The purpose of this article is to describe the use of the Concerns Based Adoption Model (Hall & Hord, 2006) as a conceptual lens and practical methodology for professional development program assessment in the vocational education and training (VET) sector. In this sequential mixed-methods study, findings from the first two phases (two of five) of…

This article analyses the educational visions put forward by Australian federal politicians in their maiden (first) speeches to Parliament. The theoretical approach was a Habermasian-based analysis of the communication strategies adopted by the politicians, meaning that it was not only the content of the speeches but also the delivery that was the…

Progressive education has been an article of educational faith in Papua New Guinea during the last 50 years but the best available evidence indicates that major reforms to formalistic curriculum and teaching in primary and secondary classrooms have failed during this period despite large-scale professional, administrative and financial support. In…

The theme of this article is the challenge that school leaders face in creating the conditions for learning in small schools. We draw on the concepts of "social capital" and "social entrepreneurship" to identify tensions and possibilities for school leaders in a case study of a small rural school as they seek to find resources for school-community…

Working in a small school threatened with closure creates a certain kind of teacher vulnerability. By analysing one teacher's story, this article contributes to understanding how teachers cope with the external and internal challenges of teaching and leadership in small rural schools. Research about teachers' work in a small village school in…

This article presents perspectives on how principals in schools in northern Norway value the school reform "The Knowledge Promotion" and the new National Curriculum (LK06). It is based on a survey of all primary schools in the region of Finnmark and interviews with five of these principals one year later. The region of Finnmark in Norway is in the…

In K-12 education, formative assessment is a pedagogical process gathering momentum among researchers and practitioners. It has become a common theme at educational conferences, a key Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) research theme since 2002 and the subject of increasingly frequent requests for government funding in…

In 2008, the Council of Australian governments (COAG) agreed to a set of reforms focused on teacher quality. These reforms aim to make teaching a more attractive career, lift the quality of teacher training, retain and reward quality teachers, promote effective professional learning and support workforce mobility. Australia has made several…

Through the voices of students and teachers at an elite coeducational private school and a school situated in a low socio-economic area, this paper explores the potential consequences for students of school alignment or misalignment with the structural imperatives of the broader Queensland senior secondary education system. Although the schools…

This article is drawn from a study of curriculum policy thinking and agendas in Australia over the past four decades, and sets out to describe and discuss some particular emphases and agendas in South Australia at that over-arching curriculum policy level. It argues that, although significant changes are apparent over that time, in South Australia…

The focus of this study is to investigate early childhood students' discourses of play-based curriculum. In this paper we focus on how students made implicit and explicit links to the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework (VEYLDF). Twenty-six early childhood students had volunteered their de-identified play and pedagogy…

Opinion surrounding Western Australia's provision of compulsory education via an outcomes-based education (OBE) paradigm is severely divided. At the centre of debate is an attempt by authorities to extend OBE into the final years of secondary schooling, Years 11 and 12. In this paper an examination is made of OBE as a curriculum paradigm.…

The state of Middle Schooling in many Western countries has been described as under threat, at a crossroads and like a wasteland. Within Australia, it has also been claimed that the past generation focus on Middle Schooling is unfinished and exhausted. But a Middle Schooling movement continues in Australia that provides examples of a way out of a…

Indigenous education in Australia has been the subject of ongoing policy focus and repeated official inquiry as the nation grapples with trying to achieve equity for these students. Perspectives from recent developments in the USA and Canada highlight the similarity of challenges. The article employs a multidisciplinary approach to social theory…

This retrospective interview study focused on the impact that training and implementation of Philosophy, in Lipman's tradition of Philosophy for Children, had on the pedagogy of 14 primary teachers at one school. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to document the impact of teaching Philosophy on pedagogy, the resources required to…