Who is conducting educational research in Australia and how can their work be supported?
- Authors: Bennett, Dawn , Smith, Erica , Bennett, Sue , Chan, Philip , Bobis, Janette , Harrison, Neil , Seddon, Terri , Shore, Sue
- Date: 2013
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Australian Educational Researcher Vol. 40, no. 4 (November 2013 2013), p. 473-492
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Educational research has long been the subject of lively and agitated debate, not least because of its diversity. Ranging in scope from academic development and broad-scale policy research through to student engagement and discipline-specific research, it includes methods of traditional academic inquiry and investigations and also less traditional modes of research. However, the topography of Australian educational research and the characteristics of the people who undertake this complex body of work are currently unclear. This paper explores some of the complexities of the Australian research community, drawing on the findings of a national online survey of academics who identified as researching in the field of education from within and outside education schools and faculties. The survey attracted 504 responses from 38 of Australia's 39 universities, and just over two-thirds of respondents were located in a school or faculty of education. We draw on the results to answer the questions of who is undertaking educational research and who how they might be supported. We utilise a conceptual model that 'segments' the educational research workforce represented by the survey respondents, and we conclude by indicating strategies that might be utilised to address research barriers indicated by educational researchers.
- Description: C1
Employers' management of part-time student labour
- Authors: Smith, Erica
- Date: 2011
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Young people and work p. 204-221
- Full Text: false
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- Description: 2003009325
What makes a good VET teacher? Views of Australian VET teachers and students
- Authors: Smith, Erica , Yasukawa, Keiko
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: International Journal of Training Research Vol. 15, no. 1 (2017), p. 23-40
- Relation: http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/LP140100044
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: The quality of teaching in the vocational education and training (VET) sector in Australia has been an area of concern for much of the twenty-first century (e.g. Department of Education and Training, 2016). While much debate has taken place about ways forward, there has been little substantive progress in reforming the education and professional development of VET teachers to address quality concerns. However, in the absence of a clear consensus and articulation of what constitutes ‘good VET teaching’ and what is required to produce it, it is doubtful that any endeavour to improve the quality of VET teaching would be successful. This paper contributes to the evidence base that could inform improvements in VET teaching by examining the views of two key interest groups–VET teachers and learners, on ‘what makes a good VET teacher’, and analyses the common themes as well as particularities in their views and their possible explanations. The findings are then examined as dimensions of interconnected practices that constitute VET teaching. © 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
Employers’ management of part-time student labour
- Authors: Smith, Erica , Patton, Wendy
- Date: 2013
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Young People and Work Chapter 12 p. 203-222
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
Voices from a small discipline: How the Australian vocational education and training discipline made sense of journal rankings
- Authors: Smith, Erica
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: International Journal of Training Research Vol. 12, no. 3 (2014), p. 227-241
- Full Text: false
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- Description: The topic of quality rankings of academic journals generated a great deal of debate and opinion in Australia during their time at the forefront of interest in the mid-to-late 2000s. However, there has been little empirical research to inform the debate. This paper reports on and analyses the journal ranking experiences of one small discipline - Vocational Education and Training - at the time of the now-defunct Australian Research Quality Framework, and discusses the differences between the discipline's own rankings and those allocated to its journals by the broader Education discipline. The paper then reports on a 2010 survey of members of the discipline's research association, showing broad-based support for journal rankings among practitioner as well as academic members of the Association. The findings in this paper are set against an explanation of the broader Australian journal ranking process and its national introduction and abolition, and in the broader context that rankings of journals continue to be used in some disciplines and in other countries. The findings form a contribution that may help to inform future debates about journal quality and rankings in Education and more broadly across disciplines. © eContent Management Pty Ltd.