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The Australian governments' centrepiece Indigenous strategy, the 'Closing the Gap' framework, established in 2008 to address systemic Indigenous disadvantage, is underpinned by the concept of 'school readiness', which expects Indigenous families to bring their children to school ready to learn. The education system commonly blames Indigenous culture as a contributing factor in explaining the 'Gap'. In this paper, we reverse the mirror of 'school readiness', examining what is known about the readiness of the education system to meet the aspirations of Indigenous learners. Using a meta-synthesis methodological approach, this paper provides an overview of research about the issues and challenges facing Australian schools to be ready to respond to the educational needs of Indigenous children. Findings reveal that the lack of teacher, curriculum, pedagogical, school environment and culture readiness are the four key aspects to consider. We conclude by discussing the implications and gaps in the existing Indigenous education strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

If feedback is to be conducted effectively, then there needs to be clarity about what is involved and what is necessary for teachers to be able to undertake it well. While much attention has recently been devoted to student feedback literacy, less has been given to what is required of teaching staff in their various roles in feedback processes. This paper seeks to elucidate teacher feedback literacy through an analysis of the accounts of those who do feedback well. An inductive analysis was undertaken of conversations about feedback with 62 university teachers from five Australian universities using a dataset of transcripts of interviews and focus groups from two earlier research studies. Through an iterative process a teacher feedback literacy competency framework was developed which represents the competencies required of university teachers able to design and enact effective feedback processes. The paper discusses the different competencies required of those with different levels of responsibility, from overall course design to commenting on students' work. It concludes by considering implications for the professional development of university teachers in the area of feedback. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies on youth radicalisation are few, even though it has been identified as an increasing problem. This paper aims to contribute insights on youth radicalisation by examining data from 33 cases of Australians, aged 19 and below, who have been identified as radicalising to violent extremism. It draws on a subset of data from the Profiles of Individual Radicalisation in Australia (PIRA) dataset. This is an open-source dataset that replicates variables from the Profiles of Individual Radicalisation in the United States (PIRUS) dataset. The PIRA dataset is outlined and we undertake a descriptive and exploratory analysis of selective key variables identified in the terrorism and criminology literature. Analysis shows that radicalisation amongst our sample of youth is associated with poor educational achievement, mental health problems, active engagement with online social media, exposure to other radicalised networks and associates, personal grievances and triggering events. The data both confirm and diverge from the existing literature. The paper, in particular, considers the role of social bond attachments and networks in the youth radicalisation problem. Limitations in the study design and sample size are acknowledged and implications for the prevention of youth radicalisation are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Foundations of Early Literacy Assessment – Northern Territory (FELA-NT) was funded, developed, and implemented as part of a strategy designed to address the English literacy learning needs of the Northern Territory's Aboriginal student population. In this paper we question whether the FELA-NT English literacy learning benchmarks are representative of remote and very remote Aboriginal students since many speak English as an Additional Language (EAL) or Dialect (EAD). Using a new data set of scores from 72 Aboriginal students from remote, very remote, and outer-regional communities on the FELA-NT, we demonstrate that it is the student's experience with Standard Australian English, not their remoteness, that impacts their early literacy development. We use this example to illustrate how current practices and policies homogenise the Australian Aboriginal student population, silencing linguistic diversity in the process. We call for clinical practitioners and educators to shift their practices to assessments and tools that recognise children and youths' diverse linguistic skills and pathways. We talk about what empowerment, participation, and inclusion might really mean in current Australian educational and clinical contexts. We argue here that we need to fundamentally rethink how we work with children with diverse language and literacy knowledge, skills, and backgrounds if we are to reduce inequalities (SDG 10), honour quality education (SDG 4), and support sustainable communities (SDG 11). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is incumbent upon universities to deliver quality degree programs that produce employable graduates with discipline-specific knowledge and a well-developed set of generic skills known as graduate attributes. To safeguard the achievement of these outcomes, this paper argues for a holistic, longitudinal approach to degree planning known as programmatic assessment. The status of this relatively new phenomenon in the Australian university landscape is examined through an analysis of assessment-related policies from twenty-two of Australia's top-performing universities. Discourse analysis was employed to determine how programmatic assessment is depicted in policy, how key players are positioned in this space, and the discursive practices used to imbue policy with hortatory intent. The results of this analysis are outlined and indicate that policy constructions of a program-level approach to assessment are inconsistent across different universities and very few policies have specific guidelines about how programmatic assessment should be implemented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transition from secondary school to postschool life, education, and employment can be difficult for young people who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH). This population's postschool outcomes, particularly in employment, continue to lag behind those of the general population. The transition education, planning, and practices that these students experience while at secondary school are important to their achievement of optimal postschool outcomes. This paper reviews recent literature relating to the postschool transition of young people who are DHH, including studies that have investigated specific transition practices and student characteristics and their associations with positive postschool outcomes. Taking into consideration evidence-based best practices for students with disability in general and students who are DHH in particular, the authors propose a model of targeted transition planning and practice for adolescents who are DHH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study introduces data mining methods to accounting education scholarship to explore the relationship between accounting students' current academic performance (grades), demographic information, pre-university entrance scores and predicted academic performance. It adopts a C4.5 classification algorithm based on decision-tree analysis to examine 640 accounting students enrolled in an undergraduate accounting program at an Australian university. A significant contribution of this study is improved prediction of academic performance and identification of characteristics of students deemed to be at risk. By partitioning students into sub-groups based on tertiary entrance scores and employing clustering of study units, this study facilitates a more nuanced understanding of predictor attributes. Key findings were the dominance of a cluster of second year units in predicting students' later academic performance; that gender did not influence performance; and that performance in first year at university, rather than secondary school grades, was the most important predictor of subsequent academic performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Schooling in Australia has become subject to increased processes of data-based governance. This article draws upon the insights of an experienced teacher, 'Meriam', who, having taught more than 34-years over almost a 50-year span, reflected upon the nature of such changes. Utilising theorising in relation to datafication processes and accountability logics, the article elaborates Meriam's efforts to engage productively with increased attention to measuring and monitoring students' performance via various modes of data. This is in the context of increased pressure in the state of Queensland to justify teachers' practices, and to show how their students' learning had shown improvement on these data over short periods of time. In this sense, the article challenges a more post-performative conception of professionalism as Meriam struggled to comprehend how the increased attention to a plethora of data could serve as a useful vehicle to inform teachers' work and learning; this was the case even as she found some benefits in increased attention to her own practice and learning. The article delineates the constraints associated with increased attention to data, and how current managerial and neoliberal policy conditions in schools may contribute to potentially significant and harmful effects for both teacher and student learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Striking a balance between being a parent and being a student can place heavy demands on time and energy. Many students who are parents have employment obligations and financial concerns which create additional barriers to success. Despite these difficulties, institutional support for students who are parents is often limited. Common challenges include accessing adequate on-campus childcare and parenting rooms, and scheduling study around care commitments. A distinct recognition of student parents has been largely missing from the Australian student equity space. To address this gap, we captured the first-hand accounts of 578 student parents through a national survey of their motivations, challenges, and strengths. Findings are analysed within the four stages of the Critical Interventions Framework – pre-access, access, participation, and attainment/transition out. Our article recommends new avenues of intervention to foster the success of student parents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New technologies in accounting are widely regarded as crucial to building organisational success. They have, and continue, to impact on the requisite skills for graduate and early career accounting professionals. This research focuses on how well universities, employing organisations, and professional associations are preparing early career accountants for new technology, and the future pathways to build technology-related skills. Drawing on a mixed-method study of 315 early career accountants and 175 managers/recruiters in Australia, we find different perceptions exist between these two groups. Early career accountants were generally more positive in their assessment of how well organisations' training systems prepared them for new technology while managers/recruiters expressed greater confidence in universities' ability to develop accountants to meet emergent skill demands. We argue there is an important, complementary, and yet slightly different role played by stakeholders (universities/employing organisations/professional associations) in building technology-related skills to help collectively nurture early career accountant talent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To explore how language and executive function skills of pre-school-aged children contribute to semantic fluency (a form of verbal fluency) performance. This study investigated effect of age and contribution of vocabulary and executive function on qualitative aspects of the semantic fluency task. Method: Forty typically developing Australian-English-speaking pre-school children, aged 4;0–5;11 (mean age = 55.5 months, SD = 5.21) participated. Eight assessment tasks were presented in random order examining semantic fluency, vocabulary knowledge and executive function. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses determined the extent to which measures of executive function and vocabulary accounted for fluency (number of words correctly produced) and qualitative aspects of the semantic fluency task (number of clusters, number of clustered words, number of switches). Result: While executive function and vocabulary were positively correlated with fluency and all qualitative measures of semantic fluency performance, they were not significant predictors of any aspect of task performance. Age and vocabulary were the only significant predictors of fluency, number of words clustered, and number of switches. Performance on these tasks was strongly related to vocabulary and automated retrieval processes. Conclusion: Pre-school children do not predominantly rely on executive function during semantic fluency. The influence that vocabulary has on semantic fluency task performance outweighs that accounted for by age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A multidisciplinary Australian University introduced a block model of blended, sequential 4-week blocks to first-year students. This natural experiment compares the inaugural block and two prior cohorts on satisfaction and performance (n = 15,989 satisfaction and n = 86,545 assessment observations). Mixed effect cross-classified models with comprehensive controls, moderation and sensitivity testing show substantial increases in performance, especially for equity groups important in an expanding sector: low-socio-economic and prior academic achievement, non-English-speaking background. Effects on satisfaction were small with increases in teaching satisfaction but decrement in course satisfaction, especially perceived reasonable workload. Discipline consistently moderated effects and units that redesigned assessments offset some decline in course satisfaction. New models of higher education may support improved outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]