ORCID Profile
0000-0002-5760-8688
Current Organisation
University of Newcastle Australia
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Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 07-04-2023
DOI: 10.1007/S13384-022-00518-3
Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic has put unprecedented pressure on teachers around the world, raising significant concerns about their workload and wellbeing. Our comparison of 2019 (pre-pandemic) and 2020 (first year of the pandemic) survey data ( n = 362) from teachers in New South Wales, Australia, demonstrates that their morale and efficacy declined significantly during COVID-19, even with the relatively short period of school closure (8 weeks) during 2020. Interviews with teachers and school leaders ( n = 18) reinforced these findings and highlighted the depth to which teachers felt dispensable and unappreciated, despite working incredibly hard for their students. The pressure to adapt to online teaching and learning, in trying circumstances, also challenged their confidence in their teaching. We argue that practical and emotional support for teachers both during periods of remote learning and upon students’ return to the classroom is essential to support teacher’s wellbeing and a robust teaching workforce into the future.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2021
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 29-05-2017
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 03-2023
DOI: 10.1007/S13384-023-00614-Y
Abstract: By the end of 2021, more than 168 million students across the globe had missed a year of face-to-face schooling due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In NSW, Australia, most students engaged in learning from home for eight weeks during 2020 and a further 14 weeks during 2021. This study provides robust empirical evidence on how two years of disruptions to schooling affected student learning. Drawing on matched data for 3,827 Year 3 and 4 students from 101 NSW government schools, this paper compares student achievement growth in mathematics and reading for 2019 (pre-pandemic) and 2021 (second year of the pandemic) student cohorts. While overall there was no significant difference between cohorts, when analysed by socio-educational advantage, we were surprised to find that students in the lowest band achieved approximately three months’ additional growth in mathematics. Arguably, grave concerns about the potentially dire impact of COVID-19 on the learning of disadvantaged students were met by investments that made a difference. We argue that targeted funding and system-wide initiatives to support more equitable outcomes should remain a priority after the pandemic if Australia is to meet its aspirations for excellence and equity.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 17-12-2022
DOI: 10.1007/S13384-022-00592-7
Abstract: Access to higher education remains elusive for many young people despite substantial investment in outreach interventions, most of which target students in underrepresented equity groups. This paper explores an alternative approach to widening participation in Australia that focuses on teacher professional development to support student aspirations. We examine school teachers’ responses to a course designed to develop their conceptual understanding of aspirations and provide a framework for developing aspirations-related initiatives with their students and colleagues. The course pilot was evaluated drawing on surveys ( N = 49) and interviews ( N = 21). Teachers reported that they gained the following: (1) access to robust evidence of factors affecting aspirations (2) relevant theoretical perspectives to conceptualise aspirations in new ways and (3) insights on practical strategies with which they might nurture student pathways to higher education. To support widening participation in higher education, we argue that the scope of current outreach initiatives offered by universities must broaden to capitalise on the untapped potential of teachers.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 03-07-2018
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 30-10-2019
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 12-03-2021
DOI: 10.1007/S13384-021-00436-W
Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic produced widespread disruption to schooling, impacting 90% of the world’s students and moving entire school systems to remote and online learning. In the state of New South Wales, Australia, most students engaged in learning from home for at least eight weeks, with subsequent in idual and intermittent school closures. However, while numerous claims have circulated in the popular media and in think tank reports, internationally, about the negative impacts on learning, there is limited empirical evidence of decreased student achievement. Drawing on data from more than 4800 Year 3 and 4 students from 113 NSW government schools, this paper compares student achievement during 2019 and 2020 in a s le of matched schools to examine the effects of the system-wide disruption. Somewhat surprisingly, our analysis found no significant differences between 2019 and 2020 in student achievement growth as measured by progressive achievement tests in mathematics or reading. A more nuanced picture emerges when the s le is examined by dis/advantage (ICSEA) and Year level. The Year 3 cohort in the least advantaged schools (ICSEA 950) achieved 2 months less growth in mathematics, while the Year 3 students in mid-ICSEA schools (950–1050) achieved 2 months’ additional growth. No significant differences were identified for Indigenous students or students located in regional locations. These results provide an important counter-narrative to widespread speculation about alarming levels of ‘learning loss’ for all students. While the lower achievement growth in mathematics for Year 3 students in lower ICSEA schools must be addressed as a matter of urgency to avoid further inequities, most students are, academically, where they are expected to be. Our findings are a testament to the dedicated work of teachers during the 2020 pandemic to ensure that learning for most students was not compromised, despite unusually trying circumstances.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 04-06-2020
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 21-08-2018
DOI: 10.1111/MEDU.13653
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 07-04-2020
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 28-07-2021
DOI: 10.1007/S13384-021-00463-7
Abstract: Students from regional and remote areas remain significantly under-represented in higher education despite decades of equity policy designed to encourage participation. One explanation is that policy initiatives often overlook the realities in local rural contexts that can make higher education less desirable. Applying the theoretical lens of ‘doxic’ and ‘habituated’ aspirations, this paper analyzes interviews with 13 students, 10 parents/carers, and 4 teachers from one regional and one remote community in NSW, Australia. We document the emotional and material realities shaping young people’s imagined futures in these communities, highlighting the commitment to a rural lifestyle in one, and the desire to escape the other community in decline. We argue that developing successful initiatives to address equitable participation in higher education requires a departure from hegemonic discourses of ‘rurality’ and greater recognition of and respect for the erse needs and desires of regional and remote students.
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 12-12-2017
Abstract: Modern military organizations are making a concerted effort to recruit a more erse range of people, with the role of women in the military at the forefront of debate. In Australia, in response to the changing role of the military and with the aim of positioning the military as an “employer of choice” for women, females are targeted as early as high school. Using data from a study of 6,492 Australian school students in Years 3–12, we examine student aspirations for military careers. Student aspirations were influenced by traditional perceptions of the military as a primarily masculine enterprise. Key reasons for student interest included dominant notions of masculinity, familial military experience, career options, and enlistment benefits. We argue that current views of the military among school children signal the need to shift such perceptions to appeal to a wider range of people and attract a more erse workforce.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 02-02-2018
DOI: 10.1002/JOCB.232
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 09-04-2021
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 28-06-2019
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 28-07-2022
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2007
DOI: 10.1016/J.SOCSCIMED.2007.04.027
Abstract: Although research has established the importance for health of a sense of personal control at work, the implications of this for women have not been adequately studied. Using quantitative data from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health and qualitative data from an associated study, here we examine women's health and sense of control in relation to family and employment commitments. In line with other research, 'demand over-load' is found to be important for sense of control, but both 'over-load' and 'control' prove complex, as illustrated by the finding that good mental health is associated with satisfaction with, rather than actual, hours of employment. In the contemporary western context of longer working hours, increasing time strain, and gender relations shaped within a neo-liberal, in idualised social environment, the findings suggest that as life speeds up, 'control' and the health effects of 'busyness', need to be understood not merely as personal matters, but rather as potentially important public health issues.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 15-06-2020
Publisher: Routledge
Date: 17-03-2021
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 21-03-2023
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Date: 02-06-2017
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2018
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 21-09-2022
DOI: 10.1007/S13384-022-00572-X
Abstract: Efforts to contain the COVID-19 virus resulted in various stay-at-home orders and school closures around the globe, causing unprecedented disruption to the lives of children and generating grave concern for their well-being. This study draws on phone interviews with 12 teachers and 6 school leaders from 13 government schools in New South Wales, Australia, to provide insight into how students fared on their return to school after the first wave of COVID-19 in 2020. The interviews highlighted negative consequences for many students including increased stress and anxiety and decreased engagement. This evidence suggests that even a comparatively short period of school closure can drive troubling changes in students’ well-being and behaviour following their return to school. Given far more challenging conditions arising from the pandemic, both elsewhere in Australia and globally, we argue that attending to student well-being is as important as ensuring academic achievement and must be a key focus of policy makers and education systems moving forward.
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 03-06-2022
Publisher: Informa UK Limited
Date: 16-05-2017
Start Date: 2017
End Date: 2019
Funder: Department of Education and Training
View Funded ActivityStart Date: 2016
End Date: 2017
Funder: NSW Department of Education and Training
View Funded ActivityStart Date: 2017
End Date: 2018
Funder: National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education
View Funded Activity