Australian Education Research Articles

Australian teacher educators responding to policy discourses of quality

ABSTRACT Political appetite for neoliberal education policy has problematised teacher education in a number of countries, including Australia, the US and England. In Australia, dominant policy discourses of quality normalise the regulation and standardisation of teacher education and position teacher educators within a deficit model of education reform. Such positioning has been shown to have a deleterious impact on professional status, dismantling complex conceptualisations of teacher educators’ work. Framed by key tenets of positioning theory and conceptualisations of policy enactment, this study investigated, using online semi-structured interviews, the ways in which 16 teacher educators in one Australian university positioned policy as “other”, and the ways in which they felt they could or should respond. It found that teacher educators position policy, and engage in the policy process, in complex and varied ways. While many positioned policy as an intruder, with the potential to do harm to the profession, others had made choices that positioned policy as a tool for innovative imagining for programme renewal. Findings also highlight the potential appetite for collaborative positioning between policy makers and teacher educators as partners. These findings have significant implications for future approaches to re-shaping the teacher education policy space both in Australia and beyond.

The Synergy between John Dewey’s Educational Democracy and Educational Reforms in New South Wales, Australia

“Education, therefore, is a process of living and not a preparation for future living. John DeweyThe current study examines the impact of John Dewey’s democratic educational principles on the recent educational reforms in New South Wales, Australia, using data collected through semi-structured in-depth interviews, with open-ended questions, as part of case studies designed for this purpose. The participants in this study are all Australian educators (n=60), undertaking full-time and part-time academic posts, involving learning and teaching activities at universities and other higher educational institutions/providers in Sydney, Australia. As part of the case studies, the individual, personal, and professional teaching and learning journeys of the educators are sketched in details in relation to John Dewey’s four (4) key democratic educational reformative principles. Finally, this research study concludes by providing a realistic response to the following question: Given the current liberal and relatively democratic educational system in New South Wales, are the Australian educators truly given the opportunity to create a positive and constructive future vision for Australia, in general, and the Australian graduates, in particular. The current study further provides a realistic and clear-cut description of the hurdles facing the current educational system in New South Wales, Australia.

Exploring the Opportunities and Challenges Relating to the Variances in Students’ Response to Dissatisfaction in Business Management Educational Services

Consumers respond to their lack of satisfaction with service provision in a variety of ways. For instance, research findings indicates that consumers’ response options to service dissatisfaction is related to customer loyalty, which may impact their future repurchase intentions (Janjua, 2017). The current study investigates the impact of loyalty, and its cultural understanding, on dissatisfaction response styles of university students. In particular, it compares the variations in response options between Anglo-Saxon Australian students and international Middle Eastern students, attending Australian universities and other tertiary higher education Australian institutions, in an attempt to explore the impact of culture on dissatisfaction, and the resultant response options chosen by students, as guided by culturally defined perceptions and values (Newsome & Cooper, 2016). Findings indicate that there are significant variations in terms of the degree of ethnic loyalty and the response options that students engage in as a reaction to educational service dissatisfaction, mostly attributable to differences in cultural values. The contributions of this study are three-fold. First, the current research study further develops our understanding of cultural loyalty and its impact on students’ future repurchase intentions. Secondly, it provides an understanding of the dissatisfaction response styles of university students coming from different ethnic backgrounds. Finally, this study further contributes to our understanding of the relationship between students’ ethnic backgrounds and their respective repurchase decisions.

A Cross-Culture Study of the Opportunities and Challenges of International Students Attending Schools of Business at Western Universities and Higher Education Colleges: “Now, I Have Sufficient Self-Confidence to Seek Advice, and Act on It”

International students attending schools of business at Western universities encounter various interrelated academic, language, cultural and socio-emotional challenges that impact their educational performance and success in their respective study programs, thus, shape their future professional prospects. The purpose of this paper is three-fold. First, develop a better understanding of the cultural and socio-emotional experiences of international Middle Eastern students attending American, British, and Australian universities in 2018, 2019, and early 2020. Secondly, find ways in which American, British, and Australian higher education providers can enhance their efforts in meeting the cultural and social-emotional needs of their international Middle Eastern students. Thirdly, discuss the academic and language experiences of international Middle Eastern students attending schools of business at Western universities in the above mentioned three countries. To this end, case studies have been designed for this purpose, where data is collected through semi-structured in-depth interviews. Accordingly, this study is guided by a series of research questions, as opposed to hypothesis testing. The participants involved in this study are all full-time international Middle Eastern students (n=90), undertaking their programs of study at both the undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral levels at higher education institutions/providers in the three major world leaders in international education.

Great expectations: Senior Indigenous leadership positions in higher education

ABSTRACT Higher education has existed in Australia for 170 years, yet Indigenous Australians have participated for only half a century. One key change the Australian higher education sector has witnessed over the last decade is the steady increase of people occupying senior Indigenous leadership roles. These positions are indeed relatively new and have not been empirically investigated until now. Reporting on findings from an Australian Research Council funded study on Indigenous leadership in higher education, this paper highlights some of the discrepancies in how the skills of Indigenous leaders are interpreted by the academy, with a hope to challenge the sector’s next senior non-identified appointments to ensure that Indigenous people become integral architects in designing the future Australian higher education sector.

Social Work Education and Homelessness: Mobilising Academia–Industry Partnerships to Create a Homelessness Subject

ABSTRACT Homelessness is a significant issue facing many Australian people, and one that social workers are likely to encounter in their professional lives. At present, though, there are no guidelines for social work programs on how to transfer homelessness knowledge into social work education programs. Social work curricula need to be informed by homelessness research, policy, and practice to reflect the contemporary Australian terrain, and to be responsive to emerging concerns. One approach, discussed in this article, is the mobilisation of an academia–industry partnership to create a dedicated homelessness subject for social work students. The subject, profiled here, offers an example of how social work can incorporate homelessness knowledge to benefit graduates, the sector, consumers, and academia. IMPLICATIONS Homelessness is a critical issue for social work practice, policy, and research, the impacts of which graduates are likely to encounter regardless of their specific fields of practice. There are no current guidelines for including homelessness in Australian social work education programs. A dedicated social work subject can furnish graduates with a strong foundation for entering the homelessness sector. Academia–industry partnerships have the potential to provide a systematic method of translating homelessness knowledge to future social workers through educational programs.

Pathways to school success: Self-regulation and executive function, preschool attendance and early academic achievement of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children in Australia's Northern Territory.

With the pending implementation of the Closing the Gap 2020 recommendations, there is an urgent need to better understand the contributing factors of, and pathways to positive educational outcomes for both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children. This deeper understanding is particularly important in the Northern Territory (NT) of Australia, in which the majority of Aboriginal children lived in remote communities and have language backgrounds other than English (i.e. 75%). This study linked the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) to the attendance data (i.e. government preschool and primary schools) and Year 3 National Assessment Program for Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN). Structural equation modelling was used to investigate the pathway from self-regulation and executive function (SR-EF) at age 5 to early academic achievement (i.e. Year 3 reading/numeracy at age 8) for 3,199 NT children. The study confirms the expected importance of SR-EF for all children but suggests the different pathways for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children. For non-Aboriginal children, there was a significant indirect effect of SR-EF (β = 0.38, p<0.001) on early academic achievement, mediated by early literacy/numeracy skills (at age 5). For Aboriginal children, there were significant indirect effects of SR-EF (β = 0.19, p<0.001) and preschool attendance (β = 0.20, p<0.001), mediated by early literacy/numeracy skills and early primary school attendance (i.e. Transition Years to Year 2 (age 5-7)). This study highlights the need for further investigation and development of culturally, linguistically and contextually responsive programs and policies to support SR-EF skills in the current Australian education context. There is a pressing need to better understand how current policies and programs enhance children and their families' sense of safety and support to nurture these skills. This study also confirms the critical importance of school attendance for improved educational outcomes of Aboriginal children. However, the factors contributing to non-attendance are complex, hence the solutions require multi-sectoral collaboration in place-based design for effective implementation.

Infant educators’ use of mental-state talk in Australia and China: a cross-cultural comparative study

ABSTRACT This study compares the mental-state talk of infant educators in Australia and China in order to determine the nuanced differences in the ways that they use this talk with the infants in their room. Participants are 44 native English-speaking Australian educators from centres in Sydney, Australia and 30 native Chinese-speaking infant educators recruited from centres in and around Hangzhou, China. Twenty-minute samples of each educators’ naturally occurring play interactions with infants during play were coded to determine the frequency of their desire, emotion, perception, cognition and modulation of assertion talk. Each mental-state term was also coded according to the referent of that mental-state. We examined the extent to which Australian and Chinese educators’ use mental-state talk and how the referents of such talk differed by mental-state talk type and culture. Australian educators used significantly more mental-state talk than their Chinese counterparts. Different patterns of referent use across cultural cohorts and mental-state talk types were identified. Findings have implications for the socialisation of very young children into culturally specific ways of talking and thinking about the mind.

Australian Educators' Perceptions and Attitudes Towards a Trauma-Responsive School-Wide Approach.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40653-021-00394-6.

Managing or Mentoring? Reflections on the Role Modelling of Human Rights Within Australian Social Work Field Education

Managing or Mentoring? Reflections on the Role Modelling of Human Rights Within Australian Social Work Field Education

A comparison of Australian and Swiss secondary school teachers’ attitudes, concerns, self-efficacy, and intentions to teach in inclusive classrooms: does the context matter?

ABSTRACT The study examines attitudes, concerns, self-efficacy, and intentions of secondary school teachers from Australia (n = 140) and Switzerland (n = 221) to teach in inclusive classrooms. Australian educators had more positive attitudes towards inclusion, fewer concerns and higher self-efficacy to teach inclusively when compared to their Swiss counterparts. Further, the authors found that Australian teachers had significantly more positive intentions to teach in inclusive classrooms when compared to their Swiss counterparts. Considering intentions to enact a behaviour play an important role in the actual enactment of the behaviour, (Ajzen 1991) it was important to determine if predictors of participants’ intentions differed in Australia and Switzerland. Overall, Swiss teachers’ intentions to teach in inclusive classrooms were more strongly influenced by the variables of attitudes, concerns and self-efficacy than those of the Australian teachers. All three variables predicted Swiss participants intention scores, while two (i.e. attitudes and self-efficacy scores) predicted Australian educators’ intention scores. The researchers examine the variability of policy reforms and teacher education programmes as a potential explanation for the differences in these two countries and discuss implications of our findings for both these and other countries implementing inclusive education reforms.

The importance of social supports in education: survey findings from students with disability and their families during COVID-19

Emergency situations such as pandemics typically widen inequities, and Australian children and young people with disability already face significant inequities in the education system. In this paper we draw on survey data from over 700 respondents exploring education experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many families reported being left behind, finding it difficult to access education remotely, and that this was having a significant impact on wellbeing and mental health. We find that of all support offered by schools, social supports have a stronger association with learner engagement than educational interventions. This finding indicates the importance of social and emotional supports in learning. Points of interest The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly disrupted education for most learners; There is good evidence to suggest this impact is felt more keenly by students with disability, because there is disability discrimination in the Australian education system; This paper reports survey responses from over 700 families of students with disability exploring the impact of COVID-19 on education; Many families report being left behind and that students found it difficult to learn away from the school campus, which for many students and families led to poorer wellbeing and mental health; Our results suggest that supporting students to have social contact with peers made the biggest impact on students with disability feeling engaged with learning during this time. This shows it is important for teachers and schools to pay attention to social as well as educational aspects of school life when thinking about how to educate students with disability.

Concession-bargaining in Australian higher education: the case of the National Jobs Protection Framework

ABSTRACT Australian universities suffered significant financial losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) responded with a concession-bargaining strategy, offering university managements a National Jobs Protection Framework (NJPF), which traded pay reductions for job security measures. This article provides an account of the development, promotion, and eventual collapse of the NJPF. We analyse the arguments for and against the NJPF, drawing on contemporary material from its supporters and opponents, and insights from the literature on concession-bargaining. We conclude that concession-bargaining was an unsuccessful strategy for the union, and put forward an alternative industrial strategy.

‘Come willing to learn’: experiences of parents advocating for their children with severe vision impairments in Australian mainstream education

ABSTRACT This article presents the findings from interviews with thirteen parents of students with severe vision impairment who attend mainstream schools in Queensland, Australia. Participants were interviewed about their experiences in advocating for their children in a range of educational contexts. These experiences varied greatly depending on a number of factors, such as attitudes to inclusivity and ableism, perceptions of vision impairment, school culture, teacher-parent communication, and competing agendas. Using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, the authors provide illuminating data on three broad themes: parents’ experiences of advocating for their children, parents’ experiences of utilising support networks and funding, and parents’ suggestions for schools and teachers. Important recommendations for teachers, schools, parents, students, and service providers are offered, with specific advice to develop a community of care, collaboration, and high expectations for students with vision impairment.

Making the links between health and physical education, sport and civics and citizenship education in Australia

ABSTRACT This paper explores Health and Physical Education (HPE) students' understanding of Civics and Citizenship Education (CCE) and discusses some of the links that connect HPE, sport and CCE in Australia. A brief overview of CCE key features is provided. Second- and third-year HPE pre-service teachers at an Australian regional university were surveyed to gauge what the baseline of knowledge and understanding of CCE amongst beginning teachers might be. Shared learning opportunities between HPE and CCE are discussed in different parts of the paper in relation to fair play; ethical debates and dilemmas; community involvement; identity; and respect for inclusivity. Linking to the pre-service teacher responses, the paper provides suggestions for some practical ways in which Australian HPE educators might make connections between the CCE curriculum and inter-connected HPE learning contexts for Year 3 to Year 8 students, the years for which a Civics and Citizenship curriculum is specified in the Australian Curriculum.

Feeding practices in Australian early childhood education and care settings.

Feeding practices used by educators in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) settings can influence the diet quality of young children. However, Australian data is scarce and limited to describing barriers to responsive feeding. This study describes the use of feeding practices amongst a group of Australian educators. Direct observation of feeding practices and assessment of centre policy were conducted using the 'Environment and Policy Assessment and Observation' tool. Self-reported feeding practices and demographic data were collected via online survey using the Childcare Food and Activity Practices Questionnaire. Ten centre-based ECEC services in South East Queensland, Australia. Educators working in ECEC. A total of 120 meals were observed and 88 educators provided self-report data (n 84 female). Centre policy supported the use of responsive feeding practices, and this was reflected in the high frequency with which children could decide what and how much to eat, across both observed and self-report data as well as low levels of pressure to eat and use of food as a reward (observed at 19·9 % and 0 % of meals). The only apparent discrepancy was regarding modelling. Median score for self-reported role-modelling was 5·0 (4·3-5·0) and educators were observed to sit with children at 75 % of meals, however observed occasions of enthusiastic role modelling was only 22 % (0-33·3) of meals. Research addressing how educators conceptualise feeding practices, as well under what circumstances they are used, particularly in centres with different models of food provision, may shed light on why modelling is rarely implemented in practice.

School autonomy and discrimination against students with disability in Australian primary and secondary education settings: a scoping review

ABSTRACT It is unlawful under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth) for Australian schools to discriminate against students based on disability. Yet discrimination against students with disability is on the increase in Australian schools, and so is the decentralisation and autonomy of schools. This scoping review set out to determine what evidence exists of an association between school autonomy and discrimination against students with disability, primarily in Australia but with an additional examination of studies conducted in England. It further examined the type of research methods that have been used to investigate this topic. Included studies did not provide direct evidence of a causal association between school autonomy and discrimination against students with disability; however, the findings uncovered worrisome trends suggesting that an association may exist. Examination of the included studies’ research methods suggests that a more fit-for-purpose methodology is required to determine the association between school autonomy and discrimination against students with disability in primary and secondary education settings.

The risk of being researched: Re-envisioning educator research participation for high-quality early childhood education

The participation of educators in research contributes to understanding and developing high-quality early childhood education. Consequently, increasing educator participation in research is beneficial. To increase educator research participation, it is important to understand educators’ experiences of research. This article draws on findings from a qualitative multisite case study that explored educators risk-taking in early childhood education. Data were collected by observing and interviewing 55 educators from three Australian early childhood education sites. Findings discussed in this article show that for educators in the study, participation in the research felt both beneficial and risky. Educators found research participation beneficial for learning and professional development, and some educators found participation risky because of uncertainty and fear associated with participation in the research. Based on these findings, two strategies are suggested to increase educator research participation: 1) Reviewing the conditions for educator research participation and 2) The normalisation of educator research participation. Findings provide useful insight for the early childhood education community in strengthening educator participation in research. Insights have implications for both researchers and those delivering teacher education programs.

Constructions of quality: Australian Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) services during COVID-19

ABSTRACT There is increasing pressure on Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) settings to align their practices and values to that of schools, with the notion that a quality education in ECEC consists of providing care whilst also ensuring strong learning outcomes. This paper employs the constructs of structural and process quality to theorise the perceived disparities between ECEC institutions and schools and between ECEC services during the COVID-19 pandemic. The experiences of 29 Australian ECEC educators provide insight into the differing constructions of quality across ECEC services during the COVID-19 lockdown periods that occurred from May to August 2020 in the state of Victoria. The findings suggest that despite increasing pressure for ECEC programmes to be more like schools, the pandemic amplified society’s positioning of ECEC as a caregiving service, highlighting the perceived differences between ECEC and schools and within the ECEC sector itself. While the findings suggest that ECEC educators were discouraged by the lack of recognition they received for providing quality education during the pandemic, the disruption of the pandemic prompted opportunities for reflection and action, providing more visibility of the quality of care that ECEC educators provide and the importance of their roles within the community.

The Special School as ‘Natural Habitat’? On the Persistence of Segregated Education of Students With Intellectual Disabilities

In this essay, I explore the reasons behind the persistence of segregated education of students with intellectual disabilities in Austria. Doing so, I critically interrogate three phases of the Austrian education system concerning the role of students with intellectual disabilities: (1) The rapid expansion of special schools in the 1960s and 1970s, (2) the rise of integrated education in the 1980s and 1990s and (3) the last two decades, which were characterized by budget cuts, school accountability policies and failed efforts to further the implementation of inclusive education.