Subhashni Appanna
Understanding student emotion to enhance science inquiry teaching practices
Science inquiry is one approach used to engage students, develop their knowledge and understanding of scientific ideas, improve scientific literacy, and model how scientists explore phenomena. Existing research has found that students’ emotions present obstacles and opportunities for learning science, however there is scant research into students’ emotions in science inquiry, which negates the opportunity for developing science inquiry teaching practices that consider emotionally receptive learning environment. This study addresses the need for exploring social interactions and emotional experiences of Year 10 Chemistry students during science inquiry to inform teaching practice. New understandings about students’ emotional experiences during science inquiry will be developed through a post-paradigmatic study design that combines interpretive and the participatory paradigms through a methodology informed by ethnomethodology and microsociology. Read Subhashni’s PhD thesis here.
Principal Supervisor: Associate Professor Alberto Bellocci
Associate Supervisor: Dr James Davis
Julie Arnold
Diverse experiences of assessment for learning pedagogies
The research base for assessment for learning (AfL) pedagogies is well established internationally and enshrined in Australia’s Professional Standards for Teachers; however, the affordances of an AfL approach have not been fully realised in classrooms. In the context of a new tertiary entrance system in Queensland, characterised by more standardised curriculum and fewer, higher stakes, more tightly controlled assessments, there is a need to reconsider the centrality of student experience to the success of AfL pedagogies. These engage students in processes including seeking and responding to feedback from a variety of sources. The associated interpersonal, language and cognitive demands are challenging for all students but may present significant barriers to students with language and/or attention difficulties. This Doctor of Philosophy study is part of a sequential phase mixed-methods waitlist design in three large state high schools as part of the Accessible Assessment ARC Linkage project. It will specifically investigate the experiences of students and how teachers respond to their insights about AfL pedagogies. The research will contribute to an understanding of how current assessment practices affect students and suggest how the agentic power of students might improve the ways teachers and students learn from one another.
Principal Supervisor: Associate Professor Jill Willis
Associate Supervisor: Dr Andrew Gibson
Kirsten Baird-Bate
Conceptualisations of wellbeing: Through the eyes of primary carers of children with autism
Primary carers play a pivotal role in the lives of children with autism across their lifespan. Current understandings of wellbeing within autism spectrum literature tend to be limited within a negative, dyadic, reductionist narrative, yet wellbeing, autism, and caregiving are multidimensional, complex constructs that shift according to context and time. Strength perspectives on autism and caregiving present a more balanced view with individual perceptions linked to wellbeing outcomes. More complete understandings are thus essential to better support primary carers and those they care for. This research proposes a new holistic conceptual framework and an innovative combination of survey and visual narrative methods to deliver more comprehensive perspectives on autism, caregiving, and wellbeing.
Principal Supervisor: Dr Lyndal O’Gorman
Associate Supervisor: Associate Professor Beth Saggers
Associate Supervisor: Dr Julie Dillon-Wallace
Jo Bell
Following the Actors in Gifted Education Policy and Practice: An Australian Ethnographic Multi-Site Case Study
Gifted and talented students are entitled to appropriate educational opportunities. However, the literature demonstrates a disparity between gifted education policy and practice. In Australia, gifted education policy implementation varies amongst the states and territories. This multi-site case study investigated gifted education policy and practice within Queensland regional schools. Employing Actor-Network Theory (ANT) blended with enthnographic methods, this study was conducted over two phases. This investigation focused on four state primary schools, and analysed the diverse human and non-human networks connected to gifted education policy and practice. Findings from this study aim to illuminate the dynamic relationships between the policy actors, and how they shape gifted education policy and practice within some Queensland state primary schools.
Principal supervisor: Dr Carly Lassig
Associate supervisors: Associate Professor Deborah Henderson and Dr Mallihai Tambyah
Emma Carpendale
Social-emotional learning in middle childhood: An Australian child population cohort study
This project seeks to characterise the social and emotional competencies present in middle childhood (aged 11-12 years) within an Australian population cohort (NSW-CDS). This project will utilise variable-oriented structural analyses and person-oriented profile analyses to examine population variation in how these competencies present in childhood and their association with the delivery of whole-school social-emotional learning (SEL) programs. This research will also explore the role these competencies play in enhancing positive educational, health, and social outcomes and reducing adverse outcomes, and therefore will provide timely information to educators, health professionals, and policy developers regarding how to optimize childhood development.
Principal Supervisor: Associate Professor Kristin Laurens
Associate Supervisor: Associate Professor Kate Williams
Associate supervisor: Professor Melissa Green
Tshering Dolkar
Because happiness matters: Exploring 13-year-old children’s lived experience of happiness in a rural Bhutanese context
Positioned within the social constructionist research paradigm, this study explores 13-year-old children’s lived experience of happiness in a rural context in Bhutan through a collective case study design. The study is situated within Bhutan’s emphasis on Gross National Happiness (GNH) as a development philosophy and Educating for GNH as an education policy. Despite this emphasis on happiness, there is limited knowledge about Bhutanese children’s experience of happiness and their participation in conversations about what matters for their happiness. This study will provide insights for GNH from children’s perspectives. It will further contribute to children’s perspectives of the phenomenon of happiness, which has been receiving increasing global attention but dominated by western perspectives, quantitative measurements, and adult views.
Principal Supervisor: Dr Jenna Gillett-Swan
Associate Supervisor: Associate Professor Deborah Henderson
Cicilia Evi
Mothers’ perceptions of their own smartphone use in the family setting
This research explores the way mothers use their smartphones within Australian family contexts. The findings suggest that the use of smartphones by mothers has both affordances and challenges. Smartphone use is perceived as mediating parent-child interactions, supporting mothers in managing work and personal life, and supporting children’s learning process. These affordances challenge the prevailing negative connotations of parental smartphone use portrayed by the media. Challenges in relation to smartphone use by mothers were also acknowledged, including continuous use of smartphones by mothers and how such usage sets the example for children’s smartphone use. Read Cicilia’s MPhil thesis here.
Principal Supervisor: Associate Professor Jenna Gillett-Swan
Associate Supervisor: Associate Professor Kate Williams
Jeanine Gallagher
Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD): An institutional ethnography of student funding
There is an expectation students with disability will attend their local school, on the same basis with similarly aged peers (Commonwealth of Australia, 2005). Teachers are expected to plan learning for students with disability that ensures full access to, and participation in, the mandated curriculum. Inevitably the issue of additional resources that may (or may not) be needed to meet the educational needs of students with disability is raised. The new national policy, the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD), collects information about the number of students with disability, their location, and the level of educational adjustments they receive. This data will be used to inform Commonwealth Government planning and funding for school students with disability. In seeking to understand how teachers enact this policy, it is anticipated the outcomes of this research will provide important insights for school leaders, and education authorities, as they develop and implement structures to support teachers in this work. Read Jeanine’s PhD thesis here.
Supervisor: Associate Professor Jill Willis
Associate supervisors: Dr Nerida Spina and Professor Gordon Tait
Jo Kingsman
The making of men: Investigating adolescent boys’ experiences of school-based rites of passage programs
My research, which is to be completed as a series of publications, draws on feminist post-structuralism, and employs narrative research methodologies. The project seeks to understand adolescent boys’ lived experiences of a school-based rites of passage (ROP) program and the perceived meanings for masculine identity construction and emerging adulthood. The Rite Journey, a year-long ROP program implemented in over 100 schools, will serve as a case study, with field research being conducted in a Brisbane secondary school currently implementing the program. Longitudinal in nature, the project will investigate boys’ experiential narratives at various points throughout the duration of the program.
Principal Supervisor: Associate Professor Michael Flood
Associate Supervisor: Professor Martin Mills
Associate Supervisor: Dr Ian Davis
Lara Maia-Pike
Aspirations Through Time: The Year 10 Transition Planning Experience of Queensland Students on the Autism Spectrum
Improving equity by raising aspirations for and participation in further education has been a priority in Australia for over a decade. Yet, people with disability still experience significantly poorer post-school outcomes, increasing dependency and lowering opportunities for self-determination. Transition planning has been shown to improve post-school outcomes for students with disability, however, research is limited for students on the autism spectrum. This study will use qualitative longitudinal multi-case study methodology to map the transition planning experiences and aspirations of students on the autism spectrum over time, providing valuable insights to help improve transition planning for students on the autism spectrum.
Principal Supervisor: Professor Linda Graham
Associate Supervisor: Professor Suzanne Carrington
Ulfah Muhayani
Examining Educational Inclusion of Minority Children in Indonesia
Children from minority groups are children who have highest potential of being excluded from education. There are a considerable number of minority children in Indonesia such as children with disability, children from ethnic and religion minorities, and LGBTQ children. This present study aims to investigate the state of educational inclusion of minority children in Indonesia by examining government policy and strategies on education, listening to the voices of teachers and administrative leaders of schools about their experiences with children from minority groups, and also by exploring minority students’ experiences directly from the perspective of the children themselves and their classmates. To this end, data will be gathered through document analysis, interviews, focus group discussion and ‘photo-voice’ interviews. Understanding how different levels of society experience exclusion in education allows for sustainable and pro-active policy development to put inclusion for all into practice. Finding out how these children experience exclusion is also a crucial step for developing strategies and actions to address exclusion in education especially in the Indonesia context.
Principal Supervisor: Professor Marilyn Campbell
Associate Supervisor: Dr Jenna Gillett-Swan
Deborah Munro
How are women with unpaid caring responsibilities making decisions about higher education study?
Unpaid care work is primarily undertaken by women. While much has been learned about the ways in which persistent gender inequities hinder women’s career opportunities and thus economic advancement, less is understood about the ways in which the unequal distribution of care work limits women’s choices with regard to furthering their education. Carer responsibilities frequently impact on educational decision-making processes in ways which are little understood. This qualitative study will explore how unpaid female carers are making decisions about whether or not to engage in higher education. The results could lead to better understandings of the factors which effect women’s higher education decision-making processes and may influence the way in which higher education institutions and policy makers encourage women with unpaid caring responsibilities to participate in university study. It may also inform strategies through which women can more effectively prepare to engage in non-traditional ways of tackling the challenges that might prevent them from achieving their educational aspirations.
Principal supervisor: Associate Professor Jill Willis
Associate Supervisors: Dr Andrew Gibson
Associate Supervisors: Dr Melinda Laundon
Tshewang Namgyel
Exploring emotional engagement during explicit nature of science instruction among pre-service science teachers
The Nature of Science (NOS) is a concept developed by science education researchers to understand and explain scientific epistemologies, and the ways science may be considered a process for generating knowledge, as a human endeavour. Science education research illustrates the benefits of NOS instruction in teaching scientific literacy. Existing research on NOS instruction fails to address student emotions and their role in learning about NOS. This is despite more than a decade of research in science education which has investigated and established the role of emotions in learning science. My study explores the interplay between pre-service science teachers’ emotional engagement during explicit NOS instruction in the context of science inquiry.
Principal Supervisor: Associate Professor Alberto Bellocchi
Associate Supervisor: Dr James Davis
Priscila Rebollo de Campos
Investigating social bonding dynamics across three levels of social reality in a Brazilian science classroom
Students report being disengaged with school science in numerous countries, including Brazil. Social bonds (social and emotional connections) between classroom members help to promote such engagement. This research explores how structures of macro-level of social reality, such as education policies, ingrained in hegemonic classroom practices of a specific school (meso-level), may impact social bonding dynamics that unfold during science lessons (micro-level). Studies of social bonds analysing multiple social levels are scarce. A novel combination of ethnomethodology oriented by micro-sociology of emotion and Fairclough’s approach to Critical Discourse Analysis (methodological contribution) will guide data analysis. This research has the potential to advance the knowledge of social bonds, benefiting those concerned with promoting student engagement with school science (e.g., teachers and policymakers).
Principal Supervisor: Associate Professor Alberto Bellocchi
Associate Supervisor: Dr James Davis
Irina Silva
Young children on the autism spectrum: Using digital technology in daily living
Digital technology is a common aspect of 21st century living and generally part of an individual on the autism spectrum daily living. Little is known about the influence of digital technology on the daily lives of children on the spectrum. To understand this phenomenon, four families with at least one child on the spectrum aged between three and six years will be invited to participate in this digital ethnographic study. The interactions involving the focus child with digital technology and family members will be video recorded over a 3-month period. Understandings will inform the use of digital technology by children on the autism spectrum in family contexts and has implications for early years education and care.
Principal Supervisor: Professor Susan Danby
Associate Supervisor: Associate Professor Beth Saggers
Haley Tancredi
The impact of accessible pedagogies on the classroom experiences, engagement and academic output of students with language and/or attentional difficulties
Students with language and attentional difficulties are present in all classrooms. Despite the significant barriers these students can face in accessing the curriculum, making use of teachers’ pedagogical practices, and demonstrating their learning, students who experience language and attentional difficulties are poorly identified and supported. As a result, many students with language and attentional difficulties disengage and underachieve. As part of the Accessible Assessment ARC Linkage project, this doctoral study will investigate whether reducing instructional language and cognitive load in Year 10 English classrooms improves the educational experiences, engagement and learning outcomes of students with language and/or attentional difficulties.
Principal Supervisor: Professor Linda Graham
Associate Supervisor: Associate Professor Callula Killingly
Associate Supervisor: Adjunct Associate Professor Naomi Sweller
Associate Supervisor: Ms Gaenor Dixon
Tanya Taylor
Teacher attitudes towards the inclusion of students with ASD in primary mainstream settings
The prevalence of students diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) within educational settings has continued to rise during the past decade. There is very little research conducted into how Australian teachers’ attitudes influence the inclusion of these students in mainstream primary educational settings. Using a mixed methods research design, this study will examine the barriers teachers experience within a mainstream classroom setting when catering to the academic and social needs of students on the autism spectrum within a primary school setting. Furthermore, this study aims to investigate possible solutions to assist educators to overcome perceived barriers when providing inclusive curriculum drawing on attitude theory and social constructionism.
Principal Supervisor: Associate Professor Beth Saggers
Associate Supervisor: Professor Suzanne Carrington