School improvement has become a goal in many education systems globally, with the mantra of 'whole school change' adopted as key to achieving that goal. However, whole school change is complex and interpreted variously. In Australia, a case in point is the drive to lift literacy outcomes. Drawing on qualitative data from a study of literacy…

In Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, the impetus to create open learning spaces that afford spatial and pedagogical flexibility have disrupted the nature of teachers' work. In redesigned education facilities, teachers engage in sophisticated processes of collaboration and ongoing teacher professional learning. Moving from traditional classroom…

This book identifies three types of influential forces that pose challenges to innovations: socio-cultural dynamics, teacher individuality, and local circumstances. It uses languages, cultural traits, and intellectual heritages in the Asia-Pacific region as an example to show the resistance to Western-based pedagogies due to disparities between…

Global progress has arisen from scientific advances and we currently live in the age of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM); science as a way of increasing the knowledge base, technology as a means of manifesting the science, engineering as a way of building and creating with it, and mathematics to devise the language we use…

The Independent Public Schools (IPS) program began to be implemented in some Western Australian schools in 2010. The IPS program devolves a number of responsibilities to principals and is part of the political objective of removing the constraints of the education bureaucracy by fostering school level decision-making, problem-solving and…

Education, science, and technology disciplines are closely and extensively connected in all formats and levels. The outbreak of COVID-19 has further squeezed this interconnection where the delivery of education in different scientific fields of studies at all education levels is almost impossible without the presence of technology. Today, there is…

In 2009, the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) set a target to lift Australia's Year 12 or equivalent attainment rate from 83.5 to 90% by 2015. In the context of global financial uncertainty, the target was rationalised as a means for boosting national productivity and developing human capital to help Australia compete in the global…

This paper describes the development and implementation of the "xsel" program in Western NSW. The program supports identified high school students from regional, rural and remote communities to access the study of English, maths and science at an academically selective level. A program review was undertaken during 2012 using a structured…

Across the globe many nations have found engaging young people in the post compulsory years of school to ensure their transition into economic citizens is challenging. Governments are focusing on developing initiatives and programs to connect young people in education and training as preparation for the workplace. In Australia the use of Applied…

If research and development in the field of learning design is to have a serious and sustained impact on education, then technological innovation needs to be accompanied--and probably guided--by good empirical studies of the design practices and design thinking of those who develop these innovations. This article synthesises two related lines of…

Professor John Rice, a pioneer of the Australian Science and Mathematics School (ASMS), recognized that schools' curricula were at odds with the kind of science and mathematics driving the new economy. In addition to curriculum that lacked relevance to contemporary life, negative student attitudes and a shortage of qualified science and…

This paper investigates how the study of English literature at senior secondary level might be construed in ways that are congruent with current poststructuralist understandings about texts, reading and writing. As an example we analyse an innovative English literature course, whose students develop a theorized understanding of a range of reading…

This article examines a Victorian high school's implementation of a new Year 9 program which was intended to interrupt a traditional academic curriculum and to create an imagined oasis of care and personal development for students. It explores ways in which (1) the existing culture and context of the school continues to frame the subjectivities of…

This case study of a senior teacher in an Australian high school describes the story of her professional transformation through involvement in the Learning by Design milieu. In so doing, it demonstrates how a pedagogical intervention under particular conditions can transform the learning of students and lead to deep learning. This article…

This paper deploys notions of emergence, connections, and designs for learning to conceptualize high school students' interactions when using online social media as a learning environment. It makes links to chaos and complexity theories and to fractal patterns as it reports on a part of the first author's action research study, conducted while she…