A higher proportion of students are privately educated in Australia, compared with many other nations. In this paper, we tested the assumption that private schools offer better quality education than public schools. We examined differences in student achievement on the National Assessment Programme: Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) between public,…

Objective: The ability of schools, school leaders and teachers to promote critical health literacy in teaching and learning is central to the development of health literacy in schools. However, research focusing on teachers and planning for health literacy through health programmes in school is minimal. This paper describes how one school Health…

Using mobile technology and experience sampling in junior high school, real-time motivation and engagement were explored at four-levels: between lessons (up to 2 lessons per day; Level 1), between days (5 days per week; L2), between weeks (4 weeks; L3), and between students (113 students; L4). Findings for a 'random effects' model revealed…

Many introductions to algebra in high school begin with teaching students to generalise linear numerical patterns. This article argues that this approach needs to be changed so that students encounter variables in the context of modelling visual patterns so that the variables have a meaning. The article presents sample classroom activities,…

This paper explores teacher beliefs that influence the ways Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) are used in learning contexts. Much has been written about the impact of teachers' beliefs and attitudes to ICT as "barriers" to ICT integration (Ertmer, Ottenbreit-Leftwich, & York, 2007; Higgins & Moseley, 2001;…

This paper discusses gaming in a Western Australian school for boys. The overriding ethos of the school is supportive of the potential of ICT to better engage students and deliver enhanced educational outcomes. The school sees game-based design as at the vanguard of innovation, but also accepts its important duty of care responsibilities. Tensions…

Chronic victimisation in adolescence is a traumatic experience with potential negative long-term health consequences. Given that victimisation has been shown to increase over the transition from primary to secondary school, longitudinal data from 1810 students transitioning from primary to secondary school were used to identify victimisation…

This study of 1,601 students in the middle years of schooling (Grades 5-8, each student measured twice, 1 year apart) from 200 classrooms in 44 schools sought to identify factors explaining gains and declines in mathematics engagement at key transition points. In multilevel regression modeling, findings showed that compared with Grade 6 students…

This paper examines primary school-aged children's lived experiences of the National Assessment Program--Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) tests. NAPLAN emulates the neoliberal accountability agendas of English and US education systems, with results published on the My School website. Research on the impact of NAPLAN to date has focused predominantly…

As part of a longitudinal case study on engagement in middle years mathematics, 20 students attending their first year of secondary school in Western Sydney were asked to provide views on their experiences of the transition to secondary school in relation to mathematics teaching and learning. Differences in teacher-student relationships caused the…

In 2002 a paper entitled "Writing Church-sponsored Religious Education Textbooks" by Engebretson was published in the "British Journal of Religious Education". This paper reported on and analysed some aspects of the development, by the Catholic Archdiocese in Melbourne, Victoria, of a series of religious education textbooks to…