New publications

In this 50-page report the Chief Scientist, Professor Ian Chubb, argues for dramatic increases in the number of students studying the 'hard' sciences and mathematics at school and university. The report calls for changes in the way universities prepare science and mathematics teachers and the way schools teach these subjects. Professor Chubb and his research team note steady decreases in enrolments in mathematics and science in year 12 over the years, and a shift within maths enrolments towards less challenging courses. See also statement by Australian Minister for School Education, Peter Garrett, and article 15 May 2012 in the West Australian.

The evidence presented in this report suggests that Australian science is generally in good health. Our school students compare well on the international stage. At present there is growth in science enrolments in universities. Our researchers produce more per capita than researchers in most other nations and have impacts at or above world standard in most discipline areas. But there are some immediate concerns also, and challenges in the short to medium term. Science participation in the senior years of school has fallen. Although the rate of this decline has slowed, participation rates have not yet stabilised. Compared with other nations, secondary school performance in science literacy is also slipping. Despite a recent increase in science enrolments at university, the trend has been flat for most of the past decade and has not recovered to the levels achieved in the early 1990s. From Summary. The full report is available online.

In PISA 2009, the assessment of digital reading literacy was offered as an international option for the first time. The digital reading literacy assessment tested 15-year-old students' ability to read, understand and apply digital texts. Australia and 18 other countries or economies participated in this assessment. This report presents the results of the PISA digital reading literacy assessment for Australia. It presents the results for the country as a whole, and where relevant makes comparisons to the other participants in the study. Results are also reported for the Australian states and territories and for different social groups within Australia. From Executive Summary. The full report is available online.

This paper summarises data on year 12 course completions from all Australian states and territories, 2005 to 2010. Over the years 2005 to 2010 the number of year 12 students in Australia increased by 10.5%, from 194,165 students in 2005 to 214,542 in 2010. The number of year 12 course completions also increased over this time period; however, this increase was not as substantial as the increase in student numbers. Year 12 course completions rose from 954,937 in 2005 to 981,261 in 2010, an increase of 2.8%. The difference in magnitude of these increases suggests that some of the increase in year 12 student numbers could be due to an increase of students undertaking VET or other apprenticeship courses, who would not have been included in the course completions figures. From the paper, available online.

An Australian author offers an overview of Montessori pedagogy and practice, considering the Montessori approach within the context of early childhood education and care, and in the light of new insights from the fields of neuroscience and child development. Within each chapter there are definitions of the key concepts of the Montessori approach, questions for reflection and discussion, activities and suggestions for further reading. This book focuses on the three to six age range. Adapted from publisher's description.

Over just the past decade, online learning at the K–12 level has grown from a novelty to a movement in the USA. Often using the authority and mechanism of state charters, and in league with home schoolers and other allies, private companies and some state entities are now providing full-time online schooling to a rapidly increasing number of students. Little or no research is yet available on the outcomes of such full-time virtual schooling. Partial or blended approaches to virtual education, however, have existed for some time and have been studied fairly extensively. These approaches provide virtual courses in certain areas (math, English, and social studies, for example), and research has shown the virtual courses to produce test scores comparable to those from conventional, face-to-face courses. While such research is useful, it tells us little about scaling up from isolated courses to full-time virtual schooling. This policy brief addresses the issues raised by research. Adapted from Executive Summary. The policy brief is available online.

The interpretation of the history of education has been contested for the past century. Over the years the history of education has passed through a number of approaches, more recently engaging with different areas such as curriculum, teaching and gender, although often losing sight of a common cause. In this book McCulloch contextualises the struggle for educational history, explaining and making suggestions for the future. Topics include: finding a set of common causes for the field as a whole; engaging more effectively with social sciences and humanities while maintaining historical integrity; forming a rationale of missions and goals for the field; defining the overall content of the subject, its priorities and agendas; and reassessing the relevance of educational history to current educational and social issues. Adapted from publisher's description.