Education Commons^™

Communities Of Practice To Facilitate Change In Health Professions Education: A Realist Synthesis, Gemma Jenkins, Claire Palermo, Alexander M. Clark, Leesa Costello

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Background: Communities of practice could contribute to transformations in health professions education to meet complex and emerging challenges. However, little is known about the underlying mechanisms of communities of practice in this setting, and how context influences outcomes. Objective: To understand when, why and how communities of practice with health professions education faculty work to facilitate higher education change. Design: A realist synthesis according to the RAMESES standards and steps described by Pawson and colleagues. Review methods: Early scoping of the literature informed the development of an initial program theory to describe underlying assumptions about how communities of practice in …

Challenging The Nuances Of Pain Assessment With Co-Designed Audio-Visual Simulations In Nursing Education: A Descriptive Study, Michelle A. Kelly, Susan Slatyer, Naomi Tutticci, Joanne Ramsbotham, Sandra Johnston, Irene Ngune, Karen A. Theobald

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Background: Appropriate management of pain remains a challenging issue. Surfacing nurses’ inherent assumptions about pain may lead to better pain management. This study developed and evaluated new audio-visual (AV) simulations for nursing students showcasing patient characteristics that may influence pain assessment. Methods: Descriptive pre/post intervention study informed by the STROBE framework. Participants were drawn from two Australian universities. Three AV simulations were codesigned by clinicians, educators, and health consumers. Data included: demographics, previous experiences of pain assessment; compassion scale, feasibility, and relevance of AV simulations. Quantile regression and content analyses were applied. Results: Full data sets of 491 participants (314 …

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 …

University Evaluation Toolkit: Navigating Evaluative Practices Across All Levels With Rufdatae, Elizabeth J. Cook, Kena Cabral Morales

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

University stakeholders have mixed feelings about evaluation, and mixed understandings, skills and knowledge about how to effectively evaluate. How much do you know about evaluation? Could you plan an evaluation if asked? This poster provides a toolkit of strategies for enhancing evaluation in universities, based on Cook’s (2021) “Evaluation of work-integrated learning: A realist synthesis and toolkit to enhance university evaluative practices”. RUFDATAE is a modified version of Saunders’ (2000) approach.

The poster: defines evaluation; clarifies the difference between evaluation and research; summarises the four domains of evaluation in higher education; and outlines RUFDATAE, an evaluation planning framework, for prompting …

The Quest For Continuous Quality Improvement In Australian Long Day Care Services: Getting The Most Out Of The Assessment And Rating Process, Susan L. Irvine, Lennie Barblett, Manjula Waniganayake, Fay Hadley, Rebecca Andrews, Maria Hatzigianni, Hui Li, Leanne Lavina, Linda J. Harrison, Belinda Davis

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The National Quality Framework (NQF) was intended to drive continuous improvement in education and care services in Australia. Ten years into implementation, the effectiveness of the NQF is demonstrated by steady improvements in quality as measured against the National Quality Standard (NQS). The process of assessing and rating services is a key element in the NQF, drawing together regulatory compliance and quality assurance. This paper draws on findings from a national Quality Improvement Research Project investigating the characteristics, processes, challenges and enablers of quality improvement in long day care services, concentrating on Quality Area 1 Educational program and practice and …

Engaging Stakeholders To Inform Policy Developments In Early Childhood Education And Outside School Hours Care, Fay Hadley, Linda J. Harrison, Leanne Lavina, Lennie Barblett, Susan Irvine, Francis Bobongie-Harris, Jennifer Cartmel

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The application of engagement strategies to ensure democracy of decisions is increasingly valued and adopted by governments to ensure trust in the process and ownership of the outcome. This paper describes the approach and methods used to engage early childhood education and care (ECEC) and outside school hours care (OSHC) stakeholders in the contemporizing and updating of Australia’s national Approved Learning Frameworks (ALFs): Belonging, Being and Becoming: The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia (EYLF) and My Time Our Place: Framework for School Age Care (MTOP). Theoretical underpinnings of a robust stakeholder engagement strategy ensured a range of methods were …

The Benefits, Barriers And Facilitators Of Mentoring Programs For First-Year Doctors: A Systematic Review, Joelle Winderbaum, Linda L. L. Coventry

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Introduction: The transition from medical student to first-year doctor is notoriously difficult, yielding a high rate of transition failure, burn-out and mental health deterioration. Doctors in this cohort experience unique challenges during this time, which manifest through performance gaps, issues of professional identity, new occupational pressures, and cultural expectations. Mentoring programs are commonly utilised in the medical profession to foster personal and professional development and improve psychosocial well-being and career satisfaction. However, there exist no systematic reviews examining the use of mentorship specifically for the first-year doctor cohort, given the unique transition challenges faced by this vulnerable group. Purpose: Due …

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 …

A Maturity Model For Micro-Credentialing And Shorter Forms Of Learning Practice In Australasian Universities, Ratna M. Selvaratnam, Steven Warburton, Dominique Parrish, Suzanne Crew

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

As education and training providers grapple with increasing demand for micro-credentials, guidance on how to improve providers’ capacity and capability to deliver a high standard of learning along with profitable outcomes is needed. This study sought to develop a maturity model that could assist higher education providers in distinguishing their stage of development for delivering micro-credentials and provide guidance on activities to advance micro-credential maturity. A survey of Australasian higher education providers validated the developed model and provided an indicator of the sector’s maturity and ability to meet the increasing demand for micro-credentials. The model’s domains of quality, resourcing, standards …

Assessing Primary School Preservice Teachers’ Confidence To Apply Their Tpack In Specific Categories Of Technologies Using A Self-Audit Survey, David A. Martin, Michael D. Carey, Natalie Mcmaster, Madeleine Clarkin

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Internationally, university teacher educators have acted on the requirement that practising teachers need to be operational users of technologies. In response, coursework has been restructured to develop preservice teachers’ (PSTs) use and application of educational technologies for teaching and learning purposes. This paper presents the development and use of a self-audit survey designed to guide primary school PSTs’ self-directed learning and assessments in 10 specific categories of technologies, and to improve their confidence to apply their knowledge. The survey was administered to 296 PSTs in a pre- and post-course design and validated post hoc with Rasch analysis. Pre- and post-course …

The Equity Of Class Ability Grouping Practices In Australian Education: Findings From A Survey In Western Australia And Queensland, Olivia Johnston, Rebecca Spooner-Lane, Wei Zhang, Suzanne Macqueen, Nerida Spina

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Grouping students into separate classes according to their ‘ability’ is an inequitable practice that does not, overall, improve academic outcomes. Research has continued to show that class ability grouping widens the educational gap between students from disadvantaged and privileged backgrounds. PISA data analysis suggests that class ability grouping continues to be used in Australian schools, at least in Year 10. However, no research has characterized the existing class ability grouping practices being used in secondary schools from Years 7 to 9. The findings reported in this paper add quantitative evidence to the literature, showing that students are experiencing different class …

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 …

Navigating The Intersection Between Academic And Research Integrity For Investigations Involving Research Students. Practitioner Experiences At An Australian University, Marc Fellman

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

There is limited research on the intersection between research and academic integrity in scenarios concerning research students. In this commentary the experiences of a practitioner working in research governance, navigating the interstices between research integrity (RI) and academic integrity (AI) investigations, will be examined. With a view to promoting discussion on this aspect of research governance.

Continuous Professional Development Strategies Of Nepali Secondary Principals: Navigating Challenges In Changing Times, Shankar Dhakal, Geoffrey W. Lummis, Andrew Jones

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This article delves into the ‘continuous professional development’ (CPD) strategies of three Nepali public secondary principals in complex settings. Through semi-structured interviews, the case studies reveal key CPD themes such as academic qualifications, contextual learning, collaborative networking, leadership training, critical self-reflection, and spiritual dimensions aligned with contextual expectations. The research reinforces the importance of networking and collaboration, in providing targeted CPD for principals, necessitating the negotiation of cultural sensitivities. These insights carry vital implications for school leadership in Nepal and similar international contexts, providing strategies to ensure positive educational outcomes.

Validity And Reliability Of The Persian Version Of The Suboptimal Health Status Questionnaire Among University Staff In Iran, Erfan Ayubi, Salman Khazaei, Shiva Borzouei, Ali R. Soltanian, Samereh Ghelichkhani, Fatemeh Karbin, Yuxiang Yan, Manshu Song, Cuihong Tian, Wei Zhang, Jing Sun, Wei Wang

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Background: Suboptimal Health Status Questionnaire-25 (SHSQ-25) is an established tool for measuring a precision health state between health and illness. The present study aims to assess the validity and reliability of a Persian version of SHSQ-25 (P-SHSQ-25) in a university staff Iranian population. Methods: A sample of 316 academic and supporting staff (163 males, age range from 23 to 64 years old) from Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran was recruited in this population-based cross-sectional study with a questionnaire validation from Apri1 to October 2022. Forward-backward translation method was performed for the SHSQ-25 translation from English to Persian. Internal …

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 …

Teacher, Gatekeeper, Or Team Member: Supervisor Positioning In Programmatic Assessment, Janica Jamieson, Simone Gibson, Margaret Hay, Claire Palermo

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Competency-based assessment is undergoing an evolution with the popularisation of programmatic assessment. Fundamental to programmatic assessment are the attributes and buy-in of the people participating in the system. Our previous research revealed unspoken, yet influential, cultural and relationship dynamics that interact with programmatic assessment to influence success. Pulling at this thread, we conducted secondary analysis of focus groups and interviews (n = 44 supervisors) using the critical lens of Positioning Theory to explore how workplace supervisors experienced and perceived their positioning within programmatic assessment. We found that supervisors positioned themselves in two of three ways. First, supervisors universally positioned themselves …

Factors Predicting Mathematics Achievement In Pisa: A Systematic Review, Xiaofang S. Wang, Laura B. Perry, Anabela Malpique, Tobias Ide

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) has become the world’s largest comparative assessment of academic achievement. While hundreds of studies have examined the factors predicting student achievement in PISA, a comprehensive overview of the main predictors has yet to be completed. To address this gap, we conducted a systematic literature review of factors predicting mathematics performance in PISA. Guided by Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model of human development, we synthesized the findings of 156 peer reviewed articles. The analysis identified 135 factors that fall into five broad categories: individual student, household context, school community, education systems and macro society. The analysis …

Protocol For A Mixed-Methods Investigation Of Quality Improvement In Early Childhood Education And Care In Australia, Linda J. Harrison, Rebecca Andrews, Fay Hadley, Susan Irvine, Manjula Waniganayake, Lennie Barblett, Belinda Davis, Maria Hatzigianni, Hui Li

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

International recognition of the early years as a crucial foundational period has led to the design and implementation of quality rating and improvement systems (QRIS) that define, communicate, and monitor the components of quality in early childhood education and care (ECEC). The aim of these policies is to achieve effective quality assurance and improvement through a system-oriented approach to assessment and evaluation. Informed by ecological systems theory, this paper outlines a three-phase, mixed-methods design for researching a national sample of child care centres that showed overall improvement on the Australian National Quality Standard (NQS) assessment and rating (A&R) criteria. The …

The Role Of Digital Technologies In Supporting Quality Improvement In Australian Early Childhood Education And Care Settings, Maria Hatzigianni, Tanya Stephenson, Linda J. Harrison, Manjula Waniganayake, Philip Li, Lennie Barblett, Fay Hadley, Rebecca Andrews, Belinda Davis, Susan Irvine

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This national study explored the role of digital technologies in early childhood education and care settings and whether they could contribute to quality improvement as reported by educators and assessors of quality in Australia. In this paper, data from Stage 2 of the Quality Improvement Research Project were used, which comprised 60 Quality Improvement Plans from educators linked with 60 Assessment and Rating reports from the assessors who visited early childhood centres as part of the administration of the National Quality Standards by each of Australia’s State and Territory jurisdictions. Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory (Bronfenbrenner, U. (1995).Developmental ecology through space …

Covid-19 And Alternative Assessments In Higher Education: Implications For Academic Integrity Among Nursing And Social Science Students, Esther Abena Adama, Amanda Graf, Kwadwo Adusei-Asante, Ebenezer Afrifa-Yamoah

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Background: COVID-19 and its associated restrictions called for innovations in higher education teaching and learning space with many universities resorting to online teaching and alternative assessments. However, little has been done to understand the academic integrity implications in alternative online and non-invigilated assessments. Aim: This study explored the perceptions of higher education students regarding academic integrity in alternative assessments. Methods: Cross-sectional mixed method design following the parallel convergent approach was utilised in this study. A convenience sample of 380 undergraduate and postgraduate nursing and social science students completed an online survey on academic integrity behaviours associated with alternative assessments. Results: …

Profiling The Australasian Paramedicine Tertiary Academic Sector And Workforce: A Cross-Sectional Study, Paul Simpson, Nigel Barr, David Reid, Malcolm Boyle, Brett Williams

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Introduction: In 1994, the first Australasian paramedicine tertiary program commenced as an off-campus offering not required as an entry-to-practice qualification A quarter of a century later, university programs have proliferated with tertiary qualifications becoming mandatory to acquire Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency registration. Despite this progression, concerns have been voiced regarding student enrolment volume and sustainability of the paramedicine academic workforce. To date, a census of the sector and the workforce has not been conducted, limiting capacity for data-informed strategic planning. The aim of this study was to profile the Australasian paramedicine tertiary sector and describe the academic workforce working …

The Keys Of Keyboard-Based Writing: Student And Classroom-Level Predictors Of Keyboard-Based Writing In Early Primary, Anabela A. Malpique, Debora Valcan, Deborah Pino-Pasternak, Susan Ledger, Mustafa Asil, Timothy Teo

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

In today's fast-paced digital world, keyboard-based writing has become a key component of daily communication, with students engaging in keyboarding early in their school trajectories. Nonetheless, there's a lack of systematic studies investigating individual-level factors impacting keyboard-based writing and relationships with the writing instruction typically provided in primary school settings. Using multilevel modelling the current study examined student-level predictors of keyboard-based writing quality and fluency in Year 2 Australian children (N = 544), including keyboarding automaticity, spelling, reading skills, executive functioning, writing attitudes, gender; and classroom-level (N = 47) variables predicting keyboard-based writing, such as teachers’ preparation and instructional practices …

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 . . .

Benchmarking Australian Enabling Programs For A National Framework Of Standards, Charmaine Davis, Chris Cook, Suzi Syme, Sarah Dempster, Lisa Duffy, Sarah Hattam, George Lambrinidis, Kathy Lawson, Stuart Levy

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Enabling education programs in Australia assist students, who would otherwise have been excluded from higher education, to transition into undergraduate study. These programs emerged independently in response to the needs of individual universities and the varying cohorts of students they serve. The exclusion of these programs from the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) has meant they remain unregulated, with no national framework for standards. The development of academic standards is a dynamic, consensus driven process, and benchmarking provides a method through which academics from across institutions can work in partnership to reach shared understandings and improve and align practices. This practice …

Elementary Teachers' Perspectives On Teaching Reading Comprehension, Reid Smith, Pamela Snow, Tanya Serry, Lorraine Hammond

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

PURPOSE: We report findings from a survey of elementary teachers regarding reading instruction. The purpose was to examine teachers' beliefs about how children in the first 7 years of schooling develop reading comprehension skills and to characterize the self-reported practices and strategies they use to support children to comprehend connected text. METHOD: A web-based survey was used to collect data from 284 Australian elementary teachers about their beliefs and practices regarding reading comprehension instruction. Selected Likert-scale items were aggregated to determine the degree to which participants held "child-centered" or "content-centered" views of reading instruction. RESULTS: Australian elementary school teachers hold …

Generative Artificial Intelligence: University Student Awareness, Experience, And Confidence In Use Across Disciplines, Andrew Kelly, Miriam Sullivan, Katrina Strampel

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The global higher education sector has been significantly disrupted by the proliferation of generative artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT, especially in relation to its implications for assessment. However, few studies to date have explored student perspectives on these tools. This article reports on one of the first large-scale quantitative studies of student views on generative artificial intelligence at an Australian university (n = 1,135). When the survey was conducted, most students had low knowledge, experience, and confidence in using these tools. These results varied across disciplines and across some student sub-groups, such as mature-age students and international students. Confidence …

Confirmatory Factor Analysis Of Two Self-Efficacy Scales For Astronomy Understanding And Robotic Telescope Use, R. Freed, David H. Mckinnon, M. T. Fitzgerald, S. Salimpour

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This paper presents the results of a confirmatory factor analysis on two self-efficacy scales designed to probe the self-efficacy of college-level introductory astronomy (Astro-101) students (n=15181) from 22 institutions across the United States of America and Canada. The students undertook a course based on similar curriculum materials, which involved students using robotic telescopes to support their learning of astronomical concepts covered in the "traditional"Astro-101 courses. Previous research by the authors using these self-efficacy scales within a pre-/post-test approach showed both high reliabilities and very high construct validities. However, the scale purporting to measure students' self-efficacy in relation to their use …

Chinese-Speaking Undergraduates In Australia: A Lexical Approach To Teaching Academic Writing, Qin Chen, Anne Thwaite, Brian Moon

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Chinese-speaking students enroll in Australian tertiary institutions in large numbers. Success for these international students is heavily dependent upon their mastering the conventions of academic writing in English. How best to ensure such mastery among EAL learners has been a matter of debate among tertiary educators and language specialists, with competing theories and methods proposed. This paper reports on an attempt to improve English academic writing through intensive lexical instruction, a method proposed by Ackermann & Chen (2013), Boers et al. (2016), Lewis (1993), Selivan (2018), Wray (2005, 2018) and others. Nine Chinese-speaking tertiary students were offered training in recognising …

(Re)Considering Equity, Inclusion And Belonging In The Updating Of The Early Years Learning Framework For Australia: The Potential And Pitfalls Of Book Sharing, Helen Adam, Lennie Barblett, Gill Kirk, Gloria S. Boutte

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Few would dispute the importance of equity, inclusion and belonging in early childhood education and care, yet translation into meaningful practice rarely centres the priorities of historically divested communities. The national learning framework for early childhood in Australia is the Early Years Learning Framework, positioning the child as a capable agent and describing inclusive, culturally competent practice. This article presents part of a larger study investigating educators’ beliefs and practices when using culturally diverse literature to address the Early Years Learning Framework’s diversity principles. A critical theoretical framework enables a robust examination of how the Early Years Learning Framework constructs, …