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Schools are critical spaces for young men from refugee backgrounds. They play an integral role in literacy development, educational attainment, and providing a sense of belonging. Inclusive education practices for this group are largely absent in Australian schools. Research shows focusing on these young men from a non-deficit position assists with inclusivity. There is a lack of research exploring the agentic practices of young men from refugee backgrounds within schools. This paper explores the symbolic value of swagger for a group of young men from refugee backgrounds at a high school in Australia. A Bourdieusian theoretical framework guided critical awareness of power in schools. This research shows how a group of young men found a meaningful way to acquire social and cultural capital. Despite the school's constraints, this group developed a group identity reflected in their clothing and embodied dispositions referred to here as swagger. Our findings demonstrate the complex power relations at work, including the opportunity for the young men to resist and be included. In the spirit of Bourdieu's concern for reflexivity our findings point to the need for schools, teachers, and education policy makers to consider the workings of power in schools in more considered ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Universities often struggle to translate theory of inclusive education into real life practices for pre-service teachers (PSTs). In this paper, we evaluate an innovative partnership between Australian secondary school teachers and university academics where they co-designed and co-taught an undergraduate inclusive education course. We used a quasi-experimental design where 67 PSTs were grouped into two cohorts: one co-taught by the team of school educators and university academics (n = 26), the other taught only by university academics (n = 41). PSTs' scores on teaching efficacy, attitudes and intentions to teach in inclusive classrooms were measured at the pre and posttest stages of the course. Our evaluation showed significant increases in positive attitudes and teaching efficacy skills, decreased concerns and higher intentions to teach in inclusive classrooms among PSTs who were co-taught. The co-teaching team also identified various professional and personal benefits of collaborating. We further discuss the implications of our research for teacher education programmes and the usefulness of including school educators' expertise in bridging the gaps between theory and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teachers play a critical role in the implementation of inclusive education in their schools. In this paper, we report on a study that investigated teacher perceptions of their capabilities to implement effective inclusive practices in their classrooms at an urban, primary (elementary) school in south-east Queensland, Australia. Participating teachers (n = 48) responded to an online survey that contained two open-ended questions that focused on understandings and beliefs about inclusive practices, together with the Teacher Efficacy for Inclusive Practices (TEIP) scale Sharma, Loreman, and Forlin [2012. "Measuring Teacher Efficacy to Implement Inclusive Practices." Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs 12 (1): 12–21]. Responses to the open-ended questions revealed that teachers were positively disposed towards the enactment of inclusive practices in their school. Teachers also reported high levels of efficacy across items on the TEIP scale, indicating that they were mainly confident in implementing inclusive practices in their classrooms. They showed highest levels of uncertainty for items related to involving parents in school activities and informing others about inclusion legislation and policies. Implications for targeted teacher professional learning at school and systemic levels are outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Refugee-background youth in the Australian context have long been confronted with a series of challenges surrounding their living and educational conditions. However, limited research has been conducted to examine the underlying factors of such problems. This paper critically explores possible factors that contribute to or intensify the challenges that refugee-background children and youth face in Australia by scrutinising related legal documents and education policies (e.g. inclusive and language transition policies). It is argued that the living and learning crisis among refugee-background youth in Australia is a result of: (a) restrictive refugee law; (b) incomplete education policy; and (c) deep-rooted political and historical views on refugees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Australia, a new system of collecting data on school-aged students with disability is in the early phases of implementation. The nationally consistent collection of data on school-age students with disability (NCCD) establishes a mandatory data collection process in which teachers categorise and report on individual students' level of additional educational needs. This data is used to determine funding allocations for students with disability. Under this policy, teachers are responsible for assessing students' needs, and for documenting their own teaching practice. This paper reports on the early phases of policy implementation. It presents data from teachers at two schools to make visible the new work teachers must undertake. Drawing on Dorothy E. Smith's sociological contributions, we show how the NCCD reorients teachers' work towards documentation and the production of evidence. After exploring teachers' work, we analyse how the NCCD is being taken up in ways that do not contribute to policy aims of ensuring teachers are better able to understand and meet student requirements. Our aim is to understand how the everyday realities of how teachers' work intersects with NCCD goals, and whether this new national policy is likely to make sustained inroads into achieving broader inclusive education ideals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vocational decisions made at school have significant long term impacts on young people's life chances, their opportunities for securing decent jobs and economic growth for themselves, their families and communities. In the short term, their aspirations dictate the decisions they make about educational pathways in post-compulsory years of schooling and vocational and higher education. For young people from already marginalised backgrounds, the quality of support they have in making these decisions is crucially important. This paper examines a rapidly expanding vocational education program specifically designed for students with refugee backgrounds that was codeveloped between a state education authority and a community service provider in Sydney, Australia. Through an ecological understanding of individuals as nested within interrelated networks, this paper explores the perspectives of stakeholders ranging from the educators, careers teachers, employers, civic partners, and, crucially, the young people themselves in order to determine whether and through what means key program elements meet the needs of students from a refugee background and where gaps in the program ecology need to be addressed.

Access to educational opportunities is instrumental for social integration of refugee youth. This paper reports on a qualitative case study of educational aspirations and experiences of refugee-background African youth (RAY) in Melbourne, Australia. Guided by a capability approach to social justice, in-depth interviews were conducted with two groups of RAY: those who have transitioned to higher education (HE), and those who have not transitioned to HE after completing high school. The findings show that: (a) RAY share a firm belief in the value of HE; (b) but they are differently positioned to convert opportunities into achievements – e.g. only the refugee youth with high levels of navigational capacity take advantage of the available flexible pathways to HE; (c) the stress of racism pervades the educational experiences of both groups; and (d) some African refugee youth have shown a considerable level of resilience in that, despite the challenges of racism, a history of disrupted educational trajectories and a lack of scholarly resources at home, they have transitioned to and thrived in HE. In light of these findings, the paper draws some implications for equity policies and practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While international research has demonstrated that ability grouping is inequitable, Australian research has often overlooked equity concerns, predominantly focusing on studying the benefits of grouping for students perceived to have high ability, especially in mathematics. This paper investigates the effect that mathematics ability grouping has on senior secondary mathematics participation for low and middle grouped students in New South Wales, Australia. We drew on interviews about mathematics participation with 85 students and 22 mathematics teachers from 11 government high schools. Our thematic analysis of these data identified that secondary school grouping practices often serve to entrench student interest and/or performance from primary school. This has consequences for many students, with a differentiated curriculum in Years 9 and 10 precluding low and middle grouped students from participating in high-level mathematics when they reach senior secondary school. These findings raise serious equity questions about the current push in Australia for universities to re-introduce high-level mathematics as a prerequisite to entering certain degrees. We argue that stakeholders need greater awareness of the consequences of ability grouping and that those seeking to lift post-compulsory mathematics participation should be targeting primary and early secondary school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rising number of students in schools identified as being on the autism spectrum has placed pressure on school leaders and staff to gain knowledge and take on new practice. A school-wide autism competency (SAC) approach utilises the research on elements of effective practice to build the capacity of school leaders and staff to create inclusive school cultures, implement evidence-based strategies, and improve outcomes for students on the autism spectrum. This paper reports on the experiences of three schools as they implemented the SAC approach in Queensland, Australia. A multiple case study design was utilised to examine the factors that influenced the implementation process and outcomes achieved at each school. Factors that influenced each school's ability to transform their practice for students on the autism spectrum included engagement of leaders, support from an external coach, involvement of parents, realignment of resources and staff, and the ability to manage change and competing priorities. Findings revealed that although all three schools increased staff's knowledge of students on the autism spectrum, the engagement and actions of leaders and the underlying culture of the school influenced the degree to which changes were implemented and outcomes were realised for students on the autism spectrum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Like many countries, Australia has persistent rates of school exclusion, juvenile offending and recidivism. In response, there has been a growth of 'alternative education' provision – interventions that support young people to engage with learning opportunities outside the conventional education system. While alternative education programs educate more than 70,000 students each year across Australia, evidence of their effectiveness is lacking. There is a need to expand understandings of how alternative education provision works in practice, and what models best fit the complex needs of different groups of young people. This paper reports on Out Teach Mobile Education – an individualised alternative education program run by Save the Children, Tasmania. This unique program, operating out of a van, aims to engage young people, who have been involved with the criminal justice system, in further education and employment opportunities. In the paper, the young people involved identify how and why they believe the program works. The young people's perspectives provide valuable understandings of how 'meaningful education' in one specific program looks to the individuals involved. The article concludes by arguing that an authentic assessment of alternative education programs must include the voices of the young people whose lives these programs are aimed at improving. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While there is a body of research concerning the education of students with migrant or refugee backgrounds, little of this research focuses on primary school-aged children. In order to address this gap, the current paper utilises data gained from an ethnographic study to consider the challenges and opportunities associated with diverse classrooms designed for students learning English, in which students come from a complex range of backgrounds and may have experienced trauma. The paper provides support for sociocultural learning approaches, whereby students’ own cultural and linguistic background are treated as beneficial to education rather than as obstacles to be overcome. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper Nancy Fraser’s conceptual tools are drawn on to theorise issues of justice in a culturally diverse primary school in Australia where approximately 30% of the student population are immigrant/refugees. The paper examines justice issues of cultural recognition in relation to refugee student identity, behaviour and assessment. Drawing on interview data from a study that sought to identify productive approaches to addressing equity for refugee students, the paper highlights the school’s efforts to remedy issues of cultural misrecognition associated with an equation of refugee student difference and marginality with deficit and lack. Such efforts relate to the school’s endeavours to create an inclusive and socially cohesive environment that supports a valuing of, and connection to, refugee student difference. These endeavours are theorised as highly productive in their capacity to disrupt the relations of cultural domination, non-recognition and disrespect that exclude and/or malign some refugee students at the school and broader level. The paper argues the importance of such an approach in light of the unprecedented diversity and complexity of the global context where schools are consistently challenged with new and changing equity concerns and priorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including equity within the higher education sector, under-representation of students from low socio-economic family in Australia, and the outreach strategies of Australia's traditional universities and colleges.

In this paper, I reflect on three questions arising from my recent research on student equity in higher education and gender in education. These questions relate to the goals, focus and politics of student equity research in the context of a changing higher education landscape in Australia. The paper concludes with an argument for student equity scholarship cognisant of, yet independent from prevailing policy imperatives and discourses. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

There is now international consensus that building positive partnerships between home and school is critically important for children's learning. However, the notion of family-school 'partnership' remains a vexed issue in education in Australia, with a persistent gap between the rhetoric/rationale for partnership and the lived experience of relationships that are the linchpin of effective and respectful practice. This gap may be amplified for some students and their families, particularly those who are marginalised, excluded or 'at risk' in some way, including those who are socio-economically disadvantaged. This paper draws upon data from the qualitative phase of a study focused on improving educational outcomes for students from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds. This phase included interviews with the parents/carers of 32 students and generated insights into the nuanced nature of family-school partnership for many of these families. The findings highlight the need for schools to recognise partnership efforts initiated by parents/carers, the value of consistent, informed practice, and the importance of working productively with the tensions that can exist around different perceptions and experiences that might otherwise reinforce disadvantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is well established that families facing financial adversity have low enrolment rates in early childhood education and care services. This paper reports on a study that utilised Nancy Fraser's theorising of social justice to analyse the approaches and practices of five centres in Australia with a reputation for doing inclusion well. Findings showed that five-fold interconnected 'E' strategies were utilised in the participating centres – Equity focus; Equip for inclusion; Entice participation; Enable access; and Engage families – and that these strategies embraced both transformative and affirmative approaches to social injustice. In the context of low-income families, inclusion as a social justice construct and practice is shown to be distinct from enrolment and attendance in ECEC services, requiring purposeful and sustained practices that in the absence of transformative inclusive government policy, is likely to continue to be the exception rather than the norm in mainstream services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the transition experiences of students with intellectual disability, as they move from primary to secondary school in New South Wales, Australia. Employing a multiple case study approach, the authors investigated the transition from the perspective of the students experiencing it. During the study, ten students with mild to moderate intellectual disability participated in interviews and were observed in the school environment before and after they transitioned from primary school to secondary school. Results indicate that students with intellectual disability generally have a positive transition experience. Nevertheless, students commonly encounter a number of major challenges, including issues around managing school work and homework, and bullying. The study found several factors contribute to a successful transition. These include the provision of assistance to help students become familiar with and manage their physical environment, building positive relationships with teachers, and having extra support from special needs staff. The study suggests there are some simple and practical steps that schools can take to enhance outcomes for successful transition experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Australia, recent policies for educational development have emphasised the importance of stakeholder involvement and advocacy in the promotion of student outcomes. There is robust support for the promotion and development of inclusive educational communities able to respond to the various educational needs of students, communities and staff. This paper advocates a practice perspective and establishes a direct correlation between leading practices and the formation of more inclusive school communities. It provides a consideration of the practice architectures which co-construct the ways in which six educational leaders draw on the potential ofteacher talkas a vehicle for practice modification. Teacher talk, as a characteristic of leading practice, responds to the increasing dynamism in the profile of schools, students and teachers in rural New South Wales (NSW), socially, cognitively, economically, linguistically and culturally. This paper uses the medium of teacher talk to: explore the relationship between leading and inclusion –leading-for-inclusion– and interrogate socially just (inclusive) practices in the domain of the professional advocacy of the community. The paper reflects upon the practices of leading-for-inclusion (in the context of change management) and the development of more inclusive school cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In spite of research demonstrating conceptual weakness in many child sexual abuse (CSA) prevention programmes and outdated modes of delivery, students continue to participate in a diversity of initiatives. Referring to the development of a games-based approach to CSA prevention in Australia, this paper examines empirically based attributes of effective CSA prevention programmes for schools including contemporary pedagogies for learning. The paper draws on findings to inform the conceptual development phase of Orbit, an online, free and equal-access, games-based educational approach to CSA prevention for children aged 8–10 years. First, the paper provides a review of CSA prevention in schools and games-based approaches to key learnings in prevention. Second, an overview of Orbit (the Feeling Safe sexual abuse prevention project) is provided. Finally, implications for the development of games-based prevention programmes are offered and an argument is made for the advancement of games-based prevention resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the experiences of a small group of families in Australia in relation to recent reform to disability policy by way of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). Framed in critical disability perspectives of policy implementation research, the paper focuses on the extent to which the scheme articulates inclusive opportunities for children and young people with disabilities, particularly in relation to facilitating access to education. Interview data that illustrate families' expectations of the scheme and latter-day experiences, coercions and negotiations highlight the tensions that exist for scheme participants who draw on its provision to support their education. These first- and second-order policy effects indicate a welcome change to disability support in Australia, though the extent to which the scheme can advance inclusion for people with disabilities is uncertain, given the distance rendered between the policy and its participants and other service systems. The paper concludes with a theoretical discussion based on the analysis of how the NDIS is framed to interrelate with scheme participants and education and how it might be reframed for better outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper reports on a participatory action research project that investigated how a resource called the Index for Inclusion was used by a secondary school community to improve school connectedness at a whole school level. The researchers worked with the Australian case study school over one year to engage in review, development, and change. This paper reports on the procedure of working with the School Connectedness Committee through the five phases of the participatory action research. Data are organised under the theme of 'building community' with the sub-themes of 'positive relationships with staff' and 'student leadership'. The findings from this case study indicate that the implementation of the five phases of the Index for Inclusion can support a whole school approach to build a sense of community that supports young people to be more connected to their school.

This paper draws on a case study of a small alternative Indigenous school in Queensland, Australia. From the perspective of several of the school's Indigenous Elders, the paper foregrounds the significance of group differentiation at the school on the basis of Indigenous representation. However, it also considers how such differentiation/representation can be problematic in perpetuating cultural reductionism. Beyond such reductionism, the paper examines the possibilities of the Indigenous epistemology of relationality. The school's vision and governance around this epistemology – where community, kinship and family networks are at the centre of all relations – enabled both the articulation of a stable identity but also recognition of the complexity and diversity of Indigenous disadvantage. This paper argues that a prioritising of relationality within alternative Indigenous-led schooling contexts offers significant potential for addressing the complex educational needs of Indigenous students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the authors combine Pierre Bourdieu's concept of hysteresis (the ‘fish out of water’ experience) with the discourse historical approach to critical discourse analysis (CDA) as a theoretical and analytical framework through which they examine specific moments in the schooling experiences of one refugee student and one international student, both enrolled in post-compulsory education in Australian mainstream secondary schools. We examine specific moments – as narrated by these students during interviews – in which these students can be described as ‘fish out of water’. As such, this paper takes up the concerns of researchers who call for an examination of the lived geographies and the everyday lives of individual students in mainstream schools. We find that our students' habitus, conditioned by their previous schooling experiences in their home countries, did not match their new Australian schools, resulting in frustration with, and alienation from, their mainstream schools. However, we also note that schools, too, need to adapt and adjust their habitus to the new multicultural world, in which there are international and refugee students among their usual cohort of mainstream students. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper takes the form of a curriculum inquiry text. The context is the recent history of pedagogical renewal in Australian schools. Methodologically, in the post-millennium period I inform the understanding of reform practices through visual and intertextual readings. Adopting a critical perspective and using visual methods, I ask: pedagogically, how do systems support a curriculum for all? Working visually and reading intertextually the problems of implementation processes of curriculum renewal and the dual challenges of creating system wide professional learning and a curriculum for all are exposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to examine current policy reforms that situate education as a means of addressing social inclusion. Borrowing from the work of Popkewitz and Lindblad, the paper takes the form of a cross-disciplinary literature review that informs understanding of the relationship between educational governance and social inclusion/exclusion in policy research in Australia. To do so, the author examines the assumptions, omissions and contradictions in policy direction via two problematics - the engagement problematic and the early intervention and prevention problematic - to emphasise how policy discourse produces ways of thinking about inclusion/exclusion. The author argues that discourses of engagement and intervention and prevention reinscribe each other, acting as a palimpsest which produces notions of the 'proper' family and 'proper' participation. These notions of propriety ironically exclude particular types of individuals and families by situating them outside of possibilities for 'success' in social and systemic participation. Therefore, the author seeks to examine the 'systems of reason' that enable these discursively produced notions of propriety to become normalised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a study into schooling responses to youth crime in south-western Sydney, Australia. The project was a partnership between the New South Wales Department of Education and Training and the University of Western Sydney's School of Education. Specifically, the paper analyses interviews with school leaders who were interested in understanding how to support young people constructed 'at risk' of engaging in criminal activity. A content analysis, drawing on the concept of 'emotional capital', revealed discourses of safety, hope, engagement, and justice and fairness in the narratives of participants. The various ways in which 'emotion' is operationalized in education is explored so that the nature of emotional capital and its class and gendered inflections are made clear. Emotional capital, as a theoretical framework, also provides new insights into the strategies used by school leaders and helps situate the experiences and interests of the participating principals and key staff in the schools in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A psycho-medical discourse that explains behavioural dysfunction through neurological deficit has dominated debate about attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, if only medical questions are asked, only medical answers will be found, resulting in more or less drug treatment. When behavioural dysfunction results in impairment within home, school and work settings, it is also important to include educational and sociological considerations of what defines these differences as deficit. This paper notes the influence of recent Australian education priorities on ADHD, traces the relationship between traditional pedagogies and ADHD diagnostic criteria, and documents research into the schooling experiences of secondary students diagnosed with ADHD. It does so to argue that current pedagogical practices around ADHD focus on integrating students rather than inclusive education. In response, the paper proposes possible pedagogical resources that might help educators move beyond asking why students are failing at school, to consider how schools may be failing an increasingly diverse generation of students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on mixed methods research that was part of a larger investigation into the impact of an inclusive, physical activity intervention programme on a broad range of variables including children's enjoyment of, and participation in physical activity, self-perceptions, physical self-efficacy and how this influenced their overall social–emotional health and well-being. A six-month intervention programme based on Traditional Indigenous Games (TIG) was conducted in a total of five schools with 235 children and their seven teachers, in Queensland, Australia. Student reflective surveys used a four-point Likert scale to collect quantitative data relating to enjoyment and inclusion, perceptions of ability and physical self-efficacy. Qualitative data were also obtained through teachers' anecdotal notes and post-intervention semi-structured interviews. Statistically significant differences across time were found for student enjoyment, inclusion, perceptions and physical self-efficacy and were supported by the teacher's qualitative data. Improvements in students' physical self-efficacy through inclusive physical activity occurred as a result of the positive experiences created by the TIG intervention programme. This study demonstrates the huge potential for the inclusive and cooperative approach foregrounded in TIG, to support the development of inclusive physical activity in schools which enhances physical self-efficacy and promotes the social–emotional health and well-being of children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to critique the dichotomy between the legal regulation of disability discrimination in Australia, particularly in the State of New South Wales, and inclusion policy as espoused by public education authorities. It is argued that the law and inclusion policy are aiming at different outcomes. As a result, through legal regulation, New South Wales undermines the human rights of individuals with disabilities by restricting their access to 'mainstream' education. Extracts from a variety of sources are used to enable the voices of students, parents, carers, advocates, teachers and members of the judiciary to be heard, a novel approach in a paper which is essentially concerned with the law. The paper begins with a consideration of the context in which disability discrimination in education laws operate, and the distinctions between policies and practice in that context. The paper then asks to what extent disability discrimination law is capable of expressing inclusive ideals. Finally, the paper suggests means by which international law norms could be incorporated into New South Wales law and policy, so as to achieve effective human rights protection. The paper concludes with Carla's story, which serves to demonstrate that inclusive ideals have not yet been appropriately incorporated into law or practice in New South Wales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Situated within a pro-feminist perspective, this paper analyses the backlash against specific policies for girls in Australian schooling. It contextualizes this backlash by considering the effects of globalization, masculinity politics of various types and media representations of a 'gender war'. Feminist responses to this situation are also considered, as well as what 'success' in schooling is taken to mean. These responses to the current policy moment stretch from those who underplay to those who overplay the success of girls in schooling. The latter stance, however, differs substantially from that of recuperative masculinists in that this feminist response recognizes the career disadvantages and the burden of the double shift of paid and domestic work still experienced by many women. The paper then analyses two political interventions in the debate: a research report to the federal government and a House of Representatives' Inquiry into the Education of Boys. Finally, the paper suggests some possible ways ahead for new gender equity policies in education with specific reference to considerations of social class, difference and the achievement of a more gender equal society. These considerations are set against the current restructuring of educational systems, schools and policy approaches: the move from a policy active state to arguably a need for policy active schools working towards a re-articulated conception of gender equity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The theme of 'new directions for research in relation to social justice and teacher education' raises questions about not only the broad economic and cultural shifts which now frame education (what types of exclusions and unfairnesses are being created?), and not only about the changing construction of inequalities in education in the reshaped education institutions (what is social justice?). It also raises the very difficult issue of how older research and reform agendas meet, or fail to meet, the subjectivity of students today; and the problem of how adequately the (human) subject, subject formation and the historical specificity of human subjects is now considered in the reform agendas. This paper will illustrate some of these questions by drawing on a seven-year longitudinal, qualitative study, now nearing completion, of students going through school. It will argue for the continued utility of this form of more traditional academic research, in addition to the types of action-directed and 'partnership' research that are commonly seen as the task of 'teacher education' now. From this study of the current generation of students at school, the paper will point to some continuities and some shifts regarding how winners and losers are being created through schooling today. It will also revisit the old issue for researchers and reformers in education, about who is speaking to whom and with what effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Popular discourses about 'boys' education'-both in Australia and internationally-have often been drawn from oppositional storylines that construct 'boys' at school as a new disadvantaged group. This paper rejects such a construction, arguing that it fails to take account of the economic and social advantages that boys, as a single group, still experience in the post-schooling years; that it fails to differentiate within the category of 'boy', to examine how particular groups of boys fare far less well than do other groups of boys; and that it neglects the impact of constructs of masculinity upon boys' lives at school. The paper considers four issues of significance for boys at school: narrow and stereotypical subject choice; unruly and risk-taking behaviours; poor literacy achievement; and low school retention rates. However, it demonstrates that these issues predominantly affect boys who are unprotected by economic and social privilege. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural Aboriginal Australians experience disadvantage across a number of significant social and economic outcomes, including educational engagement and achievement. Current debate postulates that educational environments and systems perpetuate this disadvantage. This qualitative study aimed to contribute to the debate by taking a broader ecological view to consider the aspects of the learning environment that may promote engagement with learning. This paper reports on research conducted in a community-based programme designed to support the engagement of young rural Aboriginal students. A total of 32 participants (including children, parents/carers, tutors, managers, and local teachers) were interviewed to explicate their perspectives on the key aspects of the learning environment that fostered student engagement. An analysis of the interview data identified core characteristics that could be employed to foster engagement and thus contribute to developing equity and self-determination for young rural Aboriginal Australians. Core characteristics that were valued included: a focus on learning and individualised pace; a flexible and relaxed atmosphere; individualised assistance; having an adult who showed interest in the child and their learning; providing a culturally secure learning environment; provision of food; supplying transportation; and staff being part of the same community. This paper contends that these characteristics are valued by the community and thus should inform the practices within the community-based programme as well as mainstream education to facilitate future engagement in learning. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article presents the findings from interviews with thirteen parents of students with severe vision impairment who attend mainstream schools in Queensland, Australia. Participants were interviewed about their experiences in advocating for their children in a range of educational contexts. These experiences varied greatly depending on a number of factors, such as attitudes to inclusivity and ableism, perceptions of vision impairment, school culture, teacher-parent communication, and competing agendas. Using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, the authors provide illuminating data on three broad themes: parents' experiences of advocating for their children, parents' experiences of utilising support networks and funding, and parents' suggestions for schools and teachers. Important recommendations for teachers, schools, parents, students, and service providers are offered, with specific advice to develop a community of care, collaboration, and high expectations for students with vision impairment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is unlawful under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth) for Australian schools to discriminate against students based on disability. Yet discrimination against students with disability is on the increase in Australian schools, and so is the decentralisation and autonomy of schools. This scoping review set out to determine what evidence exists of an association between school autonomy and discrimination against students with disability, primarily in Australia but with an additional examination of studies conducted in England. It further examined the type of research methods that have been used to investigate this topic. Included studies did not provide direct evidence of a causal association between school autonomy and discrimination against students with disability; however, the findings uncovered worrisome trends suggesting that an association may exist. Examination of the included studies' research methods suggests that a more fit-for-purpose methodology is required to determine the association between school autonomy and discrimination against students with disability in primary and secondary education settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the social imaginary of Australia's dominant 'White' culture, ethnic minority men, particularly Muslim men, are often depicted as 'folk devils,' resistant to the cultural norms of mainstream society. Muslim masculinities have been problematically conflated with notions of radicalisation, terrorism and violent extremism. There has been decidedly less attention to Muslim men's acclimatisation to the secular mainstream. This article presents a longitudinal case study of two second-generation young Australian-Muslim men who have attended an Islamic secondary school and spent most of their lives within a cloistered Islamic community. We document their experiences and aspirations as they come to be in higher education. The article considers the discursive production of identities of these men during a liminal time in their lives and how they construct their identities in relation to familial and community-based expectations around success and failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australia was an early signatory to the Salamanca Statement, and it espouses inclusive education (IE) as the overarching philosophy of education for all. A 2015 critique of IE in Australia [Anderson and Boyle 2015. "Inclusive Education in Australia: Rhetoric, Reality and the Road Ahead." Support for Learning 30 (1): 4–22. doi:] found that while some gains had been made, particularly in the recognition of the needs of some of the nation's minority groups, the lack of a nationally accepted understanding of IE meant that it was transpiring in fundamentally distinctive ways across the eight education jurisdictions, with different outcomes for different groups of students. This paper reflects upon why Australia has struggled to enact the recommendations outlined in the Salamanca Statement a quarter of a century ago. The impacts of current education reforms, including the current model of educational provision, the understanding of disability and educational need, and the neo-liberal concepts of standardisation, measurement, and choice are explored. It challenges the idea that IE is the work of schools, and instead argues the need for a national approach to IE. Governments must acknowledge the barriers that their current policies and structures erect and shift towards a more inclusive model of educational delivery – for the benefit of all children and young people in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is concerned with the rise of ‘the boot camp’ as a means of addressing ‘the problem’ of troubled youth’ in contemporary industrialised nations such as Australia and the UK. Drawing on a corpus of publicly available material including press releases and policy documents, media reports, and programme websites, the paper explores the legitimating discourses surrounding boot camps and suggests that they are a symptom of what Giroux [2011. “Youth in the Suspect Society and the Politics of Disposability.”Power Play: A Journal of Educational Justice3 (1): 3–21] calls the ‘punishing state’. Such discourses work to construct young people as an escalating and uncontrollable problem, to frame this problem as individual rather than structural, and to suggest that state responses to problematic youth have been inadequate. Furthermore, we suggest, as the rationale for these boot camps indicate, that within this ‘punishing state', the militarisation of schooling is deemed to be an appropriate solution to this problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of early childhood education and care (ECEC) is to support the learning and development of children in collaboration with families. The notion of inclusion in ECEC provides children with a sense of agency in becoming a learner able to participate fully and actively in their community. This paper illustrates how ECEC assessment approaches risk labelling young children in 'deficit' terms. The paper through a case study critically reflects on the implementation of a new assessment tool in kindergartens in the south-eastern region of Melbourne, Australia (low-middle income). Interviews were conducted with managers about the new tool, and documents (checklists and observations) were collected from the teachers. Findings show that the children were positioned as vulnerable with the introduction of the new assessment tool, leading to a diagnosis of 'at risk' for many children and a subsequent referral to education consultants, and health professionals. We explore the tensions of labelling young children, 'at risk' against the notion of 'becoming' that frames the Early Years Learning Framework for Australia (Department of Education and Training 2019) and professional understandings of 'inclusion'. The work of Nancy Fraser on 'social justice' augments the examination of this tension.

First-in-family (FIF) males, often from low-socio-economic backgrounds, remain severely underrepresented in Australian higher education. Experiences with social life can be a significant determiner to their success at university as well as their prospects for future employment. This paper explores the experiences of two FIF males as they transition from secondary school to elite courses in prestigious universities. As they navigate these new spaces, we are interested in how these two young men, Lucas and Adam, perceive the accrual of social capital and how this is interrelated with crafting learner identities within the field of university life. In comparing the two case studies, the paper draws on various theories of social capital in an effort to provide nuance regarding how young people access, accrue, and mobilise social capital which may be ever shifting in its composition and power. The paper contributes to the scholarship on upward mobility and social capital through highlighting (1) the strategies adopted for social and academic success, (2) the ways in which social capital must be skilfully operationalised to one's advantage as well as what this means for the crafting of self, and (3) the differences between accessing and "operationalising" social capital.

Accumulating evidence suggests that the prevalence of bullying is significantly higher for students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) than for typically developing students. Additionally, the prominence and growth of social networking and resultant focus on cyberbullying in the last 10 years has added a new dimension to the traditional definitions, environments and experiences of bullying. This paper describes current anti-bullying strategies and the legal climate in regard to bullying in Australia. It then reports on interviews with 10 students with ASD and their parents, and discusses recommendations based on their perceptions for dealing with bullying in schools. Data analysis indicated that both students and parents made a range of recommendations to increase awareness of bullying; improve policies and procedures that can be more clearly communicated to students, teachers and parents; and support programmes that develop communication and relationship building within families and in schools to both prevent bullying and provide coping strategies to deal with bullying if it occurs. Parents also called for schools to give harsher penalties for offenders, particularly repeat offenders. These student and parent recommendations may contribute to the development of school and government policy and practice to help reduce the incidence of all forms of bullying in schools. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

According to the OECD definition of innovative learning environments (ILEs), inclusion is considered a pillar of its design. The depiction of an inclusive ILE from the OECD outlines the importance of including students in ILEs. We wish to argue, however, that the successful implementation of inclusion also needs to address the location of special education teachers within these spaces. Our research provides a 'spaces of belonging' framework that offers support for the successful inclusion of special education teachers within an ILE. Results from our ILE project and interviews with special education teachers in Australia and New Zealand will illustrate the three concepts of 'spaces of belonging', using studies from a range of schools. We hope that the findings will inform future planning and design processes that will promote effective inclusive teaching practices in Australia and New Zealand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The education of students with disability has changed dramatically over the past 50 years. Universal declarations and conventions have underpinned many of these changes at both an international level and within Australia. In the early 1970s, the philosophy of John Rawls provided a theory of justice to preserve social justice and individual liberty within communities. This mirrored attempts to advance education to ensure social justice, rights and access to education for learners with disability. This micro-historical ethnography provides a review spanning the past half century in Australia of changes to the education of students with disability. Underpinned by an ethnographic epistemology through interviews with the presentism of eight educators involved in Western Australian education for learners with disability, and viewed through an interpretivist lens, major elements of change are identified. An analytical framework deduced from the work of Rawls is used to reflect upon the changes and discuss the degree that Rawls' justice as fairness has been enacted in education for learners with disability from 1970 to 2021 in Australia. Key words: Australia, learners with disability, special education, inclusion, Rawls, equity, social justice [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International studies have established that reading for enjoyment is linked to higher reading outcomes however there are local variations of the relationship and nuances associated with gender and economic contours. The aim of this study was to examine 318 Australian Year 3 (7 to 8-year-olds) boys' and girls' self-reported enjoyment for reading, reading frequency, and achievement on national reading tests. Findings showed that students who indicated higher levels of enjoyment for fiction and non-fiction, and who read more frequently, indicated higher reading achievement. Students attending schools in higher demographic communities tended to attain higher reading scores. An unexpected and significant finding was that fiction was the most favoured reading genre for boys and that more girls had higher levels of enjoyment for non-fiction than boys. These findings challenge the long-standing myth that boy's prefer non-fiction. The study demonstrates the importance of promoting reading enjoyment – particularly fiction – early in students' schooling trajectory, with special consideration for boys and students from economically marginalised communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the role of community, non-government organisations and universities in assisting secondary schools meet the needs of refugee students. On arrival in Australia, many African refugee communities experience high levels of stress particularly in adjusting to their new environment. The parents and students unfamiliarity with the Australian educational system creates not only cultural and social barriers for African refugee students but linguistic barriers as well. Given the difficulties experienced by refugee students in making the transition to mainstream classes and the lack of adequate teaching and learning resources for teachers in schools, this paper takes as its primary focus the complex needs of refugee students, the role of community organisations in meeting these needs, the implications for teacher preparation programs in tertiary institutions and the benefits of interventionist mechanisms like the Refugee Action Support program for refugee students. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Using Judith Butler's theory of performative subjection, this paper examines the injurious attitudes of three staff members at an outer-metropolitan high school who are heavily involved in the enactment and monitoring of Senior Education and Training (SET) Plan interviews for the Queensland Certificate of Education. It is argued that teachers at the case study school have inscripted students to the category of ‘underprivileged’, which in this context is labelled as ‘generational poverty’. Membership to this category has, in my view, positioned students as ‘backward’ and behind in schooling capability, thus placing them on a storyline trajectory associated with low paid labour market participation, reliance on government welfare and/or unemployment. I draw on teacher comments referring to students as possessing ‘deficit skills’ to form this argument. In order to help ‘break’ this cycle of poverty, staff involved in the SET Plan interviews have subsequently positioned themselves as ‘helpers’ by attempting to give curriculum pathway advice which they see as ‘appropriate’ for the students at the school. This advice and help with subject selection and curriculum pathway planning, while seemingly well intentioned, reinscribes gendered stereotypes and thus aids in the reproduction of schooling and post-schooling inequality for both sexes, but especially for girls. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Indigenous presence in the Australian university is a relatively recent phenomenon, initially framed by policies of equity that were, and continue to be, problematic in their assumptions – what they say and don’t say – about cultural difference, justice, sovereignty and more. From the lead author’s Aboriginal standpoint, the paper analyses the repercussions of ‘equity’ thinking that have intersected with Indigenous experiences of higher education activity in Australia, covering the range of aspects of university life and work: staffing, teaching, curriculum, governance, research and community engagement. The paper critiques how dominant notions of ‘equity’ subordinate or cannibalise possibilities for what higher education could mean for Indigenous peoples; and it gestures towards what might emerge from a standpoint of Indigenous agency to re-imagine the university. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In large continental landmasses such as Australia, forms of education, including correspondence schooling, emerged in the early twentieth century that allowed children in remote regions to access education. To make such schooling possible, other ‘technologies’ of state provision were mobilised such as the postal system, rail network, and radio stations. One of the curious, under-analysed features of correspondence schooling – a state sponsored form of home schooling – was the degree to which – as a ‘spatial construct’ – it allowed the education centre to act on its periphery. It did so through enlisting strategies that rendered the correspondence pupil visible not as embodiment but as inscription. A complex semiotic landscape was generated consisting of exercise books, school magazines, radio programmes and film, elements of which are analysed in this paper, which deals with the evolution of distance education (tele-didactics) in New South Wales from 1920 to 1950. It is argued that the example of the Correspondence School and its radio version, the School of the Air, demonstrate that educational space is a protean phenomenon, constantly being transformed and modulated into other forms of space.1 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents preliminary findings from a research study in Australia, Malaysia and Iran on students' perceptions of the roles of supervisor and student in the production of their thesis and the contribution of their cultural knowledge to thesis development. The 360 respondents who answered an online survey were studying for their Master's or Doctorate degrees in universities in Malaysia, Australia and Iran. The results of the study indicate that despite some variations, most students, whether or not their native language was English, have similar ideas about the process of thesis writing, the role expected of a supervisor and themselves, and the role of cultural knowledge in thesis development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on findings from a research project funded by the Scottish Executive which analysed the gender balance in teaching and explored the underlying reasons for the decline in the number and proportion of men, particularly in secondary schools. As in other developed countries, such as Australia, the USA and Canada, the proportion of men entering teaching has declined fairly rapidly over a ten-year period. At a time when women are participating in paid work in greater numbers than ever before, their concentration in certain areas of work, particularly in the service sector and the 'caring' professions, is increasingly apparent. Despite the clarity of this trend, it is evident that responses from academics and policy-makers have been very different, with some policy-makers linking the declining proportion of men in teaching with the problem of boys' underachievement and a perceived 'crisis in masculinity', whilst some feminist writers have questioned these views, drawing on recent gender theory which questions the utility of the binary categories of 'man' and 'woman', instead suggesting that gender is performed and may have little to do with the body of the person who is involved in the particular performance. Sex and gender thus become decoupled, with the focus on individual actors freely choosing the version of gender they wish to practice. This line of argument suggests that the sex of the teacher is irrelevant; what really matters is the way in which they perform gender in the classroom. Work on the gender balance in teaching therefore provides an opportunity to reflect on underlying tensions in gender theorising and policy-making. The paper begins by considering tensions between modernist and post-structuralist accounts of sex and gender. Having outlined the underlying theoretical tensions, it then goes on to consider the accounts given by teachers and students of the reasons for their own choice of teaching as a career, their experiences in teaching and their views of the reasons underlying the declining proportion of men in teaching. The aim is to consider whether students and teachers believe that sex is an important variable structuring their lives, including their decision to become a teacher and their experiences of working as a teacher, or whether they regard gender as something which is chosen from a wide repertoire of options and is relatively free from the constraints of embodiment. In relation to research on the gender balance in teaching, the paper concludes by suggesting that there is a need to make use of the idea of gender as performance, whilst at the same time holding on to the foundational concepts of 'woman' and 'man'. This is necessary to monitor and understand the career paths and underlying power relations of women and men in teaching and to transform these over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]