Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Cultural development (Queensland)'

Creative industries have significance in considerations of regional development because of their potential for both social-cultural and political-economic benefit. This is especially the case in Indigenous communities, given the potential of traditional and contemporary cultural expression for industry development and employment. This research set out to explore and evaluate an action research approach to creative industries development in regional contexts, stimulated by a research initiative of　Queensland's Department of State Development in cooperation with Queensland University of Technology's Creative Industries Research and Applications Centre. It is based on an analysis of seven pilot projects undertaken between 2002 and 2004, most of which involved Indigenous　participation and which gave rise to consideration of the additional value of Indigenist research perspectives. The research found that an action research methodology, informed by Indigenist research values, can assist creative enterprise development in a regional context through the development of new businesses or by value-adding to existing businesses, and the consequent generation and exploitation of new intellectual property. In this process, it found that there is an emerging role for the creative entrepreneur, such a role arising from the practices of community cultural development and social-cultural animation.

Creative industries have significance in considerations of regional development because of their potential for both social-cultural and political-economic benefit. This is especially the case in Indigenous communities, given the potential of traditional and contemporary cultural expression for industry development and employment. This research set out to explore and evaluate an action research approach to creative industries development in regional contexts, stimulated by a research initiative of　Queensland's Department of State Development in cooperation with Queensland University of Technology's Creative Industries Research and Applications Centre. It is based on an analysis of seven pilot projects undertaken between 2002 and 2004, most of which involved Indigenous　participation and which gave rise to consideration of the additional value of Indigenist research perspectives. The research found that an action research methodology, informed by Indigenist research values, can assist creative enterprise development in a regional context through the development of new businesses or by value-adding to existing businesses, and the consequent generation and exploitation of new intellectual property. In this process, it found that there is an emerging role for the creative entrepreneur, such a role arising from the practices of community cultural development and social-cultural animation.

This study utilising a 'theory into practice' methodology, interrogates the phenomena of the Australian Regional Art Museum and establishes that curatorship, as a defined visual art practice can sustain the art museum as a viable cultural institution in contemporary regional Australia. It employs a case study of a new model art museum and the curation of selected collections-based exhibitions.

This study utilising a 'theory into practice' methodology, interrogates the phenomena of the Australian Regional Art Museum and establishes that curatorship, as a defined visual art practice can sustain the art museum as a viable cultural institution in contemporary regional Australia. It employs a case study of a new model art museum and the curation of selected collections-based exhibitions.
Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Queensland College of Art
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This thesis adopts a Cultural Industries framework to examine how Queensland's arts council network has, through the provision of arts products and services, contributed to the vitality, health and sustainability of Queensland's regional communities. It charts the history of the network, its configuration and impact since 1961, with particular focus on the years 2001 - 2004, envisages future trends, and provides an analysis of key issues which may be used to guide future policies and programs. Analysis is guided by a Cultural Industries understanding of the arts embedded in everyday life, and views the arts as a range of activities which, by virtue of their aesthetic and symbolic dimensions, enhance human existence through their impact on both the quality and style of human life. Benefits include enhanced leisure and entertainment options, and educational, social, health, personal growth, and economic outcomes, and other indirect benefits which enrich environment and lifestyle. Queensland Arts Council (QAC) and its network of branches has been a dominant factor in the evolution of Queensland's cultural environment since the middle of the 20th century. Across the state, branches became the public face of the arts, drove cultural agendas, initiated and managed activities, advised governments, wrote cultural policies, lobbied, raised funds and laboured to realise cultural facilities and infrastructure. In the early years of the 21st century, QAC operates within a complex, competitive and rapidly changing environment in which orthodox views of development, oriented in terms of a left / right, or bottom up / top down dichotomy, are breaking down, and new convergent models emerge. These new models recognise synergies between artistic, social, economic and political agendas, and unite and energise them in the realm of civil society. QAC is responding by refocusing policies and programs to embrace these new models and by developing new modes of community engagement and arts facilitation. In 1999, a major restructure of the arts council network saw suffragan branches become autonomous Local Arts Councils (LACs), analogous to local Cultural Industry support organisations. The resulting network of affiliated LACs provides a potentially highly effective mechanism for the delivery of arts related products and services, the decentralisation of cultural production, and the nurturing across the state of Creative Community Cultures which equip communities, more than any other single asset, to survive and prosper through an era of unsettling and relentless change. Historical, demographic, behavioural (participation), and attitudinal data are combined to provide a picture of arts councils in seven case study sites, and across the network. Typical arts council members are characterised as omnivorous cultural consumers and members of a knowledge class, and the leadership of dedicated community minded people is identified as the single most critical factor determining the extent of an LAC's activities and its impact on community. Analysis of key issues leads to formulation of eight observations, discussed with reference to QAC and LACs, which might guide navigation in the regional arts field. These observations are then reformulated as Eight Principles Of Effective Regional Arts Facilitation, which provide a framework against which we might evaluate arts policy and practice.

This thesis adopts a Cultural Industries framework to examine how Queensland's arts council network has, through the provision of arts products and services, contributed to the vitality, health and sustainability of Queensland's regional communities. It charts the history of the network, its configuration and impact since 1961, with particular focus on the years 2001 - 2004, envisages future trends, and provides an analysis of key issues which may be used to guide future policies and programs. Analysis is guided by a Cultural Industries understanding of the arts embedded in everyday life, and views the arts as a range of activities which, by virtue of their aesthetic and symbolic dimensions, enhance human existence through their impact on both the quality and style of human life. Benefits include enhanced leisure and entertainment options, and educational, social, health, personal growth, and economic outcomes, and other indirect benefits which enrich environment and lifestyle. Queensland Arts Council (QAC) and its network of branches has been a dominant factor in the evolution of Queensland's cultural environment since the middle of the 20th century. Across the state, branches became the public face of the arts, drove cultural agendas, initiated and managed activities, advised governments, wrote cultural policies, lobbied, raised funds and laboured to realise cultural facilities and infrastructure. In the early years of the 21st century, QAC operates within a complex, competitive and rapidly changing environment in which orthodox views of development, oriented in terms of a left / right, or bottom up / top down dichotomy, are breaking down, and new convergent models emerge. These new models recognise synergies between artistic, social, economic and political agendas, and unite and energise them in the realm of civil society. QAC is responding by refocusing policies and programs to embrace these new models and by developing new modes of community engagement and arts facilitation. In 1999, a major restructure of the arts council network saw suffragan branches become autonomous Local Arts Councils (LACs), analogous to local Cultural Industry support organisations. The resulting network of affiliated LACs provides a potentially highly effective mechanism for the delivery of arts related products and services, the decentralisation of cultural production, and the nurturing across the state of Creative Community Cultures which equip communities, more than any other single asset, to survive and prosper through an era of unsettling and relentless change. Historical, demographic, behavioural (participation), and attitudinal data are combined to provide a picture of arts councils in seven case study sites, and across the network. Typical arts council members are characterised as omnivorous cultural consumers and members of a knowledge class, and the leadership of dedicated community minded people is identified as the single most critical factor determining the extent of an LAC's activities and its impact on community. Analysis of key issues leads to formulation of eight observations, discussed with reference to QAC and LACs, which might guide navigation in the regional arts field. These observations are then reformulated as Eight Principles Of Effective Regional Arts Facilitation, which provide a framework against which we might evaluate arts policy and practice.

This thesis is an anthropological study of local understandings of economic development in a small regional town in far North Queensland, Australia. How do preferences regarding lifestyle and social wellbeing impact on those living in the community? The study takes a particular interest in the aspirations, values and choices of the residents and their desires for the future and the future of their town. Throughout this thesis I argue that social wellbeing and lifestyle are important factors in Cardwell residents' choices and feature predominantly in their approaches to economic development. I contextualise this study through a comparative analysis of the effects of economic development on the wellbeing and lifestyle of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people in the Cardwell region of north Australia. This comparison arises firstly from an anthropological interest in the circumstances of Australian Aboriginal people as a significant minority in regional towns. Explicit attention is directed toward the Aboriginal people of the Cardwell region as they constitute a socially and culturally distinct sector of the local population. Secondly, my study explores ways in which comparative work of this kind may be instructive on cultural issues relevant to economic development. This is a study of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people, who live in similar circumstances, and who, I propose, regard factors other than economic development as important. It is argued that while the Cardwell region does not provide ample nor a variety of economic opportunities, outward migration remains undesirable to many residents.

In Australia, Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICM) is the policy framework adopted by government to manage the coastal zone. Amongst other principles, ICM contains an explicit mandate to include local communities in the management of the coastal zone. In Australia, the Coastcare program emerged in response to international acceptance of the need to involve local communities in the management of the coastal zone. This dissertation is a critical cultural investigation of the Coastcare program to discover how the program and the coastal zone generally, is understood and negotiated by three volunteer groups in SE Queensland. There is a paucity of data surrounding the actual experiences of Coastcare volunteers. This dissertation begins to fill this gap in our knowledge of local community involvement in coastal management. My dissertation considers the culture of Coastcare and broadly, community participation initiatives. Coastcare participants, government policymakers, environmental scientists, etc bring to their encounter a specific ‘way of seeing’ the coast – a cultural framework – which guides their actions, ideas and priorities for the coastal zone. These cultural frameworks are established and maintained in the context of unequal relations of power and knowledge. The discourses of environmental science and economics – as evidenced in the chief ICM policy objective, Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD) – are powerful knowledges in the realm of community participation policy. This arrangement has serious consequences for what governments and experts can expect to achieve via community participation programs. In short, the quest for ‘power-sharing’ with communities and ‘meaningful participation’ is impeded by dominant scientific and economic cultures which act to marginalise and discredit the cultures of communities (and volunteers). Ironically enough, the lack of consideration of these deeper relations of power and knowledge means that the very groups (such as policymakers, environmental scientists, etc) who actively seek the participation of local communities, contribute disproportionately to the relative failure of community participation programs. At the very least, as those in a position of power, policymakers and associated experts do little to enhance communication with local communities. To this situation add confusion wrought by changes in the delivery of the Coastcare program and a lack of human and financial resources. From this perspective, the warm and fuzzy sentiment of Coastcare can be understood as the ‘Coastcare of neglect’. However, the emergence of community participation as ‘legitimate’ in environmental policymaking indicates a fissure in the traditional power relations between communities and experts. Indeed the entry of ‘community participation policy’ is relatively new territory for the environmental sciences. It is this fissure which I seek to explore and encourage via the application of a cultural studies framework which offers another ‘way of seeing’ community participation in coastal and marine management and thereby, offers avenues to improve relations between communities and experts. My fieldwork reveals a fundamental mismatch between the cultural frameworks which communities bring to the coast and those frameworks embodied and implemented by the Coastcare program. Upon closer examination, it is apparent that the Coastcare program (and community participation programs generally) are designed to introduce local ‘lay’ communities to environmental science knowledge. Local coastal cultures are relegated to the personal and private realm. An excellent example of this is the scientifically oriented ‘eligible areas for funding’ of the Coastcare program. The volunteers consulted for this project emphasized their motivation in terms of ‘maintaining the natural beauty of the coast’ and ‘protecting a little bit of coast from the rampant development of the coastal zone’. Their motivations were largely the antithesis of ESD. They understood their actions as thwarting the negative impacts of coastal development – this occurred within a policy framework which accepted development as fait d’accompli. Australia’s nation of coastal dwellers may not know a lot about ‘coastal ecologies’ but they do know the coast in other ways. Community knowledge of the coast can be largely accounted for in the phrase, ‘Australian beach culture’. Serious consideration of Australian beach culture in environmental policy is absent. The lack of attention to this central tenet of the Australian way of life is because, as a concept and in practice, beach culture lacks the ‘seriousness’ and objectivity of environmental science knowledge – it is about play, hedonism, holidays, spirituality, emotion and fun. The stories (including Indigenous cultural heritage) which emerge when Australians are asked about their ‘beach cultural knowledge’ – historical and contemporary experiences of the Australian coast – await meaningful consideration by those interested in communicating with Australian communities living on the coast. This ‘cultural geography’ is an avenue for policymakers to better communicate and engage with Australian communities in their quest to increase participation in, or motivate interest in community coastal management programs.

In Australia, Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICM) is the policy framework adopted by government to manage the coastal zone. Amongst other principles, ICM contains an explicit mandate to include local communities in the management of the coastal zone. In Australia, the Coastcare program emerged in response to international acceptance of the need to involve local communities in the management of the coastal zone. This dissertation is a critical cultural investigation of the Coastcare program to discover how the program and the coastal zone generally, is understood and negotiated by three volunteer groups in SE Queensland. There is a paucity of data surrounding the actual experiences of Coastcare volunteers. This dissertation begins to fill this gap in our knowledge of local community involvement in coastal management. My dissertation considers the culture of Coastcare and broadly, community participation initiatives. Coastcare participants, government policymakers, environmental scientists, etc bring to their encounter a specific ‘way of seeing’ the coast – a cultural framework – which guides their actions, ideas and priorities for the coastal zone. These cultural frameworks are established and maintained in the context of unequal relations of power and knowledge. The discourses of environmental science and economics – as evidenced in the chief ICM policy objective, Ecologically Sustainable Development (ESD) – are powerful knowledges in the realm of community participation policy. This arrangement has serious consequences for what governments and experts can expect to achieve via community participation programs. In short, the quest for ‘power-sharing’ with communities and ‘meaningful participation’ is impeded by dominant scientific and economic cultures which act to marginalise and discredit the cultures of communities (and volunteers). Ironically enough, the lack of consideration of these deeper relations of power and knowledge means that the very groups (such as policymakers, environmental scientists, etc) who actively seek the participation of local communities, contribute disproportionately to the relative failure of community participation programs. At the very least, as those in a position of power, policymakers and associated experts do little to enhance communication with local communities. To this situation add confusion wrought by changes in the delivery of the Coastcare program and a lack of human and financial resources. From this perspective, the warm and fuzzy sentiment of Coastcare can be understood as the ‘Coastcare of neglect’. However, the emergence of community participation as ‘legitimate’ in environmental policymaking indicates a fissure in the traditional power relations between communities and experts. Indeed the entry of ‘community participation policy’ is relatively new territory for the environmental sciences. It is this fissure which I seek to explore and encourage via the application of a cultural studies framework which offers another ‘way of seeing’ community participation in coastal and marine management and thereby, offers avenues to improve relations between communities and experts. My fieldwork reveals a fundamental mismatch between the cultural frameworks which communities bring to the coast and those frameworks embodied and implemented by the Coastcare program. Upon closer examination, it is apparent that the Coastcare program (and community participation programs generally) are designed to introduce local ‘lay’ communities to environmental science knowledge. Local coastal cultures are relegated to the personal and private realm. An excellent example of this is the scientifically oriented ‘eligible areas for funding’ of the Coastcare program. The volunteers consulted for this project emphasized their motivation in terms of ‘maintaining the natural beauty of the coast’ and ‘protecting a little bit of coast from the rampant development of the coastal zone’. Their motivations were largely the antithesis of ESD. They understood their actions as thwarting the negative impacts of coastal development – this occurred within a policy framework which accepted development as fait d’accompli. Australia’s nation of coastal dwellers may not know a lot about ‘coastal ecologies’ but they do know the coast in other ways. Community knowledge of the coast can be largely accounted for in the phrase, ‘Australian beach culture’. Serious consideration of Australian beach culture in environmental policy is absent. The lack of attention to this central tenet of the Australian way of life is because, as a concept and in practice, beach culture lacks the ‘seriousness’ and objectivity of environmental science knowledge – it is about play, hedonism, holidays, spirituality, emotion and fun. The stories (including Indigenous cultural heritage) which emerge when Australians are asked about their ‘beach cultural knowledge’ – historical and contemporary experiences of the Australian coast – await meaningful consideration by those interested in communicating with Australian communities living on the coast. This ‘cultural geography’ is an avenue for policymakers to better communicate and engage with Australian communities in their quest to increase participation in, or motivate interest in community coastal management programs.
Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School of Arts
Full Text

Current literature warns organisations about a global ageing phenomenon. Workplace ageing is causing a diminishing work pool which has consequences for a sustainable workforce in the future. This phenomenon continues to impact on local government councils in Australia. Australia has one of the world’s most rapidly ageing populations, and there is evidence that Australian local government councils are already resulting in an unsustainable workforce. Consequently, this research program investigated the role of older workers in the Queensland local government workplace in enabling them to extend their working lives towards transitional employment and a sustainable workforce in the future. Transitional Employment is intended as a strategy for enabling individuals to have greater control over their employment options and their employability during the period leading to their final exit from the workforce. There was no evidence of corporate support for older workers in Queensland local government councils other than tokenistic government campaigns encouraging organisations to "better value their older workers". (Queensland Government, 2007d, p.6). TE is investigated as a possible intervention for older workers in the future. The international and national literature review reflected a range of matters impacting on current older workers in the workforce and barriers preventing them from accessing services towards extending their employment beyond the traditional retirement age (60 years) as defined by the Australian Government; an age when individuals can access their superannuation. Learning and development services were identified as one of those barriers. There was little evidence of investment in or consistent approaches to supporting older workers by organisations. Learning and development services appeared at best to be ad hoc, reactive to corporate productivity and outputs with little recognition of the ageing phenomenon (OECD, 2006, p.23) and looming skills and labour shortages (ALGA, 2006, p. 19). Themes from the literature review led to the establishment of three key research questions: 1. What are the current local government workforce issues impacting on skills and labour retention? 2. What are perceptions about the current workplace environment? And, 3. What are the expectations about learning and development towards extending employability of older workers within the local government sector? The research questions were explored by utilising three qualitative empirical studies, using some numerical data for reporting and comparative analysis. Empirical Study One investigated common themes for accessing transitional employment and comprised two phases. A literature review and Study One data analysis enabled the construction of an initial Transitional Employment Model which includes most frequent themes. Empirical Study Two comprised focus groups to further consider those themes. This led to identification of issues impacting the most on access to learning and development by older workers and towards a revised TEM. Findings presented majority support for transitional employment as a strategy for supporting older workers to work beyond their traditional retirement age. Those findings are presented as significant issues impacting on access to transitional employment within the final 3-dimensionsal TEM. The model is intended as a guide for responding to an ageing workforce by local government councils in the future. This study argued for increased and improved corporate support, particularly for learning and development services for older workers. Such support will enable older workers to maintain their employability and extend their working lives; a sustainable workforce in the future.

Within Australia, data on the oral health and health-related quality of life experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children living in urban areas are lacking. This project utilised a mixed-methods approach to contribute new epidemiological and life experience data to the field of oral health and create a culturally specific, parent-proxy tool to measure the health-related quality of life of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. These findings provide contemporary oral health data to inform policy and a foundation for the development of other culturally specific health-related quality of life measures for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

This study identified some of the generic assumptions required to underpin the development of future training models for supervisors in hotels, motels and resorts in south east Queensland. Hotels, motels and resorts were chosen as the focus for this research due to the rapid changes and growth in the industry, specifically the growth in international visitation. This growth has particularly impacted on the role of supervisors. Supervisors in hotels, motels and resorts in south east Queensland must now be able to function effectively to compete in the international market. The researcher examined the literature to determine both external and internal changes to organisational environments which have contributed to the changing role of hotel, motel and resort supervisors. Changes in the training and education principles which occurred at the same time, were also discussed. Nadler and Nadler's critical events model was adopted as a starting point for the research (Nadler & Nadler, 1994, p.15). Some generic assumptions underpinning training models for hotel, motel and resort supervisors, at the time of this research, were identified. Possible changes in assumptions required to underpin future training models for hotel, motel and resort supervisors were discussed. A conceptual framework for this research was developed. Prentice and Rabey's model showing the 'current structure in some organisations' was adapted as a possible future superisory training model (Prentice & Rabey, 1994, p.94). This model, together with the conceptual framework, was used to research some of the changing assumptions required to underpin future training models for hotel, motel and resort supervisors. Research in this study followed ethnographic methodology. Continuous cycles of data collection, analysis and interpretation occurred with feedback at each stage (Spradley, 1980, p.26; Fetterman, 1989, p.47). The three main cycles in this ethnographic research design were the exploratory phase, the descriptive phase and the explanatory phase. During the exploratory phase, the researcher used various participant observation research techniques to elicit information from a broad range of relevant hospitality personnel. Data analysis at the exploratory phase led to refining the research problem, the research questions and posing ethnographic hypotheses as well as identifying categories relevant for research and identifying and refining tentative assumptions required to underpin possible future training models for hotel, motel and resort supervisors. The descriptive phase of the research involved structured interviews conducted with managers and questionnaires administered to supervisors across fifteen job areas in hotels, motels and resorts in Brisbane, the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast. Analysis of data collected at the interview and questionnaire phases resulted in a richer description of the training environment of hotel, motel and resort supervisors. The explanatory phase of the research involved interpretation of data analysed from the exploratory and descriptive phases of the research. Comparative analysis was used to triangulate data and validate the reliability and trustworthiness of the research findings. This interpretation led to further refinement of the tentative assumptions underpinning the possible training model developed in the exploratory phase of this research. The research findings were a list of some of the assumptions required to underpin future training models for hotel, motel and resort supervisors in south east Queensland. These assumptions were that training models for hotel, motel and resort supervisors should: - train to an industry standard capable of meeting customer expectations; - assume horizontal career paths including multiskilling in various practical skill areas before progressing to supervisory level where multiple supervisory skills/knowledge are required along with practical skills specialisation; - view hotel, motel and resort supervisors as team leaders fostering a culture of team values; - assume various employable attitudes necessary for a hotel, motel or resort supervisory career; - be based on flexible delivery/training methods capable of training and retraining hotel, motel and resort supervisors in the workforce as well as pre-employment training; and - assume generic supervisory skills requirements. This list of assumptions were used to clarify a theoretical framework for the development of future training models for hotel, motel and resort supervisors in south east Queensland. Additionally, the ethnographic process followed by this research was viewed as having significant implications in the design of future training models for hotel, motel and resort supervisors, supervisors from other industries and for other workers.

Australian acceptance of middle schooling has been gaining momentum. The impetus behind the introduction of middle schooling in Australia has been to provide a more developmentally appropriate educational experience for Years 6-9 students (approximately ages 10-11—14-15) and a smoother transition between the traditional primary and secondary divide. An underpinning practice in the philosophy of middle schooling is small communities of teachers and students. Teachers working in a middle school environment are organised into small teaching teams that plan and teach together. Middle schooling practice, however, demands some reshaping of complex and multiple relationships among teachers. This reshaping includes collaborative planning, teaching, assessing, and reporting within teaching teams, together with closer relationships with students, administrative staff, parents, and the wider community. These collaborative tasks require teachers to negotiate a new complex web of interrelationships. Stages in group development have been explored in a variety of settings. Tuckman (1965) identified four stages in the development or “life cycle” of groups (i.e., forming, storming, norming, and performing) that have been shown to be transferable to groups across a number of disciplines. As newly formed middle school teaching teams evolve and work to complete these new collaborative tasks and negotiate these new relationships, they have been reported to progress through this same life-cycle. The way that these teams move through these progressive stages is important to the effective functioning of the team. This purpose of this study was to examine the formation, development and maintenance of four middle school teaching teams over the course of their first year as a team. This study aimed to identify factors that facilitate or hinder a positive trajectory for a team’s development and to explore the influence of a school’s culture on teaming practices. Teams involved in this study were all in government run middle schools in South East Queensland that introduced an holistic reform in the last decade. A multi-site case study approach was used. Qualitative data were gathered through semistructured individual interviews with core teaching staff in each team and through notes taken during participant observation days throughout the year. Comparisons of data within and across teams revealed six main characteristics that were found to either positively or negatively influence teaching teaming in the four teams from the three Queensland schools participating in the study. These characteristics concerned (a) training (i.e., both preservice and inservice); (b) administrative support throughout the teaming process (i.e., from formation to establishment and maintenance); (c) attitudes of team members to teaming (i.e., a willingness to participate in a team and experience and confidence in contributing to the team); (d) relationship building; (e) conflict; and (f) school culture. These results resonated with the research literature on the experiences of middle school teaming practices in the USA. A school’s culture was identified as one of the six defining characteristics of a team’s experience within the first question of the study. It was found to exert facilitating and inhibiting effects on the other 5 characteristics that were identified. Moreover, the results revealed several aspects of working in teams that teachers found challenging. A lack of specific training in teaming skills (i.e., either preservice or inservice) prevented teachers from establishing adequate team protocols (i.e., goals, rules, and roles) able to facilitate the smooth functioning of the team. Specifically, teachers generally demonstrated limited and ineffective means of dealing with conflict, which, in most instances, caused team development to stagnate or regress. Findings from this study has shown a gap between what the middle school literature has said about collaboration and teaming and how it is being implemented in these three Queensland middle schools. This study also demonstrates the urgent need for preservice and inservice training in teaming practices to occur concurrently with the introduction of a middle years’ reform in Australia. It also identifies a list of specific teaming skills that are required by teachers embarking on a teaming experience and a list of the facilitating and hindering factors to team formation and development at an individual, team, and school level.
Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School of Education and Professional Studies
Faculty of Education
Full Text