Educational attainment is widely recognised as a 'wicked' problem in Australia for which a range of interventions have been developed. The North West of Tasmania is a rural and regional community, which has been a focus for such interventions due to its relatively low rates of retention to Year 12 and low tertiary participation rates. This paper…

This paper analyses a community-based educational program involving private and public sector partners instituted in a small city in northern Tasmania. The program represents part of a state-wide initiative to challenge the persistence of structural educational disadvantage and what is understood to be an entrenched "culture" that is…

The diversity of teachers is half that of the student population in Australia. Despite government policies to support internationally trained teachers (ITTs), there remain major structural and institutional barriers working against access to the profession: an information gap, the lack of professional advice, the absence of programmes to help…

Over recent years there has been a strong emphasis on year 12 completion as an indicator of success in remote First Nations education. The research reported in this article explores what students, school staff and community members say leads to secondary school retention and, ultimately, completion. The research was conducted in the Northern…

Flexible Learning Options (FLOs) are common across many countries to enable secondary school completion by young people for whom mainstream schooling has not worked well. Access to high-quality education through FLOs is a social justice issue. In the context of an inclination among governments for accountability and evidence-based policy, as well…

This article was written in response to concerns that have been expressed about the possible consequences of an increasing number of countries overtaking the United States in educational attainment. International statistics on educational attainment were analyzed, questions about comparability of data were discussed, and the impact of different…

Adult community Education (ACE) is a recognisable education sector that offers accessible lifelong learning opportunities that are learner-centred and needs based. The Australian ACE scan profiles the sector in terms of its programs, features and provider types. The scan outlines ACE program participants, outcomes and the policy areas they…

This study compares rural educational disadvantage across Australia, Canada, and New Zealand using data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). Across the three countries, student reading literacy and school learning environments are less positive in rural communities…

The investment hypothesis proposes that fluid intelligence drives the accumulation of crystallized intelligence, such that crystallized intelligence increases more substantially in individuals with high rather than low fluid intelligence. However, most investigations have been conducted on adolescent cohorts or in two-wave data sets. There are few…

In the context of market-based childcare provision, governments in many industrialised countries use regulation to ensure quality standards and practices. Limited research, however, has investigated parents' perceptions of childcare quality and whether what parents value as contributors to quality resonates with regulatory frameworks. This article…

Citizen science, in which volunteers work with professional scientists to conduct research, is expanding due to large online datasets. To plan projects, it is important to understand volunteers' motivations for participating. This paper analyzes results from an online survey of nearly 11000 volunteers in Galaxy Zoo, an astronomy citizen science…

Providing more education and training is considered one means by which to reduce the extent of social exclusion and consequently has been a key focus in recent public policies. Using the first ten waves of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey as well as data from the Survey of Education and Training, the research…

This paper provides insight into the experience of Clemente humanities education for six regional and rural Australian women living around Ballarat. Each took part in an audio-taped semi-structured interview which explored the impact that university study had on their lives. Their responses suggest that Clemente Ballarat was life-giving. The…

To examine the effectiveness of vocational education and training qualifications as a workforce development strategy in the community services and health industries, a case study was undertaken of the alcohol and other drug sector. The project comprised of two parts: (1) An online survey to gain an understanding of employer's perceptions of and…

This document was produced by the authors, based on their research for the report "The Role of VET in Alcohol and Other Drugs Workforce Development", and is an added resource for further information. "The Role of VET in Alcohol and Other Drugs Workforce Development" uncovers concerns managers have around the training content,…