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This paper reports a project undertaken for the Queensland Studies Authority as part of its review of the senior phase of schooling. The project took the form of a content analysis of Authority and Authority Registered Senior syllabuses in Queensland. The aim was to analyse syllabus documents and to assess the extent to which courses based on them would prepare students who opt for post-school pathways of university or vocational education, or who move directly to the workplace. The task required a review of the learning needs of students in meeting the demands of the various post-school pathways, and a formulation of what would be a relevant preparation for these demands. The outcomes of this process were the basis for developing a content analysis framework which was applied to the syllabuses. The paper will report the process and findings of the research, and comment on conceptual and methodological issues for curriculum research of this kind.

Published abstract reprinted by permission of AARE.

Selected papers from the 2006 AARE National Conference are indexed from TD/TNC 89.545 to TD/TNC 89.550 and from TD/TNC 89.701 to TD/TNC 89.710. Show less

In this paper we provide a contextualising account of a new four-year [Australian Research Council] ARC study 'Indigenous Teachers: understanding their professional pathways and career experiences'. The project has grown from our concerns about the low numbers of Indigenous teachers in schools and questions about why it is that of the few Indigenous teacher education students who graduate, many resign from teaching after short periods of time or never take up teaching positions at all. We believe that one of the reasons for the under representation of Indigenous teachers is due to what we are calling the 'impenetrability' of the dominant white culture of schooling, a racial imagery that portrays the 'naturalness' of whiteness. Such imagery informs the everyday practices and relations of social power of Australian schooling from curriculum policy to the organisation of the school sports. Our research project is concerned in part with making visible the discourses of whiteness that shape the experiences and career pathways of Indigenous teachers. In this paper we draw on excerpts of data from interviews with Indigenous teachers in order to begin to understand how discourses of whiteness have shaped their teaching and professional experiences.

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This volume contains papers presented at the Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE) annual conference held in Hobart in 1985. The theme of this conference was ‘Educational research: then and now’. Show less

The aim of this paper is to analyse what kinds of work-related literacy demands structural adjustment places on local and regional communities and to consider what might constitute innovative, and socially, economically and environmentally sustainable, strategic approaches to those demands.

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The Federal government's recent mandate for increasing numbers of students from disadvantaged backgrounds has moved some universities into action by initiating new school partnerships (such as the University of Sydney's Compass program reported in the Sydney Morning Herald (Gilmore, 2010). Step Up Into Teaching (SUIT) is an innovative higher education program developed by the Australian Catholic University (ACU) in collaboration with two Catholic Education Offices (CEO) in Sydney. It aims to provide access to higher education for students from low socioeconomic backgrounds. University studies can often seem out of reach of students, particularly those who have no family experience of higher education. For these students university study is often considered a leap into the unknown (Lowe and Cook, 2003). It is also acknowledged that the types of learning in school and tertiary systems differ and that this can result in a phenomenon known as transfer shock (Rhine, Milligan and Nelson, 2000) for those beginning tertiary studies. SUIT was specifically designed to address these issues with two key goals: firstly, to allow students (particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds) to experience university study, and thus consider it as a realistic post-school option; and secondly, to increase academic self-efficacy for university study by developing personalised and contextually specific programs that provide strong support in developing academic skills. SUIT has now been running for ten years and as such has anticipated the recommendations of the Bradley Review (Review of Australian Higher Education, Final Report, 2008) by targeting students who otherwise would not consider tertiary education. The program follows students from the final year of secondary school into the first year of higher education enabling them to complete university study equivalent to one core first-year unit, through in-school teaching by the university staff. The study students undertake is an information and communication technology (ICT) rich psychology based unit. This unit has been selected purposefully in order to engage students in the content and dispel the pre-formed perceptions that students have of tertiary education, through the use of a variety of common and emerging technologies. It is acknowledged that the contemporary student has been born into a technology revolution; their daily routines include the use of a myriad of digital technologies, therefore, recognising technology as a crucial facet of functioning within modern day society (Coiro, Knobel, Lankshear & Leu, 2008) and exposing students to ICT rich learning environments not only provides greater authenticity but also helps increase the students' sense of familiarity that in turn raises academic confidence. This paper reports on a analysis of the impact of the SUIT program on two key outcomes; self-efficacy to engage in higher education and performance once enrolled in university. The paper reviews data from three sources; an evaluation of the program conducted in 2006; post school surveys of student reflections on SUIT and intended post school pathways of the 2007-2009 SUIT cohorts collected by the Catholic Education Office; and university grades for SUIT students enrolled in ACU. The analysis of this data indicated that SUIT has been successful in enhancing student self-efficacy to undertake university study, increased participation in higher education and that those SUIT students enrolled in degree programs at ACU perform well when compared to university averages.

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The ready availability and uptake of devices such as mobile phones, personal digital assistants and mobile music players, have permeated the manner and means of human communication, socializing and entertainment on a large scale. In this paper, we present a description of the shift in philosophical and theoretical underpinnings, and the practical developments in education over the last two decades that demand marked changes in the kind of learning environments we need to design. We argue that these changes have created justifiable conditions for the pedagogical use of mobile technologies based on authentic learning. A review of research in the authentic use of mobile technologies in higher education will be presented and implications for future research will be drawn.

Published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner.

Individual papers from the conference are indexed from TD/TNC 94.97 to TD/TNC 94.100 and from TD/TNC 94.301 to TD/TNC 94.319. Show less

This paper is concerned with examining how informal learning in communities can be understood as collective accomplishments of learning as becoming, residing in heterogeneous networks of relationships between the social and material world. Traditionally, learning has been viewed as an individualist cognitive acquisition of knowledge which can be separated from other activities and/or as an embodied socially situated practice which occurs in contained places or contexts of learning (education institutions or communities of practice). Consequently most studies of informal learning have been shaped by these understandings which rely on preconceived constructs of learning, and who the learner is, in a purely social world. At the same time there has been a failure to acknowledge and articulate the intangible, the more-than-repesentational (Lorimer, 2005), affect, the tacit, the material and the practised. Alternatively, with reference to empirical data from my doctoral study which focuses on women in everyday settings, I show how learning can be viewed differently by adopting an actor-network theory (ANT) - material semiotic - sensitivity. Socio-material practices are taken to be the units of analysis and learning is the effect of the relationships of actacts (both human and non-human) in actor-networks. The theoretical concept of performativity, which underpins material semiotics, provides the idea that subjectivity and socio-material context are brought into being together, as a co-production or enactment of people, processes and things. Viewed in this way, learning and identity formation are not static, but emerge in a continuing process of becoming. There are three sections to this paper. It begins with a brief description of informal learning, previous research and changing learning theories, including a brief account of their usefulness for framing research in informal learning. Secondly, with reference to my mother's informal learning in a rural community setting, I use three data vignettes from my doctoral study to demonstrate how an actor-network theory sensitivity to materialities and practices can provide a different way in which to study learning. By focusing on practices it is seen that learning and identity are entangled in everyday mundane activities, and are performed into being as transitory coproductions of people, processes and objects. I conclude with a review of ANT's potential for focusing up the entanglement of human activity with objects in everyday practices, and how the agentive role that objects play in this activity provides a different way to view the everyday learning and identity of women in mundane activities. They are entangled in the process of becoming.

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Some university programs have a relatively long history of being perceived as professional degrees by virtue of their discipline, such as medicine, architecture and law. Increasingly, however, graduates of all university degrees are seen as possessing a professional skill set when compared with others, such as those in trades. This trend is also evident in higher degrees by research (HDR). The increasing favour of a professional skills set in large part reflects growing interest around the world in the role of research degrees in labour markets and economic prosperity. So-called generic skills, such as communication, teamwork, problem solving, lifelong learning, intercultural understanding, entrepreneurship and leadership, are often deemed necessary to professionals and are considered favourable to the needs of a globalised knowledge-based economy. Scholars have seen this shift as an opportunity to resituate HDR as a form of professional education in the practices of research and scholarship, with the aim of assisting candidates to become 'autonomous professional practitioners for the future'. This raises a number of important issues for research education, which this paper aims to identify. While a range of scholars has previously noted several of these issues, the paper draws together key issues for interrogating the notion of research degrees as a form of professional education. Show less

The 'Tasmania: a state of learning' structures were borne from widespread discussion with the Tasmanian community between 2000 and 2003 to identify the optimum model for lifelong learning within the state. At secondary high school level, with compelling research supporting the benefits of education and training beyond Grade 10, a major component of this initiative is guided by legislation introduced in 2005. This legislation is a response to the community's overwhelming support which now requires students exiting from Grade 10 to participate in training and learning. To support this initiative each school now has the additional resource of a pathway planning officer who conducts a minimum of 3 interviews of 45 minute duration with each student through years 8, 9 and 10. Pathway planning officers within this process are expected to develop a relationship that will allow for each pupil to look at their strengths and attributes, to speak of their aspirations, interests, career path opportunities; all of which are supported within an integrated curriculum embracing a career/vocation focus. This paper examines issues in implementing this educational initiative, specifically in the Tasmanian discourse.

Published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner.

Individual papers from the conference are indexed from TD/TNC 94.97 to TD/TNC 94.100 and from TD/TNC 94.301 to TD/TNC 94.319. Show less

As the first education institution to win the prestigious Singapore Quality Award in October 2005, the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) in Singapore can be considered as a world-class Vocational Education and Training (VET) institution (ITE, 2006, p. 17). This paper presents a case study of ITE using balanced scorecard (BSC) as a strategic management system to improve quality and performance of the VET that it provides to some 23,000 full-time pre-employment students. The case study utilises the personal knowledge of the first author as Principal of ITE College West which is one of three colleges within ITE, and documentary sources to explore: (i) the relevance of BSC for ITE as a VET institution from a macro-system perspective; (ii) key considerations in adopting and adapting BSC; (iii) the effectiveness of implementing BSC in the institution; (iv) the internal impact of BSC implementation; and (v) ‘lessons learnt’. Prospective application of the BSC in other VET settings is discussed.

Published abstract reprinted by permission of the copyright owner.

Individual papers from the conference are indexed from TD/TNC 94.97 to TD/TNC 94.100 and from TD/TNC 94.301 to TD/TNC 94.319. Show less