Sue in early childhood
education and me in maths
education. It was in 1997 when we
were both on study leave in the US
that we became particularly
interested in transition to school. I’ve
been very grateful for Sue’s support
and inspiration as we’ve built our
careers in that field.”
“The reason I came to be working
back at CSU was that Sue won a
professorship at CSU Albury,” Bob
said of their 2007 relocation. He
joined RIPPLE at the same time,
working within the Educational
Transitions and Change (ETC)
research theme. The collaborative
nature of the group extends to a
four-year global alliance of five
universities—known as Pedagogies
of Educational Transitions (POET)—
with researchers from Sweden,
Scotland, Iceland, New Zealand and
Australia bringing together their
research on educational transitions,
particularly transition to school.
Bob's own research focus includes
educational transitions, early
childhood maths education,
Indigenous education, the ethics of
researching young children, and
community capacity building. Along
with a team of co-researchers, he is
currently involved in two Australian
Research Council (ARC) Discovery
projects. The first, Gudaga goes to
school: An ecological study of school
transition and the early years of
school for Aboriginal children in an
urban community, is based at the
University of New South Wales and
runs from 2012 to 2014. “We’re
working with health researchers to
track a birth cohort of Indigenous
children through the transition to
school and beyond,” said Bob.
The second ARC project is led by
CSU—Continuity and change in
curriculum and pedagogies as
children start school (2013-15)—and
is managed by Bob and Sue, along
with Dr Emma Kearney, Dr Kathryn
Hopps, Jessamy Davies and Paige
Quinnell. The researchers are
investigating curriculum continuity
nationally as children start school.
“There are two new Australian
curriculum documents in the early
years and in school,” said Bob,
referring to the Early Years Learning
Framework and the Australian
Curriculum. “We want to look at
policy intentions, implications and
developments as those two curricula
have been implemented. In
particular, we want to look at
pedagogies of transition as a way of
bringing together the two curriculum
documents.”
Bob is regularly called upon to
present or consult on transition to
school, curriculum policy, Indigenous
education and mathematics
education. He has also recently
undertaken a number of evaluation
projects in the area of transitions.
These include an evaluation of
Foundations for success, an early
learning curriculum for Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander preschoolage children in Queensland. Bob
visited six sites in Far North
Queensland to collect data.
Another is an evaluation of the Let’s
Count program with Dr Ann
Gervasoni from the Australian
5
Catholic University. Bob and Ann,
along with the Smith Family,
developed the early numeracy
program, which has been rolled out
to 12 sites around Australia. They
are now visiting and evaluating four
of these sites as the program
expands across the country.
In terms of government policy
around school transitions, Bob sees
opportunity for improvement. “I think
there are a number of policies that
could be improved, changed or
challenged in these areas,” he said,
“particularly some of the apparent
cutbacks which might be made by
the current Federal Government to
initiatives that were taken by the
previous Labour Government.”
Before he retires, Bob has made
another major contribution to school
transition support. “We have
compiled a resource document
which will be distributed to every
Federal Government prior-to-school
service in Australia,” Bob explained.
The Continuity of Learning resource
will go to over 17,000 services
including preschools and long day
care centres and will provide
educators with information about
appropriate activities to facilitate an
effective transition to school.
Sue Dockett and Bob Perry review the
Continuity of Learning resource with the
Hon Sussan Ley MP, Assistant Minister
for Education
Bob will retire from full-time
employment at the end of 2014 but
research is so much a part of his life
that he plans to continue in some
capacity. “I will continue my
evaluation work and I’m currently
looking at possible projects for next
year,” said Bob. There are a number
of ongoing projects he will wrap up
and he also has eight doctoral
students to see through to
graduation. “But I’m not planning to
do a lot of work for a lot longer,” he
said. “Maybe I’ll simply relax for a
little while—if I still know how.”
The RIPPLE Effect: Summer 2014
RIPPLE POETs in Iceland
Five CSU/RIPPLE Pedagogies of
Educational Transitions (POET)
researchers participated in the
ongoing international alliance with 15
colleagues from Iceland, Sweden,
Scotland and New Zealand during
September 2014. The meeting was
hosted by the University of Iceland in
the capital, Reykjavik. Participants
from Australia were Jessamy
Davies, Wendy Goff, Susanne
Rogers, and Professors Sue Dockett
and Bob Perry.
Jessamy at Geysir
The POET international alliance
aims to facilitate the development of
diverse research skills; promote
sustainable collaboration among
early stage and established
researchers, and the universities, on
the topic of pedagogies of
educational transition; expand
knowledge and understanding of the
significance of educational transition
for young children, their families and
communities in national and
international contexts; and generate
knowledge transfer among and
between researchers, educators,
other professionals and policymakers involved in educational
transitions.
Susanne at Gulfoss
Wendy at Gulfoss
POET began in earnest at CSU
Albury in 2013 and has since held
meetings of at least two weeks’
duration in Sweden and New
Zealand. It will conclude in April
2016 with a meeting in Australia and
hopefully also an international
dissemination conference.
The theme of the work package in
Iceland was Research, policy and
practice in curriculum continuity at
the transition to school. A range of
presentations and workshops
focused on this theme. Public
symposia—one on continuity of
curriculum at the transition to school
and the other on assessment in early
childhood education—each included
a presenter from the Australian
group. Visits to schools and
preschools taught team members a
lot about what might be possible.
There was much discussion about
dissemination of the various country
project findings that underpin the
alliance. POET had a large presence
at the European Early Childhood
Education Research Association
Conference (EECERA) in Crete in
early September 2014, and further
conference involvement is planned.
A proposal for a book is being
finalised, along with a book series to
be based on each of the themes for
the POET work packages.
While the workshops are great
occasions to renew collegial
relationships and friendships with
members from the other contingents,
they are also an opportunity to
experience the host country—and
Iceland is a wonderful place to
experience—with waterfalls,
glaciers, iceberg-filled lakes, geysers
and the site of the oldest continuous
democracy in the world.
POET is funded by the Marie Curie
IRSES scheme in Europe, the Royal
Society of New Zealand, and Australian
funding including a RIPPLE grant.
6
Motivated Minds
Dr Sara Murray and A/Professor
Jane Mitchell have just completed a
year-long research project,
Motivated Minds, for the Catholic
Education Office (CEO) in Bathurst.
Jane and Sara have worked closely
with teachers at La Salle Academy,
Lithgow, to design, implement and
evaluate teaching strategies that
promote a growth mindset in
students.
The Motivated Minds research draws
on the work of American
psychologist Carol Dweck. Dweck
argues that people have one of two
kinds of ‘mindset’ about ability.
People with a fixed mindset believe
that ability is an unchangeable, fixed
entity; while those with a growth
mindset believe that ability can be
developed through effort and
perseverance. The aim of Motivated
Minds was to identify the feedback
strategies teachers can employ to
enable students to develop a growth
mindset.
Jane and Sara worked in partnership
with each faculty leader at La Salle
Academy to develop a feedback
strategy that aligned with the aims
and needs of their faculty. Data were
collected and analysed for each
project. A range of innovative and
worthwhile feedback strategies were
developed. As an example, the
English Faculty focused on
improving Year 9 students’ writing
through directed feedback on a
persuasive text.
The RIPPLE Effect: Summer 2014
Threads of Time
exhibition
The process of drafting a text,
identifying and responding to the
teachers’ written feedback on the
text, and submitting a final draft
proved highly successful in
increasing students’ level of skill.
Students reported that they enjoyed
the opportunity to resubmit a task
and experience improvement.
The project has involved many
workshops and meetings with staff
throughout the year, and culminated
in a Motivated Minds showcase day,
held in early October. The showcase
was attended by senior executive
staff from the Bathurst CEO,
teachers from the local primary
schools, and all teachers from La
Salle Academy. Participants were
able to learn about all of the projects
and reflect on their application in
their own classrooms. The day had
an air of pride and celebration.
Both Sara and Jane agree that
Motivated Minds has been extremely
valuable for a range of reasons. The
research has identified practical
feedback strategies that promote a
growth mindset. Each feedback
project has been carefully
documented and will be incorporated
into a resource kit for the Bathurst
CEO to use with other schools. The
project has been an outstanding
model of a school-university
partnership; and it has promoted
sustained and productive
professional learning for the
teachers in the school.
Dawn Turnbull (2014): Words in time
installation which draws on the books
found in Ben Chifley’s study
An exhibition of history-inspired
artworks produced by Charles Sturt
University Faculty of Education
students was held at the Chifley
Home and Education Centre in
Bathurst in September. The
exhibition was the result of
collaboration between Bathurst
Regional Council and CSU and was
curated by RIPPLE researcher Dr
Donna Mathewson Mitchell.
Threads of Time featured artworks
exploring connections with history
through the interpretation of objects
related to Australia in the 1930s to
1950s and the Chifley Home site.
The artists were all distance
education students studying
secondary visual arts teaching at the
CSU Faculty of Education.
The exhibition was the culmination of
a ten-week project in which the
students were collaboratively
involved in creating artworks as both
artists and co-teachers in a practicebased virtual classroom. The
approach is an innovation in online
teaching and learning at CSU and
has been presented at a number of
national and international
conferences.
It has also formed the basis of
ongoing research and publication in
the area of practice. According to
Donna, the approach is informed by
her ongoing research with visual arts
teachers to examine the nature of
teaching practice in this specialist
area. It also applies principles of
practice-based teacher education
7
that are being investigated for
efficacy and impact. Findings thus
far indicate positive student
experiences, increased
understandings of curriculum and
assessment, a preparedness for
classroom practice, and the
development of collaborative skills.
the early years to hear about
collaborative research and to
consider opportunities to deepen
their practice. They will be hosted at
the Bastow Institute of Educational
Leadership in Melbourne and at
regional venues via
videoconference.
This is the second year of project
implementation with the first
exhibition, Distant Connections, held
in 2013 and nominated for an
Imagine award for engagement from
Museums & Galleries New South
Wales.
Noella’s seminar on 17 September
was on the topic of understanding
and supporting emergent writers.
Several regional centres were
connected via podcast. The seminar
explored drawing as a potential for
rich discussions with children about
their expression of ideas and
thinking and was informed by her
research into emergent writing
(through the Becoming a Writer
project) as well as the research of
others.
The official opening was held on 27
September at the Chifley Home
Education Centre in Bathurst. It was
opened by the Mayor of Bathurst
and Head of the School of Teacher
Education at CSU, Professor Tara
Brabazon. Emeritus Professor Bill
Green of CSU also spoke at the
event and wrote the foreword for the
exhibition catalogue, commenting
that “this Exhibition celebrates the
bringing together of the art of
pedagogy and the pedagogy of art”.
The exhibition can be viewed online
at the Chifley Home website. Copies
of the catalogue, including an essay
explaining the project, can be
obtained from Donna Mathewson
Mitchell.
Becoming a writer
Dr Noella Mackenzie has been in
high demand as a speaker since the
2012 launch of her video and
brochure for Riverina parents on
how young school children learn to
write.
In addition to a range of keynote
presentations and workshops in
2013 and early 2014, Noella has
also recently presented at the 2014
AATE/ALEA conference (Australian
Association for the Teaching of
English and the Australian Literacy
Educators’ Association) in Darwin
from 9 to 12 July, where she
delivered five presentations on her
work.
Noella was also the invited speaker
for the first of a series of four
seminars organised by the Victorian
Curriculum and Assessment
Authority (VCAA) in their Early Years
Twilight Seminars 2014-15 program.
The seminars will allow early
childhood professionals working in
The RIPPLE Effect: Summer 2014
Interactive discussions in the
seminar included how drawing and
writing can be viewed as a unified
system of meaning. This provided
opportunities for practitioners in both
early childhood and in the early
years of school to develop joint
expertise in considering evidence of
children’s learning.
The seminar complements Noella’s
ongoing work on a VCAA-funded
collaborative research project that
includes the development of an
observation tool for children in
Victoria as they transition from
Kindergarten (preschool) into Prep;
and a series of professional
development sessions for teachers
in late 2014 and early 2015.
Modern maths for an
ancient place
program builds knowledge and skills
in early childhood educators to help
them work with parents so that they
can assist their children aged three
to five years to explore and
understand early numeracy skills.
The program was developed by
mathematics education researcher
Professor Bob Perry from CSU's
RIPPLE, Dr Ann Gervasoni from the
Australian Catholic University, and
The Smith Family.
“Let's Count helps parents to support
their child's numeracy skills by
noticing, exploring, playing and
talking about numbers, counting,
sorting and measuring in their daily
lives,” Bob said. “Children love
challenges, and we can drive our
children's learning by challenging
them through everyday activities.”
Bob said Let's Count was a two-day
professional learning program that
has been introduced into 12 sites
around Australia, including the
Pilbara. The Smith Family is
currently considering how the
program can be made sustainable
and introduced to communities
across Australia.
“Let's Count is renewing the ways in
which early childhood educators
think about mathematics and how
they engage with parents and
children to help the parents
understand how their children are
learning,” he said.
Bob recently visited a number of
childcare and family centres in Port
Hedland and Karratha to see how
the program was being used in this
remote region of Australia.
While Let's Count was being used as
it was planned in early childhood
centres and with parents in the
Pilbara, Bob was astounded to see it
being used in youth centres with
older children. “The way Let's Count
has been adapted by educators in
youth centres is very pleasing and
totally unexpected,” he said. “The
program gets educators, parents and
community organisations to work
together to improve the numeracy of
their children.”
A program led by Charles Sturt
University is making inroads into
mathematics education in the
isolated and ancient Pilbara region
of Western Australia. Introduced into
the region in 2014, the Let's Count
For further information about Let's Count,
go to The Smith Family website. The
project is sponsored by the Origin
Foundation and was developed in
conjunction with Blackrock Investment.
First published on CSU News 01/08/14
8
Senate Inquiry highlights
communication needs
RIPPLE researchers Sarah Verdon,
Sharynne McLeod and Jane McCormack
Academics from Charles Sturt
University and RIPPLE have been
prominent among submissions to a
Senate Inquiry into the adequacy
and projected needs for speech
pathology services in Australia.
The Senate Community Affairs
References Committee Inquiry was
established in 2013 at the urging of
Speech Pathology Australia (SPA),
the national peak body for the
speech pathology profession. The
Inquiry has now delivered its report,
Prevalence of different types of
speech, language and
communication disorders and
speech pathology services in
Australia. The Committee received
and considered 305 submissions of
which nine were contributed to and
submitted by ten CSU speech
pathology academics and PhD
students: Professors Sharynne
McLeod and Linda Harrison,
A/Professors Jane McCormack and
David McKinnon, Dr Kate Crowe, Dr
Graham Daniel, Dr Linda Wilson, Dr
Michelle Smith-Tamaray, Sarah
Verdon and Sarah Masso.
Professor Sharynne McLeod said,
“There are many children and adults
with speech, language and
communication needs in Australia.
Speech pathology is a vitally
important though possibly underappreciated service, which the
Senate now understands and
values. The important question the
Inquiry posed is ‘what is needed for
policy makers and governments to
understand the dimensions of the
problem and frame an appropriate
response?’ The Senate report
makes ten recommendations, with
sub-recommendations, with the aim
to improve the outcomes for
individuals and society broadly in the
coming years.”
The RIPPLE Effect: Summer 2014
“The Inquiry was concerned with the
prevalence of speech, language and
swallowing disorders in Australia,
and sought clarification about how
they affect a person's ability to
function in everyday life, and how
these people can be supported in
early education centres, schools,
hospitals, clinics, nursing homes and
correctional centres.”
A/Professor Jane McCormack said
the Senate report recommendations
also address the need to examine
current and preferred service
delivery models, the distribution of
speech pathology services nationwide, standards and qualifications
for speech pathologists, and the
projected locations of speech
pathology graduates relative to the
national need. “Charles Sturt
University has a significant
contribution to make regarding
research, and the education and
qualifications of speech
pathologists," she said.
“The University was specifically
referred to in one recommendation,
and it is an acknowledgment of the
contribution we are making to this
national issue. The Inquiry was also
concerned with how effectively
current demand for speech
pathology services is being met;
whether and where publicly-funded
and operated speech pathology
services are offered within Australia;
and are these adequate to meet
current demand? It asked what is the
cost and the adequacy of private
speech pathology services, and
moreover, what is the projected
demand for speech pathology
services in Australia?”
“The research undertaken through
RIPPLE at Charles Sturt University
addresses many of the
recommendations within the Senate
report," Professor McLeod said.
First published on CSU News 16/09/14
Sound Start website
A website for the Sound Start
Study is now live. The project is
funded by the Australian Research
Council and focuses on the speech
skills of 4- to 5-year-old children
who attend preschool.
www.csu.edu.au/research/sound-start
A PhD JOURNEY
Ben Pham
Charles Sturt University recently
welcomed Vietnamese doctoral
student Ben Pham as she began her
studies in July. Ben received a
prestigious Australian Awards
scholarship from the Australian
government to study Vietnamese
children’s speech acquisition.
Ben relocated from Hanoi, Vietnam’s
capital and second-largest city, to
Bathurst for her four-year PhD, along
with her husband and young son. In
Vietnam, Ben worked as a lecturer in
the Faculty of Special Education at
the Hanoi National University of
Education and was also head of the
Division of Hearing and Language
Impairment. “I see my study as a
golden opportunity to learn from
others and to take this learning back
to Vietnam,” Ben said.
Her positive nature, determination,
and passion for linguistics and
education helped Ben secure her
Australian scholarship, which will be
a huge step forward in her goal to
improve the lives of Vietnamese
children with speech and language
difficulties and their families. Her
enthusiasm to make the most of her
time in Australia has also seen Ben
take the additional step of enrolling
in masters subjects in research,
education and speech pathology.
Ben also credits the support of her
parents who believe strongly in the
value and power of education. She
says most families in Vietnam value
education highly. As a child,
Ben attended a local public primary
school (with an average class size
of 57 students), where she was
recognised as intellectually gifted.
Ben was invited to attend a gifted
high school in Haiphong, where she
specialised in linguistics and
literature. “I rode my bike 40
kilometres to school at the start of
9
every week and then I rode home at
the end of the week,” Ben explained
of the school where she boarded.
When she finished high school, Ben
enrolled at the Hanoi National
University of Education, where she
also began learning English for the
first time. “I borrowed and read a lot
of books in English!” Ben explained.
Since this time she has graduated
with two bachelor’s degrees and two
master’s degrees from Vietnam and
the United Kingdom.
“I see my study as a
golden opportunity to
learn from others and to
take this learning back to
Vietnam.”
Ben will be supported by two
supervisors—Professor Sharynne
McLeod and A/Professor Jane
McCormack—as well as other staff
and students in RIPPLE and the
speech research team. Sharynne
has previously travelled to Vietnam
in mid-2013 as part of her Australian
Research Council Future Fellowship,
where she volunteered at the speech
therapy program at Pham Ngoc
Thach University in Ho Chi Minh
City.
“It has been such a pleasure to meet
Ben and to learn about the work she
has been doing prior to coming to
CSU,” Sharynne said. “We are
pleased she has joined our research
student family and are looking
forward to working with Ben over the
next four years”.
RIPPLE 3MT success
The Three Minute Thesis (3MT)
competition, developed by the
University of Queensland, requires
higher degree research candidates
to refine years worth of work and
tens of thousands of words down to
a three-minute concise and
engaging presentation to a nonspecialist audience. Presenters can
also display one PowerPoint slide.
Charles Sturt University held its 3MT
heats in September, in readiness for
the Trans-Tasman Finals held at the
University of Western Australia in
November.
Daffern, a PhD candidate from the
Faculty of Education, who is
supervised by RIPPLE researchers
Dr Noella Mackenzie and Dr Brian
Hemmings. Second place went to
RIPPLE PhD scholar Sarah
Verdon, also from the Faculty of
Education and supervised by
Professor Sharynne McLeod and Dr
Sandie Wong. Third place went to
Alexander MacQuarrie from the
Faculty of Science.
Tessa’s PhD focuses on an
examination of spelling in Years 3 to
6. We asked how she distilled the
essence of her research for her short
presentation: Spell ‘write’…right?
“Crafting a concise and simple
explanation of my research began
with the identification of at least one
key aim or overarching finding from
each phase of my research,” Tessa
explained. “Short sentences were
used to express these key elements.
Each element was linked to
everyday scenarios that I knew my
audience would relate to. Scientific
and technical words were kept to a
minimum or were visually clarified
via my PowerPoint slide.”
Sarah’s presentation, Embracing
diversity, creating equality,
summarised her PhD topic on
providing equitable and quality
services for multilingual children with
speech sound disorders in a
linguistically diverse context. “The
3MT competition challenges you to
step outside of your own mind and
view your research from the
layman’s perspective,” Sarah said.
“It forces you to ask and answer
questions like ‘Why is this
important?’ and ‘How will my
research make a difference to the
lives of others?’”
“It was a great opportunity to take a
step back from a project that you
become so intimately linked with and
to view it from an outsider’s
perspective. 3MT was a great
experience for networking with other
HDR students and learning about
the diverse and high quality doctoral
research that is being undertaken at
our university. I would highly
recommend it to anyone thinking of
taking the plunge next year.”
Endeavour Awards
Sarah Verdon and Suzanne Hopf
Two RIPPLE-connected PhD
students have received prestigious
national awards from the Australian
Government’s Endeavour
Scholarships and Fellowships
program. Suzanne Hopf has
received a 2015 Endeavour
Postgraduate Scholarship and Sarah
Verdon has received a 2015
Endeavour Research Fellowship.
The awards will enable the two
researchers to work closely with
children, parents and teachers in Fiji,
a country with three official
languages. Both students will live in
Fiji while conducting research into
children's speech, language, and
literacy acquisition.
Suzanne’s research will describe the
breadth of ability amongst
multilingual Fijian children, along
with methods for supporting the
speech, language and literacy needs
of all Fijians. Her research will also
support Fijians with additional
speech, language, and literacy
needs in a culturally relevant
manner.
Sarah’s project will focus on
developing a community-based and
culturally-appropriate program in Fiji
for supporting children’s
communication and development.
Goals will be identified by the
children’s families and communities
to ensure the program is functional
and sustainable in supporting
children in their everyday lives.
Parents and community members
will also implement the program with
the guidance and support of Sarah’s
skills as a speech pathologist.
Winning both the Judges' and
Peoples' Choice Awards was Tessa
The RIPPLE Effect: Summer 2014
10
POSTDOCTORAL
ACHIEVEMENTS
Ameneh Shahaeian and
Audrey Wang
Audrey Wang and Ameneh Shahaeian
Contributed by Ameneh Shahaeian
This year, Audrey and I have been
working with the Excellence in
Research in Early Years Education
Collaborative Research Network
(CRN) and learning from each other,
from team members, supervisors,
fabulous colleagues at the CSU
Bathurst campus (such as the lovely
Professor Sharynne McLeod, Dr
Graham Daniel, Dr Sarah McDonagh
and A/Professor Frances Press) and
outstanding students (such as Sarah
Verdon); as well as difficult
moments, where we seemed to fail!
Here we summarise our
achievements, which show how
impressive it is to have motivated
people working beside each other
and within an exciting team.
Publishing research findings
During my postdoctoral appointment,
I have published two papers from my
PhD studies and I have another
under review from my independent
work which was conducted
alongside my PhD research.
I have published another paper in
collaboration with Audrey. This
paper represents an absolutely great
achievement for us, accepted for
publication in the prestigious outlet
Developmental Science (and
discussed by Ameneh in this video).
The paper reports on a demanding
study which involved collecting data
from children in mountain villages in
Iran. The unique study design
provided a great opportunity to
respond to a dilemma related to the
association between Theory of Mind
and Executive Functioning.
The RIPPLE Effect: Summer 2014
I recently completed another paper
using the database from the
Longitudinal Study of Australian
Children (LSAC), looking at the
effects of early book reading on
children and their language
development and later school
achievements.
I have also collaborated with
Professors Sue Walker and Linda
Harrison on a paper investigating
early predictors of children’s
executive functioning abilities
(similarly with data from LSAC). This
paper was presented at the
International Society for the Study of
Behavioural Development (ISSBD)
conference in China and is under
preparation as a manuscript
publication.
Collaboratively, I have worked with
Audrey on her paper investigating
the trajectory of children internalising
problems during middle childhood
and exploring the child-related and
contextual explanatory factors of
internalising problems.
Audrey is leading another paper, in
collaboration with me, Dr Maria
Hatzigianni and Dr Libbey Murray, to
understand teacher-child and peerchild relationships and children’s
emotional wellbeing. Maria
presented preliminary results at the
European Early Childhood Education
Research Association (EECERA) in
Greece during September and we
have received compliments from
other researchers.
In addition, Audrey has four ongoing
papers, including one from her PhD
study. The other three papers are in
collaboration with various CRN
members. The first, with Dr Graham
Daniel, is an investigation of parental
school involvement and children’s
behavioural regulation and
achievement. The second, with
Professors Linda Harrison and Sue
Walker, investigates the
developmental trajectories of
teacher-child relationships through
early and middle childhood. The
third, with Professors Linda Harrison,
Sharynne McLeod and Sue Walker,
extends a previous study on teacherchild relationships and
developmental trajectories for
children with and without language
impairment.
Innovative use of technology in
conducting fieldwork
I have been involved in designing a
pilot study for the development of an
Australian Research Council Linkage
grant application with colleagues
from Monash University and the
Queensland University of
Technology.
I took part in designing the study
methodology and preparing the
assessments of children on
Executive Functioning (EF) skills.
Audrey assisted with the testing of
preschool children in Brisbane. Her
commitment to the staff, children and
parents received compliments from
the Centre Director.
During testing, Audrey used both
traditional test and novel instruments
on digital platforms using iPads.
These tests aimed to understand
children’s inhibition, shifting,
planning and working memory
capacity as indicators of EF.
Specifically, we tested children’s
inhibition through an iPad task, GoNo-Go, in which pictures of fish and
sharks appeared randomly on the
screen—children were instructed to
only touch the fish but not the shark
swimming by. We also tested
children’s working memory capacity
through an iPad task called Mr Ant,
in which coloured stickers appeared
on different parts of an ant’s body
and children must remember where
Mr Ant was wearing the stickers.
We were able to offer suggestions
for the further refinement and
development of these digital
instruments. For example, although
animated iPad tests can be
engaging, for reliability the same
tasks are usually repeated at least
three times. As a result, some
children became bored and lost
attention by the second repeat and
randomly pressed on the iPad for
entertainment. A related problem
was the lack of interaction between
researcher and child which meant
the researcher could not adjust the
speed of instruction to the child’s
needs to ensure their understanding.
Therefore, we encourage
researchers to apply technology in
testing children but to incorporate
both the testing purpose and
attention-grabbing features in the
technology product to obtain valid
and reliable outcomes.
11
VISITING SCHOLARS
Dr Jane Payler
Visit to BGU
Tamara Cumming, Sandie Wong, Jane
Payler, Jennifer Sumsion, Fran Press,
Jane McCormack, Sarah Verdon,
Sharynne McLeod
John Sharp and Brian Hemmings
Dr Brian Hemmings recently visited
Bishop Grosseteste University
(BGU) in England, where he spent
four weeks working with his longterm research collaborator,
Professor John Sharp, BGU’s Head
of Research and a RIPPLE Adjunct.
Brian and John have co-authored six
articles over the last five years,
covering themes of student
engagement, and from an academic
perspective—how to build research
capacity, generate research skill and
become more research-focused.
Over the four weeks, Brian and John
worked on two projects. The first,
investigating student engagement
and boredom, particularly how
students approach their studies and
their experiences of learning and
teaching, and the second, dealing
with the building of lecturer
confidence. The latter project has
garnered international interest and
has now been replicated and used
by researchers in Malaysia, the
United States and Africa.
Dr Jane Payler from the University of
Winchester in the United Kingdom
visited Charles Sturt University
during September. Her visit was
organised by RIPPLE Assistant
Director Dr Sandie Wong.
Jane presented a lecture on
researching interprofessional
practice in early years’ settings in
England. She also met with early
childhood and speech pathology
researchers from RIPPLE to explore
the issues of and opportunities for
interprofessional practice.
The researchers found Jane’s visit to
be an informative and generative
time of networking and planning for
future collaborations.
The cathedral near Bishop Grosseteste
University used for graduation
ceremonies
Professor Sue Roulstone
Sue
Roulstone,
Emeritus
Professor of
Speech and
Language
Therapy at the
University of
the West of
England,
visited CSU in
May. Sue is also a Co-Director of the
Bristol Speech and Language
Therapy Research Unit.
She spent time working with
members of the Australian Research
Council Sound Start Study team
(Sue is a principal investigator on the
grant) and also met with staff and
students. On 8 May, she presented
an invited seminar to speech
pathologists from across the Central
West of New South Wales at
Bathurst District Hospital, on
Mapping research onto practice with
preschool children with primary
speech and language impairments
(PSLI). The seminar provided an
opportunity to compare speechlanguage pathology practice in
Australia with that identified in the
Child Talk research program in
England. The focus of Child Talk is
on speech pathology-led
interventions for preschool children
with PSLI, examining the research
evidence as it pertains to current
practice, with the aim of developing
an evidence-based framework.
Sue then travelled to Melbourne,
where she was an invited keynote
speaker at the Speech Pathology
Australia national conference and
the Child Language Research
Conference at the Murdoch
Children’s Research Centre.
The RIPPLE Effect: Summer 2014
12
Visiting Professor in
Honour of Alva Myrdal
Sue Dockett with Kaj Fölster and Anette
Sandberg at Mälardalen University
In 2014, RIPPLE researcher
Professor Sue Dockett travelled to
Sweden as Visiting Professor in
Honour of Alva Myrdal. Here, Sue
relates her experience for us.
This year I have had the pleasure of
visiting Mälardalen University,
Västerås, as the Visiting Professor in
Honour of Alva Myrdal. As part of
this visit, I was able to meet her
daughter, Kaj Fölster, and this was a
delight. As well as being erudite and
eloquent in her own right, a writer,
social worker and activist, Kaj
provided a number of perspectives
about her mother and the
significance of her achievements in
Sweden and internationally.
Kaj has travelled extensively, both
with her parents and in later years.
Her first degree was attained in
India, and she talked about her
mother’s work with Nehru and other
Indian political icons. At one point,
she wrote a dissertation about the
Swedish preschool curriculum. Kaj
described how Maria Montessori
was travelling in India at the
outbreak of World War II, and was
not able to leave India to return to
Italy. Montessori was based in
Chenai, and while technically
interned, was allowed to conduct
training programs. Nehru granted
allocations of land and Montessori
programs became a strong feature
of Indian education.
I knew very little about Alva Myrdal
before coming to Sweden. Clearly
she was an amazing woman. With
her husband Gunnar Myrdal, a
renowned economist, she coauthored a book in Swedish in 1934
entitled Crisis in the Population
Question.
The RIPPLE Effect: Summer 2014
The book argued for increased
knowledge about parenting, new
methods of child care, social reforms
including good medical care, decent
housing for all, study loans, free
access to contraception and child
allowances; in other words, that
nations had to be child-friendly and
supportive of parents (particularly
women) if they were to support a
growing population. She talked
about cities being child-friendly
places.
The book caused great controversy,
but Sweden did adopt many of the
changes and Alva Myrdal became
known as the mother of the welfare
state. She advocated for child care
and the training of early childhood
educators, setting up a training
college in Stockholm.
In her travels, in the early years in
support of her husband, Alva Myrdal
travelled to the United Kingdom,
United States and Europe, where
she interviewed and interacted with
Arnold Gessell, Florence
Goodenough, Frances Ilg, Jean
Piaget and Charlotte Buhler, among
others.
She was a prominent member of the
Swedish Social Democratic Party
and became involved in international
issues in the late 1940s. She was
appointed as Principal Director of the
Social Affairs Department of the
newly formed United Nations (194951) and Director of the UNESCO
Department of Social Science (195155). From 1955 to 1956 she served
as a Swedish envoy to India, Burma
and Ceylon.
Kaj talked about her mother’s role in
founding OMEP, the World
Organization for Early Childhood
Education. The OMEP website
describes the history of the
organisation: “In 1946, Lady Allen of
Hurtwood (United Kingdom) and
Alva Myrdal (Sweden), with others
from France, Denmark, and Norway,
developed a plan for the creation of
a world organization to promote the
wellbeing, rights and education of
young children.”
“The UNESCO Assembly in Paris
greeted the plan with warm support,
and the founders invited
representatives of 19 countries from
five continents to a World
Conference on Early Childhood
Education in Prague in 1948. At that
Conference, OMEP was born and
Alva Myrdal was elected its first
World President.”
“This new organization was
recognized then, as it is now, as the
principal mechanism to bring
together people from all over the
world, without any criteria other than
an objective to share information and
initiate actions to benefit young
children everywhere.”
Alva Myrdal was elected to the
Swedish parliament in 1962 and in
the same year she was the Swedish
delegate to the UN disarmament
conference in Geneva. She
maintained this role until 1973. She
advocated strongly for disarmament
and in 1982 was awarded the Nobel
Peace Prize. She was also involved
in the establishment of the
Stockholm International Peace
Research Institute and was the first
chairperson of this organisation.
Her husband, Gunnar Myrdal,
received the Nobel Prize for
Economics Sciences in 1974.
The position of Visiting Professor in
Honour of Alva Myrdal is a
collaborative venture between the
municipalities of Eskilstuna and
Västerås and Mälardalen Universty.
It acknowledges the time in her early
life when Alva Myrdal lived in
Eskilstuna and promotes
collaboration between the university
and local communities. My time in
Västerås was supported by an
Australian Endeavour Executive
Award.
A brief biography of Alva Mydral can
be found here.
Dinner with (left to right) Pia Lindberg
(Dean of the School of Education,
Culture and Communication), Kaj
Fölster, Karin Röding (Vice-Chancellor of
Mälardalen University), Anders Garpelin,
Jan Lindbolm (Director of Education, City
of Vasteras), me, and Anette Sandberg
13
ACHIEVEMENTS
Award for engaging
students with maths
The Let’s Count subject, in
particular, represents a research-led
approach to subject design. It draws
on an early numeracy program (see
page 9) designed by Professor Bob
Perry (CSU) and Dr Ann Gervasoni
(ACU) for The Smith Family, which
involves early childhood educators in
the role of mentors to the families of
the children in their setting, providing
assistance in noticing and exploring
maths in everyday life.
“In 2011, I was responsible for
developing Let’s Count into the form
of a distance education subject as a
means of sustaining the Let’s Count
initiative and achieving a wider
impact on the early childhood
community,” Amy explained.
NEW FUNDING
Dr Amy MacDonald has received a
Citation for Outstanding
Contributions to Student Learning
from the Office for Learning and
Teaching. Amy was honoured for her
“approaches to mathematics
education at a distance which inspire
early childhood educators to engage
with mathematics”.
Amy developed two subjects for the
distance education Bachelor of
Education (Birth to Five Years). She
drew on her own research in early
childhood maths to inform the
subject materials, alongside current
national and international research.
Amy used a combination of video,
audio, interactive games, authentic
and real-world assessment tasks,
and practical activities students
could apply in their workplaces.
“I have found that there is a strong
reciprocal relationship between
teaching and research in both
subjects,” Amy said. “While my
research has certainly informed the
materials in both of these subjects,
equally so has my engagement with
the educators participating in the
subjects informed my research.”
“They help me to understand the
challenges and opportunities for
mathematics education research
from the perspective of the
educators in the field. I find it very
rewarding to be able to see the
nexus between theory and practice
in action in these subjects.”
The RIPPLE Effect: Summer 2014
Strengthening the early
childhood workforce
Congratulations to Professor
Jennifer Sumsion who is part of a
team led by the Queensland
University of Technology who were
awarded funding under the
Australian Research Council Linkage
program. Partner organisations are
Charles Sturt University, the
Queensland Department of
Education, Training and
Employment, Goodstart Early
Learning Ltd and C&K Queensland.
Nationally, multiple strategies are
being implemented to achieve new
early years’ qualification standards
but there is scant evidence about
their effectiveness. This project aims
to identify the most effective
strategies to reduce loss and
increase professional engagement in
the early years’ workforce.
The project successfully builds on
collaboration undertaken with the
Excellence in Research in Early
Years Education Collaborative
Research Network, which will be
helpful in further strengthening the
track record of CSU and QUT in
working together on substantial
externally funded projects.
National interdisciplinary
education framework
Professor Jennifer Sumsion is part of
a Flinders University-led research
team who have been awarded
funding by the Office for Learning
and Teaching to investigate
developing a national
interdisciplinary educational
framework for professionals working
with children in the early years.
Partner institutions are Charles Sturt
University, the Queensland
University of Technology, University
of Queensland, University of South
Australia and the Telethon Institute
for Child Health Research SA.
The first five years of a child's life are
irrefutably important, establishing
lifelong health, social and economic
outcomes. To optimise these
outcomes, national and state policy
directs professionals from a range of
disciplinary backgrounds involved
with children to work more
collaboratively than ever before. As
pre-service education varies across
the professions, such collaboration
to support the early years has
proven challenging. This project will
develop a national interdisciplinary
learning and teaching framework to
inform higher education curriculum
for preparing early years
professionals across disciplines.
Speech sound disorder
research in Hong Kong
Professor Sharynne McLeod is part
of a research team led by Dr Carol
Kit Sum To (along with Ms Ka Yan
Cheung, Mr Thomas Law, Dr Kathy
Yuet Sheung Lee and Prof Manwa
Lawrence Ng from the University of
Hong Kong) who have been
awarded funding by the Research
Grants Council of Hong Kong,
China.
Their research project will
investigate prognosis and risk
factors of speech sound disorder
(SSD) in Hong Kong, a prevalent
childhood communication disorder
that can lead to long-term literacy
difficulties.
Seventy-six five-year-old Cantonesespeaking preschoolers will be part of
the study for two years as they
master their sound inventory. The
study will contribute to the evidencebase for speech pathologists to
better estimate prognosis, decide on
treatment, and predict outcomes for
children with SSD. This will lead to
improved clinical estimation of
prognosis and better allocation of
resources to early intervention
provision.
14
PRESENTING RESEARCH
RIPPLE Showcase
RIPPLE members gathered at the
Charles Sturt University Albury
campus in June to present and
discuss their recent research.
A diverse range of informative
presentations with a great practical
focus on managing research were
delivered and we thank the
presenters and members who
attended.
 Dr Amy MacDonald: Reporting
on a program of research in
early childhood mathematics
education
 Dr Noella Mackenzie:
Research: Unexpected
outcomes
 Professors Sue Dockett and
Bob Perry: ETC: What makes
(or breaks) a research
program?
 Professor Jennifer Sumsion:
Leveraging diversity to create
successful research teams
 Dr Colin Carmichael: Children’s
mathematical development:
Detecting the signal from the
noise in secondary analyses
 A/Professor Jane McCormack:
Educating health professionals
for the 21st century, in the 21st
century
 Dr Laurette Bristol: Leading for
inclusion: A Riverina initiative
Public Lectures
Three RIPPLE researchers recently
presented public lectures as part of
the Charles Sturt University
Explorations Series which aims to
engage rural and regional
communities in discussion and
debate about major issues facing our
regions, the nation and the world.
Speaking my languages
Professor Sharynne McLeod
delivered a CSU Public Lecture on
20 August, titled Speaking my
languages: Celebrating multilingual
children. Audience members brought
their smart phones, tablets and
laptop computers to access online
resources during the presentation
including resources from Sharynne’s
Multilingual Children’s Speech
website.
“Children are amazing! They master
most of their speech and language
skills in their first five to six years of
life. Many children around the world
become competent communicators
in more than one language.
However, some children have
difficulty with speech and language,
regardless of the number of
languages they speak.”
“Communication is a basic human
right, and it is important to facilitate
children’s communicative capacity.
This presentation will offer a world
tour of the research undertaken
during Professor McLeod’s four-year
Australian Research Council Future
Fellowship. Insights will be provided
about supporting children’s
communication based on her work
with Indigenous and non-Indigenous
Australians, as well as with children
from Vietnam, Fiji, Turkey, Zambia,
Hong Kong, Germany, US, Iceland
and many other countries.”
The future of early childhood
education
Professor Jennifer Sumsion
addressed a sold-out public lecture
at CSU’s new campus in Port
Macquarie on 27 August. The
lecture, The National Early Years
Learning Framework and future
directions in early childhood
education, explored national policy
and developments in the field of
early childhood education.
The RIPPLE Effect: Summer 2014
15
“The last six years or seven years
have seen unprecedented policy
developments in Australia aimed at
improving the quality of early
childhood education," Jennifer said.
"How are we travelling as a country
in terms of our educational provision
for our youngest children, and what
still needs to be tackled if we are to
achieve one of the best education
systems in the world?"
The impact of research on our
communities
Professor Lisa Given delivered a
public lecture on the impact of
research on our communities in
Wagga Wagga on 17 September.
“Universities, government and
community groups often talk about
‘research impact’ as a measure of
the value of research. Some
research has an immediate impact
(for example, research designed for
an industry partner), while other
projects may take years—or
decades—to have an influence in
society. This talk will explore how
researchers, community agencies
and government stakeholders view
the concept of ‘research impact’ and
what it means for the development of
a nation and for individual citizens.
Using examples from research
projects in various settings (such as
hospitals, libraries, small
businesses) this talk will examine
ways that community members can
engage with researchers—to build
productive, collaborative
relationships that will foster
innovation and maximise research
impact.”
Conferences
Child Language Research
RIPPLE PhD scholar Sarah Verdon
(supervised by Professor Sharynne
McLeod and Dr Sandie Wong),
attended a two-day Child Language
Research Conference—Discoveries
and new directions—at the Murdoch
Children’s Research Centre in
Melbourne during May. She
presented a paper (co-authored with
Sharynne), The language
trajectories of Australia’s young
multilingual children, based on data
from the Growing Up in Australia:
The Longitudinal Study of Australian
Children (LSAC).
The RIPPLE Effect: Summer 2014
International Clinical Phonetics
and Linguistics Association
At the conference, keynote speaker
Dr Nelleke Bak emphasised the
need for "brain circulation and
internalization" of doctoral work as
well as using the “permeability of
disciplinary boundaries" to make a
difference through research.
International Conference on
Ethnomathematics
Sarah Masso, Karla Washington, Sarah
Verdon, Sharynne McLeod and Suzanne
Hopf
In June, Professor Sharynne
McLeod and her PhD students—
Sarah Verdon, Sarah Masso and
Suzanne Hopf—travelled to
Stockholm, Sweden, to present
papers at the International Clinical
Phonetics and Linguistics
Association conference.
While in Stockholm, Sharynne and
Sarah also hosted a meeting of the
International Expert Panel of
Multilingual Children’s Speech on 11
June. The panel members spoke 16
different languages in a professional
capacity and worked in 25 different
countries (including Slovenia,
Iceland, Israel and Jamaica).
Sharynne then travelled to Iceland in
late June to present workshops to
members of the Icelandic
Association of Speech and
Language Therapists (Félag
talmeinafræðinga á Íslandi), where
she focused on multilingual
children’s speech acquisition,
assessment and intervention.
Higher Education Close Up
Dr Angela Fenton recently presented
a paper at the Higher Education
Close Up international research
conference held at Lancaster
University in the United Kingdom
from 21 to 23 July. Higher Education
Close Up is a biennial international
conference focused on issues
relating to in-depth research into
higher education.
The conference theme was research
making a difference. Angela's paper
was titled, Teacher preparation for
child protection: A strengths
approach, and she highlighted key
findings from her doctoral research.
Kay Owens (far right) with colleagues
In July, Dr Kay Owens, with a team
member from Papua New Guinea
and another from Charles Darwin
University, attended the fifth
International Conference on
Ethnomathematics in Maputo,
Mozambique. Other researchers
travelled from Nigeria, Spain, Brazil,
Columbia, Argentina, Costa Rica,
South Africa and the United States.
Aboriginal Education Consultative
Group
On 20 August, Sarah Verdon
presented at the Aboriginal
Education Consultative Group
(AECG) forum in Dubbo. The invited
presentation was based upon
research undertaken with Professor
Sharynne McLeod using information
from Footprints in Time: The
Longitudinal Study of Indigenous
Children (LSIC).
The research painted a positive and
encouraging picture of Indigenous
children’s use of languages in the
early years. Children in the study
were found to speak between one
and eight languages and one quarter
were found to be speaking at least
one Indigenous language. The
findings also highlighted the rich
language learning environments that
were provided to children in the
study and the many people
(including parents, siblings,
grandparents, friends, aunts and
uncles) who were involved in
supporting children’s language
learning and literacy in the early
years.
16
The findings of the study were well
received by attendees at the forum
with many commenting on the
positive signs that the data showed
for Indigenous language use and
maintenance among Australian
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
children. The audience had many
questions regarding the study and
also many suggestions for how
these data could be used to
strengthen existing language
revitalisation programs and to inform
the development of future strategies
for the preservation of Australia’s
Indigenous language and cultures.
The forum was used to launch the
Recover, re-voice, re-practise
foundations framework and
implementation plan for Aboriginal
Language and Culture Nests (ALCN)
in New South Wales. The document,
Teaching local New South Wales
Aboriginal languages and cultures: A
guide for schools, was also launched
to facilitate culturally appropriate
incorporation of Aboriginal
learning in education environments.
This project was headed by Dr
Shayne T. Williams and aims to
revitalise both Aboriginal languages
and cultures at the community level
to preserve sacred knowledge and
ensure the continuation of identity
and tradition to future generations.
The one-day conference addressed
visiting teachers and other
professionals who support students
who are deaf and hearing impaired
in mainstream settings. Sessions
addressed a range of topics in the
areas of deaf education, audiology,
and general education/teaching
practice.
Early Childhood Australia
A group of RIPPLE and Excellence
in Research in Early Years
Education Collaborative Research
Network (CRN) researchers
attended the 2014 Early Childhood
Australia conference from 4 to 7
September in Melbourne. The theme
of the conference was Seasons of
change.
The CRN was well-represented, with
nine researchers leading a two-hour
invited symposium addressing the
topics of early childhood education
workforce-related issues, a Victorian
Curriculum and Assessment
Authority project, and bilingual
children’s friendships. The CRN also
had a presence at the Queensland
University of Technology booth (one
of the CRN partner universities), and
had ten posters on display.
European Early Childhood
Education Research Association
Contribution by Sarah Verdon on the
Speaking my Languages blog
Itinerant Teacher of the Deaf
Jessamy Davies, Susanne Rogers,
Wendy Goff and Tuija Turunen
Dr Kate Crowe, along with Professor
Greg Leigh from the University of
Newcastle, were keynote speakers
at the 2014 Itinerant Teacher of the
Deaf conference held on 5
September at the RIDBC Renwick
Centre for Research and
Professional Education. Their
address was titled, Cultural and
linguistic diverse deaf learners:
Overcoming the hidden curriculum.
The RIPPLE Effect: Summer 2014
RIPPLE researchers and PhD
students attended the 2014
EECERA conference held in
Hersonissos, Crete, from 7 to 10
September, along with over 800
other early childhood researchers.
Doctoral candidates Susanne
Rogers, Wendy Goff and Jessamy
Davies, former RIPPLE Research
Fellow Dr Tuija Turunen, and
Professors Sue Dockett and Bob
Perry participated in the conference
through presentations and special
interest group meetings.
The Pedagogies of Educational
Transitions (POET) international
alliance facilitated much of the
conference work.
The following presentations were
given:
 Educators’ expectations and
aspirations around young
children’s mathematical
knowledge (Bob Perry and Amy
MacDonald)
 Family transitions as children
start school (Bob Perry and
Sue Dockett)
 Mapping transitions: A critical
appraisal (Sue Dockett and Bob
Perry)
 Issues and challenges for
childcare policy in Australia
(Sue Dockett)
 Family-educator partnerships:
Myth, fable and fantasy?
(Wendy Goff)
 weRead: Tablet computers in
supporting individual emerging
literacy skills for 7-year-old
children (Tuija Turunen and
Hanna-Maija Määttä)
Sue continued her work as CoConvenor of the Transitions Special
Interest Group and Bob led the Early
Childhood Mathematics Special
Interest Group.
Following the conference, the
researchers continued the POET
program of research with a short
stay in Iceland (more on page 7).
International Society for Cultural
and Activity Research
In September, RIPPLE PhD scholar
Sarah Verdon presented two papers
(both co-authored with Dr Sandie
Wong and Professor Sharynne
McLeod) from her doctoral studies at
the 4th Congress of the International
Society for Cultural and Activity
Research (ISCAR) held in Sydney.
Sarah’s presentations were titled:
 Using CHAT to explore speechlanguage pathology practices
from around the world with
culturally and linguistically
diverse children
 Imagining new possibilities for
embracing cultural and
linguistic diversity in children
with communication difficulties
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PHOTO GALLERY
NEW BOOKS
Teaching in the VET
Sector in Australia
Ros Brennan Kemmis and Liz Atkins
have edited the new book Teaching
in the VET Sector in Australia
published by David Barlow
Publishing.
Teaching in the VET sector is a
complex and highly rewarding
vocation. This book provides the
reader with an in-depth exploration
of both the theory and the practice of
teaching in this sector. Each chapter
invites the reader to reflect on their
own practice and offers practical
examples and case stories to assist
the teacher to develop their own
professional expertise. The chapters
have been written by highly
acknowledged VET researchers and
teachers and all the chapters have
been reviewed by people with high
levels of respect and credibility in the
field.
Top: ARC Sound Start Study
researchers meet in May
Threads of Time exhibition
(more details on p. 7), L to R:
Andrew Totman (2014)—The
Object (“You and I”), waterbased screen print on
mirrored perspex
Bill Green and Tara Brabazon
at the exhibition opening
Fiona Dick (2014)—“After
Enlightenment, the Laundry” A
Zen Proverb, from a series of
14 photographs
The RIPPLE Effect: Summer 2014
This book provides the new teacher
or trainee teacher with an overview
of the VET sector in Australia and
introduces the reader to some of the
issues that are part of our VET
environment. The book explores
some of the dimensions of teaching
and the diverse range of learners
that are characteristic of any VET
classroom, workshop or enterprise
setting where teaching is taking
place. The book also introduces the
reader to some of the major learning
theories that are relevant in VET and
provides practical guidance on the
implications of theory for VET
practice.
This book is a must for new teachers
and a refreshing read for those
already engaged in the field.
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Visuospatial Reasoning
Kay Owens’ new book, Visuospatial
Reasoning: An Ecocultural
Perspective for Space, Geometry
and Measurement Education, has
recently been released by Springer.
This book develops the theoretical
perspective on visuospatial
reasoning in ecocultural contexts,
granting insights on how the
language, gestures, and
representations of different cultures
reflect visuospatial reasoning in
context. For a number of years, two
themes in the field of mathematics
education have run parallel with
each other with only a passing
acquaintance: the psychological
perspective on visuospatial
reasoning; and ecocultural
perspectives on maths education.
This volume examines both areas of
research and explores the
intersection of these powerful ideas.
There has been a growing interest in
sociocultural aspects of education
and in particular that of Indigenous
education in the field of mathematics
education. There has not, however,
been a sound analysis of how
environmental and cultural contexts
impact visuospatial reasoning,
although it was noted as far back as
the 1980s when Alan Bishop
developed his duality of visual
processing and interpreting visual
information. This book provides this
analysis and not only articulates new
and worthwhile lines of research, but
uncovers and makes real a variety of
useful professional approaches in
teaching school mathematics. With a
renewed interest in visuospatial
reasoning in the maths education
community, this volume is extremely
timely and adds significantly to
current literature on the topic.
The RIPPLE Effect: Summer 2014
Health Practice
Relationships
Joy Higgs, Anne Croker, Diane
Tasker, Jill Hummell and Narelle
Patton have edited a new volume,
Health Practice Relationships, in the
Practice, Education, Work and
Society series by Sense Publishers.
The quality, resourcing and
accessibility of healthcare is a key
issue facing societies in the 21st
century. Despite the system delivery
focus of these factors it is critical to
remember that healthcare is a
human service and as such, people
need to be placed at the centre of
healthcare systems and processes.
To do this we need to improve the
way that people are valued and
involved in healthcare practices.
Professional relationships lie at the
heart of such practices.
This book illuminates and challenges
professional healthcare
relationships. The authors examine
the nature, context and purpose of
healthcare relationships, explore
models through which these
relationships are enacted, developed
and critiqued, and provide narratives
of health practice relationships in
action. These narratives reveal how
health practice relationships are
experienced and created in realworld situations. The various
chapters generate a range of
implications and recommendations
for healthcare practice and systems
and for the education of health
professionals.
This is a book for practitioners,
educators, clients, members of the
community, advocacy and agency
groups, regulatory bodies and those
with power to shape the future
direction of healthcare.
Body/Practice
Bill Green and Nick Hopwood have
edited The Body in Professional
Practice, Learning and Education, a
new book published by Springer that
brings together researchers from a
range of disciplinary and
professional practice fields, including
particular reference to health and
education. A number of RIPPLEconnected contributors include Bill
Green, Jo-Anne Reid, Donna
Mathewson Mitchell and Sally
Denshire, amongst others.
Body/Practice is the first
comprehensive conceptual guide to
exploring questions of the body in
professional practice. It charts
significant new territory while
drawing on a rich and welldeveloped series of frameworks
relating to bodies and embodiment,
and provides a powerful platform for
rethinking what it means to be, learn,
and practise as a professional.
Body/Practice constitutes a rare but
much needed reframing of
scholarship relating to professional
practice and its relation with
professional learning and
professional education more
generally. It takes bodies seriously,
developing theoretical frameworks,
offering detailed analyses from
empirical studies, and opening up
questions of representation.
Across fifteen chapters, the authors
explore a broad range of issues and
challenges with regard to
corporeality, practice theory and
philosophy, and professional
education, providing an innovative,
coherent and richly informed account
of what it means to bring the body
back in, with regard to professional
education and beyond.
19
The RIPPLE Effect is the biannual newsletter of the Research Institute for Professional Practice, Learning
and Education. It is released in June and December.
The newsletter is also available to read online (with active links) at www.csu.edu.au/research/ripple/news
To subscribe or unsubscribe please contact [email protected]
Editor: Kim Woodland
Printer: CSU Print
About Us
The Research Institute for Professional Practice, Learning and Education is a research institute that
addresses education-related problems, frequently from transdisciplinary perspectives. It conducts highquality applied research into, and consultation about, professional practice, learning and education.
Contact RIPPLE
RIPPLE
Charles Sturt University
Locked Bag 588
Boorooma Street
Wagga Wagga NSW 2678
Australia
Tel: +61 2 6933 2966
Fax: +61 2 6933 2962
Email: [email protected]
www.csu.edu.au/research/ripple
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The RIPPLE Effect: Summer 2014
20