Towards the end of the 1980s, John Lidstone and Rod Gerber shared a coffee at the relatively newly created Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane. As a new university, the pressure was on to increase international research publications, but for the two geographical educators, the options for publishing academic research papers were relatively few. Most of the reputable journals were strongly associated with national geographical societies, and often bridged the gap between professional teacher articles and academic research. Scarfe (1949) had reviewed research in geographical education, and recognised three types of study as predominating; tricks of the trade, psychological factors and the interests of children. Many of these were reports of small experiments conducted by teachers in their own classrooms. At that time, the “content” of geographical education was regarded as relatively fixed, and the purpose of the research was primarily to increase the speed and effectiveness of the learning process. The nexus between academic research and professional publications remained relatively close well into the 1980s. As Lidstone and Gerber reflected on the conferences and symposia of the IGU Commission on Geographical Education (CGE) at that time, it became apparent that the proceedings of such conferences constituted virtually the only truly international sources of academic research. This thought quickly led to the idea that the Commission was an ideal foundation on which to build a new journal with a focus on promoting the diffusion of high quality academic research across linguistic, cultural and national boundaries. Being the more junior academic, Lidstone was given the job of approaching international publishers with the proposal. At that time, there was an universal agreement amongst publishing houses that there was no demand for any new journals, much less one focussed on Geographical Education. However, after thirty-two (the number is forever imprinted in Lidstone’s brain) rejections, Latrobe University Press agreed to support the idea, so long as the cost for the first three years was underwritten by someone else. Gerber at that time was newly elected as President of the Royal Geographical Society of Queensland and proposed the new journal as an exciting new project for the Society, and thus the International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education (IRGEE) was born. Within a short time, Latrobe University Press sold its titles to Channel View Publications in the United Kingdom, who in turn sold its titles to Routledge—Taylor and Francis. In the early years, the editors’ primary objective was to increase circulation internationally and encourage young researchers around the world to make their work accessible around the world. Much effort was made to promote careful attention to carefully articulated and defined methodologies. When Joe Stoltman replaced Rod Gerber as co-editor, his extensive international networks (and those of Taylor and Francis) helped the journal to increase the geographical spread of both contributors and readers. When Lidstone and Stoltman passed the editorial baton to Gillian Kidman and Chew Hung Chang in 2017, the challenge had become one of increasing the journal’s “High Impact Metrics” status in response to governments’ desire to hold universities accountable to national policy initiatives.

The title of this editorial may cause some to wonder regarding its meaning: The End of the Beginning. The current co-editors are stepping aside for a new editorial team to assume responsibility for IRGEE. That is the End. The Beginning is the fact that the emeriti editors were present for the very first issue of International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education (IRGEE). John Lidstone, along with Rod Gerber, was foundation co-editor and Joe Stoltman was the author of the first article in the first issue in 1992. However, although those of us who have been involved with IRGEE since The Beginning are stepping down as day-to-day editors, we will retain a keen interest in the future of IRGEE as it faces a new Beginning under new editors. We look forward to watching the journal develop still further as a leader in the ever-emerging world of academic endeavour in geographical and environmental education. The idea of creating a new peer reviewed academic research journal to promote high quality research in geographical and environmental education first emerged during the 1984 International Geographical Union Commission on Geographical Education (IGU. CGE) conference in Freiburg, Germany. It was the initial conference for Rod Gerber, an Australian geography educator. The discussion about the journal was brief and positive, and the gem of a journal became Rod’s focus during the subsequent four years. The concept of IRGEE was well developed in Rod’s mind by the time of the IGU-CGE Symposium in Brisbane, Australia, in 1988. At that time, much of the international readily accessible peer reviewed academic research in the area came mainly from the United Kingdom and the United States. IGU-CGE Conference Proceedings and independent research reports and studies were a secondary source of research. National geography teacher associations in different countries published local research, but often in the local language. Prior to the Internet, they were not easily accessible internationally. Thus, important as all these publications were, there were relatively few opportunities for scholars (particularly early career academics) to publish in an international peer reviewed journal. Researchers seeking to identify trends in research encountered difficulty in identifying and collating research specific to topics in geography education. Following discussions at the IGU-CGE Symposium with outgoing Chair of the Commission, Joseph Stoltman, and incoming Chair, Hartwig Haubrich, it was assigned to Rod Gerber and John Lidstone to develop a new, explicitly international journal on behalf of the Commission. Rod Gerber proposed that the new journal would promote high-quality research in geographical and environmental education from across the globe, making particular efforts to encourage younger researchers to publish their research internationally. The impact was intended to capture the diversity of interpretations of geographical education internationally. The result would be a cross fertilisation of knowledge with the potential to enhance “core” knowledge about the teaching and learning of geography. IRGEE,

In Australia, for more than two decades, a "social science" integrated framework was the favored approach for delivering subjects such as history and geography. However, such interdisciplinary approaches have continued to attract criticism from various parts of the academic and public spheres, and since 2009, a return to teaching the disciplines has been heralded as the "new" way forward. Using discourse analysis techniques associated with Foucauldian archeology, the purpose of this article is to examine the Australian Curriculum: Geography document to ascertain the discourses necessary for pre-service teachers to enact effective teaching of geography in a primary setting. Then, based on pre-service teachers' online survey responses, the article investigates whether such future teachers have the knowledge and skills to interpret, deliver, and enact the new geography curriculum in primary classrooms. Finally, as teacher educators, our interest lies in preparing pre-service teachers effectively for the classroom, so that the findings are used to inform the content of a teacher education course for pre-service primary teachers.

This chapter extends the phenomenographical research method by arguing the merits of engineering the outcome space from these investigations to effectively communicate the outcomes to an audience in technology-based discipline areas. Variations discovered from the phenomenographical study are blended with pre- and post-tests and a frequency distribution. Outcomes are then represented in a visual statistical manner to suit the specific target audience. This chapter provides useful insights that will be of interest to researchers wishing to present findings from qualitative research methods, and particularly the outcomes of phenomenographic investigations, to an audience in technology-based discipline areas.

Since public schooling was introduced in the nineteenth century, teachers in many western countries have endeavoured to achieve professional recognition. For a short period in the latter part of the twentieth century, professionalism was seen as a discourse of resistance or the 'enemy' of economic rationalism and performativity. However, more recently, governments have responded by 'colonizing' professionalism and imposing 'standards' whereby the concept is redefined. In this study, we analyse transcripts of interviews with 20 Queensland teachers and conclude that teachers' notions of professionalism in this second decade of the twenty-first century are effectively reiterations of nineteenth century disciplinary technologies (as proposed by Michel Foucault) yet are enacted in new ways.

"Physical geography education research: is it relevant?." International Research in Geographical and Environmental Education, 24(2), pp. 103–104

Many governments in Western democracies conduct the work of leading their societies forward through policy generation and implementation. Despite government attempts at extensive negotiation, collaboration and debate, the general populace in these same countries frequently express feelings of disempowerment and undue pressure to be compliant, often leading to disengagement. Here we outline Plan B: a process for examining how policies that emerge from good intentions are frequently interpreted as burdensome or irrelevant by those on whom they have an impact. Using a case study of professional standards for teachers in Australia, we describe how we distilled Foucault's notions of archaeology into a research approach centring on the creation of polyhedrons of intelligibility' as an alternative approach by which both policy-makers and those affected by their policies may understand how their respective causes are supported and adversely affected.

Assessments of students in primary and secondary education are debated among practitioners, policy-makers, and parents. In some countries, assessment scores serve a criterion for passage between levels of education, for example, from secondary school to post-secondary education. Those practices are often traditions and while they come under criticism, they are a long-accepted part of the educational practices within a country. In those countries, the students’ assessment and examination scores are posted in public places or published in local news media. In other countries, assessments are used for the periodic checks on individual student progress. The results of assessments may be used for rating schools, and in some cases, they are used for evaluating the performance of teachers. Assessments are used less often to analyze student performance and make judgments regarding the performance of the curriculum. Even less often, assessments serve to critically establish strategies for the improvement of student learning and educational practices. The ends on the continuum of the assessment debate often focus on the opportunities that assessments present to improve education on one end. The other end is that assessments serve as a major distraction from the important work of teachers by removing classroom room time from instruction. The debate on those issues continues.

Like the UK, Australia has a number of school nursing models and programmes. The School Based Youth Health Nurse Program (SBYHNP) is a new and unique model of school nursing in Queensland, Australia. The SBYHNP represents a philosophical and structural shift from traditional school nursing programmes. The purpose of this qualitative case study is to explore the reasons School Based Youth Health Nurses (SBYHN) leave school nursing. Sixteen in-depth interviews were conducted with participants who practised as SBYHN and left the SBYHNP. The case study suggests nurses considering school nursing as a specialty should seek opportunity to understand this complex role, ensure realistic expectations and undertake relevant qualifications. This approach may secure the investment made by nurses and schools and create demand for a highly sought after position.

“Geography education is indispensable to the development of responsible and active citizens in the present and future world” is one of the main statements in the International Charter on Geographical Education. This charter was edited in 1992 by Haubrich, chair of the Commission on Geographical Education of the International Geographical Union (IGU). Twenty years later this statement is still true. Geography educators all over the world are looking for ways to talk with young people about their image of their world and to help them to develop their knowledge, skills and ideas about the complex world we live in. However, different ideas exist about what geography we should learn and teach and how. The Commission on Geographical Education of the International Geographical Union tries to help to improve the quality and position of geography education worldwide, promoting the dissemination of good practices and research results in the field of geography education.

This paper reports outcomes of a study focused on discovering qualitatively different ways students experience problem-based learning in virtual space. A well-accepted and documented qualitative research method was adopted for this study. Five qualitatively different conceptions are described, each revealing characteristics of increasingly complex student experiences. Establishing characteristics of these more complex experiences assists teachers in facilitating students' engagement and encouraging deeper learning.

The interview with Prof. David Lambert resulted from hearing presentations at national and international conferences on the topic of powerful knowledge, especially as the idea pertains to teaching ...

AIM:The purpose of this research is to examine School Based Youth Health Nurses (SBYHN) experience of a true health promotion approach. BACKGROUND:The School Based Youth Health Nurse Program is a state-wide school nursing initiative in Queensland, Australia. The programme employs more than 120 fulltime and fractional school nurses who provide health services in state high schools. The role incorporates two primary components: individual health consultations and health promotion strategies. DESIGN/METHODS:This study is a retrospective inquiry generated from a larger qualitative research project about the experience of school based youth health nursing. The original methodology was phenomenography. In-depth interviews were conducted with 16 school nurses recruited through purposeful and snowball sampling. This study accesses a specific set of raw data about SBYHN experience of a true health promotion approach. The Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion (1986) is used as a framework for deductive analysis. RESULTS:The findings indicate school nurses have neither an adverse or affirmative conceptual experience of a true health promotion approach and an adverse operational experience of a true health promotion approach based on the action areas of the Ottawa Charter. CONCLUSIONS:The findings of this research are important because they challenge the notion that school nurses are the most appropriate health professionals to undertake a true health promotion approach. If school nurses are the most appropriate health professionals to do a true health promotion approach, there are implications for recruitment and training and qualifications. If school nurses are not, who are the most appropriate health professionals to do school health promotion? IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE:These findings can be applied to other models of school nursing in Australia which emphasises a true health promotion approach because they relate specifically to school nurses' experience of a true health promotion approach.

The nature and value of “professionalism” has long been contested by both producers and consumers of policy. Most recently, governments have rewritten and redefined professionalism as compliance with externally imposed “standards.” This has been achieved by silencing the voices of those who inhabit the professional field of education. This article uses Foucauldian archaeology to excavate the enunciative field of professionalism by digging through the academic and institutional (political) archive, and in doing so identifies two key policy documents for further analysis. The excavation shows that while the voices of (academic) authority speak of competing discourses emerging, with professional standards promulgated as the mechanism to enhance professionalism, an alternative regime of truth identifies the privileged use of (managerial) voices from outside the field of education to create a discourse of compliance. There has long been a mismatch between the voices of authority on discourses around professionalism from the academic archive and those that count in contemporary and emerging Australian educational policy. In this article, we counter this mismatch and argue that reflexive educators’ regimes of truth are worthy of attention and should be heard and amplified.

Objective: The aim of the study is to explore school nurses' experience of health education.Design: A qualitative approach, phenomenology was used to answer the question.Method: Sixteen participants were recruited through purposeful and snowball sampling. Participants undertook an audio-recorded interview which was transcribed and analysed.Results: Five themes represent school nurses' experience of health education. Within these five themes, three issues were identified by the participants as having a negative impact on their experience of health education. These were: (1) feeling unwanted by the school; (2) not supported by the school hierarchy; and (3) a lack of role definition.Conclusion: These three issues provide important insight into school nurses' experience of health education and have implications for other school nurses and professionals in the school environment.

BACKGROUND:The term green health promotion is given to health promotion underpinned by the principles of ecological health and sustainability. Green health promotion is supported philosophically by global health promotion documents such as the 1986 Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion and the ecological public health movement. Green health promotion in schools means the practice, the principles of ecological health, and sustainability. METHODS:A literature review revealed a paucity of publications about green health promotion in schools. Literature about nurses and health promotion in schools is generally found in nursing publications. Literature about ecological sustainability in schools is mostly found in teaching publications. RESULTS:This article explores the nexus between nursing and health promotion, and teachers and ecological sustainability. Collaborative partnerships between health and education do not capitalize on programs such as Health Promoting Schools and the School Based Youth Health Nurse Program in Queensland, Australia. The authors consider how collaborative partnerships between health and education in schools can work toward green health promotion. CONCLUSION:Nursing's approach to health promotion and education's approach to ecological sustainability need to be aligned to enhance green health promotion in schools.

The purpose of this research is to examine School Based Youth Health Nurses experience of partnerships for health education and team teaching.The School Based Youth Health Nurse Program is a contemporary model of school nursing in Queensland, Australia.The role of the School Based Youth Health Nurse consists of individual health consultations and health promotion.This research analyses a subset of qualitative data collected for a larger project about the experience of school based youth health nursing.The Health Promoting Schools model is used as a deductive framework.The findings reveal five subthemes across the three areas of the Health Promoting Schools approach.There are two subthemes within the curriculum, teaching and learning area; We were on the same page so to speak and I can go and do my reports or whatever.There are two sub-themes within the partnerships and services area; I had a beautiful science teacher who was just delightful and really just wanted to do things in partnerships and It's all airy fairy arty farty stuff that's not important.There is one theme in the school organisation, ethos and environment area; I just don't know how well the top of these organisations communicate with the bottom of those organisations.Successful partnerships for health education and team teaching between school nurses and teachers are based on personal relationships based on rapport which lead to trust and reciprocity.Partnerships are limited by teachers understanding of the role of the school nurse and engagement with school nurses in the classroom.Administrative support from the top down is fundamental.