Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Social Inclusion As An Unfinished Verb: A Practice-Based Approach, Lynne Keevers, Pamela Abuodha

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

The Australian Government has embarked on a social inclusion agenda that includes ambitious targets to increase and widen participation in higher education. From the evidence to date their approach to social inclusion in higher education focuses attention on statistical indicators of "proportional representation". Most of the available measures of social inclusion and exclusion have an individualistic focus and tend to characterise social exclusion as a "state" in which people are assumed to be "excluded" from access to higher education. Such a perspective focuses attention on the point of entry but backgrounds how the relational experience of under-represented groups in learning …

A Systematic Approach To Improving University Teaching, Max Gillett, Maureen E. Bell

Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) - Papers

Traditionally the Australian system of higher education has evaluated and rewarded universities on the basis of their research output. In recent years, however, there has been a Significant move to evaluate and acknowledge excellence in teaching. Consequently many institutions have established policies and programs for the improvement of teaching. Centres for staff development, graduate award courses and research programs for research on teaching and learning have appeared in universities across the country (Martin & Ramsden, 1994).

In this context several interesting developments have occurred at the University of Wollongong. First, several initiatives were designed to identify and reward good teaching. …