What's best for my child? Parents' perspectives of childcare quality and early learning as contributors to childcare choice. This project will explore parents' understandings of early learning and childcare quality, and how these understandings contribute to childcare choice. The project will inform the Australian Government's policy directive of giving children the best start in life and support parents' capacity to make choices that they consider are best for their child.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE200100686
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$373,668.00
Summary
Unemployment in remote Australia: exploring policy reform impacts. This project aims to produce policy-relevant knowledge about the effects of the Australian Government's changing remote employment policies in four remote Indigenous communities. These policies have not yielded positive outcomes to date; more empirical evidence is needed. This project will be the first to explore the lived experiences of employment service practitioners & participants through an innovative policy analysis and eth ....Unemployment in remote Australia: exploring policy reform impacts. This project aims to produce policy-relevant knowledge about the effects of the Australian Government's changing remote employment policies in four remote Indigenous communities. These policies have not yielded positive outcomes to date; more empirical evidence is needed. This project will be the first to explore the lived experiences of employment service practitioners & participants through an innovative policy analysis and ethnography. It will deliver significant benefits, such as elevating marginalised policy subjects' voices/experiences in policy debates, contributing to efforts at improving employment/social outcomes, & speaking to debates about how the state can work effectively with remote Indigenous communities to improve outcomes.Read moreRead less
Engagement in early childhood education in the context of disadvantage. This research responds to enduring inequalities in children’s participation in high quality early childhood education and care (ECEC). Contemporary families face precarious labour markets and a childcare system with stringent workforce participation requirements. This project will illuminate the affordances of everyday life for families most challenged by these emergent conditions and develop understandings of how to calibr ....Engagement in early childhood education in the context of disadvantage. This research responds to enduring inequalities in children’s participation in high quality early childhood education and care (ECEC). Contemporary families face precarious labour markets and a childcare system with stringent workforce participation requirements. This project will illuminate the affordances of everyday life for families most challenged by these emergent conditions and develop understandings of how to calibrate services accordingly. Findings will support universal ECEC access through knowledge translation about contemporary disadvantage to policy and practice forums. A strong Indigenous component contributes to researcher training and knowledge about effective practice for Indigenous children and their families.Read moreRead less
Understanding recent Australian trends in alcohol consumption and harms. This project aims to provide critical insight into recent trends in alcohol consumption and related harm in Australia. Many indicators of harm from alcohol have increased dramatically in the past decade, while drinking behaviours appear largely unchanged. This project aims to investigate two potential explanations for these trends: that apparent increases in rates of alcohol-related harm are driven by operational or adminis ....Understanding recent Australian trends in alcohol consumption and harms. This project aims to provide critical insight into recent trends in alcohol consumption and related harm in Australia. Many indicators of harm from alcohol have increased dramatically in the past decade, while drinking behaviours appear largely unchanged. This project aims to investigate two potential explanations for these trends: that apparent increases in rates of alcohol-related harm are driven by operational or administrative practices rather than by increases in actual harm; and that stable per-capita consumption data obscures divergent drinking behaviours, with increases among heavy drinkers driving increasing harm rates. The project aims to inform alcohol policy debates, which rely on robust trend data.Read moreRead less
Finding the pathways to crime prevention for socially disadvantaged communities: theory, evidence and practice. Long-term scientific evaluations of interventions that 'get in early' before crime problems emerge or become entrenched have consistently shown that such approaches work. However, governments and community agencies struggle to use this evidence to mount effective programs in areas of concentrated disadvantage because the evidence comes in the form of 'program packages' rather than mode ....Finding the pathways to crime prevention for socially disadvantaged communities: theory, evidence and practice. Long-term scientific evaluations of interventions that 'get in early' before crime problems emerge or become entrenched have consistently shown that such approaches work. However, governments and community agencies struggle to use this evidence to mount effective programs in areas of concentrated disadvantage because the evidence comes in the form of 'program packages' rather than models of practice that take account of local contexts and the challenges involved in achieving effective and sustainable engagement with local people and institutions. This project will show how models of effective crime prevention practice for disadvantaged communities can be developed, tested and implemented on a large scale in an economically efficient way.Read moreRead less
An examination of the factors shaping recent developments in youth drinking. Over the past 15 years, the proportion of Australian teenagers who drink alcohol has halved. This project aims to understand the drivers of this major shift in teenage drinking behaviour. Initial work has shown that drinking has declined across demographic, socio-economic and cultural groups. This project plans to use mixed methods to analyse new and existing data to examine four potential drivers of this generational c ....An examination of the factors shaping recent developments in youth drinking. Over the past 15 years, the proportion of Australian teenagers who drink alcohol has halved. This project aims to understand the drivers of this major shift in teenage drinking behaviour. Initial work has shown that drinking has declined across demographic, socio-economic and cultural groups. This project plans to use mixed methods to analyse new and existing data to examine four potential drivers of this generational change in behaviour. Understanding the reasons behind this shift is important both to expand knowledge about the socio-cultural conditions shaping teenage alcohol consumption practices, and to support and maintain these trends through informed social policy.Read moreRead less
Understanding anger and its consequences amongst women in conflict-affected Timor Leste: Implications for enhancing sustainable development. An Australian national priority goal is to understand our region...(its) societies, politics and cultures. AusAID highlights gender within its key theme Investing in People, emphasizing that 'gender equality is integral to growth, governance and stability'. Australia has made a massive investment in the stabilization of East Timor and other post-conflict c ....Understanding anger and its consequences amongst women in conflict-affected Timor Leste: Implications for enhancing sustainable development. An Australian national priority goal is to understand our region...(its) societies, politics and cultures. AusAID highlights gender within its key theme Investing in People, emphasizing that 'gender equality is integral to growth, governance and stability'. Australia has made a massive investment in the stabilization of East Timor and other post-conflict countries including aid for women's organizations. Yet there is a notable gap in the empirical base for designing programs for women. The proposed study focusing on women's anger has the potential to ground psychosocial programming for women on a firm empirical base. The results may be transferable to other traumatized and disadvantaged communities.
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Care Matters: Capturing Outcomes for Children in Foster Care. The issue of child protection is high on the national agenda. Research on outcomes of children placed in protective care has considerable potential to yield important national benefit given that failures in this system result in social breakdown and emotional and financial cost. The ability of children and young people in care to form subsequent interpersonal relationships and achieve healthy developmental outcomes is important to soc ....Care Matters: Capturing Outcomes for Children in Foster Care. The issue of child protection is high on the national agenda. Research on outcomes of children placed in protective care has considerable potential to yield important national benefit given that failures in this system result in social breakdown and emotional and financial cost. The ability of children and young people in care to form subsequent interpersonal relationships and achieve healthy developmental outcomes is important to social stability in Australian Society and elsewhere. Major outcomes of the research will be the advancement of the scientific knowledge base on the dynamics of children's experience of reattachment with new families and the factors that promote or inhibit resilient outcomes for children.Read moreRead less
The Extent and Cost of Kinship Foster Care of Orphans in Rural China. This project will explore the extent of kinship foster care provided to orphaned children in rural China. It will also, for the first time, estimate the costs of kinship care, by modifying Australian budget standards research to suit conditions in rural China. The project will combine a strong research team with a leading international non-government agency working in China and will draw on support from government officials fr ....The Extent and Cost of Kinship Foster Care of Orphans in Rural China. This project will explore the extent of kinship foster care provided to orphaned children in rural China. It will also, for the first time, estimate the costs of kinship care, by modifying Australian budget standards research to suit conditions in rural China. The project will combine a strong research team with a leading international non-government agency working in China and will draw on support from government officials from the Ministry of Civil Affairs. The results will be used to estimate child poverty among the target group and will provide a knowledge base for future research in the area.Read moreRead less
Transition to adulthood of young people with disabilities from state care in China. The project has implications for the national priority of safeguarding Australia through supporting the government strategy of engaging in our region. Disability is an AusAid priority in the Asia Pacific. The project demonstrates Australia's commitment to using our research and policy to improve social inclusion in China and to generalise to other developing countries. It contributes to developing Australian soci ....Transition to adulthood of young people with disabilities from state care in China. The project has implications for the national priority of safeguarding Australia through supporting the government strategy of engaging in our region. Disability is an AusAid priority in the Asia Pacific. The project demonstrates Australia's commitment to using our research and policy to improve social inclusion in China and to generalise to other developing countries. It contributes to developing Australian social policy, research and training in a way that is relevant to child and disability state care practices in Australia and China. The project facilitates future connections between researchers and policy officials in Australia and China, the Chinese Social Welfare Centre and the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs.Read moreRead less