Bill Allen

Tall Poppies: Bullying Behaviors Faced by Australian High-Performance School-Age Athletes

Little is known about Australian high-performance school-age athletes’ experiences as victims of the tall poppy syndrome. Tall poppies are successful individuals bullied by those who are less successful in order to “normalize them.” Nineteen current or previous national or international high-performance school-age athletes were interviewed (12 females and seven males). NVivo 10 was used to analyze interview data. Findings indicated all 12 females were bullied at school and this had a detrimental impact on their school life and well-being. No male athletes reported being bullied and their failure to mention this warrants further investigation. Parents and teachers require a greater awareness of tall poppy syndrome behaviors, and schools should promote an antibullying culture that includes resilience training for talented individuals.

Demystifying the rubric: a five-step pedagogy to improve student understanding and utilisation of marking criteria

ABSTRACT Marking-criteria rubrics are commonly used to judge the quality of student work, but few students receive instruction to effectively use and apply rubrics. This study investigates an intervention designed to encourage effective utilisation of rubrics. The study, completed over two years (2011: n = 189 respondents; 2012: n = 464 respondents) in a large first-year course, explored how five instructional activities, used formatively and sequentially impacted student learning. This intervention comprised: (1) deconstruction of the rubric and standardising the marking method; (2) examples and exemplars; (3) peer review; (4) self-review; and (5) a reflective diary. Results showed an increase in student confidence with marking criteria and assessment (89% in 2011) and a statistically significant improvement in marks. Most students (77% in 2011 and 90% in 2012) rated each intervention as useful. Student feedback indicated that substantial changes occurred between initial drafts and final submission, which resulted in improvements in student performance scores.

How Do I Juggle Sport and School?: Demands and Issues Voiced by Current and Former Australian School-age Athletes

This paper reports on the findings from, and considers the implications of, research into high performance school-age Australian athletes who balance dual commitments of sport and school. These young people struggle to lead two lives; that of a full-time school student and that of a full-time athlete. Theoretically they could be considered as being a “hyphenated” individual, someone struggling with more than one life (Fine and Sirin, 2007). A comparison of these young peoples’ perspectives in balancing sport and study was established by in-depth interviewing nine current and ten former Australian school-age athletes across a range of sports and located across the Eastern states of Australia. Participants attended government, non-government and sport schools mostly on sport scholarships and excellence programs. Nvivo 10 matrix and compound coding queries were used to analyse the most acute demands and issues athletes had to juggle between dual endeavours of sport and study. Such issues of mindset (current athletes), unequal treatment and economic constraints (former athletes) were accentuated. Interestingly, athletes collectively identified the extreme demands placed upon them in balancing by the acute issues of: physical and psychological fatigue such as tiredness and soreness, lack of nutritional awareness, procrastination, bullying and social sacrifices.; Videorecording of presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHxHwdDu4eI