Using examples from the Melbourne Declaration on the Educational Goals for Young Australians and from work completed by ACER, this paper examines the challenges of measuring and improving the non-academic outcomes of schooling. The paper outlines common difficulties encountered when defining non-academic outcomes and establishing mechanisms to measure outcomes within schools, and the paper explores...

A summary of Indigenous students’ results in international tests of reading, mathematical and scientific literacy suggests that initiatives to improve the education of Indigenous students have, to date, had little effect. According to the report Indigenous students remain overrepresented at the lower levels and underrepresented at the upper levels of proficiency in the OECD Programme...

A third of Australian and New Zealand tertiary students seriously consider leaving their institutions before graduation, according to this study of student engagement. A representative sample of more than 25,000 students from 29 Australian and New Zealand universities participated in the latest cycle of the Australasian Survey of Student Engagement (AUSSE), conducted in 2008 –...

Nationally comparable data about school performances should be reported to the public, but should not be used to create league tables, according to this paper. Written by Geoff Masters, Glenn Rowley, John Ainley and Siek Toon Khoo, the paper was prepared for the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs to provide advice...

Most Australian graduates are enjoying employment success and earning high salaries according to this report. The 2008 Graduate Pathways Survey was designed to gain information on employment outcomes five years after completing a bachelor degree, how these changed from graduates’ initial outcomes, the pathways taken and the factors that influence outcomes. Some 9238 graduates from...