Employment literacy:young people, job readiness and employability in Western Australia. This research will construct a model of employment literacy - a novel concept moving beyond notions of employability and social literacy - by developing a critical understanding of the personal and social characteristics that comprise a job ready young person among the clients of a range of employment services in Western Australia. Job readiness and employability are widely used to describe the desired outcom ....Employment literacy:young people, job readiness and employability in Western Australia. This research will construct a model of employment literacy - a novel concept moving beyond notions of employability and social literacy - by developing a critical understanding of the personal and social characteristics that comprise a job ready young person among the clients of a range of employment services in Western Australia. Job readiness and employability are widely used to describe the desired outcomes of employment programs, but are inadequately defined and measured. A model of employment literacy will enhance the academic literature and provide assistance to young people and organisations seeking to integrate employability skills into training and employment programs.Read moreRead less
The invisible postmodern family: Investigating the interface between the private and public worlds of lesbian families. This study investigates family diversity and post-modern kinship through a study of lesbian parented families. These families are a recent and significant new family type and knowledge about them is crucial for understanding contemporary family life. We examine family structure including how family members define and describe their relationships, their roles and the social supp ....The invisible postmodern family: Investigating the interface between the private and public worlds of lesbian families. This study investigates family diversity and post-modern kinship through a study of lesbian parented families. These families are a recent and significant new family type and knowledge about them is crucial for understanding contemporary family life. We examine family structure including how family members define and describe their relationships, their roles and the social supports available to them. We examine the interface between the private lives of lesbian parented families and mainstream public institutions. The research will develop the field of family studies theoretically and empirically and will be of major significance to researchers, practitioners and social policy makers.Read moreRead less
Restraint: Recovering the Virtue of Self-Control or Temperance to Strengthen the Australian Social Fabric. The work will provide a focus and an information resource for discussion of policies for educational campaigns on drugs, sexual behaviour and general life skills in normal communities, and of intervention policies in distressed communities afflicted by high levels of violence and addiction. The work will provide a complement and unification to the excessively narrow though partially correct ....Restraint: Recovering the Virtue of Self-Control or Temperance to Strengthen the Australian Social Fabric. The work will provide a focus and an information resource for discussion of policies for educational campaigns on drugs, sexual behaviour and general life skills in normal communities, and of intervention policies in distressed communities afflicted by high levels of violence and addiction. The work will provide a complement and unification to the excessively narrow though partially correct medical, legal, sociological and political discourses that occupy the field in discussions of what to do about dangerous and unhealthy behaviour, and deliver more control and responsibility, where appropriate, back to the actors who must have primary care of the problem, those who will or will not act badly.Read moreRead less
'Digital Natives': Growing up with new and old media in Australia. Developing a sophisticated digital literacy is important for both the future of children, the cultural, social and economic well-being of the nation. Digital literacy requires not only communications infrastructure but targeted investment in human skills. Investing in the development of a digitally literate Australian population has become an explicit means for promoting the future economic and social well-being of the nation. Th ....'Digital Natives': Growing up with new and old media in Australia. Developing a sophisticated digital literacy is important for both the future of children, the cultural, social and economic well-being of the nation. Digital literacy requires not only communications infrastructure but targeted investment in human skills. Investing in the development of a digitally literate Australian population has become an explicit means for promoting the future economic and social well-being of the nation. The information provided by this project has the potential to contribute significantly to giving children 'a healthy start to life' in their early years. Read moreRead less
Young Heterosexual Men's Sexual Relations: Contributions to sexual and reproductive health. Young people face a disproportionate burden of Australia's sexual and reproductive health problems. Young heterosexual men's sexual behaviour places both themselves and women at risk, as a wealth of quantitative data has documented. Yet we know little about how young heterosexual men themselves understand their sexual and social relations with women, nor about the social factors shaping such involvements. ....Young Heterosexual Men's Sexual Relations: Contributions to sexual and reproductive health. Young people face a disproportionate burden of Australia's sexual and reproductive health problems. Young heterosexual men's sexual behaviour places both themselves and women at risk, as a wealth of quantitative data has documented. Yet we know little about how young heterosexual men themselves understand their sexual and social relations with women, nor about the social factors shaping such involvements. In providing such data, this project will enrich the effective promotion of sexual and reproductive health, particularly among Australia's youth. This research will make a significant contribution to the booming international scholarship on men's sexual and reproductive health, and will complement similar studies in the US and UK.Read moreRead less
Young people, preventive health discourses and self care. Preventive health approaches aim to enhance health through enabling individuals to engage in health care practices. Health has become a key aspect in how people contruct their identities. Whilist young people are a key target for preventive health messages, little is known about the impact of these messages on their sense of self. This project will analyse how young people internalise preventive health messages. This ethnographic resear ....Young people, preventive health discourses and self care. Preventive health approaches aim to enhance health through enabling individuals to engage in health care practices. Health has become a key aspect in how people contruct their identities. Whilist young people are a key target for preventive health messages, little is known about the impact of these messages on their sense of self. This project will analyse how young people internalise preventive health messages. This ethnographic research examines how health messages about drug use, motherhood and physical activity shape young people and their bodies. It compares the consequences accross three arenas, of engaging successfully and unsuccessfully with self care practices.Read moreRead less
Playing for Life: the everyday music practices of marginalised youth as strategic pathways to agency, employment and socio-economic inclusion. Popular music is widely recognised as affectively and culturally central to marginalised youth, often providing strategic pathways to employment and socio-economic inclusion. This project is the first comparative international project to explore how marginalised youth engage with popular music in post-industrial societies, and how they develop their music ....Playing for Life: the everyday music practices of marginalised youth as strategic pathways to agency, employment and socio-economic inclusion. Popular music is widely recognised as affectively and culturally central to marginalised youth, often providing strategic pathways to employment and socio-economic inclusion. This project is the first comparative international project to explore how marginalised youth engage with popular music in post-industrial societies, and how they develop their music and technological skills by using local cultural resources that exist outside of formal schooling. Located in community-based organisations, the study will identify processes of learning and agency from the perspectives of young people themselves. The findings will enrich current social theory on youth, policy and program development of youth services.
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