The Community of Associate Deans Research in Education (cADRE) helps to facilitate and guide collaborative research on shared issues and promote a culture of research cooperation.
cADRE was established by ACDE in 2013 to:
- Provide advice and make recommendations to ACDE on policies and matters relating to Educational Research.
- Provide advice on processes to assist ACDE in achieving and maintaining excellence in Educational Research.
- Extend the links and enhance collaboration between educational researchers, policy makers and the wider community to advance Educational Research.
- Provide a collegial forum for discussion, debate and recommendations on Educational Research, including the role of Associate Deans (Research).
Convenor: Associate Professor Louisa Tomas Engel | louisa.tomas@jcu.edu.au
Australian Education Research Leaders' Summit, 2022
Assessing ARC Grant Applications
Many Australian Education researchers provide feedback in ARC assessment reports, which is putting applications at risk of not being funded. At the Australian Education Research Leaders’ Summit (29-30 June 2022), informal advice from previous ARC College of Experts indicates that in Education we could do better in the way we provide assessments.
Australian Education Research Leaders' Summit, 2022
National Education Research Leaders’ Summit: 29-30 June 2022
The focus of this summit was on the challenges facing the education research sector and national, sector-wide strategies to address them. An action plan was developed, and plans were put in place to establish working parties on the following issues:
- Research partnership initiatives
- Grant and other research assessment development
- LIEF grant application to build research infrastructure for the Education field
- Formation of a coalition of Education Research Leaders
- Work with peak bodies such as Learned Academies
- Communicating with government and bureaucracies
- Supporting HDR, ECR and MCR Education researchers
- Working with First Nations researchers to facilitate Indigenous Education research.
Read Professor Catherine Manathunga’s opening address ‘Why we must take the pulse of education research in Australia now‘
cADRE WEBINARS
cADRE webinar held on 15 June 2023 on Supporting Education Mid-Career Researchers.
This webinar is designed to be the first step conducted by the cADRE Working Party on Supporting Education HDR, ECR and MCR researchers from the National Summit held in June 2022.
The 2022 National Summit of Education Research Leaders organised by AARE and cADRE (Community of Associate Deans Research in Education) identified a need for national action on strategies to support the professional development of HDR, ECR and MCR researchers in education. Given the urgency of succession planning in education, we are beginning with MCR researchers. This interactive cADRE/ACDE webinar presented some of the existing research on the needs of education MCR researchers and then gathered the perspectives of education MCR researchers from around Australia. These issues will then be presented to the ACDE Board for discussion and action.
cADRE held a joint cADRE/ACDE webinar on 27 May 2022 on Reimagining education research in a post-election world
Presentations were delivered by:
- Professor Stephen Billett (Griffith) – Reimagining the Educational project through research
- Emeritus Professor Marie Brennan – Contexts for (Rise of) Privatised Organisations in Education research
- Professor Amy Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles (SCU) – Grass-roots research agenda setting project of NSW Deans of Education
- Professor Tom Lowrie (UniCan) – Commercialising Education research
cADRE National Report on the State of Education Research
cADRE National Report on the State of Education Research
Australia’s education research field faces a complex, fast-changing policy environment with a highly interventionist Federal government. Prior ERA assessments have failed to capture the strength and diversity of Australian education research, disadvantaging women, First Nations, and regional researchers.
Nationally competitive education research funding has declined, alongside ARC grant success. Most funding comes from Category 2 public sector sources, while research commercialisation remains a valuable income stream, with education among the top five disciplines. Education research publications have also grown significantly, ranking third in output growth.
Opportunities exist to advance education research, particularly through the Federal government’s priority on elevating First Nations knowledge systems and fostering educational sovereignty. Transdisciplinary collaborations with health and STEM and expanding research commercialisation offer further potential. The cADRE report outlines 10 key recommendations to guide ACDE’s strategic priorities for intervention, lobbying, and action to strengthen Australia’s education research future.
2024 cADRE Seed Grant
Educational researchers were invited to apply for an ACDE-funded Seed Grant of $3,000 to seed a project on a ‘hot’ education topic with national significance with a view to enable educational research that promotes evidence-based practices and policies.
The successful recipient of the grant was Dr Rebecca English from the School of Teacher Education & Leadership at QUT.
The alignment between ‘school can’t’ (refusal) and the rise in homeschooling: A case study of submissions to a 2024 Queensland parliamentary inquiry
In March 2024, the Queensland government introduced an amendment bill to the Education (General Provisions) Act that would have increased the compliance measures to which homeschoolers were subject. These compliance measures included the removal of provisional (or fast approval) registration and the use of ACARA curriculum. The community, in particular the large numbers of accidental homeschoolers who are largely from the ‘school can’t’ (refusal) community, galvanised and fought the amendments through the 2,000 submissions objecting to the bill. This study examines the ways that these ‘school can’t’ homeschoolers described their homeschooling in the submissions.