EduResearch Matters

EduResearch Matters is a blog for educational researchers in Australia to get their work and opinions out to the general public. Please join us here. We would love to get your comments and feedback about our work.
Teachers voices

Listen to teachers’ voices: Here’s what they are saying right now

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We’d like to thank those Early Career Teacher Panellists on the Teachers’ Voices : Catriona Vo, Emma Enticott, Liz McNulty, Daniel Siddhartha, Alexis Kim, David Oksinski

As educational researchers, we must listen to the voices of teachers to understand what research is critical to their work, and how we can effectively work with teachers to respond to contemporary issues and opportunities of the profession. Educational research operates in a void when teachers’ voices are left unheard. That void constrains the critical professional partnerships needed to bridge the research-practice divide and produce research with an authentic and powerful connection to educators’ work.

The Australian Association of Research in Education (AARE) Teachers’ Work and Lives Special Interest Group launched the first in a Teachers’ Voice Panel Series on June 24. It provides time and space for educational researchers to listen to teachers about what research matters to them. In this initial panel, six early career teachers from state and independent schools across Queensland, Victoria, the Northern Territory, and New South Wales came together online to share their ideas about research and their work. We asked our panel the following questions:

What are the current topics or issues for you as an early career teacher that are critically important for educational researchers to be investigating right now?

These early career teachers showed a clear and strong commitment to their professional growth. They indicated they were most interested in learning how best to meet the needs of the diverse students in their classes.

“How do we as teachers engage in culturally and linguistically responsive teaching? Given the diversity in schools and just how our classrooms are growing in terms of how diverse they are.” – Catriona

“Inclusive education… I’ve got anyone and everybody in my classroom, so what kind of research can be done so that students can get individual attention, and [teachers] giving each student exactly what they need.”  – Liz

Inclusive practice

Inclusive practice and culturally responsive pedagogy emerged as topics of crucial importance, highlighting the focus of these future educational leaders on acknowledging, celebrating, and responding to the richness of their classroom cohorts. 

They also spoke to their pressing need to understand how to work with Artificial Intelligence in ethical and practical ways.

“AI is another big thing. It’s taking over; whether its students using it to plagiarise (so how might we design tasks that stop this), or, how we might find ways to use it in responsible ways”. – David

The rapid evolution of digital technologies made the need for future-focused educational research in this space time-sensitive. Emma said: “Technology is moving so fast . . . I feel like the research that’s coming out now is delayed to my needs.” Panel members’ responses underscored the significant role that early career teachers will play in leading the way in working with a rapidly evolving digital landscape.  

The panel also pointed to the potential for research to inform how teachers work together to innovate and collaboratively build professional capacity.      

“To me, workplace culture is what it’s all about, genuine collegiality, with a generative outlook toward how to improve systems”. – Daniel

Still COVID-19

Interestingly, the residual impact of the COVID-19 years still loomed large as they discussed their need for research that could contribute to their address of student resilience, seen as an ongoing concern among students in the classroom. 

“A lot of the younger students are coming out of the COVID years lack resilience. So it would be good to have more research into how we can support students with less resilience, especially with the limited resources we have”. – Alexis

We were impressed by the varied suite of topics reported by the panel as mattering to these early career teachers. At the heart of their interests was a commitment to social justice, a responsiveness to contemporary digital challenges, and a desire to contribute to a work culture of collegiality and collaboration.      

To what extent do you, as an early career teacher, currently connect with research and/or researchers as part of your work? What are the available opportunities/challenges to doing this for you?

As with anything teaching, the “T word” loomed large as the key challenge to connecting with research and researchers.  

 “Time is a resource we don’t have much of, and I find that reading research can be quite difficult, it can be quite dense, but through reading groups and discussion this reading can be a lot more beneficial.” – David

Time alone, however, is not the only barrier to being research-connected as an early career teacher. The panel also shared how access to research post-graduation is also hindered when connections to their university are severed.

“Once I left university, of course, I have my alumni account, but that’s very restricted in terms of what I can access. So, I’m only often getting outdated information or I’m only ever getting the abstract.”- Emma

It was a theme that most of the early career teacher panel were primarily engaging in research through Professional Learning opportunities, with many of these opportunities being limited due to funding and time constraints. These systemic barriers to engaging in research, combined with the “density” (David) of research in some instances, led to the panel raising the need for “bite-size” research summaries on a variety of accessible platforms like practitioner journals, LinkedIn, and Instagram etc.

The diversity of ways that early career teachers preferred to access research-related media was also notable. with some noting preferences for print media (“the value of grabbing a physical text that is sitting around the staffroom”- Daniel) and others accessing videos and digital media more frequently.

For us as researchers, this raised thoughts of how we keep early career teachers connected to research and the universities they have spent so much time in after graduation. This appears to be an important question in moving forward in continuing to bridge the perceived research-practice gap.

As an early career teacher, what kind of research would you be most likely to take part in? How would you suggest we bridge the gap between the research community and the early career teacher community?

Many early career teachers leaned on the university-to-school connection during their first years of teaching, with a large portion of the connection to research coming from direct contact with past lecturers.

“The connection with lecturers and when you leave university, I think those relational connections are just so important for sustaining us as teachers sometimes just having that person that we can talk to, to say, “Hey, you know, this is going on in our classroom, do you have any thoughts about this” or just even checking in.” – Catriona

Emma too explained how she drew on her connections with past teacher educators. She proposed preservice teachers before graduation need to be upskilled in how to stay connected:

“It is a skill- staying connected. How do we stay connected? What are some really quick and easy places we can go to get this research? In that final year of ITE, how can we teach graduates how to stay connected and where to go for help”- Emma

They want access to research and are happy to be part of research

As well as these university-teacher connections providing a means of access to research, the panel also showed interest in being part of educational research while being cognisant that such research would need to work in with their everyday work.   

“If I was part of research in my school, something that sat alongside my work, then that is something that I would be interested in”- Alexis

Excitingly, they encouraged educational researchers “to do a lot more research with their students who have gone out into teaching” (Daniel), reminding us that our alumni are important research partners.

The early career teachers on this panel, however, understood the important role that teachers played in being open to the value of research.  

“There needs to be a shift in how teachers actually think about research…so how can we make research seem like it is accessible and approachable and that it is a part of everyday teachers’ work? Until we unpack that position that teachers may have about research and all those assumptions that teachers may have, that will go a long way to bridging teachers and research and how we design research that will get teachers onboard and involved in research too” – Catriona   

As educational researchers, we need to find ways to connect with our early career teachers in ways that create manageable and timely access to cutting-edge research that can support their work. 

Ways to connect

“This panel is an awesome starting point and I have learned so much this afternoon and that just speaks to the importance of these kinds of discussion.” – Liz

We would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to these early career teachers for their time and insights. The convenors of the Teachers’ Work and Lives SIG, along with all participants in this event were left in no doubt that the future of the profession is in very good hands!

From left to right:

Ellen Larsen is a senior lecturer in the School of Education at the University of Southern Queensland (UniSQ). Ellen is a member of the Australian Association for Research in Education [AARE] executive and a convenor of the national AARE Teachers’ Work and Lives Special Interest Group. Ellen’s areas of research work include teacher professional learning, early career teachers, mentoring and induction, teacher identity, and education policy.  She is on Twitter @DrEllenLarsen1.

Bronwyn Reid O’Connor is a mathematics educator and researcher in the Sydney School of Education and Social Work at the University of Sydney. Drawing on her experience as head of mathematics, Bronwyn teaches in the areas of secondary mathematics education at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Her research focuses on supporting students’ motivation, engagement, and learning in mathematic as well as secondary mathematics teacher education. Her work focuses on addressing the research-practice nexus, and she serves as Editor of the Australian Mathematics Education Journal to continue disseminating high-quality research to practitioners.  

Steven Kolber is a proud public school teacher who has been teaching English, History and English as an additional language for 11 years. He has been recently named to the top 50 finalists in the Global Teacher Prize.  He is passionate about teacher collaboration which he supports through organising Teach Meets, running #edureading (an online academic reading group) and supporting Khmer teachers by leading teacher development workshops in Cambodia with Teachers Across Borders Australia.

Header image from the Teachers’ Voice Panel Zoom call.

blog of the year

International Education: How to build a strategy with integrity

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The draft International Education and Skills Strategic Framework, released late last month, calls for integrity. We suggest this can be achieved by a strategy that responds to global needs – as well as Australia’s – needs. 

The ability of individual international students to pay fees determines access to Australian universities. There is no consideration of the educational needs of the countries from which students come or even serious  consideration of  Australia’s strategic interests.

We suggest a policy which combines international students in Australia and transnational online education, targeted to global educational needs and Australia’s national interest.

We are encouraged the Framework frequently refers for future education to be conducted with integrity.  At the micro level, greater integrity should feature in the recruitment of students and all the processes associated with their Australian education.  At the macro level educational offerings should address the current concerns expressed by many international policy scholars and ethicists. That is, the widening gap between the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’ in and among members of the international community.  

Three vital actions

We note and support especially the last three actions proposed in the Framework:

  • Expanding offshore, online, and other innovative arrangements to diversify the sector.
  • Contributing to global skills needs.
  • Advancing Australia’s strategic interests

These suggestions chime with recommendations in the Universities Accord to ‘support diversification of international student markets… including through using innovative transnational education delivery modes’.

We would add our hope that the ethical integrity of our educational offerings would include a deep and thoughtful concern to see global inequity reduced.

A missed opportunity for knowledge diplomacy

The focus of the higher education sector on the benefit of international students to Australian universities and to the wider economy is emphasised throughout most of the writings on international students, including in this latest Strategic Framework. 

But this is not likely to earn the respect of the countries from which our students come. It also misses the opportunities to utilise international partnerships for the common good. The term knowledge diplomacy refers to ‘a new approach to understanding the role of international higher education, research, and innovation in strengthening relations among countries and addressing common global challenges.’ It depends on ‘collaboration, reciprocity, and mutuality.’ Taking account of global, rather than solely Australia’s, needs in Australia’s approach to international education would have integrity and could contribute to knowledge diplomacy.

Education of international students should be based on an appraisal of the needs of the national populations from which we draw them

Using 2022 data for higher education enrolment of international students in Australian universities, we show, three countries in South-East Asia stand out as having very high access rates 

These are Singapore (403 students in Australia per 100,000 population), Brunei Daraussalam (115 per 100,000) and Malaysia (63 per 100,000).  At the same time, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, the Philippines, and Indonesia have rates less than 5 per 100,000 population. 

Malaysia and Singapore together provided nearly half (47%) of South-East Asian international student numbers in Australia in 2022 but comprised only six per cent of the total population of South-East Asia. Indonesia provided 12 per cent of South-East Asian international student numbers in Australia but make up 40% of South-East Asia’s combined population.

Looking more broadly, in 2022, per 100,000 population, median rates of students coming to Australian universities were: Indian subcontinent 42, Pacific 28.9, China 10.5, South-East Asia 5.8, Sub-Saharan Africa 0.5: there was wide variation between countries within these regions.

It is difficult to see how these figures accord with Australia’s short-term strategic interests, let alone go far in honouring integrity (especially equity). 

Longer-term, global populations will change. Nigeria is projected to have a larger population than China by 2100, as previously noted. The populations of many African countries will have doubled by 2050.   Our planning for the future of international education should surely take the massive future growth among the youth of Africa into account.

A network of global online learning

We support the Framework’s mention of online learning. It has the potential to correct needs unmet by onshore education in Australia. 

We propose expanding Australia’s international education through online learning, facilitated by a collaborative online global network. This would have several advantages.  

First, it would offer education to individual students who would otherwise miss out from education in their local setting or an Australian in-person setting. .

Second, it could help redress the current inequities in global access to Australia’s higher education.

Third,  Australian universities have adopted a largely competitive business model (with some exceptions mainly in research) with regard to international connections.  The pedagogic locus of control remains firmly lodged in individual Australian universities.  The manifest advantages of collaboration include building capacity among international universities for broad-spectrum academic activity including research. The network must include global universities. This would also avoid the accusation of colonisation of knowledge – of which Government and universities should be aware. 

Fourth, it could match the provision of international education with Australia’s international strategic interests while providing long-term sustainability to the higher education sector. It would also set the scene for knowledge diplomacy as discussed above.

What would a network of global online learning look like?

Following a full international needs assessment for global higher education to which Australian universities might contribute, we repeat previous suggestions that such a network would require Australian universities to collaborate with each other as the key drivers of the network. Other universities in the global south should join the network. We need an infrastructure to include IT support and an appropriate quality assurance process should underpin the network.

We appreciate that the income of many Australian universities has come to depend on international student fees. 

Online offshore (transnational) education should be delivered at cost, rather than the high fees currently charged which cross-subsidise other parts of Australia’s higher education system. We propose a combination of onshore education in Australia and offshore online education. This would be more sustainable. It would be better received by other countries – and it would offer a more equitable approach. 

Rather than argue about numbers of international students coming to Australia, an assessment of capacity to offer a combination of onshore and offshore education would allow the development of a strategy with integrity to address inequity in global educational opportunity.  

Richard Heller is emeritus professor at the Universities of Newcastle, Australia and Manchester, UK. He has been involved in educational programmes to build public health capacity in low- to middle-income population throughout his career. As Professor of Public Health in Manchester he set up the University’s first online master’s degree. He founded and coordinates the fully online volunteer-led Peoples-uni educational charity, offering master’s and continuing professional development awards.

Stephen Leeder is Emeritus Professor of public health and community medicine at the University of Sydney. Steve has 45 years of experience in epidemiological research and in medical education reform as a member of the foundation faculty in the new medical school in Newcastle and as dean of the Sydney medical school. He is currently Co-Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Epidemiology and was chair of the Western Sydney Local Health District Board from 2011 until 2016.

research impact

How research-based news articles (like this one) accelerate research impact

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Translating research findings into practice or policy change is notoriously slow despite the time, effort and funding invested in research. In my peer reviewed journal article and presentation about research-based news articles, I give a step-by-step guide on how to write effectively for these research news sites to create impact and accelerate knowledge translation (also called research translation).

I also argue that while our institutions benefit and encourage us to engage in such research translation, they should recognise the time it takes to write and publish for these sites in our workloads. Further, institutions need to ensure their employment and promotion systems reward the efforts required for this type of research translation and stakeholder engagement. If these systems do not keep up, institutions risk reducing the potential impact of their research as researchers juggle their time.

Why bother with news articles?

Researchers have many demands within their institutions. Any investment in time to write research-based news articles (RBNAs) needs to be justified with important reasons. Firstly, in education, the translation of research into practice has been debated for a long time, with a large lag in uptake due to poor access to research findings and the high workloads of our target educators.

Secondly, many of our stakeholders do not necessarily have access to peer-reviewed papers. They are often exhausted from supporting children’s and student’s learning. For example, in my area of wellbeing research, my stakeholders are regional, rural and remote educators, support workers and parents. They are all busy groups of people.

Thirdly, although policymakers might have access to research libraries, they are also time-poor, wading through an increasing number of peer-reviewed publications.

Fourthly, in an information-rich environment, it is difficult for researchers to cut through the noise and have their research read, understood and put into practice.

Fifthly, RBNAs allow researchers to link their peer-reviewed publications. That ensures stakeholders who want more information are able to easily access their work.

Lastly, excellent research occurs in our universities and research institutes. But it is often only partially used because it is only accessed by other academics. Translating knowledge through RBNAs is one way to reduce such waste.

Research impact: benefits of RBNAs

There are many benefits of publishing RBNAs. This format allows researchers to summarise their research into snack-sized, easily digestible articles of around 600-1200 words available to the general public. Also, professionals working in the field might use the findings to inform their practice and decisions or increase their understanding and awareness of issues impacting their work. Researchers benefit by having a wider audience engage with their research, either by reading the RBNA or clicking on hyperlinks to their other research outputs. These metrics can be tracked using Altmetrics.which can be reported in funding, job and promotion applications as proof of stakeholder engagement and community service. Additionally, the researcher’s work is more likely to be noticed by media outlets, which might request further articles or interviews. This engagement further increases stakeholder and public engagement.

Understanding how RBNAs work

In my journal article, I use a new framework. It shows how RBNAs work and how researchers adapt their skills to write them using news values. Using a fishing analogy, shown in Figure 1, I explain the differences between RBNAs and writing opinion pieces in a newspaper.

Figure 1: Framework to explore RBNAs (Source: Rogers, 2024)

RBNAs are based on your research, using the platform of your institution as an authority and vantage point. Your academic knowledge, experience and passion are used as a fisherperson uses their knowledge to hunt fish.

Your research data and project become the fishing rod, skilfully moved and positioned to create impact. Importantly, the fishing line is stretched and adapted to accommodate the fish and conditions, just as you need to expand and adapt your writing style for different news sites. These articles are not mini essays, so this requires a definite shift in your style, language and tone.

The fishing hook is the engaging and practical part of your research. This can be tricky for researchers to identify because they might find all parts of their research interesting. Most readers will not share your fascination with theories and methodology. Working with your institution’s media and communication officers can be a big help here.

The most important part of your article is the bait. How will you lure your readers to your article? The easiest way to do this is to use news values that journalists use as shown in Figure 2 . 

Figure 2: News values (adapted from Harcup & O’Neill [2017], and Parks [2019]).

How to write, publish and disseminate RBNAs

Work with your media and communication team in a professional way. Let them know about your research and identify stakeholders. They are skilful at finding news sites for your particular area. For my early childhood education and family wellbeing research, these news sites include EduResearch Matters, The Sector, EducationHQ, The Conversation, Partyline, Women’s Agenda, The Spoke, and my own institution’s UNE School of Education Research Newsletter.

When drafting an RBNA or pitching an idea to an editor, frontload a one-sentence summary of your findings and place it in the first paragraph. (As an example, scroll up to look at the second sentence of this current RBNA). The first paragraph, headline and lead image need to work together to grab the audience’s attention.

This technique differs

This writing technique is quite different to an academic article or a mystery novel. The reader does not have to wade through to the end to find the punchline. Your style will need to change depending on the news site, so read some articles from your targeted site.

Use simple, everyday English without jargon and clearly explain technical terms. Use sub-headings and images to guide the reader. Your media and communications officers can read through drafts, and offer suggested edits.

Ensure you work with these colleagues and the news site editor collaboratively. Respect their journalism skills, and remember they are knowledgeable in their field. They are experts in style, tone, images, and importantly, what readers will (and will not) engage with. They know how to adapt your research to fit with news values.

Your content knowledge, combined with their journalistic expertise, can be a match made in heaven, provided you are willing to learn from them. When this happens, your stakeholders win.

To disseminate your RBNA widely, work with your media and communications team to do this through social media. Republish your article to other relevant news sites when this option is available. Learn from colleagues who have large social media followings by watching and imitating what they do. Be sure to tag your research colleagues, partners and funders when posting a link to your article.

Research impact – Challenges for academics

The Australian Universities Accord Final Report says there is a need to expand ‘government support for research translation’. But academics work in an increasingly time-pressured environment. They face increasing administrative pressures due to managerial-inspired systems and software that encourage research record keeping and compliance over innovation, creativity, stakeholder engagement and actual research.

Recognising the challenges, early career researchers, Granek and Nakash, explain:

As junior academics in vulnerable (i.e., pre-tenure) positions, we are well aware of the fact that it is easier to answer the question of why do [knowledge translation] KT than how to do KT given the very real academic constraints … the reality of a neoliberal academic climate that rewards publications and grants at the expense of the time and energy spent on the other kinds of KT initiatives … cannot be ignored. We work in a particular sociopolitical context that values some kinds of knowledge over others.

While institutions are often good at listing these activities in organisational narratives, they need to support this work in a practical way. Such activities must be valued and acknowledged in academic systems and workload agreements.

It’s time to value all the work researchers do to ensure our whole society benefits from our research.

Dr Marg Rogers is a senior lecturer in early childhood education at UNE and a postdoctoral fellow at the Manna Institute.

Teacher readiness in hard-to-staff schools – here’s what we know now

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In current policy debates about graduate teacher readiness in Australian schools, one central question is often overlooked: how does the diversity of school contexts impact the specific needs and expectations placed on graduate teachers? 

Recognising this diversity is crucial for tailoring teacher education programs and support systems to better equip new teachers for the realities of schools, especially those that struggle with hiring and retaining teachers. These schools, broadly described as hard-to-staff, serve diverse communities with distinct socio-economic, cultural, and geographic characteristics that can profoundly impact teaching and learning dynamics.

In our study, we wanted to know what teacher readiness means from the vantage point of these schools. To answer this question, we conducted interviews with 17 principals from a range of hard-to-staff schools across Victoria. Their voices echoed concerns often overshadowed by broad-strokes policy discussions about ‘classroom-ready teachers’. 

One-Size-Doesn’t-Fit-All

The rhetoric surrounding ‘classroom readiness’ often hinges on a logic of uniformity and standardisation. It is based on the assumption that a teacher who has met defined standards and possesses knowledge of specific content is ready to work in any setting.

This approach obscures a reality that is far more complex than is readily acknowledged. Teaching requires exercising professional judgement about what works in response to student needs and community context. 

As one principal from a regional hard-to-staff school in our study remarked: 

“I feel that some students want to walk in feeling curriculum competent, that they know the curriculum and they can talk ‘the learning outcomes’ and use that departmental speak, and that makes them feel or believe or behave more like teachers? Perhaps that’s their perception. But the reality is that when you get into a community, and you’ve got 20 students to manage, that curriculum knowledge, it’s so secondary to the skills that has to be in place so that these children have someone that can look to, that co-regulates them, supports them, makes them feel safe, and then once they’re ready to learn, meets them at their need. 

And it’s that idea that if you’ve got the curriculum knowledge, sometimes I feel that the student teachers come in thinking that one size fits all this approach that I’ve seen, or has been modelled through me, or that has been unpacked with me will translate to every school and not into my setting.” 

An appreciation of diversity

The principal’s comment highlights a crucial point: A one-size-fits-all approach fails to acknowledge that readiness to teach involves more than merely adhering to a set of standardised practices. It requires an appreciation of diversity, an awareness of the distinct dynamics within each classroom, and the ability to address the particular needs of students and the broader community.

This is not to dismiss the value of specific forms of knowledge for teachers. In fact, such knowledge is vital in defining and distinguishing teaching as a professional field. The argument here is for practising professional judgement and leveraging contextual insights to determine what works best, for whom, under what conditions and why. Such a capacity is the hallmark of readiness for a profession that prioritises responsiveness to the unique needs of students in each classroom. 

Recognising complexity and diversity in teacher readiness

Drawing on insights shared by principals in our research, we revisited the debate on classroom readiness with a focus on questions about ‘context’. From low socioeconomic outer-metropolitan areas to regional centres to small rural communities, each school in our study presented unique opportunities and challenges to the workforce. 

Paying attention to context creates valuable opportunities for ‘learning to teach’ as a situated process that involves continuous learning, reflective practice, and adaptable strategies, all of which must be tailored to the specific challenges and strengths of each school environment. In the words of another principal:

“You’ve got to come in with confidence and humility and the ability to say ‘I’m at the start of my journey, and I’m looking forward to being mentored in your school. I want to grow in your school.”

An approach that begins with the actual conditions of schools reveals the limitations of standardised approaches in teacher preparation. It highlights the need to embrace complexity, value connection to the community and understand context as the foundation for any discussions about  what readiness for the profession ought to look like. 

Crafting a new narrative

A decade on from the Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group (TEMAG) review, we are back to square one, blaming teacher education as both the cause and the solution for ‘mixed’ educational outcomes for Australian students in international comparisons. 

If the lesson of the past is anything to go by, one thing should be clear: teacher education reform must account for and integrate the complexities of the real world. At their core, reform models of teacher education  must reflect the diverse socioeconomic, cultural, and institutional factors that impact teaching and learning. 

The Teacher Education Expert Panel Discussion Paper acknowledged the importance of ensuring teachers are prepared for their communities. Disappointingly this essential aspect was largely disregarded in the final Strong Beginnings Report. 

Narrow focus

A narrow focus on ‘classroom readiness’ limits teacher activity and discourages engagement with broader context. Therefore, we echo the calls for a more comprehensive approach that expands discussions on readiness beyond the classroom to encompass context. This approach derives its direction for policy reform of teacher education from the specific needs of schools and their communities.

As our research findings help demonstrate, such an approach emphasises open-mindedness, flexibility, cultural responsiveness, and genuine collaboration between schools and universities to create a more sustainable and effective pathway for preparing teachers to meet the diverse needs of their students and the community.

From left to right:

Babak Dadvand is as a senior lecturer in pedagogy, professional practice, and teacher education at La Trobe University with expertise on social justice education. His work extends to staffing challenges in the hardest-to-staff schools and effective practices in school-university partnership in Initial Teacher Education.

Juliana Ryan teaches professional ethics in the School of Education at La Trobe University. She uses participatory, narrative and discursive approaches to research professional and academic identities, post-secondary transitions, professional learning and social learning systems.

Miriam Tanti is professor and associate dean, partnership and executive director of the Nexus Program at La Trobe University’s School of Education. Her research focuses on university-school partnerships, with a particular focus on communities of practice. Her other area of interest is in the meaningful integration of technologies in education.

Steve Murphy is director of Rural and Regional Education Engagement at La Trobe University’s School of Education. His research focuses on strengths approaches to rural education, with particular interest in teacher preparation, school leadership and STEM education.

Andrew Tate

Promising news: how young men think about Andrew Tate and what he sells

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Recent media and public discourse in Australia and globally are replete with concerns about young men’s online behaviours, from Andrew Tate to schoolboys circulating AI deep fake pornography of their female classmates and teachers, revenge porn and the sending of unsolicited ‘dick picks’ to anxieties about the manosphere radicalising young men into misogyny. 

These concerns have led to renewed scrutiny on boys and masculinity. Research finds that ‘manfluencers’ like self-proclaimed misogynist Andrew Tate (who is facing charges of rape and human trafficking) have become popular with boys, have resurrected sexism and have legitimised, stabilised and reinvigorated a regressive ‘male supremacy’. In this current landscape, understanding the online experiences of young men has become increasingly important – especially given their voices tend to be absent from these debates. 

There are few studies, for example, that specifically focus on the gendered impacts of social media on young men. 

Our recent Australian study provides a comprehensive account of how young men are engaging with online spaces. It was led by researchers from Deakin University and The Queensland University of Technology and funded by the eSafety Commission. The study involved two-hour focus group interviews with 117 young men (aged 16-21) from diverse backgrounds. 

Our research highlights the need for more nuanced discussion of the gendered impacts of social media on adolescent boys. This is consistent with similar international research. Certainly, there is cause for concern about the harms arising from the wide availability of misogynistic content online. But there are also reasons to be optimistic given the variety of ways in which young men engage with and experience online spaces. 

A very encouraging finding from our study was that many young men are critical of the gendered content they encounter online – from Andrew Tate videos and the sharing of intimate images to online pornography. 

Young men have a critical engagement with Andrew Tate

Our study highlighted that some young men viewed Tate as an important source of inspiration for general self-improvement and manhood, as a good advocate for men and as someone who is unfairly represented as a bad guy in the media. But others rejected his misogynistic views, his arrogance and pursuit of wealth. This is consistent with previous research on the impacts of Andrew Tate as a role model for boys. 

In our study, it was encouraging to hear some of the young men’s critical reflection on Andrew Tate in relation to his perpetuation of sexist ideologies and his ‘shit stirring’ for attention and ‘likes’. Here are some comments they made: 

Tate’s justifications for cheating on his partners as not ‘cheating’ but ‘exercise’, his focus on how much money he’s got and how many girls he’s been with, and his alleged trafficking. I don’t really wanna consume his content (Jase, aged 20, heterosexual, CALD)

[H]e really wants to be a loving father and he really respects the women in his life, but [he] also runs a freaking [human] trafficking ring … [H]e’s going on about how he doesn’t own anybody, but he’s getting arrested for literally owning and stealing money off of webcam models (Lionel, aged 20, heterosexual)

It’s just gross and it’s for attention

Specific people and personalities – so, influencers – kind of stir shit and act out and say outrageous things to get attention. People like Andrew Tate – perfect example …  The things he says make me so uncomfortable. It’s just gross, and it’s for attention and it gets the attention of the media (Felix, aged 20, bisexual)

[B]y [being] all controversial and saying things that usually people don’t say, you will stir up the pot, you will get lots of views, likes, comments … Tate’s not just doing this for fun. I mean, he has something to sell his audience. So, of course, he’s gonna be controversial, get people on. And eventually get more sales (Tariq, aged 19, heterosexual)

And a critical engagement with sharing intimate images

In contrast with some of the research on young men’s carelessness with sharing intimate images online, the young men in our study spoke of the importance of trust, intimacy and in-person connection when sharing intimate images with others online. 

Lucas (aged 18, heterosexual) commented for example, “obviously trust plays a big part of it … I’m hesitant to do it [until I] definitely know I can trust that person.” 

Toby (aged 16, heterosexual) noted the importance of choosing the right person and the strength of the relationship when sharing intimate images: “I just think you have to be really careful when you do that… the type of relationship you have with that person, and can you really trust them” to not spread the photos around?

Lleyton (aged 16, heterosexual) similarly, stated, “…you just gotta be really careful … cause it’s so easy to spread these days”.

Ari (aged 19, heterosexual, CALD) expressed discomfort about “sending intimate photos” before meeting in person, stating, it’s “not something I agree with, and I just feel like … there’s no like genuine like connection there to do that kind of stuff … I just feel as though you’re not connected physically so why should you physically show yourself online?”

Jamie (aged 16, First Nations) questioned the rationale behind unsolicited sharing:

“There’s definitely a sort of a judgment, I guess, to someone sending that sort of stuff unsolicited because like you’re not just gonna be in the middle of a conversation with someone and whip your tits out in the middle of the street. So why do you do it in the middle of a conversation on Instagram?”

Young men and online pornography

Similar to their reflections on sharing intimate images, the young men in our study expressed views about online pornography that are more nuanced, considered and complex than the stereotypes about young men and their online expressions of sexuality would suggest. The young men were highly critical of online pornography – its pervasive presence in their online experiences and its negative impacts on their lives in terms of desensitisation, addiction and their views on intimacy.

Lucas (aged 18, heterosexual) for example, described how explicit content infiltrates everyday online activities like scrolling through TikTok or Instagram. It often appears unexpectedly, potentially pushing individuals toward consuming more adult content. Several of the young men spoke of how their access to online pornography at an early age had affected them negatively, including narratives of addiction.

Life shouldn’t be that

Jamie (aged 16, First Nations), who first encountered pornography at 11 years old, noted how this exposure and the saturation of adult content online more broadly, is desensitising and can lead to struggles with “addiction”:

“I wanted to talk more about porn specifically and how that plays a role in the desensitisation because a lot of people nowadays … have struggles with porn addiction and I feel like that itself has a big impact on the way we perceive content. And yeah, there’s a lot of unsolicited stuff that you see scrolling through which is mostly just advertising and all the main pages that post photos of like these chicks … I guess definitely desensitising … it’s so accessible and it’s such a common subject when it really isn’t that important. Life shouldn’t be that.”

Kieran (aged 19, heterosexual) also described his relationship with pornography as an addiction. He shared his personal battle with this addiction from age 13, emphasising the negative impact it had on his perception of girls and his ability to maintain healthy relationships. He explained online pornography as “negative” and as leading to feelings of shame.

Several of the young men commented on how pornography had led to negative views about girls and women. Ibrahim (aged 18, heterosexual, CALD) stated: 

That’s what appeals to a lot of guys

“In my experience, [it’s] very toxic [in] how you view women … [because women are] obviously made to look liked it’s forced and that’s what appeals to a lot of guys who do watch porn, like is someone who’s submissive.”

Benito (aged 20, heterosexual, CALD) noted how pornography “twisted with reality” and “changes their perspective on women or certain situations” while Nico (aged 18, heterosexual, disabled, CALD) described online pornography as “definitely toxic” in how you view women “more as a sexual object than a human being”. 

Critical digital literacy

An encouraging finding in our research is young men’s critical engagement with the gendered harms that arise in online spaces. While, to be sure, some of the young men perpetuated gender harms, others showed a robust critique of these. It is important to pay attention to and strengthen these positive narratives going forward. This is not easy work, as research in the space of gender justice and activist pedagogy has attested for many years, but young men’s critical engagement with online content in the ways foregrounded here is perhaps the most important resource for helping them to navigate the current digital landscape in ethical, caring, safe and just ways.

This research was supported by the Australian government through the eSafety Commission. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and are not necessarily those of the Australian government.

Amanda Keddie is a professor of education at Deakin University. Michael Flood is a professor of sociology at QUT. Josh Roose is an associate professor of politics at Deakin University.

Many ideas for blog posts

Now read this: the story so far

AARE blog, AARE conference

Our best read blog of the year so far? Nicole Brunker on evidence-based practice, a scathing critique of  our obsession with what she describes as “a narrow base of evidence as ‘what works’ for student achievement”.

Here are the rest in the top five for 2024:

Melissa Close and Linda Graham reject the idea of a behaviour curriculum.

Jill Brown on why a pushback against the explicit teaching mandate is now critical.

Jane Kenway and Katie Maher asked whether student encampments are sites of pedagogy and learning

And Rachel Wilson on the one report on teaching you really need to read

This week, it’s been all about creativity and the latest PISA results – special thanks to Kylie Murphy and Dan Harris for giving us a comprehensive picture of what it all means.

Kylie Murphy: Fourth in the whole world in creative thinking? How good!

Dan Harris (part one): Fourth in the whole world but the government doesn’t care

Dan Harris (part two): Love this. Creativity can be measured – in diverse ways. What we can learn from PISA

It’s been (in)exactly ten years since EduResearch Matters was first published under the leadership of our first editor Maralyn Parker. We all owe her a lot for her energy, perseverance, attention to detail and her great love of education.

Since those first few blogs in mid-2014, we’ve published hundreds of posts from researchers all over Australia, PhD students and professors, classroom teachers and principals, engaged with research everywhere from early childhood to tertiary education of all kinds. We (almost) live blog the AARE conference with contributions from so many sessions

And you are welcome to contribute. Read our notes to contributors here.

Thanks for a wonderful first half of 2024 and looking forward to hearing from more of you.

Creative thinking in schools

Love this: Creativity Can Be Measured – in Diverse Ways. What we can learn from PISA

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The latest on PISA Creative Thinking results:

Kylie Murphy: PISA results show thinking can be cultivated. Australian teachers are doing that better than most others

Dan Harris (part one): Fourth in the whole world but the government doesn’t care

Now, read on!

The good news is that the just-released PISA Creative Thinking test reveals new ways of assessing creativity. Now we must decided how Australia might apply these methods and findings.

What PISA did differently: two important methodological testing innovations

1. The assessment includes new, interactive item-types based on a visual design tool. For the first time in PISA, some items required students to produce a visual artefact, rather than construct a written response or choose the correct answer.

2. The assessment only includes open-ended tasks with no single solution but multiple correct responses. That demands more complex scoring methods, based on rubrics and sample responses. The collection and analysis of responses of many students around the world informs those rubrics and responses.  

This is good news for educators who believe in the dangers of a ‘single right answer’ approach to learning and assessment. Getting away from the exclusive use of written numerical and/or narrative responses and using visual design tools is also a great step forward. The test’s attention to the power of creative thinking to address complex social problems is also a welcome focus of the assessment and its results.

Fig 1: PISA Creative Thinking test domains

Student beliefs

This important data set aligns with international best practice creativity research. It reflects longstanding reports by both students and teachers that any area of enquiry can benefit from creative approaches and creative risk-taking. PISA’s test reports that “around 8 out of 10 students (OECD average) believe that it is possible to be creative in nearly any subject”,  But many students did not hold positive beliefs about their own creativity or ability to improve. This seemingly contradictory finding is consistent with my own research in which perceptions of creativity in compulsory education are expanding beyond the arts and into all subject areas, but self-confidence continues to lag. .

School environment

PISA’s focus on the whole-school environment is encouragingwelcome, but in stark contrast to the other areas of enquiry, this one is minimal and draws on limited data to make incomplete recommendations. It says, in part:  

·            “Classroom pedagogies can make a difference. Across OECD countries, between 60-70% of students reported that their teachers value their creativity, that they encourage them to come up with original answers, and that they are given a chance to express their ideas in school.” Australia has long produced robust, empirical data specific to our national context that advocates as much, but has not been taken up by policy makers.

·            “Participating in school activities such as art, drama, creative writing or programming classes regularly (once a week) is associated with better performance in creative thinking than doing so infrequently or every day.” I’m mystified as to why arts activities (note that they stop short of advocating for direct instruction of arts skills, but that’s another battle) are associated with improved creative thinking at weekly rather than daily engagement. Or, for that matter, why such measurements are helpful. Are Education Minister Jason Clare and his advisors really debating whether to mandate weekly versus daily arts activities? His three 2023 education reviews hardly seem to suggest as much.

Lastly, PISA recommends that improving creative thinking across whole school systems “consistently and effectively…requires educators, curriculum developers and assessment designers to have a shared understanding of what creative thinking is, how students can develop creative thinking skills, and how their progress can be measured”.

Again, our calls for this detailed work to effectively underpin our National Curriculum’s Creative Thinking General Capability have gone unanswered – or more recently answered with a mandate for direct instruction and phonics. 

Will the weight of the international PISA recommendations effect greater change?

Key Insights but will they become Key Actions?

In summing up, the report links high performance in creative thinking with performance in the PISA core domains. Yet some countries and economies performed relatively better than expected in creative thinking, given their students’ mathematics, science and reading performance. Students in Australia, Canada, Finland, and New Zealand demonstrated a “large overall relative strength in creative thinking together with high mean performance.” These findings certainly don’t seem to concur with the current government narrative about Australia’s international test scores falling. Despite an overall decline since the tests began in 2000, Australia’s PISA scores in maths, science and reading have remained about the same since 2017, a part of the narrative always left out. Surely creativity is a far more important workplace skill now than it was 24 years ago, a fact similarly left out of current debates. 

According to the PISA summary, high-performing systems in creative thinking have often implemented at least two of the following four concrete approaches to supporting the development of creativity and creative thinking in education:

1. Embedding creativity and/or creative thinking throughout the curriculum.

2. Supporting educators to recognise, develop and evaluate creative thinking by defining learning progressions or rubrics. 

3. Creating opportunities in the curriculum for students to engage in creative and/or interdisciplinary work. 

4. Encouraging accountability through monitoring and evaluation. 

We need a more joined-up approach

While Australia can boast a Creative Thinking General Capability in our National Curriculum, it is hardly present ‘throughout’ the curriculum as point number one above recommends. Points 2-4 offer clear ways of improving how we capacitate teachers and students for creativity. My own research has long advocated for a more joined-up, creative ecological approach to fostering creativity in schools, one which takes into consideration place, people, processes, product, and policies (both internal and external). The PISA recommendations limit its systems approach to curriculum, pedagogy and assessments – in other words, only products and processes. This leaves a long way to go toward integrating subjects, transforming places and spaces for the digital revolution and crucial person-to-person collaborations, as well as recognising the centrality of place to learning, as our First Nations colleagues have long advised us to do.

Still confused about creativity?

Finally: “Students in many countries/economies report that they do not find learning or engaging in creative work at school particularly enjoyable.” Might this be because teachers – and students – are still largely confused about what creativity and creative thinking are? Are teachers and students confused about how to ‘do’ creativity in school contexts? I doubt students would say the same about creativity on TikTok, or decorating their room, or sports participation, where creativity and its learning potential are inherent. Teachers have long been calling for more help on assessing creativity, but students in these PISA results are calling for the content to be more creative. Australia’s education sector needs to evolve past the obsession with creativity assessment, and – while not perfect – the PISA test suggests some ways forward. 

The Australian Council for Educational Research manages PISA in Australia and will release a national report later in the year, with results for states and territories and additional demographic characteristics.  Beginning in 2025, though, ACER will take over the administration of the entire suite of PISA tests, a great coup for Australia. In doing so, Australia will be in a perfect position to advance PISA’s aim of “providing internationally comparable data on students’ competencies that have clear implications for education policies and pedagogies”.

Now all we need is the political will to make creativity central to that work.

Daniel X. Harris is a professor at RMIT and a leading international scholar in creativity, diversity and social change. They were most recently an Australian Research Council Future Fellow, DECRA Fellow, RMIT Vice Chancellor’s Primary Research Fellow, and are currently research professor in the School of Education, RMIT University, and Director of Creative Agency research lab: www.creativeresearchhub.com.

creative thinking

Fourth in the whole world! Yet the government doesn’t care

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Since PISA released its first creative thinking test results last week, there has been a flurry of commentary both formal and informal among educators and education researchers. 

The report, called Creative Minds, Creative Schools, ranks Australia 4th out of a total 81 participating countries, with Singapore topping the list at number 1 in all areas including literacy, numeracy and creative thinking. That’s sweet revenge for the city-state Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak once called ‘uncreative’ .

In the decade since then, Singapore has shown itself to be a leader in both direct instruction and creative innovation, a trend now making global headlines due to PISA. But is Australia listening? And will we similarly be able to pivot from the 2023 juggernaut of ‘return to phonics’ and direct instruction, toward a more nuanced approach to education that incorporates both approaches?

How is this included in the curriculum

Broad findings of the test are widely available, including yesterday’s post here by Kylie Murphy. But the findings have not yet been sufficiently unpacked in relation to the ample amount of Australia-specific empirical data and scholarship already available. There are some familiar findings here: the PISA Executive Summary definition that “indices of imagination and adventurousness, openness to intellect, curiosity, perspective taking and persistence are positively associated with creative thinking performance” is something most ‘creative skills and capacities’ lists and studies (including mine) have identified over years. 

The more pointed question remains: where and how are these indices included in the Australian Curriculum in ways that are actionable by teachers overburdened with literacy, numeracy and a constant prioritising of STEM curriculum?

What’s creativity got to do with it

The PISA Creative Thinking test results not only provide scores in a range of task types, but also correlation against scores in reading, science and mathematics skills. Together, they provide an interesting relational snapshot between what has traditionally been considered ‘core’ content for learners, and creative thinking, now a recognised 21st century skill alongside critical thinking, collaboration and communication. These assessment results show that “academic excellence is not a prerequisite for excellence in creative thinking”. This will come as no surprise to most educators. While some students excel in ‘academic’ ways of thinking and doing, not all do – a difference long documented as a poor indicator of success in work and life.

What we do know – and what PISA results reinforce –  is that test results, including creative thinking here, often correlate to socio-economic status: “Students with higher socio-economic status performed better in creative thinking, with advantaged students scoring around 9.5 points higher than their disadvantaged peers on average across the OECD.” Where is the government attention to these statistics, in the constant rhetoric about falling test scores?

Interestingly though, “the strength of the association between socio-economic status and performance is weaker in creative thinking than it is for mathematics, reading and science,” a powerful rationale for the levelling power of giving more priority to skills and capacities like creative thinking. In Australia and just five other countries, “more than 88% of students demonstrated a baseline level of creative thinking proficiency (Level 3), meaning they can think of appropriate ideas for a range of tasks and begin to suggest original ideas for familiar problems (OECD average 78%)”. That’a result Australia should be proud of and keen to build upon in both social equity respects as well as the increasingly outmoded ATAR obsession.

Different types of creative thinking tasks show different aptitudes

While the rankings show which countries scored highly overall, the test also highlighted variations in types or applications of creativity. These results show what Australian students do well, in our unique creative contexts and cultural orientations. It also provides an opportunity for us to understand how we can make the most of them. The risk, of course, is that the data are used for blunt comparison, a deficit-approach that often drives ‘moral panic’ responses around fear of ‘slipping’ in international rankings, and short-term stop-gap solutions. For the 2022 results, students in Singapore were the most successful across several task types, especially social problem-solving tasks. Students in Korea were the most successful in scientific problem-solving contexts and evaluate and improve ideas tasks. Students in Portugal performed the most successfully in visual expression tasks.

Such results offer an exciting opportunity to reflect as a national education sector on how we might aspire to raising aptitude in multiple tasks, for example, rather than simply ‘beating’ other countries in overall results.

Gender and equity gaps

The report makes a point of how comprehensively those identified as girls outperformed those identified as boys in creative thinking. “In no country or economy did boys outperform girls in creative thinking, with girls scoring 3 points higher in creative thinking on average across the OECD,” and in all type of creative tasks. 

If participating nations were to use the data to fund “Get More Boys into Creativity” campaigns, as they do with girls in STEM, the utility of a binary gender analysis would be clearer. Unfortunately, the numbers don’t carry through university and workplace trends: A recent analysis of female-identified versus male-identified creative university graduates and early-career employees does not correlate to the strong performance by female-identified 15 year olds. It shows female-identified creatives at both adult stages consistently fall behind their male-identified counterparts.

A welcome measure

Overall, the PISA Creative Thinking test results are a welcome international measure to complement the literacy, numeracy and science tests. Thus far, there has been no comment from government on Australia’s fantastic 4th in the world result – in stark contrast to the ongoing failure narrative of falling test scores. Australian students need to be well-rounded and best prepared for the jobs of the future by the end of their secondary schooling. That’s why our teacher preparation programs at RMIT University’s School of Education, I’m sure like the vast majority of other schools, ensure that all students receive training in all the basics that our new teachers and students need to excel in 21st century life, at the centre of which is creativity. 

Daniel X. Harris is a professor at RMIT and a leading international scholar in creativity, diversity and social change. They were most recently an Australian Research Council Future Fellow, DECRA Fellow, RMIT Vice Chancellor’s Primary Research Fellow, and are currently research professor in the School of Education, RMIT University, and Director of Creative Agency research lab: www.creativeresearchhub.com.

Creative thinking in students

Fourth in the world in creative thinking: how good!?!?

creative and critical thinking (CCT), creativity and innovation, Innovation and creativity in schools, teaching creativity in schools, , , , , ,

For the first time, global PISA data includes an assessment of fifteen-year-old students’ ‘creative thinking’. The 2022 results for this new measure are now out – and the implications challenge some beliefs about teaching creative thinking. 

Australia ranks fourth among the eighty-one participating countries. Australia’s ranking on creative thinking positions us just behind Singapore, South Korea, and Canada. Australia’s other PISA results also climbed: We now rank 10th for mathematics and 9th for both reading and science. Australian teachers are clearly doing great work and deserve recognition and praise for it.

It’s a good thing

While critics have argued that attempts to teach students to think creatively are misguided, suggesting that creative thinking cannot be taught, the PISA results indicate that thinking by learners can be cultivated and Australian teachers are doing that better than most others. This is a good thing! We want our students to both acquire knowledge AND think constructively with that knowledge.

The global data collected by PISA shows that teaching students to think creatively does not compromise their learning in more traditional domains, such as mathematics, science, and reading. There is no evidence of a problematic ‘opportunity cost’. Students who performed more strongly in creative thinking also tended to perform better in mathematics, science, and reading. 

However, the PISA data also confirm that creative thinking is not just a natural consequence of acquiring domain-specific knowledge. The correlation between more traditional measures of academic achievement and creative thinking is not perfect. In the PISA data, the intercorrelations between performance in mathematics, science, and reading (irrespective of creative thinking) were stronger than the respective correlations between each of these domains and creative thinking. One country (Portugal) performed higher than average in creative thinking but only average in the other three domains. Other countries (China and Czechia) performed above average in mathematics, science, and reading but at or below average in creative thinking. 

It isn’t surprising

Plainly, creative thinking is not innate and immutable; it is learnable and the experiences that teachers facilitate matter. So, it is not surprising that Australia has ranked highly. My colleagues and I surveyed hundreds of primary and secondary teachers across Australia. We found Australian teachers appreciate the importance of teaching students to think. They routinely and skilfully invite and facilitate creative thinking as they teach the broader curriculum. 

Our research focused on both critical and creative thinking, but given that PISA defines creative thinking as “the competence to engage productively in the generation, evaluation and improvement of original and diverse ideas”, it is fair to say that PISA’s test focuses on critical (evaluative) thinking as well as creative (generative) thinking. 

Like Australia, other high-ranking nations – Singapore, South Korea, and Canada – all include creative thinking as part of their official curricula. It is reasonable to assume that Australia’s inclusion of Critical and Creative Thinking in our national curriculum – as a ‘general capability’ – has something to do with Australia’s high ranking in the PISA Creative Thinking test, particularly given the other high performing nations also have a specific creative thinking curriculum. However, it is not because Australian teachers formally teach this aspect of the curriculum. 

All available evidence (including our own research and others’) suggests that Australian teachers do not feel confident in their knowledge of the ‘general capabilities’ in the Australian curriculum, including Critical and Creative Thinking, and do not teach the associated progression descriptors. That said, the mere existence of a component of our national curriculum called Critical and Creative Thinking arguably reflects and reinforces a widespread cultural belief in Australia (including among teachers) that critical and creative thinking skills are desirable and important for teachers to teach. 

The test

PISA’s creative thinking test covered four areas: written expression, visual expression, social problem solving, and scientific problem solving. Students were set tasks with no single correct response; for example, coming up with a story idea or multiple different approaches to address a challenge, or evaluating and improving an idea. Nearly 70% of Australian students achieved Level 4 or better, meaning that they could think of original and diverse ideas for different types of tasks, including simple imagination tasks and everyday problem-solving situations. 

While the results are informative and affirming of Australian teacher practice, the abilities PISA measured, in themselves, are of course limited. One obvious point, often (tediously) raised by those opposed to the notion of teaching critical and creative thinking, is that thinking in the absence of content knowledge is inherently constrained. Aiming to teach students to think critically and creatively in a knowledge vacuum or only in artificial contexts (like the tasks in the PISA test) would indeed be misguided. Practising the kinds of tasks in the PISA creative thinking test is not the reason why Australian students performed well on the test, and it should never be. Yes, of course, thinking is best taught by teaching and facilitating the use (and consolidation and extension) of knowledge. 

But there’s more

Additionally, there are discrete concepts and skills that students can be taught which meaningfully augment and add value to the individual mental abilities tested in PISA’s creative thinking test. These skills are applicable in different ways, depending on the subject area and grade level, and are not necessarily amenable to being measured on a standardised numeric ‘creative thinking’ scale. For example, teachers of different subjects and grade levels can teach different ways of creating ideas, including by combining ideas that have just been taught or by building on, modifying, or adapting ideas.

Students can be taught domain-specific ways to test ideas, to consider alternatives before making a decision, to effectively propose their ideas, or to write recommendations in a way that makes them more likely to be adopted. Students can also be taught to use learned information to think in questioning, accurate, and reasoned ways, to valuably complement creative idea generation. These are concepts and skills that some Australian teachers already teach – but they could be taught more explicitly and by more teachers. 

There are many valuable skills that teachers can teach – incidentally or formally – which are ‘observable’ (and thus assessable) but do not necessarily lend themselves to being ‘measured’. Learning self-regulation skills is no less potentially life-changing for a child because such skills are not typically scored by teachers. The same goes for the skills involved in productive thinking. Some things are worth teaching regardless of whether they are psychometrically scorable, and regardless of whether there is an international ranking to compete for.

How good?

Coming fourth among 81 countries for our students’ ability to think creatively is good – really good. The fact that Australian teachers value and are actively cultivating these abilities in their classrooms is not a coincidence. No doubt, Australian teachers’ efforts are having a positive impact on students’ propensity to think creatively – and this is reflected in Australia’s impressive ranking. 

But the test on which this ranking is based is very limited. It does not capture all the critical and creative thinking skills that Australian teachers should and do teach to help students (a) learn knowledge more deeply and (b) use their knowledge in careful and constructive ways. Australian teachers are very capable of teaching these skills, but we cannot take this for granted. Discrete, observable, and applied critical and creative thinking skills (flexibly applicable in all subjects and grade levels) should be focal in teacher education and professional development in this area. 

Nice if the home country scores well

Any singular, measurable construct of creative thinking risks becoming a distraction in the context of schools and what schools are for. Australian teachers want to teach critical and creative thinking skills – and they want to learn how to do this more effectively. Initial teacher education and in-service professional learning programs have an important role to play in ensuring that classroom teachers feel confident to teach and assess the broad range of critical and creative thinking skills that enhance academic learning and bring rich personal and societal benefits. Measuring creativity as a psychological construct is interesting – and nice if your home country scores well – but it should not be the focus of schooling.  

Kylie Murphy is the Academic Program Director (Postgraduate) and a senior lecturer in Educational Psychology and Pedagogy at La Trobe University’s School of Education. Kylie is passionate about ITE that develops critically informed, classroom-ready educators. She is currently researching the alignment between ITE coursework and professional experience, and ways to support more inclusive and effective teaching of critical and creative thinking in schools. Follow her on Twitter @KylieMurphyEd or on LinkedIn. 

Image of an engaged teacher

16 Years a HALT: Reflections of a Highly Accomplished Teacher

Highly Accomplished and Lead Teacher (HALT), , , ,


I received some long-awaited news last week, and it came as a simple enough e-mail. After ten years, I’ve been certified as a Highly Accomplished (HALT) teacher under AITSL Standards for the third time, granting my accreditation from 2013 to 2029. 

Sounds very fancy. What does that actually mean?

The Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) provides a national framework for Highly Accomplished and Lead Teachers (HALTs), who are recognised as expert teachers and reflective practitioners. Under AITSL’s vision, HALTs lead and support their colleagues towards better outcomes for learners, understanding their own impact in improving teaching and learning within and beyond their schools.

Some days I’m not sure

Some days, I’m not sure how expert I am. In reality, I see so many teachers doing amazing things every day. But, I have learned this about accreditation. It’s about professional teachers making decisions for their own career and working to develop colleagues and students every day. And it’s the kind of professional development we can initiate ourselves.

Since national teacher certification became available in Australia in 2012, around 1500 teachers have achieved HALT status, working in schools across every state and territory. Here’s what I’ve learned over the past 10 years as a highly accomplished teacher:

HALT is a Political Football

From the $7000 bonus initially promised by the Gillard Government, which was quickly withdrawn by Christopher Pyne as the incoming Education Minister; to some states, systems, and unions opting out of HALT operations for a while; the program has been at the centre of many political debates. Current Education Minister Jason Clare aims to have 10,000 HALTs or equivalents by the end of next year. Every discussion of HALT is a discussion of values and priorities in a contested place. Even the cost of applying for HALT is problematic  – teachers pay fees on progress through application in some jurisdictions while other systems provide incentive payments of $4000 during application. 

Everything Changes

The current models for HALT certification differ significantly from the original system. For instance, the ACT’s Teacher Quality Institute  has implemented a modular system to simplify applications and support teachers collectively. At the national level, AITSL’s framework change last year is designed to increase HALT numbers while maintaining the integrity of the certification process by allowing regulatory authorities flexibility in accrediting HALTs. The rate of gain for certification is growing and will continue to grow.

Your Progress Matters

Applying for and operating as a HALT demands continuous reflection on practice. The Standards provide a scaffold for innovation and improvement, encouraging teachers to consider their impact, actions, progress, and missteps. This constant focus on professional growth benefits not only the individual teacher but also those around them. Some days provide deeper inspection of practice than others, but the Standards provide clear expectations for performance.

One Person Can Make a Difference

HALT certification provides a professional mandate to pursue larger goals. For me, this has involved working with early-career teachers and teaching students during their practicum. With strong and consistent support from leaders at my College, I mentor new teachers in classroom practice, lesson planning, professional networking, and student feedback and provide practicum experiences to support the next generation of teachers. HALT offers a powerful impetus to support the development of others.

The Only Boundaries Are Your Own

I have been fortunate to work with researchers at universities in studies of teachers’ careers. I have been able to brief regulatory authorities about ways to support aspirant HALTs. The work to establish HALT networks in states and territories shows many HALTs are seeing opportunities to improve the profession in a range of ways. HALT can provide a banner for teachers to come together and make progress to benefit teaching and learning for all.

It’s important to note that HALT is not the only path to progress in schools. Many excellent schools thrive without a single HALT. There are impressive initiatives like QT Academy and the Monash Q Project, which guide thousands of teachers toward reliable improvement. A HALT badge doesn’t bestow superpowers. I am not, and never will be, the best teacher at my school. Instead, HALT can  serve as a marker of dedication to building capacity and creating development pathways.

Ultimately, HALT is a way to keep expert teachers in the classroom – to provide a career that recognises and rewards teachers for their work each day. Traditionally, great teachers were promoted out of the classroom into management roles. A system that recognises and rewards exceptional teachers while keeping them in the classroom is a vital part of addressing the teacher retention crisis. HALT is not a silver bullet, but it is a significant step towards ensuring expert teachers can continue to teach effectively and support their colleagues’ professional growth.

John Cole is a Year 7 teacher in Canberra. He is about to take a sabbatical to work on a Doctor of Education with University of Melbourne, researching how Australian teachers make  career decisions (but he’ll still be teaching every week).