Research on gender issues and mathematics education is often conducted in classroom settings and/or with teachers, students, and parents. However, perspectives about mathematics from adults beyond teachers and parents can have an impact on students. Thus, we conducted research in Australia and Canada about the general public's views of gender and…

Although there has been intense criticism of NAPLAN in educational policy debates in Australia, little scholarly efforts have been made to understand the underlying cognitive mechanisms that contribute to the public narrative about the national testing program. We aim to provide tentative evidence about the way public perceptions about NAPLAN may…

Aims: The way people who inject drugs (PWID) feel about drug policy may be profoundly shaped by lived experience of stigma and the subjectivities made available in policy and practice. Using a community-based participatory research approach, this study investigated why PWID hold particular views, and considered the complexities of how lived…

This article argues that the current social settlement underpinning vocational education and training (VET) in Australia is fractured. The current settlement is low trust and consists of qualifications based on competency-based training models of curriculum and competitive markets. The result is narrow qualifications that do not prepare people for…

The standing of vocational education is salient for how it is perceived by those who sponsor, participate in and work within it and how its provisions are supported and administered. Yet, this standing continues to be intractably low, compared with other education sectors, more so in some countries than others. The consequences for this low…

The stigmatisation of mental illness in Australian and other Western societies is now well documented. This article presents a description of the "stigmatisation" problem associated with mental illness, and discusses the impact that this problem has had on the demand for Psychiatry as a career. The approach taken at UWA to address the…

Gender differences in mathematics learning have attracted sustained attention in Australia and internationally. Over time, female participation in academic fields and careers long considered male domains has improved. Yet recent mathematics achievement data reveal that gender gaps favouring males appear to have re-opened. In our study we explored…

In 2007 the film-maker Michael Noonan embarked on a project initially entitled "Laughing at the Disabled" (a title then changed to "Laughing with the Disabled"), a collaboration between himself and three people with intellectual disabilities. A doctoral candidate in the Creative Industries at Queensland University of Technology…

The mass media provides a frame for discourse around important health issues, and it has been widely demonstrated that the development and reinforcement of stereotypes of minority groups are strongly influenced by the news and entertainment media. An extensive search of academic databases failed to locate any studies which examined the…

This paper reports on a survey of 60 living groups in a remote town in Queensland, Australia, concerning child abuse notification. The survey focused on how strongly residents felt about abuse, how likely they were to notify, perceived indicators of abuse, facilitative and inhibiting factors in notifying, which authority they would notify, and…

The "Skool's Out" initiative was aimed at encouraging effective responses to homophobic harassment and violence in and around schools, both public and private, in New South Wales, Australia. The focus was on safety and security in the school environment for all students, teachers, parents and community members. It was held as part of the…

In view of the increasing interest in the mass media's role in the creation, maintenance, transformation, and celebration of whole cultures, the Australian experience with nationalistic mythmaking in film and television should be examined. Research reveals that Australians prefer watching Australian programs to watching British or American…