Community development research suggests that positive partnerships and connections between groups can result in stronger, more resilient and productive communities. Despite community connections featuring increasingly at a curriculum level in countries such as Australia and New Zealand, research is only beginning to explore the nuanced processes…

There has been an increasing interest within the academic literature on the role played by Higher Education Institutions in the social and economic development of their communities. The Australia Government has recently released its National Science and Innovation Agenda (NISA) which is designed to incentivise university-community research…

Professional and Community Engagement (PACE) at Macquarie University offers undergraduate students experiential learning opportunities with local, regional, and international partners. In PACE projects, students work toward meeting the partner's organizational goals while they develop their capabilities, learn through the process of engagement,…

Attracting and retaining effective education leaders and teaching staff for regional, rural and remote schools in Australia is a major sustainability and quality issue facing every State and Territory. It is also a major concern in pre-service teacher education, particularly for those universities which have a commitment to rural and regional…

Purpose: This paper aims to: extend the concept of "The learning organization" to "The learning community," especially disadvantaged communities; demonstrate how leaders in a migrant community can achieve positive change at the personal, professional, team and community learning levels through participatory action learning and…

Building the research capacity of the vocational education and training (VET) sector is a key concern for the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER). To assist with this objective, NCVER supports an academic scholarship program, whereby VET practitioners are sponsored to undertake university study at honours', master's or…

Case studies of five successful rural Australian school-community partnerships in vocational education illustrated stages of the leadership process (trigger, initiation, development, reflection, sustainability) and different roles needed at each stage. School and community sources of leadership and benefits of shared leadership were identified.…

Wesley College, a private urban secondary school, established a rural campus in the small town of Clunes, Victoria (Australia), where ninth-grade students could spend a term in a community-based, experientially-derived curriculum to enhance their sense of self and community. A study examined the extent to which Clunes community members regarded…

Despite the huge potential of information and communication technology (ICT) to assist communities to increase their overall well-being through community development, there are relatively few examples of sustained community networks built around ICT when compared to commercial applications, even in the developed countries where the technology has…

This paper presents practical options for school development in relation to vocational education ranging from small and specific steps to larger whole school change. Chapter 1 describes the context. Chapter 2 highlights three interlocked imperatives to attain this objective: a comprehensive and well-structured educational program that deals…

The founding of the Australian system of higher education closely parallels the creation of public postsecondary education in the United States during the nineteenth century. Their subsequent histories reflect a growing recognition of postsecondary education's capacity to shape the economic prospects not only of individuals, but of entire nations.…

A study examining school contributions to community development collected data from five rural Australian communities via interviews with school and community members, documentation from school and community sources, and observation. Preliminary findings from two communities suggest that in both, the school was a key player in building and…

Concerned with the role of education in the development of rural areas, this report summarizes some of the major findings of the Australian Education and Local Development (ELD) projects combined with information collected from New Zealand rural areas during 1983. The five major studies contributing to the report are: (1) a case study of the…

Australian rural communities often suffer from psychological isolation in addition to geographic isolation. Human and social capital are powerful antidotes to psychological isolation and are closely dependent on learning. Rural schools can reverse the negative effects of isolation on educational outcomes if they first work on building human and…

An Australian national task force examined a number of areas related to achieving educational equality for Australia's Indigenous peoples. This paper looks at health issues, particularly during ages 0-8, that may affect the educational outcomes of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. Chapter 1 discusses the importance of the early years…