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Rapid—and seemingly accelerating—changes in the economies of developed nations are having a proportional effect on the skill sets required of workers in many new jobs. Work environments are often technology-heavy, while problems are frequently ill-defined and tackled by multidisciplinary teams. This book contains insights based on research conducted as part of a major international project supported by Cisco, Intel and Microsoft. It faces these new working environments head-on, delineating new ways of thinking about ‘21st-century’ skills and including operational definitions of those skills. The authors focus too on fresh approaches to educational assessment, and present methodological and technological solutions to the barriers that hinder ICT-based assessments of these skills, whether in large-scale surveys or classrooms. Equally committed to defining its terms and providing practical solutions, and including international perspectives and comparative evaluations of assessment methodology and policy, this volume tackles an issue at the top of most educationalists’ agendas.

Presents the findings of an Australia-wide project managed by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), which sought the views of teachers, students, parents and other interested individuals on how Australia's schools might be made more effective. The research covers curriculum, staffing, parent and student involvement, and the administration of schools. Included are tables of survey responses and a list of references. Co-authors are Kevin Piper, Diana Banks and Beryl Evans.

Communication in organizations has changed drastically since the release of the first edition of this bestselling textbook. This fully revised and updated edition delves into state-of-the-art studies, providing fresh insights into the challenges that organizations face today. Yet this foundational resource remains a cornerstone in the examination of classic research and theory in organization communication.

This study explored the range of future policies preferred by a selected sample of Australian educators and identified the grounds on which the preferences were based. Seventy-eight policy options for teacher education in Australia were identified through workshop participants and examination of reports of inquiries and investigations in Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The policies were concerned with practices at the level of teacher education institutions and with national and state administration. The desirability of each policy was established through a Delphi study with a national sample of senior government administrators, heads of teacher education programs, academic staff of teacher education programs, teachers and parents of school children, and student teachers. The results can be grouped under three themes: (1) A national perspective was advocated, as much for funding reasons as for the advantages in coordinating activities; (2) There was concern that the standards and status of teachers be raised; and (3) Respondents wanted the support of teacher education increased to the level of that provided for other professions with an emphasis on quality rather than on quantity. An appendix provides detailed analyses of the responses. (Author/FG)