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HDR Pre-Forum Workshop 2026

Friday 14^th August 2026

5-7 pm

WAIER is proud to present our sixth HDR pre-Forum workshop. Designed to connect our educational research candidates across all Western Australian tertiary institutions this two-hour workshop will provide  interactive learning and peer to peer connections to build your professional connections. 

Who Should Attend: HDR candidates at all stages of candidature.

From Thesis to Contribution: Articulating Your Research Story

Facilitated by Dr Sian Chapman

How do you move from describing your thesis (part 1) to clearly articulating what it contributes to educational research and practice (part 2)?
This interactive workshop supports postgraduate research candidates to reframe their research story, clarify their contribution, and practice communicating their work to different audiences. Designed for HDR students across all stages of projects, the session offers practical tools, reflective discussion, and structured writing time to help participants confidently articulate why their research matters, and to whom.  

• Date: Friday 14th August 2026 
• Time: 5-7 pm Registration begins at 4:45
• Duration: 2 hours
• Location: Boola Katitjin, Murdoch University
• Equipment: Participants are required to bring their own laptops. 
• Dinner (optional-your own cost) 7:00 at a local venue-join us if you would like to  continue the conversations and network with fellow researchers. 

Cost:

HDR Forum – Free with Forum attendance

HDR student Forum and WAIER Forum – $100 Members. $130 Non-members

Early bird Registration by Friday July 31st

Please see Forum page for payment link

37th WAIER Research Forum 2022

Facilitator Dr Sian Chapman

Sian is a Senior Lecturer at Murdoch University in Perth, Western Australia, teaching into undergraduate and post-graduate ITE programs. Her research interests include education policy and practice, teacher agency and change, and understanding systemic difference through complexity theory. These concepts are explored across a range of topics including arts education, inclusive education, teacher wellbeing and practice. Sian is also the current President of the Western Australian Institute for Educational Research (WAIER).

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References:

Cremin, T. & Oliver, L. (2017). Teachers as writers: A systematic review. Research Papers in Education. 32(3) 269 – 295.

Gardner, P. (2014). Becoming a teacher of writing: Primary student teachers reviewing their relationship with writing, English in Education, 48(2) 128 – 148.       

Gardner, P. (2018). NAPLAN: The Writing is on the Wall but Who is Actually Reading It? English in Australia, 53(1) 15 – 23. 

Gardner, P. & Kuzich, S. (2022) Ready to Write? An investigation of the writing experiences of pre-service teachers. Issues in Educational Research. https://search.informit.org/doi/abs/10.3316/informit.579218876968723?casa_token=UcAJvROfvOEAAAAA%3AiU-Ls4MM09YuXg3aaOZ2NquBbIN8bmNgVmfrkqCnS5KkVi5xf7gKLnr2q635W94gDBtd3Dq95GDDX94

Gardner, P. & Kuzich, S. (2023) Student teachers as Writers: using an ‘immersive’ approach in ITE to build positive writers. DOI: 10.1111/lit.12337

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The 2023 Global Mindfulness in Education Summit brings together the world’s leading experts in mindfulness in education from nearly 30 countries around the world. The experts will be interviewed to help all stakeholders in education enhance mental health and well-being, reduce work-related stress, have better emotional self-regulation skills, and bring harmony and contentment to our professional and personal life.

The summit will go live on June 4th-9th, 2023! (8 am EST (New York)). Each day will be available for free for 24 hours. Dr Xuyen Le, WAIER Committee Member, is one of the speakers at this event. Her interview will be on 7^th June 2023.

Link to sign up: https://mindbe.org/gms2023 

Dr Xuyen Le

Since 2013, Xuyen has been a lecturer at the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics (the Academy) in Hanoi, Vietnam. The Academy is the national centre for training mid-level and high-ranking leaders of the political system in Vietnam. Xuyen’s job engages in researching and teaching on making and implementing development policies in culture and education fields for Vietnam. In her PhD research in Early childhood education in UWA, she interviewed expert teachers from different early years approaches Montessori, Steiner, Shichida, STEM, Multiple Intelligence, international schools, happiness-based schools, Happy School project-based settings, and public schools.

Here is the information about her talk:

Mindfulness as a journey of self-understanding and self-transformation (Come back to yourself- Aware- Let go via Mindful breath.)

“In this talk, you will discover many aspects of mindfulness (C.A.L.M) through simple ‘bite-sized’ practice: from the art of living in the present moment, the power of awareness, the power of self-observation nonjudgmentally, the power of a mindful mindset, to the power of pause and natural breathing. 

This talk also provides you with some simple tips to dwell in the present moment without getting lost in regret about the past and the unnecessary worries in the future, to reduce stress, to enhance well-being, to have better anger management and to become more present with your job, your loved ones and yourself, especially when you are the teachers and parents of young children.

This talk also shares with you authentic stories of teachers on their journey to transform themselves to be more peaceful and successful in both personal and professional lives and transform their students with challenging behaviours into kind and calm kids.”

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Gregory Hine (University of Notre Dame Australia) and Sandra Herbert (Deakin University)

A well-established claim is that teacher education programs are pivotal in the professional preparation and formation of pre-service secondary mathematics teachers (PSMTs). Despite this claim, there appears to be a lack of understanding of how best to prepare PSMTs for the profession.

The purpose of this study was to examine and monitor changes over time in PSMTs’ views about approaches to teaching mathematics in secondary schools, before and after undertaking mathematics teaching methods courses (including practicum teaching). These views included their perceived readiness to teach secondary mathematics, as well as an indication of their likelihood to use particular teaching approaches for mathematics.

For this study, PSMTs at two Australian universities were surveyed before and after they undertook their respective teaching methods courses, and interviewed upon course completion. Overall, survey data did not indicate a significant change in PSMTs’ views of readiness to teach mathematics from either university (N = 61 pre-survey, N = 34 post-survey).

An analysis of interview data revealed that PSMTs did not feel ready to teach secondary mathematics, with their emphases focused on two areas where improvement was needed. The areas requiring improvement were their mathematical content knowledge and mathematical pedagogical knowledge. Nevertheless, nearly half of the interviewees reported feeling confident to teach mathematics to lower secondary classes (Years 7-10). Despite these concessions, all interviewed PSMTs outlined at least one area where they had experienced professional growth since commencing a teacher education degree.

Issues in Educational Research, 32(2), 533-554. http://www.iier.org.au/iier32/hine.pdf

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Over several decades, a preoccupation with reading has dominated the literacy debate in primary education. One-sided discussions around literacy not only neglect to consider the symbiotic relationship of reading and writing, but marginalise writing as a worthwhile subject for research. Increasingly, primary teachers are using commercial writing programs as a means of scaffolding the writing curriculum. However, using NAPLAN results as a benchmark, standards of writing have consistently deteriorated over the last decade. Starting from the premise that teachers need to be confident writers in order to teach writing, this study surveyed the writing practices of First Year Primary and Early Childhood Education (ECE) B.Ed. students on entry to university.

Findings show that although student teachers write regularly, they most frequently write short, informal digital texts, rather than the text types common to the primary English curriculum. Over fifty percent of students had not written a story or poem in over two years, and in some instances, it was more than a decade. It is suggested that insufficient recent experience of writing the text-types they will teach on graduation may be a factor contributing to falling standards of writing. International studies show this phenomenon is not restricted to Australia.

The study recommends that writing should be given a higher profile in Initial Teacher Education (ITE) through a ‘knowledge in praxis’ approach in which student-teachers are positioned as writers who learn about writer agency and compositional processes as ‘insiders’.

The study is followed by a second paper, yet to be published, in which students reflect on their experiences of learning about writing after being immersed in this ‘knowledge in praxis’ approach.      

An investigation of the writing experiences of pre-service teachers, Issues in Educational Research, 32(2), 513-532 http://www.iier.org.au/iier32/gardner.pdf

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HDR Pre-Forum Workshop

Saturday 6^th August 2022

9 – 12pm

WAIER is proud to present our second HDR pre-Forum workshop. Designed to connect our educational research students across all Western Australian tertiary institutions this three-hour workshop delivered in two parts, is an opportunity to connect, share and be inspired. 

Part 1 will see participants sharing their research (be prepared to talk about your research for approx. 5 minutes). The aim is to network, create cross-institution communities of practice and celebrate the skills that undertaking research at this level develops.

Part 2 will look at impact and engagement. Emeritus Professor MacCallum and Professor Brooks are highly experienced educational researchers facilitating the Focus sessions.

Agenda Part 1

8.45     Registrations open

9.00    Welcome

9.05     Presentations**

10.00    Morning tea – informal networking (light refreshments provided)

Agenda Part 2

10.30    Focus 1 : Emeritus Professor Judy McCallum Generating thesis-ready valid quantitative empirical evidence

11.00    Focus 2 : Professor Jeffrey Brooks Preparation for publication; article and thesis

11.30    Focus Groups

12.00    Workshop ends

**Presentations

The presentations are designed to give you an opportunity to share your research in a small group setting. Each workshop participant will have 6 minutes – with 4 minutes to present and 2 minutes for questions.

Your presentation should include:

• Title    
• What your research topic is about
• Why it is important to you
• Methodology 
• Where you are up to in the research process – early, mid, late?
• What has been the biggest surprise / challenge in the process so far?

You may create a short PowerPoint slides to accompany your presentation, however, make it a maximum of five (5) slides. You will need to bring a laptop to display your presentation as we will be working in smaller groups away from the central projector screen. Preparing slides is not compulsory – a verbal summary of your work so far is also encouraged.

Cost:

HDR student Forum (morning only) – $40 Members $50 Non-members

HDR student Forum and WAIER Forum – $115 Members. $125 Non-members

Registration by Friday July 1^st  https://forms.gle/ndAJrSM7PEAKvF5aA

Please see Forum page for payment link

37th WAIER Research Forum 2022

Judy’s research focuses on social and cognitive interaction for learning and development, and ways to create effective learning environments in a range of educational and community contexts. Key areas of interest revolve around collaborative learning and teaching, professional learning, motivational change and development, intergenerational exchange and mentoring. Judy uses socio-cultural theories to frame her research using mixed methods.

Her career at Murdoch began in 1993 as a lecturer in educational psychology, while completing a doctorate in Education. In 2001-2002 she was Academic Chair of the Initial Teacher Education program, then Academic Chair of Research and Postgraduate Studies before appointment as Dean of Education from 2009 -2013. Prior to gaining Emeritus in 2021, Judy supervised her 30th student through a successful thesis examination. She continues to supervise research students and support early career academics.

His research focuses on sociological, organisational and equity dynamics of educational leadership practice and preparation. Most recently, that has led to exploration of how leadership influences (and is influenced by) social justice, racism, globalisation and extremism. Professor Brooks’ research has taken place in the United States, Australia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. During these endeavours, he won two J. William Fulbright Scholarships to study educational leadership for social justice, in Thailand and the Philippines.  Professor Brooks stated,

 ‘I believe that high-quality research, culturally relevant teaching and proactive leadership for social justice can improve children’s lives and educational experiences. To me, nothing is more important. I also believe strongly that it is my responsibility as an  educator to create professional opportunities for students, educators and other scholars.’ 

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Paul Gardner, Curtin University

In remembering International Women’s Day, WAIER celebrates the role of Feminist researchers. Many pioneer Feminist researchers drew attention to the fact that much so called ‘objective’, empirical research has been conducted by men on men. In the main, male researchers have been white and middle class, coming from the global North. Not only has male-centric research rendered women researchers ‘invisible’, it also distorts reality by excluding women’s perspectives. Such research has been justifiably critiqued as epistemologically flawed. ‘Man-stream’ science assumes ‘a detached knower’ who frames neutral questions and value-free findings and analysis (Wiggington & Lafrance, 2019). Feminist researchers, no matter their discipline, have been united around the construction of inclusive research methodologies and the promotion of women’s perspective of the world. One key theoretical perspective in feminist research is ‘standpoint theory’, which frames knowledge as being situated in one’s social position, which influences how the world is experienced. Feminist researchers have also drawn attention to the fallacy of the ‘detached’ neutral researcher, and have called on all researchers to acknowledge how their own subjective positions impinge on views of ‘reality’.

Further Reading – Britta Wiggington and Michelle Lafrance’s article which formed the basis of this piece can be accessed at:         

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0959353519866058

Wigginton, B. & Lafrance, M.N. (2019) Learning critical feminist research: A brief introduction to feminist epistemologies and methodologies. Feminism & Psychology. September 2019. doi:10.1177/0959353519866058

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