Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE120100086
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$375,000.00
Summary
Teachers' learning in complex times: theorising teacher professional development practices under globalised policy conditions. This project investigates the effects of national standardised testing on the professional development practices of teachers in rural and urban schools in varied Socio-Economic Status communities in Australia. The project will indicate whether and how such testing influences teachers' learning, and subsequent student learning, in these different types of settings.
Improved student outcomes through positive classroom management. The return on national investment in improving teacher quality is high. Research shows that teacher classroom practice overwhelmingly outweighs student background factors, as well as class size, spending levels and teacher salaries in explaining variation in student achievement. Developing teachers' skills and a strong sense of efficacy in classroom management reduces both teacher and student stress and student distraction. This ma ....Improved student outcomes through positive classroom management. The return on national investment in improving teacher quality is high. Research shows that teacher classroom practice overwhelmingly outweighs student background factors, as well as class size, spending levels and teacher salaries in explaining variation in student achievement. Developing teachers' skills and a strong sense of efficacy in classroom management reduces both teacher and student stress and student distraction. This makes a substantial contribution to improving academic outcomes for students, reducing rates of drop-out and exclusion, and reduces the cost to the nation of a high rate of attrition from the teaching profession. Findings will have implications for achieving sustainable change in professional practice more broadly.Read moreRead less
Building the numeracy and information and communication technology capability of students with intellectual disabilities. This project investigates strategies to build numeracy and information and communication technology capability among students with intellectual disabilities. It aims to support teachers in mainstream and special education schools as they plan and monitor personalised instruction for their students. The research combines disciplines of special schools, the state Education Depa ....Building the numeracy and information and communication technology capability of students with intellectual disabilities. This project investigates strategies to build numeracy and information and communication technology capability among students with intellectual disabilities. It aims to support teachers in mainstream and special education schools as they plan and monitor personalised instruction for their students. The research combines disciplines of special schools, the state Education Department’s Student Inclusion and Wellbeing Division, and the Assessment Research Centre. The expected outcome is an integrated program of assessment, reporting, curriculum, and instructional advice that promotes inclusive educational practices and seeks to ensure all children have improved opportunities to participate in a technology driven, emerging knowledge economy.Read moreRead less
Would more highly-qualified teachers and trainers help to address quality problems in the Australian vocational education and training system? This project examines whether and how higher-level qualifications for vocational education and training (VET) teachers would improve quality in the VET system. Government documents and public commentary indicate that the VET sector suffers from some fairly serious quality problems. This is significant because VET provides training that underpins all Austr ....Would more highly-qualified teachers and trainers help to address quality problems in the Australian vocational education and training system? This project examines whether and how higher-level qualifications for vocational education and training (VET) teachers would improve quality in the VET system. Government documents and public commentary indicate that the VET sector suffers from some fairly serious quality problems. This is significant because VET provides training that underpins all Australian industries. Most VET teachers are qualified only to a Certificate IV level. A more highly qualified VET teaching workforce is likely to lead to improvements in quality; however there is currently no firm evidence to establish this link, as the 2011 Productivity Commission report on the VET workforce pointed out. This project aims to provide much-needed evidence to guide policy.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE140101473
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$381,838.00
Summary
Teacher Professional Development in International Vocational Education and Training. Teachers in the Australian Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector are facing significant professional challenges under the conditions of internationalisation, global skills mobility, the 'Asian Century' and the sector's compliance culture. This project investigates the impacts of these demands upon the professional development needs and practices of VET teachers, an under-theorised and under-researched a ....Teacher Professional Development in International Vocational Education and Training. Teachers in the Australian Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector are facing significant professional challenges under the conditions of internationalisation, global skills mobility, the 'Asian Century' and the sector's compliance culture. This project investigates the impacts of these demands upon the professional development needs and practices of VET teachers, an under-theorised and under-researched area. In so doing, the project will provide unique data for developing concepts, policies and practices that enhance VET teachers' professional development under changed circumstances. It will also produce an innovative conceptual framework for examining teacher professional development in response to internationalisation.Read moreRead less
How do teachers learn to enact the Australian Curriculum? A question of policy in practice. This project aims to show how teachers learn to engage with the new curriculum in the context of increasingly standardised national and international educational reforms. This is significant for determining whether the 'Australian Curriculum' will result in its projected benefits. This project aims to reveal how policy support for the new curriculum influences teacher learning in diverse schooling setting ....How do teachers learn to enact the Australian Curriculum? A question of policy in practice. This project aims to show how teachers learn to engage with the new curriculum in the context of increasingly standardised national and international educational reforms. This is significant for determining whether the 'Australian Curriculum' will result in its projected benefits. This project aims to reveal how policy support for the new curriculum influences teacher learning in diverse schooling settings in a broadly neoliberal, global context.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE140100421
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$378,442.00
Summary
The Creative Turn: An Australia wide Study of Creativity and
Innovation in Secondary Schools. The Melbourne Declaration's Educational Goals for Young Australians advocate that all young Australians should become 'confident and creative individuals' for whom 'critical and creative thinking are fundamental to becoming successful'. This project addresses how creativity and innovative thinking can be nurtured in Australian secondary schools, to help learners better meet the needs of emerging twent ....The Creative Turn: An Australia wide Study of Creativity and
Innovation in Secondary Schools. The Melbourne Declaration's Educational Goals for Young Australians advocate that all young Australians should become 'confident and creative individuals' for whom 'critical and creative thinking are fundamental to becoming successful'. This project addresses how creativity and innovative thinking can be nurtured in Australian secondary schools, to help learners better meet the needs of emerging twenty-first century creative economies, particularly as they are developing in the Asia-Pacific region. This project addresses this imperative by seeking to define, measure and cultivate creativity in Australian schools and, ultimately, to develop a new theoretical framework with which to compare these findings internationally. Read moreRead less
Investigating the effectiveness of teacher education for early career teachers in diverse settings: a longitudinal study. This project investigates the effectiveness of teacher education programs in Victoria and Queensland in preparing teachers for the variety of school settings in which they begin their careers. The findings will inform state and national policy, as well as the work of professional regulation authorities and teacher education providers.
Investing in our disadvantaged youth: new school-wide approaches to understanding and improving school engagement and social connectedness. This project will be the first to test a model of social connectedness to explain the contribution of social exclusion to long-term disadvantage of youths. The outcomes will be a sustainable professional learning program for school staff nationally and internationally and a school-based approach to promote the healthy development of Australian youths.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE130101805
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$366,158.00
Summary
Can educators make a difference: experiencing democracy in education. International research has found that teachers and students understand democracy as only the obligation to vote and obey the law. Knowing how democracy is understood within the Australian education system will have great benefit to the development of appropriate school civic and citizenship programs to promote and strengthen our democratic society.