The concern in Australia about boys and girls leaving school early has become prominent in social, political and educational arenas over the past two decades. The Apparent Retention Rate (ARR) to Year 12 indicated that in 2002, 19.3% of females and 30.2% of males left before completing Year 12 in Australian schools (Commonwealth of Australia 2003). Despite the steady rise in completion rates for boys, the ARR of 69.8% in 2002 is deemed to be low considering that the successful completion of Year 12 has important benefits to students. How well Australian boys perform during the compulsory years of schooling has generated consistent interest from academics, school personnel and state education departments alike. Considerable research nationally (Ball & Lamb 2001; Collins et al. 2000; Lamb et al. 2004, McMillan & Marks 2003) and internationally (Arnot et al. 1998, 1999; Cullingford 1990, 1999, 2002; Erskine 1999; Fine 1991) has highlighted that boys experience problems at school in terms of learning, behaviour, achievement and participation when compared to girls. In particular, the retention of boys to Year 12 has been problematic. This paper reports on themes identified as common with 22 school leaving boys from three different social contexts – provincial, rural and metropolitan – and two sites were chosen from each social context. Analysis of the themes will provide greater clarity to what motivated their early school leaving decisions.

In response to the current teacher shortage and its accompanying demand on universities to graduate more teachers, some education faculties have explored the viability of filling staff vacancies with experienced personnel from school systems. 2005 represents the fifth year of operation of an innovative program of secondments at the University of New England (UNE), New South Wales, Australia that has been used successfully to team teach core special education units to undergraduate teacher education students. Few studies have investigated issues related to such secondments from the profession. Members of the Special Education team at UNE addressed this lack of research in the current study that explores personal and professional issues surrounding this secondment experience. Three secondees, two who had returned to teaching positions and one who was continuing in a subsequent seconded position, completed an in-depth questionnaire about their experiences before, during and after their secondment. Overall, the opportunity to contribute to teacher education courses was evaluated positively by the secondees and by the special education faculty. Specifically, analysis of the questionnaire data indicated that a set of themes related to the concept of self-renewal permeated the responses of these mid-career educators. This research has emphasized the importance of providing varied professional development opportunities for special and inclusive educators, and underscores the contribution that professional educators can make to teacher education programs in general.

The key purposes of the EdASP were to enhance the innovation in and/or the quality of higher education by establishing a support service model for beginning teachers aimed at improving teacher retention in their first five years of service. The Project used The University of England (UNE) web-based technologies, to deliver support for beginning teachers in 2005 by providing fora for sharing professionally-based and academically-based information and for social interaction. The professional significance of the project was twofold: (1) The neophyte professional has to be assisted to adjust to specific classroom situations as part of the life-long learning continuum. Broadly this has not been done well in teaching despite reports over the last 25 years calling for various forms of support to be provided. (2) Teacher supply is currently a problem as many, especially baby boomers, are leaving teaching and there is the perennial problem of hard-to-staff schools. Beginning teachers are seen as potentially vulnerable as they cross the line into their new professional world. They bring with them social, cultural and political capital to deal with this new world. Where these are ineffective then vulnerabilities will arise and such teachers, more particularly, will need support. The method was essentially a case study using UNE alumni of 2005 who were invited to take part in primary and secondary online environments divided into discussion fora perceived to be useful to them. Discussion fora were available from the first day of first term until the end of the year. Postings by mentors and beginning teachers formed the bulk of the data though a specially prepared evaluative questionnaire was sent to all 2005 alumni. Data were mainly analysed using nVIVO and thematic analysis.

The terms 'sex' and 'gender' have in the past, been interchangeably used in the social sciences, despite their definitions being quite different. A better understanding is often formed if the terms are viewed in a more holistic manner. In order to gain a clear understanding of the meaning of sex and gender, the terms need to be viewed in relation to other key concepts of culture and communication. Culture refers to the overt and covert structures and networks in society that perpetuate social norms and attitudes of male and female behaviours. One needs to understand the cultural networks that act as a framework for individual behaviours in order to understand how gender identity is formed and performed. Communication is a process and symbolic activity that individuals use to clarify and understand meaning allocated to behaviours, attitudes and cultures. It is important to note that communication is contextually based and inextricably linked to the cultures of the society.

This workshop identified and discussed some of the challenges to conducting effective tutorials when environmental and motivational factors intervene. Such factors include: the weather, the teaching space, the physical preparedness of students ( e.g. 'the Thursday hangover') and/or the teaching content. A range of activities were explored for getting the 'best' from students who want to give the 'least'. Some practical activities aimed at 'countering the zombie factor' were presented and tips for developing innovative tutorial activities were outlined. The main aim of this workshop was the idea of keeping learning encounters 'fresh, real, memorable and fun'.

In response to the current teacher shortage and its accompanying demand on universities to graduate more teachers, some education faculties have explored the viability of filling staff vacancies with experienced personnel from school systems. 2005 represents the fifth year of operation of an innovative program of secondments at the University of New England (UNE), New South Wales, Australia that has been used successfully to team teach core special education units to undergraduate teacher education students. Few studies have investigated issues related to such secondments from the profession. Members of the Special Education team at UNE addressed this lack of research in the current study that explores personal and professional issues surrounding this secondment experience. Three secondees, two who had returned to teaching positions and one who was continuing in a subsequent seconded position, completed an in-depth questionnaire about their experiences before, during and after their secondment. Overall, the opportunity to contribute to teacher education courses was evaluated positively by the secondees and by the special education faculty. Specifically, analysis of the questionnaire data indicated that a set of themes related to the concept of self-renewal permeated the responses of these mid-career educators. This research has emphasized the importance of providing varied professional development opportunities for special and inclusive educators, and underscores the contribution that professional educators can make to teacher education programs in general.

The successful inclusion of children with special educational needs into mainstream classrooms is now a widespread practice in Australia (Ashman & Elkins, 2008). Teacher understanding and awareness of the range of disabilities has been increased through professional development sessions and membership to student case conferences with para-professionals (Bullard, 2004). Whilst efforts are made to up-skill teachers to best cater for and include the learning and social needs of children with special needs in their classrooms, the question remains whether the school process of inclusion actually works and is an enjoyable experience for the student in question. This paper explores how successful the theories underpinning incluision of students with disabilities into mainstream classrooms were for a boy diagnosed with Asperger syndrome in his K-6 primary school years. The experiences and information conveyed in this paper are due to the close, personal relationship the author has with 'Harry' and his family. The paper tells the story of Harry's journey through a State primary school system via three lenses: academic, behavioural and social, and views the time in his school day as either 'structured' or 'unstructured'. The paper puts forward recommendations to teachers, education staff and parents on how to improve the process of inclusion for students with Asperger syndrome, and for those students who exhibit similar difficulties at school.

This research was motivated by concerns about the consistent pattern of poor retention of some boys to Year 12, and overall poor performance of some boys in Australian schools. This study broadly drew on critical discourse theory to examine the circumstances surrounding the decision to leave school by 22 boys from three different geographical locations i.e. provincial, rural and metropolitan, in Queensland, Australia. Adopting Fairclough's (2002) model of discourse as a conceptual framework for this research allowed the exploration of the different socio-cultural practices as perceived by the boys in their geographical location. Similarities in the boys' narratives included their belief in the value of learning, and that the context of school was unable to provide them with learning that was both meaningful and relevant to their post school pathways. Despite the similarity of the boys' school experiences, the range of storylines they chose to illustrate their experiences in their geographical context differed. The study concluded that consideration be given by education researchers to the construction of a dominant masculinities discourse in different geographical locations, when exploring boys' engagement with school.

The use of activities such as ice-breakers has traditionally been associated with formal training seminars. This workshop highlighted the versatility of icebreakers and how they reliably enhance student interest, participation and learning in any teaching scenario. A number of creative interventions in the form of interactive group mixers, warm-ups, energisers and playful activities were demonstrated for lecturers to utilise in their teaching. The roles of the facilitator as catalyst, coach and observer were visited in terms of ensuring that social interactions and transfer of information to participants remain interesting, enjoyable and, most of all, fun for university students.

How well Australian boys perform during the compulsory years of schooling has generated consistent interest from academics, school personnel and State education departments alike. Considerable research in Australia (Ball & Lamb, 2001; Collins, Kenway & McLeod, 2000; Lamb, Walstab, Teese, Vickers & Rumberger, 2005; McMillan & Marks, 2003) and elsewhere (Arnot, David & Weiner, 1998, 1999; Cullingford, 1990; 1999; 2002; Erskine, 1999; Fine, 1991) has highlighted that boys experience problems at school in terms of learning, behaviour, achievement and participation. In particular, the retention of boys to Year 12 has been problematic. This paper analyses 22 school leaving boys’ discourses about school and their links to their early school leaving decisions. Through the use of qualitative research, this study set out to explore the school leavers' own accounts of their decisions to leave school early. This paper reports part of a larger three-year longitudinal study entitled 'Factors affecting boys' engagement with schooling at the Secondary level' project funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC)/Strategic Partnerships with Industry - Research and Training Scheme (SPIRT). It will report on the generative themes, discourses and storylines the school leaving boys used to describe their school experiences and to account for their school experiences and early school leaving decisions in their geographic context.