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.

This paper reports outcomes of a study focussed 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.

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The aim of this research is to explore the meaning of the experience of school-based youth health nursing in Queensland, Australia. The research follows a qualitative approach and is based on in-depth interviews. The dominant experience is negative because participants feel they have to battle to gain respect and survive in the school environment. The small, positive experience of school-based youth health nursing is related to student consultations. Student consultations are a ‘golden egg’ because participants gain a sense of reward from making a difference to student wellbeing. This paper proposes operational recommendations including those related to health promotion and professional development and strategic recommendations regarding this model of school nursing. The authors conclude, first, that this ‘golden egg’ should be promoted to ensure all school nurses reap the rewards, second, that this model of school nursing is not the most effective model.

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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 and learning geography. The questions were submitted to Prof. Lambert and he responded in writing. His elaborations and clarifications of the conceptual and practical implications of powerful knowledge are contained in the following interview.What is the origin of powerful knowledge as an educational concern? This is probably quite a long story: perhaps John Morgan's Foreword to Young, Lambert, Roberts, and Roberts' (2014) Knowledge and the Future School: curriculum and social justice summarises the story usefully and succinctly! (see also Morgan, forthcoming). My version is as follows.In the early 1970s, Michael Young, a student of Basil Bernstein, published the book Knowledge and Control. This has been enormously influential, introducing the idea that the school curriculum was in the hands of, and served the interests of, the powerful. The school curriculum (the argument ran) excluded, or alienated, the working class kids, for example. It did not speak to them. The whole structure was aligned to make sure that middle-class kids succeeded in getting the qualifications required for the professions (etc.) and so power relations and the status quo were maintained. Schools delivered the knowledge of the powerful (and these days we would say, therefore, exclude various indigenous knowledge, for example).

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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.