Media Release Archive - 2005
2007 - 2006 - 2005 - 2004 - 2003 - 2002 - 2001 - 2000 - 1999
21 December 2005
Disadvantaged youth find success in VET
The non-apprenticeship VET sector provides a successful pathway from school to further education and training for young Australians from all socioeconomic backgrounds, a new report shows. The new study, released today by ACER found that around 20 per cent of young Australians had enrolled in a non-apprenticeship VET course by age 19. By age 20 in late 2001, 60 per cent of the non-apprenticeship VET entrants had completed their first course while 14 per cent were still enrolled in their first course. Students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds were not disadvantaged in terms of course progress. Gender, language background and region were also unrelated to continuing with non-apprenticeship study.
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Full Report
LSAY Research Report No 47: Non-apprenticeship
VET Courses: Participation, persistence and subsequent pathways
8 December 2005
Release of Teaching Reading, the report of the National Inquiry
into the Teaching of Literacy
The report of the National Inquiry into the Teaching of Literacy was released by the Federal Minister for Education, Science and Training, Dr Brendan Nelson, in Canberra on 8 December. The Inquiry Committee was chaired by Dr Ken Rowe, Research Director ( Learning Processes) at the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER). A media release and copies of the full report are available from Dr Nelson's website. Please use the following links to access them.
Download Press release from DEST website
Download Full Report from DEST website
1 December 2005
Low enter scores behind 'unmet demand' for university places
The main reason that unsuccessful applicants to university miss out on a place is their lower level of academic performance, a new study released today has found. The report focused on a group of young Australians who applied to attend university but were not offered a place. These applicants are commonly referred to as indicating 'unmet demand' for university study. The study included almost 8000 young people who were in Year 9 in 1998. Most completed Year 12 in 2001.
A relatively small proportion of the group, around 5 per cent, applied to enter university but were not offered a place. This amounted to about 10 per cent of Year 12 university applicants in 2001.
Download Full Report
LSAY Research Report No 46: Unmet Demand? Characteristics
and activities of university applicants not offered a place
24 November 2005
Time out of the labour market a common experience for Australian
youth
The majority of young Australians experience at least a short period of time outside of full-time education and the labour force in the early years after leaving secondary school, new research has found. A report released today by ACER identified the characteristics, activities and later destinations of young people who had spent time outside of the labour force.
17 November 2005
Report calls for more emphasis on technical skills in secondary school
A greater focus on developing technical skills in secondary schools is required to draw more young Australians into apprenticeships, a new research report by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) recommends. Releasing the latest findings from the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) program today, Deputy CEO (Research), Dr John Ainley, said that more effort is also required to attract Year 12 completers to the trades.
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Press Release
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Report
9 November 2005
Learning managers believe they are better prepared to teach
An evaluation of the Central Queensland University (CQU) Bachelor of Learning Management (BLM) degree found that BLM graduates believed that they were better prepared for the first year of teaching than graduates from other Queensland universities. The findings were supported by an observational study of 18 BLM graduates that found they performed at a significantly higher level on a range of teaching standards than did graduates from other universities.
27 October 2005
Busy young Australians get most satisfaction
Young Australians are highly satisfied with their life and careers according to new research that suggests being fully occupied in work, study or a combination of the two is a major influence on satisfaction. A study of over 6000 young people, released today, explored how their self-reported life satisfaction is related to educational activities and various labour market outcomes during the early post-school years. The participants were tracked for four years after completing secondary school from 1999 to 2002 when they were between 18 and 21 years old.
19 October 2005
A balanced approach needed for students with learning difficulties
A new review of research into the teaching of literacy and numeracy skills to students with learning difficulties asserts that there is no one single instructional method that deserves sole claim to being 'best practice.' Instead, the common wisdom of research points to the need for balanced approaches to accommodate the diverse needs of students.
The latest Australian Education Review, Balancing approaches: Revisiting the educational psychology research on teaching students with learning difficulties, released today, examines what contemporary research, largely meta-analyses from the field of educational psychology, says about the often controversial and much debated field of how best to teach basic literacy and numeracy skills to students with learning difficulties. It identifies current limitations in Australian research and calls for some changes in teacher training.
29 September 2005
Not all Year 12 courses are equal
Inappropriate course selection in Year 12 can leave some students unable to
participate in further education and in a vulnerable position in the labour
force a new report has found. A study of the patterns of course choice in
Year 12 and the consequences of these choices, released today by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), shows that subject choice has a
major influence on the educational and career options open to them after
finishing school.
Although most Year 12 students make a successful transition to tertiary study
or work, some parts of the Year 12 curriculum act as better pathways to post
secondary education and training than others, reinforcing the importance
of access to quality career guidance in school.
5 September 2005
Senior secondary school students' perceptions of
the world of work
A new report into the perceptions of work held by senior secondary school students provides a valuable insight into the current skills shortage and youth unemployment rate by uncovering a significant mismatch between student career aspirations and the reality of the labour market. The survey of 3,018 year 10, 11 and 12 students from financially disadvantaged backgrounds has found that a majority of students are identifying preferred career paths based on their skills and personal interests with little to no understanding of the availability of these jobs in the current labour market. Most (80%) expect to get the job they would most like at age 25 and few have considered the possibility of compromise should employment in their chosen field be hard to come by. The study, What do students know about work? funded by the AMP Foundation and conducted by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) for The Smith Family also found that a quarter of students were planning insufficient education for their preferred job.
Read more at Smith Family website
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Full Report
2 September 2005
New study shows intentions and attitudes predict participation
in schooling
Nurturing positive attitudes to school could be the key to increasing participation in post-compulsory education according to new research. The latest findings from the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY), released today, show that intentions to complete or leave school formed early in secondary schooling are powerful predictors of participation in the latter years of school. Attitudes to school were in turn found to strongly influence these educational intentions prompting researchers to conclude that by promoting a positive attitude toward school, educators can increase participation in education beyond compulsory schooling.
9 August 2005
Teacher intuition still important as schools swamped
with data
Using data in school decision-making does not have to be a mechanical or technical
process that denigrates educators' intuition, teaching philosophy and personal
experience, according to Dr Lorna Earl, Associate Professor and co-director
of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto.
Dr Earl is speaking in at the Australian Council for Educational Research
(ACER) annual conference entitled Using Data to Support Learning .
8 August 2005
What is the nature of evidence that makes a difference to learning?
The move to collecting more data from schools needs to be stopped and the move to making defensible interpretations about teaching and learning upgraded to priority level a leading educationalist will tell a Melbourne conference. Professor John Hattie of Auckland University is delivering a keynote address to the tenth annual Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) conference entitled Using Data to Support Learning.
7 August 2005
Growth not benchmarks the key to school success
The mark of a school's success is how effectively it causes growth for students
and not just how many students it helps over a particular 'proficiency hurdle,'
according to a visiting US education expert. Professor Gage Kingsbury of
the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) is in Melbourne to deliver the
opening keynote address to the Australian Council for Educational Research
(ACER) tenth annual conference, entitled Using Data to Support Learning.
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Release
5 August 2005
Using student performance data effectively
The education community could benefit from learning to use data about student performance more effectively to support both student and teacher learning, according to educational researcher Dr Ken Rowe. Successful learning support depends on the extent to which schools are provided with an opportunity to claim 'ownership' and 'control' over their own data. Dr Rowe is the Research Director of ACER's Learning Processes research program, and will speak on Tuesday 9 August at the ACER Research Conference 2005, Using Data to Support Learning.
4 August 2005
700 delegates to attend ACER Research Conference
More than 700 researchers, policy makers and teachers from around Australia and overseas will meet in Melbourne next week to consider issues confronting Australian schools in the collection and use of data at ACER's tenth annual Research Conference, entitled Using Data to Support Learning. Research Conference 2005 is the largest conference undertaken by ACER. Three keynote addresses and 16 concurrent sessions will be delivered over the two day program.
Further information on Research Conference 2005
28 July 2005
Tertiary students report high levels of satisfaction
Tertiary study is a largely positive experience for the vast majority of first year students, a new report released by ACER today shows. Among the report's key findings is that a large majority of students reported that they liked being a student (94 per cent), tertiary student life suited them (87 per cent), they enjoyed the atmosphere on campus (88 per cent) and they had made close friends at their tertiary institution (89 per cent). A significant majority (82 per cent) felt that the experience had lived up to their expectations.
30 June 2005
Student interests drive course change and attrition
University students who change courses or withdraw from study without gaining a qualification are more likely to be driven by personal interests and career objectives than academic difficulties or financial pressures, according to new research. A new report, Course change and attrition from higher education, released today examined the pathways of almost 7000 young Australians who were in Year 9 in 1995 and commenced higher education in 1999 or 2000.
12 May 2005
Rowe, Pollard and Rowe take out research award
Dr Kathy Rowe (Consultant Physician in the Department of General Medicine, Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne), with Jan Pollard (Audiological Services Specialist, Sonic Innovations Pty Ltd) and Dr Ken Rowe (ACER's Research Director, Learning Processes), have been awarded the prestigious Rue Wright Memorial Award for Research Excellence in Paediatrics & Child Health by the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. The trio received the award at the College dinner held in Wellington, New Zealand on 10 May where they presented the winning paper entitled: "Literacy, Behaviour and Auditory Processing: Does teacher professional development make a difference?"
20 April 2005
ACER to collaborate on UK student test
The University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES) and the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) will collaborate to develop a new test of academic reasoning for students applying to UK universities. An agreement was signed between ACER and UCLES to develop the test, to be known as UniTest, in Melbourne in March.