Teach for Australia was announced by the Australian Government in 2008, at a corporate dinner sponsored by Swiss multinational investment bank UBS, hosting New York Schools Chancellor Joel Klein. Conceptualising Teach for Australia as a polycentric policy network anchored in venture philanthropy, this paper examines how networks mobilise major…

Climate change (CC) is the most significant global issue facing humanity, yet research addressing the perspectives of the key players influential in developing and implementing school-based CC curricula at a cross-country national level is scarce. This study examined the perceptions of policymakers, teacher professional development providers and…

Ben-Peretz's (1975) concept of intended curriculum describes a version of curriculum that 'official' curriculum developers create to provide a detailed guide to what teachers are required to teach in schools. While some curricula are intended to guide learning, others give a more definitive regulation of what must be taught. Either way, they are a…

The transformation of higher education provision by neoliberal values has been well documented. However, recent criticisms and even attacks upon higher education indicate a new politics extending beyond neoliberalism. This article draws on the sociology of conventions to unpick the distinctions at work in these new criticisms of universities. By…

VET researchers and policy-makers have historically displayed a keen interest in the future. Two assumptions link VET to the future. The first is that there is a singular object called VET and, secondly, that it can influence a forthcoming state of reality. This relationship is investigated through a rarely utilised post-structuralist discourse…

In Australia, the recognition of the importance of induction for beginning teachers has been present for over three decades. In 2016, the first set of guidelines was introduced to implement beginning teacher induction: "Graduate to proficient: Australian Guidelines for teacher induction into the profession." However, reports of…

Describing various demographic characteristics of disadvantaged students, the programs they study and their employment outcomes is a significant area of research interest in the vocational education and training (VET) sector. This article offers a preliminary exploration of how groups are problematised and the consequent influence on VET research…

Purpose: The article examines the ways in which professional associations representing those working in international education are able to shape national systems and thereby change the ways in which the country engages internationally. This is particularly significant for Australia, which has one of the world's most internationalised higher…

The launch of new tools in late 2022 heralded significant growth in attention to the impacts of generative AI (GenAI) in education. Claims of the potential impact on education are contested, but there are clear risks of inappropriate use particularly where GenAI aligns poorly with learning aims. In response, in mid-2023, the Australian Federal…

The primary purpose of this research is to understand the impact of national and institutional policies on the internationalization of higher education in Australia. As a secondary purpose, this study draws on theories of policy borrowing in order to assess whether the United States can learn from and adapt certain policies within the context of…

It was fundamental to Martin Thrupp's politics that he would work with teacher unions and assist them in their struggles against government policies that were anti-teacher and educationally unsound. I made contact with Martin even before he had arrived back in New Zealand to ask him to do a piece of work for PPTA and NZEI on standards for…

Policy classifies and shapes people/subjects in particular kinds of ways. Focusing on the context of Health and Physical Education (HPE), this paper analyses policy documents from Australia, the United States of America (USA) and Wales. We pay particular attention to how learners are represented within and across the three policy documents, and we…

Purpose: In an effort to boost participation in vocational education and training (VET), in 2009, the Australian Government launched its VET FEE-HELP income-contingent loan programme for VET students. The programme was terminated in 2016 following numerous failed attempts to arrest its escalating costs and improve its performance. In an effort to…

This paper revisits the issue of institutional diversity in Australian higher education, taking account of international trends and research on the subject. Drawing on empirical studies over the last three decades, I adopt a within-country case study approach to analysing institutional diversity in the Australian higher education policy context…

Schooling has been a site of harm for Indigenous people in settler colonial contexts, as a tool of dispossession, assimilation and separation from country and kin. However, schools have simultaneously been sites to work against this and build alternatives to settler colonial systems that nourish Indigenous futures. This article centers the…