Research suggests that the use of Restorative Practice (RP) in schools can foster more positive and inclusive school communities, yet there remains limited research regarding how to embed such practices. As part of a wider study, we present data from school leaders who describe their perspectives on RP and their struggles with implementing it in…

This article explores the use of critical and post-critical pedagogies in a rural Australian high school for the purposes of unsettling life-limiting gender beliefs and practices. The paper problematises two examples whereby site-specific knowledges, curriculum dictates, media texts and critical pedagogies were enmeshed to create politically…

A difficult nexus can arise in positivist research when developing a model or theoretical framework that is then used to underpin the construction of measuring instruments that are subsequently used to test the assumptions underlying the model. This paper explores this nexus through consideration of a study of risk-taking in decision-making for…

When a major fire occurs in a school, the impact can be felt for years to come. How the school community rebuilds depends on strong leadership and the resilience of the members of that community. This article explores the stories of four Australian schools, two rural NSW schools, Kelso High School and Oxley High School and two urban schools;…

Teachers in rural and remote schools face many challenges including those relating to distance, isolation and lack of professional development opportunities. This article examines a project where mathematics and science teachers were provided with professional development opportunities via video conferencing to help them use syllabus documents to…

The experience of teaching languages in rural schools differs markedly from teaching languages in urban contexts, in relation to the size and nature of communities and their interactions, numbers of teachers of languages, in and out of school contact, and in the cultural and language backgrounds of students and their likelihood of opportunities to…

This study investigated the pattern of teaching of healthy computing skills to high school students in South Australia. A survey approach was used to collect data, specifically to determine the emphasis placed by schools on ergonomics that relate to computer use. Participating schools were recruited through the Department for Education and Child…

Research about rural education, and education policy directions for rural schools, are set against formal measures of "disadvantage". These measures about rural "disadvantage" have been defined, evaluated and compared to more "advantaged" provincial and urban schools. Rarely has educational research or policy been…

Much is written about teacher leaders and the impact they have in promoting and influencing change. This is a reflection from four teacher leaders from four secondary high schools of a rural, non-government system of schools as they seek to build a capacity in the learning and teaching of mathematics and science within their schools. The original…

A study in three rural New South Wales (Australia) schools examined the educational impact of videoconferencing on learning outcomes for students in grades 11 to 12. Both students and teachers stated that the videoconference system created significant advantages, enhancing teacher/student interaction and leading to improved learning outcomes, but…

Studied the characteristics of effective high schools in rural Western Australia by investigating factors influencing science and mathematics achievement. Results for at least 1,024 students in each of 3 years show the most variability in achievement at the classroom and student levels, and show that teacher effects are substantial. (SLD)

Describes the changes that occurred at a traditional high school in rural Western Australia and findings that emerged from the Western Australian School Effectiveness Study, a longitudinal study of 28 rural high schools. Focuses on the school's staff and how they absorbed the changes around them and became different people. (CDS)

The community roles (other than education) of three rural high schools in Victoria, Australia, included community use of school facilities, financial expenditures by school staff in the three communities, involvement of staff in community associations and organizations, and employment created by the three schools. Estimates the financial benefit…

This report presents a survey of students 15 years and older who left Northern Territory (Australia) urban and Aboriginal secondary schools during 1988. The Northern Territory Department of Education and various institutions provided information on the background and destination of these students. It was possible to find information relating to…

This paper reports findings from the first 2 years of a longitudinal study of school effectiveness in Western Australia called the Western Australian School Effectiveness Study (WASES). Creemer's multilevel model of educational effectiveness was used to guide the selection of variables for analysis. Data on the school environment, the classroom…