Abstract
Welcome to the first issue of the Australian Journal of Education in 2015.
The articles in this issue cover various aspects of reading, teaching English and higher education.
As regards reading, three articles examine the validity of current large-scale literacy tests, a model to support vulnerable readers and ways in which high school teachers can encourage adolescents’ book reading.
To examine the validity of Australia’s National Assessment Programme for Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) tests, Katrina Grasby, Brian Byrne and Richard Olson relate the performance of twins on the NAPLAN tests to their performance on individually administered literacy tests in the article entitled “Validity of large-scale school reading tests: A phenotypic and behaviour-genetic analysis.” Results show that performance on both tests is heritable with the same genes contributing to performance on individual and large-scale assessments which indicates that both types of tests overlap in the skills they measure.
In their article “Children with reading problems: Missed opportunities to make a difference” Tanya Serry and Frank Oberklaid cite limited resources and a lack of continuity as reasons for a lower than optimal uptake of best practice which has been shown to assist children with reading difficulties. This is of particular concern given the relatively large proportion of low performers in reading as reported in the Australian results of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).
One aspect which has frequently been shown to be positively related to reading performance, namely recreational book reading, is the focus of the article by Margaret Merga. In her study of 20 schools in Western Australia, the author examines high school students’ accounts of their teachers’ practices and attitudes towards book reading. Findings indicate that teachers who make explicit their reading enjoyment, encourage class discussion about books and show that they are “tuned into” the types of texts enjoyed by adolescents, promote students’ interest in book reading.
An enjoyable way to teach linguistics as part of the English national curriculum is illustrated in the article by Kerry Taylor-Leech, Donna Starks and Louisa Willoughby. Here, the authors describe a way of eliciting students’ nicknames and how their analysis can not only be related to the curriculum’s three substrands of language variation and change, language for interaction and language for expressing and developing ideas but can also be a lot of fun in the process.
As regards higher education, the three articles in this issue include a) looking at high school subject selection prior to university; b) how to encourage the uptake of university study; and c) the economic return to an individual of completing a Bachelor degree in Australia.
David Pitt explores how high school students’ choice between a general mathematics and a specialist mathematics class might lead to differences in the scores which determine the university degrees in which they can enrol. Findings indicate that the taking of a general rather than a specialist mathematics course at high school may result in a relatively higher tertiary admission score. This could motivate students to take the general mathematics course which, however, may not equip them with the skills required for successful university studies.
The positive effect of a university campus visit on aspirations of high school students from lower socio-economic backgrounds to attend university is shown by Michele Fleming and Diana Grace. The authors report results from two studies which show that high school students are more likely to picture themselves as university students after participation in a one-day university campus visit programme. The visit contributes to a change in students’ perceptions regarding their ability to cope with the studies but also regarding the affordability of life and accommodation at university, particularly for students who have never previously visited a university campus.
In the article entitled “The private rate of return to a university degree in Australia” Anne Daly, Phil Lewis, Michael Corliss and Tiffany Heaslip present an analysis of the economic return of completing a Bachelor degree in various disciplines. Results show the highest returns of a Bachelor degree are in Dentistry, Medicine and Information Technology. In contrast, results for the completion of a Visual and Performing Arts degree are such that a greater economic return would have been achieved if a person had completed Year 12 and found full-time employment.
Finally, in her review of the book A Brimming Cup, Alison Mackinnon reveals how the author, Elizabeth Kleinhenz, weaves a multifaceted picture of the life and work of Kathleen Fitzpatrick (1905–1990), as a historian, academic and woman during the 20th century.
With this array of content, we trust that you will find something worth reading in this issue of the AJE.
Dr Petra Lietz
Editor-in-Chief