Building futures for young Australians at risk: a coordinated measurement framework and data archive. This project will build a national data base of evidence about and for programs that address the needs of the 16 per cent of young Australians currently at risk of school non-completion. It will generate important knowledge for program improvement and sustainability and coordination of evidence across diverse and fragmented programs.
Getting a job: vocationalism, identity formation and schooling in communities at disadvantage. This research will use young people's stories to investigate the barriers and obstacles to getting a job, and from their vantage point, identify the educational, policy and practice contexts that need to be created and more widely sustained in order to assist their career aspirations and life chances.
Innovative partnerships for youth engagement in education and work. The project is a partnership between two universities and eight school system agencies across three states. The project will examine how collaboration between schools system, employers and other providers can enhance applied learning in secondary schools and build youth engagement with education and work.
Industry-school partnerships: a strategy to enhance education and training opportunities. Australian and state governments have adopted public-private partnerships as a means of providing education systems that meet the long-term knowledge and skill requirements for key industries of the Australian economy. Identifying the elements of industry-school partnerships that enhance educational and economic outcomes will connect students in urban and regional communities to knowledge networks, access t ....Industry-school partnerships: a strategy to enhance education and training opportunities. Australian and state governments have adopted public-private partnerships as a means of providing education systems that meet the long-term knowledge and skill requirements for key industries of the Australian economy. Identifying the elements of industry-school partnerships that enhance educational and economic outcomes will connect students in urban and regional communities to knowledge networks, access to which is essential for a competitive Australian economy. To support this large investment and innovation, policy recommendations and theoretically informed partnership models resulting from the project will contribute to national economic productivity by enhancing the growth and sustainability of communities hosting partnerships.Read moreRead less
Marginalised students: enhancing life choices through engaging educational policies and practices. This project explores the provision of existing alternative/flexible learning pathways in Queensland for young people who have become disengaged from mainstream schooling. It seeks to assess educational principles and practices that work in such sites so as to develop a framework of educational ‘best practice’ that may inform this sector.
Inspiring Indigenous youth to build resilience and sustain participation with education and employment: the role of targeted mentoring support . This project will develop a model illustrating the attributes and effectiveness of a mentoring program to enhance resilience, and education and employment prospects for Indigenous youth will be developed. The model will inform practice and contribute policy-relevant knowledge toward Government targets of improving Year 12 attainment rates and employment ....Inspiring Indigenous youth to build resilience and sustain participation with education and employment: the role of targeted mentoring support . This project will develop a model illustrating the attributes and effectiveness of a mentoring program to enhance resilience, and education and employment prospects for Indigenous youth will be developed. The model will inform practice and contribute policy-relevant knowledge toward Government targets of improving Year 12 attainment rates and employment outcomes.Read moreRead less
Attracting and sustaining engaged science and mathematics teachers. Attracting and sustaining engaged science and mathematics teachers. This project will examine what attracts or deters potential, future and practising teachers of the sciences and mathematics, by focusing on current teachers, school and university students in Queensland. Promises of a technological revolution and rapid economic development will be hollow if students do not study sciences and mathematics, and there are too few qu ....Attracting and sustaining engaged science and mathematics teachers. Attracting and sustaining engaged science and mathematics teachers. This project will examine what attracts or deters potential, future and practising teachers of the sciences and mathematics, by focusing on current teachers, school and university students in Queensland. Promises of a technological revolution and rapid economic development will be hollow if students do not study sciences and mathematics, and there are too few qualified teachers. This project will identify where to intervene in the science and mathematics teacher supply pipeline, and policy levers to attract and sustain quality teachers. The project is expected to uncover what attracts or deters teachers of science and mathematics—disciplines essential to industry innovation, a skilled workforce and productivity growth.Read moreRead less
A cluster randomised controlled trial of a school-based physical activity intervention in at-risk communities. This project will test the effect of a professional development program targeting physical education teachers, designed to increase students' opportunities to do physical activity during physical education lessons. It will focus on how to enhance their motivation to not only be physically active during physical education lessons, but also outside school hours.
Tracking student outcomes: expanding the International Study of City Youth. The project is intended to expand the International Study of City Youth (ISCY), an Australian-led international longitudinal study, which tracks students in 12 cities through their final years of school and post-school transitions. The project plans to re-contact a larger sample of students than in the original ISCY study design, to increase the study’s scope and impact. Through partnership with the Victorian Curriculum ....Tracking student outcomes: expanding the International Study of City Youth. The project is intended to expand the International Study of City Youth (ISCY), an Australian-led international longitudinal study, which tracks students in 12 cities through their final years of school and post-school transitions. The project plans to re-contact a larger sample of students than in the original ISCY study design, to increase the study’s scope and impact. Through partnership with the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority, it also aims to analyse achievement data for participating students and test students’ cognitive and non-cognitive skills at the point of leaving school. This is intended to address the demand from Australian education policy-makers and providers for better measures of system performance at senior secondary level.Read moreRead less
Senior secondary certification: meeting the national agenda? Senior secondary certificates are subject to multiple sets of national demands that create the risk of weakening their important historical roles and undermining stakeholder support. This project will provide a deeper understanding of the nature of the tensions that need to be balanced within the design and management of the certificates and provide information for future design options in the context of national developments in secon ....Senior secondary certification: meeting the national agenda? Senior secondary certificates are subject to multiple sets of national demands that create the risk of weakening their important historical roles and undermining stakeholder support. This project will provide a deeper understanding of the nature of the tensions that need to be balanced within the design and management of the certificates and provide information for future design options in the context of national developments in secondary and tertiary education. The project has the potential to assist state and territory agencies that are responsible for senior secondary curriculum and certification in making their contributions toward the national goals and targets for education participation set by the Australian Government.Read moreRead less