There are many accomplished school leaders in Australia, but the profession has yet to develop credible systems for recognising their impact. This article provides a progress report on research initiated by professional associations of school principals, to provide school leaders with authentic and feasible methods for documenting their practice…

Organising teaching of a topic around a small number of "big ideas" has been argued by many to be important in teaching for deep understanding, with big ideas being able to link different activities and to be framed in ways that provide perceived relevance and routes into engagement. However it is our view that, at present, the…

Neoliberalism, capitalist ideas, and the disastrous human-induced state of the environment are evidence of the lack of connection between humans and the earth, calling for a rethinking of the relationships between humans and the planet. As early childhood educators, we wonder about our role in rethinking these relationships and in particular, the…

What does it all mean for universities as research institutions when the external funding acquired by their academics, already stretched intellectually and time poor, is going to those who simply do not have the time to carry out the proposed research, i.e. to the academics themselves? That is, how can a full-time teaching and research academic…

This article outlines the potential for Research Higher Degree (RHD) supervisors at universities and similar institutions to use ethical review as a constructive, dynamic tool in guiding RHD students in the timely completion of effective, innovative research projects. Ethical review involves a bureaucratized process for checking that researchers…

This paper presents the experiences of four researchers working within, alongside and for the Gumala Aboriginal Corporation in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The focus of the research was a health and education needs analysis of Gumala Aboriginal Corporation members that would inform future education and health planning in the region.…

Research and the Australian Curriculum both indicate the importance of teaching students to apply their mathematical knowledge to real world problems. When developing curriculum resources for Queensland state school teachers from Prep to Year 9, the Department's mathematics team identified the significance of embedding the inquiry process in these…

Research into undergraduate research and inquiry in Australian universities was conducted during an Australian Learning and Teaching Council National Teaching Fellowship. In this paper we share experiences of this project as a student and an academic, reflecting on key challenges, including undergraduate research as an immersion experience for…

The Churchill Trust was established in 1965 to honour the memory of Sir Winston Churchill by awarding overseas research Fellowships known as "Churchill Fellowships". Since its inception, The Churchill Trust has awarded Churchill Fellowships to more than 3,700 Australians who, like Churchill, are innovative, filled with a spirit of…

The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) is one of the world's leading educational research centres. ACER's mission is to create and promote research-based knowledge, products and services that can be used to improve learning across the life span. This annual report describes ACER's milestones and accomplishments for the 2015-2016…

In recent years there has been considerable discussion afforded to the challenges facing the future of library and information science (LIS) education in Australia. This paper outlines a twelve-month project funded by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council that was undertaken by eleven institutions representing university and vocational LIS…

The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) is one of the world's leading educational research centres. ACER's mission is to create and promote research-based knowledge, products and services that can be used to improve learning across the life span. This annual report describes ACER's milestones and accomplishments for the 2016-2017…

The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) is one of the world's leading educational research centres. ACER's mission is to create and promote research-based knowledge, products and services that can be used to improve learning across the life span. This annual report describes ACER's milestones and accomplishments for the 2013-2014…

Participatory action research (PAR) carries the promise that academics can make a difference, an appealing prospect for many postgraduate students. This paper is written by an early career researcher who "survived" a PAR PhD. Despite acknowledging the unique challenges faced by students attempting PAR, it argues that these have been…

In this article, the author describes a multimillion-dollar project that aims to save traditional expressions of music from around the world and reflects a shift in ethnomusicology. The $5-million project led by Huib Schippers on "sustainable cultures for music futures" is using nine case studies, including Western opera, Balinese…