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This paper reviews policies affecting domestic students in the higher education system in Australia over the last several decades. It examines the implementation and expansion of Australia's student loan program and policies to encourage widening participation in the higher education sector among equity or target groups, including those from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Using quantitative data from Australian government and university sources as well as the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey, this research seeks to assess whether equity and inclusion in higher education over this period has improved or been maintained. The findings show that while the conditions under which students are able to access higher education in Australia remain relatively generous, the participation rates of equity groups have not substantially improved over the last two decades. Further, the less advantaged circumstances of equity students continue to predict their outcomes prior to and beyond degree completion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Qualitative education is one of the key contributors in achieving the goal of sustainability. Several studies mention that the sustainability curriculum and educators can play an immense role in developing awareness in practicing the concept of sustainability. Relatively there is no comprehensive study to typify the recent contributions of teacher education for sustainability. In this light, the aim of the study is to understand the progress of the research on teacher education for sustainability (TES) in terms of growth, evolution, influence and significant research themes. To achieve the aim of the study, 1782 documents indexed in the Scopus database over three decades starting from 1991 to 2020 were analyzed by using bibliometric analysis. The data are visualized in the paper by using VOSviewer and Tableau. Results show that there has been a significant increase in yearly publications and citations over the years, trending research papers, productive authors, institutions and countries and thematic areas of research. Most frequently published journal has a considerable cite score and quartile. Universities from Australia published the most. The most commonly published themes are education for sustainability, Agenda 21, sustainable development education, environmental education, and later the focus is shifted to teacher training, teachers, education, values, teaching and education policy, sustainability competencies. Future research should focus on blended learning, digital learning, other modern tools and techniques to achieve the goal of sustainable development as well as to address the issue of teaching sustainability during uncertainty conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Open Educational Practices (OEP) have played an important role in assisting educational institutions and governments worldwide to meet their current and future educational targets in widening participation, lowering costs, improving the quality of learning and teaching and promoting social inclusion and participatory democracy. There have been some important OEP developments in Australia, but unfortunately the potential of OEP to meet some of the national educational targets has not been fully realised and acknowledged yet, in ways that many countries around the world have. This paper will gather, discuss, and analyse some key national and international policies and documentation available as an attempt to provide a solid foundation for a call to action for OEP in Australia, which will hopefully be an instrument to assist and connect practitioners and policy makers in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For centuries, education has been used as a tool of assimilation, and this has been the Indigenous experience in Australian education system. Nevertheless, for those who has successfully negotiated it, education provides the key to self-determination, active and equal participation in the society. Since 2007, United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) is relevant to the Australia's Indigenous people. It has provided several guidelines, such as self-determination, rights and equity, which should be given to them. The UNDRIP should be not just an acceptance of a symbolic gesture but a more active 'recognition of rights'. Therefore, this paper reviews the current and the past reports that reflect the shifts in government policy of Indigenous education in Australia during the important key period when government policy relating to the Indigenous people shifted between 1974 and 2014. Several themes are identified as outcomes from the document analysis including: assimilation; equity and equality; participation and selfdetermination; and rights and recognition. The findings suggest that the Australian government still lack in their efforts to recognize and acknowledge the equity, the rights, and the self-determination of the Aboriginal people and Torres Straits Islander as 'the first people' in the country. It can be concluded that, Australia is yet to achieve at a substantive level the implementation of the UNDRIP. As a suggestion, alteration to the current curriculum framework needs to be done to improve the rights and equity of education development and cultivation of relationships between schools and Indigenous communities to ensure a successful outcome in the Indigenous education policy. Besides that, government of Australia should take an important and positive step approach towards the recognition of Indigenous Education rights through the adoption of the UNDRIP in their practice and constitution to recognize Indigenous languages, cultures and Indigenous knowledge in the education system in line with mainstream society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior to its election to office in 2007, the Australian Labor Party announced a commitment to introduce Trade Training Centres (TTCs) into all Australian secondary schools as an initiative of its Education Revolution. TTCs were proposed as a key element of Federal Labor's education and training policy that aimed to manage future risks to Australia's competitiveness in the emerging global economy and to support school-to-employment transitions for young people. This analysis adopts a governmentality framework to conceptualise the Federal Government's introduction of TTCs alternatively as a key strategy for nationalising social investment politics in Australia. The paper draws on recent Australian policy documents to argue that TTCs are social technologies that work to open up social spaces in and around schools for governing relationships between schools and other community stakeholders, particularly businesses and families. The paper concludes by examining policy implications, including those of social justice, for promoting school community partnerships through TTCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on a comparative study of the growth of data and the changing governance of education in Europe. It looks at data and the 'making' of a European Education Policy Space, with a focus on 'policy brokers' in translating and mediating demands for data from the European Commission. It considers the ways in which such brokers use data production pressures from the Commission to justify policy directions in their national systems. The systems under consideration are Finland, Sweden, and England and Scotland. The paper focuses on the rise of Quality Assurance and Evaluation mechanisms and processes as providing the overarching rationale for data demands, both for accountability and performance improvement purposes. The theoretical resources that are drawn on to enable interpretation of the data are those that suggest a move from governing to governance and the use of comparison as a form of governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the changing modes of governance of education policy in the European Union (EU) and Australia through a lens of 'soft governance'. It considers the increa sed use of 'policy instruments' such as benchmarking, targets, monitoring, data-generation in policy-making in recent decades. It considers the roles these policy instruments play in coordinating education policy in the EU and Australia as well as their intended and unintended consequences. It shows that in the EU, these instruments played a role in strengthening the coordination through the links between individuals and programs, and networking, which is seen as resulting in enhanced creativity in policy solutions, development of new norms and new means for achieving policy goals. While in Australia it seems that the role of these instruments is focused on consolidating the role of the Commonwealth's oversight and control over what constitutionally is a responsibility of States which adds to several policy tensions already existing in the federal coordination of education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops a dynamic model of schooling and occupational choices that incorporates personality traits, as measured by the "big five" traits. The model is estimated using the HILDA dataset from Australia. Personality traits are found to play an important role in explaining education and occupation choices over the lifecycle. Results show that individuals with a comparative advantage in schooling and white‐collar work have, on average, higher cognitive skills and higher personality trait scores. Allowing personality traits to evolve with age and with schooling proves to be important to capturing the heterogeneity in how people respond to educational policies. The estimated model is used to evaluate two education policies: compulsory senior secondary school and a 50% college tuition subsidy. Both policies increase educational attainment and also affect personality traits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper outlines a case for the reconfiguration of the public sphere as discursive space, arguing that such a reconfiguration better enables investigations into public debates on education. The paper focuses on one such investigation, which studied one newspaper's reporting of a review of the school curriculum in Queensland, Australia. It employs Critical Discourse Analysis to analyse the interrelationships between policy discourses and the discourses about the review that were constructed in the print media. The paper shows how the dynamic structure of the public sphere enabled discursive connections to be made across sites in order to privilege a shared public discourse on education policy, schools and teachers. In so doing, it demonstrates the capacity of the public sphere to define educational issues and identities in particular ways. [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]

During period 1975 through to 1987 the Commonwealth ventured into curriculum development, hitherto an activity for states and territories. Unlike the ACARA Curriculum of the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd governments, there was nothing mandatory about the CDC's curriculum development activities. Here, the dominant influence was coordinative federalism. This paper advances a thesis that Kingdon's Agendas is a useful lens in examining the historical circumstances bringing this educational policy into being, principally because it requires an examination of the political circumstances of the time, in this case including the politics of the administration of the CDC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines higher education quality policy developments internationally (U.K., U.S.) and in Australia with respect to the role of learning standards and assessment in work-integrated learning. Whilst remaining located primarily within the Australian higher education context, the paper briefly identifies some of the more influential global drivers and identifies how they play a significant role in shaping national agendas. The second part of this paper traces the development of quality policy in Australian higher education with respect to learning standards, and in particular it focuses on the policy intention to develop 'direct measures' of learning, which, it is argued, is potentially detrimental to work-integrated learning (WIL). The third part of this paper analyses key tensions associated with learning standards in terms of the assessment practices used to warrant them, identifying specific challenges in the context of WIL. The final section of the paper draws together these issues, identifying a number of implications and opportunities for the assessment of WIL in the current Australian quality policy environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the implication of language and education policies for the indigenous minority populations in two contrasting multicultural and multilingual post-colonial nations, Australia and Malaysia. By comparing and contrasting ethnolinguistic and educational policies in these two diverse nations, this paper explores how indigenous minorities have been positioned within each nation's quest for meeting the challenges of becoming multilingual and multicultural nations. The authors argue that although both countries promote multicultural ideals, they fall short in their acknowledgement of the dignity of difference for their indigenous communities. The authors assert that educational and language policies for indigenous peoples must acknowledge the importance of difference and therefore include indigenous cultural ways of knowing, being, and doing to achieve successful educational outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Computer-Assisted Argument Mapping (CAAM) is a new way of understanding arguments. While still embryonic in its development and application, CAAM is being used increasingly as a training and development tool in the professions and government. Inroads are also being made in its application within education. CAAM claims to be helpful in an educational context, as a tool for students in responding to assessment tasks. However, to date there is little evidence from students that this is the case. This paper outlines the use of CAAM as an educational tool within an Economics and Commerce Faculty in a major Australian research university. Evaluation results are provided from students from a CAAM pilot within an upper-level Economics subject. Results indicate promising support for the use of CAAM and its potential for transferability within the disciplines. If shown to be valuable with further studies, CAAM could be included in capstone subjects, allowing computer technology to be utilised in the service of generic skill development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been considerable interest in generic attributes in higher education for over a decade and yet while generic skills or attributes are an important aspect of policy, there is often a lack of consistency between beliefs about the importance of these skills and attributes and the degree to which exist in teaching practice. There has been an assumption that these attributes exist outside of the disciplinary context, yet the findings of this study suggest that they are strongly influenced by the disciplinary culture in which they are taught. The study reported in this paper examines the apparent gap between ideal notions of generic attributes and their enactment in teaching practice. This qualitative study examined the teaching of generic attributes in five disciplines (physics, history, economics, medicine and law) in two Australian universities. It found that the notion of generic attributes is highly complex and while attributes such as critical thinking, problem solving and communication are valued by teaching staff they are often implicit in teaching. This gap between what is valued and what is actually taught is a result of variation in interpretation of generic attributes, the difficulties of reducing complex attributes to definable learning outcomes and practical constraints on teaching caused by factors such as large classes. Furthermore, it can be explained by the finding that generic attributes are part of the epistemic culture of the disciplines and often remain tacit. The findings of this study have significant implications for scholarship, policy and pedagogy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

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 article questions the assumption that increasing competition among higher education institutions is the best method of achieving a strong higher education sector in developing countries. It notes that there has been increasing emphasis on the importance of higher education institutions for sustainable development, particularly because of their importance to the global knowledge economy. For the same reason, the appropriate management of the relationship between the state and higher education institutions is vital to a strong and dynamic future for these institutions. This paper proposes a menu of options for higher education governance, grouped around ‘state-centric’ and ‘neo-liberal’ models of development. The ‘state-centric’ model proposed is based on a variety of examples of high performing Asian economies, in particular, while the ‘neo-liberal’ model is based on emerging trends in higher education management in countries such as Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom. The paper suggests that despite pressure across the globe to encourage a market among universities, this may not always be the most efficient use of resources, or the best way to integrate universities in a country’s drive for economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper begins by acknowledging the complexity of the challenges that the introduction of the new international curriculum standards has brought with it. It also acknowledges the role that these policies have played in opening a space for pedagogic research and innovation in teaching programs. The paper argues that while policies are necessary to support change, transformation of practice is an evolutionary process, necessitating critical engagement with the vision that informs new policies, often requiring academics to confront the discourses which support their current practices and analyse the tensions that this process of confrontation may reveal. In relation to English language teacher education, one tension that this study brought into focus is the problem of research innovation. The issue is important since there is research to indicate that stagnation begins early, as a consequence of research training and examination practices. The paper develops a strategy for addressing the problem of research innovation, especially at the level of undergraduate education, and argues that fostering innovation can be as easy as enabling students to explore problems, rather than looking for textbook-based solutions that encourage intellectual compliance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background:This paper approaches evidence-informed practice from the perspective of evidence-informed policy-making. Using the findings of a recent study of evidence-use by educational policy-makers to raise questions about evidence-use by educational practitioners, it seeks to explore what such a study might tell us about how to understand and improve evidence-use by educational practitioners. Purpose:The paper aims, therefore, to identify potential connections, shared insights and common issues between evidence-use in policy and evidence-use in practice. It does this by focusing on two specific areas: the nature of the evidence (i.e.whatevidence is used) and the nature of the use (i.e.howevidence is used). The paper outlines what was found about each of these aspects of evidence-use in policy, and then considers what questions and issues these findings might raise for evidence-use in educational practice. Sample:The empirical study on which this paper is based was an in-depth study of the use of evidence within educational policy development in Australia. It focused on the development of three specific education policies within one Australian state education department and involved interviews with 25 policy-makers who were actively involved in the development of these policies. Design and methods:The policy-based study involved the following data collection processes: (i) in-depth semi-structured interviews with 25 policy-makers who were involved in the development of the selected policies; (ii) documentary analysis of policy documents, background research reports and other relevant papers relating to the selected policies; (iii) unstructured observation (where possible) of meetings and events connected with the development of the selected policies; and (iv) feedback from 40 wider policy staff who took part in a verification workshop to discuss the project’s emerging findings. Findings:Drawing on the findings from the original policy study, two areas of potential connection to evidence-use in practice are explored. First, in relation to ‘varieties of evidence and uses’, the negotiation of diverse evidence types and the potential for using evidence in multiple and varied ways appear to be features of evidence-use that are common to educational policy-makers as well as educational practitioners. Secondly, in relation to ‘narrowness of evidence sources’, there is potential for both policy-makers and practitioners to use a narrow (rather than broad) selection of evidence, due to a tendency to work with certain evidence types as a starting point (e.g. performance data) and a tendency to draw on certain evidence sources more frequently (e.g. well-known, familiar research sources). Conclusions:This paper emphasises: (i) the need for more integrated (or joined-up) understandings of evidence-use across contexts of practice and contexts of policy; (ii) the importance of continued efforts to understand and represent evidence-use more effectively within educational practices; and (iii) the value of paying careful attention to the quality and qualities of evidence-use within and across the different settings of educational practice and policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2015, the Australian Government's Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) assessment of research quality declined to rate 1.5 per cent of submissions from universities. The public debate focused on practices of gaming or 'coding errors' within university submissions as the reason for this outcome. The issue was about the in/appropriate allocation of research activities to Fields of Research. This paper argues that such practices are only part of the explanation. With the support of statistical modelling, unrated outcomes are shown to laave also arisen from particular evaluation practices within the discipline of Psychology and the associated Medical and Health Sciences Research Evaluation Committee. Given the high stakes nature of unrated outcomes and that the evaluation process breaches public administration principles by being not appealable nor appropriately transparent, the paper concludes with recommendations for the strengthening ERA policy and procedures to enhance trust in future ERA processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Racism in various forms exists worldwide. In Australia, racism is inextricably linked to the history of Australian immigrants and early setters. Although the Australian education system has adopted inclusive education, evidence shows several incidents of racial exclusion. With the public education system experiencing an increased cultural diversity in student population, schools are required to develop inclusive education policies. While policies related to disability inclusion have been in practice for many years, only recently has there been an increasing awareness of racial inclusion. This research paper explores the importance of racial inclusion in education by examining the causes and effects of racial exclusion in the Australian education context. This paper considers existing practices at the national level and in schools to explore racial discrimination. It identifies the factors contributing towards racism and proposes a framework employing key strategies at the macro, meso and micro levels to achieve racial inclusion in education. It also suggests opportunities based on research to strengthen the response against racism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, an historical case study is presented of the transplanting of curricular and instructional practices from the United States to Australia. The case study draws upon a collection of education policy documents (syllabuses, policy statements and correspondence) and oral histories recorded with key curriculum workers in Queensland (one of eight states and territories in Australia) from 1969 to 1989. Analyses of these data provide valuable insights into the complexities and intricacies of two eras of curriculum development and reform, and more broadly, into the validity or otherwise of significant historical assumptions and explanations held about those and other reform efforts, The paper advocates the use of conceptual constructs (social and cross-cultural perspectives) and methodological approaches (document analysis and interview-based fieldwork in the form of "oral histories") in further empirical research on the transplanting of social studies across societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a standardised neoliberal inspired notion of what professionalism entails for early childhood educators. These standards tend to infiltrate much of the literature, reporting and pre-service educator training, creating a notion that educators are never quite good enough at what they do. Although constant reflection and aiming for excellence are strongly held Western ideals, the effect on educator confidence and their ability to recognise their own strengths and achievements can be real. This discussion paper seeks to challenge the idea that good quality early childhood practice can always be identified and standardised, arguing the need for professional discretionary decision-making in order to adjust practice to context. Drawing on an example from an Australian service, where knowledge, care, partnership and support for potentially vulnerable families to support their children was highly valued by parents, it illustrates that such qualities can go unrecognised by the staff themselves. What we risk losing when we prescribe what quality entails will be of interest to educational leaders, researchers and those who teach pre-service educators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background:Despite decades of research, bullying in all its forms is still a significant problem within schools in Australia, as it is internationally. Anti-bullying policies and guidelines are thought to be one strategy as part of a whole school approach to reduce bullying. However, although Australian schools are required to have these policies, their effectiveness is not clear. As policies and guidelines about bullying and cyberbullying are developed within education departments, this paper explores the perspectives of those who are involved in their construction.Purpose:This study examined the perspectives of professionals involved in policy construction, across three different Australian states. The aim was to determine how their relative jurisdictions define bullying and cyberbullying, the processes for developing policy, the bullying prevention and intervention recommendations given to schools and the content considered essential in current policies.Sample:Eleven key stakeholders from three Australian states with similar education systems were invited to participate. The sample selection criteria included professionals with experience and training in education, cyber-safety and the responsibility to contribute to or make decisions which inform policy in this area for schools in their state.Design and methods:Participants were interviewed about the definitions of bullying they used in their state policy frameworks; the extent to which cyberbullying was included; and the content they considered essential for schools to include in anti-bullying policies. Data were collected through in-depth, semi-structured interviews and analysed thematically.Findings:Seven themes were identified in the data: (1) Definition of bullying and cyberbullying; (2) Existence of a policy template; (3) Policy location; (4) Adding cyberbullying; (5) Distinguishing between bullying and cyberbullying; (6) Effective policy; and (7) Policy as a prevention or intervention tool. The results were similar both across state boundaries and also across different disciplines.Conclusion:Analysis of the data suggested that, across the themes, there was some lack of information about bullying and cyberbullying. This limitation could affect the subsequent development, dissemination and sustainability of school anti-bullying policies, which have implications for the translation of research to inform better student outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper analyses the combined effect of school entry-age increase and the changes in preschool provision on educational achievement using a difference-in-difference specification. Achievement is assessed using the score on national standardised tests across a range of subjects. The analysis uses the changes in policy in different years across two states in Australia. I find positive effects for several subjects across different grades. Results are robust to falsification tests. In one state, however, cohorts starting school during the policy transition period are adversely affected, possibly due to disruption in preschool education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper begins by outlining the 'education revolution' policy direction of the Australian federal government, and the ways in which it envisages meeting its goal of having a 40% of the population between 25 and 34 with a Bachelor's degree by 2025, and ensuring that 20% of tertiary students come form LSES backgrounds. This is contrasted with the achievements of the UK government's 'Widening Participation' strategy. It then discusses the institutional and policy challenges which broad social inclusion goals generate for secondary and tertiary sectors - challenges which are likely to fundamentally reshape both sectors whilst also forcing them to become partners in a national educational mission. The article then examines a framework from the OECD designed to strengthen schools in disadvantaged areas, with disadvantaged students in order that they complete secondary schooling and proceed to tertiary education. In response to the OECD's recommendations, the paper then focuses on one example of a program in which both sectors are collaborating - for mutual benefit - to increase the numbers of LSES students aspiring to and accessing tertiary education and achieving success in tertiary studies, and makes predictions about its future success. This US initiative (AVID) has had significant success for over thirty years and is currently being trialed in a number of Australian schools and universities. It concludes by advocating that schools and universities partner more closely, and that AVID may well be a useful means of achieving this, whilst also enriching schools' cultures and facilitating greater academic success at both university and school, for disadvantaged students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Australia, as in many countries across the world, our educational landscape is being shaped by an ever-increasing focus on the "globalized educational policy discourse" (Lingard, 2010) of standardised, 'high-stakes' testing, and the subsequent quantitative measuring and ranking of children, classes, schools, districts, states, and countries. Through this paper, we explore our research conducted with children, teachers and parents within a culturally, linguistically, and socioeconomically diverse public school community. The paper draws on the voices of teachers, parents, and children who were co-researchers in Clare's case study research at the school (using emergent, arts-informed methods (Clark & Moss, 2001; Cole & Knowles, 2008; Somerville, 2008)), and Sophie's teaching and teacher-research experiences (using pedagogical documentation (Rinaldi, 2006)). We explore the children's perspectives on how they were developing individual and collective subjectivities, how they conceived of difference and connection, and the ways they worked with difference to create a community of belonging in this highly diverse context. We also analyse the ways in which the teachers and school community sought to actively challenge hegemonic constructions of the "successful" student subject through discourses of trust, difference and connectedness. Shaped by a theoretical framework informed by the philosophies of Deleuze and Guattari (Deleuze & Guattari, 1987), this paper highlights the ways this school community may disrupt "normalised" conceptualisations of pedagogical practices and contribute to the research literature that offers hope in opening up lines of flight to re-imagine possible subjectivities for teachers and students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on one important aspect of the preliminary findings from the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) project, Academic integrity standards: Aligning policy and practice in Australian universities (Bretag et al., 2010) Our project aims to identify approaches to the complex issues of academic integrity, and then to build on these approaches to develop exemplars for adaptation across the higher education sector. Based on analysis of publicly available online academic integrity policies at each of the 39 Australian universities, we have identified five core elements of exemplary academic integrity policy. These have been grouped under the headings, Access, Approach, Responsibility, Detail and Support, with no element given priority over another. In this paper we compare the five core elements identified in our research with best practice guidelines recommended by the Higher Education Academy (HEA) in the UK. We conclude that an exemplar policy needs to provide an upfront, consistent message, reiterated throughout the entire policy, which indicates a systemic and sustained commitment to the values of academic integrity and the practices that ensure it. Whereas the HEA created two discrete resources, the key aim and challenge of this project will be to develop exemplars that demonstrate a strong alignment between policy and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the way that learning technologies frame teaching practice in higher education using both autoethnography and discourse analysis (interpretative repertoires). The analysis juxtaposes our own experience in the form of data from two interviews, with teaching and learning policy documents from the group of five Australian Technology Network universities, as a means of investigating the centrality of these technologies in the reconfiguring of teaching practice in higher education for the networked university. The data yielded three distinct discourses: technology as a bridge to globalised opportunity; technology as delivery of learning; and technology as communication and building relationships for learning. The first repertoire provides a utopian vision which glosses over the complex practice of implementation. The second repertoire also omits details of implementation, presenting learning technology unproblematically. The third repertoire, not present in the policy documents, but central to the autoethnographic accounts, focusses on both the possibilities and challenges of learning technologies in practice, and points to the potential for a complementary approach which foregrounds the student-teacher relationship. How these discourses can be reconciled is a central issue for academic teaching practice in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides a survey of Australian drama education documents. The purpose of this selective tracing of the genealogy of Australian drama education is to set the scene for the current context while also acknowledging the strength and foresight of Australian drama education pioneers and predecessors. This article had its genesis in a discussion paper, originally titled Sharing the Blank Page: if there's going to be a National Drama Curriculum, what might it look like? It was prepared for a round table forum on drama curriculum at gener8, the 2008 National Drama Education Conference, Adelaide, May 10, 2008. That round table was well attended and generated considerable discussion, prompting not only this article but this special curriculum edition of NJ. This paper has been reworked significantly since then. I acknowledge all the contributors to the round table forum and the input of critical readers to the reshaping of the article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parent engagement in schooling has long been held as a vital component of the successful navigation of the schooling process and, consequently, governments often invite such engagement via policy implementation. However, at times, contestation arises about parent engagement, with some parents seemingly 'crossing the line' when attempting to be involved in their children's schooling. This paper investigates the possibility of parent engagement in schooling in Queensland, Australia, conceptualising it as a game of social and systemic practice. The author examines this notion using an example of contestation between parents at a regional government school and the education authority. Policy directives about parent engagement are explored, with the rhetoric of such policy applied to the example in question. The work of Bourdieu and Foucault is used to argue that the invitation to parents to engage is framed and thus often misrecognised, resulting in unintended conflictual relationships between parents and governing authorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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While many states and territories in Australia were initially a little slow to develop a strong momentum towards inclusive educational practices, this has been addressed quite dramatically in the past ten years. Acknowledging that each jurisdiction in Australia has its own department of education and determines its own educational directions this paper will focus on broad developments across all jurisdictions in order to provide an overall analysis of how inclusive education has evolved. This discussion paper will focus on systemic changes since the Salamanca Statement (UNESCO, 1994), involving the education of students with diverse learning needs. A review of Australian research identifies the implications for specialist peripatetic support staff, the personal beliefs and values of teachers and the need for more structured pre- and in-service training for teachers to enable them to meet the educational, social and emotional needs of all children engaged in inclusive experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on an evaluation of some of the policy options for setting incentives and rewards for schools and teachers to achieve high quality and equitable learning outcomes for all Australian primary and secondary school students. The principal objective of reform should be focused on raising individual student learning outcomes, and particularly those for the current lower performing students. Of the controllable factors affecting student outcomes, good teachers are more important than good schools. Then, policies to attract and hold good teachers, and strategies for the professional development of teachers, are likely to have high pay-offs. Past experience with the provision of additional resources per se indicates that this strategy has had little if any effect on student education outcomes. The economist's market strategy of providing salary loadings as incentives and rewards to recruit and hold teachers in scarce discipline areas and in some regions is worth pursuing. Complementary efforts to change traditional attitudes likely will be required to successfully implement a more market-oriented differential salary structure. Much of the current public debate focused on the ownership of schools is peculiar to Australia, and it is not a productive route to improving student education outcomes. There is much agreement that greater competition between schools together with greater autonomy and flexibility for individual schools, will provide the incentives and rewards for individual schools to better meet the education needs of students and parents.

One of the most pervasive educational issues confronting Australia, and other countries, at the moment is the declining completion rates in high schools. While a period of success was experienced after the Second World War, there is now a pressing need to reform high schools in the ways they connect with young lives. In this paper, we present a 'sociology of the high school' as a way of encapsulating the high school as an institution that: is still largely stuck in a 'continuity of practice' (Elmore, 1987); has an 'attachment to familiar pedagogical routines' (Eisner, 1992); fails to listen to students; is hierarchically structured; treats students in immature ways; is hung up with passing on content; and seems more concerned with insulating itself from, rather connecting with or appropriating, young lives into the curriculum. As an alternative, we examine the notion of middle schooling that requires a version of whole school reform that engages with structures, cultures and changing pedagogy in ways more resonant with, and respectful of, young lives. We examine the tensions and dilemmas experienced at Investigator [1] High School in Australia, and conclude that the centerpiece has to be breaking the mold of the 'scripted' teacher and its replacement by the 'teacher-as-improviser'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper queries the appropriateness of notions of 'relative autonomy' It argues that rather than autonomy, historical analyses show considerable coherence in both the qualitative character and rhythm of development of different facets of social life. The argument is developed through an examination of the relationship of schooling, state and society. A theoretical framework for conceptualizing the relationship of schooling, state and society is outlined. This framework, and the argument for coherence, is then illustrated through an examination of the restructuring of the Australian State and New South Wales schooling at the turn of the twentieth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The barriers to women's achievement and career progression in the higher education sector have been well researched. It has long been acknowledged that career breaks for child-rearing, and women's self-beliefs about their abilities can impact negatively on their careers, and many programs and policies have been implemented to redress these around the world. This article is focussed around a regional Australian university, with multiple campuses distributed over 1000 km across two states. Courses, schools, and work teams are often spread across multiple campuses, and travel between campuses is sometimes a necessity; one that is time-consuming and requires time away from family. For some women, travelling is not possible due to family and other commitments or constraints. This paper explores how working in a regional university, with distributed campuses, has an additional impact on women's career progression. Through auto-ethnographic accounts of four female staff members, we explore the intersection of gender and location through case studies of personal experiences, investigating the effects that distance and travel limitations can have on participation in work team and networking events, access to professional development opportunities, and career progression within the institution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last ten years in Australia researchers have come under intense scrutiny as assessment measures of research quality have dominated their work. While these initiatives have made highly visible the work of some educational researchers, at the same time, they have made invisible the scholarship and work of many others in education faculties and schools of education. In this paper, I explore some of the tensions and complexities of the educational research context in Australia. I draw on my experience as a researcher, teacher educator and academic manager to examine the discourses that shape educational research in Australia. I provide a profile of educational researchers and how they are positioned in the current research climate, who is funded and what is funded, and what counts as 'quality' research. I conclude by suggesting the need for broader and more inclusive categorisations of educational research and educational researchers and better recognition of the diversity of education academics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasingly, universities in developed countries are engaging in transnational education. Responsibilities and opportunities to exercise management and leadership in the provision of transnational education depend on the organisational model adopted and whether the academics involved are on home or international campuses. Models range from neocolonial control to transnational partnerships. In the Australian Office for Learning and Teaching study that informs this paper, good practice in allocation and exercise of management and leadership responsibilities was identified and recommendations developed. A balance was struck between the home institution's quality assurance obligations, which imply a high level of home-based control, and the value of a degree of local control to the commitment of local academics involved, to their career opportunities, and to the educational experiences of their students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The shift in Australian higher education policy to widen participation and ensure equity across all student cohorts has led to the need for specific, structured transition programs. The First Year Advisor Network at Murdoch University in Perth, Australia has designed and implemented a transition program for commencing students called UniEdge. The aims of the program are: (1) to help foster a sense of community for first year students; (2) to make new students aware of the support services available; and (3) to improve the confidence and preparedness of new students. The program has received high praise from students, but rates of attendance have been problematic. By reflecting on student and staff feedback, the program has been adapted over multiple semesters, resulting in increased student attendance and therefore a greater impact on the first year experience at Murdoch University. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advancing the development of good practice around the teaching team has been the focus of a recently completed, nationally funded Australian grant entitled Coordinators Leading Advancement of Sessional Staff (CLASS). The project focused on developing leadership capacity of subject coordinators to provide supportive contexts for sessional staff to enhance their knowledge of teaching practice and contribute to subject improvement through a team approach. An action learning approach and notions of distributed leadership underpinned the activities of the teaching teams in the program. This paper provides an overview of a practical approach, led by the subject coordinator, to engaging sessional staff through the facilitation of a supportive network within the teaching team. It addresses some of the gaps identified in the recent literature which includes lack of role clarity for all members of the team and provides some examples of initiatives that teams engaged with to address some of the challenges identified. Resources to support this approach were developed and are shared though the project website. Recommendations for future direction include improved policy and practice at the institutional level, better recognition and reward for subject coordinators and resourcing to support the participation and professional development needs of sessional staff. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Higher education institutions that teach both on-campus and at a distance are challenged to provide all students with equitable access to learning. While the concept of blending or converging learning environments supported by technology and Internet use is common in Australian universities, institution wide implementation is rarer. This paper provides a case study of an Australian regional university that investigated institutional processes and teaching and learning approaches that would facilitate diverse students' equitable access to learning. This investigation identified facilitators and barriers to systemic implementation of blended learning. It was found that as teaching and learning environments are socially dynamic, strategic institutional change will only happen if there is a shared vision and energy that touches all parts of an organisation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Soon after it came to power in 2008, the Australian Government adopted six key targets relating to life expectancy, infant mortality, education and employment in its policy 'Closing the Gap on Indigenous disadvantage'. As it became apparent in 2011 that these targets were not being met, the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, in her annual report to Parliament on Closing the gap called upon Indigenous people to change their behaviour so that they could attain a position of equality with white Australians. In doing so, this call to reverse the historical inequalities that have traditionally produced poor outcomes in Indigenous health, education, housing and employment can be interpreted in two ways. Firstly, the government wants Indigenous people to become part of the mainstream of the Australian community with mainstream aspirations and desires. This can be read as a reaffirmation of twentieth century assimilation policy, which was reinstituted by the previous Howard Government. But, more than a mere return to the policy of assimilation, the government's call for Indigenous people to change their behaviour can also be interpreted as an intervention into the very being of Indigeneity. This paper will endeavour to demonstrate how the Australian Government is seeking to recolonise an ethics of life for Indigenous people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Universities agree that there is a need to educate students about academic integrity and that the quality of the awards they confer on their students is compromised if students gain credit for work where breaches of academic integrity have been overlooked or not dealt with in a consistent matter. This paper describes how one university developed a new institutional framework and accompanying policy document in order to simplify the processes, ensure that students receive educational assistance when required and respond to the dissatisfaction of academic staff with the existing policy and processes. The context for these changes included perceptions in the press that the number of cases of academic misconduct were increasing and that there is an ever-increasing reliance on electronic sources of information. The development of the institutional framework and the related policy are analysed using a policy cycle model and conclusions are drawn about the success of the policy implementation based on practice aligning with policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines why the development of a world class university system represents a rational, even inevitable, policy approach for Australia in response to world university rankings. It assembles evidence questioning the value of policies which direct undue emphasis on the concentration of resources and the development of elite universities, especially in smaller nations. Several recent policy initiatives have enhanced Australia's ability to maintain a strong university system and this has meaningful implications for the international promotion of Australian higher education. The 'system' approach necessitates that Australia continue to pay close attention to world university rankings but develop more sophisticated means of classifying and benchmarking universities to ensure the required diversity of institutional missions to achieve all that is expected of the system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of diversity has been part of the Australian government's higher education agenda for several years, but empirical studies on the actual state of diversity in the sector are limited. This situation raises questions regarding the factual basis for the policy claims made. With this in mind, this paper seeks to assess the degree of diversity within the Australian higher education sector through an analysis of the perceptions, aspirations and reported activities of Australian academics in terms of their teaching, research and community service. Using data collected in the 2007 international Changing Nature of the Academic Profession survey, we are able to cautiously conclude that some diversity appears to exist, however not to the extent one might expect given the importance placed on institutional groupings in the Australian higher education debate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the significance of the Victorian Educational Department in the middle of World War 1. It students and teachers were taught to give focus on the history of Australia. It cites the book "Glorious Deeds of Australians in the Great War," by E. C. Buley, which was used to read by students and teachers has called thousands of men in a day to get enlisted in the department. This book details the significance of the history of Australia. Meanwhile, in the early 1900s, the Victoria's Education Department expected its students in grades III-VIII to purchase its monthly School Paper, a publication in which the department has considered it as a far in advance on any book of the kind issued in the state.

Universities are required by legislation to provide annual staff unit record files to the Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST). Most universities seem to undertake this task with appropriate diligence. This paper examines the latest staff aggregated data set released by DEST (2005 data), in order to compare average salaries paid by universities to general ('non-academic') staff, and to identify the top salaries paid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]