Media Release Archive - 2007
2007 - 2006 - 2005 - 2004 - 2003 - 2002 - 2001 - 2000 - 1999
12 December 2007
Australasian first in research on higher education
Twenty-five Australian and New Zealand universities have received results from the first-ever Australasian study of student engagement in higher education.
The Australasian Survey of Student Engagement (AUSSE), conducted by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), measures whether students are interacting with their institutions in the most educationally productive ways.
4 December 2007
Release of OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2006 Australian results
Australian results from the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2006 were released at 20:00 AEDT on 4 December 2007.
21 November 2007
Literacy research must look to the past
An overly negative view of literacy and reluctance to take account of history has limited research and led indirectly to the advancement of some unproductive ideas about literacy, according to a new review of research on literacy education released today by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER).
Written by University of Sydney Professorial Research Fellow Peter Freebody, Australian Education Review 52 aims to expand our understanding of literacy at a time when public and private lives have become increasingly literacy dependent, and literacy demands more complex and sophisticated.
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19 November 2007
Identifying dangers in the world of 'Cyberia'
The greatest danger to children and teens online comes from their own peers according to leading adolescent psychologist Dr Michael Carr-Gregg.
Dr Carr-Gregg, in conjunction with ACER’s Leadership Centre, is conducting a national seminar series that will explore the world of ‘Cyberia’ and how today’s youth lives there. The seminar series gets under way today in Sydney with seminars also taking place in Melbourne, Darwin, Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth over the next two weeks.
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31 October 2007
It's on for young and old at the 2007 CEET annual conference
The annual conference of the Monash University-ACER Centre for the Economics of Education and Training (CEET) takes place in Melbourne on Thursday 1 November. This year's theme is It’s on for young and old: Education and training policies for young and older persons. The conference will consider education and training policies in the context of changes in the Australian population, workforce and economy.
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31 October 2007
Aptitude test trial to proceed
The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) has been contracted to conduct stage one of the Federal Government’s pilot Student Aptitude Test for Tertiary Admission (SATTA). ACER will use uniTEST, which was developed in conjunction with Cambridge Assessment, during the trial.
The Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST) will subsidise universities’ participation in the trial by providing funding for universities to test up to 20,000 students, as well as providing up to $10,000 to each participating Australian university to promote the scheme.
30 August 2007
Leaders exchange expertise through Principal for a Day
Improved partnerships between schools, businesses and the community are expected to be key outcomes of the Principal for a Day event to be held on 31 August.
This year’s program will involve 84 “Principals for a Day” matched with school leaders in primary, secondary and special schools in metropolitan and regional Victoria. Honorary principals new to the program include Victorian Education Minister Bronwyn Pike, Victorian Treasurer John Lenders, his Federal counterpart Peter Costello and President of the Western Bulldogs Football Club David Smorgon. Repeat participants include ABC radio presenter Jon Faine, celebrity chef Gabriel Gate, Australian Television Foundation CEO Jenny Buckland, and Australian Council for Educational Research CEO Professor Geoff Masters.
14 August 2007
Good education depends on shared values
A shared moral purpose and a sense of community values are fundamental necessities for effective education, says Australian Catholic University academic Michael Bezzina. He will present the findings of his study into the connection between moral purpose and shared leadership at the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) annual conference in Melbourne.
According to the study, an explicit, shared moral purpose is needed to bring about the kind of change and improvement that will deliver desirable student learning in schools.
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14 August 2007
School leaders must focus on teaching and learning
The more school leaders focus their influence, their learning and their relationships with teachers on the core business of teaching and learning, the grater their likely influence on student outcomes. This is among the findings from a review of published research to be presented to the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) annual conference in Melbourne on 14 August.
Professor Viviane Robinson of the University of Auckland will deliver a keynote address on research that focused on identifying the relative impact of different types of leadership on student outcomes.
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13 August 2007
Understanding student motivation a key to raising academic standards
Contemporary research on human motivation and learning is enabling schools to understand better students’ reasons for learning and in turn, how they can raise academic achievement according to a visiting international expert on educational leadership. Professor Elizabeth Leo of the University of Dundee, Scotland is in Melbourne to speak at the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) annual conference.
In her keynote presentation to be delivered today Professor Leo will present evidence from a longitudinal research study of an Academy school in England that has moved from being in the country’s lowest 10 per cent on academic achievement to the top 10 per cent without a change in student profiles.
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13 August 2007
Leadership standards the key to preparing better principals
Australia must implement school leadership standards if it wants well-prepared principals, say experts from one of the world’s leading educational research centres. Dr Lawrence Ingvarson and Michelle Anderson, Research Fellows at the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), will present the findings of their international review of leadership standards to the ACER annual research conference on Monday. Traditional methods for preparing school leaders do not stand up in the changing context within which school leaders work, characterised by increasing complexity in expectations of school leaders and greater demands for accountability, say the researchers.
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13 August 2007
The best principals are both demanding and responsive
Schools that focus only on being more responsive to students without also setting high expectations and demands are making a fundamental mistake according to a paper to be delivered today at the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) annual conference in Melbourne.
Professor Stephen Dinham will tell delegates that educational leadership, like teaching and life generally, is heavily dependent on relationships. In his presentation Professor Dinham will explore two fundamental dimensions to relationships: responsiveness and demandingness and their influence on teaching and learning in Australian schools.
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12 August 2007
Education reform requires increased resources
High expectations for the reform of school education can only be met if there is a dramatic increase in resources, according to former University of Melbourne Dean of Education Professor Brian Caldwell. Professor Caldwell will call for leadership for radical transformation in schools education at the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) annual conference on Tuesday.
According to Professor Caldwell, there are high expectations in Australia and comparable countries for the reform of school education — but significant, systematic and sustained change is required if these outcomes are to be achieved. Success for all students in all settings can only be achieved if there is a dramatic increase in resources.
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10 August 2007
Schools need leaders not superheroes
Principals will ignore research into school leadership if it asks the impossible; a leading educational expert will warn a major education conference on Monday. Professor Bill Mulford, of the University of Tasmania, says that school leaders are disillusioned by conflicting advice, and may view educational advisers as ‘itinerant peddlers extorting their latest elixirs.’ Academics must make their research relevant and realistic if they want school leaders to heed it, he says.
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10 August 2007
Principals warned: Don't carry the burden alone
School principals charged with improving educational outcomes should adapt their leadership style to fit in with the context of the school’s needs rather than adopting a one-size fits all approach a major education conference opening in Melbourne on Monday will be told.
Professor Philip Hallinger, Chief Academic Officer of the College of Management, Mahindol University, Thailand will deliver the opening keynote address to the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) annual conference on the theme The Leadership Challenge: Improving Learning in Schools. Professor Hallinger will contrast the two most influential models of educational leadership: instructional leadership and transformational leadership and offer possible paths towards their integration in the practice of educational leadership.
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15 May 2007
Curriculum reform a key to ending science crisis
The failure of school science to respond to the changing needs of students and the changing nature of science itself has created a crisis in Australian science education that shows no sign of abating according to a new review of research. Australian Education Review 51, Re-imagining Science Education: Engaging students in science for Australia's future, by Deakin University Professor of Science Education Russell Tytler was released today by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER). It calls for major curriculum reform, arguing that the time has passed for tinkering around the edges of a science curriculum that belongs to the past.
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19 April 2007
School sector and SES make little difference to university course
completion
A new analysis of the characteristics of students who fail to complete university courses by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) has found that whether a student attended a government or independent school and their socioeconomic background made little difference to the odds of completing their course.
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16 April 2007
New report - Research on Performance Pay for Teachers
An ACER research report on performance pay for teachers was released by federal Education Minister Julie Bishop on 6 April 2007.
22 February 2007
One quarter of non-metropolitan youth leave for the cities
More than one third of young Australians from non-metropolitan areas relocate to a major city in the years immediately after leaving school and, although some return, non-metropolitan areas experience a net loss of a quarter of their young people. A new report, released today by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), is the first Australian national longitudinal study of young people’s geographic mobility.
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21 February 2007
ACER opens Perth office
The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) will officially open its Perth office today, establishing a permanent presence in Western Australia for the first time. The opening of a Perth office follows ACER’s recent acquisition of Unicom Education, a supplier of special needs and speech and language resources for teachers, established in the late 1990s.
1 February 2007
Report makes strong case for core curriculum in key Year 12 subjects
The case is now strong for a common curriculum core in at least some senior
school subjects, the chief executive of the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), Professor Geoff Masters, said today upon the release of
a new report commissioned by the Federal Government. Federal Education Minister
Julie Bishop today released the report, Year 12 Curriculum Content and Achievement
Standards, prepared by ACER.
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the report (DEST website)
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