Australian Association for Research in Education

When AI Meets Ubuntu: Rethinking Power in Academic Writing - Technology and Learning Research (AARE) Dr Lynette Pretorius is an award-winning educator and researcher who interlaces imagination and insight to reimagine what higher education can be. Drawing on her interdisciplinary expertise, she weaves together diverse ideas, lived experiences, an...

Listen to Episode 14 of the AARE Technology and Learning Research SIG podcast 'When AI Meets Ubuntu: Rethinking Power in Academic Writing' where Dr Lynette Pretorius advocates for more compassionate, equitable, and creative learning environments. https://loom.ly/K-ilHig

The Australian Educational Researcher The Australian Educational Researcher (AER) provides a forum for education researchers to debate internationally relevant issues across all levels of ...

🚨AARE is pleased to announce that the latest edition of the Australian Educational Researcher is now available.
Volume 52, Issue 6 December 2025 https://loom.ly/LzROVLk
👏Massive thank you to Stewart Riddle as the outgoing Editor in Chief.

Christmas is just a month away now. Maybe don't trust AI for gift ideas This is the new cultural literacy demanded by the age of AI - and it is the competency we must pass on to the next generation.

AI is not a neutral tool. It reproduces the cultural assumptions embedded in its training data. Arum Kim explains the key to AI literacy lies not in grand technological debates but in small, everyday moments. https://loom.ly/Y5piHmA

How policies of school exclusion frame practice: a comparative analysis of Australian state education policies - The Australian Educational Researcher This article reports on a comparative policy analysis which examined education policy guiding the use of exclusionary discipline practices across four Australian states (Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria, and Queensland). Exclusionary practices, such as suspensions and exclusions, are commonly used to respond to problematic student behaviour, yet their effectiveness as a behaviour management strategy remains unsupported by research. Through a comparative analysis of current policy ...

Have you read first online #OA article by Neil Tippett, Anna Sullivan, Jamie Manolev, Bruce Johnson & Barry Down ‘How policies of school exclusion frame practice: a comparative analysis of Australian state education policies' in AER? https://loom.ly/Glp71Pc

AARE would like to thank our conference gold sponsor Curtin University.

Looking forward to seeing all our wonderful delgates at the conference in a fortnight

How to keep home languages learning This scoping review shows that interventions supporting Spanish English dual language learners have led to strong language gains

There is a growing need to identify effective language interventions and early literacy strategies that enable educators and SLPs to engage with multilingual families and their children. Sarah Ohi and Yanling Song explain the power of culturally responsive approaches. https://loom.ly/7M3MlpY

From Digital Doubt to Digital Confidence: Tracking Capability in Teacher Education - Technology and Learning Research (AARE) In between PhD data sets, teacher educator Katie Wilson took on a small reflective project with her first-year students — and what she found was bigger than expected.In this episode, Katie (a lecturer at ACU in Brisbane) shares how tracking pre-se...

Listen to Episode 15 of the AARE Technology and Learning Research SIG podcast 'From Digital Doubt to Digital Confidence: Tracking Capability in Teacher Education' where Katie Wilson shares how tracking digital confidence across a semester opened up unexpected insights. https://loom.ly/PP7EYag

Hey, ministers, now's the time to make better choices Will the Teaching and Learning Commission infuse equity, culturally responsive practice, and genuine opportunity throughout quality teaching?

Australia could lead globally by demonstrating that evidence-based instruction and culturally responsive teaching are not competing priorities. Helen Adam asks Education ministers if they will continue the narrow focus that has left children behind for decades. https://loom.ly/3RYdk0c

For refugees, the right to learn is uneven. Here's how to change Refugees: our book offers hope to respond to the multiplicity of forms of suffering and destruction for the marginalised and the dispossessed

As humanitarian crises escalate, improving refugee education has never been more pressing. Julie Matthews and Quentin Maire highlight initiatives for refugee education around the world. https://loom.ly/Tb2oehY

Teachers’ working conditions, wellbeing and retention: an exploratory analysis to identify the key factors associated with teachers’ intention to leave - The Australian Educational Researcher This article investigates the key factors associated with Australian teachers' intentions to leave their roles by examining their working conditions, experiences of work and mental health through the concept of the psychosocial work environment. Utilising a dataset of 744 primary and secondary teachers in mainstream Australian government schools, we applied confirmatory factor analysis to validate the measurement model of teachers’ working conditions and health and wellbeing. This was followe...

Have you read first online #OA article by Ben Arnold & Mark Rahimi ‘Teachers’ working conditions, wellbeing and retention: an exploratory analysis to identify the key factors associated with teachers’ intention to leave' in AER? https://loom.ly/FcY-Qvo

Tuning in to young children’s peer-to-peer interactions when engaging with digital technologies: developing a fit-for-purpose framework - The Australian Educational Researcher Capturing the subtle and nuanced behaviours of very young children to honour their ‘voice’ in research is an ongoing methodological challenge. This paper details the evolution of a framework developed by the researchers in response to understanding the peer-to-peer relationshipss of infants and toddlers when engaging with digital technologies in an Australian Research Council-funded project. The framework and how it was applied is presented along with ethical and methodological considerations...

Have you read first online #OA article by Andrea Nolan & Deborah Moore ‘Tuning in to young children’s peer-to-peer interactions when engaging with digital technologies: developing a fit-for-purpose framework' in AER? https://loom.ly/5qEv6K8

NOW! Let's start talking about workload intensity If we want to address the real pressures on teachers and school leaders, we need to capture intensity not just hours

When did workload become THE problem in understanding teachers’ and school leaders’ work? Anna Hogan and Greg Thompson argue that if we want to address the real pressures on teachers and school leaders, we need to measure more than hours. We need to capture intensity. https://loom.ly/ASJ0uKY

Incidental Mathematics: Uncovering Hidden Learning through Digital Technologies - Technology and Learning Research (AARE) In this episode of the Technology and Learning Podcast, host Ellie Manzari from Monash University speaks with Dr Emily Ross (University of Queensland) and Dr Margaret Marshman (University of the Sunshine Coast) about their recent research on integ...

Listen to Episode 16 of the AARE Technology and Learning Research SIG podcast 'Incidental Mathematics: Uncovering Hidden Learning through Digital Technologies' about recent research on integrating digital technologies in mathematics classrooms. https://loom.ly/Vf8nEYA

Where's the trust? Why we need to rethink this screens policy now This policy on screens aligns with the push toward explicit instruction and scripted lessons dictating how and what teachers should teach.

What matters is how technology is used, not how long. Thembi Mason, Jacqueline Manison, David Loader, Jack Allen and Angela Fitzgerald argue that education policy should build teacher capability, not impose control. https://loom.ly/dv9DSSs

Languaging the schoolscape: multilingualism in Melbourne’s superdiversity - The Australian Educational Researcher This paper (re)imagines Melbourne, Australia as the linguistic landscape (LL), setting the background for examining everyday multilingualism in a schooling context characterised by superdiversity to advance the concept of languaging the schoolscape. LL is mobilised and extended in this study to examine multilingual students’ perspectives about home languages. The paper draws from a qualitative case study of a primary classroom in Melbourne that investigated how cultures and languages are expe...

Have you read first online #OA article by Bonita S. Cabiles ‘Languaging the schoolscape: multilingualism in Melbourne’s superdiversity' in AER? https://loom.ly/fAb9St8

Marketising disability: public school principals competing for inclusion funding - The Australian Educational Researcher In this paper, we examine disability funding in the context of a schooling market. By drawing on interviews with public school principals, we consider their experiences in competing for disability and inclusion funding in public schools. Public school principals are engaging in competitive applications from the state government to fund a range of disability supports, such as building ramps into playgrounds, providing support staff, or developing sensory spaces. These applications are for both...

Have you read first online #OA article by Elisa Di Gregorio, Emma Rowe, Sarah Langman & Tim Corcoran ‘Marketising disability: public school principals competing for inclusion funding' in AER? https://loom.ly/fHndS-0

Watch yourself! How video analysis can transform teaching The process of video reflection enables mentors to model evidence-based decision-making and is a valuable tool for preservice teachers.

The process of video reflection significantly enhances the quality and depth of mentor-PST reflective conversations. Allison Byth explains how mentor-led video reflection can support preservice teacher reflective practice in practical, sustainable ways. https://loom.ly/C2WnZug

Teachers’ sense of belonging in school: a scoping review - The Australian Educational Researcher Enhancing belonging is essential in fostering inclusive and supportive educational environments, yet research on in-service teachers’ sense of belonging remains limited. This scoping review examines the literature on the sense of belonging among primary and secondary school teachers using a mixed-method approach. The findings indicated that the enablers and barriers to teachers’ sense of belonging revolve around five themes: (1) collegial interaction, (2) collective values, (3) leadership, (4...

Have you read first online #OA article by Jessica Wator, Pamela Patrick & Sun Yee Yip 'Teachers’ sense of belonging in school: a scoping review' in AER? https://loom.ly/Dp0-v6o

What the new AERO could learn from the British model The review of the Australian Education Research Organisation (AERO) is due to report in May 2026. However, the federal minister Jason Clare has just announced the formation of the new Teaching and Learning Commission, bringing AERO together with ACARA, AITSL and Education Services Australia. It is timely to think about what a new AERO might ...

As AERO moves into a new national organisation Pat Thomson argues its time for an explicit refocus https://loom.ly/2dUR8os

A critique of the needs-based funding model in public schools: principals and their experiences of funding - The Australian Educational Researcher Australia’s approach to school funding has long been underwritten by ‘the concept of need’, both as an empirical measure and theoretical concept, evident in major government reviews of funding, instrumentalised in central agreements, and it continues to be a core component of Australia’s funding policy architecture. Taking this as its central focus, this paper critiques Australia’s ‘needs-based’ school funding model, drawing on survey data and interviews with principals from public schools in...

Have you read first online #OA article by Emma E. Rowe 'A critique of the needs-based funding model in public schools: principals and their experiences of funding' in AER? https://loom.ly/HYpv3vM

✅AARE conference highlights
Wednesday 3 December Roundtable sessions

These sessions encourage collaboration among researchers by providing an opportunity to present and discuss research, inclusive of research in progress, preliminary findings or grant proposals.

Before we rush to plunge the knife in, let’s understand the issues at play in the Queensland external Ancient History exam mix up. Alison Bedford explains how and why mistakes could have been made. https://loom.ly/90d7I3c

The ‘Better and Fairer Schools Agreement’; fairer funding but not fair - The Australian Educational Researcher In 2024, the Australian Federal Labor Government announced the Better and FairerSchools Agreement 2025–2034, which sets policy, inter alia, for Australian school funding for the next ten years. This paper contributes to the critical policy analysis literature on school funding by undertaking a focused analysis of this recent policy, deploying a novel analytical framework. It explores and evaluates the likely impact of the BFSA on equity in funding allocations between the public and private sc...

Have you read first online #OA article by Jane Kenway & Rebecca Boden 'The ‘Better and Fairer Schools Agreement’; fairer funding but not fair' in AER? https://loom.ly/jOP5pbg

AARE invites practising educators, teachers and school leaders to a dedicated Teachers’ Day.

Wed 3 Dec

👉 Please note: this offer is exclusively for practising teachers and educators in schools or early childhood settings.
https://loom.ly/0AquVQ4

We built a playground for perpetrators. Here's how to stop them - EduResearch Matters Our children deserve to be safe and parents deserve to know their child is safe from perpetrators in early childhood services.

Our children deserve to be safe, and parents deserve to go to work knowing their child is safe. Marg Rogers argues educators and parents will need major reform to have faith in the early childhood system again. https://loom.ly/ZpVW1BU

✅AARE Conference highlights
Tuesday 2 December book launches
📖School Autonomy Reform and Social Justice in Australian Public Education
📖Teaching the Arts: Early Childhood and Primary Education

and more..

Most segregated in the world: here's why that matters - EduResearch Matters Australian schools are among the most socially segregated in the developed world. Students are separated by parental occupation, education, and cultural backgrounds. Our new research shows that this segregation is associated with the number of private and selective schools in a neighbourhood and the fees that they charge. We argue that without major reforms to ...

International comparisons show Australian schools ranks among the most segregated in the OECD. Michael Sciffer argues it is possible to have school choice without separating children based on social backgrounds. https://loom.ly/t2nCmZM

Where self-determination and equity meet: homelands education systems and the forgotten schools - The Australian Educational Researcher This paper presents a case study of homelands education in North East Arnhem Land. It explores how structural inequities in education systems mitigate against schools which do not align with mainstream norms. In particular, it looks at a hub-and-spoke system of micro schools—officially designated as homeland learning centres (HLCs)—serving some of the most remote, linguistically diverse and traditionally oriented students in Australia. The authors question why governments have persistently ov...

Have you read first online #OA article by Marnie O’Bryan, Yananymul Mununggurr, Barayuwa Mununggurr & Tony Dreise 'Where self-determination and equity meet: homelands education systems and the forgotten schools' in AER? https://loom.ly/gLYICoM

Bullying: can schools really make it stop? - EduResearch Matters The anti-bullying review delivers clear direction but as Jason Clare points out, this is just the start. The hard work is ahead of us.

Australia’s students deserve safe, inclusive learning environments. But so too do Australia’s teachers deserve the tools, time, and trust to build them and need to be supported by the wider community. https://loom.ly/l-HfyeA

Exploring the experiences of undergraduate students with disability who withdraw from university studies - The Australian Educational Researcher University students with disability have significantly lower retention and completion rates than students without disability. A better understanding of the factors, whether institutional, academic, or personal, that contribute to their decision to withdraw from university is crucial for increasing the retention of students with disability. Few studies have accessed the voices of students with disability who voluntarily withdrew from their university studies before completing a degree. Underpi...

Have you read first online #OA article by Jill Duncan, Katie Butler & Renée Punch 'Exploring the experiences of undergraduate students with disability who withdraw from university studies' in AER? https://loom.ly/R5P6W08