Purpose: This study identifies gendered disparities among women students participating in work-integrated learning and explores the effects of the disparities on their perceptions on perceived opportunities, competencies, sense of belonging, and professional identity. Design/methodology/approach: A series of semi-structured focus groups were run…

Many remote Aboriginal Australian students live away from home for periods of time to access secondary education through boarding schools. While financial, political and community support is burgeoning for boarding models that provide scholarships, sports programs, or accommodation for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, very little…

Students with blindness and low vision (BLV) are less likely to choose mathematics as a subject in the senior secondary years which may negatively impact future employment opportunities. Using a longitudinal qualitative methodology, three interviews were recorded with a student who is legally blind over a six-year period. Findings suggest that…

Internationally, recent population movements due to conflict, climate change and global inequality have resulted in increased cultural and linguistic diversity in many societies. As a result, education systems are increasingly grappling with how to adapt practice to provide educational access and opportunities with increasingly diverse student…

Geographically unequal distribution of opportunities for participation in post-school education particularly affects young people in rural and regional areas of Australia. This study contends that the perception of opportunities by young people from low socio-economic status backgrounds should be considered alongside the distribution of…

This study investigated English first language (L1) speakers' motivation for learning Chinese as a second language (L2) in Australia and the links of underlying motivational components to learner sociobiographical (e.g. gender and reasons for learning) and language learning variables (i.e. experience abroad, hours of self-study, and speaking with…

Twenty-first-century doctoral candidates face a consistently evolving employment landscape. This paper explores how gender and age influence doctoral students' perceptions of employability preparedness provided by their higher education institution for future career pathways. A survey-based study (n = 222) was undertaken at a large regional…

The voices of students about the early days of Indigenous-controlled adult education providers are hard to find. In historical research for Tranby Aboriginal Co-operative Ltd (Tranby) and the University of Technology Sydney, 17 former participants in Tranby courses, from 1980 to 2000, gave in-depth interviews, which were analysed alongside…

Indigenous Australian identities are enmeshed in racializing discourses that often occlude diversity, hybridity, and intersectionality. Australians who self-identify as Aboriginal are often disbelieved by both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people, or confront hierarchies of authenticity. Critical analysis of focus groups with undergraduate…

In the ten years since Australia's first large-scale scoping study of Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) there has been a rapid increase in WIL research and undergraduate WIL opportunities. Though well-established in undergraduate degrees, WIL in postgraduate research degrees is relatively unexplored. Less than half of PhD graduates in Australia are…

In this paper, we examine the potential of authentic learning activities and assessment to enhance the student learning experience in a standalone introductory geospatial information science module. Computer laboratory sessions form seventy-five percent of contact hours and final grade, so authentic learning used a field-based project with…

Purpose: A fundamental assumption of the apprenticeship model is that there are benefits to both employers and individual learners. This study offers a broad conceptual interrogation of this inherent assumption underpinning the apprenticeship model. Approach: This study combines analysis of literature and available data and draws upon…

Families living on small islands face limited options for the school education of their children. This exploratory study on Kangaroo Island, South Australia, considers some of the issues they face and the choices they make. It is based on informal, semi-structured interviews with parents, grandparents and children. Results show that all informants…

Educational institutions have been identified as ideal locations to implement health promotion strategies that aim to prevent and treat youth obesity. However, the tertiary training of future health promoters currently lacks health and nutrition instruction. This study sought to investigate attitudes towards youth obesity and perceptions of the…

The purpose of this study was to examine mathematically able female adolescents' perceptions of their accelerated mathematics programs. To this end, eight female adolescents were asked to reflect retrospectively in response to a self-administered questionnaire on their perceptions and experiences of a secondary accelerated mathematics program and…