This is the last of my President's Reports for the newsletter [AARE NEWS] so I will be reflecting on the year past as well as looking forward in my comments. In particular, I will be reflecting on the events of September 11, and the implications for us as a research community.
Let me first acknowledge the work of the Executive of our Association - we are in very good shape financially and in terms of membership. The services provided to members have been maintained at a high level. I would like to thank Jill Blackmore (immediate past editor of the AER) and Jane Kenway (new editor) for ensuring a smooth transition in the publication of the journal. Bob Lingard (our only two-year President) will be retiring from the Executive in December so I would like to acknowledge Bob's outstanding contribution over the past few years in representing our interests. In terms of the day to day administration of the affairs of the Association, Debra Cunningham as Hon Secretary, and Peter and Ruth Jeffery have continued their high quality and generous services - thanks. Everyone on the Executive has contributed in important ways this year to the successful conduct of the Association - so thank you all.
I would like to invite each of you to consider standing for the Executive. Occasionally we hear criticism that the Executive is not representative of all members. That is probably true - but not willfully so. We are volunteers - and although it is the Year of the Volunteer and even an economic rationalist like Peter Costello has spoken recently (and sincerely, I am sure) of the redemptive virtue of volunteering - getting colleagues to volunteer for additional professional activities is becoming increasingly difficult. It is important that AARE remains inclusive of the diverse interests of the education research community, and to ensure this, the Executive itself needs to be broadly based. So get involved.
Earlier this year I had commented on the Ryan by-election and the possibility that issues of central concern to us in educational research might be prominent during the Federal election. I could not anticipate then that "border protection" and "international terrorism" would completely dominate political events. The discourse related to knowledge nation/society seemed earlier in the year to provide an opportunity for us to lobby for renewed support for education research. This hope has been largely swamped by a myopic concern with security. This is regrettable - not primarily in the limited sense that our interests as a lobby group have been sidelined - but because the broadly-conceived process of education is even more important when there is division, distrust and uncertainty in society. It is now that we need research on building a society that is not only prosperous and secure, but compassionate, tolerant and able to value and appreciate diversity. What is interesting and deplorable in our current political and social circumstances, is that mentioning qualities like compassion, tolerance and appreciation of diversity, sounds highly political rather than the simple restatement of widespread community values. So it seems to me, that our personal research agendas, and our national research priorities cannot remain unchanged in the light of September 11th. We urgently need research on how the community values of compassion and appreciation of diversity can be promoted and sustained (in schools, other educational institutions, and the broader community) during a period of insecurity and conflict. We will be considering issues related to research priorities at the conference in Fremantle in December.
You will know by now the outcome of the ARC funding round. I am in the process of examining the types of projects that were funded and the extent of overall funding. My initial reaction is that funding levels remain appalling both in the Discovery and Linkage schemes, and the few projects that are successful represent a somewhat random tip of the educational research iceberg. I guess our challenge is to get beyond a culture of (mere) complaint to a position where we can influence the future course of events. Again we hope to consider this issue at the conference in Fremantle.
Returning recently from a brief study leave in The Netherlands, I stopped in Singapore to meet with A/Professor Agnes Chang who is President of ERA - Educational Research Association, Singapore. Many of you will know Agnes well from her participation in conferences in Australia and her time as a doctoral student at Macquarie University. AARE has maintained a close association with ERA in recent years and it is a measure of our continuing close relationship that they have decided to participate in our annual conference this year rather than conduct their own separate conference. Such joint ventures can be seen partly as the outcome of AARE Executive initiatives of the early 1990s to turn towards our immediate neighbours in Asia and the Pacific, and build a broadly based research community that could address the needs of this region. With the ongoing political unrest in the region and the Australian Government's current fortress mentality, it is timely that we will be hosting a large number of delegates from various countries in South-East Asia, including Malaysia, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Singapore. The Executive of AARE warmly welcomes all the delegates from the Asia-Pacific region to the Fremantle conference, and looks forward to the opportunity to share research insights, to discuss recent events and consider how the research community can respond.
I wish you well for the remainder of the year, I hope to see you in Freo, and I foreshadow that some of us are already well into planning the 2002 conference in Brisbane. So if you can't make the trip west this year, plan for a northern excursion next year.
Cheers
Peter Renshaw.
This is one of the 'brief' newsletters in which we mainly point to places on AARE Website where people can go to get further information on topics of interest. As you can see we have reproduced in full the final report of the current President and the "last say" in print of the AARE 2001 Conference Convenor. All other items are very brief but if you follow the URLs given you will reach extended documentation. By keeping this printed version of the AARE NEWS brief we can print and distribute it before those who are going to AARE 2001 Conference depart for Fremantle and other go about other seasonal activities away from their desks. We also save some trees!
Peter Jeffery
ContactThis number of the newsletter features five doctoral thesis abstracts: one EdD and four PhDs by P. Smith (Deakin), S. Warren (Wollongong), K. Wicks (Adelaide), J. Wilson (Melbourne) and K. Yoshimitsu (Monash).
Once again I am grateful to ACER's Cunningham Library for supplying information concerning them and draw your attention to ACER's Research Theses Database (the Bibliography of Education Theses in Australia) at http://www.acer.edu.au/library/theses/search_theses.html where you can access details on over 9000 Australian theses in education.
Please send details of doctoral theses (completed within the last six months) from your institution via email to t.gale@cqu.edu.au.
Trevor Gale
December 1st to 5th 2002 -- University of Queensland, St Lucia, Brisbane.
Nominations have now closed and all positions have been filled without the need for a ballot to be held. The new 2002 Executive will be announced at the AGM to be held on the Wednesday afternoon at the conference in Fremantle. Thanks to all those who have nominated.
Debra Cunningham
Hon. Secretary