The OECD Future of Education and Skills 2030 (E2030) project's overall goal is that of looking to the future in terms of how school curricula should evolve given the technological advances and other changes that societies are now facing. Towards that end, the E2030 project centres on the idea that education needs to equip students with the…

National education reform agendas are increasingly prevalent in school systems around the world. Whilst we have a substantial body of research exploring the ways in which schools manage change agendas, there is less discussion of the impacts these agendas may have on beginning teachers and their retention in the profession. Here I report on a…

This report presents a snapshot of the academic performance of Australian children in the care of child protection services in 2013. Findings are based on the linkage of data from the Child Protection National Minimum Data Set and the National Assessment Program--Literacy and Numeracy. This report shows that the proportion of children in care…

For quite some time the achievements of students in remote Australian schools have been lamented. There is not necessarily anything new about the relative difference between the results of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in remote communities and their counterparts in urban, regional and rural schools across Australia. However, in…

An overview of positive and negative potential effects of the setting of compulsory exit-level standards in literacy and numeracy for students completing their final years of schooling is presented. The overview rests on studies completed primarily outside Australia, reflecting the reality of such practices not having been implemented widely in…

The use of Indigenous languages has been declining over the period of non-Aboriginal settlement in Australia as a result of repressive policies, both explicit and implicit. The National Policy on Languages (Lo Bianco, 1987) was the high point of language policy in Australia, given its national scope and status and its attempt to encompass all…

Assessment has long been at the center of education policy debates, and for good reason. The goal of schooling is to maximize student learning, and assessments provide a picture of what students know and are able to do. Assessments also have a strong influence on what goes on in classrooms. The United States is now poised to make the most dramatic…

Presents a provisional framework for the STELLA (Standards for Teachers of English Language and Literacy in Australia), which identifies broad dimensions of teaching together with groupings of related attributes derived from teachers' narratives. (RS)

Comments on development of literacy "benchmarks" by the Commonwealth Government. Suggests that the benchmarks (1) will prove a highly productive discursive (and thus financial) context for some researchers, assessment organizations, and professional development teams; and (2) are a product of the melodrama of crisis, having no foundation…

Suggests that the big issues surrounding a project like STELLA (Standards for Teachers of English Language and Literacy in Australia) can be viewed in three dimensions: the doubt that literacy teaching can be reduced to a checklist; whether teaching is synonymous with "curriculum delivery"; and the best way to articulate the values of…

Reports the results of various studies conducted in Australia to determine national reading standards. (AEA)

Discusses implications of the issues of continuity and discontinuity, commonality and difference, congruity and paradox as they engage the research team, the industry partners, and the teachers around Australia who constitute the STELLA (Standards for Teachers of English Language and Literacy in Australia) project. (RS)

Explores the issue of generic versus subject-specific standards in terms of their role in teachers' professional development. Suggests generic and subject-specific standards share a symbiotic relationship. Outlines a basis for a "third wave": some teachers may find at a particular stage in their career that generic standards are more…

Questions whether a framework such as STELLA (Standards for Teachers of English Language and Literacy in Australia) can capture the essence of what teachers do in the classroom. Addresses three animating passions which have informed and energized the author's work as a teacher: intensity, empathy, and gaiety. (RS)

Discusses an attempt by a group of Australian primary and secondary teachers to address the issue of school literacy practices during the transition years (Years 5-8). Suggests attempts to support student learning were both supported and circumscribed by the school context. Notes any notion of professional engagement to bring about lasting change…