Work-life learning to sustain employability: practices and policies. This project aims to explore how Australian workers can sustain their employability across their working lives. The project intends to analyse retrospective accounts from workers in order to identify the kinds of learning required by workers for their life-long employability, as well as the practices and policies that might be adopted by workplaces and tertiary education in order for Australian workers to sustain their employme ....Work-life learning to sustain employability: practices and policies. This project aims to explore how Australian workers can sustain their employability across their working lives. The project intends to analyse retrospective accounts from workers in order to identify the kinds of learning required by workers for their life-long employability, as well as the practices and policies that might be adopted by workplaces and tertiary education in order for Australian workers to sustain their employment and secure advancement. This project will provide significant benefits to a society where the working lives of Australians are lengthening and sustained employability has become a policy priority.Read moreRead less
Shifting the Culture of Out-of-field Professional Education for Teachers. This project aims to model an education system that would diversify the expertise of teachers as part of attending to long-term teacher shortage. It responds to a pressing national need for a system of valued and accessible professional education (PE) for out-of-field teachers. The project draws on perspectives from schools, governments and PE providers to expose current practices, cultural norms, and policies; propose an ....Shifting the Culture of Out-of-field Professional Education for Teachers. This project aims to model an education system that would diversify the expertise of teachers as part of attending to long-term teacher shortage. It responds to a pressing national need for a system of valued and accessible professional education (PE) for out-of-field teachers. The project draws on perspectives from schools, governments and PE providers to expose current practices, cultural norms, and policies; propose an 'ideal' PE ecosystem that values re-specialisation in the core subjects; and develop principles to inform policy and practice needed to attain this ideal. The evidence-based framing of PE will inform efforts by schools, PE providers and policy makers to sustain a highly capable, adaptive and specialised teaching workforce.Read moreRead less
Teacher attraction and retention in hard-to-staff schools. Australia is facing a teacher shortage crisis. Many schools have become ‘hard-to-staff’ – evident through either a lack of teachers or a high teacher turnover. The aim of this project is to provide the foundations for strategies that can be implemented by schools and systems to address this problem. Due to the schools’ locations, these shortages can have severe consequences for already educationally vulnerable young people. This has been ....Teacher attraction and retention in hard-to-staff schools. Australia is facing a teacher shortage crisis. Many schools have become ‘hard-to-staff’ – evident through either a lack of teachers or a high teacher turnover. The aim of this project is to provide the foundations for strategies that can be implemented by schools and systems to address this problem. Due to the schools’ locations, these shortages can have severe consequences for already educationally vulnerable young people. This has been a significant concern of governments nationally and internationally. An important outcome from the project will be how best to attract and retain teachers in hard-to-staff schools. This will have benefits for the teaching profession, young people who attend hard-to-staff schools and the broader community. Read moreRead less
Teaching workforce development through integrated partnerships. This project aims to understand integrated school-university partnerships’ effects on schools as workplaces and as learning spaces for beginning teachers. Australian governments endorse integrated partnerships to enhance the quality of teaching and address changing environments, but the effects of these partnerships on teaching workforce development are unknown The project will research partnerships as complex and entangled networks ....Teaching workforce development through integrated partnerships. This project aims to understand integrated school-university partnerships’ effects on schools as workplaces and as learning spaces for beginning teachers. Australian governments endorse integrated partnerships to enhance the quality of teaching and address changing environments, but the effects of these partnerships on teaching workforce development are unknown The project will research partnerships as complex and entangled networks, develop a theory of partnership work, and identify practical models that inform partnership development and capacities and strategies necessary in partnership work. The project is expected to contribute to the renewal of teaching workforce development in Australia.Read moreRead less
Developing interdisciplinary expertise in universities. This project aims to create a strong integrative research foundation to explain how university researchers and students develop the expertise needed to work in interdisciplinary teams and how this development can be enhanced. It combines three perspectives investigating: how research and innovation communities create interdisciplinary knowledge, how interdisciplinary teams learn to function effectively and the personal resourcefulness that ....Developing interdisciplinary expertise in universities. This project aims to create a strong integrative research foundation to explain how university researchers and students develop the expertise needed to work in interdisciplinary teams and how this development can be enhanced. It combines three perspectives investigating: how research and innovation communities create interdisciplinary knowledge, how interdisciplinary teams learn to function effectively and the personal resourcefulness that enables individuals to participate in interdisciplinary work. The outcomes will provide a much better understanding of the qualities that help individuals and groups to work productively across disciplinary boundaries. They will be used to create better strategies for supporting interdisciplinary learningRead moreRead less
Gendered engagement and participation in sciences and mathematics. This project aims to identify the reasons for the declining numbers of girls (and boys) studying sciences, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects during secondary school. This project will conduct complementary longitudinal studies in Australia, in collaboration with leading international scholars, analysing declining motivations, especially for girls/women, to show how this predicts different STEM career choices ....Gendered engagement and participation in sciences and mathematics. This project aims to identify the reasons for the declining numbers of girls (and boys) studying sciences, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects during secondary school. This project will conduct complementary longitudinal studies in Australia, in collaboration with leading international scholars, analysing declining motivations, especially for girls/women, to show how this predicts different STEM career choices and actual occupational outcomes, to yield theoretical developments and inform policy to improve the participation of girls/women (and boys/men) in these fields. Expected outcomes of this project include the provision of comprehensive evidence-informed recommendations to Federal and State government, industry and education stakeholders, which will enable the coordinated development of intervention programs to address these issues.Read moreRead less
Preparing Aboriginal students in remote communities for life beyond school. This project aims to better prepare young Aboriginal adults as they transition from Vocational Education and Training school education to life beyond school, including into the workplace. Data on the experiences of past Aboriginal students will be collected and analysed to contribute to the development of appropriate pedagogy, teaching practices and resources. The expected outcomes will inform teaching practices and assi ....Preparing Aboriginal students in remote communities for life beyond school. This project aims to better prepare young Aboriginal adults as they transition from Vocational Education and Training school education to life beyond school, including into the workplace. Data on the experiences of past Aboriginal students will be collected and analysed to contribute to the development of appropriate pedagogy, teaching practices and resources. The expected outcomes will inform teaching practices and assist students in remote communities to successfully transition to work and life following graduation. Read moreRead less
Impact of teacher shortages on teachers remaining in hard to staff schools. This project aims to investigate the lived experiences of teachers in a time of unprecedented teacher shortages. While previous studies have examined the causes of teacher shortages, the project is significant in its review of the issues of teacher retention focusing instead on those teachers who remain. By addressing the problem of retention this way, the expected outcomes of this project include developing a much deepe ....Impact of teacher shortages on teachers remaining in hard to staff schools. This project aims to investigate the lived experiences of teachers in a time of unprecedented teacher shortages. While previous studies have examined the causes of teacher shortages, the project is significant in its review of the issues of teacher retention focusing instead on those teachers who remain. By addressing the problem of retention this way, the expected outcomes of this project include developing a much deeper understanding of how educational systems, as well as individual schools, can support those teachers remaining in the profession. This will provide significant benefits such as informing policy on how to facilitate greater teacher retention at a time when maintaining support for a declining teaching workforce is urgent.
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Trade union training: reshaping the Australian industrial landscape . This project aims to investigate the effectiveness of trade union training in developing the capacity of the Australian workforce. Building on earlier forms of union training, the government-funded Trade Union Training Authority (TUTA) provided courses (from 1975 to 1996) to enhance the skills of union officials and lay foundations for further education. This project will draw on extensive archival and oral history sources to ....Trade union training: reshaping the Australian industrial landscape . This project aims to investigate the effectiveness of trade union training in developing the capacity of the Australian workforce. Building on earlier forms of union training, the government-funded Trade Union Training Authority (TUTA) provided courses (from 1975 to 1996) to enhance the skills of union officials and lay foundations for further education. This project will draw on extensive archival and oral history sources to investigate TUTA’s origins, development, training practices and impact on individuals and workplaces. The benefits include better understanding of industrial, education and training systems. Insights from the project can inform the challenge of workforce development in a more uncertain and deregulated labour market.Read moreRead less
Human-centred Teamwork Analytics. This project aims to develop methods to assist the assessment and improvement of collocated teamwork, by making multimodal activity traces visible and available for computational analysis. This project expects to bridge the gap between promising sensing technologies and the dearth of tools to automatically assess teamwork. Expected outcomes include co-design and modelling methodologies for human-centred analytics that map from low-level data to higher-order cons ....Human-centred Teamwork Analytics. This project aims to develop methods to assist the assessment and improvement of collocated teamwork, by making multimodal activity traces visible and available for computational analysis. This project expects to bridge the gap between promising sensing technologies and the dearth of tools to automatically assess teamwork. Expected outcomes include co-design and modelling methodologies for human-centred analytics that map from low-level data to higher-order constructs to enable non-data science savvy users to get actionable insights into multimodal team traces. This research aims to provide significant benefits to Australia, with communication and teamwork being two of the topmost critical skills required by Australian employers.Read moreRead less