Gauging the value of flexible learning options for disenfranchised youth and the Australian community. Investment in flexible learning options (FLOs) for young people who have disengaged from schooling requires understanding of how they work and evidence about their economic and social value. This project will provide both through innovative and integrated methods, analysing FLO sites across three Australian states and the Northern Territory.
Empowering Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Girls, Changing Communities. This project applies Indigenous knowledges to develop new understandings and insights in the area of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander girls’ education. Expected outcomes of the project include: the development of a national framework that supports the education of girls and acknowledges the importance of self-determination, culture, gender and place in creating life changing educational opportunities; addressing Clo ....Empowering Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Girls, Changing Communities. This project applies Indigenous knowledges to develop new understandings and insights in the area of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander girls’ education. Expected outcomes of the project include: the development of a national framework that supports the education of girls and acknowledges the importance of self-determination, culture, gender and place in creating life changing educational opportunities; addressing Close the Gap targets; and creating broader long lasting positive changes regarding access, participation and success for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. The outcomes of this project can provide significant benefits to the broad Australian schooling system.Read moreRead less
ABRA: improving foundational literacy through technology in regional and remote schools through a randomized controlled trial. Education outcomes in regional and remote Australia, particularly for Indigenous students, are worsening, to the point of constituting a national crisis. Skilled educators are not consistently available in sufficient numbers to arrest this trend in the early years by giving the intensive, continuous expert instruction required. Under limited pilot conditions, a web-base ....ABRA: improving foundational literacy through technology in regional and remote schools through a randomized controlled trial. Education outcomes in regional and remote Australia, particularly for Indigenous students, are worsening, to the point of constituting a national crisis. Skilled educators are not consistently available in sufficient numbers to arrest this trend in the early years by giving the intensive, continuous expert instruction required. Under limited pilot conditions, a web-based instructional tool known as ABRACADABRA has shown considerable promise as a means of conferring the foundational skills in literacy for emerging learners, despite high workforce turnover. Testing the effectiveness of ABRACADABRA under more stringent experimental conditions is an essential precursor to offering tested solutions based on evidence, not advocacy.Read moreRead less
Building the future for Indigenous students. The relationship of future vision, learning, and motivational profiles to school success. Indigenous students are the most severely disadvantaged group in Australia. Education as currently provided is failing them in the NT. Future Directions for Secondary Education in the NT states that 20% of secondary-aged Indigenous students are not enrolled in school, with only 6% completing the NTCE in 2002. Education is the corner stone of social justice becaus ....Building the future for Indigenous students. The relationship of future vision, learning, and motivational profiles to school success. Indigenous students are the most severely disadvantaged group in Australia. Education as currently provided is failing them in the NT. Future Directions for Secondary Education in the NT states that 20% of secondary-aged Indigenous students are not enrolled in school, with only 6% completing the NTCE in 2002. Education is the corner stone of social justice because it is the basis of opportunity (Burney 03). This research will provide critical hard data on the relationship of Indigenous students' future vision and aspirations, motivation, self-concept and self-regulation, language and culture to school achievement in order to design and provide culturally relevant education to maximise Indigenous opportunities and futures.Read moreRead less
Building a bridge into preschool in remote Northern Territory communities. The focus of this project is the engagement of remote Indigenous children and families in a culturally appropriate, evidence-based early childhood education and care program that provides an opportunity to close the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous school achievement.
Transforming Cultural & Natural Resource Management workforce capabilities. This project aims to implement a transformative program of transdisciplinary cultural and natural resource management and workforce development research in Northern Australia’s Arnhem Plateau region. This project expects to create new knowledge in the areas of cultural knowledges, wildfire, feral animal, invasive plants, mine-site rehabilitation, and climate change, as well as Indigenous training effectiveness. Expected ....Transforming Cultural & Natural Resource Management workforce capabilities. This project aims to implement a transformative program of transdisciplinary cultural and natural resource management and workforce development research in Northern Australia’s Arnhem Plateau region. This project expects to create new knowledge in the areas of cultural knowledges, wildfire, feral animal, invasive plants, mine-site rehabilitation, and climate change, as well as Indigenous training effectiveness. Expected outcomes of the project include practical learnings for application in broader Indigenous community/First Nations capability and supportive policy development contexts. The expected benefits are a long-term platform for enhancing cultural and environmental landscape management and sustainable employment opportunities.Read moreRead less
Assessing the development, well-being, and community connectedness of children in the middle years: The Middle Development Instrument for Australia. This project develops the Middle Development Instrument (MDI) which gives children a voice, an opportunity to communicate to adults about what their experiences are inside and outside of school. The MDI has great potential to provide educators, parents, researchers, and policy makers with much needed information about the psychological and social wo ....Assessing the development, well-being, and community connectedness of children in the middle years: The Middle Development Instrument for Australia. This project develops the Middle Development Instrument (MDI) which gives children a voice, an opportunity to communicate to adults about what their experiences are inside and outside of school. The MDI has great potential to provide educators, parents, researchers, and policy makers with much needed information about the psychological and social worlds of children.Read moreRead less
Cycle Aware: Driving with Bikes. This project focuses on the education and training required by drivers to interact safely with cyclists. It uses two ontologically diverse methodologies to examine how Australian drivers become cyclist aware and the education and training necessary to foster safe driver–cyclist interactions. The project aims to provide a critical knowledge base for state and territory driver education policies and a cycle-aware module for learner drivers. These outcomes are inten ....Cycle Aware: Driving with Bikes. This project focuses on the education and training required by drivers to interact safely with cyclists. It uses two ontologically diverse methodologies to examine how Australian drivers become cyclist aware and the education and training necessary to foster safe driver–cyclist interactions. The project aims to provide a critical knowledge base for state and territory driver education policies and a cycle-aware module for learner drivers. These outcomes are intended to reduce cyclist road trauma and on-road tensions between cyclists and drivers, and to improve opportunities for active travel to tackle the growing issue of inactivity.Read moreRead less
Determining implementation drivers in resilience education. Determining implementation drivers in resilience education. This project aims to develop implementation frameworks to help the education sector universally provide resilience education programmes. More young people have mental health problems. Although evidence-based resilience education reduces these problems, education sectors do not know how to address barriers to school provision. The solution is implementation research. This projec ....Determining implementation drivers in resilience education. Determining implementation drivers in resilience education. This project aims to develop implementation frameworks to help the education sector universally provide resilience education programmes. More young people have mental health problems. Although evidence-based resilience education reduces these problems, education sectors do not know how to address barriers to school provision. The solution is implementation research. This project will study system and school-level factors influencing primary and high school uptake of social and emotional learning curricula that enhance resilience; and implementation drivers at both system and school levels, and influences on uptake and student and staff resilience. The outcome is universal provision of resilience education programs that benefit young people.Read moreRead less
Let's Start Indigenous Preschool Evaluation Project: Links between behaviour and outcomes. Indigenous education and social outcomes lag far behind those of other Australians. The situation can be considered a social emergency. This research will provide evidence of the benefits of investment in preventive strategies to respond to difficulties faced by Aboriginal preschool children who struggle to negotiate the transition through preschool into early primary school. It provides immediate assista ....Let's Start Indigenous Preschool Evaluation Project: Links between behaviour and outcomes. Indigenous education and social outcomes lag far behind those of other Australians. The situation can be considered a social emergency. This research will provide evidence of the benefits of investment in preventive strategies to respond to difficulties faced by Aboriginal preschool children who struggle to negotiate the transition through preschool into early primary school. It provides immediate assistance to families and children in difficulty and direct support to the education industry by developing a program of supportive interventions to assist schools. It will provide national benefits by contributing to evidence on determinants of indigenous child development and school outcomes. Read moreRead less