Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) outreach programs aim to increase participation in STEM fields. However, the impact of these programs is rarely measured due to inherent difficulties in conducting long-term evaluations. This article presents a decadal evaluation of the Science and Engineering Challenge (SEC), an Australian…

A "citizen science" outreach program was aimed at high school students in Western Australia with a focus on agricultural sciences. The program had two main objectives: the collection of samples and the mapping of the distribution of the leaf disease powdery mildew of barley across the state; and support for the teaching and learning of…

Many studies have highlighted the capacity of community arts programs to re-engage those young people considered at-risk of disconnection from future education and/or employment. "Evolution" is an artist-guided visual arts program established for young people challenged by mental health and social issues that aims to foster re-engagement…

Social inclusion in Australian higher education was high on the agenda of the recent Rudd/Gillard Australian Government. This paper offers an assessment of that agenda, particularly the extent to which it worked in favour of under-represented groups. It argues that the Government's widening and expansion policies and its equity and aspiration…

The expectations of first-year students are becoming more widely researched and understood. How to realign perceptions and prepare students for the transition from secondary school to tertiary education is less well considered. This paper presents an account of a pre-university preparation programme embedded in the senior years of secondary…

Deakin University's RuralLife alcohol and other drug (AOD) research initiative was commissioned by St John of God Hospital and Barwon Youth to evaluate their Youth Engagement Program (YEP), which is an AOD harm-reduction program intended to engage young people with AOD problems in a region that has a higher-than-state-average proportion of young…

Interviews, program documents, progress reports supplied by the secondary itinerant teacher, and results of a questionnaire survey conducted by the itinerant teacher provided information for a brief, interim evaluation of the Secondary Itinerant Teacher Service. The service has endeavored to help all students (including adults) enrolled with the…

The itinerant secondary remedial resource teacher service, designed to identify and help isolated country students in Queensland who are experiencing learning difficulties and to assist teachers in classrooms, program development, and resource strategy for exceptional learners, was evaluated seven months after project initiation in 1979. Data for…

Interviews, project documents, and parent responses provided information for an interim evaluation of the Primary Itinerant Teacher Service, a pilot project designed to improve educational opportunities of children in the South-West Priority Country Area. In 1978, 3 itinerant teams of 2 teachers each contacted 238 students in 164 families and…

Begun in 1978 to provide Queensland's South-West and Central Priority Country schools with a comprehensive maintenance and repair service for most audio-visual equipment, the Technical Maintenance Officer Service (TMO) serves 76 schools with total enrollment exceeding 13,000 pupils dispersed over a 469,000 square kilometer area. Two trained…

Effectiveness of the Mobile Field Study Unit's work in environmental education in south-west Queensland during 1979-1980 was evaluated through records kept by the Unit and the Priority Country Area Program (PCAP) office, evaluations by teachers, interviews with teachers and educational administrators, and participant observation of the Unit. The…

Two 1980 surveys of school staff, team member interviews, and examination of project films and documents supplied information for final evaluation of the ROCTAPUS (Really Outstanding Color Television About Practically Unlimited Subjects) program, a closed-circuit, magazine format, videotaped, television series intended to enrich the experiential…

Begun in 1978 to bring manual arts experience to children in Queensland's "disadvantaged country areas," the Mobile Manual Arts Unit by the end of the 1980 school year had visited 16 separate locations, involving 25 different schools. A total of 727 students had participated (out of a target population of 992 pupils) and a total of 259…

Evaluation of the Mobile Classroom Project, which provided complementary and supplementary educational experiences not available through the Primary Correspondence Schools (PCS) for 58 isolated country children in Central Queensland during 1978 and 1979, used personal observations; comments from parents, home supervisors, and key educators…

Australian governments at both federal and state levels have collaborated for the past 15 years to lift Indigenous students from their position as the nation's most educationally disadvantaged group. The introduction in 1989 of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Plan was accompanied by an ambitious target of achieving…