The late 20th Century saw the rapid rise of quality assurance and effectiveness measures in most industries and organisations. These trends were very much reflected in education at all levels. An associated emergent trend in primary and secondary education in Australia was growth in the use of standardised measures of student achievement that increasingly served (and continue to serve) as a major source of data in judging school effectiveness. While cognitive measures are important outcomes of schooling, it is reasonable to argue that interpretations of quality and effectiveness that do not include affective measures are too narrow. In particular, these criteria sacrifice what may be regarded as more complex and aesthetic measures of quality and effectiveness, such as student perceptions of aspects of their life at school.

This article reports on the development of a new measure entitled: Reactions to Teaching Situations to indicate levels of emotional intelligence among beginning teachers. This article discusses the concept of emotional intelligence and defends the development of such a measure specifically related to the situations in the teaching environment, an environment where emotional intelligence is considered to influence a teachers' thoughts and actions. The measure was found to have acceptable reliability and a range of individual differences was reported. Gender differences were found where female teachers reported greater likelihood of demonstrating emotional intelligence compared to male teachers. There was partial support for the four branch model of emotional intelligence. The discussion includes some projections for these findings and for the use of this measure with more experienced teachers.

Leadership, professional and other transferable skills are embedded in the expected attributes of Australian research postgraduates at the successful completion of their degrees. This paper reports on the development of an evaluation process for a postgraduate transferable skills program at The University of Melbourne, Australia. Existing and emerging evaluation practices and processes are examined in light of the literature on what constitutes 'good' evaluation of the type of program under consideration. The development of the process to go beyond the commonly used participant satisfaction surveys and to improve evaluation practices is described in detail. The results of the evaluation to date are provided and discussed in terms of their usefulness in incorporating particular improvements to the program. The implications for the evaluation of other programs of this type are considered.

Teacher shortages have encouraged initiatives to tailor training programs to meet the demand in both past, current and future contexts. Such programs have been streamlined to ensure a rapid response to shortages, in addition to also drawing participants from non-traditional groups as a source of potential educators. Within teacher education, recent developments have explored online and other forms of distance education, problem solving methodology and increased site based workplace learning opportunities. The Accelerated Teacher Training Program (ATTP) currently offered at Charles Sturt University is based on an innovative model which combines aspects of best practices to deliver an innovative, effective and quality course. This program forms part of an initiative of the NSW Department of Education and Training to meet the demand for more Technology and Applied Studies (TAS) teachers. This paper will review literature surrounding the issue of teacher supply and demand and how the current climate has lead to the development of innovative alternative teacher education pathways within New South Wales.

The purpose of this study was to explore teachers' perceptions of physical education classes in an urban Korean primary school. Furthermore, this study tried to interpret how teachers' beliefs were reflected in their teaching. One primary school with seventeen teachers was selected as the site for a case study. Data were collected by participant observation, informal interviews and field notes. Inductive analysis was used to organise the data throughout the research process. Three factors emerged that characterised teachers' perceptions of physical education: the low status of the physical education program, teachers' disengagement with the subject matter, and their lack of pedagogical knowledge. It was concluded that primary school teachers have a very limited view of their responsibilities for implementing physical education programs and seem to be part of the sustainable silences ascribed to physical education classes in primary schools.

In many fields and in education in particular, researchers, such as teachers, are inclined to believe that because they are enmeshed in the field or have good relationships with students, issues of politics, power and status will exert minimal influence and that access to the field will be smooth and unproblematic. In this paper, three doctoral students with varying degrees of insider status, working in the Australian context, reflect on the rocky journeys they experienced obtaining and maintaining access to field sites. The authors argue that despite a body of literature addressing this issue, many of the commonly used texts devoted to educational research do not adequately tackle the subject. The novice researcher often remains unsuspecting and under prepared for the range and depth of difficulties encountered in the process of gaining access. The question is posed, what might be the role of the academy in preparing researchers?