Although it can be argued that directors of central academic development units (ADUs) are critical to the implementation of university teaching and learning strategies, it would appear there is a high director turnover rate. While research in the USA, the UK, and Australia illustrates that ADUs are frequently closed or restructured, that research…

This study focuses on aspects of the Changing Academic Profession survey of 2007-08 that describe the place of faculty in their institutions. The authors examine the following aspects of institutional life: (1) the faculty role in institutional governance; (2) who evaluates their teaching and research; (3) the locus of their loyalties as between…

Ratings of job satisfaction and psychological health (self-esteem, stigma, loneliness, and aspirations) were obtained from 31 workers (ages 18 to 41) with a mild intellectual disability. The workers, all in competitive employment settings in Australia, reported they were "happy" with their jobs. Only partial support was found for a…

Purpose: This paper aims to report on how an Administrative Division at a research-intensive Australian university utilised feedback data from the Learning and Growth Survey, to initiate changes. Design/methodology/approach: This paper refers to the actions taken by the Administrative Division to the results obtained from the Learning and Growth…

The principle of decent work was first espoused in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Since 1999 the International Labour Organisation has operated according to a Decent Work Agenda and in recent times the movement towards the provision of decent work as a means of improving the quality of life has gathered momentum. Decent work is…

The views of 24 Australian university faculty interviewed about the way higher education's recession has affected their work reveals a widening gap between academic ideals and institutional realities. Comments focus on: teaching, students, research, colleagues, career prospects, the university, and the quality of academic life. (MSE)

This paper provides an update on the 1998 findings from an Australian longitudinal study begun in 1991 and titled the Life-Patterns Project. Based on 1,430 returns of the questionnaire and interviews of a sub-sample of 100, it examines implications of patterns beginning to emerge as participants enter their mid-twenties and reassess their…

Studied the quality of academic worklife (QWAL) within a comprehensive university in Australia using the responses of 189 academic staff members to an academic work environment survey. Findings reveal positive QWAL features such as role clarity, motivating job characteristics, and low levels of self-estrangement. Negative features were also…

Client (n=24) and staff (n=21) satisfaction with the workings of a multidisciplinary child protection agency in Australia was investigated using interviews and standard questionnaires. Clients expressed a great deal of satisfaction with the staff and services. Agency staff expressed relative satisfaction with their jobs and showed little evidence…

Surveyed Australian child-care workers on job satisfaction. Found that although 80% indicated satisfaction with their job, 40% said they frequently thought of quitting. Found a past and projected turnover rate of about 30%; although workers' qualifications and skills base have increased significantly in the past decade, the accreditation process…

The availability of flexible work options provides an opportunity for individuals to shape their careers in order to optimise their work and life goals. This study takes a systems theory approach to examine how the use of flexible work options influences relationships and interactions in the workplace. The "Flexible Work Options…

This survey was undertaken to build upon and validate understanding of teacher satisfaction and dissatisfaction, orientation to teaching, teachers' values, and teacher health. The purpose of this endeavor was also to develop an instrument suitable for identifying and quantifying the sources and relative strength of factors contributing to teacher…

This article presents a study on principal retention in New South Wales, Australia. Factors in job retention included economic security, role enjoyment, and the opportunity to contribute. Disincentives to the principalship included lack of support from the employing authority, inadequate pay, isolation, growing responsibilities, difficult parents,…

A review of literature and interviews with 57 teachers were conducted to determine general measures and specific strategies to improve teacher satisfaction and reduce teacher dissatisfaction. The 57 interviewees were teachers who had resigned from the New South Wales (Australia) Department of School Education in 1991. The interviews revealed that…

Effects of recent changes in Australian higher education on everyday academic work are examined, including changed emphases in teaching, research, administration, and public service and new demands associated with allocation of time, self-regulation, fragmentation of work into more discrete tasks, greater uniformity of effort, recruitment…