Cluster for Research in Education for Sustainability and Social Inclusion (CRESSI)

The School of Education is excited to announce a new research initiative which will explore issues of social, environmental and economic sustainability.

Sustainability and social inclusion have been identified by the RMIT Vice Chancellor as two important areas of focus for the University’s strategic plan for 2011 – 2015, matching the Australian Governments key areas of focus. These areas have great potential for bringing previous research groups within the School together with the areas of interest of TAFE staff and more recently appointed Higher Education staff.

This new research cluster will create a niche in which the School will develop a focused and unique research image in the following areas:

Students at risk accessing VCE, VCAL and adult education programs
Students accessing migrant English programs
Students admitted to undergraduate programs through SNAP and other equity places
Supporting teachers in Whittlesea and Darebin areas
The emerging University ‘Northern corridor’ priority
Work with indigenous communities
Resources for researchers (Online resources pertaining to sustainability and social inclusion issues in education)

Featured Publications

Responding to a relevance imperative in school science and mathematics: Expanding the notion of relevance.

Research in Science Education. DOI: 10.1007/s11165-011-9244-3. Published online July 28 2011

Linda Darby-Hobbs, RMIT University

There has been a recent push to reframe curriculum and pedagogy in ways that make school more meaningful and relevant to students’ lives and perceived needs. This ‘relevance imperative’ is evident in contemporary rhetoric surrounding quality education, and particularly in relation to the junior secondary years where student disengagement with schooling continues to abate. This paper explores how teachers translate this imperative into their mathematics and science teaching. Interview data and critical incidents from classroom practice are used to explore how six teachers attempted to make the subject matter meaningful for their students.

The Australian-ness of Curriculum Jigsaws: Where Does Environmental Education Fit?

Australian Journal of Environmental Education, vol. 27(1), 2011

Annette Gough, RMIT University

This paper reviews Australian Government actions related to environmental education, particularly in the past decade, and examines the actions forthcoming from two national action plans (Environment Australia, 2000 and DEWHA, 2009), the implementation strategy for the Decade of ESD (DEWHA, 2006) and developments related to the Australian Curriculum.

Wrapping relationships between science education and globalisation

Cultural Studies of Science Education (2011) 6:77–88

Annette Gough, RMIT University

This essay reviews the contribution of Rowhea Elmesky in this volume, to the field of research in science education, and places it in the context of the juncture of youth disengagement with science, multicultural education and globalisation, with an underlay of a historical context and critiques of science education from feminist and postcolonial perspectives.

Social Inclusion – Context, Theory and Practice
The Australasian journal of university-community engagement
Vol 5, no 1 autumn 2010

Dr Jennifer Gidley, RMIT University; Gary Hampson, RMIT University; Dr Leone Wheeler, RMIT University; Elleni Bereded-Samuel, Victoria University

Gidley et al., provide a reflective essay that includes an overview of the emergence of social inclusion in Australia and a variety of theoretical perspectives that inform the variety of practice models we now see in the field. Gidley and Wheeler further draw on two case studies of social inclusion initiatives by RMIT and Victoria University to illustrate the importance of university-community engagement in ‘delivering’ social inclusion initiatives.

Hearing voices, creating spaces: inclusive learning and teaching in Higher Education

A keynote address given by Christine Hockings of the University of Wolverhampton, UK. She discusses some of the research that she has been engaged in over the last 3 or 4 years around pedagogies for widening participation and student diversity.