Suchergebnisse

Widening participation (WP) in higher education to disadvantaged young people is essential for the future economic and social well-being of Australia to ensure sustainability of its national and commercial standing in the world, economic progress and social justice. This article will examine how, in a university, evaluation can be used to ensure optimum learning from WP projects for continuous improvement while complying with government funding and reporting requirements that ensure public money is spent wisely and to optimum effect. The approach of the University of Western Sydney is to utilise a three tier process of (i) appropriate project management tools and techniques; (ii) careful and sensitive targeting of equity group participants, and; (iii) non-intrusive and confidential evaluation processes. With this combination of procedures, programs and projects can be effectively evaluated to ensure pre-determined objectives will be achieved and the all-important socio-economic outcomes can be realised.

Widening participation (WP) in higher education to disadvantaged young people is essential for the future economic and social well-being of Australia to ensure sustainability of its national and commercial standing in the world, economic progress and social justice. This article will examine how, in a university, evaluation can be used to ensure optimum learning from WP projects for continuous improvement while complying with government funding and reporting requirements that ensure public money is spent wisely and to optimum effect. The approach of the University of Western Sydney is to utilise a three tier process of (i) appropriate project management tools and techniques; (ii) careful and sensitive targeting of equity group participants, and; (iii) non-intrusive and confidential evaluation processes. With this combination of procedures, programs and projects can be effectively evaluated to ensure pre-determined objectives will be achieved and the all-important socio-economic outcomes can be realised.

This paper identifies a sizeable group of vulnerable children who suffer discrimination and under-achievement on a daily basis in Australia, with particular attention to NSW out-of-home care (OOHC) practices. The purpose of the paper is to highlight the gaps in services specifically relating to the education of children in OOHC, care leavers and young carers. The paper identifies the extent of the issue, the ways that OOHC children suffer discrimination and possible solutions. As OOHC children are not a specific equity group targeted for support by governments, their identity, numbers, problems and issues are not recorded or singled out for specialist support. The paper recognises that further research is required, but offers some ways forward giving examples of widening participation in education. However, it comes to the conclusion that OOHC children are not given a "Fair go".

The Bridges to Higher Education (Bridges) consortium was a federal government $21.2 million funded program, delivered between 2012 and 2014, with the objective of improving the participation rate of students from communities under-represented in higher education. A large initiative within the over 90 projects was the building of pathways and support processes for students studying in TAFEs2 and colleges to undergraduate places in higher education. The University of Western Sydney and University of Technology Sydney collaborated with TAFE NSW to develop several hundred articulated pathways, build students' aspirations for and knowledge of university study, and provide support processes for them to make the transition. This paper describes the inception, implementation, operations, outputs and outcomes of the Pathways/VET initiative. The project was externally evaluated by management consultants KPMG, and the quantitative data and qualitative data expressed by students and teachers identified that there were significant outcomes.