Does Emotional Intelligence predict final year academic results and student retention in secondary schools? Over the past 30 years the completion of the final year of secondary school education has become increasingly important, with a shift towards the requirement of higher levels of education throughout the Australian labour market. As a consequence, early school leavers are three times more likely to be unemployed than those students that complete Year 12 or post-secondary education. The pro ....Does Emotional Intelligence predict final year academic results and student retention in secondary schools? Over the past 30 years the completion of the final year of secondary school education has become increasingly important, with a shift towards the requirement of higher levels of education throughout the Australian labour market. As a consequence, early school leavers are three times more likely to be unemployed than those students that complete Year 12 or post-secondary education. The proposed study will examine the role of emotional intelligence (EI) in academic performance at Year 12 and school retention in secondary schools. The results of the study will help schools develop evidence-based strategies to best retain students and help students maximise their academic potential.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
On feeling good and succeeding: Identifying the antecedents of emotional well-being and school success amongst adolescents. We propose a multi-wave longitudinal study of all high school students in the Wollongong Catholic Diocese, identifying the psychological predictors of academic and emotional problems. We will track students and monitor the influence over time of a comprehensive set of predictors, examining their unique effects on the trajectories of educational and emotional outcomes. The s ....On feeling good and succeeding: Identifying the antecedents of emotional well-being and school success amongst adolescents. We propose a multi-wave longitudinal study of all high school students in the Wollongong Catholic Diocese, identifying the psychological predictors of academic and emotional problems. We will track students and monitor the influence over time of a comprehensive set of predictors, examining their unique effects on the trajectories of educational and emotional outcomes. The study will inform us about the developmental processes through which youth pass, leading to a new model of the psychological processes involved in academic and emotional outcomes. This model will enhance future intervention programmes with youth at risk of academic and emotional problems.Read moreRead less
Understanding the school as an intergroup system: Implications for school reform and improving student and staff outcomes. This project applies a novel social psychological understanding of group processes and intergroup relations to Australian schools. The result is a new and promising framework that will be trialed and evaluated through this project. The central idea is that one's group memberships and associated norms and practices directly impact on the attitudes and behaviours of individ ....Understanding the school as an intergroup system: Implications for school reform and improving student and staff outcomes. This project applies a novel social psychological understanding of group processes and intergroup relations to Australian schools. The result is a new and promising framework that will be trialed and evaluated through this project. The central idea is that one's group memberships and associated norms and practices directly impact on the attitudes and behaviours of individual members. The aim is to change the relevant groups within a school and how they relate in order to build a more positive school climate and higher school identification and as a result, improve school outcomes (e.g., attendance, academic achievement, well-being).Read moreRead less
Cultivating Capability: Explicating Critical Psychosocial Drivers of Educational Outcomes and Wellbeing for High-Ability Aboriginal Students. Despite emphasis worldwide on enabling high-ability students to realise their potential, little is known about drivers that seed success in educational outcomes and wellbeing for high ability Aboriginal students who underachieve, are under identified and are underrepresented in selective settings. Capitalising on interdisciplinary theory and research, a po ....Cultivating Capability: Explicating Critical Psychosocial Drivers of Educational Outcomes and Wellbeing for High-Ability Aboriginal Students. Despite emphasis worldwide on enabling high-ability students to realise their potential, little is known about drivers that seed success in educational outcomes and wellbeing for high ability Aboriginal students who underachieve, are under identified and are underrepresented in selective settings. Capitalising on interdisciplinary theory and research, a powerful multi-method design and state-of-the-art statistics, the project aims to explicate psychosocial determinants of high-ability Aboriginal students' educational outcomes and wellbeing and test the efficacy of novel research-derived interventions. This aims to advance knowledge, policy and practice to enhance the provision of education to high-ability Aboriginal students ensuring they realise their full potential.Read moreRead less
Linking to learn and learning to link: building integrated school-based support systems for children and families in a disadvantaged community. The project will implement in a disadvantaged community changed institutional practices within primary schools and a partner welfare agency to increase family-school connectedness to improve children's behaviour and school performance. We build on the Pathways Project, which improved these outcomes for vulnerable preschool children, but highlighted the c ....Linking to learn and learning to link: building integrated school-based support systems for children and families in a disadvantaged community. The project will implement in a disadvantaged community changed institutional practices within primary schools and a partner welfare agency to increase family-school connectedness to improve children's behaviour and school performance. We build on the Pathways Project, which improved these outcomes for vulnerable preschool children, but highlighted the critical importance of family involvement with schools to effect enduring change and the difficulties of achieving this within current structures. We address this challenge by nurturing whole-school culture change, providing teacher professional development, and locating family support resources within schools to promote home-school partnerships, family functioning, and child well-being. Read moreRead less
School principals’ diminishing wellbeing. School principals’ diminishing wellbeing. This project aims to investigate the effect of State Education Departments’ policy interventions designed to improve school principals’ flagging wellbeing. Increasing competition, accountability and public scrutiny make principals stressed; since their influence on students is second only to teachers’, this threatens Australia’s socioeconomic outcomes. The project will map policy interventions to changes in princ ....School principals’ diminishing wellbeing. School principals’ diminishing wellbeing. This project aims to investigate the effect of State Education Departments’ policy interventions designed to improve school principals’ flagging wellbeing. Increasing competition, accountability and public scrutiny make principals stressed; since their influence on students is second only to teachers’, this threatens Australia’s socioeconomic outcomes. The project will map policy interventions to changes in principals’ motivation and wellbeing, and share information about the most productive and cost effective interventions with key stakeholders across Australia. This research could reverse the declining wellbeing of Australia’s school leaders.Read moreRead less
Self-regulation in very low birthweight/very preterm 2 and 4 year olds: A comparison study. Increasing numbers of extremely low birthweight children are surviving, and the majority go on to have learning problems. The difficulties these children experience and the resources that are devoted to the task of improving their academic skills have personal, social and economic costs. This project will assist in the identification of areas of difficulty that contribute to their problems in learning, es ....Self-regulation in very low birthweight/very preterm 2 and 4 year olds: A comparison study. Increasing numbers of extremely low birthweight children are surviving, and the majority go on to have learning problems. The difficulties these children experience and the resources that are devoted to the task of improving their academic skills have personal, social and economic costs. This project will assist in the identification of areas of difficulty that contribute to their problems in learning, essential for developing effective interventions. Success will bring substantial benefits at both the level of the individual and of society. The study will be undertaken by a PhD candidate as part of a multidisciplinary team, an experience that will provide an exceptional training in research with vulnerable children.Read moreRead less
Exploring processes of change in parenting interventions for high-risk parents. This study will identify the timing and triggers of change in parents as they participate over 18 months in an intensive therapeutic parenting program. The findings will inform planners and service providers about the most effective features of such programs to facilitate change in parents at risk of abuse and neglect of their children.
A longitudinal study of language learning to assess early intervention outcomes in pre-school children with impaired hearing. Overseas research suggests that young children with impaired hearing and normal non-verbal cognition can develop normal language if hearing aid fitting and intervention occur before 6 months of age. Australian studies show considerable language delays in most hearing-impaired children of primary-school age. We will study the spoken language learning of hearing-impaired ....A longitudinal study of language learning to assess early intervention outcomes in pre-school children with impaired hearing. Overseas research suggests that young children with impaired hearing and normal non-verbal cognition can develop normal language if hearing aid fitting and intervention occur before 6 months of age. Australian studies show considerable language delays in most hearing-impaired children of primary-school age. We will study the spoken language learning of hearing-impaired children up to age 6 years in Victoria. The project will investigate crucial factors in achieving normal language learning in hard-of-hearing children and the role of early intervention. Normal language outcomes would enhance the educational and career prospects of hearing-impaired children and result in community cost savings.
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