Benchmarking is a formalised evaluation process by which a university can measure the standard of their policies, processes, programmes or strategies through comparison with other universities. Currently, there is a paucity of research that focuses on the documentation associated with external benchmarking undertaken by Australian universities.…

Cross institutional benchmarking provides the opportunity to ensure comparability of standards by comparing learning outcomes and assessment practices, and acts as a catalyst for change and improved practice. The comparability of standards is crucial for the transparency and portability of qualifications as well as the assurance of quality student…

In this case study, Angela Helsloot, Principal at Allambie Heights Public School, on the Northern Beaches of Sydney, uses data from standardised tests and benchmark reading assessments across the school to show the positive impact that Sounds-Write instruction has had in Kindergarten and Year 1. [For the complete volume, "Systematic Synthetic…

This report projects Northern Ireland's skills base through to 2030 and compares this to a number of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. The report shows that on current trends Northern Ireland will continue to lag many other countries on a number of measures of learning and skills in 2030. These shortfalls can…

Improving Indigenous students' literacy is a major priority area for the Australian Government, receiving significant funding to address below benchmark English literacy standardised test results. Despite this, recent benchmark tests suggest Indigenous students continue to achieve well below the national average. This systematic review discusses…

Medical programs are under pressure to maintain currency with scientific and technical advances, as well as prepare graduates for clinical work and a wide range of postgraduate careers. The value of the basic sciences in primary medical education was assessed by exploring the perceived clinical relevance and test performance trends among medical…

This handbook, first published in 2014, aims at helping policy makers and social partners understand some of the ways in which learning in the workplace can be encouraged and how its quality can be improved. It is also intended to help them understand some of the ways that such learning can be organised in a structured manner so that it benefits…

Distributed leadership has been explored internationally as a leadership model that will promote and advance excellence in learning and teaching in higher education. This paper presents an assessment of how effectively distributed leadership was enabled at five Australian institutions implementing a collaborative teaching quality development…

Since the first Circle of Trust retreat was offered in 2005, the Center for Courage & Renewal (CCR) and other individual facilitators across the United States, Canada, and Australia have continued to offer many cross-professional retreats, as they have proven extremely popular. They are designed for people from any profession who want to…

This article provides the background and describes the processes involved in establishing a national approach to benchmarking the way universities engage with their local and regional communities in Australia. Local and regional community engagement is a rapidly expanding activity in Australian public universities and is increasingly being seen as…

In Australia's National Professional Development Program for teachers, key processes are evaluation, quality, benchmarking, and cost-benefit analysis. Educators in South Australia (SA) are attempting to differentiate between quality assurance in project management and in program evaluation. (SK)

In 2004 the Australian Flexible Learning Framework developed a suite of quantitative and qualitative indicators on the uptake, use and impact of e-learning in the Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector. These indicators were used to design items for a survey to gather quantitative data for benchmarking. A series of four surveys gathered…