A longitudinal study of the interaction of home and school language in three Aboriginal communities. The importance of language skills cannot be underestimated, and contribute to 'a healthy start to life'. In multilingual Indigenous communities, children must negotiate the complexities of different languages used for different purposes. This project will provide detailed insights into how children manage differences between home and school language, the kinds of problems they encounter when the ....A longitudinal study of the interaction of home and school language in three Aboriginal communities. The importance of language skills cannot be underestimated, and contribute to 'a healthy start to life'. In multilingual Indigenous communities, children must negotiate the complexities of different languages used for different purposes. This project will provide detailed insights into how children manage differences between home and school language, the kinds of problems they encounter when they enter the school system, and how their languages develop over the first four crucial years of school which provide the foundation for the children's future education. Their ability to manage the language of school underpins their ability to lead successful and engaged lives as adults. Read moreRead less
Children's Intergroup Prejudice: The Roles of Cognitive Representations and Self-presentation. Research indicates that intergroup prejudice remains a problem in most Australian schools. For example, children as young as 5-6 years assign negative attributes to indigenous Australians and Pacific Islander children, they prefer not to play with these children, and they do not even want them living nearby. The proposed research will examine the possible basis of age effects in these attitudes. It wi ....Children's Intergroup Prejudice: The Roles of Cognitive Representations and Self-presentation. Research indicates that intergroup prejudice remains a problem in most Australian schools. For example, children as young as 5-6 years assign negative attributes to indigenous Australians and Pacific Islander children, they prefer not to play with these children, and they do not even want them living nearby. The proposed research will examine the possible basis of age effects in these attitudes. It will have a substantial national benefit because it will increase our understanding of this insidious social phenomenon and provide a basis for developing an intervention that will minimise a problem that has the potential to devastate community relations.
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The measurement and prediction of police interviewing performance and the dissemination of good practice through a distributive workplace learning system. This research aims to develop the first ever standardised measures of police interviewers' performance, focusing on interviews about sexual offences. Standardised measures are essential for quality control evaluation, identifying training needs, assigning workload, predicting case outcome and benchmarking organisation capabilities. By improvin ....The measurement and prediction of police interviewing performance and the dissemination of good practice through a distributive workplace learning system. This research aims to develop the first ever standardised measures of police interviewers' performance, focusing on interviews about sexual offences. Standardised measures are essential for quality control evaluation, identifying training needs, assigning workload, predicting case outcome and benchmarking organisation capabilities. By improving the quality of police interviews about sexual offences, this research will improve the reporting, prosecution and conviction rates of sexual offences, which will have a deterrent effect on potential offenders. Further, this research will reduce the stress of witnesses and suspects involved in the legal process and reduce burnout of police interviewers by increasing competency and job satisfaction.Read moreRead less
Optimising recall in children's testimony: The challenge of repeated questions. One of the threats to a healthy start in life for Australian children, and one which imposes substantial financial and emotional cost on the Australian community, is child abuse and neglect. This project addresses a key stumbling block in obtaining evidence from child victims/witnesses- their tendency to inconsistent testimony under repeated questioning. It seeks to understand the conditions under which inconsiste ....Optimising recall in children's testimony: The challenge of repeated questions. One of the threats to a healthy start in life for Australian children, and one which imposes substantial financial and emotional cost on the Australian community, is child abuse and neglect. This project addresses a key stumbling block in obtaining evidence from child victims/witnesses- their tendency to inconsistent testimony under repeated questioning. It seeks to understand the conditions under which inconsistency is minimized, as a basis for developing empirically and theoretically based ways to optimise the accuracy and legal utility of children's testimony. As a signatory to the United National Convention on the Rights of the Child (1990), Australia has a legal as well as a moral responsibility in this regard.Read moreRead less
Children's difficulties in learning to read: Causes and consequences of poor letter-sound knowledge. This research will identify the causes and treatments of reading impairment in children. This will help the Government counter the effects of poor reading instruction in Australian schools (see the National Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy). The outcomes will reveal how struggling readers should be taught in classrooms, and which treatments should be covered by the Reading Assistance Voucher ....Children's difficulties in learning to read: Causes and consequences of poor letter-sound knowledge. This research will identify the causes and treatments of reading impairment in children. This will help the Government counter the effects of poor reading instruction in Australian schools (see the National Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy). The outcomes will reveal how struggling readers should be taught in classrooms, and which treatments should be covered by the Reading Assistance Voucher programme. Treating reading impairment in children will reduce the number of teenagers who attempt suicide, drop out of school, or abuse drugs to try and escape the failure that accompanies poor reading ability.Read moreRead less
Using advertising to negatively reconstruct memories of risky and high-risk drinking amongst Australia's youth : a new intervention strategy. The NHMRC recognises alcohol-related problems as one of Australia's most serious health problems. Binge-drinking in particular is endemic amongst the population, especially youth, with such behaviour resulting in enormous economic, social and emotional costs to our nation. This study works towards reducing binge drinking amongst youth by assisting the de ....Using advertising to negatively reconstruct memories of risky and high-risk drinking amongst Australia's youth : a new intervention strategy. The NHMRC recognises alcohol-related problems as one of Australia's most serious health problems. Binge-drinking in particular is endemic amongst the population, especially youth, with such behaviour resulting in enormous economic, social and emotional costs to our nation. This study works towards reducing binge drinking amongst youth by assisting the development of more effective counter-advertising campaigns that make young people's memories of binge-drinking less enjoyable & more unpleasant. It also assists relevant advertising regulators & key decision-makers to take action to ensure that alcohol ads do not spawn primarily attractive memories of binge-drinking experiences.Read moreRead less
Improving the competency of police officers in conducting investigative interviews of children. The current research program aims to identify factors that promote and sustain competent police interviewing of children. Although 'best-practice' guidelines in investigative interviewing have been developed, these guidelines are under-utilised by police officers in practice. Research is therefore needed to identify barriers to the implementation of these 'best-practice' guidelines and to test interve ....Improving the competency of police officers in conducting investigative interviews of children. The current research program aims to identify factors that promote and sustain competent police interviewing of children. Although 'best-practice' guidelines in investigative interviewing have been developed, these guidelines are under-utilised by police officers in practice. Research is therefore needed to identify barriers to the implementation of these 'best-practice' guidelines and to test interventions designed to improve their uptake. The expected outcome of this project is the development of interventions that will improve the quality of police training in investigative interviewing. This will increase the quality of evidence obtained from children, especially those who are victims of child abuse.Read moreRead less
The impact of technological modality on troubles telling and advice giving on a national children's helpline. Over half a million children and young people contact the Kids Help Line every year. They make contact through telephone calls, emails and online interactive chats. This study of these differing types of contact will advance knowledge of children and young people's social and emotional health, the national priority area Promoting and maintaining good health. It informs the counselling, h ....The impact of technological modality on troubles telling and advice giving on a national children's helpline. Over half a million children and young people contact the Kids Help Line every year. They make contact through telephone calls, emails and online interactive chats. This study of these differing types of contact will advance knowledge of children and young people's social and emotional health, the national priority area Promoting and maintaining good health. It informs the counselling, health and educational communities. It addresses key priorities identified in National policy documents on children and young people. Finally, the study will have direct relevance for professional training in telephone and computer mediated forms of communication for counsellors, young people, educators, health professionals and policy makers. Read moreRead less
Repeated questions in children's event recall: Testing competing explanations. One of the threats to a healthy start in life for Australian children, and one which imposes substantial financial and emotional cost on the Australian community, is child abuse and neglect. This project addresses a key stumbling block in obtaining evidence from child victims/witnesses - their tendency to give inconsistent testimony under repeated questioning. It seeks to understand the conditions under which inconsis ....Repeated questions in children's event recall: Testing competing explanations. One of the threats to a healthy start in life for Australian children, and one which imposes substantial financial and emotional cost on the Australian community, is child abuse and neglect. This project addresses a key stumbling block in obtaining evidence from child victims/witnesses - their tendency to give inconsistent testimony under repeated questioning. It seeks to understand the conditions under which inconsistency is minimized, as a basis for developing empirically and theoretically based ways to optimise the accuracy and legal utility of children's testimony. Read moreRead less
Finding the pathways to crime prevention for socially disadvantaged communities: theory, evidence and practice. Long-term scientific evaluations of interventions that 'get in early' before crime problems emerge or become entrenched have consistently shown that such approaches work. However, governments and community agencies struggle to use this evidence to mount effective programs in areas of concentrated disadvantage because the evidence comes in the form of 'program packages' rather than mode ....Finding the pathways to crime prevention for socially disadvantaged communities: theory, evidence and practice. Long-term scientific evaluations of interventions that 'get in early' before crime problems emerge or become entrenched have consistently shown that such approaches work. However, governments and community agencies struggle to use this evidence to mount effective programs in areas of concentrated disadvantage because the evidence comes in the form of 'program packages' rather than models of practice that take account of local contexts and the challenges involved in achieving effective and sustainable engagement with local people and institutions. This project will show how models of effective crime prevention practice for disadvantaged communities can be developed, tested and implemented on a large scale in an economically efficient way.Read moreRead less