University

It took three decades of war, ethnic conflict and loss of thousands of lives for Sri Lankans to realize the importance of unity. Sri Lanka now stands in a position where the country is gradually recovering from brutal wounds of war and this is high time for the nation to look into aspects of promoting unity among diverse cultures and ethnic groups to avoid the reoccurrence of such a tragedy. One way of achieving unity among different ethnic groups is through education. Enlightenment of the nation about the importance of unity can only be achieved by educating people.

This essay will analyze the ways of achieving unity through education with relation to the Sri Lankan society. Language is a powerful tool which can be used to achieve mutual understanding among cultures. It can also be used to share knowledge. So it is important to break language barriers between people in order to bridge them through communication. As the 20 million population of Sri Lanka consists of people belonging to diverse ethnic groups where, more than one language is used, it is important to promote a trilingual education system, provided the most widely spoken languages in Sri Lanka being Sinhala, English and Tamil.

The learning of all aforementioned languages should be made compulsory at primary level. Education in schools should be offered in all three mediums and the equal importance of these languages should be emphasized. The adaptation of a trilingual policy in education will facilitate the access to cultural texts and knowledge and promote unity through interactions between students where, mutual understanding can be achieved. Equal importance to all the cultures should be given and students should be educated to respect the customs and traditions of other cultures and religions or racial groups.

Once steps are taken to break the language barrier, interactions between students from all parts of the country should be promoted. This could be done through extracurricular activities such as organizing cultural festivals and organizing field trips where students from the North can visit schools in the south and vice versa. Also schools could work together on joint ventures or projects where students will get opportunities to make new friends. The system of schools around the country should be linked to acilitate the knowledge sharing g process and this could be done through the implementation of a common platform, for an example as a social network among schools for sharing ideas and knowledge. National coherence will be achieved through interaction of cultures and this will promote national unity. The education system should be reformed to promote divergent thinking and it is important to change the attitudes of students from the contemporary social views of attributing a person to a specific nationality (Sinhalese, Muslim or Tamil) to attributing people to the common nationality of Sri Lankan.

This should be taught at the school level so that future generations will hopefully have a different but positive attitude towards other cultures besides their culture. Promotion of learning cultural studies and peace and conflict studies as a linked subject at secondary and tertiary levels where students will be given transfer scholarships to different areas of the country to study about culture and traditions of a particular ethnic group and also be given opportunity to study and research about post conflict consequences.

Creation of a platform for tertiary level students to present findings from their researches to help the process of national decision making, this can be achieved by creating partnerships with state universities and the assistance of university academics can also be used in national policy making with regards to reconciliation.

In my opinion, the above four factors, Adopting a trilingual policy and Promotion of learning cultural studies and peace and conflict studies as a linked subject at secondary and tertiary levels interactions among students, promoting the concept of a common nationality and are the most important to be considered when achieving national unity through education. Concentrating on the significance of two of the above factors in achieving national development, the adaptation of a trilingual policy plays key role in this narrative.

As unity is promoted through mutual understanding, individuals can unite and work together towards attaining national development. Since equal significance will be given to all the nationalities and thereby language and cultural disputes will be solved and the reoccurrence of a tragedy such as the ethnic conflict which crippled the Sri Lankan economy will not take place.

Peace is the most important factor to achieve national development, for a war torn country, achieving economic stability would be a mere dream. As for the importance of interactions between people for national development, it can be stated that greater interaction between diverse groups of people facilitates the process of sharing knowledge in different cultures. This knowledge can be used to develop modern technologies and sciences.

Knowledge and the creation of intellectuals who are nourished with rich cultural knowledge can help develop innovations and policies that will help the country achieve economic growth and stability. In conclusion it is to be understood that when considering the above factors, giving equal significance to all ethnic groups, adopting a trilingual policy and developing people to people contacts is important to achieve national unity and national development. As a saying goes, ‘United, we stand, Divided we fall’.

Bulacan State University City of Malolos, Bulacan College of Business Administration A case study concerning the Business and Marketing strategy of Microsoft Submitted by: Carballo, Glaiza R. Gonzales, Jeah Marie Y. Mendoza, Ralph Danielle B. Payongayong, Arlene F. Vinuya, Joana Jessica C. Submitted to: Ms. Ma. Lourdes Cervantes December 10, 2012 1. Summary of the case The Microsoft case describes how the company was built and gives an insight in their human resource policies, from the early 1980’s until 2001.

Bill Gates created a competitive work environment in which there was an enormous drive to achievement. Microsoft employed a hiring policy and pushed employees and improves their dedication to the company in exchange with the opportunity to receive part of their salary in the company shares, by doing so Microsoft ensures that their employees feel connected to the business. The childhood friends, Bill Gates and Allen grew up together with the desire for computer programming.

They are greatly motivated to become more successful and create a name in the world of their expertise and passion. Microsoft Corporation is a multinational company where it has its headquarters in Redmond, Washington. The company was known on April 4, 1975, where Bill Gates was the CEO at that time. In 1979, its headquarters was moved to Bellevue, Washington. Microsoft became famous in the market with the MS-DOS, Microsoft Windows OS’s, and the Microsoft mouse and press. Then after that Paul Allen resigned because of his Hodgkin’s disease.

Microsoft entered in the market with their Microsoft Office, and achieved their greatest award in the gaming industry with the Xbox 360 and also in the e-markets with Zune and the Windows Mobile. There are two things that are essential in the marketing strategy of Microsoft, and that is variety and addition of product which is in demand on that time. Microsoft’s vision is to make the best strategy to become successful in business. They want to have some touch of different countries’ cultures, for the collaboration of ideas, skills and strategies.

Their vision is to understand the customs and backgrounds of different countries for them to provide what they need. Microsoft focuses on establishing connections by means of hiring people which have all the skills and abilities to be a certified Microsoft employee, and it doesn’t matter what age they are. Another marketing strategy is to build connection with different schools, colleges, and professional organizations, and to allow children to experience the technology that Microsoft has.

They also have a worldwide program which allows high school girls to participate in session, which has discussions and workshops. And in terms of workers, they are not rewarded or paid unless they created something new or did a new job. In addition, Microsoft provides their leaders with training and Global Diversity and Inclusion (GD&I). They are trained very well for them to deliver and practice their members or employees with the best management skills. They also have Employee Resource Groups and Employee Networks (ERGS).

With that, it will increase their sales and awareness of the employees. The best strength of Microsoft is that they know the customer’s needs, wants, demands, priorities and they are really working on it and very dedicated to their works. They also work with certified, qualified and trained minorities, disabled persons, who own businesses, women and small businesses who want services from Microsoft. These are the marketing strategies of Microsoft; they want to build good connections, not only on company to employee relationship but also company to customer relationship.

The collaboration of these strategies and relations is the best way of Microsoft to be on top and maintain their status. 2. Main problem of the case How can Microsoft maintain their current status in the global market? Microsoft believed that in order to develop outstanding software, attracting the right person was crucial. They tend to acquire various workforces that can combine all the ideas, culture, creativities and different views together as a company. They seek to understand different ways of life and background of societies, thus meeting the exact demands of their patrons.

Microsoft believes that through awareness in different cultures, the company gains a sustainable advantage to the global market. In line with it, Microsoft does it’s best to create a corporate culture which gives them a borader business environment. The focus of their Human Resource policy is to attract intelligent, technical people. They hire the world’s greatest minds, having the right skills and capabilities, no matter how young they are. Microsoft let the children with excellent grades interact with the technology that Microsoft has to offer.

Also, they expose this young generation to different technology workshops and will get to discuss their future. In that way, Microsoft will have a long list of possible candidates who will look for a career in an industry where Microsoft belongs. 3. Sub-problems of the case. 3. 1. Since large corporations and other businesses are now engaging with Microsoft, it has greater effects to small businesses. 3. 2. People who have been trained or have received training from Microsoft may not become Microsoft employees. 4. Facts of the case 3. 1 Microsoft has been an ever-present organization for more than 20 years.

It has impacted the business world by making business processes easier and faster. The vision statement of the marketing strategy of Microsoft is to deliver outstanding products that will result in outstanding business. That is why large businesses are attracted to them and most of them are now engaged to it. Large businesses take this opportunity to have the greater advantage over small businesses that are not yet involved to it and it has a possibility for them to be left behind of those businesses that are not using their kind of system in their company. y the help of Microsoft, most companies may serve their customers more efficiently and effectively. Through Microsoft, even small businesses can have the same benefit as what large corporations have experienced. Due to these, customers will patronize businesses which can give them a convenient access. 3. 2. Microsoft runs a worldwide program in which high school students engage with Microsoft employees. In the program, the students get to discuss their future and experience technology workshops.

Aside from that Microsoft also lets children of different grades interact with the technology that Microsoft has. The company imparts to these trainees basic computer knowledge and how to’s, and in return, Microsoft expects that the trainees will give back to the company by working in Microsoft. However, there is no assurance that the trainees will become Microsoft employees and share the wisdom that they have learned through the trainings given by Microsoft. 5. Alternative courses of action 3. 1

Microsoft will associate with the government to be able to protect the rights of small enterprises for them not be left behind by those large business who take advantage of the benefits that they get to Microsoft. The government will impose laws regarding this matter. 3. 2 The trainings Microsoft offers must come with the condition that the trainee that will avail of the program will work for Microsoft for a specific period of time. 6. Recommendation Man is viewed as the most valuable asset of an organization. He can be a resource and an investment to a certain company at the same time.

For Microsoft to retain their current position on the global market, it must seek for a wider range of linkages among schools and organizations for possible candidates of future employees. Microsoft must look for individuals whom are highly motivated and have the clear vision of goals of the company. Continuous acquisition of individuals qualifying in the skill requirement identified by Microsoft can lead to an outstanding performance and great results. Microsoft must not forget that their employees are the foundation of the company’s great success.

Bicol University College of Education Daraga, Albay Case Study: A Child with Learning Disability Presented to Professor Hennie Pama-Lomibao Associate Professor IV 2nd Sem. S. Y. 2012-2013 Presented by: Rannel B. Buenabajo Carmen B. Barlizo Jessere T. Marco Primerose M. Arevalo Cindy R. Mangampo Introduction A learning disability is a neurological disorder. In simple terms, a learning disability results from a difference in the way a person’s brain is “wired. It also refers to a heterogeneous group of disorders manifested by significant difficulties in the acquisition and use of listening, speaking, reading, writing, reasoning, mathematical and motor abilities. There is no one sign that shows a person has a learning disability. Experts look for a noticeable difference between how well a child does in school and how well he or she could do, given his or her intelligence or ability.

There are also certain clues that may mean a child has a learning disability. Most of them relates to elementary school tasks, because learning disabilities tend to be identified in elementary school. However, if a child shows a number of these problems, then parents and the teacher should consider the possibility that the child has a learning disability. When a child has learning disability he or she may have trouble earning the alphabet, rhyming words, or connecting letters to their sounds, may make many mistakes when reading aloud, and repeat and pause often, may not understand what he or she reads, may have real trouble with spelling, may have very messy handwriting or hold a pencil awkwardly, may struggle to express ideas in writing, may learn language late and have a limited vocabulary, may have trouble remembering the sounds that letters make or hearing slight differences between words, may have trouble understanding jokes, comic strips, and sarcasm, may have trouble following directions, may mispronounce words or use a wrong word that sounds similar, may have trouble organizing what he or she wants to say or not be able to think of the word he or she needs for writing or conversation, may not follow the social rules of conversation, such as taking turns, and may stand too close to the listener, may confuse math symbols and misread numbers, may not be able to retell a story in order (what happened first, second, third), or may not know where to begin a task or how to go on from there. Difficulty with basic reading and language skills are the most common learning disabilities. As many as 80% of students with learning disabilities have reading problems, learning disabilities often run in families, learning disabilities should not be confused with other disabilities such as autism, intellectual disability, deafness, blindness, and behavioral disorders. None of these conditions are learning disabilities. In addition, they should not be confused with lack of educational opportunities like frequent changes of schools or attendance problems.

There are different types of learning disabilities and they are classified to what particular disability. The most common types are Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, Dysgraphia, and Auditory and Visual Processing Disorders. The causes of Learning Disabilities are attributed to genetic, environmental factors and acquired trauma. The genetic factors refer to the characteristics that are inherited through the genes. Studies of identical or monozygotic twins, where one fertilized egg cell splits and develops into two separate embryos, show that when one twin has a reading disability, the other twin is more likely also to have a reading disability. Identical twins possess the same physical and mental traits.

However, research shows that this is not true in the case of fraternal or dizygotic twins. Environmental influences refers to inadequate and poor learning environment that contribute significantly to the learning and behavior of many LD students (Gersten, Wood Ward and Darch, 1986, Wallace and Mclaughtin,1988). Acquired trauma is the injury to the central nervous system that originates outside the individuals result in learning disorders. 136, 525 with special need enrolled in school (2002-2003). (15. 19 %) were gifted and fast learners and 66, 635 (48. 81%) had disabilities. 75% – 80% of special education students identified as LD they have their basic deficits in language and reading; Source: National Institutes of Health.

According to DepEd: learning disabilities affect 40,000 Filipino school children and the majority of these are boys. Motor Development In the first year of life, infants begin to gain control over movements. They begin to control their head movements, reach out and grasp objects, roll, sit, and crawl and hold cups or bottles to be able to eat. Then go on walking, running, climbing upstairs, using spoon and fork, and dressing themselves. Motor development only happens when the child is biologically and mentally ready for it. It progresses from gross motor skills to fine motor skills. Motor development progression start from top to the toe and from the center out.

Ideally this means that head and shoulder movements should be practiced and mastered before hand and fine fingers movements attempted. Motor development patterns or task does not mean that it will improve or developed other motor skills. The motor skills of a child develop in their own pace, some develop in the early age, and others are delayed and have difficulties in controlling both their fine and gross motor skills. Children can do different activities. They are aware with their body, have muscle coordination, balance, manual dexterity and eye-hand coordination. Like them, Lyka can also do the same. She can perform some basic movements like moving from one place to another, walking, jumping, running, etc. She already knows how to write, grasp and hold objects.

During the days of our home and school visit, we noticed how her muscle works, like when she holds and used her pencils, pen and crayons. She has a dominant right hand and properly holds her pencils with her thumb and two fingers. She writes properly using her pencil and crayons. She walks from home to school and from school back to their home. We observed how fast she runs up stairs, how she skips and stands with her tip toe, stand with one foot and stands on the table and chair. She can also dance gracefully. She don’t have problems in performing tasks especially with her hands; we saw how she use and holds some kitchen utensils like the plate, spoon and cup.

She can also manipulate objects such as blocks and beads draw some pictures like flowers, ball, and basic shapes like circle, triangle, square, and rectangle. Lyka has a well fine motor skill that was shown in her hand written. Social and Emotional Development Many students with learning disabilities have social and emotional behaviour problems in addition to the usual difficulties in language, reading and mathematics. The student with social problems may be unable to behave appropriately with peers and in other social situation. Whereas social problems involved interaction with others, emotional problems are generally considered to be within the person.

Problems in the social and emotional areas overlap in the learning disabled. For example the student with a poor self-concept may withdraw from social interaction with peers and adults. Although it is not always apparent whether social and emotional problems are contributing to the student’s academic difficulties. These aspects of behaviour are usually counterproductive to learning and thus limit academic success. Moreover, learning disabilities cause the students to faced academic failure and frustration. However, in the case of Lyka these behaviours are not present. She is a very sociable girl and friendly; she always wears a smile on her face.

She can handle her emotion. She will act what she feels. She expresses what she wants and what do not want so that she can be understood by others. For example; when she wants to buy food, she expresses it to her mother and beg for it until her mother buys it. She plays with her classmates, runs if they do, and laughs and mingles with them. She smiles often and share what she have like her toys, books, crayons and papers and even her snacks. She asks the help of her parents and sisters frequently where to find things when she doesn’t know like when she misplaced her things (pencil, eraser etc. ). She is aware of the good manners and right conduct.

She uses respectful words especially if she is talking to the elder people like saying “po, opo, tabi, kuya and ate” she make “mano” in her grandmother, parents and other elder ones. She talks and answers politely. Sometimes when she is having a conversation with one of our group mates (NEL), the attentiveness and the activeness can be seen and the word “kuya” is not forgotten. Onetime when we are asked by her parent to attend to her elder sister’s birthday celebration, we see how Lyka entertains her sister’s visitors without any sign of shyness. She took pictures of her sister’s classmates using the camera and the cell phone. She wants to make her sister’s visitors feel at home. It seems that she don’t feel any embarrassment in front of the unfamiliar faces,. She acts like there’s no other person in their house.

She has the initiative to help her mother in some household chores that is easy for her to do like sweeping the floor, washing the dishes and picking up used papers and trash that were scattered. In fact at school we saw her arranging the chairs and sweeping the floor. She obeys when she is asked by her mother to do something like taking care of their sari-sari store. Cognitive and Language Development Hallaghen, Kauffman and Lloyd (1985) LD have more difficulty in memory processes than their handicapped peer. The memory problems of the learning disabled are attributed to the limited use of cognitive strategies (organization, rehearsal) that handicapped learners’ strategies; their performance is similar to that of non handicapped peers.

Tongesen and Kail (1980) add that LD students may have difficulty remembering because of their poor language skills. Thus verbal material may be particularly difficult to remember. 50 % of LD individuals have language and speech problems (Marge, 1972), which may account for the increasing interest in language disorders (Wiig and Semels, 1984). Language and speech difficulties reflect deficient skills in oral expression and listening comprehension. Because language skills and academic functioning are closely related, confusion exists concerning the diagnostic and instructional roles of language clinicians and LD specialist. Just like Lyka who frequently exhibits memory difficulties.

She seems to know something one day but forgets it the next day. “She doesn’t seem to remember what she learns. Just like our names, at first she’ll remember it but forget it in the following day. A seven-year-old child should have mastered the consonants s-z, r, voiceless th, ch, wh, and the soft g as in George. Should handle opposite analogies easily: girl-boy, man-woman, flies-swims, blunt-sharp short-long, sweet-sour, etc. Understand such terms as: alike, different, beginning, end, etc. Should be able to do simple reading and to write or print many words. However, Lyka, who is a seven year old, cannot properly pronounce letters such as R, K, th and ch.

According to her teacher, Lyka has difficulty in reading. She only pretends to read during oral reading. Her teacher added that she only reads through her lips imitating the sound she heard from her classmates. She is confused to pronounce letters B and D, P and T. She mispronounces letters D, B, K, T, and P. Sometimes she pronounced D as B and B as D. She can only pronounce common words such as mama and papa, during mother tongue lessons; she can recognize also letters and pronounce it correctly such as M, S, H and O. Lyka cannot identify rhyming words yet she can identify beginning sounds of common words like ma, pa, ate. She cannot even divide words into syllables.

Even when there are giving syllables to form a word she cannot do it. She is unable to spell words correctly. She speaks in incomplete sentences like, “punta ka bahay? ”, “san kuya Narrel? ” and one time when we visit in their house she said that “Ate punta kayu amin, kayu sundo amin. ” Lyka can easily recognize numbers and count as well. She can compare numbers and find which figure has greater amount. She can draw shapes but unable to determine its name except triangle and square. She is inattentive and keeps on looking around during storytelling. When the story tellers ask questions, she can answer the questions but in incomplete sentence.

Sometimes she is unable to answer because she cannot recall the information. She cannot answer questions that require higher order thinking skills. But she can follow oral instruction like when we ask her to raise her hands if she wants to answer. Personal and Self-help Development “Personality develops based on his extensive experience in psychotherapy with children and adolescents from low, upper, and middle-class backgrounds” Erik Erikson once said. Personality is what makes a person a unique individual, and it is recognizable soon after birth. The personality of a person is might be influence by his peers, his environment and through her socialization and interaction with others.

Children have different personality from each other. They might be similar in some ways but there is a big difference when we get to know it. Lyka can easily adjust to her surroundings and even there are new unfamiliar faces. Lyka is not so timid but not so interactive as well. But she can do things without being bothered by the new faces around her. When we gave her a set of crayons and coloring book, she excitedly colored the book. However, you can see that she can’t decide alone to what color she will use. She frequently asked us if what color she should use to ensure that she will not commit mistake. There is a time when we see her helping her classmates in cleaning the room.

She goes to school early, she do her home works and she follows the school and class rules. After using her thing she fixed it with her own, like when she got bored in coloring her book, she clean up her mess and fixed her things then put it in the proper place. Lyka can take care of herself; she can take a bath and prepare herself to school. But because of the distance of their home from the school, their mother ensures her safety so she always goes with Lyka to the school and fetches her after class. According to Lyka she can do her projects with her own but there was a time that she asked her parents to help her especially if she find it hard to do.

When we visit Lyka at the school, teacher Aileen shows us some of her projects. Some of them are authentically made by her but there is one project that Lyka’s mother made, a valentine decor that was hang near the bulletin board. Lyka is not aware of healthy food in fact, when we go with Ate Aida to fetch her we saw that she buys junk food in the store without thinking the risk she will get from it. But Lyka is concern to her personal hygiene. Every time she feels that she’s already stinky and dirty, she changes up her dress. Lyka is aware that she might get hit by the passing automobile that’s why she ensures that she tightly holds the hand of her mother when they cross the street. Teacher Conference

According to her teacher (Teacher Aileen L. Conda) Lyka has an unusual short attention p and doesn’t like reading. She cannot easily catch up to the lesson that is why she needs more time for her to absorb the lesson. During reading activity Lyka pretends to read though she can’t. She just read through her lips and after a while, she will stop and just stares at the words flashing in front of her and do nothing. After that her eyes will start to look around. Teacher Aileen added that this particular behavior of Lyka occurs when it is reading period and the subject allows her to read sentences/short stories. This behavior lasts mostly 15 minutes.

She denotes that this particular behavior is not a very serious case. If she will just pay attention and tried harder, she could read but she chooses not to do it. The said behaviors least likely occur when the subject is interesting especially if it is Math. According to Teacher Aileen also, Lyka find reading difficult so who ever teach her to read Lyka really find it hard for her to learn. When series of words have been flashing in front of her, she becomes confused and find it difficult to blend the sounds and read it as a word. Her difficulty in reading obviously seen every time the class start to read and she just stop reading and her eyes will start to wonder.

Teacher Aileen also included that one time, after the class have finished reading, she call Lyka’s attention and asked her why she didn’t read, she will not response and her eyes avoid to look at her directions. Lyka’s body becomes stiff and sometimes when she asked Lyka to stand because she will teach it to read, she doesn’t get any response and sometimes she pout and cries. Lyka can write even long sentences but the problem is she doesn’t able to read what she have wrote. She find it hard to recognized rhyming words. Teacher Aileen suggested that both the regular and SPEd teacher in cooperation with the parents can create an intervention plan tailored to her specific needs. Parent Conference As we talk to Lyka’s mother, Mrs.

Aida, she told us that when she read to her daughter Lyka she notice that Lyka is easily get bored especially when the words are repeatedly told. Lyka will said, “paulit-ulit na lang! ” Lyka become inattentive if she is exposed to many words when her mother tries to teach her. When she read to Lyka using the MTB (Mother Tongue Based) Manual, Lyka found it hard to read. She cannot read if Lyka’s mother did not first pronounce the words. She did not recognize simple words like “baso” and unable to read and pronounce simple syllable. When she tried to read to Lyka one syllable like “sa,se,si,so,su” she can say it but later on as she introduce another set of syllables she did not recognize the first syllable anymore.

She can only read syllables or words if her mother read with her and she found it difficult if she reads with her own. There are omitted letters on her writings. Lyka’s mother told us that she is sociable; she does not choose whom to play with. Mrs. Aida point out that when Lyka’s playmate hit her, she will hit back that particular child. Lyka’s mother added that every time her things are being used without her permission she pout and put back again her things in order. Because of the busy schedule of Lyka’s father we didn’t have a chance to talk with her, but according to Mrs. Aida he helps her daughter to do her home works like when there are activities concerns to drawing.

But he never had a chance to teach his daughter to read because of his works. Mrs. Aida added that Lyka is an obedient child; she listens if she told to, she obeys whatever her mother asks her. Mrs. Aida is concern to her child. She wants that Lyka to learn to read. She teaches Lyka to read if she has a time, but Lyka is very inattentive. She is easily disturbed especially if there are children playing in their house. Conclusions Based from the gathered data, the researchers find out the following conclusions: •Lyka can do mathematical problems. She is able to add and subtract simple equation. Also, she can count numbers from 1-30 consistently. •In terms of her social and emotional concerns, she is ociable and can handle her feelings, often play with her classmates and friends. She laughs with them, interacts with them and shares food to them. She talks much and says whatever she wanted. She behaves well at school. She remains seated during class discussion. She follows classroom rules and regulations. •She has a short attention p. She got easily bored when doing something. Sometimes she was distracted that is why she can’t finish specific tasks. •She has well fine motor skills. She holds pencil and crayons properly and writes neatly. She can draw basic shapes and simple objects but unable to name some. She can do gross motor skills such as walking running, jumping, skipping and balancing.

She can also dance and move her body. •She speaks with omitted words in the sentence. She finds it hard to remember and therefore produce correct sounds of letters/ words. She has trouble learning the alphabet that is why she has trouble understanding written words. She frequently mispronounces words. •She has difficulty in reading. Yes, she can write letters and words but unable to pronounce and name it. She can’t remember long sentences and oftentimes forget what she has learned like our names. •She listens but most of the time becomes inattentive. Her focus shifted to something that catches her attention. She cannot focus on one specific task. She might have difficulty in reasoning because she cannot be able to express her ideas example based from the story heard. She cannot answer questions that require higher order thinking skills. “ Learning disability is a disorder that is manifested by significance difficulties in the acquisition and use of listening, speaking, reading, writing, reasoning and mathematical abilities( Hammill, Leigh, Mcnutt and Larser, 1981)” However, based from the above conclusions, we found out that in the case of lyka, she has only learning disability in some areas; her reading, speaking and listening skills and probably to have problems in reasoning skill. Problems in Reading are manifested in a variety of ways. It could be word recognition errors (omission, insertion, etc. , reading habits (tension, movements, etc. ) and comprehension errors. She often omits words, only when she was and sometimes in writing. Lyka, during reading period start to wander and stare only at the words and she cannot even recall some facts from story heard. Torgesen and Kail (1980) denotes that learning disabled children /students may have difficulty remembering because of their poor language skills. Thus, verbal material may be particularly difficult to remember. Speaking is present to Lyka’s disability. This is manifested in her verbal communication. She speaks in incomplete sentences. Thus, she frequently omits words when talking.

Marge (1972) accounts that learning disabled individuals have language and speech disorders which lead to an increasing interest in language disorders (Wiig and Semels, 1984). Language and speech difficulties reflect deficient skills in oral expression and listening comprehension. In Lyka’s case, she reflects deficient skills in oral expression and listening comprehension. She is able to communicate orally but language lack in pragmatic competence. The structures on sentences are incorrect and often mispronounce uttered words. She has difficulty in her listening comprehension. Fleisher, Soodak and Selin (1984) reported that attention deficits have much fact validity; teacher can readily recall students with learning disability who had difficulty paying attention.

Lyka’s attention is short that is why she has problems in listening comprehension and she does not able to absorb information due to inattentiveness. Lyka might probably have difficulty in reasoning skills. “Many students with learning disabilities have weaknesses in abstract reasoning and can benefit from direct instruction in problem-solving skills. They may also benefit from language therapy to help them learn to use language to understand and solve problems” (Article of Ann Logsdon). Lyka can’t answer questions that require higher order thinking skills. The manifestation of learning disability in writing and mathematics are not present to Lyka.

Actually she doesn’t have difficulty in writing and mathematics. She can write her name, short or long sentences neatly and can solve simple mathematical problems like basic addition and subtraction. Thus, she has learning disability in reading, speaking and listening skills. Interventions to learning disabled children Multi sensory approach referred to as VAKT (visual, auditory, kinesthetic and tactile) learning is facilitated for some students if information received through several senses rather than just one or two senses. Fernald Method stresses whole word learning. To provide an independent study method for students who have extreme difficulty retaining sight words and their spelling.

This procedure may be integrated into other reading/spelling methods for students who do not seem to be able to re-visualize words for writing or who do not retain the association between printed words and their spoken equivalents. Gillingham-Stillman (1966) Method, feature sound blending, the process of teaching isolated sound and blending them into a word. Language Program and Materials Clinical Language Intervention Program (Semel and Wiig, 1982), used to teaches semantics, syntax, memory, and pragmatics to students. Let’s Talk: Developing Pro-social Communication Skills (Wiig 1982), develop and strengthen the pro social communication skills of students.

Direct remediation (Auditory Training), Auditory training that targets bottom-up activities that maximize neuroplasticity and can be formal (i. e. , in a sound-treated booth with acoustically controlled stimuli) or informal (in home or school setting using targeted games and activities). References Books “Bangs, Tina E. “Language and Learning Disorder of the Pre-academic Child with curriculum guide”New Jersey:Prentice Hall Inc. , 1982 Harring, Norris G. “Exceptional Children and youth” (5th Edition) Ohio: Merrill Publishing Company, 1990 Stanley Johnson W, Robert L. Morasky “learning Disabilities” (Second Edition) Boston Massachusetts: Allyn and Bacon Inc. , 1980 Inciong, Teresita G. , Yolanda S. Quijano, Yolanda T. Capulong, Julieta A. Gregorio, Adelaida C. Gines. Introduction To special Education”Philippines: Rex Book Store Inc. 2007 Electronic media http://www. angelfire. com/folk/personalitydev http://www. bhcmhmr. org/poc/view_doc. php? type=doc&id=12757&cn=462 http://www. ldhope. com/statistics. html www. Interaksyon. com/article/33676/no-such-thing-as-bobo http://childdevelopmentinfo. com/child-development/language_development. shtml http://www. jstor. org/discover/pgs/index? id=10. 2307/1169734&img=dtc. 22. tif. gif&uid=3738824&uid=2&uid=4&sid=21101780942871&orig=/discover/10. 2307/1169734? uid=3738824&uid=2&uid=4&sid=21101780942871 http://www. ehow. com/about_5530836_meaning-cognitive-disorder. html Documentation

Demand for academic staff in Higher Education has been increasing2 and may be expected to continue to increase given the Government’s intention that participation in Higher Education should increase substantially amongst those aged 18 to 30 years old. At the same time, recruitment and retention problems have been growing in prominence (HEFCE, 2003) and there has been a long-standing concern that the sector faces a ‘retirement bulge’, as academics from the 1960s expansion reach retirement.

Consequently, there is concern about the adequacy of the future supply of academics. Other substantial changes in Higher Education in the past 10 to 20 years are likely to have contributed to the tightness of the academic labour market3. Polytechnics were granted university status in 1992, changing their funding regime, their focus and the demands on staff. The number of students has grown substantially, a growth which has not been matched by staff increases resulting in a large increase in the student:staff ratio.

Changes in funding have led to much greater emphasis on research output (through the Research Assessment Exercise, the RAE), teaching quality (through the requirements of the Quality Assurance Agency, the QAA) and on academics raising research and consultancy funds. Other changes include tighter contractual terms (affecting holidays and hours worked), an increase in the use of short-term and hourly-paid contracts and the loss of tenure. Overall, these changes have tended to alter the nature of the job, reducing autonomy and increasing the workload, including that of administrative and teaching tasks.

At the same time, both the salaries and status of academics are perceived to have deteriorated relative to alternative careers (Halsey, 1992; Keep et al. , 1996). Substantial change in the nature of any job is likely to increase turnover, as a mismatch develops between the nature of the job to which people were recruited and the actual job. If these changes tend to reduce the quality of the job, rather than just change it, and if the applicant requirements are not altered (and, probably, lowered), recruitment will also become more difficult.

Both turnover and recruitment difficulties will be exacerbated by a relative decline in pay. Overview of the study Against this background, the study was designed to identify the factors which lead to individuals entering and leaving academic employment in the English Higher Education sector. Although the main focus was entry and exit from the sector, recruitment to and retention by individual institutions can shed light on this and was also investigated.

For the purposes of the study academic employment was defined as jobs in higher education institutions (Universities and Colleges of Higher Education) whose main function was academic teaching or academic research, irrespective of the contractual terms of the job holder. Thus lecturing (e. g. Professors, and Lecturers) and research staff (e. g. Research Assistants, post-docs and Senior Research Fellows) are included, but academic-related staff (e. g. technicians) are not. Full-time, part-time, permanent and temporary staff within these groups are included4.

Two main groups of academics were excluded from the study: those in Further Education Institutions and those on clinical rates of pay. The resources of the study precluded inclusion of these two groups5. Following discussion with the DfES, it was decided to focus on staff at English HEIs. This was done in order to prevent differences in the funding and structure of the HE sectors obscuring the analysis. Two exceptions to this rule are the analysis of the HESA data on research students and the chapter on international comparisons of pay (Chapter 4). These are discussed in more detail in sections 1. . 1 and 1. 1. 2 below (and in further detail in Appendix C and Appendix D). The study had five, inter-related, strands: • a literature review to establish the nature of the recruitment and retention problems and to identify previous evidence on the factors affecting recruitment and retention; this was conducted from March to May 2003; • analysis of HESA staff and student data, 2001/02, to provide a descriptive analysis of turnover in academia, to identify the basic characteristics of employment in the sector and to identify the student supply into academia6; a comparative analysis of pay, using 2001 data, both for comparable employment nationally and for academics in Higher Education internationally, in order to establish the competitiveness of academic pay; • qualitative research within universities exploring human resource policies and practices and factors affecting entry and exit from the sector; the fieldwork was conducted between July 2003 and July 2004; 4 However, the coverage of hourly paid staff is severely limited, owing to limitations in the HESA data (see below) and to practical difficulties of sampling for the survey (see below). Inclusion of the former would have extended the study to Further Education Institutions. The latter have different terms, conditions and employment patterns from other academics in HEIs and so a larger sample would have been required to adequately cover this group. Staff on clinical rates accounted for five per cent of academic staff (HESA Individualised Staff Record 2001/2). 6 Analysis of more recent HESA data and of trends over time is contained in HEFCE (2005a) and HEFCE (2005b). 3 quantitative surveys of academic staff and of research students to identify factors which affect recruitment into academia and retention; the fieldwork was conducted between May and July 2004. The research findings are affected by the policies and practices in effect at the time. To assist the reader, the DfES has produced a list of relevant Higher Education initiatives since the survey fieldwork. These are listed in Appendix H. Below, essential aspects of the methods are described. Further details of the methods appear in appendices. Appendix A describes the qualitative research.

Appendix B discusses the quantitative surveys of academic staff and research students. Appendix C describes the HESA staff and student datasets. Appendix D describes the data used for the intra- and international pay comparisons. Appendix F describes the model used for the analysis of the likelihood of students entering academia. Appendix G describes the econometric analysis of job satisfaction and intentions to leave academia. 1. 1. 1 HESA staff and student data7 For staff, the HESA Individualised Staff Record for the academic year 2001/02 was used.

The analysis was confined to institutions in England and to staff who were not on clinical grades. The sole exception to this is chapter 4, where the focus is expanded to the whole of the UK, to maintain consistency with the international comparisons analysis. For the study’s purposes, the Individualised Staff Record data has two important limitations. Firstly, they exclude employees8 whose total academic employment is below that of 25 per cent of a full-time academic (i. e. those with short hours or with substantial management and administrative responsibilities are excluded)9.

One of the implications is that hourly-paid staff will be substantially under-reported and is unlikely to be representative of hourly-paid staff as a whole. Secondly, the data relating to leavers suffer from a high level of nonreporting: around 60 per cent of leavers’ destinations are missing10. Therefore the findings on movement out of the sector must be treated with caution. For students, the Combined Student/Module Record for the academic year 2001/2 was used. This was combined with the First Destination Supplement (FDS), relating to those students who left in 2001/2.

The analysis was not limited to students from English higher education institutions because the appropriate pool of domestic entrants into Higher Education academic post is the whole of the UK. It is important 7 Note that the University of North London was not included in either the staff or student data supplied by HESA because the university has asked that its individual data is not released. 8 Strictly, they exclude contracts whose total academic employment is below that of 25 per cent of a full-time academic, as the record reports contracts rather than individuals.

For more information see Appendix C. 9 However, there are staff in the Individualised Staff Record with their FTE recorded as less than 25%; the majority of these records relate to staff who arrived or left during the year. 10 Internal work by HEFCE that matched the 2001-2 survey with that for the following year using staff code, data of birth and sex, found that 20% of those for whom the destination was not known remained at the same institution, 5% were found at a different institution and the remainder could not be matched with a record in the second year.

This latter group are made up of those who left the sector and those who remained but whose record in the second year did not match with respect to one of the three criteria. 4 to note that the destination of postgraduate research students in the FDS has a particularly low level of response (38%). Further details are given in Appendix C. 1. 1. 2 The comparative analysis of pay The comparative analysis of pay uses data from national labour force surveys (and censuses in nine countries. These were chosen to illustrate the types of countries to and from which most international movement with UK academia occurs.

They include the main English–speaking countries to which UK academics move (the USA and Australia), together with other English-speaking nations (New Zealand and Canada), three European countries (Denmark, France and Sweden) and Japan. The analysis of the labour force survey data used in the international comparisons used data from the whole of the UK. This was to increase the sample size. However, we would not expect to find significant differences within the UK. Identifying higher education academics was done using information on occupation and industry where available.

In most countries we were able to obtain a sample group that matched the UK sample. Exceptions to this were the US, where the sample also included academic staff at state colleges, who also conduct teaching undertaken in the FE sector in the UK, and Australia and New Zealand, where it is possible that our sample excludes some researchers who have no teaching responsibilities. We discuss the implications of this in Chapter 4 and Appendix D. Comparisons were made in both nominal and real terms. Earnings were converted using exchange rates to make nominal comparisons.

In order to account for differences in the cost of living, purchasing power parity exchange rates developed by the OECD were used to make real earnings comparisons. Further details are given in Appendix D. 1. 1. 3 The qualitative and quantitative survey research Qualitative research was conducted in thirteen English universities and quantitative research conducted in a subset of these. A structured sample of universities was selected to ensure coverage of different types of universities (new, old and colleges of Higher Education), universities in London and elsewhere and universities with differing research ratings.

Institutions with fewer than 200 academic staff and most specialist institutions11 were excluded. Small institutions were excluded because economies of scale in setting up the quantitative survey meant that their inclusion would have led to a smaller survey, as the project resources could not increase the sample through an increased number of institutions. Specialist institutions were excluded for similar reasons. (This did not reduce the subject coverage, as subjects taught in specialist institutions are also found in other HEIs. The purpose of the qualitative research was to identify factors which might affect recruitment and retention, including human resource practices and staff preferences. Qualitative interviews were held with senior staff with responsibility for 11 ‘Specialist institution’ is a classification developed for funding purposes and refers to institutions where 60 percent or more of funding is allocated to one or two cost centres. 5 human resourcing and, in eight of the universities, interviews were conducted with heads of two departments, and a sample of their academic staff and research students.

A survey of academic staff was conducted in ten12 of these universities. The survey covered both research and lecturing staff. Full-and part-time staff were included, but hourly paid staff were excluded (see Appendix B). The questionnaire collected data on personal characteristics, employment history, views on aspects of the job and career intentions. The survey was web-based. A total of 2805 staff responded, a response rate of 32 per cent. Survey data have been re-weighted to be representative of university academic staff in English HEIs.

For more information on the weighting and other issues relating to the staff survey see section B. 1 of Appendix B. A survey of research students (full-time and part-time) was conducted in nine of the universities, where research students were those undertaking a Masters degree mainly by research or a doctorate. The questionnaire collected data on personal characteristics, employment history and career intentions. The survey was web-based. A total of 1330 research students responded, a response rate of 29 per cent. Survey data have been re-weighted to be representative of research students in English HEIs.

For more information on the weighting and other issues relating to the staff survey see Section B. 7. Further details are given in Appendix B. 1. 2 Nomenclature Throughout this report the following nomenclature is used: • Student when referring to the student survey refers to research student. • ‘Academic’, ‘academic staff’ refers to those employed in higher education institutions on either the research grade or the lecturing grade. • University is used to refer to all higher education institutions, whether a university or a college. New and old universities. New13 universities are those that received university status in 1992 (when polytechnics and many colleges of Higher Education converted to university status) or later; old universities are those which had university status before this date. 1. 3 Report layout The structure of the report is as follows. The next chapter sets the scene by presenting evidence on turnover and recruitment and retention problems in higher 12 The aim had been to survey staff and students in twelve universities.

Unfortunately, not all the universities were able to supply the sample, either due to data protection considerations or due to difficulties providing an email contact list. 13 This nomenclature is in common use now, but, previously, ‘new university’ was used to denote universities established in the 1960s and early 1970s. Perhaps the term was also used in the nineteenth century to refer to the redbrick universities when the sector was expanded in the Victorian era. 6 education. It also presents evidence on the factors affecting recruitment and retention of academics.

Chapter 3 then describes the structure of academic employment in Higher Education, including the grade structure and contractual status, and the main characteristics of academic staff. This description is used to raise some of the factors which might affect recruitment and retention. Chapter 4 continues with the theme of structure, focusing on pay, and examines relative pay to investigate whether pay differences may be a cause of recruitment and retention difficulties. Both domestic and international comparisons are made.

Power has significantly marked the society where we are in current development. Power is one of the best ways to control a society, yet it impacts the society in a negative way when it comes to distributing rights and opportunities. That is, since it involves the worst issues within the government known as corruption. In William Shakespeare’s play, Richard III, and Aristophanes’ play, Lysistrata, both authors employ the major role and concept of power.

Both Shakespeare’s and Aristophanes’ approach to power has influenced the understanding of power and through their examples; one can employ their ideas as to why sometimes I feel powerless or powerful in my current life of a student. The views expressed by these authors are focused politically to power, which make people reflect on what power means; this involves attraction and subjugates provocation. The power is so great that it will always be seen negatively. With power one can organize groups but, there needs to be an authority.

For example, like those with the political, economic, military or religious power. Yet, the problem comes when the abuse of power arises and when having too much power, the mind can be corrupted. It is necessary that one should have a good posture when power comes into hand and one should see it as something to improve on rather than to enhance on the small things that one does not need. Power should be seen as the ability to control to do the right thing and for that reason, be able to accomplish positive changes for the rest of the community.

As a student, one has the ability to have power or not to have power either by sitting in a regular classroom or being at the university in general. At the university, there are laws, rules and authority that needs to be followed and for that reason a student could sometimes feel powerless. For instance, there is a rule at FAU that a student can’t be absent from a class for a certain amount of days. The student is able to feel powerful because he or she has the ability to not go to class.

Yet, once he or she reaches or passes the amount of days, the student will be automatically dropped out and in addition will receive a penalty for it. So a student can feel powerless because it has no other choice but to go to the class just so he or she wouldn’t get penalized. In other words, one could explain how different styles of power could have similar characteristics through the norms and rules that exist today. For example, the power exerted from a government of any country must be abided by the people who inhabit it through compliance ith the same laws and standards. Also, the student of any university must also follow the same rules and laws established by the university. As you can see, this example represents a power running scheme of a major and minor scale, but with a similar goal, which is how to maintain order where there is always power. The penalty is always the consequence, that is, if you decide to take too much power into your own hands. If one has power, he or she should be able to manipulate it well enough to not let it go into the wrong hands.

Similarly in Richard III, Shakespeare employs Hastings as a lord with honor who always remains loyal and trustworthy to the family. But when he gives all his trust and all his power to Richard, Richard ends up killing him. With power comes a consequence, and coinciding to this idea, that is why with power, corruption always occur. To that reason, a student will feel powerless because he or she has no other choice but to attend class. In order to be able to advance and be successful in class, you have to depend on your surroundings rather than self-advancement.

One should be able to find peers and ask them what they did the whole class. Also, one is able to get the notes and basically get everything of what the teacher did without being in class. This being said, a student will feel powerful only if they have their surroundings by the palm of their hand. If the student is going to use his or her power, it will need to depend on its surroundings in order to be able to get the power that he or she wants. As said by Shakespeare, “Which done, God take King Edward to his mercy, and leave the world for me to bustle in, for then I’ll marry Warwick’s youngest daughter” (5).

At school, one cannot depend on himself or herself, but on the teacher and on the peers. In Shakespeare view, he is showing how Richard views his power and Richard needs his surroundings and his superiority in order to get to King Edward’s throne. As for Aristophanes, Lysistrata would have never been able to succeed if she did not have the help of the other women. Her use of manipulation helped her gain power and she was able to take back her man and bring peace to the city. In addition, manipulating is being able to handle, control, or use someone or something cleverly and skillfully for one’s own advantage.

A student can exercise the power to manipulate other students not to follow the rules or establish academic programs. Students who do not have responsibility and honesty are able to induce other students not to follow their school schedule, for example the student’s class attendance. The student’s friends will tell them to not attend class, go to the beach, or miss class just to miss it. And likewise, they are able to decrease the academic level in their classes because they assume no responsibility and maturity with the commitment to remain in a serious institution such as a university.

These students still depend on their parents and since they know their parents will pay everything for them, they get low self-esteem and they won’t be able to value themselves and appreciate what they have. For this reason, they are people who have no responsibility and have no commitment when it comes to effort and it will be reflected once they attend the university. Therefore, that is why they influence other students to do the same. Aristophanes explains how the women were able to manipulate the power and strength of their husbands and warriors, exerting some manipulation of their womanhood and wife.

Similarly, Shakespeare speaks of Elizabeth’s power over King Edward. By then, Richard is seeing the king as being weak and being handled by women. “Why, this it is, when men are ruled by women; my Lady Grey his wife, Clarence, ‘tis she that tempers him to this extremity” (Shakespeare 3). Comparing the previous texts, a student to a certain extent, can manipulate by being able to respect and enforce the university rights. For example, receiving an academic background in the area specified and chosen by the student and freely expressing its ideas and not being able to get punished because of them.

This is why universities should take responsibility to train professionals and specialists in various areas of knowledge, as well as the formation of authentic citizens with moral and ethical responsibilities committed to the social reality around them. In Lysistrata, the women had a hard time being heard by the town and similarly, I have that same problem with my life as a college student. Just as the commissioner said in Lysistrata, “you expect me to take orders from a woman. I’d die first” (Aristophanes 91).

The men during that era did not take the women into consideration and they were never taken into account. They were always ignored and predominated the power of men. Aristophanes portrayed the women into another new level by giving them the importance that they needed. Although they were only valued as a house wife, Aristophanes took into consideration how important sex is in the life of men, and gave power to the women using their ingenuity. Due to the fact that FAU has a great amount of tudents not only in the school in general but in the classes as well, the professors cannot provide a personalized education for each student. For that reason, that is why students sometimes feel ignored. It is very complicated for a professor to dictate a class with an abundance of students and the time assigned by the university because it limits them to give just a general class. In the other hand, it is not the professor’s fault but it is the university’s in general as to why most students are ignored. It is up on our time to go to the professor’s office hours just to have a conversation from person to person.

People usually ask what they have to do in order to get to power while having the connections and influences and at the same time being a normal and ordinary person. For me, the answer or explanation to this question is due to my presence here at Florida Atlantic University because it is obtained through preparation, school work, and knowledge. For that reason, there is a famous phrase said by nearly everyone today that “knowledge is power”. Yet, through the knowledge that I gain, I have the ability and power to make my own decisions.

The increased use of online universities in this country have given millions of Americans the opportunity to get their degree later in life while possibly trying to juggle a career and family at the same time. These are five such universities.

The first is Kaplan University.  Its website is www.kaplan.edu and the university offers master’s, bachelor’s and associate degrees as well as certificates that can provide the student with skills to compete in the fields of health care, design, criminal justice and education to name a few.  The university was founded in 1937 and the current tuition costs are ranging from $305- $475 per credit hour. This is depending upon the type of degree that the individual has chosen. The university is helpful to its alumni in the fact that accepts resumes and posts jobs on their website for employers.

Its mission statement is: Kaplan University is an institution of higher learning dedicated to providing innovative undergraduate, graduate, and continuing professional education. Our programs foster student learning with opportunities to launch, enhance, or change careers in a diverse global society. The University is committed to general education, a student-centered service and support approach, and applied scholarship in a practical environment.”

To contact Kaplan University by email, info@kykaplan.edu is the email address. “Since 1937, we’ve built a long and distinguished tradition as both an academic pioneer and career-maker. We’re part of Kaplan Higher Education, a premier education provider, with more than 75 campus-based schools nationwide. Unique to our education family are some of the highest ranked programs in the world. Kaplan is the world leader in test preparation and has helped more than 3 million students prepare to take the tests necessary to achieve their education and career goals. The Kaplan Professional companies provide certification training developed for adult learners who are juggling the demands of home, family, and busy careers.” (getinfo.kaplan.edu)

University of Phoenix  www.phoenix.edu) is the largest online university in the country with more than 20,000 faculty and more than 220,000 undergraduates. The university was founded in 1976 and its central location is in Phoenix, Arizona. The University of Phoenix, has grown considerably and it was recognized as the first university in the country to offer course work online. The email of the university is fts@amail.uoph.edu and its tuition is $475 per credit hour.

Its mission statement is: The Statement of Mission and Purposes focuses clearly on student learning and identifies that focus as the vehicle through which broader institutional goals will be pursued. It also emphasizes innovation, convenience, continuous improvement, and service quality as essential to mission fulfillment.

The University of Phoenix has extensive resources in the area of job postings.  There are literally thousands of jobs postings in the website which is frequented by University of Phoenix undergraduates and alum on a daily basis. “Beginning in the early 1970s University of Phoenix reinvented the way in which working adults could achieve a higher education and made academic innovation, quality and accountability its hallmark. It pioneered an educational and service model specifically geared toward the way adults learn best and made its programs widely available to working students using common-sense scheduling and fresh new approaches to academic delivery.” ( www.phoenix.edu)

DeVry University is one of the most widely known and respected universities in the country.  And now they can add their online university to that list. DeVry University: (www.devryonlinedegrees.com)  is a for profit institution for full or part time individuals seeking training in some of the more technical jobs in the country and which are already in the work force.

Devry was founded in 1931 and its tuition costs per semester is $4975. Devry offers an online search engine in the way of job postings and offers a wide and diverse range of jobs to chose from; many of which place a great deal of merit on an alum from Devry University. Its email for students is: sfo@fre.devry.edu and its main programs are computer engineering, electronic engineering network and communication

Its mission statement is: The mission of DeVry University is to foster learning through high-quality, career-oriented undergraduate and graduate programs in technology, business, and management.  The university delivers its programs at campuses, centers and online to meet the needs of a diverse and geographically dispersed student population.

Strayer University: www.strayer.edu. Is located in Washington D.C. and it a private institution.  Strayer has more than 31,000 students within its 45 campuses and serves its students online as well as in the classroom and it is unique in that fashion.

The tuition is $1730 per course and its job postings and postings of resumes on behalf of its undergraduates is very helpful to the students and the website has received positive feedback for these services. The university was founded in 1892 but was made a university as recently as 1998. Its email for applicants is admissions_online@strayer.edu.

Its mission statement is: To establish opportunities for Strayer University alumni to stay connected to the University and remain on the cutting edge of business and technology. Over 112 years, the school has expanded to 45 campuses and in 11 states. “Strayer University offers an alumni directory as well as daily postings of job fairs as well as a newsletter for its alumni and undergraduates. Our undergraduate and graduate programs are available at 46 campuses in Alabama, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and Washington, D.C., as well as online. Many students take advantage of both on-campus and online courses.” ( www.strayer.edu.com)

Thompson Rivers University is another online school that has earned the respect of its students.  Its campus is located in British Columbia, Canada and was established as recently as 2005 as an online university.  The school was established in 1978 and it is a public institution.  Its website is www.tru.ca/ and its email for interested applicants is stuemploy@tru.ca/  The university offers free job postings and well as resumes to be posted on their website.  The services that the university offers in this are not as extensive as other, more established universities but it promises to increase its listings in the coming months.

Its mission statement is: To support planning at a variety of levels across the university by providing accurate, timely, impartial and reliable information and analysis for decision-making, policy development, and internal and external constituent needs. The tuition fees are very reasonable at $111 per semester hour which is much lower than the above mentioned universities and one of the more affordable tuitions that I have ever come across.  And with that total being in Canadian dollars, the tuition is even less than that at just over $100 per semester hour. Here are a few fast facts about the college: Almost 50 undergraduate degree options at the TRU Kamloops Campus

“Nearly 20 professional career Diploma programs, all with ‘ladders’ to a degree at the Kamloops campus
Six- to ten-month Job-entry certificates, Trade-entry and Apprenticeship training at the Kamloops campus
Distance education courses, and complete distance programs in selected fields.
Flexible distance and degree, diploma and certificate access through the BC Centre Open Learning, currently based at our Burnaby campus.” ( www.tru.ca)

Here is a summary on just a few of the online universities that are available.  And with more becoming accredited, it is becoming easier for professional adults to go back and get their degree and open up the door of opportunity when they thought that it has been closed forever.

[pic] Growing Esteem: Refining the HR Policy Framework to Support the Vision December 2010 Table of Contents 1Introduction3 2Background3 2. 1The environment we will be working in3 2. 1. 1External factors3 2. 1. 2Internal decisions and factors4 2. 1. 3The HR policy imperatives5 2. 2Where we are now5 2. 2. 1Our current staffing profile5 2. 2. 2Current performance7 2. 3The future8 2. 3. 1The goals of Growing Esteem 20108 2. 3. 2Supporting this vision through a refined HR Strategy9 3The refined HR policy framework9 3. 1Consultation and Feedback10 Priority areas for reform10 4. 1Improvement of the performance development framework11 4. 2Clarifying performance expectations12 4. 3Align work activity to ‘work focus categories’ and link these to performance expectations13 4. 4Supporting early career staff15 4. 5Classification issues – broad banding of professional staff classifications16 5Other policy issues17 5. 1Building flexibility – Classification issues17 5. 2Attracting and retaining highest quality staff17 5. 3Aligning performance – Probation and confirmation17 5. Investing in staff – Leadership and management development18 6Next Steps18 6. 1Governance of the implementation project18 6. 2Plan for areas of further work19 Appendix 1: Schematic diagram of the refined strategic HR Policy Framework20 Introduction We are all part of an institution with a proud record of scholarship and achievement. The University of Melbourne has a well deserved international reputation for research excellence and quality of student outcomes and we have demonstrated our capacity to innovate and lead higher education nationally.

Melbourne’s international standing and research prominence has enabled us to attract fine students and staff. We seek to lead through research, to educate for excellence and to connect and contribute through engagement. Substantial progress has been made towards achievement of our vision to be one of the world’s finest universities and we will need to continue to adapt and improve in pursuit of this vision.

The University’s strategy document Growing Esteem 2010, states: “For the University to realise the ambitions of a refined Growing Esteem strategy it needs people who share the vision and can achieve the actions required. “ Over the coming years we need to ensure that our research and teaching reputation remain among the best in the world in the face of increasing competition; to adapt our approach, to both teaching and our general interactions with students to support a greater proportion of graduate students; and to diversify our sources of revenue to support our endeavour.

It is in this context that we seek to articulate our HR strategies and refine our HR Policy Framework so that we can support and develop our staff to achieve the excellence in performance that provides individual satisfaction and collectively will maintain and grow Melbourne’s standing. This paper identifies the major strategic and policy issues which need to be addressed to position us for the future through a refinement of the current HR management framework over the next three years. This paper provides a blueprint for action to guide HR policy development over the next three years.

From this framework, detailed policies and procedures will be specified, and there will be opportunity for staff and other stakeholders to provide further input to these as they are progressively developed. These policies will be implemented at the local level within the University and therefore the support that will be provided to our supervisors and managers who are responsible for the day to day interactions with our staff will be vital to their success in bringing about the required changes. Background 1 The environment we will be working in

The environment we will operate in over the next 5-10 years will change significantly and both external factors and the internal decisions made in our plans will impact on the staff profile we will need to prosper in the new environment and the HR policies and procedures that we need to support our staff. 1 External factors Changes in the external environment provide us with challenges and opportunities. Increased globalisation of the higher education sector will lead to stronger competition for the best students and staff.

This competition for staff will include professional staff, particularly specialists, who will also be sought after in the wider economy. Strategies will need to be implemented to attract, develop and retain the best academic and professional staff who can plan, deliver and support an excellent learning experience for students, and also demonstrate innovation and a capacity to thrive in a changing environment. Technological change will also open new avenues for both education and research and the way in which work is performed in general and aids networking.

The increasing pace of knowledge acquisition will require review of the range of information taught in courses and in the way it is delivered. On the research side, funding models and the interest of governments in finding solutions to major societal problems drives greater collaboration – both in the development of cross functional teams within the University and also in increased engagement with other universities, other research bodies and industry.

The national higher education policy environment is placing more emphasis on nation-building through growth in graduate outputs, job readiness of graduates, social inclusion, funding for performance, and international standardisation of award nomenclature and content. There is also greater emphasis on engagement of universities with their broader communities. All of these factors and the funding regimes which support the national policy decisions are focussed on growth, which is at odds with our chosen direction to limit growth in student numbers.

The local policy framework is also influenced by continuing fluctuation in the global financial environment. The international education company IDP Education is now predicting a considerable decline in international student numbers coming to Australia in the medium term which will impact on the University’s capacity to replace lost local revenue from this source. The ageing academic and professional staff profile across the sector and within the University more specifically means that we will have to attract, develop and retain high quality staff to replace staff lost through natural attrition. Internal decisions and factors Melbourne has taken the decision to limit growth and to eventually reduce student numbers to a more stable and manageable size in order to provide the highest quality education to our students. Consequently we will need to build other revenue streams and to find ways of doing things more efficiently. We will need to be both flexible and entrepreneurial and be able to engage well with the external community. Over this time we will also significantly change our student profile, from the current ratio of 70:30 undergraduate to postgraduate students to achieve a 50:50 balance.

It will be challenging to attract high quality postgraduate students in these numbers. This more mature student population will be more demanding and will have high expectations of teaching and support and of their interactions with our administrative staff. Their assessment of the quality of the teaching they receive, their overall satisfaction with their experience and their capacity to get good jobs will impact on our rankings both nationally and internationally against our competitors. The HR policy imperatives This likely future environment highlights the need to consider how together we can increase the focus on performance and productivity and ensure that each staff member achieves their goals and contributes to the University in the way best suited to their strengths and expertise. This will require a strong alignment between individual goals and performance and the University’s objectives and a different approach to developing and managing performance.

These changes must be introduced in ways which protect and preserve the fundamental values of the institution, such as meritocracy, collegiality and academic freedom. 2 Where we are now 1 Our current staffing profile Melbourne’s permanent staff number in excess of seven thousand, divided almost evenly between academic and professional staff and is supported by over two and a half thousand additional casual staff. Our academic and professional staff include many talented, committed and long-serving people.

It is our staff, their interactions with each other, with students and with local, national and international communities that establish and define our reputation and position in the global higher education sector. Staff are employed in positions classified according to the current academic and professional staff classification structures, specified in the University’s Collective Agreement. In addition to our paid staff, a large number of honorary and visiting academic staff contribute to the life and scholarship of the University.

Our current staffing profile has the following characteristics: • We have a large number of early career academics, with approximately 60% of the University’s academic staff employed at Levels A and B; • These early career academics are predominantly employed on fixed term contracts. This position changes with seniority, with the majority of academic staff at Level C and above employed on a continuing basis; • In contrast, most professional staff are employed on a continuing basis, with 55% of professional staff employed at HEW Levels 5 to 7;

Figure 1 : Current distribution of Academic Staff by Classification (headcount, excluding casuals) |[pic] |% Staff Fixed term | | | | | | | |Figure 2 : Distribution of Fixed term and Continuing Professional Staff by |Level A. | |Classification (headcount) |96. | |[pic] | | | |Level B. | | |71. 8 | | | | | |Level C. | | |42. | | | | | |Level D. | | |25. 3 | | | | | |Level E. | |27. 9 | | | | | | | • The growth in the University’s staff numbers from 2005 to 2008 has largely been the result of an increase in casual staff numbers. • Over 10 % of the University’s academic work was performed by casual staff in 2009.

Casual tutors are responsible for a significant portion of teaching into new generation degrees. • The ratio of professional to academic staff has remained relatively steady since 2007 and is below the average for Australian universities and the Group of Eight. This is largely because of the way the University classifies Level A and B research support staff as academic rather than professional staff unlike many other universities. • Approximately a third of both professional staff and academic staff are over 50 years of age; Figure 3: Age distribution of academic and professional staff pic] Academic Staff by level [pic] Professional Staff by level • Approximately 55% of Melbourne academics are male; • Women make up the majority of academic staff at Level A, but by senior levels the position is reversed. Although Melbourne performs better than the sector average in terms of the percentage of women at Levels D and E and at HEW10, women remain underrepresented at PVC and DVC levels as well as amongst membership of the Senior Executive more generally.

The appropriate consideration of “performance relative to opportunity” for staff with significant external responsibilities, non-traditional career paths, or less than full-time working hours remains an ongoing challenge; • A higher proportion of our female staff is employed on a part-time basis than the sector average; • In 2008 and 2009 over half of all professional staff positions have also been filled internally while 56% of self-initiated departures from the University in 2009 from this group were from staff with less than 3 years service.

The corresponding percentage for academic staff for self-initiated early departure is 51%. This suggests a turnover of newer staff to the University and is a concern if these staff are of high quality and being attracted by better offers from other employers. Level A academic staff and professional staff at HEW levels 3-5 are over-represented in these departure statistics suggesting a need to provide better opportunities and support for good early career academics and professional staff; and • Staffing costs per FTE are increasing at a faster rate than student load.

Until recently this has been compensated for by revenue growth but as the environmental scan above shows, this may not be possible in the future. 2 Current performance Melbourne is well ranked in international rankings and we improved our position in the most recent round of the Shanghai Jiao Tong and Times Higher Education Rankings. In the Jiao Tong rankings Melbourne was ranked 62nd in the world, the second Australian institution after ANU at 59th. This ranking system uses weighted scores associated with alumni, awards, citations, and publications.

Melbourne scores better than ANU in the alumni and awards categories but has lower scores in each of the research categories. In the Times Higher Education rankings Melbourne is ranked first of the Australian institutions, at 36th in the world listing. A new methodology was used in 2010 for this ranking based on teaching (the learning environment), international mix (staff and student ratios), industry income, research volume, income and reputation, and citation impact. The quality of teaching within the University is vital to our students’ educational outcomes.

While the Times Higher Education teaching scores for Melbourne are higher than our national competitors we have some way to go to reach the level of our international benchmarking partners. The CEQ good teaching scale also indicates room for improvement. While these rankings vary and are not absolute indicators of teaching performance, it is clear that teaching performance has a significant impact on the level of satisfaction of our students. Improvement in our overall teaching performance will contribute to a more positive learning environment for our students.

Nationally in 2008 and 2009 Melbourne was ranked first in the country for research income and publications however, if these measures were viewed per capita (across the total number of research and teaching and research staff), then our leading position would not be maintained. We also performed well in nearly all discipline categories in the first trial ERA outcomes gaining scores of 4 or 5 in nearly all discipline categories. Our research performance has a significant impact on our rankings and on our ability to attract research income and quality staff and students.

While we should be justifiably proud of that performance it will be more difficult to maintain this position in the future due to likely improvements in the performance of our competitors. We could raise our position in the international rankings and maintain our premier position nationally if there was improved average performance in winning grants and publishing across a broader spectrum of the academic staff complement. 3 The future 1 The goals of Growing Esteem 2010

Melbourne has articulated the outcomes we wish to achieve by 2015 in Growing Esteem 2010, including that: • Melbourne will have an academic workforce sustainable in number and quality and outstanding in its achievement; • Melbourne will be top ranked in all key national indicators of research excellence and impact; • Melbourne will be top ranked in relation to research higher degree recruitment and outcomes; • Through key partnerships we will have maximised the global impact of our research; • Melbourne will be ranked in the top five against all national learning and teaching and student satisfaction indicators; • Melbourne will be providing the best graduate experience in the country according to appropriate national indicators; • Staff will feel able to contribute broadly to our vision of interaction with wider society through knowledge partnership, advancement and international activities; and • Melbourne will have talented, diverse staff who share a common vision and whose skills and knowledge equip them to achieve the University’s goal of being one of the best international universities in the world.

As has been shown Melbourne is currently well placed in relation to some of these measures of performance, but given the increasingly competitive and global higher education environment, to maintain or improve this position will require improvements in leadership and management and to performance management and development, recognition of the diversity of professional and academic roles, greater recognition of the efforts of our staff and innovative approaches to retaining, and nurturing the best teachers and researchers and flexible and innovative professional staff. Specifically, amongst other things, we need to: • Emphasise research excellence not just research activity and improve he overall consistency of research performance and the number of high citation researchers who count among the world’s top 250 in their fields; • Understand, reward and promote research excellence and creativity, provide career development opportunities and mentoring and develop a research recruitment and retention strategy; • Improve the consistency of the quality of teaching and the student experience across the University while allowing for increased specialisation of academic staff in this area; and, • Promote engagement activities as an equal partner to research and learning and teaching. 2 Supporting this vision through a refined HR Strategy To flourish in this environment and achieve these ambitious outcomes we will need to more actively manage our staff profile over the next five years through a refined HR Strategy. Our HR strategy must enable us to achieve the level of performance necessary if we are to be one of the world’s finest universities. We will need to: • Develop our existing staff; • Commit resources to attract and retain staff of the highest quality; • Put in place appropriate succession planning; Provide classification structures which recognise diverse career paths and allow specialisation by both academic and professional staff; • Nurture early career academic and professional staff and provide them with clear career paths in the university; • Address the issues relating to the casualisation of our staff complement and the increasing proportion of fixed term staff, while retaining flexible working arrangements; • Recognise and develop the partnership between academic and professional staff and build the ability of staff to work seamlessly with colleagues from other disciplines and institutions; • Develop and recruit change-adept and flexible academic and professional staff; • Enhance the support provided for the core activities of the University by improving performance of the central enabling divisions through professional development and performance review; • Develop and improve systems which reward and recognise excellent performance in learning and teaching, research, engagement and leadership and in professionals disciplines; and •

Continue to encourage diversity and address issues relating to the participation of women, particularly at higher levels of the University. These actions will need to occur in the context of managing staffing and non-salary costs. The current HR Policy Framework needs to be refined to align with this revised HR Strategy to allow greater flexibility in the way work is organised and to support the development and performance of high achieving staff. The refined HR policy framework The refined HR Policy Framework which addresses this strategy links the following components (and is shown schematically in Appendix 1): • The strategy presented in section 2. 3. 2; The necessary organisational and individual capabilities to underpin the achievement of this strategy –a commitment to excellence; flexibility and a willingness to collaborate and cooperate with internal and external partners (these capabilities were well supported by staff during consultation) ; • Broad HR focus areas– these are the areas where our HR actions will be focussed to assist in building performance and include building flexibility; attracting and retaining the highest quality staff; aligning performance with the University’s objectives; and investing in staff; • The specific high priority HR practices which will have most impact on the achievement of the University’s strategy and the development of the people required for the future; and • Enablers that will support reform. The enablers to support reform include improved HR support, including the provision of accurate, timely and high level advice for our managers and supervisors, to assist them in working with our staff to continue to build capability and best direct efforts towards our goal of being one of the world’s finest universities. 1 Consultation and Feedback A range of stakeholders were consulted about the refinement of the current HR Policy Framework through a number of forums, including: • the 2010 Heads and Deans Conference; • Senior Executive; individual and group consultations with Deans, Deputy Vice-Chancellors, Pro Vice-Chancellors, senior administrative staff and members of the HR Professional Practice Area; • Academic Board; • the 2010 Planning and Budget Conference (PBC); • facilitated focus groups of staff randomly selected from across the University; and, • a four week consultation period during which staff and unions could review the proposed Framework and provide anonymous feedback. Approximately 200 staff provided feedback via an online survey, which included the capacity to make free text comment. Approximately 60% of responses received were from Professional staff.

Respondents represented all levels of the University, all budget divisions and included continuing, fixed term and casual staff. Staff were generally supportive of the HR framework. While there were some differences of opinion expressed, on the whole there was sound endorsement of the priorities that are set out in the following section. Priority areas for reform A number of priority areas for reform are outlined in the following sections. Although they form an integrated set of actions, the first are those considered by stakeholders to be of highest initial priority in contributing to individual and collective performance. The immediate focus of reform will be: 1. improvement of the performance development framework; 2. larification of performance expectations; 3. alignment of academic work activity to ‘work focus categories’ and linking these to performance expectations; 4. support for early career staff; and, 5. professional staff classification structures. As these areas are the highest initial priorities for reform, this paper canvasses them in more detail. Other policy issues, including leadership and management strategy, which will also be integral to the refined HR Policy Framework are identified later in this paper. As specific policies are developed relating to each of these proposals there will be additional opportunity for consultation with staff.

This consultation will be undertaken in accordance with: • standard processes for consulting with staff and unions over changes to HR policy; and/or, • the specific requirements of Schedule 6 of the Agreement which contemplates reviews of the i. Performance Development Framework; and, ii. the academic and professional staff classification structures. The consultation required under Schedule 6 of the Agreement will be conducted by a Working Group comprised of four representatives of each of the University and the NTEU in accordance with agreed processes for consultation and negotiation. The review process and outcomes will be implemented no later than 30 June 2011.

The priority areas that received most support from staff during consultation were: • support for early career staff • leadership and management development • clarifying individual performance expectations, and • improved HR support. Unless otherwise identified, the proposals discussed are relevant to both professional and academic staff members, though some have specific relevance to one or other category of staff. 1 Improvement of the performance development framework The current PDF system is similar to those used in many other universities. Its application across the University is widespread and the incidence of participation is monitored.

Effective performance management of staff allows the University to set clear objectives against which to develop and reward good performers and to identify, support and manage under-performing staff. Sound performance management of both academic and professional staff is central to the University being able to achieve the objectives and the ranking targets it has set in Growing Esteem 2010 as documented in section 2. 3. 1. Sound performance management has particular benefit for staff where it enables development needs to be clearly identified and addressed. Key policy issues relating to staff performance management in the University include: • the nature of the performance management system; and, • its effective application and use as a development tool. To improve the performance development framework we will: align performance, confirmation and promotion outcomes for academic staff so that they represent stages in a performance continuum rather than isolated events; • align position descriptions, probationary criteria and objectives specified through the PDF for professional staff; • develop a streamlined and simpler performance management system; • set performance objectives and requirements which are tailored to the work required of the staff member and include consideration of performance relative to opportunity issues; • rate performance against the different aspects of a staff member’s job rather than just one general rating; • replace current performance assessment rating descriptors to reflect the relative achievement of performance expectations (e. g. he “satisfactory” rating would become “has met performance objectives”); • better align the PDF with business plans and with departmental and University goals; • develop more objective performance measures and greater capacity to distinguish between levels of performance; • provide a higher level of HR support to provide managers and supervisors with the skills to develop staff and address performance issues; • ensure that we take a fair, firm, timely and more consistent approach to treatment of underperformance; • consider requiring Budget Divisions to establish a panel to benchmark and moderate for consistency and fairness of performance management across the Division[1]; and, • provide a framework in which faculties and other budget divisions can develop performance management schemes specific to their area. Additionally, for academic staff we will: recognise individual strengths of academic staff in the core areas of teaching, research and engagement and rewarding staff for excellence in those areas; • introduce appropriate descriptors for academic staff work functions or focus areas; and • align staff actual effort with these work functions. Aspects of this reform will be undertaken in accordance with the review process outlined at Schedule 6 of the University of Melbourne Collective Agreement 2010. Other aspects will be subject to the standard processes for consulting with staff and unions over changes to HR policy. 2 Clarifying performance expectations Clear performance expectations are essential to guide staff effort and allow staff to understand how their work contributes to the strategies and goals of the University.

They also support the quality, consistency and improvement of performance and allow for self-monitoring which contributes to job satisfaction. To clarify performance expectations we will: • Develop general performance expectations for academic and professional staff (e. g. The Melbourne Academic, The Melbourne Professional). These statements will specify in general terms the University’s expectations of each group and its staff as a whole (including broad behavioural expectations); • Remove the University-wide definition of research activity and replacing this with faculty or discipline specific definitions; • Set clear and measurable performance standards for teaching, research, ngagement and leadership on a Faculty basis to guide performance against which individuals can be assessed; • Over time establish common performance standards for professional job families (eg finance, IT, marketing, HR, administration etc) and • Align individual objectives with specific goals for the relevant budget division. This reform will be undertaken in accordance with the standard processes for consulting with staff and unions over changes to HR policy. 3 Align work activity to ‘work focus categories’ and link these to performance expectations Academic work at the University is varied, has diversified and will continue to do so. While the majority of staff combine teaching with research and an engagement component, there are staff who focus solely on research and others who predominantly teach.

The academic staff complement includes clinicians and specialist curriculum developers, others who focus on engagement with the wider community or on the provision of specialist services and others who have management roles. Despite the general expectation for Melbourne academics, some of these roles may not have a requirement or an expectation for a research component. There is recognition of the diverse nature of academic work in both our promotion criteria and the Minimum Standards for Academic Levels (MSALs)[2] which provide for academics to contribute to research and/or scholarship and/or teaching (that is to focus on one or more aspects of an academic career). Nonetheless, our research focus, although central to the University, may not allow sufficient recognition of academics with strengths outside this area.

An alternative approach is to recognise that not all academics for various reasons are equally involved with teaching and research or are required to produce similar research outputs and that it can be difficult for academics to manage the competing priorities of teaching, research, community engagement and administrative duties. While recognising that most will continue to combine teaching with research and will meet expectations in both areas, within a single academic classification, staff with a primary focus on teaching or -activities other than research should be appropriately recognised in terms of this primary focus and associated outputs. The University has recognised in its objectives and targets that the quality of teaching is vital to our aspiration to offer an outstanding educational experience.

This can partly be achieved by providing a strong career path for those staff who have an excellent record in teaching, or who have demonstrated the capacity to develop this and who are less focused on a research career. Teaching specialist roles have already been created at a number of leading Australian universities to recognise excellence in teaching. The teaching specialist roles require the staff members appointed to them to make a substantial contribution to learning and teaching, educational design and delivery, and educational leadership. Such roles reflect high performance in teaching and are not created to support and manage staff who are not performing at an appropriate level.

During consultation, it was proposed that academic staff within the University should have the capacity to be appointed to positions with a focus on teaching or academic support/leadership based on the excellence of their performance in these areas. This proposition received broad support. Staff who are, or who have demonstrated the capacity to become excellent teachers and who have made a practice of innovation and scholarship in teaching in their discipline could accept an offer to take up a teaching-focused role. Other staff who have academic roles, with no specific requirement for research, could accept an offer to take up an ‘other specialist’ role.

For example, staff who undertake management roles outside a particular faculty and who are employed to pursue a particular mission for the University (such as the DVC and PVC positions) would be considered part of this focus area. Academic staff within the University will therefore be identified as belonging to one of the following work focus categories based on the requirements of their role and subject to meeting any relevant requirements for the focus category: • Research-focussed • Teaching and Research • Teaching specialist • Other specialist. Appropriately for a research led institution such as Melbourne, the majority of academic staff would remain within their current teaching and research or research focused categories, with performance expectations appropriate to the relevant category and faculty or discipline.

Such reform allows for the retention of a single academic classification structure, along with its ranks, levels and salaries, but provides greater recognition of the diversity of work undertaken by individuals within that classification structure. The capacity to move between work focus categories over the course of an academic career is provided for, to allow for broad and flexible careers. Movement between the groups will take into account individual performance and development needs as determined through the performance development system. Teaching and other specialist roles may be offered after joint consideration of the interests, qualifications and capacity of the staff member and the specific needs of the Department, School or Faculty.

At present the University has a number of staff classified as Level A and B academic staff who are categorised as Research Only staff but who are supporting the research endeavour rather than undertaking original research. In most other universities this group is generally classified as professional staff rather than academic. A change in classification for a number of these staff will ensure more consistent reporting between the University of Melbourne and its competitors. As previously discussed, work will also be considered at a later date around further development of the job family categories for professional staff, with appropriate expectations being developed by level and job family. To better recognise the diversity of academic work we will: introduce a new academic work focus category of Teaching Specialist to complement the existing categories of Teaching & Research, Research Focussed and Other specialists; • identify academic staff within the University by work focus category; • develop and apply performance expectations appropriate to the relevant category and faculty and discipline; We will also: • further develop the job family categories for professional staff. This reform will be subject to the standard processes for consulting with staff and unions over changes to HR policy. 4 Supporting early career staff We need to support the development of our early career professional and academic staff, to provide a positive employment experience and assist them in becoming productive members of staff. Graduate entry level for professional staff is most commonly at HEW5 level, and mentoring and other professional development is important at this stage. We need to be able to provide career paths for the development of specialist expertise.

This emphasises the need for a sound performance development program which clarifies objectives and identifies career needs. While, when taken together, growth in fixed term and continuing academic and professional staff in recent years has been relatively modest, the percentage growth in casual staff from 2007 to 2009 is more than double this figure. The key issues for casual early career academic staff are the difficulty in establishing an academic career when there is limited certainty of employment and the concentration of casual staff at lower levels of the academic classification structures and into particular areas, notably teaching into New Generation Degrees.

The New Generation Degrees will account for approximately half our coursework student load and their success will be critically important to the future success of the Growing Esteem strategy. The quality of the teaching of undergraduate students is important to, student engagement and outcomes. Improved certainty of employment for excellent staff teaching into the New Generation Degrees should be considered. Pathways for research higher degree students into an academic career also need to be improved, particularly given the need for renewal of the academic workforce. We need to recognise that casual and sessional staff, as well as research students, make a significant contribution to University teaching effort and that early career academics in general require support. To better support early career staff we will: address the barriers to employing early career staff on more secure forms of employment; • improve access to and quality of professional development and mentoring programs for early career staff, particularly in relation to supporting early career staff develop capabilities in relation to teaching (where relevant); • employ research students as a preference for casual and sessional roles; • seek agreement to create a new form of employment which provides greater employment security for early career staff; and, • support budget divisions to increase the number of Early Career Development Fellowships. [3] The introduction of the proposed academic work focus categories will also provide clearer career paths for early career academics. A teaching-specialist academic category would better facilitate the appointment of teaching-specialists as course coordinators (on other than on a casual basis) to support the teaching of large New Generation Degree subjects. This reform will be subject to the standard processes for consulting with staff and unions over changes to HR policy. Classification issues – broad banding of professional staff classifications Broad banding professional staff classification categories will improve career pathways, provide greater flexibility in staffing and aid retention of good staff. There are currently 10 classification levels for professional staff. Staff can progress to a higher classification by applying for another job which is graded at the higher level or by applying for reclassification where higher level duties are required by the work area. These options may not be available within all work areas and so high performing professional staff may seek employment elsewhere, including outside the University.

In order to rationalise the large number of classification categories for professional staff and to provide better career pathways it is proposed that a new professional staff classification structure be introduced consisting of four broad bands reflecting the level of responsibility and specialisation of professional positions in the University. |New Broad Band |Former Classification |Number of Pay Points within the band | |4 |HEW Level 10 A – 10E |3 | |3 |HEW Level 8 – Level 10 Base |9 | |2 |HEW Level 5 – 7 |9 | |1 |HEW Level 1 – 4 |9 |

In order to improve the classification structure for professional staff we will: • reform the structure to provide for a number of broad bands within which movement would be based on performance; • reduce the number of pay points within each band in most cases with the effect of increasing the salary differential between each pay point and make movement between pay points more meaningful; • develop clear performance standards for each broad band; • align position descriptions with each level of the system; • require movement between bands to be based on assessment of an application for a position in the higher band; and • introduce soft barriers within the bands that staff would have to satisfy in order to progress.

This reform will be undertaken in accordance with the review process outlined at Schedule 6 of the University of Melbourne Collective Agreement 2010. Other policy issues There are also other policy issues which will be included in the revised HR Policy Framework and are important to assist our current staff to achieve their potential and to help the University remain attractive to prospective staff. They will be the subject of further consultation and development through appropriate working groups. The issues identified below are grouped into the key focus areas of the Policy Framework shown in Appendix 1. 1 Building flexibility – Classification issues Policy action |Timing | |Introduce additional performance based salary points at the top of current academic and professional classification levels|2011 | |Aid attraction and retention and strengthen the link between reward and performance for level E staff, possibly by |2011 | |providing additional salary steps at this level | | |Explore introduction of a single salary spine for academic and professional staff |2012 | |Revise academic nomenclature |2012 | 2 Attracting and retaining highest quality staff Policy action |Timing | |Review and determine new reward and recognition policies , including implementing a reward for performance structure to |2011 | |recognise, reward and retain high performing staff | | |Review and revise the staff equity and diversity strategies and action plans |2011 | |Improve Workforce Planning and develop succession plans |2011 | |Review and determine new recruitment procedures to attract good staff |2011 | |Talent management program |2011 | 3 Aligning performance – Probation and confirmation |Policy action |Timing | |Improve linkages between promotion, confirmation/probation and the PDF process |2011 | 4 Investing in staff – Leadership and management development Effective leadership has a strong impact on staff satisfaction and is vitally important to the achievement of our goals.

To ensure that we have effective leadership and management from our senior staff, we need to: • clarify expectations of our leaders and managers; • develop a broader skill set amongst staff to manage complex people matters; • provide a business skills set to our managers including business planning and budgeting; • incorporate greater levels of mentoring and coaching by peers; • foster an open culture that embraces and supports change and diversity; • provide more specialised development for professional roles; and • deliver development programs differently so that skills more easily translate into the workplace. Future policy issues for consideration are listed below. Policy action |Timing | |Develop a Leadership and Management Development Strategy |2011 | |Involving: | | |A clear statement of the nature of leadership and management capabilities; | | |Formal coaching and mentoring; | | |Processes for identification of high potential talent and accelerated development plans for high performers; | | |Quality standards for development program design and delivery; and, | | |Dedicated resourcing and funding to address any identified skills gap. | |Develop and gain agreement to a behavioural |2011 | Next Steps 1 Governance of the implementation project The further refinement of the revised HR Policy Framework will be overseen by a Steering Committee jointly chaired by the Provost and the Senior Vice-Principal. There will also be a number of related work streams each led by a project owner within HR Chancellery and coordinated by a project director, reporting to the Executive Director, HR. These work streams will draw on expertise across the University from faculties and professional practice areas. Specific reference groups mentioned above have also been established to rovide a forum for the further development and testing of policy and procedural initiatives and implementation plans. The Academic Reference group will specifically inform work around the introduction of academic work focus categories within the academic classification system, associated changes to the Performance Development Framework and measures to support early career academics. A Professional Staff Reference Group will similarly inform work on broad-banding the professional staff classification structure as well as the associated changes to the Performance Development Framework and other key matters for professional staff. 2 Plan for areas of further work The following is a broad action plan for the refined HR Policy Framework. Timing |Policy initiatives to be completed | |By June 2011 |Leadership and Management strategy and revised program development | | |Negotiation completed with NTEU and staff about proposed changes to PDF and classification structures | | |canvassed above | | |Additional support in place for managers in managing performance | |By Dec 2011 |Establishment of links between promotion, confirmation/probation and the PDF process | | |Leadership and Management strategy and programs finalised | | |Behavioural competency statement developed (with initial emphasis on Leadership and Management | | |competencies) | | |Broad banding of professional staff classification structure (subject to negotiation with NTEU) | | |Improved Workforce Planning and succession plans in place | |Career paths: | | |Program for support of early career academics (including casuals) developed | | |Review of transfer and secondment policies | | |Career paths identified within professional staff job families | | |Review of reward and recognition policies complete | | |Talent management program developed | |2012 |Review of recruitment practices complete | | |Competencies incorporated into HR processes such as performance management, recruitment and selection and | | |learning pathways | | |Consultation on possible changes to academic classification structure (for example, varying number of | | |increment points; overlapping bands) prior to negotiation of the next Collective Agreement | | |Consultation on possible revision of academic nomenclature | | |Employer brand developed to promote employment with the University | | |Revision of Staff Equity and Diversity strategy completed | Appendix 1: Schematic diagram of the refined strategic HR Policy Framework [pic] ———————– [1] The supervisor is responsible for performance management practices, however, it is envisaged that the panel is responsible for the higher level consistent implementation of performance management. Some faculties have moved to implement such practices already. [2] MSALs form part of the

University’s Collective Agreement [3] Early Career Development Fellowships are a new category of fixed-term employment introduced through the new Collective Agreement. The University must advertise at least 28 such Fellowships before 30 June 2012. Early Career Development Fellowships were designed to provide a more secure form of employment for Level A and B staff who are predominantly employed on a casual or fixed-term basis. These Fellowships will include a structured development program providing training, supervision and appropriate career and professional development opportunities to enable early career academics to establish an academic career.