Our projects

Current Category 1 Research Projects in the School of Education.

Sensory play in childhood development:   A scoping report

School of Education participant: Dr Elise Waghorn

Team: Dr Elise Waghorn, Dr Mariko Francis

Funder: K2LD

Years of funding: 2025

Abstract: Sensory play has long been recognised as a key component of early childhood education, supporting cognitive, emotional, and physical development. However, there remains limited consolidated knowledge of how sensory play is defined, interpreted, and embedded in educational practice and policy. This scoping review explores the current landscape of research on sensory play in early childhood contexts, aiming to map definitions, purposes, pedagogical strategies, and gaps in the literature. Guided by the Joanna Briggs Institute framework, 42 peer-reviewed articles published between 2013 and 2023 were systematically reviewed across global databases. The findings reveal a growing recognition of sensory play’s role in inclusive education and child-led learning but highlight inconsistencies in its conceptualisation and application. While many studies affirm its developmental benefits, few offer clear pedagogical frameworks or address educator training and resourcing. Additionally, policy guidance often remains vague, leaving educators to interpret sensory practices without adequate support. This review suggests the need for greater clarity in definitions, alignment with curriculum frameworks, and practical strategies to embed sensory play across diverse settings. It offers recommendations for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to better support sensory-rich, meaningful learning environments for all children. 

Intentional Teaching Gestures pedagogies at Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools (MACS)

School of Education participant: Dr Naomi Wilks-Smith

Team: Dr Naomi Wilks-Smith

Funder: Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools (MACS)

Years of funding: 2024

Abstract: This project addressed the research question, How can Intentional Teaching Gestures (ITG) best be used in an early primary school languages context? The project involved a survey of teachers from a selection of MACS schools across a range of languages, a review of research and literature on ITG, and the design of a set of recommendations for practice. 

EAL/D @ Carey Donvale Project: What are the English as an additional language or dialect (EAL/D) teaching and learning needs in the Carey Grammar Donvale context and how can they be met (informed by an evidence base of research)?

School of Education participant: Dr Naomi Wilks-Smith

Team: Dr Naomi Wilks-Smith

Funder: Carey Grammar Donvale

Years of funding: 2024

Abstract: This project involved conducting a needs analysis of the English as an Additional Language or Dialect (EAL/D) teaching and learning needs of Carey Grammar Donvale. The data was used to create a bespoke program of professional learning for the school that included evidence-based pedagogies and practices grounded by research to directly inform classroom-based practice. 

Analysis of Victorian School of Languages’ (VSL) virtual teaching and learning model

School of Education participants: Dr Naomi Wilks-Smith, Dr Thembi Mason

Team: Dr Naomi Wilks-Smith, Dr Thembi Mason, Professor Ange Fitzgerald

Funder: Victorian School of Languages (VSL)

Years of funding: 2023-2024

Abstract: Based on the Victorian School of Languages’ (VSL) required deliverables, this project had four stages. Overall, the project was designed to provide a research base to inform best practice virtual teaching and learning and provide recommendations for practice.

Towards multimodal youth histories of Australian cities

School of Education participants: Associate Professor David Rousell, Dr Gideon Boadu, Dr Julie Carmel, Dr Sue Rook

Team: Dr Kelly Hussey-Smith, Dr Eve Mayes, Professor Julianne Moss, Dr Miranda Kelly

Funder: Deakin University (REDI), RMIT University (Strategic Innovation Fund)

Years of funding: 2023-2026

Abstract: This project engages young people from diversely situated communities to introduce a more inclusive vision of public history-making into Australian schools and museums. Building on the Local Alternatives program of research on urban histories and futures, the project involves working with young people (ages 18-25) as visual historians of their cities using documentary photography as a primary method. The research is being undertaken in partnership with Museums Victoria and offers opportunities for young people to share their history-making practices with the public alongside workshops and talks by invited keynote speakers. This project serves as a springboard for elevating young people’s historical voices and advocates for a decolonial theory and culture of change in the philosophy and practice of public history-making.

NEW Futures: Navigating Education and Work Futures Through Generative AI

School of Education participants: Associate Professor David Rousell, Dr Seth Brown, Dr Sue Rook, Jonathan Felix, Dr Juliette Wu, Bonnie Lester

Team: As above.

Funder: RMIT Vietnam (Strategic Innovation Challenge), ACMI, Regenerative Futures Institute

Years of funding: 2023-2026

Abstract: The NEW Futures project involves the development of a pedagogical design framework and digital learning platform that empowers learners to critically navigate the impacts of AI on education and work futures. The project brings together a range of transdisciplinary expertise within a design-based methodology, including critical policy studies, philosophy of education, game design, more-than-human literacies, computer science, algorithmic art, and synthetic architecture. Version 1.0 of the NEW Futures digital platform, based in Ho Chi Minh City, was co-developed and tested with staff and students at RMIT Vietnam in 2024-2025. Version 2.0, based in Naarm (Melbourne), has has been developed in partnership with ACMI and the Regenerative Futures Institute. 

Floods and Me: Education in a Changing Climate

School of Education participant: Associate Professor David Rousell

Team: Professor Amy Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles, Professor Lexi Lasczik, Professor Lauren Rickards, Dr Lisa de Kleyn, Dr Blanche Verlie, Dr Katie Hotko, Dr Liberty de Rivera, Dr Helen Widdop-Quinton, Dr Yaw Ofosu-Asare, Dr Jeanti St Clair, Dr Simone Blom, Dr Chantelle Bayes

Funder: Maribyrnong City Council, Southern Cross University

Years of funding: 2023-2025

Abstract: This project aims to understand children and young people’s flood experiences and its impact on their education. The Floods + Me project began with a pilot study examining youth-led participatory research on the 2022 floods in Lismore and received a Vice Chancellor Flood Funding Award. In 2024, this research expanded to conduct another pilot study in the Maribyrnong region of Victoria with funding provided by the Maribyrnong City Council’s Flood Recovery Scheme. In 2025 the project team has partnered with the Queensland Department of Education and UNICEF on  an ARC Linkage proposal. 

Effectiveness of Child Participation on Climate Change Actions in Somalia

School of Education participants: Associate Professor David Rousell, Jelena Aleksic

Research Team: Professor Amy Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles, Associate Professor Aspa Baroutsis, Dr Mohammed Jelle, Dr Liberty Rivera, Dr Michael Chew, Jelena Aleksic, Dr Yaw Ofusu-Asare

Save the Children Team: Adan Abdirizak, Michael Ocircan, Said Gaafaa, Ali Fartoun, Abdullahi Arays, Ibrahim Roble, Adam Faradhuub, Mohamud Yusuf, Mohamed Abdulahi, Fredrick Kinda

Funder: Save the Children, NORAD

Years of funding: 2025-2026

Abstract: The study is a mixed methods project that employs cluster randomised controls in four regions where the NORAD 2024-2028 Framework is in operation. The trial will be conducted with approximately 1500 children and young people (ages 6-17) in 40 schools across four regions of Somalia. The trial comprises a six-month intervention that engages Somali children and young people (ages 6-17) in co-designing climate education, participation, and action initiatives based on principles of culturally responsive, place-based learning. Structured around the concept of the climate-responsive village, the programme uses interactive, play-based visual design to facilitate children and young people’s exploration of climate impacts and actions in their local contexts. The primary outcome of the project is to actively engage children and young people in influencing climate action at the policy level. The project provides insight about deliberate decisions made by children and young people to be involved and make significant impact to Somalia’s climate agenda, policies, and actions.

Community Banashi: Stories of place from Australia and Japan

School of Education participant: Naomi Wilks-Smith (lead Chief Investigator)

Funder (or funding body): DFAT

Years of funding: 2022- 2023

Abstract: Community Banashi is a creative film series project, in which short films will be directed and filmed by primary school students across Australia and Japan. Through mentorship of film practitioners and educational experts, students engage in creative storytelling of their locales through filming. Participating schools span diverse locations in Australia and Japan, offering compelling stories of places through the eyes of children. The films will foster deeper cross-cultural connection and collaboration via the currency of language.

Partners: 

• Australia-Japan Foundation
• Kochi University, Japan
• Garrthalala Homelands School, Garrthalala, Northern Territory
• Kagami Shogakkoo, school in Kochi, Japan

Leveraging the Teaching Academies of Professional Practice (TAPP) communities of practice to measure the co-design of a rural professional experience model

Teaching Academies of Professional Practice Research Grants Initiative; Department of Education and Training (Victoria) 

School of Education participants: Dr Wendy Goff (lead CI), A/Prof Ange Fitzgerald, Dr Melanie Nash, Allison Byth, Professor Simone White, and A/Prof Amanda Telford 

Funder (or funding body): Department of Education, VIC

Years of funding: 2022/2023

Abstract: Despite the education literature focusing on research-practitioner collaborations, there are few studies that consider the benefits of practitioner-to-practitioner collaboration, and even less work done on how to evaluate the benefits of this way of working together (McCabe, Osegowitsch, Parker & Cox, 2021). Understanding the process of practitioner-to-practitioner collaboration is an important notion, particularly if best practice is to be highlighted and harnessed.  Co-design is a growing area of interest and knowledge within the educational context, however, how to measure the effectiveness of the co-design process remains elusive. Overcoming the elusive nature of this process is particularly important especially in relation to initial teacher education (ITE) preparation, which is often situated in diverse contexts and communities. A key aim of this research will be to develop an effective measurement framework (EMF) for examining the co-design process in Initial Teacher Education, particularly across different educational settings. The main research question under investigation is: How can an effective measurement framework that evaluates the process of co-design in initial teacher education across metro and rural settings be developed?

Partners: Ovens Murray region and Whittlesea/Hume region

Transforming 21st Century Creativity Education in Australasia

Project Lead: Prof Daniel X. Harris

Role in project: Sole Investigator, Future Fellow

Funder (or funding body): Australian Research Council Future Fellowship scheme

Years of funding: 2017-2023
 

Abstract: This project addresses the development of Australasian creativity education, a core component of creative economic and cultural policy, by attending to intercultural understanding and creative collaboration. It recognises and values creative practice as culturally- and contextually-generated, and investigates the unique contribution of an ‘Australasian creativity’ as specific to this geopolitical place. The project is generating new cultural, interdisciplinary and policy knowledge into how regional co-operation, marked by new models of educational and workplace training, are emerging. By looking across the education lifespan and creative economic practices and goals, the project builds transnational understanding and alliances for regional and global creative economic success.

Partners of this project:

• University of Cambridge, Faculty of Education (UK)
• LaSalle Institute, Singapore
• Chinese University of Hong Kong

“Staging Australian Women’s Lives: Theatre, Feminism and Socially Engaged Art”

School of Education participant: Prof Daniel X. Harris (co-Chief Investigator)

Team: Prof Stacy Holman Jones (lead), Monash; Prof Alyson Campbell (VCA, Univ of Melbourne); Prof Misha Myers (Deakin); Dr Peta Murray (RMIT)

Funder (or funding body): Australian Research Council Discovery Project

Years of funding: 2021-2023

Abstract:This project aims to address increasing discrimination and violence against Australian women by researching how theatre can be used as a socially-engaged laboratory for understanding and improving their lives. The project seeks to generate new knowledge about how women theatre makers craft creative and effective responses to gender-based inequality and oppression. Expected outcomes include a comprehensive feminist analysis and innovative written, digital and performance-based documentation of women's contributions to Australian theatre history and their efforts to address social inequities. It seeks to benefit Australian society by exploring how theatre gives women useful tools for countering inequality and oppression in their own lives.

Partners of this project: AusStage Live Performance database

Link to more information

Borderline Personality as Social Phenomena

School of Education participant: Prof Daniel X. Harris (co-CI)

Team: Prof Renata Kokanovic (lead co-CI, RMIT); Prof Stuart Thomas (RMIT); A/Prof Cameron Duff (RMIT); Prof Stacy Holman Jones (Monash); Dr Jacinthe FLore (RMIT); Prof Andrew Chanen (Univ of Melbourne, Orygen, the National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health); Dr Sarah Pollock (Partner Investigator, MIND Australia); Adj A/Prof Sathya Rao (PI, Monash University, Delmont Private Hospital, Spectrum, Eastern Health); Dr Louise McCutcheon (PI, Melbourne Health);  Dr Michelle Blanchard (PI, The Univ of Melbourne, SANE Australia); Prof Felicity Callard (PI, Birkbeck, Univ of London); Prof Lisa Blackman (PI, Goldsmiths, London).

Funder (or funding body): Australian Research Council Linkage scheme

Years of funding: 2020-2023

Abstract: Mental disorders attract social stigma and those diagnosed are widely misunderstood. This project aims to collect and analyse accounts of people living with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) - mainly women - and perspectives of social support practitioners. The intended outcome is to provide a sophisticated understanding of BPD as a social phenomenon, develop sociological evidence based on lived experiences and generate Australian digital resources including narratives of BPD, creative outputs and practitioner perspectives. The anticipated goal of this project is to inform policy and community responses addressing stigma and marginalisation, and the improvement of social support for those affected by BPD.

Partners of this project: Dept of Health; National Mental Health Commission; Mental Health VIC LTD; Neami National; Eastern Health; Private Mental Health Consumer Carer Network Australia Ltd.

Framing and Enabling Children’s Active Play using Novel Technology.

School of Education participant: A/Prof Linda Knight (co-Chief Investigator)

Team: Prof Alethea Blacker (QUT, lead CI), Prof Peta Wyeth, Prof Stewart Trost and Dr Bernd Ploderer (UQ).

Funder: Australian Research Council Discovery scheme

Years of funding: 2021-2023

Abstract: Research investigates how Tangible and Embodied Interfaces (TEIs) offer new opportunities to promote children’s active play in prior-to-school contexts. The project is focused on addressing the critical issue of declining physical activity of young children through understanding and promoting innovative, interactive, active play experiences for children, with a view to increasing their physical activity over the long term. This project f ocusses on how interactive technologies – which naturally facilitate motor competence through manipulation, gesture and whole body action – offer new opportunities to promote children’s active play. TEIs combine physical artefacts and digital information, allowing interactions to unfold in new situations, across a variety of spaces, and in combination with other activities and experiences. This project will seek to find more innovative ways to increase active play and play-based learning through digitally-augmented engagement over the long term, considering systems that allow for emergent behaviour, provide for open-ended, child-led engagement, and support individual and group play. This project will be based on empirical research with children in real contexts.

Partners of this project: none

Understanding and Addressing Everyday Sexisms in Australian Universities

School of Education participant: Dr Emily Gray (co-CI)

Team: Professor Mindy Blaise, Edith Cowan University (lead CI), A/Prof Jacqueline Ullman, Western Sydney University (co CI), Emma Fishwick (project PhD candidate), Dr Ampersand Pasley (Research Assistant), Maria Delaney (Research Assistant)

Funder: Australian Research Council Discovery scheme

Years of funding: 2021-2023 

Abstract: This project aims to improve the ways in which gender-based discrimination is understood and addressed in Australian universities by employing a situated, intersectional, and creative approach to researching everyday sexisms. This project expects to use an innovative approach to generate new knowledge about everyday sexisms at the individual level and across disciplinary and university contexts. Expected outcomes include new gender equity practices that will assist universities to refine current programs, strategies, and policies capable of eliminating gender-based discrimination. This should provide significant benefits for Australian society, including women and gender diverse people working in universities.

Partners: none

Career change teachers: Addressing teacher shortages in Australia

School of Education participant: Professor Simone White (co-CI)

Team: Prof Martin Mills (lead C), A/Prof Therese Bourke, Dr Reece Mills (all QUT)

Funder: Australian Research Council Linkage scheme

Years of funding: 2002-2024

Abstract: Australia is facing a teacher shortage crisis. Consequently, there have been concerted efforts by governments to attract people into teaching from other sections of the workforce. However, career change teachers often do not stay longer than five years in the profession. There is little evidence on how their retention can be enhanced. This project aims to better understand the differing motivations and experiences of these teachers from diverse backgrounds, and to determine how they can be better prepared and supported through their early years of teaching. A clear benefit of this project will be the longer term success for career change teachers and their schools and will ensure young people are not disadvantaged by high teacher turnover.

Partners:

• QLD Dept of Education
• QCT
• QTU
• Mt Isa CLAW
• Independent Schools Qld