Education Commons^™

Integrating Vocational Education And Training For Secondary School Students, Justin Brown

NSW Curriculum Review

This paper is a research ‘backgrounder’ to support the 2018–19 review of the New South Wales (NSW) curriculum. It focuses on the topic of ‘integrating’ vocational education and training (VET) programs for secondary school students, which has been identified as an area of interest in the review. The paper begins by detailing the context, in Australia and internationally, for the introduction and expansion of vocational offerings within secondary schooling (Section 1). It then reviews the available research literature and policy documents on VET programs for secondary school students in Australia, including a review of the benefits and challenges (Section 2). …

Growth To Achievement: On-Demand Resources For Teachers, Christine Cawsey Am, John Hattie, Geoff N. Masters Ao

Monitoring Learning

A central finding of the Review to Achieve Educational Excellence in Australian Schools (the Excellence Review) was that learning progressions can help teachers tailor their teaching to support students’ achievement through continuous learning growth. Aligned, online and on-demand assessments, combined with professional learning and resources, will aid the use and interpretation of learning progressions in order to maximise the learning growth and attainment of every student every year. The Commonwealth Minister for Education and Training has established an expert reference panel to shape a shared vision for this important work and provide advice on how to take it forward. The …

Learning Through Play At School: A Study Of Playful Integrated Pedagogies That Foster Children’S Holistic Skills Development In The Primary School Classroom, Rachel Parker, Bo Stjerne Thomsen

Student learning processes

This scoping study seeks to understand the role and impact of learning through play at school. The evidence supporting learning through play’s positive impact on child development is strong. Yet many education systems have reduced opportunities for playful learning and increased emphasis on didactic and structured approaches to learning for school readiness and achievement. A re-calibration is needed, as experts have established that play supports the development of early literacy and numeracy skills while also cultivating children’s social, emotional, physical and creative skills. Eight pedagogical approaches are identified, namely active learning, collaborative and cooperative learning, experiential learning, guided discovery learning, …

Changing Priorities? The Role Of General Capabilities In The Curriculum, Paul R. Weldon

NSW Curriculum Review

This background paper takes a brief look at the history of the development of general capabilities in Australia, including in the vocational and higher education sectors, and the current state of play. It then considers some of the issues inherent in what has been called the skills movement, and the incorporation of skills into the curriculum internationally.

Balancing Prescriptiveness And Flexibility In The School Curriculum, Jen Jackson

NSW Curriculum Review

This paper is one of three research ‘backgrounders’ to support the 2018–19 review of the New South Wales (NSW) curriculum. It focuses on the issue of prescriptiveness or flexibility in curriculum, which has been identified as an area of interest in the review. The Terms of Reference require the review to consider the appropriate scope for school community choices about content. Given that the NSW curriculum is characterised by a relatively high level of prescriptiveness, this is understood as involving consideration of whether a more flexible approach may be desirable. This paper therefore seeks to provide an evidence base, based …

Gender Disparity In Stem: Evidence From India, Abha Bhagat, R Vijayaraghavan

Teacher India

Although India has made strides in the education of girls, performance and participation of women in stem are still a challenge. An examination of the IBT data shows that performance disparities in mathematics and science between girls and boys grow as students proceed from primary to secondary level.

Leading School-Based Coaching To Evaluate Open Education Resources, Kathryn Moyle

Digital learning research

This presentation was a people's choice session at the 2018 ISTE conference and engaged participants in conversations about coaching approaches that when coupled with strategies to evaluate Open Educational Resources (OER) can build the capacity of teachers and improve the learning by students. The session provided participants with opportunities to discuss leadership approaches to the evaluation of OER resources that are consistent with education policies, build the capacity of educators and improve the quality of learning by students; and coaching methods for school leaders that enables the identification, analysis, curation and incorporation of OER resources into classroom practices.

Lifting Achievement Levels And Improving The Return On Australia’S Investment In Schooling : Submission To The Review To Achieve Educational Excellence In Australian Schools (Chair: Mr David Gonski), Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer)

Program monitoring and evaluation

Many students in our schools are not learning as well as they could because they are not being given learning opportunities at an appropriate level of challenge. Instead, students are grouped by year level (age) and teachers deliver curricula assumed to be appropriate for all students in the same year of school. However, the most advanced ten per cent of students in any year of school are five to six years ahead of the least advanced ten per cent. For less advanced students, the year-level curriculum is often too far ahead. Many are judged to be underperforming year after year, …

The School Curriculum: About Time, Geoff N. Masters, Ray Adams

Teacher columnist – Geoff Masters

When it comes to the school curriculum, it’s about time we asked a question about time.

An essential feature of the school curriculum is the specification of what teachers are to teach and students are to learn at particular times in the schooling process. In other words, the curriculum spells out not only what teachers are to teach and students are to learn, but also whenthis is to occur.

When it comes to the school curriculum, it’s about time we asked a question about time.

An essential feature of the school curriculum is the specification of what teachers are …

Rapid Review Of Curriculum 2013 And Textbooks, Kathryn Moyle, Anita Rampal, Dewi Rochsantiningsih, K Kristiandi

Curriculum development and review

Indonesia wants to improve the quality of students’ learning outcomes as a matter of urgency. One strategy being used to achieve this objective, is to improve the national curriculum, Curriculum 2013. The theoretical basis underpinning Curriculum 2013 has been informed by promising practices from across several countries, that have placed an emphasis on fostering student-centred and enquiry-based learning, and the development of ‘21st century skills’. This Rapid Review of Curriculum and Textbooks 2013 was undertaken at the request of Ministry of Education and Culture (MoEC), to examine recent curriculum reforms and implementation strategies used in Indonesia, in order for MoEC …

Knowing Growing Showing Indigenous Consumer And Financial Literacy: Research To Practice, Tony Dreise, Troy Meston

Indigenous Education Research

This framework document underpins Knowing Growing Showing, a suite of teaching, learning and assessment material to support teachers to tailor and customise the delivery of consumer and financial literacy to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander learners from early schooling to secondary schooling.

Knowing Growing Showing draws upon the literature and evidence in Indigenous consumer and financial literacy and education and then translates it into advice to facilitate culturally responsive and effective teachers of Indigenous learners. The research provides the foundation from which Knowing Growing Showing resources (lesson guides, assessment advice, and teaching material) have been devised. More specifically, it …

Knowing Growing Showing Literature Review, Tony Dreise, Troy Meston

Indigenous Education Research

Throughout the world, young people are having to learn about consumer and financial literacy, especially in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis which hurt many families and communities, including young people. This global challenge naturally extends to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people in Australia who are particularly vulnerable to financial stress and consumer scams.

There is not a great deal of literature directly on the topic of Indigenous financial literacy particularly as it pertains to quality teaching and learning. This paper explores Indigenous financial literacy and its wider contexts and seeks to pull three important conceptual and …

Pisa 2015 : A First Look At Australia’S Results, Sue Thomson, Lisa De Bortoli, Catherine Underwood

OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) Australia

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is an international comparative study of student achievement directed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). PISA 2015 represents the sixth such study since PISA was first conducted in 2000. Seventy-two OECD countries or partner economies participated in PISA 2015. In Australia, PISA is managed by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) and is jointly funded by the Australian Government and the state and territory governments. The goal of PISA is to measure how well 15-year-olds, who are nearing the end of their compulsory schooling in most participating educational systems, …

Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metrics: Audit Of Curricula, Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer)

Assessment and Reporting

An early step in developing an assessment framework for the Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metrics (SEA-PLM) was determining how to design and construct a single assessment program across all ASEAN member countries. This step needed to take account of the similarities and differences in the curriculum frameworks in each country for the four domains to be assessed through SEA-PLM: Mathematics, Reading, Writing and Global Citizenship. This account was achieved through an audit of the curriculum materials from 11 ASEAN countries, comprising those countries already participating in the SEA-PLM field trial, and others likely to join SEAPLM in the future. The …

Class 6 Girls And Boys In Afghanistan 2013 : Comparing Outcomes Of Girls And Boys From A Learning Assessment Of Mathematical, Reading And Writing Literacy, Alla Routitsky, Rachel Stanyon, Maurice Walker

Monitoring Trends in Educational Growth (MTEG)

This report presents the results of an assessment of reading, writing and mathematical literacy of Class 6 students in 13 provinces in Afghanistan in relation to the gender of students. The data were collected in late 2013. The purpose of Monitoring Trends in Educational Growth (MTEG) is to provide information to education policy makers on the quality of education outcomes in Afghanistan. In addition MTEG will inform educational practitioners by clearly demonstrating what students at Class 6 can and cannot do in an assessment situation. One of the policy areas that MTEG aims to inform is gender equality. It is …

The 'Literacy' Idea, Ross Turner

Assessment GEMS

A central reason why researchers and practitioners refer to domain literacy is to draw attention to the kinds of things students learn in the domain. In a traditional learning domain the focus might be on the acquisition of discrete facts, skills and procedures that have little obvious connection or utility. In a learning domain with a literacy orientation, the focus is on applying the domain’s facts, skills and procedures to support creativity and inventiveness, to solve novel problems and to deal with the kinds of challenges that life presents outside the classroom. In the case of mathematics, for example, a …

Acer Senior Years Learning Framework: Standard Level Course Manual, Doug Mccurry

Curriculum development and review

The Senior Years Learning Framework (SYLF) is a new national program developed by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) for students in the final years of secondary school. The SYLF was designed to provide a broad learning experience integrating personal development and academic skills with an extended practical workplace component. SYLF Standard has been designed for students interested in moving directly to work or further vocational education at the completion of secondary school. This stream has an emphasis on the development of literacy, numeracy and ICT literacy skills. SYLF Advanced is a framework for study that is tailored for …

Networking Young Citizens : Learning To Be Citizens In And With The Social Web, Suzanne Mellor, Terri Seddon

Civics and Citizenship Assessment

Many claims are made, both in the popular press and the professional education literature, about the significance of the social web in enabling civic participation. However empirical evidence supporting these claims is sparse and contested rather than strongly-indicative. The Monash University pilot research project, Networking Young Citizens, relates to the discussion about the ways in which the social web might support the civic participation, especially of young people, by examining the ways in which Web 2.0 was integrated into teaching and learning in the school, and any other processes of civic socialisation that were consciously adopted in three schools.

This …

Qepr Review Of Progress: Review Of Progress Towards Implementing The Government Response To The Queensland Education Performance Review And Related State School Initiatives In Literacy, Numeracy And Science, Geoff N. Masters

Assessment and Reporting

This review was undertaken at the request of the Director-General of the Queensland Department of Education and Training. It reviews progress and makes recommendations ‘about initiatives aimed at improving the performance of Queensland students in literacy, numeracy and science’. More specifically, the Terms of Reference for the review requested an analysis and recommendations relating to:

• the effectiveness of the initiatives implemented in the Government response to the five recommendations of the Queensland Education Performance Review (QEPR); and
• the effectiveness of identified key initiatives in Queensland state primary schools to improve performance in literacy, numeracy and science.

The review was asked …

Successful Sustainable Literacy Practice For Indigenous Students, Nola Purdie

Indigenous Education Research

The author discusses current approaches to the literacy education of Indigenous students within the context of best practice literacy education for all students. Issues addressed include: Literacy and disadvantaged groups; Literacy programs for Indigenous Australian Students; Teachers and literacy learning; Assessment and measurement of literacy learning; and good literacy curriculum.

Student Use Of, And Engagement With, Information Technology, John Ainley, Laura Engers

Digital learning research

The emergence of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) has changed the nature of the learning environments experienced by school students. ... The connection between the learner and the learning environment is central to understanding how virtual learning environments motivate or engage students... The research literature on engagement in general has distinguished between three forms of engagement; behavioural, emotional and cognitive. These distinctions provide a means by which students? engagement with information technology can be described. Behavioural engagement refers to participation (both how much and in what forms) in technology-related activities. In this context behavioural engagement pre-supposes opportunities to engage with …

Year 12 Curriculum Content And Achievement Standards, Gabrielle Matters, Geoff N. Masters

Assessment and Reporting

This study provides the first Australia-wide picture of what is expected of students taking five subjects—English (including Literature), Mathematics, Chemistry, Physics and Australian History—in the final years of secondary school. The study addresses three broad questions: What is currently taught in these five subjects across Australia? This question is addressed through an analysis of the content of senior school curricula in the five subjects in all Australian states and territories. The study documents similarities and differences in approaches and in the content (subject matter and skills/understandings) emphasised in state and territory curriculum documents. What is the 'essential' content (subject matter …

Research On The Progressive Achievement Tests And Academic Achievement In Schools, Gerard Fogarty

Assessment and Reporting

This report presents three studies examining research conducted in Queensland on Progressive Achievement Tests (PAT) published by Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER). In study 1 ‘Predictive Validity of the Progressive Achievement Tests for Boys’, a battery of tests was used to assess vocabulary, comprehension, and numeracy skill levels of students commencing study at a regional high school. The tests were used as a screening tool to identify students who might benefit from additional instruction and also to select high achieving students for participation in extension work, maths competitions, and the like. Test results were later correlated with performance in …

Png Curriculum Reform Implementation Project : Implementation Project Report On The Pilot Curriculum Standards Monitoring Test, Chris Freeman, Prue Anderson, George Morgan

Monitoring Learning

This report presents an analysis of the test data from the Curriculum Standards Monitoring Test (CSMT) Pilot program, conducted in 2003 - 2004. It has been prepared by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) on behalf of the Department of Education (DoE), with the support of the Curriculum Reform Implementation Project (CRIP). The terms of reference for the pilot CSMT required ACER and Curriculum Development Division (CDD) to conduct an assessment of PNG student achievements in literacy and numeracy in Grades 3, 4, 5 and 8 against the then current curriculum, taking into account also the outcomes of the …

A Statement On The Arts For Australian Schools, Education Council

Curriculum development and review

A joint project of the States, Territories and the Commonwealth of Australia initiated by the Australian Education Council.

Introducing Statements And Profiles, Kathy Mclean

Curriculum development and review

Contains a set of materials designed to assist schools and school systems as they introduce the curriculum statements and profiles to members of their communities. The materials explain the structure and language of statements and profiles.

Learning With Personal Computers: Issues, Observations And Perspectives, Helga A.H. Rowe, Irene Brown, Isabel Lesman

Digital learning research

The empirical study discussed in this book was conducted in the Sunrise classrooms at Coombabah State School, Queensland in 1991-92, in which each student had their own laptop computer. Part I provides a theoretical framework for learning and teaching with computers. Part II deals with issues relating to the acquisition of computer literacy. Part III describes the empirical study conducted with 115 Year 6 and Year 7 students, and Part IV deals with issues relating to the professional development of teachers who teach students with computers and with the evaluation of computer software by teachers.

The Approach To Reading, Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer)

Primary School Studies

First published in 1952, this pamphlet explores the fundamental and far-reaching values of reading, and considers the nature, purpose and place of a full reading programme in the school curriculum. It advocates for the achievement of a balanced school reading program which includes learning to read, understanding that reading leads to improved social competence, and promotes reading as a valuable leisure activity. It discusses approaches to determining reading readiness, preparing for reading and developing reading interests, as well as providing methods and materials for the teaching of reading in the primary grades.

The Individual Child, Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer)

Primary School Studies

First published in 1952, this pamphlet suggests that schools should consider the needs and possibilities of each, individual child and cater the curriculum accordingly, to meet those needs. It suggests two considerations in determining best practice: determining the ‘learning level’ and ‘learning load’ of each student. It also emphasises the need to distinguish between achievement and capacity, in measuring students’ success. The pamphlet argues that the aim of a ’vigorous and progressive education’ should be to promote student independence.

The Purposes Of Teaching, Australian Council For Educational Research (Acer)

Primary School Studies

First published in 1952, this pamphlet explores topics such as "What does it mean to be taught?" and "What does it mean to be human?" but also how these can be related to the more customary purposes of teaching. It also explains the teacher purpose in guiding the different kinds of development including physical, social, emotional-aesthetic, intellectual and moral-spiritual.