Equity in Australasian Higher Education: Can we actually have an impact and how can we / should we measure it?

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With the Australian Universities Accord and other major equity initiatives in Australia and New Zealand, there appears to be a new momentum towards ensuring enhanced equity and participation across the sector. However, despite the flurry of activity, equity targets remain difficult to reach. Hence, CAULLT invited key equity practitioners to answer the question on whether our actions can actually have an impact and how we can measure impacts of our activities.

Enabling pedagogy offers insight into how we can better support equity in Australasian higher education. Jennifer will outline the ADEPT framework (Stokes, 2023) and consider how enabling pedagogy fosters impactful learning. She will discuss how we can build upon research from the enabling sector to embed evidence-based approaches, which encourage transformative outcomes for students and universities. 

What really works in improving higher education access and success for under-served students? Despite decades of research, relatively little effort has gone into empirically testing what interventions work, and embedding an evaluative mindset within the right people, and units, in our universities. The Trials and Evaluations Program at Australian Centre for Student Equity and Success was established to address these needs. Staff from ACSES will outline how they can assist universities in this regard.

Presenters:

Assoc. Prof. Jennifer Stokes (University of South Australia)

Jennifer Stokes is an award-winning educator, who specialises in digital learning and enabling pedagogy. She is passionate about educational access and the role universities can play in social inclusion and societal transformation. She was recognised for leadership in enabling pedagogy through a 2018 Australian Award for University Teaching. She has led and mentored teams who have been recognised for best practice in digital learning at UniSA. She also received recognition at national level for team-teaching which fosters student engagement through industry-based practice in Media Arts. She developed the ADEPT framework for enabling pedagogy to assist educators and practitioners to support students from underrepresented backgrounds at university. 

Dr. Patrick Broman (Australian Centre for Student Equity and Success, Curtin University)

Manager, National Equity Evaluation

Patrick is a demographer by training and applies quantitative and statistical modelling skills to his research and evaluation practice, much of which has involved regional and ethnic disparities, especially in education; and innovations in health education and training. Prior to his role at ACSES Patrick worked as HEPPP Evaluation Manager at Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne. His previous experience include senior operational policy roles at the New Zealand Ministry of Education and research roles at the Centre for Health and Social Practice, Waikato Institute of Technology and Te Ngira Institute for Population Research in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Dr. Tim Pitman (Australian Centre for Student Equity and Success, Curtin University)

Trials and Evaluation Program Director (interim)

Tim is a researcher of higher education policy with a focus on widening access and participation for groups of students historically under-represented in higher education. This includes people from low-socio economic backgrounds, Indigenous people, people with disability, people from non-English speaking backgrounds and people from regional and remote parts of Australia. Tim is a former Senior Researcher and Equity Fellow with NCSEHE. He has worked in the Australian higher education sector since 1996 and his PhD in Education was completed at The University of Western Australia in 2012.

Dr. Patricia Vermillion Peirce (Australian Centre for Student Equity and Success, Curtin University)

Trials Lead

Patricia is a credentialed evaluator (designated by the Canadian Evaluation Society), with expertise in experimental and quasi-experimental designs. Her professional experience is broad, with 20 years of experience delivering well over 100 independent evaluations for various international governments and agencies. Her extensive experience ranges from leading small pilot studies to large-scale evaluations and trials of national significance as well as multi-country evaluations. She strives to achieve equitable outcomes through her work, which has spanned across the Pacific and within Asia, the Middle East, North America, Australia, and New Zealand.