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Global pressure on universities to compete for research rankings has escalated research expectations and intensified a performativity culture for early career researchers (ECRs). However, there are limited examples in the literature of ECRs advocating for their career and research trajectories. In response to this issue, ECRs in one Australian regional university initiated the Teacher Education ECR Action and Advocacy Group (TEECRAA). This research, reported in this paper, aimed to understand how TEECRAA contributed to the career and research trajectories of these ECRs and their advocacy regarding ECR-specific policy in their higher education context. Framed by tenets of policy network theory and policy communities, this study draws on documents developed by the TEECRAA group using content and thematic analysis to investigate their activities and experiences. Findings highlighted that ECRs were able to set research and career goals, prioritise opportunities for professional learning, create resources to support their research profiles, and develop a network of support. ECRs also increased their contributions to policy and practice by engaging in strategic action that promotes ECR visibility and advocates for their needs. This contribution, however, requires the development of a network-like interaction between ECRs and university leaders with a commitment from the university to work in partnership with ECRs for mutual benefit.

International literature has recognised the importance of education research with Pacific learners. In an Australian context, the early years learning framework for Australia and the Australian curriculum emphasise that education sectors should work towards cultivating respect for cultural diversity and to develop intercultural understanding and intercultural capabilities. As such, the call to better understand the cultural complexities that underpins Pacific learners and their interactions with educational processes remains pertinent. This scoping review offers an important synthesis of empirical research on the educational successes and challenges of Pacific learners in Australian educational settings from 2010 to 2021. While this study offers critical insights for teacher education and research, the findings also revealed paucities in education research with Pacific learners. Thereby, propositions for future and ongoing education research with Pacific learners in Australia are offered in this article.

STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) clubs are gaining momentum as a means for engaging students in STEM-related activities. Despite this growth, there have been limited attempts to examine the conditions that inform practice in these informal educational spaces. This paper addresses that gap through a comprehensive literature review of empirical and practitioner publications, with a focus on synthesising the approaches that support STEM clubs to be effective learning environments. In total, 33 papers were included in this review. Through a rigorous literature review process, the research team identified a number of key focus areas that support the achievement of learning outcomes and programme sustainability. These focus areas are grouped into three key themes -- club management, environment, and program evaluation -- that STEM club practitioners should attend to in order to ensure a well-informed approach. Within in each theme a number of sub-dimensions were identified, which provide practical insights and lived examples of how these conditions can be enacted within STEM clubs in ways that speak to quality. The evidence-based findings presented in this paper can be used by practitioners to guide STEM club practice. Further, the paper identifies where research is required to explore contemporary practice in informal education settings.

Higher education's rapid expansion is paired with growing social expectations of its benefits and concern on its teaching quality. In response to these, institutional/national surveys based on an array of theories are widely used in universities for quality assurance, enhancement, and benchmarking. This paper reviews three major types of instruments used for such purposes, including two distinct schools of theory that have guided the development of such assessment in the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom and then spread to the other parts of the world. The theories shaping the development of the two instruments, the dimensions assessed, and the challenges and criticisms involved when using such instruments for quality assurance are each discussed. This review concludes with a call for comparisons of different lines of research in this area, discussions on student learning experience that include more diverse characterizations of student experience across different educational contexts, development of tools to enable distributed leadership among teachers, and encouragement of students as partners for quality enhancement in higher education.

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is the most prevalent childhood neurodevelopmental disorder. Arising from a complex interaction between genetic and environmental factors, along with epigenetic changes during foetal development, ADHD is a lifelong condition that impacts children's academic and social functioning in numerous adverse ways. The treatment of ADHD tends to involve pharmacological (e.g., stimulant medications) or non-pharmaceutical interventions (e.g., family or school-based management), or a combination of both, although many parents and schools are reticent to administer stimulant medications to students. This study examines the effectiveness and implications of nonpharmaceutical interventions for students with ADHD, with the primary aim of improving educators' understanding of non-pharmaceutical based interventions. A search of the relevant literature was conducted via medical and educational journals and research data bases to identify non-pharmaceutical management strategies. These were then examined to identify those with the potential to improving educators understanding and impacting outcomes for students with ADHD. Overall, the findings demonstrated a strong ground for the integration of evidence-based interventions into educational settings to promote academic and social outcomes for students with ADHD.

Young children aged birth to 5 years are known users of the internet, both unsupervised and in collaboration with adults. Adults also use the internet to share details of children's lives with others, via sharenting and educational apps. During COVID-19 internet use by children and families rose significantly during periods of enforced stay-home. Internet use by children, and by adults on behalf exposes children to conduct, contact and content risks online. These risks mean that cyber-safety in the early years is increasingly necessary, especially concerning increased internet usage during COVID-19. While cyber-safety is well developed for primary and secondary-school aged children this is not the case for young children, their families and educators. This paper proposes a research agenda for cyber-safety in the early years, using critical constructivism and internet studies to define the internet as a non-unitary technology. Three main objects of study concerning cyber-safety in the early years, including the reference to COVID-19 are identified for targeted research, including: technologies, context and policy.

Australian teachers are mandated to report instances of child maltreatment should they suspect a child is being maltreated. Some teachers are reluctant to make a report based on suspicion alone. This review examines the barriers that may prevent teachers from reporting. It is suggested that to overcome these barriers and form a reasonable belief that a child is being maltreated, teachers may attempt to seek out proof by questioning the suspected victim. Inappropriate questioning can have detrimental consequences such as wrongful reporting when maltreatment is not occurring, or worse, no report made when a child is being maltreated. Based on the review of the literature presented in this paper and given the changing landscape of mandatory reporting in Australia, research is recommended. First, to determine if the barriers for reporting still hold true and, secondly, to establish the motivations of teachers who may question a child when they suspect maltreatment, along with exploration on how they approach this task.

This note reports the results of a Delphi panel priority setting exercise for English education research. An initial item-generating survey of 75 English education academics and teachers worldwide was conducted; a thematic analysis of responses generated 31 potential priorities for future research. An adapted Delphi panel consisting of 44 English education experts was invited to take part in two rounds of ranking; four major priorities were identified at the end of the second round. These were as follows: social justice in English education; race in English education; translating research into and out of the classroom; and the nature of the subject of English.

This paper reports on the background, context, design, and findings of a collaborative research project designed to develop a future roadmap for strengthening an Australian research-rich and self-improving education system. Building on the BERA-RSA Inquiry into the role of research in the teaching profession in the UK (Furlong, 2013), the Australian Teacher Education Association (ATEA), Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE) and Australian Council of Deans of Education (ACDE) initiated a national study across education systems and jurisdictions to identify ideas, issues, challenges and opportunities to strengthen teacher education and education policy development through research. The mixed-method study, inclusive of focus groups and an on-line survey collected data from pre-service teachers, teachers, academics and leaders across schools, universities and education departments. A set of recommendations highlight the need for research literacies to be embedded at all stages of a teachers' career and that the profession would benefit from professional learning strategies where teachers are positioned as both critical and discerning consumers and active producers of research. The importance of teachers being able to respond to data within their own set of contextual factors was a key message.

Background: Prioritized research agendas are viewed internationally as an important method for ensuring that health research meets actual areas of clinical need. There is growing evidence for speech-language therapy-prioritized research agendas, particularly in disorder-specific areas. However, there are few general research priority agendas to guide speech-language therapy research. Aims: To collaboratively develop a prioritized research agenda for an Australian public health context with clinical speech-language therapists (SLTs), academic SLTs and consumers of speech-language therapy services. Methods & Procedures: An initial stimulus list of potential research areas for prioritization was collected from SLTs via an online survey. Two categories (service delivery and expanded scope of practice) were selected from this list for prioritization due to their relevance across multiple health services. The Nominal Group Technique (NGT) was used to develop a prioritized research agenda for each of the two categories. One NGT session was conducted with each of the three participant groups (clinical SLTs, academic SLTs, consumers) for each category (total NGT sessions = six). The prioritization data for each group within each category were summed to give a single, ranked prioritized research agenda for each category. Outcomes & Results: Two prioritized research agendas were developed. Within each agenda, SLTs and consumers prioritized a need for more research in areas related to specific practice areas (e.g., Alternative and Augmentative Communication, Communication Partner Training), as well as broader professional issues (e.g., telehealth, working with culturally and linguistically diverse families). Conclusions & Implications: The current findings support the need for funding proposals and targeted projects that address these identified areas of need.

Introduction: People with intellectual disability (ID) face barriers to accessing mental healthcare. Individuals who have had significant experience in intellectual disability mental health (IDMH) can provide insights into strategies to overcome these barriers. Methods: This historical investigation applied an interpretive descriptive approach using semi-structured interviews with fourteen IDMH experts. Thematic analysis was undertaken to explore the delivery of mental health services to people with ID since the 1960s. These themes were then analyzed to identify key lessons about delivering quality mental healthcare. Results: Key lessons suggest the need for: specialized IDMH services, clear policy and governance, including people with ID in the design and delivery of services, holistic and collaborative services, an equipped workforce, quality assessment and treatment, and ongoing research. Conclusions: A historical review of mental health services for people with the ID provided valuable insights into strategies that could be implemented to enhance mental healthcare for this important group.

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have become ubiquitous in our society. In particular, 10-12 year old (primary school aged) children report that they increasingly rely upon ICTs for social interaction and for learning (ACMA, 2013). In spite of the large number of students reporting high ICT use, research indicates that many primary school teachers are not making effective use of online resources in the classroom. Influencing this lower level use is a lack of specifically focused research that considers the vital role of the primary school teacher in the integration of ICTs into the classroom program. To identify where research is most needed and might be most useful to support teachers to increase the use of ICTs in the classroom, this paper draws on research conducted in primary, secondary and tertiary education. It defines three core areas in which research is needed. These areas are teachers' internal (personal) and external (socio-cultural) barriers as well as the students' role in, and expectations of, pedagogical changes to classroom learning.

By any metric, the twentieth century university was a successful institution. However, in the twenty-first century, ongoing neoliberal educational reform has been accompanied by a growing epistemological crisis in the meaning and value of the humanities and social sciences (HaSS). Concerns have been expressed in two main forms. The governors of tertiary education systems--governments, private investors, university managers and consultancy firms--have focused on how HaSS can adapt to the perceived research needs of the 21st century. At the same time, a competing set of discourses has been generated by scholars and researchers employed within the critical HaSS themselves. This article considers what these differing perspectives mean for reconceptualising HaSS for the twenty-first century. After surveying the contemporary climate, this article examines the findings of key reports on the future of the humanities from the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. Alongside those of Western Europe, these university systems are arguably the key drivers for the global university system. It is argued that these reports provide an opportunity for emerging universities to reflect on their research priorities and developmental strategies. The article concludes with some reflections on the wider consequences of the globalising of the university system, the increase of China's influence in Asia, and ponders the prospect of post-human/ist futures of the humanities.

This paper presents a compilation of personal reflections from 66 contributors on the impact of, and responses to, COVID-19 in accounting education in 45 different countries around the world. It reveals a commonality of issues, and a variability in responses, many positive outcomes, including the creation of opportunities to realign learning and teaching strategies away from the comfort of traditional formats, but many more that are negative, primarily relating to the impact on faculty and student health and well-being, and the accompanying stress. It identifies issues that need to be addressed in the recovery and redesign stages of the management of this crisis, and it sets a new research agenda for studies in accounting education.

A large and growing population of students with autism is increasingly pursuing higher education. Yet, the field has a remarkably small literature base from which to glean actionable insights that might enhance postsecondary success for this population. The examination of 13,000 items published in sixteen journals over a sixteen-year period revealed only 21 articles on the topic; none were published in mainstream higher education journals. The explication of this literature maps the contours of the emerging body of literature on college students with autism, uncovers problematic patterns within that literature, identifies important questions that remain unanswered, and provides explicit guidance for future research on the topic.

The intersection of multiculturalism and educational leadership, under a Social Justice (SJ) framework to understand diversity and equity issues, has received major attention in the academic world internationally. However, few is known about commonalities and differences between societies within this intersection. To address this gap, we reviewed 215 indexed articles from main databases, following PRISMA procedures. Results detected most research conceptualises multiculturality as indigenism, ethnicity or race, and less often as gender, religion, and disabilities. Also, the understanding of leadership generally focuses on principals and empowered teachers within formal K-12 settings. Furthermore, we found the hegemony of Anglo-Saxon publications, even among non-English speaking countries, giving insights of academic colonialism. We concluded the relevance of the relationship of educational leadership with multiculturalism as a research+development agenda. To reach equity and develop SJ inside of several diversity understandings, educational leaders need to address broad communities by a culturally sensitive leadership.

In the twenty-first century, Australian musicians increasingly maintain "portfolio" careers, in which they combine diverse employment arrangements and activities. Often, these incorporate industry sectors outside of music. This career pattern is widespread but not well understood, largely because of the limitations of existing research. The lack of knowledge about musicians' work and careers means that Australia currently may not provide appropriate and effective policy, funding, initial training and continuing career support across the diverse music sector. This article discusses existing research relating to the careers and skilling needs of musicians in Australia, and outlines a targeted agenda for further research that has the potential to inform stronger alignment between the requirements of building sustainable music careers and musicians' education and training.

The purpose of this article is to explore the development of the knowledge base on middle leadership in schools. Since the seminal reviews conducted by Bennett a contemporary scan only of the scholarly literature on middle leaders/leadership in schools has not been undertaken. Consequently, this article looks at outputs relating to this topic by examining research papers indexed in the Web of Science and in SCOPUS between 2003 and 2017. The prime purpose of this review is to offer some reflections on the development of the empirical base on middle leadership in schools since 2003 and to highlight some of the implications for future research. The article concludes that middle leadership in schools remains an ongoing focus of research inquiry in a growing number of countries but suggests that the knowledge base would benefit from more sophisticated empirical studies and greater theoretical analysis.

Part-time engagement is a significant feature of senior secondary study for large numbers of students, in a context which includes high level policy pressures to achieve better outcomes for many more and a wider proportion of the schooling population, and significant policy and practice shifts at school, system and accreditation authority levels. Yet little is currently known about which students choose this option, and why, or the policy, schooling practice, system or theoretical implications of this change in senior secondary engagement patterns. The paper argues that research is required to fill this gap by identifying the intersections between part-time study and retention, engagement and completion, within broader theoretical, contextual and educational frameworks around post-compulsory study, and youth transitions more generally. It highlights definitional and statistical complexities which confuse understandings and distort analyses of changing patterns of senior secondary engagement, and the disjuncture between these definitions and the lived realities of students and their schools. Rather than trying to capture this shifting and fluid educational engagement through definitional gymnastics and statistical manipulation, the paper concludes by suggesting the concept of extended completion as a more useful descriptive and analytical tool. And it introduces a research project designed to fill the research and policy gap explored below, and to enhance retention and completion policy and practice. (Contains 3 tables, 1 figure, and 1 note.)

In March 2004, Stephen Ball and others presented a symposium at the conference of the British Educational Research Association (BERA) on the necessity of theory in educational research. Like Ball, I have observed that theory, not just social theory, is a difficult space and one that divides researchers (those comfortable with theory and those less so), within educational research. It is an aspect of educational research training that rarely receives the attention essential for "quality" educational research. In the context of the contemporary research assessment exercises, it is worth reflecting on the relationship between research informed by social theory and expectations of quality and impact. In this paper I revisit the argument made by Ball and others for the necessity of theory, and discuss its role in framing research questions, informing analysis, and promoting reflexivity on the significance and relevance of research. I illustrate this process by discussing the ways theory can assist in the generation of research agendas and questions. I conclude the paper with an example of how a team of educational researchers from Australia, UK and New Zealand have made use of social theory to inform an Australian Research Council (ARC) funded project investigating the recontextualisation of health knowledge in schools. (Contains 1 endnote.)

In 1994, the Government of Norway initiated a major restructuring of the non-university sector. Almost one hundred vocationally-oriented institutions were amalgamated to create twenty-six comprehensive, autonomous colleges. Nursing education was completely reorganized. Once offered in specialized schools closely linked to hospitals, nursing became a professional program within the new degree-granting colleges. Nurse educators found themselves in a new institutional environment that valued teaching and research. In this article, the authors illustrate with the Norwegian case two key points that they believe are extremely important in any discussion of introducing a research function to institutions that had previously focused only on teaching. The first, and perhaps the most obvious, point is that in the absence of institutional policies that steer research in alternative directions, there is a natural tendency for faculty to follow the traditional patterns of scholarly activity associated with the research university. The second point is that research has implications for resources, especially faculty time. There are many reasons for polytechnics to define a research mission that is directly related to their distinctive objectives and structures. Perhaps the most basic is that many of the institutions that would have been regarded as polytechnics a few decades ago no longer exist as distinct institutional forms. The college of applied education in Australia, the polytechnics of the United Kingdom, and even the local Ryerson Polytechnic have been merged or transformed into components of the university sector. Over time, these institutions simply became less distinctive, a phenomenon that is frequently described as academic drift. The authors contend that if polytechnics are to remain distinctive institutions, they should pursue a research function that reflects their distinctive mission, and that means defining, organizing, and assessing research in ways that reflect this mission.

This paper concerns the experiences and effects of a tertiary entrance program from two perspectives: that of a former student now engaged in her Honours program and of her enabling lecturer. The main aim of the paper is to present a literature review of published studies about mature women's engagement with tertiary study at the entry level. The authors utilise their enabling education biographies to connect the review of literature to lived experiences. The study asks: how far does the literature cover their experiences and what gaps, if any, are there? The first section briefly outlines the approach taken in the paper. In the second section the enabling experience is discussed in three parts: motivations to enter, the first assignment and course encounters. The third section examines the wider effects of participation in enabling on the self, family and friends. The paper bears out the findings of recent literature that highlighted the powerful transformative effects of such programs in all spheres of the students' lives and the importance of making connections in enabling programs. It suggests that more research needs to be carried out in a number of areas, especially gender, race and class.

As my playful title suggests, I am referring to the process where the statement, "send reinforcements; we're going to advance," is said to have become, "send three- and fourpence; we're going to a dance." This quotation springs to mind when asked to think about how research gets picked up and recommendations from research are implemented in schools. This paper draws on the professional experiences of the author who has held a variety of roles in schools and the system and has also worked with a university as a system representative on a "collaborative" research project. This paper focuses on the "Transient Students Project" that has recently been described in Changing Schools (DEST and DoD 2002). This example is described as having many of the features of "forward-reaching research," as described in "Backtracking practice" (Figgis et al 2000), in Chapter 3 of The Impact of Educational Research (DETYA 2000). At the heart of this paper is the question "who is research for?" (Contains 11 notes.)

Many Australian universities have prioritised improving discipline performance on the national research assessment--Excellence for Research in Australia. However, a "culture of secrecy" pervades "Excellence in Research for Australia" (ERA). There are no specified criteria for the assignment of ratings on a 5-point scale ranging from "well above world standard" (5) to "well below world standard" (1). No rationale is provided to institutions for their discipline ratings and university staff on the ERA panels sign confidentiality agreements. However, what is available to universities are the research strategies that each university documents to improve its ERA performance in its Mission-based Compact, a government funding agreement. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the similarities and differences in the research strategies that universities with different performance profiles employ. Following an analysis of the strategies, substantial commonality was identified in strategy use. However, what was different was how universities employed these strategies and the associated contexts.

Over the last decade, there has been a steady increase in the number of Indigenous graduate research students in Australia, yet research and pedagogy has not kept pace with changes underway in the sector. From an extensive search of literature published between 2000 and 2017, 15 papers (representing 10 research projects conducted by seven teams or authors) were identified that addressed Indigenous graduate research student experience. Overall, the literature tends to focus on identifying barriers to completion, noting in particular the impact of financial difficulties, social isolation and racism. A research degree is a key site for the assertion and legitimation of Indigenous knowledges, and it is here that Indigenous students are navigating tensions between legitimated disciplinary practices of the centre and the peripheral status of Indigenous knowledges. We, therefore, adopt Herbert's 'centre-periphery' model to interpret the research, arguing that this framework explains the focus on barriers, the neglect of pedagogy centred on academic excellence and student strengths, and research relationships between students and Indigenous communities. Our review identifies the need for a systematic research agenda specifically focused on Indigenous student success at the graduate research level, and looking internationally in order to assess the performance and strategies of Australian higher education providers in comparison to international institutions meeting the aims of First Nations research communities. This approach, we suggest, should move beyond an analysis of the nature of enablers and barriers to focus on Indigenous Higher Degree by Research success.

Australian universities have been actively engaged in transnational education since the 1990s. The challenges of assuring quality have seen a changing regulatory framework increasingly designed to ensure equivalence of standards wherever a course of study is offered and however it is delivered. Transnational Higher Education has grown significantly and the issues that flow from operating across jurisdictions, cultures and contexts have been addressed primarily by institutions themselves in complying with regulation. This article identifies how the Australian quality agency TEQSA (Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency) has revised its Standards Framework to support divergence appropriate to local culture and context, while assuring quality provision across the student life cycle. It concludes that the maturity of the quality agency may not yet reflect the provision of transnational education in practice. The article identifies a need for significant further research so that theory and practice can reflect opportunities to better serve students in a mature quality environment.