In 2024, the Australian Federal Labor Government announced the Better and Fairer Schools Agreement 2025-2034, which sets policy, inter alia, for Australian school funding for the next ten years. This paper contributes to the critical policy analysis literature on school funding by undertaking a focused analysis of this recent policy, deploying a…

Despite the clear benefits of engaging in regular physical activity (PA), research suggests that young people in Out-of-Home Care (OoHC) are less likely to achieve the recommended levels of PA than their same-aged counterparts in the general community. To date, there has been limited examination of the barriers to PA engagement specific to young…

Every child has the right to learn. Yet for far too many, that right remains unfulfilled. Poverty, environmental shocks, conflict, displacement, disability and discrimination continue to keep children out of school or stuck in classrooms without meaningful learning, or disrupt learning altogether. This is especially true for girls and other…

Purpose: This article maps the rise of venture philanthropy in public education in Australia, exploring how policy networks mobilize high-level systemic reform and governance technologies. This is "philanthrocapitalism," a fundamental shift for policy mobility and modes of redistribution. Design/Approach/Methods: Drawing upon network…

In education systems with strong student performance, teaching is a highly-respected, well-supported profession. This view, backed by policy and investment, leads to the recruitment of top candidates into teaching and high retention of teachers and leaders in schools, both of which are critical for educational excellence. Looking at the strategic…

With increasing numbers of students from refugee backgrounds, many Australian schools are struggling to minimise the educational disparity between refugee students and their same age peers. Faced with diverse needs and limited resources, educators must decide whether to distribute targeted resources equally, ensuring all students are given…

This paper analyses the composition, distribution, and history of school funding in Australia through a spatial lens (Soja 2010). We explore multi-scalar school funding policy through three layers of economic maldistribution. We sketch the funding disparities between the three school sectors (public, Catholic, and independent) exposing a spatial…

This publication provides information on the flow of government funding for vocational education and training (VET) in Australia. The publication is based on 2022 data provided by the Australian, state and territory government departments responsible for administering funds for Australia's VET system.

Guidelines for implementing health promotion programmes within university settings outline key action areas for addressing health concerns. Further guidance is needed to help manage specific health promotion activities according to the needs and resources available to universities. Decisions about allocating resources to improve employee health…

Teachers (n = 125) and students (n = 1478) evaluated a trial RE curriculum in Australia using an online survey. Results showed that teachers rated the curriculum significantly more highly than students. Type and size of school influenced teacher and student perceptions. Four conclusions were drawn: The trial RE curriculum was positively received…

The aim of the current study was to examine how decisions are made and who is involved in decision-making regarding provision of adjustments for students with special educational needs in Australian mainstream schools. A total of 107 stakeholders were interviewed across 22 schools. Participation in decision-making varied, with students the least…

Arts integration in core learning domains has long been acknowledged as an engaging and effective pedagogical approach. Creative activities encourage students to take risks, make mistakes, and consider alternative perspectives, promoting curiosity and developing problem-solving capacity. Arts integration is valuable in classrooms also for…

Framed by social justice perspectives, in this article, we present our findings from an audit of Initial Teacher Education (ITE) degrees offered by Australian universities. The purpose is to establish which degrees (and universities) offered dedicated English as an Additional Language and/or Dialect (EAL/D) units that explicitly and solely focus…

Attracting teachers to rural schools continues to be a problem in Australian education. Debates on how to remedy staff shortages are based on a better distribution of financial and material resources. This emphasis on distribution has sidelined the role of recognition theory in understanding the challenges of rural staffing. I draw on the social…

School autonomy policies have circulated through various modes of educational governance internationally, endorsing the view that more autonomy will improve schools and their systems. When subject to the discourses and practices of marketization, however, school 'autonomy' has been mobilized in ways that generate injustice. These injustices are…