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Cultural and linguistic diversity in educational settings is the new normal internationally. However, domestic research shows that Indigenous Australian students are still not benefiting from school. Despite global research on Culturally Responsive Pedagogies and Reggio Emilia being proven to work with minoritised groups in settler societies, little research exists in Australia. This paper addresses this noticeable gap in the literature, bringing into dialogue the culturally responsive pedagogy movement with Reggio Emilia principles for theoretical nuanced examination of listening pedagogies. This dialogue seeks to shift epistemological and ontological framings of the child and their schooling experience. The paper argues for a deterritorialising of Indigenous ways of being and knowing that view learning as socially and culturally mediated. A central finding is that culturally responsive Reggio Emilia inspired practice offers educational change through a decolonising frame using instructional dimensions of relational and dialogic teaching. The paper concludes that reductive pedagogy constrains Indigenous listening and learning and that explicitly connecting curriculum to students' cultural strengths is an instructional reform opportunity for reterritorialising pedagogy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the discussant of this special issue, I focus on two related ideas: choice and self-interest. First, I explore the idea of choice and its relevance within research that concerns itself with a heavily loaded concept like ‘social justice’. My proposal here is that future scholarship that explores the consequences of privatised health and physical education (HPE) might at least factor in choice as one from a list of competing priorities. For example, does greater choice trump concerns about equity? Is it possible that increasing choice is one of the ways in which important social policy outcomes might be achieved? Second, like a number of the papers in this special issue, I argue that the privatisation of HPE portends significant changes in the way knowledge is produced, consumed and evaluated. Through all of this, old ideas about the role of the academic are increasingly salient. But rather than limiting our critical gaze to the purveyors of privatised HPE, I suggest that financial self-interest is only one kind of self-interest amongst many others, each of which deserve our attention. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper draws on transnational education inquiry from Guatemala to Australia. Grounded in field research on Indigenous matters, this paper offers fractal education inquiry as a proposition to interrupt the straight and spatialized notions of time that produce developmental, salvific, and progress-centric aspirations from which educational problems are generated. Set as a manifestación, the paper begins with the case of the Don Dale youth detention center in Australia's Northern Territory and moves on to define the terms of fractal inquiry to defy carceral logics. Fractal education inquiry is exemplified in the study of teacher education reforms in Guatemala. In the last section, the paper interrogates the logics of the gap, teacher competencies in diverse classrooms, and the disadvantaging of populations as reinscriptions of educational regimes attempting to tame multiple and Indigenous fractal ontologies that defy the linear temporalities ruling current schooling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers issues that continue to shape doctoral education in Australia in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of relevant issue, and to identify opportunities for future research. It describes examples of responses taken at an institutional level, and their implications for the norms and practices associated with postgraduate research, supervision and candidate support. Comments from discussions with a small number of Australian Deans of Graduate Research are used to illustrate the challenges faced, and the responses taken. The article provides a concise outline of the policy and historical context for these responses, and concludes by considering some of the issues that continue to shape doctoral education in Australia today. It highlights the rise of location-independent graduate research and the prospect of generational change in the higher education workforce as significant factors in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and as potentially fruitful avenues for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to explore the lived experiences of teacher educators working in the midst of the current tumultuous and highly regulatory policy landscape. The paper will briefly outline the politics and policies that have profoundly shaped teacher educators' work in Australia over the past 10 years. We write from our own experiences, as three actively-teaching teacher educators, working with a diverse and nontraditional student population in regional Queensland. We seek to illuminate these experiences through a series of narrative (re)presentations, drawing attention to what we see as important questions regarding the enactment of policy reforms, paying particular attention the impacts on teacher educators and preservice teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When school boards are confronted with the challenge of unfamiliar, changing contexts, opportunities and governance responsibilities, they have to be able to respond appropriately. The research reported in this paper investigated the response of five Western Australian primary school boards to such situations. It analyses interview data from 49 board members on their roles and responsibilities using elements of Heifetz' framework of adaptive leadership, and explores the implications of these findings for the boards and their leaders. The findings reinforce the importance of the leader's role in choreographing the learning of the board members, and raise questions about the effect that the composition of boards may have on their capacities for strategic thinking. The paper concludes with a model of adaptive leadership appropriate for school boards, emphasising key elements that are necessary for sustained change. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper considers the implications of the current landscape of education policy reform in Australian schooling. We argue that the decontextualisation of education policy enactments and the eschewing of concerns relevant at the local level of the school over the past two decades have prompted various reform agendas to fail. We contend that recognition of the deep contextualisation of schools is paramount in any attempt at renewal. Therefore, it is at the local school-level that reform agendas can and should be directed by the pedagogical and innovative work of educators. We focus on 'relational pedagogy' because it offers opportunities to enact school-wide reform and enhance the professional capacities of educators as pedagogical innovators. Contemporary education reform agendas are best situated and registered within school sites and relational pedagogy stands as a deeply contextualised provocation for enacting school renewal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little has been written about academic developers (ADs) working in teams leading other ADs. This paper chronicles the experience of a group of ADs in one Australian university working on a curriculum realignment exercise. Unexpectedly the dominant theme in participants’ reflections was group dynamics, not the process. We were confronted by unstated assumptions about ADs working collaboratively and shocked to realise that ADs, like academics, resist change. Our interpretation of that ‘resistance’ was a salutary reminder of the extent to which academic development work reflects broader social, political, and institutional contexts and discourses. Parallels between this context and ADs working with academics are drawn. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper draws on facets of Foucault's theoretical resources to critique current education policy reform from within the Australian State of Victoria, namely the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development's (DEECD) discussion paperNew directions for school leadership and the teaching profession. Implicit in the reform effort is decentralization, including penalties for “underperforming” classroom teachers and “ineffective” teacher education courses. Principals will hold a pre-eminent rank in the reforms proposed as they are charged with their oversight and implementation, including intervening in the education and preparation of pre-service teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pedagogical leaders are not always the leaders of pedagogy during pedagogical reform. In this paper, I argue that pedagogical reform can be enabled or constrained by pedagogical leadership. Pedagogical leadership and pedagogical reform require careful scrutiny within specific research contexts. Pedagogy itself has different meanings among educators. Uncontested views of pedagogy within two primary schools in Australia resulted in pedagogical dissonance, confusing the reform agenda. I present case study data from 10 participants, deploying the theory of practice architectures to think about leading as a practice. This paper explores four key drivers of pedagogical change derived from the data that build towards a theory of pedagogical change. Theoretical approaches to leadership are considered and contested and assumptions about leadership and management are explained. Teachers need opportunities to deeply understand pedagogy in order to avoid production-line pedagogical reform. Pedagogical leadership requires careful re-visioning within middle leadership, principal leadership and teacher leadership debates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, there have been increasing calls for an overall transformation of the nature of engineering Ph.D. programs and the way theses are assessed. There exists a need to understand the examination process to ensure the best quality outcome for candidates in engineering. The work we present in this paper uses data collected between 2003 and 2010 for a total of 1220 Australian Ph.D. theses by analysing examiner reports. Our analysis indicates that Ph.D. theses in engineering,N = 106, differ considerably from those in other fields in areas such as gender of candidates and examiners and the examiners’ geographical location. We also found that assessment areas such assignificance and contribution of the thesis,publications arising from the thesis,breadth, depth and recency of the literature reviewandcommunication and editorial correctnessare areas in which the proportion of text of engineering examiners' comments differs significantly from other fields. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Operating within a neoliberal education reform context, performativity and teaching in schools has been a focus of study for a number of years. However, less is known about the effects of performativity on teaching and curriculum in the early childhood (preschool) context. Making a case for the intensification of performativity in Australian early childhood education, this paper reports on findings from a doctoral study and draws on research literature from the past fourteen years to illustrate how performative measures have increasingly affected teaching and curriculum. The way that performativity has intensified is discussed in three chronological phases, performativity emerging, consolidating and normalised. Teacher interview transcripts and curricular related policies were analysed using critical discourse analysis and Ranson’s typology of accountability regimes. Findings reveal that early childhood teachers have different ways of responding to performativity, with the teacher featured in this paper displaying three types of performative accountability: anxiety, confidence, and disregard. An implication arising from this paper’s findings illustrates how the effects of performativity on teaching and curriculum can be complex, contradictory and at times, unintended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The higher education policy of the previous Australian government aimed to achieve an internationally competitive higher education sector while expanding access opportunities to all Australians. This policy agenda closely reflects global trends that focus on achieving both quality and equity objectives. In this paper, the formulation and implementation of the policy are examined according to the policy cycle approach, drawing on additional theories and analytic frameworks as applicable. The analysis explores why such an ambitious policy approach was taken, how it was implemented and factors affecting its achievability. Indicators suggest the policy was not delivered successfully within the term of the Labor administration. It also highlights an ongoing policy trend to unify the higher education sector, despite evident divisions within the sector and between levels of government administration. The paper concludes with recommendations to diversify the system so that the equity and quality policy agendas can be implemented concurrently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

VET (vocational education and training) is a fascinating sector. Aligned closely with the labour market and sandwiched between two major sectors, it is continually buffeted by political winds, susceptible to the ideologies of different governments. Often labelled the 'poor cousin', debates continue to rage about its quality. This paper focuses on three questions: How has the VET sector been viewed in terms of quality? What does recent research say about quality in the VET sector? Can anything be done about it? In raising questions about the label 'VET', its vision and goals, its broad scope, who is driving, and the quality of teaching and training, the paper proposes five suggestions that could complement the main policy response of increased regulation. Given that much of the available evidence indicates quality of training as a significant issue, the paper concludes that the quality of the VET system is only as good as its teachers and trainers. Unless the quality of teaching, training and assessment is raised, quality in the VET system will continue to be an ongoing, serious concern that needs urgent attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interventions in the field of early childhood education policy, drawn from global policy flows, are reconfiguring the work of early childhood educators in Australia. One such intervention is the requirement to designate an ‘educational leader’ (EL) in each service for young children and their families. This policy intervention has its origins in England's Early Years Professional Status initiative. This paper compares the pedagogical leader imagined in regulatory reforms with the educational labour described in interviews with childcare educators in Queensland and Victoria, Australia. The paper argues these educators are being called upon to navigate the tension between ‘imagined’ and ‘actual’ policy effects and that this is a key part of the work of educational leadership. Such leadership includes re-constituting ‘teachers’ in early childhood services as ‘learners’ who are ‘led’ by ‘ELs’, requiring major shifts in professional knowledge and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper reports an analysis of the website of an education authority in the state of Queensland, Australia during the changeover from a state-based curriculum to a national curriculum. The paper’s value lies in the capture of an exact moment of change. Kress and van Leeuwen’s grammar of visual design is employed to analyse the changes to the Queensland Studies Authority’s website from 2009 to 2010. The significant changes to the site show the impact of policy that has been borrowed from the UK and the USA around testing and accountability, and as such has bearing on the international policy environment. The impact of these testing and accountability measures is twofold. First, that regimes of accountability and testing outweigh the significance of changes to curriculum and pedagogy and, second, that this understanding has implications for teacher education and teacher professionalism. We argue that borrowed policy from the international sphere, through a national agenda and then on to a local education authority, has hollowed out and narrowed the provision of education information and assistance available to readers of the site. This is most notable in the shift we observe from informed teacher professionalism through links to professional development available on the site in 2009 to prescription most notably evident in the absence of professional development hyperlinks on the site in 2010. The inference we draw, for example, is that teachers in the state of Queensland are to follow the prescriptions on the web page without access to policy learning through professional development. This has implications for teacher education and teacher professionalism. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Beginning with a reflection on the Participation and Equity Program (PEP) in Australia in the 1980s, this response describes the distinctive ideological shift from a social democratic to a market conception of equity in education over the past three decades. This shift has been accompanied by changes in the techniques of educational governance, from the collaborative approach of the PEP, which emphasised the importance of trust in teachers as professionals, to new managerialism focused on efficiency and accountability. Market reforms in education have continued to use such traditionally socially democratic notions as equity, but have been enormously successful in re-articulating their meaning. A commentary is provided on the papers in this Special Issue and their collective analysis of governmental strategies that have led to this re-articulation of equity; the extent to which these strategies have been successful; the consequences they have had on students and school communities, and for the work of teachers and schools; and possibilities for creating new approaches in education that undermine the seemingly hegemonic neo-liberal imaginary and work towards a more progressive democratic view of educational equity. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Australia's Education Revolution, launched in 2008, emphasised equity as a key reason for reforms. It identified ‘pockets of disadvantage’ as one of the main problems that needed to be addressed through its reforms. Through a series of translations, the problem of ‘pockets of disadvantage’ was converted to one of a lack of information, a lack of comparable metrics and the absence of an informed public, leading to a number of solutions such as the development of a national assessment scheme and theMy Schoolwebsite. In this paper, using the theoretical and methodological resources of actor-network theory, I argue that these translations were also, simultaneously, the processes by which the Australian education space was further ‘marketised’. These marketisation processes involved homogenisation, whereby schools were rendered comparable through the development of common evaluation and common metrics; the development of informational resources that enabled parents to function as economic agents and exert ‘market forces’; and coordinating the activities of the actors through theMy Schoolwebsite. The paper concludes with a discussion of how such descriptive analyses might serve as critique. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Background: The move for educational reform to improve student outcomes and learning has been the subject of ongoing debate over the last 15 years in Australia and internationally. In Australia, Game Centred Approaches (GCA) such as Game Sense have been positioned by advocates as having the capacity to achieve these characteristics in physical education. However, despite some 15 years of exposure to, and professional development in, GCA in Australia, there has been very little change in teaching practices in games and sports. Purpose: The paper will focus on physical education teacher education (PETE) undergraduates' attitudes to games and sports and analyse key issues related to their understandings relating to the use of a GCA. Participants: The participants were second and third year PETE undergraduates during their practical studies courses in Games and Sports. Data collection: Data was collected from PETE undergraduates over a three-year period. The exchanges used in this paper were from recordings of consultations, interactions in tutorials and in assessment presentations. They were supported by the first author's own observations on students' understandings of the GCA during and following tutorials. Intervention: PETE students were involved in four practical studies courses in games and sports with the first author using a GCA approach. Required readings and journal articles on GCA were used to support course content. Research design: To understand the students' understandings of games and sports using a GCA and the qualitative nature of inquiry, an ethnomethodological approach was used. Data analysis: The analysis of the data based on Lemke's theory of social semiotics was conducted to develop an understanding of what using a GCA meant to the students in action (the events in which the meanings are used) and in context (how the meaning is demonstrated when connected to an event). Findings: The findings of this paper were threefold. Firstly, the influence of traditional approaches to games and sports in the physical education and sporting backgrounds of the PETE students is a very powerful force in determining how games and sports should be taught and understood. Secondly, the students' capacity to productively and consistently use a GCA to create these learning environments is contingent on the depth of their content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge. Thirdly, there is a considerable emotional cost to the students when challenging their embodied investments in a traditional sports model. Conclusion: Understanding and developing sustainability to use a GCA requires more than simply exposing students to the approach. If GCAs are to be used appropriately to enhance the quality of teaching and student learning and create the environments advocates believe are possible, then how we teach PETE students to teach games and sports in our courses must be examined and we must ask ourselves this question in relation to teaching using a GCA: How do we do what we do? [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Educational reform represents a long-term focus of Australian governments. National policy documents have emphasised quality education for all and improved teacher quality for over 30 years. The gaps in achievement among various groups of learners represent a problem for an education system seeking to achieve national quality benchmarks, standardised levels of teacher quality and common outcome for all Australian learners. The national response to address this condition includes a set of initiatives to standardise teacher quality. This paper includes descriptions of selected national quality initiatives: the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA), the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL), the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) and Education Services Australia (ESA). Their inclusion provides the reader with an opportunity better to understand these initiatives. The paper concludes with a discussion of some potential scenarios resulting from the implementation of these quality initiatives in an effort to standardise the quality of teacher education across Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses policy and practice relevant to teacher education and professional experience programs in Australia, aiming to assist not only reading our past and present, but also offering strategic direction with respect to the challenges and opportunities that are emerging within the Australian context. A meta-analysis of current major trends in Australian educational reform and the implications of an 'education revolution' for professional experience are discussed. The paper maps and examines broadly key education agendas of 'productivity, participation and quality'. In relation to these agendas, significant policy trends are identified under the headings of partnerships, preparation and professional learning, and the implications of each for the field of teacher education and professional experience are explored. Some comparisons with similar reforms that have occurred in Scotland and England are offered to provide insights and alternative directions for those working in the field. Finally, a range of possibilities and suggestions, along with cautionary tales of locally based professional experience practices, are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A large-scale investigation was conducted at an Australian University to document and analyze authentic work-related assessment types for a university-wide major course review (Kaider, F., and R. Hains-Wesson. 2016. Enhancing Courses for Employability. Melbourne: Australian Collaborative Education Network. Report.). This study provides further insights into Science, Engineering, Technology and Mathematics (STEM) teachers' experiences in undertaking authentic assessment-led reform. STEM teachers participated in an online survey and a recorded interview to elicit their perceptions of authentic assessment-led activities. A mixed methods approach was used with two key themes emerging: (1) purpose and approach, which highlighted the importance of introducing a shared understanding for effective authentic assessment-led reform and (2) working with industry, which illustrated the requirement to provide teachers with additional support options when working with industry. In this paper, we discuss the implications of the findings along with the presentation of a set of key recommendations for supporting teachers when renewing STEM education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Complaints made to external agencies about Australian universities are rising in both number and complexity. Recent debate has therefore focused upon how to improve grievance handling in the Australian higher education sector. One suggested 'solution' is the creation of a national Australian university ombudsman. The UK has recently introduced such a national student complaint body - the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education (OIA), a 'world first'. This paper examines the structure and operation of the OIA and highlights the advantages and pitfalls of introducing an equivalent office into the Australian higher education sector. It argues that, on balance, there are advantages in a national university ombudsman. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper outlines the development of a framework - the Science in Schools (SiS) Components - that describes effective science teaching and learning and that has become a central focus for the Science in Schools Research project that is being implemented in 225 Australian schools. The description is in a form that provides a basis for monitoring change, and which can be validated against project outcomes. The SiS Components were partially based on interviews with a small number of primary and secondary teachers identified as effective practitioners, and have been subject to a variety of validation processes. The focus of this paper is on a particular form of validation involving interviews with an expanded set of effective primary teachers, from three Australian states. Case descriptions of core elements of these teachers' beliefs and practice were constructed, and a review and mapping process used to examine the extent to which the SiS Components, as a distinct 'window into practice', align with and capture these core elements, and differentiate the practice of these effective teachers from other primary teachers in the project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Policy conceptualizations of the global knowledge economy have led to the channelling of much Higher Education and Research and Development funding into the priority areas of science and technology. Among other things, this diversion of funding calls into question the future of traditional humanities and creative arts faculties. How these faculties, and the disciplines within them, might reconfigure themselves for the knowledge economy is, therefore, a question of great importance, although one that as yet has not been adequately answered. This paper explores some of the reasons for this by looking at how innovation in the knowledge economy is typically theorized. It takes one policy trajectory informing Australia's key innovation statement as an example. It argues that, insofar as the formation of this knowledge economy policy has been informed by a techno-economic paradigm, it works to preclude many humanities and creative arts disciplines. This paper, therefore, looks at how an alternative theorization of the knowledge economy might offer a more robust framework from within which to develop humanities and creative arts Higher Education and Research policy in the knowledge economy, both in Australia and internationally. [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]

Background:Early childhood education and care has been an area of significant policy attention, public investment and private market activity in Australia over the past three decades. Australian educationists and policy-makers have looked to international examples for evidence, policy design and institutional models. However, this area is under-researched in Australia, with regard to how these knowledge flows are theorised, and how policy is implemented on the ground. Purpose:The paper’s purpose was to contribute new Australian-focussed conceptual and empirical insights on the trajectories, development and implementation of evidence-based policy in the field of early childhood education and care. Sources of evidence:The paper is based on three main sources of evidence:• the critical literature on policy transfer and policy mobility• policy statements, reports and planning documents produced by national- and state-level governments• data from fieldwork analysis of new capital works and programmes in the early childhood field. Main argument:International research and evidence on the benefits of investment in early learning has had a significant impact on the framing of Australian policy. So too has a move in several countries to align early childhood institutions with schools. However, a dominant paradigm of policy transfer, reliant on pluralist and rationalist frameworks of policy-making, fails to account for the dynamics of policy development and implementation across and within jurisdictions and geographical space. Conceptualising a new alignment in Australia between children’s centres and schools as ‘educare’, this article employs the theoretical lens of policy mobility to account for the circulation and transformation of educare policy in Australian settings. Through an empirical analysis of a new educare centre in the growth corridor of western Melbourne, the article demonstrates the extent to which neoliberal policy settings outside the educational sphere, around public finance, partnership, place and infrastructure provision, influence the implementation of ‘educare’ policy. Conclusions:The educare discourse in Australia addresses a complex and multiscalar set of policy problems that associate child development with concerns around human capital formation, economic efficiency and productivity, place making and community building, and the role of the public sector in neoliberal democracies. International circuits of knowledge, policy design and institutional models in the educare field have been significant in shaping recent Australian policy, despite well-publicised views expressed in Australia on the disconnection between academic research and policy. The strength of policy mobility as a theoretical lens to assist our understanding of these influences lies in its critique of formalism in policy-making and in its attention to fluidity and transformation. The mobility lens encourages new empirical research that focuses on spatial and institutional dynamics, assisting our reading of on-the-ground developments in Australia’s fastest growing city. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper uses transnational postcolonial feminist participatory action research (TPFPAR) to examine two sport for development and peace (SDP) initiatives that focus on Indigenous young women residing in urban areas, one in Vancouver, Canada, and one in Perth, Australia. We examine how SDP programs that target urban Indigenous young women and girls reproduce the hegemony of neoliberalism by deploying biopedagogies of neoliberalism to ‘teach’ Indigenous young women certain education and employment skills that are deemed necessary to participate in competitive capitalism. We found that activities in both programs were designed to equip the Indigenous girls and young women with individual attributes that would enhance their chances of future success in arenas valued by neoliberal capitalism: Eurocentric employment, post-secondary education and healthy active living. These forms of ‘success’ fall within neoliberal logic, where the focus is on the individual being able to provide for oneself. However, the girls and young women we interviewed argued that their participation in the SDP programs would help them change racist and sexist stereotypes about their communities and thereby challenged negative stereotypes. Thus, it is possible that these programs, despite their predominant use of neoliberal logic and biopedagogies, may help to prepare the participants to more successfully negotiate Eurocentric institutions, and through this assist them participants in contributing to social change. Nevertheless, based on our findings, we argue that SDP programs led by Indigenous peoples that are fundamentally shaped by Indigenous voices, epistemologies, concerns and standpoints would provide better opportunities to shake SDP's current biopedagogical foundation. We conclude by suggesting that a more radical approach to SDP, one that fosters Indigenous self-determination and attempts to disrupt dominant relations of power, could have difficulty in attracting the sort of corporate donors who currently play such important roles in the current SDP landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

School prospectuses and promotional videos appeal to parents by presenting idealised images of the education a school provides. These educational idealisations visually realise the form of discipline a school is expected to provide, depending on the social habitus of the parents. This paper presents a content analysis of the images used in 33 sets of marketing materials from a maximally diverse sample of schools from the state of Victoria. These images are interpreted using the lenses of Bernstein's control and Bourdieu's habitus and cultural capital. The promotional images are found to vary systematically in terms of content and form depending on the perceived social class of the students which the schools attract. [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]

For nearly 40 years the quality and value of the contribution of universities to initial teacher education has been brought into question. This is particularly so in England where the ongoing 'discourse of derision' has resulted in universities no longer being seen as necessary partners in the process. More recently, similar challenges have taken place in other countries such as USA and Australia. However in 2013, when the Welsh Government turned its attention to the apparent low quality of its current provision, rather than challenging the role of universities, it chose to strengthen their contribution. There were however to be important changes that insisted that universities put the student teacher learning at the heart of course planning, that universities clarify their own distinctive contribution and that they work in close collaboration with schools. While this approach to initial teacher education is not new, this is the first time that such a model has been implemented on a national scale. This paper outlines the nature, rationale and underlying research for the reforms in Wales. It concludes by speculating on their likely impact in raising the quality of provision and securing the future contribution of universities to teachers' learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early childhood education has undergone immense change over the years. In Australia, this has included the introduction of curriculum and quality frameworks [ACECQA. 2012. National Quality Framework. http://acecqa.gov.au/national-quality-framework/the-national-quality-standard; DEEWR. 2009. Belonging, Being and Becoming: The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia. Barton: ACT: Commonwealth of Australia. ISBN:9780642778727; DET. 2016. Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework: For All Children From Birth to Eight Years. East Melbourne, VIC: Department of Education and Training. ISBN:978-0-7594-0800-5], and changes to early childhood pre-service and in-service teacher education [ASQA. 2015. Training for early childhood education and care: Report. https://www.asqa.gov.au/sites/g/files/net3521/f/Strategic%5fReview%5f2015%5fEarly%5fChildhood%5fEducation%5fReport.pdf?v=1508135481]. This article is based on a broader qualitative study, which was conducted in 2015-2016. It investigated how workplace discourses supported or hindered the ability for early childhood professionals in Victorian long day care settings to engage in education reform. Using a poststructuralist lens and Foucauldian Discourse Analysis [FDA] [Arribas-Ayllon, M., and V. Walkerdine. 2017. "Foucauldian Discourse Analysis." In The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research in Psychology, 2nd ed., edited by C. Willig, and W. Stainton-Rogers, 110-123. London: SAGE Publications Ltd. ISBN:9781526405555; Willig, C. 2008. "Discourse Analysis." In Qualitative Psychology: A Practical Guide to Research Methods, 2nd ed., edited by J. A. Smith, 160-185. Los Angeles: SAGE Publications. ISBN:9781412930833], specific workplace discourses were identified. These discourses framed the available subject positions which were afforded by directors, centre-coordinators and educators relating to reform engagement. Some of these positions were supportive of reform engagement, while others hindered this process. The findings presented throughout this paper offer some insight into how workplace discourses impact reform engagement in early childhood education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores teachers' perspectives on the management of mandated educational change in order to understand how it may be managed more effectively. A case study of teachers' responses to the introduction of a quality teaching initiative in two New South Wales schools found that while some teachers described the strong negative impact of this externally initiated approach, others had taken charge of the required change and worked creatively with it. This suggests that it is possible for mandated change to be managed in positive ways, and an alternative approach is explored. Implications for governments, schools and teachers are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This commentary explores the role that academic developers (ADs) play in universities. Three case studies illustrate the roles that ADs may enact as agents of change. They reflect an emergent shift from acting as the institutional teaching and learning ‘expert’ (i.e. agent of change) to a more adaptive, collaborative partnership model where the AD works in partnership with academic leaders to change educational practice. The influence of national external forces on institutional philosophy, policy, and practice, and the AD role is also examined, using Australian initiatives as an example. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper illustrates an evaluation model emerging from Australian research. With reference to a range of contexts, its usefulness is demonstrated through application to two professional development initiatives designed to improve continuity of learning in the context of the transition to school. The model reconceptualises approaches to considering and reporting educational change. Responding to an Australian state government’s recognition that aspects of the transition to school process necessitated changed dialogue between teachers and educators in prior to school and the formal school sector, the research team facilitated two eight-month multi-site explorations of core concepts, philosophies and practices. Ethics protocols were followed throughout the collaborative project. While this research acknowledges Wenger’s (2009. ‘Social learning capability: Four essays on innovation and learning in social systems.’Social Innovation, Sociedade e Trabalho. Booklets 12 – separate supplement, MTSS/GEP & EQUAL Portugal, Lisbon.) claim that ‘social learning capability’ is ‘the most fundamental aspect of the communities of practice approach’ [Omidvar, O., and R. Kislov. 2014. ‘The evolution of the communities of practice approach: Toward knowledgeability in a landscape of practice- An interview with Etienne Wenger-Trayner.’Journal of Management Inquiry23: 266–275., p.268], experience in this cross-sector initiative suggests that the intersections of relationship, facilitative infrastructure and ‘spirals of engagement’ [Fleet, A., and C. Patterson. 2001. ‘Professional growth reconceptualised: Early childhood staff searching for meaning.’Early Childhood Research and Practice3 (2), ERIC Number: ED458042.] are also key in educational change, and should thus be visible in an evaluation model. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, we use the development of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (APST) as an illustrative case to examine how national schooling reforms are assembled in Australia’s federal system. Drawing upon an emerging body of research on ‘policy assemblage’ within the fields of policy sociology, anthropology and critical geography, we focus on interactions between three dominant ‘component parts’ in the development of the APST: the Australian federal government; New South Wales state government agencies; and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. While policies like the APST claim to be national in form and scope, our analysis suggests ‘the national’ is much more disjunctive and nebulous, constituted by a heterogeneous and emergent assemblage of policy ideas, practices, actors and organisations, which often reflecttransnationaltraits and impulses. We thus see national reforms such as the APST as having a phantom-like nature, which poses challenges for researchers seeking to understand the making of national policies in federal systems. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Schooling in Australia has become subject to increased processes of data-based governance. This article draws upon the insights of an experienced teacher, 'Meriam', who, having taught more than 34-years over almost a 50-year span, reflected upon the nature of such changes. Utilising theorising in relation to datafication processes and accountability logics, the article elaborates Meriam's efforts to engage productively with increased attention to measuring and monitoring students' performance via various modes of data. This is in the context of increased pressure in the state of Queensland to justify teachers' practices, and to show how their students' learning had shown improvement on these data over short periods of time. In this sense, the article challenges a more post-performative conception of professionalism as Meriam struggled to comprehend how the increased attention to a plethora of data could serve as a useful vehicle to inform teachers' work and learning; this was the case even as she found some benefits in increased attention to her own practice and learning. The article delineates the constraints associated with increased attention to data, and how current managerial and neoliberal policy conditions in schools may contribute to potentially significant and harmful effects for both teacher and student learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on case studies of three teachers managing an education reform focussed on assessment, during a busy period of curriculum change in an Australia state Participants attended multiple professional development opportunities including a number of state-wide, systemically-facilitated assessment workshops. The most significant finding to emerge, as narratives of change unfolded over a nine- month period, was the diversity of teachers’ approaches to change. All three were insightful about practices that required change and could identify personal and professional attributes that would assist their management of change. All teachers attended the same systemic workshops and all had access to the Education Department’s published literature about assessment. Yet they organised and implemented change in very different ways. Each teacher’s approach was based on personal assumptions about learners and learning, the reform they agreed to implement, and their preferred approaches to incorporating new assessment practices into their existing repertories. Approach taken was a major determinant of experience of change and thus is an aspect of change management important to inservice-providers, teachers and school leaders. The paper concludes with an overview of a PD package designed with the findings of this research project in mind. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on historical and policy analyses as well as interviews with government representatives and other key actors, this research paper argues that intergovernmental relations in Australian education are predominantly driven by concurrent federalism, but with the reverse effect creating a coordinate model in education. It discusses implications for school funding and the successful implementation of a recently released Australian Government review of funding for schooling, the so called the Gonski Review. The Gonski report makes a case for a radical restructuring of school education funding and accountability across the federal framework. If implemented, the changes would involve a major shift from the current coordinate model to a cooperative federalism. The paper provides an opportunity for a critical discussion of how educational policy is negotiated, contested and determined, within an array of competing, cooperating and coercive political power interests between various levels of government in a contemporary Australian context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers a new way of exploring some of the complexities inherent in attempts by policy makers and others to promote educational change. The focus of this study is on the current drive in education policy to alter the basis of teacher professionalism through the application of principles of lifelong learning to teachers’ professional development. Drawing upon data from two studies of the Chartered Teacher (CT) initiative in Scotland the paper examines the formation of successive transmission points as material relays of relations during the process of implementing this policy objective. It explores how three key discursive elements of a professional standard for accomplished teaching: collaborative action, critical reflection and enquiry, and teacher leadership, were progressively recontextualised during the introduction of CT status in schools. The findings indicate some of the conceptual and political struggles involved at the critical junctures where policy implementation requires the movement of a discourse from one social context to another. The paper suggests that a discursive analysis of how a centrally mandated initiative is transmitted can help to promote an understanding of the complexities of this process and increase critical awareness of the issues at stake for those involved. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

While numbers, data and statistics have been part of the bureaucracy since the emergence of the nation state, the paper argues that the governance turn has seen the enhancement of the significance of numbers in policy. The policy as numbers phenomenon is exemplified through two Australian cases in education policy, linked to the national schooling reform agenda. The first case deals with the category of students called Language Backgrounds Other than English (LBOTE) in Australian schooling policy – students with LBOTE. The second deals with the ‘closing the gap’ approach to Indigenous schooling. The LBOTE case demonstrates an attempt at recognition, but one that fails to create a category useful for policy-makers and teachers in relation to the language needs of Australian students. The Indigenous case of policy misrecognition confirms Gillborn’s analysis of gap talk and its effects; a focus on closing the gap, as with the new politics of recognition, elides structural inequalities and the historical effects of colonisation. With this case, there is a misrecognition that denies Indigenous knowledges, epistemologies and cultural rights. The contribution of the paper to policy sociology is twofold: first in showing how ostensive politics of recognition can work as misrecognition with the potential to deny redistribution and secondly that we need to be aware of the socially constructed nature of categories that underpin contemporary policy as numbers and evidence-based policy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In western nations, the social and economic changes of the past 30 years have facilitated a reorientation of the focus of educational institutions. Global capitalism has placed education at the forefront of national competitiveness, and governments have responded with education policies primarily designed to serve the needs of the market. Such neo-liberal economic imperatives have been supported by a variety of neoconservative social forces calling for schools to become sites of cultural and moral restoration. This paper draws upon current theoretical debates about the consequences of such changes and employs ethnographic data from a small qualitative study of Australian youth to argue the case for a more democratic and student-centred approach to educational reform. It contends that in the interests of all young people, it is time for schools to resist systemic impulses to make them producers of human capital and claim their role as transformative institutions of human possibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australia is a federation of six states and two territories. Each state and territory has its own legislature, which may not be of the same political persuasion as the Commonwealth (Federal) Government. Under the Australian Constitution primary control of school education is with the State and Territory Governments, with the Australian Commonwealth Government having no specific constitutional responsibility for school education. However, this is complicated by a dual-tiered funding system, whereby the Australian Commonwealth Government has responsibility for some funding of government schools and majority funding for non-government schools. Since 1975 there have been moves by the Commonwealth Ministers for Education to acquire a significant role in identifying national priorities for education and constructing policies and assessment tools to achieve such goals. Financial provision and national policy formation have increasingly become the means by which Australian Commonwealth Ministers for Education have "shaped" educational debates and policies. In November 2004 the then Australian Commonwealth Minister for Education, Science and Training announced the details of the Australian Government National Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy. The focus of the Inquiry was examination of research into reading, preparation of schoolteachers and literacy teaching practices, especially reading. The Inquiry may be seen as the latest move by the Commonwealth Government to influence the teaching of literacy in Australia. In this paper official notions of literacy, as outlined through the various Australian Commonwealth Government's inquiries into literacy and national policy documents for the period 1975-2005, are examined using metaphor analysis. Metaphor analysis provides a means of analysing discourses about literacy in each of the reports and policies in order to interpret the underlying ideology. These official constructs of literacy are briefly considered within the competing and wider notions of literacy in Australia academic debates and the tensions that exist in defining literacy. Why did the Australian Commonwealth Government become involved in the literacy debates during this time? In particular, how has the Australian Commonwealth Government defined literacy and why did it take a more controlling role in both the definition of literacy and the shaping of education for literacy? The reasons for the Australian Commonwealth Government becoming involved in the literacy debates remain largely unresolved. In this paper it is proposed that involvement in the literacy debates constituted a way for the Commonwealth Government, in a time of economic rationalisation, to change their role in educational reform from one of financial assistance to one of leadership in curriculum. It is also proposed that a metaphor analysis of the policy documents and associated reports indicates a move from a wide definition of literacy to an increasingly narrow and utilitarian definition of literacy, reflecting the predominantly economic focus of the Australian Commonwealth Government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background There is increasing evidence that schools internationally are not meeting the needs of increasing numbers of young people, especially those at the secondary level, and whose backgrounds have placed them at disadvantage. The evidence is that significant numbers of young people are becoming disconnected from school. While the official term for this is 'disengagement', it seems that official educational policy responses to these tendencies, far from 'fixing' the problem, seem to be exacerbating it. Current policy preoccupations that emphasize accountability, greater parental choice of schools and a more prescriptive curriculum can present difficulties for young people, particularly those from challenging backgrounds. There may be a mismatch between formal educational policy, and the lived experiences at the level of the school and classroom for the most vulnerable young people. Purpose This paper reports on a single instance of a high school that embarked upon a process of reinventing itself in respect of the importance of relationships and 'relational power' for students over their learning. The paper examines what the teachers and students had to say about the efficacy of this school-based reform. Sample The case-study school was located in an area of extreme social disadvantage in which young people had diminished educational expectations. The research involved observations and interviews with a small sample of stakeholders and focus groups with students (13-16-year-olds). Design and method The study was an ethnographic case study of a single secondary school conducted over a five-week continuous period. It used 'embedded interviews' involving observation of in-class teaching prior to extensive 1-hour interviews with teachers and students' focus groups. All interviews were recorded. Detailed field notes were kept of classroom observations and other activities, including school assemblies, staff meetings and reflections on informal conversations held during teaching breaks in the staffroom. Results and conclusions Positive outcomes emerged from a context where fair boundaries were established and in which students could see school as a place where they could experience fun in their learning. The process was by no means complete, but the school felt that it had found a more efficacious way to move forward and the students made this clear in their statements about what the school was attempting to do with them. Key to these positive outcomes was a commitment to placing relationships between students, teachers and parents at the centre of everything the school did. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the Australian federal Parliamentary Inquiry into Boys’ Education, Boys: Getting it Right, which is shown to be an exemplary instance of recuperative masculinity politics. The paper demonstrates how, through a variety of rhetorical strategies, its anti‐feminist politics are masked and how the report works with essentialised differences between boys and girls. The argument is demonstrated through a focus on a number of the report’s recommendations, including the call for a recasting of current gender policy, the need for creating so‐called ‘boy‐friendly’ curricula, assessment and pedagogical practices, and for employment of more male teachers. The report draws on populist literature and submissions from the boys’ lobby, as well as practice‐oriented submissions to the neglect of theoretically oriented and (pro‐)feminist work. As such, the significance of the construction of masculinities to boys’ attachment to and performances in school is totally neglected, limiting the value of the report’s recommendations for improving schooling for both boys and girls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the educational provision for, and general treatment of, refugee and asylum seeker children in Australia, using a framework of governmentality. The paper describes the regimes of practices which govern refugees and asylum seekers in Australia, including mandatory detention and a complex set of visa categorisations, and considers their consequences for the educational provision for children. It addresses three questions: How is it possible that the rights of children have been rendered invisible in and by a democratic state? How are repressive and even violent practices normalised in a liberal state, so that ordinary citizens show so little concern about them? And what should our response be as educators and intellectuals? In conclusion, it explores Foucault’s notions of ethics and fearless speech ( parrhesia ) as a basis for an ethics of engagement in education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An ethnographic case study of issues related to research performance and promotion of research was conducted within the Creative and Performing Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (AHSS) disciplines of a regional university. The purpose of the study was to explore a variety of ways in which the research work of those disciplines could be made more visible to others, both within and outside the university. In reviewing the research performance, concerns and orientation of academics in AHSS disciplines, this paper addresses the issue of disciplinary variations in research activity and research focus, with implications both for future programs of research performance assessment, and for the promotion of research activity among currently disenfranchised AHSS academics. In the context of current Australian debates about a research quality framework, the data considered address issues of impact, rather than quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The adoption of information and communications technologies (ICT) is a catalyst for innovation and evaluation of teaching, and are driving many tertiary institutions towards a reconsideration of the nature of quality learning. While the technology of online delivery receives most attention, it is arguably the management of teaching and learning that requires new approaches. Universities which have been engaged in traditional forms of distance education are considering how best to integrate communications technologies that offer alternative forms of course delivery, communication, flexible pedagogies and new roles for teachers and learners. Institutional change issues are also linked to ICT adoption: developing students' generic skills, fostering lifelong learning and catering for greater flexibility in delivery of educational services is now core business in tertiary institutions across Australia. This paper argues that such changes require tertiary teaching staff to adopt a different mindset, that of facilitating and supporting learning while assuming new roles as managers, motivators, mentors and mediators of learning. The rationale for each of these roles within Web-based learning environments is presented within a constructivist framework, which affirms and extends good teaching practice. In addition to highlighting aspects of teaching and learning that are supported and transformed by constructivist, Web-based delivery, this paper proposes that professional development is essentially about establishing partnerships for renewal of teaching values, and that staff developers need to learn the craft of supporting change at various levels: at the individual level, at the course and unit level and at the institutional level through systemic contextualized affirmation of constructivist values. Professional development for adoption of Web-based teaching requires multi-dimensional thinking. Rather than acting as a driver of top-down change, effective staff development is participatory and supportive, seeking action research partnerships where more profound changes in teacher conceptions of learning must take place before online pedagogies become part of tertiary teaching culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use and creation of Open Education Resources (OER) is becoming increasingly prevalent with teachers and learning designers at universities around the world. OER allows educators to create content and make their content available to the world under an open licence, and also provides the opportunity to use and adapt other OER content. Whilst the use and creation of OER in tertiary institutions is not yet considered the 'norm', many jurisdictions around the world have taken steps, to fund, support and encourage the use of OER in their educational institutions. The Queensland University of Technology (QUT) has developed an Open Education (OE) initiative to support the use and creation of OER at QUT. Policy is often the foundation stone, which supports progress and change. The underlying policy provides the framework and often points to the legal parameters that guide the objectives of the project or movement. The importance of policy is evident in the way in which QUT has developed and implemented an OE initiative to promote and support the creation and use of OER. This paper considers the history and development of OER, using QUT's OE initiative as an example of the ways in which policy and implementation can lead to positive change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a research paper on the changing nature of governance in the universities of Australia. It informs that the universities in the country have undergone many reform in the 1990s. The government policies from 1996 onwards have affected the policies of the universities and it has precipitated changes in its culture. As a result of this a massive cultural changes have taken place in the universities and to the extent the existing culture has been disappeared. The economic cuts as a part of the implementation of the government policies curbed the smooth functioning of the universities. There fore the universities have become privatized, marketized, globalized and increasingly student-driven due to the government's substantial economic cut-backs in the higher education. In this shift in the culture of educational institutions, the deregulated higher education sector has been operating out of a rationality of market logic, where choice and positional advantage are integral. The paper also analyzes how universities are responding to fiscal stringency through their tactics and strategies.