Australian Education Research Research Articles

Identity matters: Aboriginal educational sovereignty and futurity pushing back on the logic of elimination

This paper situates the context of the Aboriginal Voices: The state of Aboriginal student experiences in Australian secondary school project special issue of The Australian Educational Researcher in the wider context of First Nations educational research. It outlines the contribution to scholarship that each of the papers within the special issue makes towards developing a more nuanced, research-informed, and deeper understanding about the current state of Aboriginal education in Australia from the voices of those at the coalface. In doing so, this editorial overview highlights that while racism is still rampant across the education sector, and Aboriginal Peoples continue to face deficit discourses about their being and academic capabilities, a new era of sovereign activism is being mobilised by Aboriginal Peoples, and their allies, to drive educational change.

Engaging rurality in Australian education research: addressing the field

In this paper, we examine engagement with ‘the rural context’ in Australian education research, focussing on the implications of the signifier ‘rural’—in terms of its inclusion or absence. A review of Australian research literature in rural education indicates that the term ‘rural’ and its synonyms are more often used to denote assumptions of a generalised and predetermined ‘context’ for research than to think about its meaning. We present our findings here and discuss the implications of the signifier ‘rural’ in the Australian research literature to argue that while educational policy-makers must attempt to think differently about the 'problem of the rural’, the field itself also needs to more fully develop the capacity to do this.

Signing off: reflections on six years as Editor-in-Chief of The Australian Educational Researcher

Signing off: reflections on six years as Editor-in-Chief of The Australian Educational Researcher

Philanthrocapitalism and the State: Mapping the Rise of Venture Philanthropy in Public Education in Australia

Purpose This article maps the rise of venture philanthropy in public education in Australia, exploring how policy networks mobilize high-level systemic reform and governance technologies. This is philanthrocapitalism, a fundamental shift for policy mobility and modes of redistribution. Design/Approach/Methods Drawing upon network ethnography, I focus on a node called Social Ventures Australia (SVA), an organization committed to revolutionizing venture philanthropy in Australian education reform. SVA, the brainchild of McKinsey & Company and multinational corporations, is a useful example to map how venture philanthropy leverages resources and, in the process, fundamentally changes the shape, functionality, and form of traditional government. Findings SVA has successfully advocated for several intermediaries, such as an evidence broker (Evidence for Learning), a national charity (Schools Plus), and a national education research institute (Australian Education Research Organisation). Overlapping philanthropy and state, the intermediaries stand as a critical assemblage and technology of governance. Originality/Value Venture philanthropy and the way in which these networks achieve high-level systemic reform is under-researched in Australia. It stands as a critical lever of policy reform in public education. This article will scrutinize and map the way these networks mobilize reform and function as an identifiable form of economic exchange.

The assemblage of inanimate objects in educational research: mapping venture philanthropy, policy networks and evidence brokers

This paper draws on Ball et al.’s (2017) network ethnography, to investigate policy mobility and the assemblage of inanimate objects in educational research, in the form of an ‘evidence broker’. It focuses on a national education research institute funded by the Australian Government, named the Australian Education Research Organisation (AERO). Positioned as essentially bipartisan and apolitical, AERO was incorporated in 2021 to accelerate the use of research evidence and set a ‘national agenda’. As modelled on the UK's Education Endowment Foundation and the What Works Centre, it establishes important legislative precedents to collaborate with venture philanthropy. The policy network fundamentally reshapes the ecosystem including functionality of capital and power, translating things and ideas into policies that retain material affects.

Developing culturally relevant and collaborative research approaches: A case study of working with remote and regional Aboriginal students to prepare them for life beyond school

For millennia, stories and oral histories have been a fundamental way of sharing knowledge in many Aboriginal cultures. Honouring the role of stories can address a continuing lack of Aboriginal voices in Australian educational research literature. In this paper, we describe the philosophical underpinnings and methodology of our research, which aimed to learn from Aboriginal people about their post-school experiences, particularly in remote communities. The uniqueness of the project included training currently enrolled students as researchers to interview past students through yarning and storying. The collected stories were then interpreted and represented in audio recordings later developed into podcasts, writing, and through art. The aim of these research outcomes is to inform relevant policies and the development of teaching and learning resources for Aboriginal students. The way the methodology of our study evolved in response to the participants’ input is another key focus of this paper as well as having implications for future research.

You Are Not Alone: Pre-Service Teachers’ Exploration of Ethics and Responsibility in a Compulsory Indigenous Education Subject

Aunty Mary Graham, Kombu-merri elder and philosopher, says: "You are not alone in the world." We have a responsibility to each other, as well as to the land; and violence is the refusal of this relationship that binds us (Rose). In this paper, I use Emannuel Levinas’s ethics as first philosophy and epistemological violence to consider how non-Indigenous educators come to know Indigenous people. In his philosophy, Levinas presents a paradox: that to act as if one is a free being, as first philosophy, is to ignore that one is not alone in the world and that the presence of others evokes responsibility. However, to claim to know another is to bring them into one’s totality, one’s knowledge framework; an act of reducing another to who you think they are. We must find a new relationship to knowledge, one that is not based on possession. For non-Indigenous educators learning about teaching Indigenous students and perspectives in schools, much of the curricular material draws on the corpus of knowledge constructed by non-Indigenous researchers, politicians, and professionals about Indigenous people (Nakata, Cultural Interface). This material is already bound by others' interests and motivations. How can non-Indigenous educators engage with Indigenous peoples, histories and knowledges in a way that foregrounds the responsibility that our entanglement prompts? In this paper, I present data from my research into pre-service teachers undertaking a compulsory university subject in Indigenous education, where the pre-service teachers wrote weekly reflective learning journals. This data is drawn primarily from the end of the semester, where students reflected on what their learning would mean as they moved into future practice. I explore the role of responsibility in regards to the ethical violence that Levinas discusses.

Pedagogic rights and the acoustics of health and physical education teacher education: whose voices are heard?

ABSTRACTBackground: Health and Physical Education Teacher Education (HPETE) is increasingly shaped by agendas, stakeholders and accountability regimes that restrict rather than open up what is possible (Tinning [2006]. “Theoretical Orientations in Physical Education Teacher Education.” In The Handbook of Physical Education, edited by D. Kirk, D. Macdonald, and M. O’Sullivan, 369–385. London: SAGE). The evolution of an HPETE programme orientation that is ‘more conservative, less eclectic and adventurous’ (Tinning 2006, 372), and less socio-cultural and democratic (Enright, E., L. Coll, D. Ní Chróinín, and M. Fitzpatrick. [2017]. “Student Voice as Risky Praxis: Democratising Physical Education Teacher Education.” Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy 22 (5): 459–472) has serious implications for both the official and the hidden curriculum (Bain [1975]. “The Hidden Curriculum in Physical Education.” Quest 24 (1): 92–101) of HPETE, meaning the explicit and implicit content and values taught and learned by students.Purpose: In this paper, we seek to identify how, why and to what effect various agendas and stakeholders are shaping HPETE programme orientations in Australia. To this end, we draw on the work of Bernstein and deploy an acoustic metaphor to consider who speaks, who is heard and who is addressed within HPETE, with a particular focus on the implications of these acoustics.Participants and setting: The paper draws on data that were generated across three academic years with the students and teacher educators of one HPETE programme in an Australian university.Data collection: Data were generated through: (1) focus group interviews with teacher educators and students; (2) teacher educator written reflections; (3) programme review documentation for national accrediting bodies; (4) electronic course profiles; and (5) university internal policy documents.Data analysis: These data were subjected to an inductive thematic analysis. Following Armour and Duncombe [(2004). “Teachers’ Continuing Professional Development in Primary Physical Education: Lessons from Present and Past to Inform the Future.” Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy 9 (1): 3–21, this journal], three vignettes were also constructed post-analysis to serve as rhetorical devices to facilitate the reader in engaging with the complexity, the emotionality and the politics of curriculum construction, contestation, reconstruction and reform (Goodson [1984]. “Subjects for Study: Towards a Social History of Curriculum.” In Defining the curriculum: Histories and ethnographies, edited by I. Goodson and S. Ball, 24–44. London: Routledge) and the pedagogic acoustics of one HPETE programme.Findings: HPE teacher educators are serving many masters in order to have programmes accredited whilst also satisfying internal university approval processes and trying to maintain the philosophical integrity and some sense of ownership over HPETE programmes. Students are often unaware of the non-negotiables that have come to define and/or limit how teacher educators teach towards social justice and facilitate democratic engagement and, therefore, are sometimes critical of the disconnect between the ‘walk and talk’ of teacher educators. ‘The medium is the message’ was one of the strongest themes to be constructed from the data set, as all participants agreed that certain institutional and policy arrangements, pedagogical decisions and styles of communication were a large part of what was taught and learned about social justice, democracy and equity in and through HPETE.Discussion and conclusion: In contexts where both teacher educators and student teachers feel that their voices have been silenced, sidelined or muted and their pedagogic rights limited, opportunities for ‘democratic deliberation’ and ‘radical collegiality’ [Fielding (1999). ‘Radical Collegiality: Affirming Teaching as an Inclusive Professional Practice.’ The Australian Educational Researcher 26 (2): 1–34] become imperative. Our discussion engages with the implications of the explicit and implicit values taught and learned by student teachers through their experiences of HPETE and highlights how teacher educators can work to promote the pedagogic rights of their students.

Australian outdoor (and) environmental education research: Senses of “place” in two constituencies

© 2016, Outdoor Education Australia. The Outdoor Council of Australia’s renaming of Australian Journal of Outdoor Education (AJOE) as Journal of Outdoor and Environmental Education (JOEE) follows deliberations among Australian and international stakeholders in outdoor education about the future of publishing in the field and raises a question about the relationships of outdoor and environmental education that Andrew Brookes (1989) voiced more than a decade ago: Is outdoor education environmental education re-invented, or environmental education reconceived? In crafting this essay my initial intention was to review the histories (and possible future trajectories) of changing relationships between outdoor and environmental education research in Australia by appraising manifestations of these relationships within two key (albeit overlapping) constituencies broadly represented by contributions to two Australian journals: AJOE and the Australian Journal of Environmental Education (AJEE). Brookes (1989) argued that the distinctiveness of outdoor education as a form of environmental education is derived from its physical and conceptual isolation from schooling. In the course of examining evidence for his proposition in research literature drawn from these two constituencies, I encountered an allegation that a “sense of place” seemed to be missing from Australian environmental education research. I dispute this allegation and argue that outdoor education’s physical and conceptual isolation from schooling is precisely what enables the cultivation of a “sense of place” in ways that distinguish it from other forms of environmental education. I conclude by reflecting on the implications of AJOE’s name change for cultivating this distinctive approach.

A contextual critique of critical literacy: Freirean ‘generative themes’ and their impact on pedagogic practice

ABSTRACTPublic education in post-industrial societies has been restructured based on a human capital model that prioritizes the economic value of citizens for the benefit of globally competitive national economies. In a policy-as-numbers climate [Lingard, B. (2011). Policy as numbers: Ac/counting for educational research. The Australian Educational Researcher, 38(4), 355–382], school administrators and teachers struggle to ‘produce results’ and ‘close gaps’ within accountability systems built on standardized measures of learning. What possibilities exist for critical literacy as viable classroom pedagogy in such an environment? This article offers a contextual–empirical analysis of efforts to implement critical literacy in mainstream secondary classes in Singapore. Drawing on Freire’s notion of generative themes, it identifies key political-policy constraints, showing how they impacted the pedagogical enactment of critical literacy tenets and pinpointing a focal direction for critical literacy in Singapore’s English education. More generally, the article argues that critical literacy, more than ever, must be a localized practice responding to exigencies emerging at the global–local nexus.

Towards Decolonising Teacher Education: Criticality, Relationality and Intercultural Understanding

ABSTRACTThis paper critically examines two studies that investigated pre- service teacher learning in contrasting contexts: an international study visit and a local service-learning experience. We argue that it is useful to conceive of these experiences as intercultural, and propose that how ‘intercultural’ is theorised in the western academy is object-based with roots in colonialism. We contrast this with a relational logic described by Burbules [1997. A grammar of difference: some ways of rethinking difference and diversity as educational topics. The Australian educational researcher, 24 (1), 97–116] and Osberg [2008. The logic of emergence: an alternative conceptual space for theorising critical education. Journal of the Canadian association for curriculum studies, 6 (1), 133–161]. Using alternative framings we interrogate teacher–learner relationships, highlighting how they were adversely affected by hegemonic practices. Findings indicate that when an object-based, colonising logic is the dominant frame, pre-service teachers were more likely to use ‘Othering’ discourses. When relational, decolonising pedagogies were used, pre-service teachers were more able to begin to teach otherwise. We conclude by making a case for intercultural education to take on a critical relational stance that counters the hegemonic violences that continue to be caused by a colonial abyssal line.

Introduction

This paper conceptualises think tanks and edu-businesses in relation to education policy work in the Australian polity. It situates the enhanced influence of both in relation to the restructured state, which has lost some key capacities in relation to the generation of research and ideas for policy. This restructuring has been strongly influenced by the techniques of new public management, the auditing of education through national and international testing and new forms of network governance, which have opened up spaces for the increased influence of think tanks and edu-businesses across the policy cycle in education. We see here the workings of a 'polycentric state'. The paper also considers changing concepts of 'evidence', 'expertise' and 'influence' in respect of the involvement of think tanks and edu-businesses in circulating policy ideas and affecting policy development in Australian education. This introduction to this special issue of The Australian Educational Researcher serves as a provocation to further research on this new policy scenario.

Putting critical race theory to work in Australian education research: ‘we are with the garden hose here’

There is a rekindled concern for the achievements of Indigenous learners in schooling in Australia. In part, this focus returned to view within mainstream discourses linked with growing neo-liberal influences and efforts to make education more countable and accountable. The emphasis on ‘Indigenous education’ is given shape and substance by a collection of policy, assessment, curriculum and pedagogic ‘closing the gap’ initiatives. Teachers are on the front-line putting into action practices that may realise these policy aspirations, raising questions for me about how teachers come to know and make sense of this suite of initiatives. In this article I draw on interview data with teachers from a suburban high school as they explain their understanding of the ‘closing the gap’ policy framework. The article is organised into two sections, firstly I introduce Critical Race Theory in education and I put to work some of its ideas to examine the ‘gap’ policy climate. Secondly, I present a ‘creative analytic account’ of the teacher perspectives, prior to mapping out the contours and links between their sense making strategies with broader structural and socio-political frameworks that the initiatives are located within. In doing so, I hope to demonstrate the potential usefulness of Critical Race Theory with developing a better understanding of how to work towards racial justice in education.

Resettlement as Rebirth: How Effective Are the Midwives?

Resettlement as Rebirth: How Effective Are the Midwives?

Education research Australia: a changing ecology of knowledge and practice

Processes of national research assessment, such as Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) are a type of audit technology that confronts and steers established institutional identities and traditions. This nexus between policy and practice drives boundary work that diffracts prevailing policy logics, organisational practices, and habits of mind. We use this notion of ‘boundary work’ as an analytical lens for understanding the nature and effects of ERA in the Australian educational research space. This paper explains the methodology that informed the AARE–ACDE research reported in Strategic Capacity Building for Australian Educational Research. It documents the policy logic of ERA and the way it cuts across the established ecology of educational research, revealing social and symbolic work that is remaking the boundaries of educational research. We report on the historical trajectory of Australian educational research, the way ERA codes research outputs, and how educational researchers are repositioning in this shifting research space. We argue that there are specific loci of boundary work where capacity building in Australian educational research can make a difference to future educational knowledge building.

Living in a 2.2 world: from mapping to strategic capacity building for Australian educational research

The results of Australia’s first national research assessment, excellence for research in Australia, provoked considerable discussion about the state of educational research in Australia. Understanding the nature of this field of research became the focus for empirical research and analysis that was intended to inform strategic planning. This paper provides an overview of the articles in this special issue, bringing together research on Australian educational research and insights from international researchers who research the effects of research assessment in educational research in their own countries. These sources inform a commentary on Australian educational research and suggest an agenda for further action on strategic capacity building for Australian educational research.

Strategic capacity building for Australian educational research: creating spaces for action

This paper provides some background information about the Strategic Capacity Building for Australian Educational Research initiative: a joint program of work sponsored by the Australian Association for Research in Education and the Australian Council of Deans of Education. In addition, it offers some broader analysis of the contexts within which Australian Educational Research is being framed and judged, and argues that leaders of educational research need to become more adept at finding and creating spaces in which important policy battles can be won.

Education research in Australia: where is it conducted?

Research assessment exercises aim to identify research quantity and quality and provide insights into research capacity building strategies for the future. Yet with limited knowledge of the ecology of Australian educational research, there is little chance of understanding what research audits might contribute towards a capacity building agenda for such a complex field. This paper draws on secondary data analysis of research outputs submitted by 13 Australian higher education institutions to the Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) 2010 and 2012 national research assessment exercises, to show where Australian educational research is conducted. Findings offer a profile of education researchers by location in academic organisational units within universities. By analyzing data not accessible through reported ERA data we were also able to present information about appointment profiles, specifically levels and type of appointment within universities, as well as data on institutional and geographic region, and patterns associated with type of outputs (books, book chapters, journal articles, conference papers and other outputs) and field of research. Analysis of the data reveals definitive shifts in the nature of the published outputs and in employment profiles of researchers and their location across university and regional groupings. Research audits are administrative processes that reshape institutional and disciplinary governance structures, policies, individual outputs, work practices and careers, but they are not the sum total of the field per se.

Responding to Living in a 2.2 World: ERA, Capacity Building and the topography of Australian Educational Research from Hong Kong

Responding to Living in a 2.2 World: ERA, Capacity Building and the topography of Australian Educational Research from Hong Kong

Changing boundaries—Shifting identities: Strategic interventions to enhance the future of educational research in Australia

This paper reflects on the geography of Australian educational research in the context of the ERA 2010 and 2012 assessments results. These results reflect significant changes to the nature of educational research over the past decades, where this research is conducted and by whom. We recap the historical changes to the formation of educational institutions and their impact on research outputs to demonstrate that interdisciplinary work is growing in a context where there has been a shift in research outputs away from the traditional area of school education. The ERA results demonstrate a high level of research activity in the intersections between previously distinct discipline areas, particularly in the scholarship of teaching and learning. The future of ERA itself is addressed in order to propose interventions that might make a difference to an ecology that is anchored in traditions and tends towards inertia. Finally, we argue that efforts by universities to build research capacity are likely to continue to be competitive, to focus on the individual rather than on departments and schools, and to be subject to an increasingly pervasive culture of accountability. Against this discourse of accountability, and an accompanying loss in autonomy and creative ‘think-time’, we propose that academics in education actively engage in a community of research. We conclude with interventions designed to build a high-quality, analytical and theoretically intensive research culture to underscore educational research in Australia.