This study explored the attitudes and intentions of pre-service teachers towards inclusive education, across two teacher preparation institutions in Australia and South Africa. There were multiple aims to the study: among these was a need to explore the impact of contextual factors on pre-service teacher attitudes towards inclusive education, and…

Purpose: Educational institutions are caught between increasing their offer rates and attracting and retaining those prospective students who are most suited to course completion. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the influence of demographic and psychological constructs on students' preferences when choosing to study in a particular…

This publication provides a summary of 2013 data relating to students, courses, qualifications, training providers and funding in Australia's publicly funded vocational education and training (VET) system. The Australian VET system provides training across a wide range of subject areas and is delivered through a variety of training institutions…

This paper reports preliminary findings on students enrolled in a massive open online course, who were also assigned to work in groups. Part of a larger study on the effect of groups on retention and completion in MOOCs, the paper provides students' demographics (i.e., location, gender, education level, and employment status), and motivation for…

The aims of this study were to describe the characteristics of older Australian university students (aged 60+ years); to identify the factors that motivate late-life, tertiary-level learning; and to capture older students' views about the role of tertiary-level learning in promoting healthy aging. In 2012, an invitation to participate in the study…

This paper examines student and school influences on reaching Year 12, the final year of schooling in Victoria, Australia. It analyses data from the population of students who were in Year 9 in 2008. Male, English-speaking background, government school, and especially Indigenous students were less likely to reach Year 12 than comparison groups.…

The growing interest in the higher education sector in publishing pedagogical research has led to a focus on professional development for staff who wish to engage in this endeavour. This paper describes and evaluates a specific programme designed to help university staff to prepare and submit a high-quality paper to a peer-reviewed journal.…

WIL has attracted considerable attention as an instrument for enhancing professional practice and developing work-readiness in new graduates. It is widely considered as a point of difference in developing graduate employability by enhancing skill outcomes, such as team-work, communication, self-management and problem solving, employment prospects…

Internationalization of the curriculum is central to the strategic direction of many modern universities and has widespread benefits for student learning. However, these clear aspirations for internationalization of the curriculum have not been widely translated into more internationalized course content and teaching methods in the classroom,…

In response to changes government funding and policies over the past five years, the Australian tertiary sector has entered an increasingly competitive climate. This has forced many universities to become more strategic in attracting increased numbers of PSTs. Providing accelerated learning opportunities for PSTs is viewed as one way to gain…

This technical paper contains information about the variables in the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) Year 1998 cohort data set. It groups each variable into data elements which identifies common variables within and across waves. Information is provided about each data element including its purpose, values, base populations and…

This technical paper contains information about the variables in the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) Year 1998 cohort data set. It groups each variable into data elements which identifies common variables within and across waves. Information is provided about each data element including its purpose, values, base populations and…

This study examines non-completion of Year 12 at school for a nationally representative sample of young people who were 15 years old and still attending school in 2003. The study explores relationships between non-completion and selected socio-demographic and school-related factors, and changes in rates of school non-completion from the early…

An Australian study investigated the extent to which media literacy education for secondary school students met its objectives for teaching critical thinking about mass media, both print and television. Results give insight into this cohort's ability to make sense of media messages and about differences in different demographic groups. (MSE)

After a period of dramatic growth in secondary school completion in Australia, school retention rates are declining. Analysis of state, system, geographic, social, and gender patterns suggests that during the 1990s the downturn in completion rate has been uneven; some groups who had come to rely on schooling during the 1980s for future economic…