This paper tells stories from a higher education study abroad collaboration entitled "Investigating Diversity, Human Rights and Civil Society in Japan and Australia." Starting from a pedagogical focus on students' active learning about human rights, this project has come to value relationship building--between academic institutions,…

Talk moves simulations were used in tutorials for a mathematics education unit. Pre-service teachers (PSTs) and tutors were surveyed about their perceptions of the purposes, benefits, and drawbacks of the simulations. There was strong support from both groups for the benefits of talk moves in developing PSTs' ability to manage discussions, ask…

The Australian Government decision in response to the Bradley review to introduce a demand-driven funding model for undergraduate university places from 2012 was met with mixed reaction across the higher education sector. The removal of caps without subsequent fee deregulation is considered by some to be unsustainable. Opinions suggest that…

The split between higher education and vocational education and training (VET) in Australia is not clean. This paper discusses a number of aspects of this tertiary education sector: the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF), which describes the qualifications offered by the three education sectors: schools, higher education and VET; student…

This report presents findings of a study which surveyed 393 Australian academics and employers concerning their views about essential specialist and generic competencies for sociology graduates. The study designed four questionnaires, one for each professional group psychology, human services, counseling, and sociology and these were completed by…

This study examined the role of the university lecturer in fostering the interplay between motivation, confidence, and cognition in students. The focus is on two theoretical frameworks: achievement goal theory for the motivational and confidence aspects and Vygotskian theory for aspects concerning educational development. Achievement goal theory…

A study was designed to investigate the complex interrelationship of factors that affect university students' academic achievement. The study used a sample population of 72 students who were enrolled in first year Nursing and Teacher Education courses in 1991 at the Flinders University of South Australia. From data gathered over 2 years, a…

This paper examines definitions of reflection and the concept of reflective teaching, and then documents attempts to implement a reflective approach taken by second-year undergraduate teaching students at the Australian Catholic University, Queensland Division. Sixteen students completed their first field experience, which included 12 half-day…

This is a record of the proceedings of the 30th annual conference of the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia (MERGA). The theme of the conference is "Mathematics: Essential research, essential practice." The theme draws attention to the importance of developing and maintaining links between research and practice and…