Cyberkids and cyberworlds: new literacies, identities and communities in formation. Little is known of the online cyberworlds of young Australians. Yet they are the highest users of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs). This project theorises that these cyberworlds are sites for the development of new forms of literacy, identity and community. This study will achieve a new perspective by utilising a multi-disciplinary approach to produce case studies that examine new literacies an ....Cyberkids and cyberworlds: new literacies, identities and communities in formation. Little is known of the online cyberworlds of young Australians. Yet they are the highest users of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs). This project theorises that these cyberworlds are sites for the development of new forms of literacy, identity and community. This study will achieve a new perspective by utilising a multi-disciplinary approach to produce case studies that examine new literacies and communities generated online and their consequences for literacy and ICT education practice. Such information is vital in Australia and internationally if education is to produce the highly technologically literate citizens on whom future economic prosperity depends.Read moreRead less
Teaching reading in Australia: An historical investigation of early reading pedagogy, the figure of the teacher and literacy education. This project will make a distinctive national and international contribution to reading pedagogy and literacy research by reconceptualising debates about the teacher of reading and establishing an historical foundation for the study of reading pedagogy in teacher education and professional development practices. Teacher education, already a site of national conc ....Teaching reading in Australia: An historical investigation of early reading pedagogy, the figure of the teacher and literacy education. This project will make a distinctive national and international contribution to reading pedagogy and literacy research by reconceptualising debates about the teacher of reading and establishing an historical foundation for the study of reading pedagogy in teacher education and professional development practices. Teacher education, already a site of national concern, will be reinvigorated by new insights and frameworks for training through access by teacher educators to the corpus of data on a website and through publications and conference presentations that will provide a new vision of the complex processes involved in teaching reading.Read moreRead less
On Becoming a Middle School Teacher: Reclaiming the Wasteland of the Middle Years of Schooling. This project aims to investigate how teachers in Australian government schools committed to the middle years of schooling (ages 14-16), are 'reinventing' their teaching in the current policy reform context. The research will explore how policies support or hinder teachers in establishing and sustaining educative relationships with young adolescents. Detailed ethnographic case studies will examine ho ....On Becoming a Middle School Teacher: Reclaiming the Wasteland of the Middle Years of Schooling. This project aims to investigate how teachers in Australian government schools committed to the middle years of schooling (ages 14-16), are 'reinventing' their teaching in the current policy reform context. The research will explore how policies support or hinder teachers in establishing and sustaining educative relationships with young adolescents. Detailed ethnographic case studies will examine how teachers restructure and reculture what schools do to better serve students who are increasingly 'at risk'. The project will provide crucial understandings into the theory, policy and practice of teaching necessary to enable all young adolescents to experience a rewarding high school education.Read moreRead less
Mandated literacy assessment and the reorganisation of teachers' work. The study will inform practitioners, teacher educators and educational policy-makers about the ways that teachers' work is being changed by the introduction of mandated standardised assessment and reporting processes. The research will provide insights into the ways in which teachers need to adapt standardised processes and policies to account for the varied student and community populations they serve. This is significant fo ....Mandated literacy assessment and the reorganisation of teachers' work. The study will inform practitioners, teacher educators and educational policy-makers about the ways that teachers' work is being changed by the introduction of mandated standardised assessment and reporting processes. The research will provide insights into the ways in which teachers need to adapt standardised processes and policies to account for the varied student and community populations they serve. This is significant for educational policy as recent international studies of students' literacy performance suggest Australia is lagging in terms of equity for low SES students. Read moreRead less
Teachers Investigate Unequal Literacy Outcomes: Cross Generational Perspectives. Unequal outcomes in literacy remains the most intractable problem facing our educational community. This research will investigate both historical and contemporary literacy practice in terms of its differential effects on primary school children. It recognises the teacher as the most significant factor in improving student outcomes and builds teacher researcher communities to document teaching that makes a differenc ....Teachers Investigate Unequal Literacy Outcomes: Cross Generational Perspectives. Unequal outcomes in literacy remains the most intractable problem facing our educational community. This research will investigate both historical and contemporary literacy practice in terms of its differential effects on primary school children. It recognises the teacher as the most significant factor in improving student outcomes and builds teacher researcher communities to document teaching that makes a difference for 'at risk' children. Its unique cross generational methodology will make overt links between one generation of teachers and the next and produce new knowledge about literacy and disadvantage. Practical applications for teacher education and professional mentoring across generations will be developed.Read moreRead less
Sustaining effective educational initiatives. This project aims to investigate how educational initiatives can be sustained over the long term. Schools and early childhood and care services deliver programmes to develop students' social and emotional wellbeing, promote mental health, prevent bullying and address eating disorders. However, effective initiatives often fade away when start-up resources run out. This project will review models of implementation and provide exemplars of good practice ....Sustaining effective educational initiatives. This project aims to investigate how educational initiatives can be sustained over the long term. Schools and early childhood and care services deliver programmes to develop students' social and emotional wellbeing, promote mental health, prevent bullying and address eating disorders. However, effective initiatives often fade away when start-up resources run out. This project will review models of implementation and provide exemplars of good practice to better enable sustainability at all phases of implementation, evaluation and long-term maintenance of educational initiatives.Read moreRead less
The provision of education to migrants and refugees: a longitudinal study of newly arrived students' experiences of education in Australia. This project will investigate the education provided to primary school aged newly-arrived students from non-English speaking backgrounds. The outcomes will help ensure that these students do not 'drop out' of school early, that their experiences of education in Australia are positive, and that their chances of securing employment are maximised.
Capacitating student aspirations in classrooms and communities in a high poverty region. This project studies the aspirations of students in a disadvantaged area, as cultural resources for completing school, accessing higher education and realising desirable futures. It will produce new concepts and research methods for increasing social equity by working closely with students and families, and making links between schools and communities.
Knowledge/economy/society: a sociological study of an education policy discourse in Australia in globalising circumstances. Education policies that fuse knowledge, economy and society are globally influential. Such policies seek to promote economic and social enhancement. Yet critics claim that these policies have a narrow view of knowledge, society and the economy, and of current trends. This study adopts inventive methodologies to assess such critics' claims in the light of research by leading ....Knowledge/economy/society: a sociological study of an education policy discourse in Australia in globalising circumstances. Education policies that fuse knowledge, economy and society are globally influential. Such policies seek to promote economic and social enhancement. Yet critics claim that these policies have a narrow view of knowledge, society and the economy, and of current trends. This study adopts inventive methodologies to assess such critics' claims in the light of research by leading sociologists. It explores the ways that the knowledge/economy/society discourse is interpreted in national and supranational policy texts, by senior policy agents and in innovative educational programs in different educational settings. The research findings will enrich education policy research and benefit national education policy.Read moreRead less
Beyond access: women, higher education and the quiet revolutions of the 1950s. This project challenges the standard narrative of women in the 1950s through a study of the intersections of higher education, gender and place. By studying women graduates in Australia and the United States within the context of demographic, employment and cultural change, it develops life histories of graduate women over several decades of their post-universtiy lives, drawing on comparative sources. It offers a new ....Beyond access: women, higher education and the quiet revolutions of the 1950s. This project challenges the standard narrative of women in the 1950s through a study of the intersections of higher education, gender and place. By studying women graduates in Australia and the United States within the context of demographic, employment and cultural change, it develops life histories of graduate women over several decades of their post-universtiy lives, drawing on comparative sources. It offers a new framework for women's educational history, one that goes beyond access and focuses on the new identities that were formed as graduate women negotiated the contradictions of higher education and the dominant femininity of the period.Read moreRead less