Bill Boyd

Teachers’ response to a new mandatory professional development process: does it make a difference?

Abstract A Performance and Development Framework has been introduced by the New South Wales Department of Education, the largest provider of schooling in Australia, during a period of unparalleled reform. Engagement with the Framework is mandatory for all the Department’s teachers, and is linked to improving student outcomes through enhanced teacher professional practice. As an initial study of the efficacy of the Performance and Development Framework, this article reports a study of teachers’ understandings of professional learning arising from the first year of the Framework’s implementation. Five teaching staff from one school were interviewed three times during the school year to elicit insights into their professional development during experience of the new system. Three themes emerged: (1) longer serving teachers and less experienced, early-career teachers view the professional learning differently; (2) all the teachers considered the Performance and Development Framework to be a positive development; (3) although there was an uptake of reflective practice, understanding of critical reflection as linked to professional learning was limited. The study concludes that this mandatory professional development process was generally successful in this context, while there is scope for further enhancement, specifically in relation to guiding content and reflective practice.

Fire Water Storage Facilities and Distribution

Water is the most common fire extinguishing agent used due to its abundance, low cost and effectiveness. It is the most commonly used agent for controlling and fighting fire, by cooling adjacent equipment and for controlling and/or extinguishing the fire either by itself or combined as foam. It can also provide protection for fire fighters and other personnel in the event of fire. Water must therefore be readily available at all the appropriate locations, at the correct pressure and in the required quantity. Defining what constitutes an adequate supply of water for fire fighting is also central to planning fire service operations.

Water Treatment Systems

The increasing energy demand over the last decades has resulted in a corresponding growth and expansion in the processing of crude petroleum, natural gas and other hydrocarbon resources. Water treatment or the purification of water varies as to the source and kinds of water. Type of water treatment depends on the quality of the source water and the quality desired in the finished water. Adequate information on the source water is thus a prerequisite for design. This includes analysis of the water and, where the supply is non-uniform, the ranges of the various characteristics.