Objective: Schools are important settings for health promotion. In schools, children and adolescents can be reached regardless of their social background, which represents a unique opportunity for promoting health. Several studies have demonstrated the importance of school leadership in initiating and sustaining health promotion; however, efforts…

In 2018 NAPLAN (National Assessment Program -- Literacy and Numeracy) reached a 10-year milestone. Introduced in 2008 by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), NAPLAN assesses student literacy and numeracy in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9. As a key education reform in Australia, NAPLAN has provoked critical debate across…

The current study explored the relationship between test-based accountability and teachers' involvement in school-level decision-making and classroom autonomy, examining how this varied by country, specifically in the United States, Australia, South Korea, and Japan. Additionally, the study investigated whether this relationship differs based on…

Youth sport policies are increasingly driven by health concerns and social issues, and focus on broad participation outcomes. Given the significant financial investment in, and critique of, such policies internationally, this study aimed to examine the implementation of Sporting Schools (SS), a $100 million programme intended to increase…

The authors define accountability broadly as a government's mechanism for holding educational institutions to account for the delivery of high quality education. The idea that the practice of accountability can contribute directly to improvements in education is a powerful one that underpins policy. Paradoxically, though, some hold that…

The National Assessment Program -- Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) in Australia is a series of literacy and numeracy tests that are used for purposes of school comparison. This paper argues that a key question for this use lies in whether or not this is a reasonable, or valid, use of the test data. Using Kane's argumentative approach to validity,…

Neoliberal policies promoting school autonomy reform in Australia and internationally have, over three decades, appropriated earlier social democratic discourses of parental participation and partnership in school governance. Recent school autonomy reforms have repositioned school council/boards within a narrow frame of accountability and…

This article provides commentary that focuses on school-parent relations in Australia through exploration of schools in the state of Victoria across three aspects: school-parent partnership, parental involvement in the governance of schools, and parental involvement in school accountability processes. Parental involvement is typically at a level…

This paper examines teacher accountability and authority in early childhood policy. It reports on data from a study that investigated the influences affecting early childhood teacher decision-making at the preschool level in Victoria, Australia. Using a question raised by Ball "Where are the teachers in all this [policy]?" provided a…

This evidence review synthesises the best available international evidence regarding approaches to behaviour in schools to: (1) Produce an overarching model or framework explaining why school pupils may misbehave (Review 1); (2) Review the effectiveness of classroom-based approaches to behaviour trialled in robust research studies (Review 2); and…

This is the first in a series of articles which will examine the results of a qualitative, longitudinal study of school improvement initiatives from the perspective of school stakeholders. The article captures the responses of students from a low socio-economic status school in NSW, Australia to a school initiative that restructured the learning…

This paper critiques the notion of community capacity building (CCB) and the way it is increasingly being invoked in social policy as a way of tackling disadvantage. The paper argues that CCB and a number of its derivative terms are not as straightforward as they appear. Superficially, CCB presents as a useful way of approaching school and…

Describes a process used to involve community, staff, and students in goal-setting in the Australian Open College of Further Education. (JM)

Two models for the structure of college/university Senates and Councils in in Western Australia are proposed, and 50 recommendations of the Tertiary Institutions Governance Committee are presented. The Committee reviewed the governance of: the Senates of the University of Western Australia and Murdoch University, and the Councils of the Western…

Constructivist pedagogies are generally not considered to support the teaching of mathematics for externally assessed examination-based courses. In large part, teachers have believed that such approaches are inefficient in covering a set syllabus. This article summarises the author's learning journey in Year 12 mathematics in 2004 where attempts…