A detailed review of the education sector in Australia as in the data provided by the 2006 edition of the OECD's annual publication, 'Education at a Glance' is presented. While the data has shown that in almost all OECD countries educational attainment levels are on the rise, with countries showing impressive gains in university qualifications, it also reveals that a large of share of young people still do not complete secondary school, which remains a baseline for successful entry into the labour market.

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Education at a Glance

What makes organizations so similar? We contend that the engine of rationalization and bureaucratization has moved from the competitive marketplace to the state and the professions. Once a set of organizations emerges as a field, a paradox arises: rational actors make their organizations increasingly similar as they try to change them. We describe three isomorphic processes-coercive, mimetic, and normative—leading to this outcome. We then specify hypotheses about the impact of resource centralization and dependency, goal ambiguity and technical uncertainty, and professionalization and structuration on isomorphic change. Finally, we suggest implications for theories of organizations and social change.

The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields (Chinese Translation)

There is increasing pressure for Higher Education institutions to undergo transformation, with education being seen as needing to adapt in ways that meet the conceptual needs of our time. Reflecting this is the rise of the flipped or inverted classroom. The purpose of this scoping review was to provide a comprehensive overview of relevant research regarding the emergence of the flipped classroom and the links to pedagogy and educational outcomes, identifying any gaps in the literature which could inform future design and evaluation. The scoping review is underpinned by the five-stage framework Arksey and O'Malley. The results indicate that there is much indirect evidence emerging of improved academic performance and student and staff satisfaction with the flipped approach but a paucity of conclusive evidence that it contributes to building lifelong learning and other 21st Century skills in under-graduate education and post-graduate education.

The use of flipped classrooms in higher education: A scoping review

Cultivating Communities of Practice: A Guide to Managing Knowledge

Equality of Educational Opportunity.

In most parts of the world higher education is in demand like never before. As systems and institutions expand and diversify, more energy must be invested in ensuring that sufficient learning has been achieved to warrant the award of a qualification. Yet traditional approaches to assessment do not scale well, and given that assessment has yet to be modernized there remains a pressing need to transform this core facet of education. Accordingly, this chapter starts by analysing imperatives for improving the assessment of student learning outcomes. It introduces a model for reviewing progress in the field, and applies this model to several case study initiatives. This exercise yields findings that are distilled into recommendations for advancing assessment and thereby enhancing transparency hence the quality and productivity of future higher education.

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Assessment of Learning Outcomes

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Perceptions of the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme among Australian and New Zealand universities

Objective:To examine the associations between anger control and negative affect and the risk of five common cancers and total cancers. Possible associations between emotional states and the risk of cancer have long been postulated.Methods:Prospective cohort study with average follow-up of 9 years. A

Is Cancer Risk Associated With Anger Control and Negative Affect? Findings From a Prospective Cohort Study

Helping students develop the employability skills and professional capabilities they will need to transition into graduate roles is one of the most important mandates for university study. With this context in mind, this paper analyses the nature and implications of Australian university students’ participation in paid work during study. The paper looks at the incidence with which students participate in paid work, and follows this with an analysis of the influence such participation has on academic engagement and outcomes. There are disjuncts, the data shows, between student activity and the support received from institutions. It is suggested that institutions need to embrace students’ off-campus paid work. The findings shed light on practices that institutions can use to support students’ participation and outcomes.

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Working on a dream: Educational returns from off-campus paid work

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Hamish Coates

Papers

Assessment of Learning Outcomes

Perceptions of the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme among Australian and New Zealand universities

Is Cancer Risk Associated With Anger Control and Negative Affect? Findings From a Prospective Cohort Study

Working on a dream: Educational returns from off-campus paid work

Report on the Development of the University Experience Survey