Teacher collaboration continues to be deeply grounded within effective professional development. Teacher teams, where small groups of teachers work together in teaching and learning, have become progressively more popular and are considered one of the most effective approaches to improvement and growth. However, teacher teams are situated within a school system where interrelated sets of elements, such as resources and priorities, interact and impact on their work. These interactions can both enable and constrain the necessary conditions of members working effectively together but also their capabilities in producing a meaningful impact on the school organization. As such, paying attention to both the teacher team and the broader working environment of the school is important. Employing an open systems framework, this paper explores the phenomenon of collaborative teacher teams by examining them within the context of three primary schools in Australia. We propose a preliminary framework for collaborative teacher teams as a useful lens to consider both the internal working interactions of the team and how the site based professional development is influenced by and transferred back into the school organization.

To examine self-identity within the recovery processes of people with serious mental illnesses using a repertory grid methodology. Cross-sectional study involving 40 mental health service consumers. Participants rated different "self" and "other" elements on the repertory grid against constructs related to recovery, as well as other recovery focused measures. Perceptions of one's "ideal self" represented more advanced recovery in contrast to perceptions of "a person mentally unwell." Current perceptions of self were most similar to perceptions of "usual self" and least similar to "a person who is mentally unwell." Increased identification with one's "ideal self" reflected increased hopefulness in terms of recovery. The recovery repertory grid shows promise in clinical practice, in terms of exploring identity as a key variable within mental health recovery processes. Distance measures of similarity between various self-elements, including perceptions of others, maps logically against the recovery process of hope.

This study aims to assess the validity of the Online Multiliteracy Assessment for students in Years 5 and 6. The Online Multiliteracy Assessment measures students’ abilities in making and creating meaning, using a variety of different modes of communication, such as text, audio and video. The study involved selecting two groups of students: the first group (n=19) was used in two pilot studies of the items and the second (n=299) was used in a field trial validating the functioning of the items and assessing the quality of the scale. The results indicated that the Online Multiliteracy Assessment has acceptable test–retest reliability; however, the fit to the Rasch model was less than ideal. Further investigation identified two important areas for improvement. First, the items assessing the higher order skills of synthesising, communicating and creating need to be more cognitively demanding. Second, some items need to be modified in order to improve their functionality.

Purpose: Caring for a person with a substance use disorder (SUD) and/or mental health disorder (MHD) represents a significant burden for family members. The features of “carers/family members” experiences reflect trauma signatures. Consequently, working through this trauma for carers corresponds with psychological recovery, empowerment processes and intrapersonal/interpersonal needs. The purpose of this paper is to outline a framework called the “personal and relational empowerment (PRE)” framework which enables family support practitioners to help family members to be able to take control of their own lives, develop meaningful relationships and live purposeful and fulfilling lives, regardless of whether the person with the SUD and/or MHD is in recovery or not. Design/methodology/approach: This paper critically reviews existing frameworks for carer recovery, through a systematic literature search, and proposes a “PRE” alternative to redress the shortfalls in these existing frameworks. Findings: The PRE framework takes a multi-level needs-based approach to understand carer recovery. This framework links the concepts – psychological recovery, empowerment processes and intrapersonal/interpersonal needs. Practical implications: The PRE framework recognises the importance of recovery support practitioners being able to balance the immediate carer crisis intervention needs responses with personal growth and well-being supporting interventions. Originality/value: The PRE framework of family recovery attempts to answer the need to broaden the focus on the family journey to better reflect the principles and practices of contemporary SUD and/or MHD recovery-based support.