The purpose of this descriptive article was to illustrate the process of using constructive alignment in redesigning an introductory gross anatomy unit that is taught specifically to sports science and physical education students at Victoria University. The unit was redesigned as an intensive learning unit in 2017 as part of a broader…

Partnerships with local public sector agencies, enterprises and tertiary institutions offer a means to inform young people about post-school pathways into working life and occupations that schools alone cannot achieve. Informing about those pathways is an important, yet, complex educational goal for schooling. This is because much of schooling…

In March 2016, representatives from Australian Science Teachers Association (ASTA) were invited to BHP Billiton's head office in Melbourne, Australia, to listen to astronautical engineer and NASA New Horizons Mission Operations Manager Alice Bowman discuss her career trajectory and the role her choices in education played in her success. Alice…

At the special conference celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Australian Association of Mathematics Teachers (AAMT), the author was asked to speak about the challenges and opportunities in teaching mathematics as a stimulus for discussion of AAMT's "future directions". With an open invitation to be a little provocative, the author…

Given its importance to institutions, policy-makers and intending students, there is a surprising lack of research exploring the reasons students choose to undertake a research degree. What studies there are tend to be largely descriptive and the topic lacks a theoretically-informed framework through which student decisions can be examined and…

What is science? Depending on who is asked, it may mean the pursuit of knowledge, explanations of the everyday world, a difficult subject at school, or a field populated by larger than life characters such as Einstein, Feynman, or Hawking. For the author, science has been and remains an unexpected journey, an adventure and an ever-changing career.…

Australia's education system has served the nation well, but must continue to evolve to ensure competitiveness in a world racing towards the future. The report recommendations presented seek to optimise the ways industry partnerships can assist in the provision of contemporary, internationally competitive Science, Technology, Engineering, and…

Future employers increasingly require work-ready graduates. Higher education institutions throughout the world have responded through reforming the curriculum of major strands of study to incorporate graduate attributes. In this case study, we explicitly taught graduate attributes, obliged students to practice their newfound capabilities, gave…

Career educators' ultimate goal, given the new career management paradigm, should be to ensure that students are career resilient when they leave their studies (from whatever year level). This article outlines the chaos theory of careers and resilience. It then goes on to describe a four-lesson unit of careers education work that attempts to…

There is no shortage of challenges in school education. Some of the biggest challenges we face can appear frustratingly intractable. Despite reform efforts, regular government reviews and ongoing calls for change, progress in addressing our most significant challenges is often slow and solutions continue to elude us. In this paper Professor Geoff…

Is vocational education and training (VET) really a technicolour coat that can fulfil many dreams? Does it meet all the training needs of a very diverse group of Australian students, workers and industries? What does it contribute to the economy and society? These were some of the questions asked at the National Centre for Vocational Education…

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…

When individuals select a particular occupation, they, their families and the community invest significant resources in their preparing for, learning about, and effective participation in that occupation. Yet, given the high attrition rates during that preparation and high levels of early separation from occupations, selection of occupations is…

The Australian Federal Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations has funded a rollout of the STELR (Science and Technology Education Leveraging Relevance) Stage One Project to 150 secondary schools in 2010. Participating schools will receive, at no cost, curriculum materials, class sets of supporting laboratory equipment, two…

This paper describes a project undertaken by the school outreach team at the School of Engineering, University of Tasmania, Australia, to attract girls to science, engineering and technology (SET). The project was a pilot program designed to engage female students from upper primary to senior secondary in the teaching of physical sciences. A…