Education Commons^™

Education Expenditure In Australia, James Mahmud Rice, Daniel Edwards, Julie Mcmillan

Dr Daniel Edwards

Australia invested $111.8 billion in education in 2015. The sources of this funding and the pathways it follows through various systems are complex. Rarely are all the components of this system captured in the one place. This report offers a detailed insight into investment in Australian education, capturing data from all levels – from early childhood to higher education – and all funding sources – the federal government, state governments, private contributions and the transfers that take place between these. The complex picture shown in this report offers an important reference point for policy-makers, educators, researchers and economists. It draws …

Girls’ Primary And Secondary Education In Malawi: Sector Review: Final Report, Sally Robertson, Elizabeth Cassity, Esthery Kunkwenzu

Dr Elizabeth Cassity

Enhancing girls’ access to high-quality education is a global priority that is articulated in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It is also a national priority in Malawi. The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) was contracted by UNICEF, to conduct an education sector review of girls’ primary and secondary education in Malawi. The review aimed to: outline the current context and challenges relating to girls’ education in Malawi; identify the key factors contributing to gender inequalities in educational access and outcomes; provide an overview of the policies and strategies currently in place to enhance girls’ education; provide recommendations to help …

Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metrics (Sea-Plm) : Global Citizenship Domain Assessment Framework, Rachel Parker, Julian Fraillon

Julian Fraillon

This assessment framework forms part of the Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metrics (SEAPLM) assessment program and outlines an approach to assessing global citizenship. The purpose of this assessment framework is to articulate the basic structure of the global citizenship domain as part of SEA-PLM. It provides a description of the constructs to be measured. It also outlines the design and content of the measurement instruments and describes how measures generated by those instruments relate to the constructs. It combines theory and practice to describe “both the ‘what’ and the ‘how’” (Jago, 2009, p. 1) of the SEA-PLM assessment of global …

Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metrics (Sea-Plm) : Global Citizenship Domain Assessment Framework, Rachel Parker, Julian Fraillon

Rachel Parker

This assessment framework forms part of the Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metrics (SEAPLM) assessment program and outlines an approach to assessing global citizenship. The purpose of this assessment framework is to articulate the basic structure of the global citizenship domain as part of SEA-PLM. It provides a description of the constructs to be measured. It also outlines the design and content of the measurement instruments and describes how measures generated by those instruments relate to the constructs. It combines theory and practice to describe “both the ‘what’ and the ‘how’” (Jago, 2009, p. 1) of the SEA-PLM assessment of global …

Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metrics (Sea-Plm) : Global Citizenship Domain Assessment Framework, Rachel Parker, Julian Fraillon

Rachel Parker

This assessment framework forms part of the Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metrics (SEAPLM) assessment program and outlines an approach to assessing global citizenship. The purpose of this assessment framework is to articulate the basic structure of the global citizenship domain as part of SEA-PLM. It provides a description of the constructs to be measured. It also outlines the design and content of the measurement instruments and describes how measures generated by those instruments relate to the constructs. It combines theory and practice to describe “both the ‘what’ and the ‘how’” (Jago, 2009, p. 1) of the SEA-PLM assessment of global …

Exploring Reading Habits And Academic Success In Rural Kenya, Florence Mugambi

Florence N. Mugambi

Progressive Achievement Tests In Reading : Comprehension, Vocabulary And Spelling, Andrew Stephanou, Prue Anderson, Daniel Urbach

Prue Anderson

The ACER Progressive Achievement Tests in Reading Fourth Edition (PAT Reading Fourth Edition) is a major revision of this Australian test of achievement in reading. The PAT Reading Fourth Edition is a researched and normed test for measuring student achievement in reading comprehension, word knowledge and spelling. It is designed to help teachers assess the pre-reading, reading comprehension, vocabulary knowledge and spelling skills of students from the first year of school to Year 10; and it provides teachers with objective information for setting realistic learning goals and planning effective programs. The PAT Reading Fourth Edition contains eleven normed and graded …

'Are We There Yet?' Revisiting The Digital Education Revolution, Kathryn Moyle

Professor Kathryn Moyle

Confusing Achievement With Aptitude, Dave Powell

Dave Powell

My wife and I read and reread the words several times, allowing them to sink in. "Being in an academic class would cause him harm," the principal wrote about our son, "as the rigor would be too great." The report continued, "He would be the lowest-ability student in the class and by a large margin." It is a day you don't soon forget when the principal of your son's school tells you—in an email, no less—that your child simply is not capable of managing academic work. [excerpt]

Enhancing Education, Sheldon Rothman, Sarah Buckley, David Slattery, John Ainley

Dr Sarah Buckley

The Northern Territory Emergency Response (NTER) was announced on 21 July 2007 and has been implemented over the last four years. This federal government initiative aims to protect children, to make communities safe and to build a better future for people living in Indigenous communities and town camps in the Northern Territory. The strategies have changed since its initial implementation but its focus and many of the key themes and measures remain the same. This evaluation examines the NTER from a whole-of-government perspective, reviewing the impact on community safety, wellbeing and service provision; service coordination and engagement; promoting law and …

Successful Professional Learning, Marion Meiers, Sarah Buckley

Dr Sarah Buckley

This edition is focused on research into teacher learning and professional development. Teacher learning includes not only activities such as conferences and workshops, but also includes participation in many formal and informal learning activities. Recent research has focused, amongst other things, on characteristics of successful professional learning, and on the connections between teachers' professional learning and improvements in student learning. This research has the potential to assist teachers and schools in selecting and planning for professional learning, so that it will maximise the benefits for participants. The first section of this digest presents some research findings on effective professional learning. …

Highlighting The Similarities And Differences Of The Mathematical Knowledge And Strategies Of Year 4 Students, Catherine Pearn

Catherine Pearn

Research has shown that successful mathematics students use different types of strategies from those struggling with mathematics. Year 4 students were tested using the One Minute Tests of Basic Number Facts and a paper and pencil Number Screening Test developed by the author and colleagues. Observation of the students during the assessment procedures highlighted the vast difference in the students' speed and accuracy when recalling basic facts and the types of strategies they used when solving mathematical tasks. [Author abstract]

The Cypriot Roma And The Failure Of Education:Anti-Discrimination And Multiculturalism As A Post-Accession Challenge, Nicos Trimikliniotis

Nicos Trimikliniotis

This covers the period prior to 2008. At its outset, this study explores the general context of the Roma in Cyprus and their identity as Cypriot citizens, their legal classification, cultural identity and population concentration. It then examines the legal framework within which the Roma of Cyprus are educated by describing the provisions regarding access to education, as well as recent legislation transposing the anti-discrimination acquis. According to the Constitution of the Cyprus Republic, the vast majority of Roma are classified as belonging to the ‘Turkish community’ without a minority rights status and as such their access to education in …

Different Measures, Different Informants, Same Outcomes? Investigating Multiple Perspectives Of Primary School Students' Mental Health., Katherine Dix, Helen Askell-Williams, Michael Lawson

Dr Katherine Dix

Dbrief : A Research Paradigm For Ict Adoption, Katherine Dix

Dr Katherine Dix

Whole Number Knowledge And Number Lines Help To Develop Fraction Concepts, Catherine Pearn

Catherine Pearn

Many researchers have noted that students' whole number knowledge can interfere with their efforts to learn fractions. In this paper the authors discuss a teaching experiment conducted with students in Years 5 and 6 from an eastern suburban school in Melbourne. The focus of the teaching experiment was to use number lines to highlight students' understanding of whole numbers then fractions. The study used a screening test and interview using number lines to probe students' understanding of fractions as numbers. By using whole numbers on number lines first, the interview questions clearly helped many students to connect whole number and …

A Longitudinal Study Examining The Impact Of Ict Adoption On Students And Teachers, Katherine Dix

Dr Katherine Dix

Leadership And Learning With Ict : Voices From The Profession, Kathryn Moyle

Professor Kathryn Moyle (consultant)

Leadership matters’ and ‘start with the pedagogies, not the technologies’, say Australian educators. Voices from the profession provides an overview of what a cross-section of over 400 of Australia’s educational leaders saw in 2005 as factors that contribute to how leadership supports learning with information and communication technologies (ICT) in Australian schools. It presents some of the issues raised and solutions proposed by the educational leaders who participated in this research. This paper draws on the words of the participants throughout, to illustrate findings and to give the report authenticity. This research shows that integrating ICT into teaching and learning …

Self-Review For Higher Education Institutions, Nathan Zoanetti, Patrick Griffin, Ray Adams

Prof Ray Adams

This paper describes a plausible values imputation approach for deriving population scores on several language proficiency domains. The approach harnessed a multi-dimensional item response analysis combining student responses, rater judgements and student background variables. The target population was grade one and grade two primary school students enrolled in the Hong Kong schooling system. The raters were local teachers of English employed within the sampled schools. The primary objective of this research was to impute plausible values for data where no data was provided or where rater data was deemed suspect. By necessity, a secondary objective of this study was to …

Are Learning Technologies Making A Difference? A Longitudinal Perspective Of Attitudes, Katherine Dix

Dr Katherine Dix

Mathematics Recovery : Frameworks To Assist Students' Construction Of Arithmetical Knowledge, Catherine Pearn

Catherine Pearn

Mathematics Recovery was the outcome of a three-year research and development project at Southern Cross University, conducted in 1992-5. The project received major funding from the Australian Research Council and major contributions in the form of teacher time, from regional government and Catholic school systems. Over the 3-year period, the project involved working in 18 schools with 20 teachers and approximately 200 participating first-grade students. MR can be regarded as consisting of two distinct but interrelated components. One component concerns an elaborated body of theory and practice for working with students, that is, teaching early number knowledge. The second component …

The Development Of Mathematical Strategies In The Early Years, Catherine Pearn

Catherine Pearn

Current research has shown that children develop a repertoire of mathematical strategies by progressing though five 'counting stages'. These are: perceptual - students are limited to counting those items they can perceive; figurative - students count from one when solving addition problems with screened collections; initial number sequence - students can now count on to solve addition and missing add-end problems with screened collections; implicitly nested number sequence - students are able to focus on the collection of unit items as one thing, as well as the abstract unit items; explicitly nested number sequence - students are simultaneously aware of …

Can Compassion Be Measured?, Margaret Forster, Prue Anderson

Prue Anderson

The Australian Council for Educational Research is working to develop and refine frameworks against which schools and school systems might monitor the social, emotional, moral and ethical development of their students.

Better Than Beige : Designing Assessment Tasks To Enhance Learning And Measure Growth In The Early Years Of School, Prue Anderson, Marion Meiers

Prue Anderson

'I think of our school as beige. We tend to be the average of 'like' schools. Can we do better than that?' In order to promote growth in student learning and demonstrate achievement schools require rich assessment tasks that enhance the teaching and learning cycle and provide a valid and reliable measure of growth. This paper examines the five linked sets of assessment tasks that have been developed to progressively measure growth in literacy and numeracy in the first three years of school. The tasks were designed for the ACER Longitudinal Literacy and Numeracy Survey (LLANS). The tasks are based …

A Structure For Quality Mathematics Instruction, Hilary Hollingsworth, David Clarke

Dr Hilary Hollingsworth

The intention of the authors in this paper is to set out a possible structure by which teachers might incorporate the products of recent curriculum initiatives into their mathematics teaching. They have chosen to focus on Chance and Data as the academic content of their examples.

Teacher Change In Primary Mathematics: Coding, Classifying And Organising Qualitative Data, Hilary Hollingsworth

Dr Hilary Hollingsworth

A study that probed primary teachers' experience of a professional development mathematics program. The author uses a range of data gathering methods, including interviews, observation, schedules and teacher documents, and discusses the coding and manipulation of data from these sources.