Education Commons^™

Personal Values, Subjective Wellbeing, And The Effects Of Perceived Social Support In Childhood: A Pre-Registered Study, Patricia R. Collins, Joanne Sneddon, Julie A. Lee

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Personal values are broad motivational goals that have been found to have systematic relations with subjective wellbeing in adults. Values that promote higher subjective wellbeing are considered healthy while those that hamper it are considered unhealthy (Schwartz & Sortheix, 2018). However, little is known about these relations in children. This pre-registered study examined (1) whether the values of children (6 to 12 years of age) relate to their subjective wellbeing and (2) whether these relations are moderated or mediated by perceived social support from parents, teachers, classmates, and close friends. These research questions were examined with a sample of 738 …

An Ecosystem Of Knowledge: Relationality As A Framework For Teachers To Infuse Indigenous Perspectives In Curriculum, Maryanne Macdonald, Sarah Booth, Libby Jackson-Barrett

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

New data is presented from two studies involving thirteen practising secondary teachers and twelve pre-service early childhood, primary and secondary teachers in Australia. The first study explored how non-Indigenous practising teacher identities, shaped by external and policy discourse, create obstacles to teachers’ willingness and confidence in infusing Indigenous perspectives in curriculum. With this knowledge in hand, the researchers utilised a Design-Based Research methodology to conduct a second study with pre-service (ITE) teachers, exploring the power of relationality as a framework to re-shape non-Indigenous pre-service teachers’ conceptualisation of racial and place-based identity. By enabling non-Indigenous pre-service teachers to construct an authentic …

Unravelling The Wellbeing Needs Of Australian Teachers: A Qualitative Inquiry, Narelle Lemon, Kristina Turner

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The declining wellbeing of Australian teachers is a longstanding problem, with much attention on retention, stress, burnout, and poor resourcing and conditions that impact wellbeing. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic has further illuminated these challenges. This qualitative study aimed to explore Australian teachers’ perceptions of their wellbeing needs with a focus on asking the questions that are often not asked—what is working, what are we learning, and how can we move forward to support teacher wellbeing? The voices of teachers revealed findings that support a much-needed shift in teacher wellbeing rhetoric in Australia. We illuminate five key areas that influence teacher …

Looking Into The “Dark Mirror”: Autoethnographic Reflections On The Impact Of Covid-19 And Change Fatigue On The Wellbeing Of Enabling Practitioners, Angela Jones, Susan Hopkins, Ana Larsen, Joanne Lisciandro, Anita Olds, Marguerite Westacott, Rebekah Sturniolo-Baker, Juliette Subramaniam

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The COVID-19 pandemic brought global disruptions to the way universities operate. Online learning abruptly took priority, as the physical campuses in Australian universities became deserted. Staff had to instantly adapt to major changes in work practices, whilst continuing to support students’ engagement and maintain quality teaching and learning. This article discusses how change fatigue during the pandemic impacted the wellbeing of staff working in the enabling education sector. As staff and student wellbeing is interdependent, gaining a better understanding of the influences on staff wellbeing in the post-pandemic era is worth exploring in the context of discussions around student wellbeing …

Indigenous Philosophy In Environmental Education, Anne Poelina, Yin Paradies, Sandra Wooltorton, Laurie Guimond, Libby Jackson-Barrett, Mindy Blaise

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The editorial group acknowledges the wisdom of Indigenous knowledge keepers and their past and continuous relationships with place, on every continent on earth where humans have lived for aeons. Indigenous wisdom is their life-giving gift to communities everywhere for planetary futures. It is precious, having integrity and an ethic of responsibility and care. Indigenous wisdom as environmental education is the oldest education, being tens of thousands of years of continuity before waves of apocalyptic colonial violence during the last few centuries interrupted lifeways and language-embedded knowledge systems, some forever gone . . .

Scoping The Potential Of A Noongar Re-Entry Peer Navigator Model, Jane Anderson

Journal of the Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet

The Noongar people of the South West of Western Australia (WA) continue to seek self-determination and empowerment to ensure their families are able to meet cultural, economic and social needs. Their aspirations, however, are thwarted by a significant number of their members who are incarcerated and the adverse consequences of imprisonment on families. In the meantime, the WA prison system is yet to respond to the unique needs of Noongar prisoners transitioning out of the prison system. The article reviews the literature to develop the idea of a Noongar re-entry peer navigator (PN) model. In this model, select Noongar people …

Psycho-Spiritual Counselling To Enhance Resiliency As Transformative Education: An Auto/Ethnographic Inquiry Of The Interface Between Spirituality And Positive Psychology, Dominic Savio

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This thesis attempts to capture my lived experiences of psychospiritual counselling and to describe how my research journey has shaped me personally and professionally. As a priest engaged in psychospiritual counselling internationally for nearly three decades in diverse settings, I attempt to seek further clarity and make sense of my rich experiences in this research. Therefore, I endeavoured to investigate if and how building resiliency through psychospiritual counselling can be comprehended as transformative education.

Experientially speaking, as a priest and psychospiritual counsellor, I recognised that people leaned on their moral vulnerabilities and were blinded to spirituality as a source of …

International Trauma-Informed Practice Principles For Schools (Itipps): Expert Consensus Of Best-Practice Principles, Karen Martin, Madeleine Dobson, Kate Fitzgerald, Madeleine Ford, Stephan Lund, Helen Egeberg, Rebecca Walker, Helen Milroy, Keane Wheeler, Amanda Kasten-Lee, Lisa Bayly, Angela Gazey, Sarah Falconer, Monique Platell, Emily Berger

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Recognition that schools should be responsive to children who are impacted by adversity and trauma is burgeoning internationally. However, consensus regarding the necessary components of a trauma-informed school is lacking. This research developed expert-informed and internationally relevant best-practice trauma-informed principles for schools. A four-phase methodology included (i) identification of school-relevant trauma-informed practice programs, (ii) inductive thematic analysis of the main concepts underlying programs, (iii) phrasing of draft Principles and (iv) Principle revision and finalisation via a two-round Delphi survey with international experts. Excellent agreement by experts on the importance of all Principles was achieved (round 1 ≥ 86.4%, 2 ≥ …

Performing Feminist Research: Creative Tactics For Communicating Covid-19, Gender, And Higher Education Research, Jo Pollitt, Emily Gray, Mindy Blaise, Jacqueline Ullman, Emma Fishwick

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Presenting research findings outside of the form of a traditional research report requires different modes of making and communicating. This paper offers an account of how The #FEAS Report, a satirical news video, was made to communicate the findings from interviews and a survey as part of the mixed-methods study, Sexism, Higher Education, and COVID-19: The Australian Perspective to a wider public. Three creative tactics for research communication were used: DIY aesthetics, humour, and situated bodies. These communication tactics enabled the researchers to think differently about what research findings mean, and how to articulate them in ways that are intelligible. …

Six Modes Of Giving Pedagogy For Engagement And Wellbeing – For Teachers And Students, Thomas W. Nielsen, Jennifer S. Ma

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The present study took place across two outdoor education trips to the Great Barrier Reef with two groups of college students (N = 36; 16-19 years), five staff, and one of the authors (TWN). The aim was to explore how an explicit understanding and implementation of the wellbeing research around cultivating generous behaviour for meaningful happiness could be ‘experienced’ by staff and students and articulated as an educational framework, or ‘pedagogy’. Hermeneutic phenomenology was used to record and interpret pedagogical transactions of giving. Six repeated themes were identified: (1) exploration, (2) modelling, (3) explicit instruction, (4) incidental learning, (5) crisis …

The Impact And Management Of Mis/Disinformation At University Libraries In Australia, Nicole Johnston

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Mis/disinformation has in recent political and health climates become increasingly spread through social media and the internet, drawing increased discussion on the role libraries play in countering and combating the spread of mis/disinformation. This study investigated the impact and management of mis/disinformation at university libraries in Australia through a survey of 88 library staff and interviews with 17 managers. Library staff believe they have a role in teaching skills such as critical thinking and evaluation, advocating in this space and maintaining credible, balanced and inclusive collections. Although combating mis/disinformation is a strategic priority for libraries, it is often not a …

A National Survey Of Gendered Grouping Practices In Secondary School Physical Education In England, Shaun D. Wilkinson, Dawn Penney

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Background: Gendered grouping practices and curriculum provision are matters of long-standing contention and debate in physical education (PE) policy, research, and practice internationally. In England, there is a long tradition of single-sex grouping in PE in secondary schools, with accompanying gendered patterns of staffing and many boys and girls taught different activities in the curriculum. Research on the incidence of single- and mixed-sex grouping in PE is however scarce, dated, and limited in scale. At a time when education, sport, and society are challenged to move beyond binary discourses and critically review structures and practices that uphold stereotypical and established …

Making Open Scholarship More Equitable And Inclusive, Paul L. Arthur, Lydia Hearn, John C. Ryan, Nirmala Menon, Langa Khumalo

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Democratizing access to information is an enabler for our digital future. It can transform how knowledge is created, preserved, and shared, and strengthen the connection between academics and the communities they serve. Yet, open scholarship is influenced by history and politics. This article explores the foundations underlying open scholarship as a quest for more just, equitable, and inclusive societies. It analyzes the origins of the open scholarship movement and explores how systemic factors have impacted equality and equity of knowledge access and production according to location, nationality, race, age, gender, and socio-economic circumstances. It highlights how the privileges of the …

Developing A Resource For Arts Educators To Enhance The Social And Emotional Well-Being Of Young People, Leanne Fried, Christine Lovering, Sarah Falconer, Jacinta Francis, Robyn Johnston, Karen Lombardi, Kevin Runions, Karen Forde, Naomi Crosby, Lilly Blue

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Background: Mental health concerns prevent positive well-being and are key challenges for Australian children and young people. Arts organisations play a role in enhancing the positive mental health of children and young people. This paper describes the involvement of young people and their parents in the development of a resource for arts organisation’s intentional support of social and emotional well-being. Methods: Six focus groups were conducted with 19 young people who participate in dance, drama, and circus programs, and 17 of their parents. Questions explored how the arts currently, and potentially, support their social and emotional well-being. Results: Three overarching …

Pedagogy Of Belonging: Pausing To Be Human In Higher Education, Narelle Lemon

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Valuing care and self-care in higher education requires a conscious pause and rethinking of how we are together as educators and students. The pandemic caused various complexities, including changes in curriculum delivery, deadlines, and assessment modes, leading to feelings of overwhelm, anxiety, and change fatigue, which contributed to the emergence of panicgogy. This paper argues for the need to disrupt this way of being and experiencing the pandemic through valuing humanity and repositioning self-care and care by and for academics to inform their pedagogy. Presented is the narrative and the design story behind Pedagogy of Belonging (PoB), a systems informed …

Lesbian, Anorexic, Disabled, And Big: Other Ways Of Being A Female Physical Education Teacher, Gustavo González-Calvo, Valeria Varea

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Research has shown that Physical Education (PE) is a white, male, and able body-dominated profession, particularly in Spain. When some female pre-service PE teachers, who had a difficult relationship with their bodies and sports abilities, enrol in such a degree, some of these problematic relations come to light. Participants for this study were four female pre-service teachers who self-identified as lesbian, anorexic, visually impaired, and big respectively. Data were collected through participant-produced texts, graphical representations, and interviews. The authors then reconstructed the participants’ stories which are presented in the form of narratives. The conceptual tool of embodying norm-criticality helped us …

A Model For Children’S Digital Citizenship In India, Korea, And Australia: Stakeholder Engagement Principles, Emma Jayakumar, Kylie Stevenson, Harrison See, Yeonghwi Ryu

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This white paper communicates research activities and findings investigating digital safety and digital citizenship through multistakeholder collaborations in three countries—India, South Korea, and Australia. Performed by an Edith Cowan University-based research team from the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child, supported by the LEGO Group, this research additionally responds to many recent policy and practice reviews arguing for institutional and policy engagement in the Asia Pacific (APAC) that build children’s digital safety, literacy and citizenship. These include the UNESCO data-driven report, Digital Kids Asia Pacific (DKAP): Insights into children’s digital citizenship (UNESCO, 2019), an earlier UNESCO review of …

Understanding The Identity Work And Aspirations Of Indigenous Males Navigating Elite Australian Higher Education, James A. Smith, Garth Stahl, Andrew Harvey, Braden Hill, Himanshu Gupta, Sam Moore, Jianing Wang

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

In Australia, there has been increased attention to attracting Indigenous peoples into higher education but, despite a recent growth in enrolment numbers, they remain severely underrepresented. This underrepresentation is particularly notable among Indigenous males, who are the least likely to attend. In this paper, we investigate the experiences of four Indigenous young men who attended an elite higher education institution. Aligned with other research on the experiences of Black and Minority Ethnic males in higher education, the article captures how their experience in privileged institutions compels them to reflect on their own positionality and the cultural interface between Indigenous and …

Conversations With Rain: Proposing Poetic And Non-Linear Interpretation Strategies In The Art Gallery, Lilly Blue, Jo Pollitt, Mindy Blaise

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Conversations with Rain aims to disrupt conventional socio-constructivist and cognitive notions of the child familiar in museum settings by rethinking children’s relations with art objects and weather worlds. Our rationale suggests that poetic and non-linear interpretation strategies, combined with artist studio practices that heighten presence and attention, expand the potential of more porous entanglements for children with the world, and potentially transform our climate futures. Disrupting didactic Gallery programming and environmental ‘learning about’ practices, we propose responsive, participatory, multisensory, open-ended, and poetic opportunities that recognise the unfixed, iterative, and tacit knowledges of the child. Building a body of research through …

Invisible Women: Gender Representation In High School Science Courses Across Australia, Kathryn Ross, Shanika Galaudage, Tegan Clark, Nataliea Lowson, Andrew Battisti, Helen Adam, Alexandra K. Ross, Nici Sweaney

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The visibility of female role models in science is vital for engaging and retaining women in scientific fields. In this study, we analyse four senior secondary science courses delivered across the states and territories in Australia: Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Science, and Physics. We compared male and female representation within the science courses by examining the mentions of male and female scientists along with the context of their inclusions in the syllabuses. We find a clear gender bias with only one unique mention of a female scientist. We also find a clear Eurocentric focus and narrow representation of scientists. This bias …

Conceptualising The Education And Care Workforce From The Perspective Of Children And Young People, Jennifer Cartmel, Susan Irvine, Linda Harrison, Lennie Barblett, Francis Bobongie-Harris, Leanne Lavina, Fay Hadley

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Children are significant stakeholders within education and care settings. Their views can be invaluable in thinking about what matters to conceptualising, assessing and improving quality in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) and Outside School Hours Care (OSHC) settings. As stakeholders, children’s views are rarely listened to by Australian policy makers to assess what constitutes quality and how the quality can be improved. In the process of updating two nationally approved Australian Learning Frameworks (ALFs): Belonging, Being and Becoming: The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia 2.0 and My Time Our Place: Framework for School Age Care in Australia 2.0, …

Feeling And Hearing Country As Research Method, Anne Poelina, Marlikka Perdrisat, Sandra Wooltorton, Edwin L. Mulligan

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This paper explains Feeling and Hearing Country as an Australian Indigenous practice whereby water is life, Country is responsive, and Elders generate wisdom for a communicative order of things. The authors ask, as a society of Indigenous people and those no longer Indigenous to place, can we walk together in the task of collectively healing Country? The research method uses experiential, creative, propositional, and practical ways of knowing and being in and with local places. Evidence may take many forms based upon engagement with an animate, sentient world. The research method can generate new meanings, implications and insights, and regenerate …

Associations Between Instagram Addiction, Academic Performance, Social Anxiety, Depression, And Life Satisfaction Among University Students, Behzad Foroughi, Mark D. Griffiths, Mohammad Iranmanesh, Yashar Salamzadeh

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

The use of social networking sites (SNSs) has become increasingly popular. Although several studies have been carried out on the addictive use of SNSs such as Twitter and Facebook, there is little research on Instagram addiction and its drivers. The present study investigated the association between students’ needs and Instagram addiction by incorporating physical activity as a moderator among 364 university students. Additionally, the associations between Instagram addiction, academic performance, depression, social anxiety, and life satisfaction were investigated. The results showed that recognition needs, social needs, and entertainment needs all contributed to Instagram addiction. However, information needs were not a …

Diversity As A Condition Of Cultures: Querying Assumptions Of Mainstream And Minorities In Education Policy And Curriculum, Sue Saltmarsh

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Highlights

• Discussions of diversity in relation to children’s education are often characterized by binaries of same/different, mainstream/margins, inclusion/exclusion, self/Other.

• Curriculum remains a contested site in educational debate, with differing views about curriculum as reinforcing social norms, beliefs, and values, as addressing the learning and social needs of learners from a variety of backgrounds and worldviews, or as a hybrid of these.

• Policy and curriculum designed or intended to address diversity tend to rest on assumptions of majority or dominant cultures as homogenous and distinct from the cultures of minority Other/s.

• Inequality is often multidimensional, intersecting with, …

Parents' Experiences Of Children With A Rare Disease Attending A Mainstream School: Australia, Mandie Foster, Esther Adama, Diana Arabiat, Kevin Runions, Rena Vithiatharan, Maggie Zgambo, Ashleigh Lin

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Purpose:

To explore the perceptions of parents who had a child or adolescent (6-18 years) diagnosed with a rare disease who attended a mainstream school in Western Australia.

Design and methods:

A cross-sectional online survey was conducted with 41 parents of children with a rare disease. Here we report the findings of 14 open-ended questions on their experience of illness-related factors and impact on school-related social activities, such as sports, school camps and leadership roles whilst their child with a rare disease attended a mainstream school in Australia. Responses were analysed using an inductive thematic content approach.

Results:

We identified …

Parental Autonomy Support, Parental Psychological Control And Chinese University Students’ Behavior Regulation: The Mediating Role Of Basic Psychological Needs, Songqin Wei, Timothy Teo, Anabela Malpique, Adi Lausen

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The present research examined relationships between parental autonomy support, parental psychological control, and Chinese emerging adults’ autonomous regulation in their university studies as well as dysregulation in social media engagement. A total of 287 (102 female and 185 male) Chinese university students reported on their perceived parenting styles, psychological needs, and behavior regulation. Results showed that basic psychological need satisfaction was positively associated with parental autonomy support and autonomous regulation of learning; need frustration was positively correlated with parental psychological control and dysregulation in social media engagement. More importantly, psychological need frustration was a mediator of the relation between parental …

Gender Differences And Motivation For The Teaching Profession: Why Do Men Choose (Not) To Teach?, Ivana Pikić Jugović, Ana Maskalan, Tea Pavin Ivanec

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The aim of this study was to explore gender differences in motivation for choosing teaching as a profession and perceptions of men’s demotivation for the choice of this profession. 279 preservice subject teachers from the University of Zagreb, Croatia, filled in the FIT-Choice Scale (Watt & Richardson, 2007) and the Demotivation of Men for Teaching Career Choice Scale. Results revealed that, regardless of their gender, preservice subject teachers were primarily motivated by the intrinsic and social utility values of teaching, while specific gender differences imply the importance of the role of social factors in men’s choice of this career. Low …

Addressing The Social Loafing Problem In Assessment Practices From The Perspectives Of Tanzania’S Pre-Service Teachers, Joseph Reginard Milinga, Ezelina Angetile Kibonde, Venance Paul Mallya, Monica Asagwile Mwakifuna

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Recent developments of higher teacher education in Tanzania have witnessed high student enrolments necessitating change of an emphasis from individual assessment to group-based assessment practices. In this context, informed by the constructivist philosophical perspective, this article reports on the pre-service teachers’ voices regarding the prevalence, impacts and counteractive strategies of social loafing. The pre-service teachers are drawn from one higher education institution in Tanzania that serves as a case study. It draws on qualitative data collected from a sample of purposively selected undergraduate pre-service teachers. The study found social loafing tendencies to be commonplace and with far-reaching consequences amongst students …

Understanding, Promoting And Supporting Lgbtqi+ Diversity In Legal Education, Aidan Ricciardo, Shane L. Rogers, Stephen D. Puttick, Natalie Skead, Stella Tarrant, Melville Thomas

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Australian law schools are becoming increasingly diverse. Yet, there is very little quantitative or qualitative data on diversity in law schools and even less research examining how students’ diverse backgrounds and social identities–including their sexual orientation and gender identity–affect their law student experience. This article begins to fill this gap in the literature by reporting the findings from a study examining the law school experiences of LGBTQI+ students at all law schools within a single Australian state. The study reveals that much of the law school experience is similar for both LGBTQI+ and non-LGBTQI+ students, and that LGBTQI+ law students …

Lively Emu Dialogues: Activating Feminist Common Worlding Pedagogies, Mindy Blaise, Catherine Hamm

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

This paper draws from a series of Place-thought walks that the authors took at an open-range zoo. It practices a feminist common worlds multispecies ethics to challenge the systems that maintain nature-culture divisions in early childhood education. Postdevelopmental perspectives (i.e., feminist environmental humanities, multispecies studies, Indigenous studies) are brought into conversation with early childhood education to consider how zoo-logics maintain binaries and hierarchical thinking. Zoo-logics are related to developmental, colonial, and Western ways of reasoning and being in the world. Two feminist approaches to ethics, (re)situating and dialoguing, are discussed and show how they are necessary for undermining binaries and …