Education policy
The QTU believes that research should inform policy decisions and that educational change should be based on analysis of evidence derived from rigoruous educational research, framed by an identifiable overarching educational philosophy.
The QTU recognises that education and educational research are political acts and believes that all authors of education policy and education research should include the authors’ declaration of the purpose of education. The QTU asserts the purpose of education is always greater than the reporting of data in response to standardised tests.
The QTU welcomes critical research that informs reviews of education policies on matters like equity, curriculum, models of school funding, school governance structures, industrial matters, educational leadership, initial teacher education, teacher professional standards, and teacher workforce.
Types of research
The QTU believes that teachers and school leaders should be able to apply for funding, including release time, to enable them to be immersed in educational research projects. Providing opportunities for mutually supportive relationships in which teachers and school leaders become co-researchers and the researcher takes some responsibility for teaching deepens understandings of the research context and demonstrates a communitarian ethic. Further, the QTU objects to education research that fails to demonstrate a contextual understanding of the work of teachers and school leaders, and that risks harm to the teaching profession.
The QTU welcomes all forms of education research, including, but not limited to:
-
action research cycles
-
arts-based research and a/r/tography
-
autoethnography
-
case study
-
collegial research arising from mentoring projects
-
critical race theory
-
critiques of neoliberal education policy
-
curriculum criticism
-
ethics
-
ethnography
-
feminist research
-
gender and gender identity
-
Indigenous research
-
mixed-methods research
-
narrative inquiry
-
online, international collaborations
-
peer-to-peer reflections
-
performative writing
-
phenomenology
-
qualitative research
-
quantitative research
-
queer theory in education policy
-
reflective practice
-
whiteness in education policy.
The QTU also welcomes collegial engagement and the dissemination of professional learning in both formal and non-academic settings that include, but are not limited to, conferences, seminars, workshops, podcasts, professional blogsites, and academic publications.
Praxis-based research
The QTU represents the professional, industrial and legal interests of members working in Queensland’s state schools, state high schools, special schools, TAFE campuses and discrete education facilities. QTU members are TAFE educators, teachers and school leaders, and their professional actions, decision-making processes, and experiences, framed by educational theory, is praxis research that has the potential to fill a significant gap in the field of educational research.
The QTU believes that the praxis of our members is a rich and authentic source of data that should inform education policy. The QTU welcomes praxis-based research that demonstrates the impact, positive or negative, of: school funding; class sizes; educational support for students with medical conditions; inclusive pedagogies; safe working environments; student engagement; teacher professional development; and workload.
Equity
The QTU believes that every child has the right to an education and schools within the public system should be inclusive. While respecting and enhancing the culture of students and their families, public schools have an obligation to foster a free, tolerant and democratic society and to uphold educational values and objectives. Each child has a right to experience the diversity of society, understand its workings, and share equitably in its opportunities. The quality of students’ educational experience should not depend upon the wealth or social class of their parents, their ethnic background, where they live, or the wealth, interest or indifference of the local community.
Curriculum
The QTU believes that democracy is strengthened by broad and diverse curriculum that develops students’ critical and creative skills as active and informed citizens. Curriculum research and development should be directed at informing and promoting the role of curriculum in shaping local/national/global futures.
The QTU believes that curriculum research and development should involve analysing and acting upon the ways in which knowledges are selected, interpreted, and represented in the discussion, practice and social relationships of curriculum work. Critical understanding of the positionality of ideologies that are embedded in all curriculum practice, discussion and organisation is integral in curriculum development.
The QTU welcomes a broad approach to curriculum research and development, as well as research that is specific to capabilities (e.g. ethics, literacy, ICT) or learning areas (e.g. humanities, science, and the arts). The QTU welcomes curriculum research that is critical, qualitative, quantitative, autoethnography, or mixed-method.
Diversity
The QTU welcomes educational research that advances safe and supportive spaces. Such research will be ethical and will embrace inclusive educative settings that celebrate diverse student populations, including, but not limited to:
-
culturally appropriate and ethical research with Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander students and communities
-
ethical research with students with disability and their families and/or communities
-
ethical research with gifted and talented students and their families and/or communities
-
international students
-
LGBTIQ+ students and/or teachers
-
newly arrived students and their families and/or communities
-
regional and remote students and/or their communities
-
students who speak English as a second language and their families and/or communities.