Social labs have recently been gaining traction in a wide range of sectors internationally, and have been applied to many complex social problems, including food system security, poverty and labour market revitalisation. Social labs convene participants to collaborate and work collectively on developing prototypes that are iteratively refined and…

Defined as language, literacy and numeracy, and employability skills, foundation skills are essential for individuals to participate in further education, employment and wider society. Community education providers, such as community colleges, neighbourhood houses, faith-based organisations and adult learning associations, are key providers of…

This part-reflective, part-conceptual article focuses on the issue of supervision models and the need to move away from the dominance of the traditional master-apprentice model which continues to persist in many social sciences and humanities contexts. Drawing on communities of practice theory, I critically reflect on my own PhD supervision…

Climate change is contributing to the increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather events globally. Numerous Australian communities have been affected by severe bushfires, floods, and droughts over the past decades. In response to natural disasters, art therapists should focus on trauma healing, community resilience, while maintaining…

Many children start school developmentally vulnerable and struggle to keep up with their peers. Children experiencing socioeconomic-disadvantage are at higher risk of poor developmental outcomes. A high-quality education and wrap-around community-service model, such as the Doveton Model, at Doveton College, Australia, may improve outcomes for…

The purpose of this article is to provide an educational, theoretical, and methodological framework for using a special kind of action research, namely PALAR (participatory action learning and action research). This integrated methodology of lifelong action learning (AL) and participatory action research (PAR) has been developed over the past…

The ageing labour force, and concerns with productivity and social inclusion have driven foundation skills policy development in Australia and internationally (SCOTESE 2012; Newton 2016). However, little existing literature focusses on the relationships between foundation skills, community education providers and regional location. Thus, this…

Mentoring and coaching are primarily intended to develop "mentees," net of any benefits for mentors. This paper details the construction of a mentor-coaching model to develop leadership capability in Higher Education Academy Fellowship program mentors at an Australian university. We elaborate developmental benefits for mentors of an…

Australian Aboriginal learners have a long history of underrepresentation in gifted and talented education. This results, at least in part, from cultural differences in the way giftedness is understood, as well as variance in the practices and processes used to develop talents. Perhaps a co-constructed both-ways model could go some way to…

Many social enterprises aim to transition disadvantaged people into mainstream employment; they are engaged in commercial activity underpinned by a social mission. They provide training in life and work skills to develop capability, defined as ability to achieve. They are spaces apparently available not only to develop socially and economically…

Rural social work education and practice in North America underwent a revival in recent decades and remains a valid praxis and pedagogic model for the 21st Century. The paper posits through rigorous literature review and analysis there are numerous elements central to North American (U.S. and Canadian) and Commonwealth of Nations (U.K., Australia,…

The EPICS Program was created in 1995 with the dual purposes of improving engineering education and addressing compelling needs within our communities. The model broke with many traditional academic traditions, involving students in multidisciplinary teams of students from first-year to fourth years for multiple semesters or even years on projects…

The theory of belonging as it arises in the theme of the Australian "Early Years Learning Framework" suggests a complex arrangement of philosophical concepts, which deserve rigorous explication and interrogation. In this article, the author draws out some of the most pertinent implications of 'belonging' for the theory of early learning…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential of the substitution, augmentation, modification and redefinition (SAMR) model as a research method via a project that aimed to investigate pre-service teachers' negotiation of data-rich environments. Design/methodology/approach: The project that underpins this paper saw the author…

Implementing inclusive education requires on-going commitment to teachers' professional learning. One way of implementing professional learning is to develop learning communities based on Lave and Wenger's ideas of situated learning and learning as social practice. Learning communities, drawing on models of Professional Learning Communities and…