Search

Well-established evidence of the ill-effects of exclusionary school discipline, its disproportionate use on students of colour, and association with the "school-to-prison pipeline" has, in the last decade, led to systemic reforms in the United States, which are successfully reducing exclusion and improving outcomes. Few studies, however, have similarly investigated overrepresentation in Australia, with little attention to systemic reform as a result. In this study, we analysed suspension, exclusion, and enrolment cancellation rates in Queensland (QLD) government schools between 2013 and 2019 and found Indigenous students were consistently overrepresented. Suspension incidents proportionate to enrolments increased for all students, but this increase was faster for Indigenous than non-Indigenous students and driven primarily by steep rises in short suspensions during primary school (Preparatory-6). Exclusions increased--again disproportionately--for Indigenous students, chiefly in secondary school (7-12). During 2019, Physical Misconduct had the highest incident rate for both groups; however, Indigenous students were most overrepresented in suspensions for Disruptive/Disengaged behaviours. Further, while Indigenous students were overrepresented in all QLD regions, one region's Indigenous suspension rate was higher than all others despite no difference in the distribution of Indigenous/non-Indigenous enrolments across regions. The scale and nature of Indigenous overrepresentation in exclusionary discipline incidents in QLD indicate clear need for further research to secure political commitment to systemic inclusive school reform, as well as to produce high-quality evidence capable of guiding that reform.

More than two decades ago, UNESCO's (1994) "Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action on Special Needs Education" galvanised the inclusion movement by providing a framework for inclusive education. The Statement succeeded in raising awareness of the concept of inclusion internationally, yet genuine inclusion is still the exception and not the norm. This is despite inclusive education being a fundamental human right under the "United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities" (2008; CRPD in July 2008) adopted by the United Nations in 2006 as an international treaty and ratified by 181 countries that are legally bound to uphold its terms. In this paper, we examine education scholars' uptake of the CRPD and GC4, relative to the Salamanca Statement, by conducting a citation analysis of literature published in journals from the fields of inclusive and special education between 1994 and 2019. We then look at how each document has been used in the literature over time and conclude with strategies to help improve knowledge of the CRPD/GC4 within education and discuss how these documents can be used to progress inclusive education internationally.

Limited empirical evidence is available regarding the uptake and effectiveness of school-based mental health and wellbeing programs implemented in Australian schools. This study aimed to characterise the delivery of programs in primary (elementary) schools across New South Wales, Australia, and to assess this information against published ratings of program effectiveness. Delivery of programs in four health-promoting domains--creating a positive school community; teaching social and emotional skills; engaging the parent community; and supporting students experiencing mental health difficulties--were reported by 597 school principals/leaders via online survey. Although three quarters of principals reported implementing at least one program, many of these programs were supported by little or no evidence of effectiveness. There was also variability in the use of evidence-based programs across the four domains. Findings indicate a need to provide educators with improved support to identify, implement, and evaluate effective evidenced-based programs that promote student mental health.

The use of a pedagogical practice known as 'differentiation' has become more common over time as educators have sought to respond to increases in the diversity of students enrolling in their local school. However, there are now so many misperceptions and definitional inconsistencies that it is difficult to know what is being enacted in the name of differentiation or indeed what is being researched internationally. The aim of this scoping review was to identify key characteristics of and conceptualisations within peer-reviewed empirical research on differentiation published between 1999 and 2019, as well as to map the ways in which this body of research was produced. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines were used to inform a systematic screening process and resulted in a final sample of 34 articles focusing on differentiation in regular schools. Half were conducted in the United States and most in the elementary school phase. Survey and case study designs were dominant, as was research of and influences on teacher practice. Only a small group of studies focused on differentiation's impact on student outcomes and these typically only examined specific elements of differentiation or its use in specific academic domains. The diversity of focus and methodological approaches across the 34 studies prevents comparison of findings and weakens the evidential basis to make claims of either differentiation's effectiveness or indeed its ineffectiveness. The review concludes with recommendations for future research and practice in this important area of practice.

In this longitudinal study, the word-level reading trajectories of 118 children were tracked alongside teachers' reported concerns and types of support provided through Grades 1, 2 and 3. Results show a significant decline in composite scores relative to age norms over time, with children achieving significantly lower in phonemic decoding than word recognition at the subtest level. Five group trajectories were identified: children who achieved average or above average scores across all 3 years (n = 64), children who consistently bordered on average (n = 11), children who achieved below average in Grade 1 but who then achieved average or above in Grade 2 or Grade 3 (n = 7), children who achieved average or above in Grade 1 but then declined to below average in Grade 2 or Grade 3 (n = 10), and children who achieved below average across all 3 years (n = 26). Appropriately, teachers' concerns were highest for students in the groups that improved, declined or remained persistently below average. However, analysis of the focus of teachers' concerns and the supports they said were provided to the children in these three groups suggests that teachers are not always accurate in their interpretation of children's presenting characteristics, resulting in the misalignment of support provision.

A rich body of research using teacher report has shown that students with disruptive behavior are at heightened risk of experiencing negative student-teacher relationships over time. However, no research has compared how students with and without disruptive behavior remember their own past relationships. We conducted autobiographical memory interviews with 96 participants (M[subscript age] = 12.31 years, SD = 1.75) from three groups: two containing students with disruptive behavior (one in alternative school, one in mainstream) and one with no disruptive behavior (in mainstream). Whereas all students in the nondisruptive group and most (90.0%) in the disruptive-mainstream group could remember at least one strongly positive student-teacher relationship, one third (32.1%) in the disruptive-alternative school group could not. This previously unidentified subgroup may be particularly at risk of negative school outcomes in the future. Interestingly, 40.5% of students in the nondisruptive group also recalled at least one strongly negative student-teacher relationship. Across groups, students attributed these negative relationships to teacher hostility and injustice. Drawing on these findings, we discuss implications for interventions to encourage positive student-teacher relationships for all students.

This study analyses exclusion, enrolment cancellation, and suspension rates in government schools in the Australian state of Queensland to investigate the impact of legislation to extend principals' disciplinary powers. Results suggest that the provision of alternative disciplinary options, including Saturday detentions and community service, failed to curb increases in the use of enrolment cancellations and exclusions as originally intended. Moreover, suspension rates increased at more than double the rate of enrolment growth during the same period. Year on year analysis of suspension rates reveals two specific calendar years and two particular grade levels in which there were very large increases. These calendar years coincide with two key education reforms in Queensland in addition to the extension of principals' power, indicating that the move to extend principals' disciplinary powers interacted with other major education reforms occurring within that same period. Grade level patterns indicate that education policy and school environments may play a role in rising school suspension rates.

Research suggests that children with behavioural difficulties exhibit "positive illusory bias" (PIB), in which they overestimate their competencies leading to a perception of self that is more positive than the perceptions held by their peers, parents or teachers. However, research to date has focused on children of elementary school age and none has examined the potential role of oral language competence. This study investigates whether children aged 9-16 years with a history of disruptive behaviour exhibit PIB when compared to students with no such history, and whether there are differences between groups in expressive and receptive vocabulary. We found significant differences between groups in expressive vocabulary, but minimal differences between children's, parents', and teachers' ratings of child behaviour. Differences were also found in self-descriptions: participants with disruptive behaviour were less likely to describe themselves positively than participants without. Our research finds no evidence of PIB among older children with disruptive behaviour and suggests that language competence should be considered more closely in future research.

In this paper, we draw on the 'dilemma of difference' to discuss the dangers and affordances of diagnosis within two of the most prevalent, yet under-supported, disabilities affecting school-age children: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Developmental Language Disorder (DLD). The dilemma that exists between denying and thereby ignoring difference on the one hand, versus recognising and potentially stigmatising difference on the other, will be explored and the consequences outlined. Our aim is to achieve a middle ground that conceives of diagnosis as a helpful starting point to enable educators to address barriers to access and participation through appropriate adjustments to curriculum, pedagogy and assessment.

In an effort to support student agency in assessment, teachers seek to provide detailed instructions and advice in associated assessment task sheets. In this paper, we analyse a sample English assessment task to consider how such assessment design practices might inadvertently create barriers to access and participation. To make our case, we highlight the learning characteristics of students in two of the most prevalent disability groups: students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and students with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD). The paper links student agency to the problem of equity by analysing the conditions and criteria of access that are built into assessment design. The article concludes with design recommendations to help improve access for "all" students, including students in these two highly prevalent disability groups.

An increasing number of English schools are embracing an extreme approach to student behaviour dubbed 'no excuses' discipline, inspired by charter school chains in the United States. Proponents argue the approach is necessary to allow "all" teachers to teach and that it places responsibility where it should be: on the student. However, this rationale ignores the interactional nature of classroom disruption and discounts the role played by teachers and teaching. In this paper, I explain the concept of 'cumulative continuity' and then use this concept as a lens to make sense of classroom behaviour using observational data from a current longitudinal research project investigating the development of disruptive school behaviour. The aim of this paper is to highlight the importance of pedagogical contexts, the responsibility that adults have, and the fallacy of the notion that students must be forced to comply in a one-size-fits-all system because we cannot rely on all members of the teaching profession to do the same.

The mandated learning framework, "Belonging, Being & Becoming: The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia" is part of a suite of reforms currently being undertaken in early childhood education in Australia. All educators working in direct contact with young children from birth to the age of five are required to use the Framework or an approved alternative. The reforms are aimed at achieving higher quality and greater equity of early childhood education throughout Australia. This article contemplates the equity of the Framework when the workforce required to use it is diverse and ranges from those who are degree, associate or diploma qualified, to becoming qualified. It considers the implicit construct of the ideal professional practitioner in the policy and the social justice effects of the policy. The article concludes that political concerns about a certain group of educators have been reduced to matters of technical efficiency and that as a consequence, the values of social justice and equity for this group have been subsumed to align with dominant economic imperatives.

This comparative analysis investigates the influence of neo-liberal and inclusive discourses in "special" education policy-making in New South Wales, Scotland, Finland and Malaysia. The centrality of competition, selectivity and accountability in the discourses used in New South Wales and Malaysia suggests a system preference for neo-liberal solutions to education policy problems. The focus on excellence with equity, together with proactive approaches to student support in Scotland and Finland, however, is representative of a more interventionist government approach grounded in social democracy. It is argued that an inclusive approach is conducive to the achievement of both excellence and equity in students' learning outcomes, whereas countries that have pursued market-driven models involving competition for places in selective institutions tend to have poorer educational outcomes and wider levels of inequality.

This paper illustrates the use of exploratory focus groups to inform the development of a survey instrument in a sequential phase mixed-methods study investigating differences in secondary students' career choice capability. Five focus groups were conducted with 23 Year 10 students in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Analysis of the focus group data helped inform the design of the instrument for the second phase of the research project: a large-scale cross-sectional survey. In this paper, we discuss the benefits of using focus groups as an initial exploratory phase in a sequential phase mixed-method design and demonstrate how the findings from this initial exploratory phase informed the development of the survey questionnaire to be used in the main phase of the research. The paper will be of interest to researchers considering the use of exploratory qualitative methods to enhance the quantitative phase in a mixed-methods study.

This paper investigates increases in the identification of special educational needs in the New South Wales (NSW) government school system over the last two decades, which are then discussed with senior public servants working within the NSW Department of Education and Communities (DEC). Participant narratives indicate deep structural barriers to inclusion that are perpetuated by the discourses and practices of regular and special education. Despite policies that speak of "working together" for "every student" and "every school", students who experience difficulty in schools and with learning often remain peripheral to the main game, even though their number is said to be increasing. There is, however, some positive progress being made. Findings suggest that key policy figures within the NSW DEC are keenly aware of the barriers and have adopted alternative strategies to drive inclusion via a new discourse of "participation" which is underpinned by the linking of student assessment and the resourcing of schools.

Students with disruptive behaviour in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) are increasingly being educated in separate "behaviour" schools. There is however surprisingly little research on how students view these settings, or indeed the mainstream schools from which they were excluded. To better understand excluded students' current and past educational experiences, we interviewed 33 boys, aged between 9 and 16 years of age, who were enrolled in separate special schools for students with disruptive behaviour. Analyses reveal that the majority of participants began disliking school in the early years due to difficulties with schoolwork and teacher conflict. Interestingly, while most indicated that they preferred the behaviour school, more than half still wanted to return to their old school. It is therefore clear that separate special educational settings are not a solution to disruptive behaviour in mainstream schools. Whilst these settings do fulfil a function for some students, the preferences of the majority of boys suggest that "mainstream" school reform is of first-order importance.

This article reports findings from an empirical study examining the influence of student background and educational experiences on the development of career choice capability. Secondary school students attending Years 9-12 (N = 706) in New South Wales, Australia, were invited to participate in an online survey that sought to examine factors influencing their readiness to make a career choice. The survey included questions relating to student demographics, parental occupation, attitudes to school and to learning, career aspirations, and students' knowledge of the further education or skills required to achieve their desired goal. We found no significant differences in the proportions of students who were 'uncertain' of their future career aspirations with respect to their individual characteristics, such as age and gender. There were, however, significant differences in relation to students' family background, and their perceptions associated with their own academic abilities and self-efficacy.