Families

Research shows that school leaders are aware of the importance of evidence informed practice and the link between evidence informed practices and improved student outcomes. There is, however, often disconnect between the importance attributed to evidence-informed practice and the actual school practices that are implemented.

Both parental engagement and parental educational beliefs and expectations play critical roles in a child’s educational outcomes. Keeping children engaged in education is central to improving a range of symptoms generally associated with disadvantaged communities. This project will investigate the longitudinal effects of parental engagement and academic socialisation on learning outcomes.

This project will examine the prevalence of positive parental and community engagement with State schools in Queensland and develop models and strategies to improve school engagement.

ISSR has been commissioned by the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA) to undertake a longitudinal outcome and process evaluation of multiple funding initiatives aimed at preventing sexual assault through education.

This project involves an outcome and process evaluation of the relevant educational programs funded under the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA) Respectful Relationships scheme since 2009.

The overall evaluation will examine the efficiency of implementation of different educational programs, the effectiveness of these programs in achieving the desired attitude and behaviour change in the target population and how the programs and sites are delivering against aspects of the National Association of Services against Sexual Assault’s (NASASV) National Standards for Prevention of Sexual Assault through Education.

Academics lament that policy-makers ignore their research, while policy decision-makers argue that academic research is largely irrelevant to their needs. This project aims to reconcile these two positions by investigating social science research utilisation within public sector agencies.

Marriage patterns have been transformed: People are marrying less, and those who do are  marrying later, separating more, and often marrying after cohabiting and having children. This project provides important information that enables greater understanding of changing family patterns.

The Learning Catalysts project investigates factors associated with educational success based on a study of 34,000 disadvantaged young people and their families. The project aims to examine the circumstances of disadvantaged young people and their families, identify factors contributing to improved educational outcomes and address the objectives of the partner organisation, the Smith Family (TSF), to support educational outcomes.

This project explores the links between place of living, social participation and wellbeing at older age using data from large-scale panel surveys covering Australia and a range of other countries.

The Millennium Mums project is a national study of working mothers who had babies in October and November 2011. The project examines their experiences with leave from their employer and decisions about paid employment, as well as family life, health and wellbeing around the birth of their baby.