Seminar: Researching learning in the middle years

Researching learning in the middle years: Gap or opportunity?

Susan Groundwater-Smith, WMIER Visiting Professor

Susan Groundwater-Smith is an honorary Professor in the Division of Professional Learning at the University of Sydney. She is convenor of the Coalition of Knowledge Building Schools, established to engage in ongoing systematic practitioner enquiry.  She works with a range of universities in Australia, the UK and the Netherlands and has published widely in practitioner research including an edited book with Anne Campbell, An ethical approach to practitioner research: Issues and dilemmas in action research (2007).

The transition from primary school to secondary schooling cannot be underestimated as a significant rite of passage for young people. The study undertaken for the NSW Department of Education and Communities that will be reported upon demonstrated that, for most students, schooling was enjoyable and worthwhile at whatever stage of learning in which they were engaged. While this is an outcome to be applauded, it nevertheless masks an array of matters that deserve careful and close attention. The study became interested in the ways in which young people’s perceptions are shaped initially by their expectations and later by their experiences. These matters will be discussed in this conversation.

Please direct any queries about the seminar to Margaret Drummond.

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