There is an urgent need to undertake research into the unrepresented teaching workforce in flexible and non-traditional schools in Australia. The staff in flexible/non-traditional schools educate young people who might otherwise be vulnerable to failure and/or leaving school early.
The teaching staff in this sector face unique contextual and professional challenges; however, the pedagogical innovations of those who teach in flexible and non-traditional schools have not been fully investigated. This project will fill this research gap and provide evidence-based products to assist our partners and other providers of education in this sector.
The project aims to:
- identify the characteristics of the teaching workforce in flexible/non-traditional schools;
- investigate the challenges experienced by the teaching workforce in flexible/non-traditional schools;
- explore the factors that enable successful teaching in flexible/non-traditional schools;
- investigate the curricular and pedagogical innovations used by this workforce and evaluate their contributions to teaching and learning;
- provide evidence-based feedback and outputs to inform workforce planning and sector investment by sponsors and support principals and teaching staff; and, contribute to the body of academic knowledge in this field.
This project is funded by the Australian Research Council as part of the Linkage Program scheme (LP190100398). The administering organisation is Griffith University. Researchers are from Griffith University, Southern Cross University, and the Queensland University of Technology. Partner Organisations are the Australian Association for Flexible and Inclusive Education (AAFIE), Jabiru Community College, and The Youth Inc. Enterprise Academy. Views and opinions expressed are our own and do not necessarily reflect the views of any of these organisation or officials.
