Purpose: In this paper we report on the outcomes of a scenario planning project in Melbourne's (Australia) inner northern suburbs, which was undertaken in the context of an extended lockdown during Melbourne's second wave of COVID-19 infections. In this project, the researchers sought to identify the ways in which young people and youth service…

In an increasingly globalised world there is need for professionals involved in providing services to children and families to be culturally competent. This pilot study explores the impact of attending a multidisciplinary professional development workshop based on the Six Principles of Culturally Competent Practice [Verdon, S. (2015a).…

Schooling has long been studied for its role in class formation and reproduction, Australian government secondary schools have also traditionally been associated with 'the local' and with 'nation building'. Some schools might now also be engaged with ideas of the 'the global' not only through policy practices and priorities, but also through the…

This manuscript presents the findings of a study that explored how teachers' perceptions of natural play learning environments were transformed through targeted professional learning (PL). Australia's early childhood education and care (ECEC) policy outlines a responsibility for educators to ensure that outdoor learning spaces provide experiences…

The aim of this article was to examine how media attention affects the social exclusion of young refugees negotiating their way towards settlement in Australia. Emerging stereotypes and prejudices against young male refugees require new ways of understanding the impact of global, national and local issues on their social exclusion. The article…

In this article I examine the possibilities of reparation in an era of privatisation and de-industrialisation. I examine the effect of a recent project Sunshine Memory Space, a space, designed to evoke memories of a de-industrialised urban Melbourne suburb Sunshine. This project offered the opportunity for the effects of industrial change to be…

What constitutes public pedagogy? The term is broad and can be applied in so many situations and settings to the learning that occurs outside of formal schooling. In this article, the author explores how a community event--a painting competition held in a Melbourne suburb's botanic gardens--constitutes public pedagogy. The event centres on…

This paper asks what translanguaging could start to look like if it incorporated an expanded version of language and questioned not only to the borders between languages but also the borders between semiotic modes. Developing the idea of spatial repertoires and assemblages, and looking at data from a Bangladeshi-owned corner shop, this paper…

Participation in early childhood development and education services is an important contributor to how well children develop throughout their early years and their success later in life. This article reports on research which examined how multicultural groups identify and use their community connections to share information and inform…

Schools in Australia are sometimes described, categorised and defined by their locations. These statistical geographical categorisations help to determine how funding is allocated. They help to determine the types of teachers that are recruited, what kinds of teachers are attracted, how they much they are paid. Geographical categories can create…

Early learning has increasingly been the focus of social policy and programmes with a proliferation of public, community and commercial entities entering the field of production. Understanding this phenomenon requires educational researchers to conceptualise early learning both within a globalised network of circulating commodities and within…

Research with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, queer, questioning (LGBTQ) and genderqueer (GQ) students has highlighted the links between school-based marginalisation and decreased school outcomes. This paper applies stage-environment fit theory to an investigation of school 'gender climate', the official and unofficial policing of gender…

The landscape of early childhood education and care is changing. Governments world-wide are assuming increasing authority in relation to child-rearing in the years before school entry, beyond the traditional role in assisting parents to do the best they can by their children. As part of a social agenda aimed at forming citizens well prepared to…

Both children and adults benefit from living in communities and neighborhoods that are rich in social capital. However, the research literature is relatively silent with respect to the influence that children may play as catalysts for the formation and maintenance of community or family stocks of social capital. This article investigates whether…

How well do young people understand their developing sexuality and what this means? This paper reports on findings from the Our Lives: Culture, Context and Risk project, which investigated sexual behaviour and decision-making in the context of the everyday life experience and aspirations of Indigenous and non-Indigenous young people (16-25 years)…