Allocating students into separate classes within a school depending on their "ability" is common in many countries. This paper presents a theoretical discussion of the practice, considering why it persists despite a long history of research emphasizing consequential problems. Our discussion identifies and critiques four possible reasons…

The "boy turn" in research on gender and education has sought to understand how social practices and schooling contribute to the process of orientation to particular identities. This paper applies the theories of affect to explore the story of an underprivileged, low-achieving Samoan boy, as he engaged with learning Chinese in an…

In Australia, policy makers demand school leaders focus on raising student achievement levels when planning and implementing a school improvement (SI) plan. This paper explores the SI process for two Australian primary schools deemed to be underperforming and underwent a priority school support review (PSSR). In this study, 2 principals and…

The reading literacy skills of Australian adolescents, as measured in successive PISA waves, have declined since 2000. Literacy achievement is not low by international standards, but it is lower in Australia than it is in Anglophone countries with which we compare ourselves, e.g. Canada. Using PISA 2018 and PIRLS 2021 data, we investigated both…

While international research has demonstrated that ability grouping is inequitable, Australian research has often overlooked equity concerns, predominantly focusing on studying the benefits of grouping for students perceived to have high ability, especially in mathematics. This paper investigates the effect that mathematics ability grouping has on…

There is evidence that student attitudes towards mathematics become more negative as students move through their schooling. However, less is known about the different factors that shape student attitudes at various stages. This qualitative study sought to shed light on this issue and consider how stage of schooling influenced self-perceived…

While the relationship between school socioeconomic composition and student academic outcomes is well established, knowledge about differential effects is not extensive. In particular, little is known whether the relationship differs for students with varying levels of academic performance. We examined whether the school socioeconomic composition…

This research explored whether academic self-efficacy calibration (the match between self-efficacy beliefs and academic outcomes) in first-year psychology students (n=197) differed as a function of task type (written assignment/multiple-choice exam), domain specificity (task level/subject level), over time (mid-semester/end of semester) and…

This study explored the mathematics engagement of Australian primary students who currently struggle with mathematics learning and who participated in an intervention program. The research aimed to identify the elements that facilitated their engagement across three learning settings that they experienced concurrently: their "Extending…

This study investigates the links between the second-generation Chinese Australians' heritage language proficiency and perceptions of Chinese identity. Thirty 10--11-year-old children of Chinese immigrants took a Chinese proficiency test and participated in semi-structured interviews. The test revealed a wide range of performance levels in all the…

Students in higher education face a variety of learning hindrances while studying at university. These hindrances may negatively impact on learning by distracting from study, or may enhance learning by encouraging students to address challenges as they arise. In the current study students were asked to describe their learning hindrances at a…

Typically, more primary students qualify for mathematics intervention support than schools have the capacity to assist. This highlights the importance of every primary mathematics teacher having the expertise to design inclusive and responsive curricula and instruction for students who may experience difficulty. Our study addresses this issue…

This study explored how specific inquiry-related learning activities were related to student enjoyment of learning science and intended choice of future STEM career. Analysis of Taiwan and Australia PISA 2015 data revealed that three activities, namely, "debating and planning experiments, drawing conclusions and doing hands-on experiments,…

The numeracy capabilities of pre-service teachers are a recent focus in the Australian educational system. In this article, we discuss findings from an analysis of data from the Literacy and Numeracy Test for Initial Teacher Education Students (LANTITE), which is administered by the Australian Council for Educational Research. In our analysis, we…

Supervisors are often reluctant to make an adverse assessment of the student's performance during work placements, which leads to a phenomenon known as "failure to fail". This Australian study evaluated resources designed to enhance the management of students who fail to meet the required standard of performance during work placements.…