Last week, Australian Council for Educational Leaders (ACEL) announced the formation of a new academic advisory group to facilitate the sharing of current research, policy and practice in educational leadership.
The group brings together some of Australia's most recognised and influential academics and includes highly recognised academics and researchers such as Emeritus Professor John Halsey from Flinders University, Professor Tania Aspland from Australian Catholic University and Dr Scott Eacott from UNSW.
ACEL CEO, Aasha Murthy, said the establishment of the ACEL Advisory Group is an important step towards strengthening the organisation’s engagement with the research community in Australia.
“ACEL has always worked with Australian researchers and provided a platform for them to share their work at our conference and in our journals and publications,” Murthy told The Educator.
“We want to step up this engagement further and explore new and innovative ways to connect Australian research to educational leadership at the system, school and classroom level.”
Murthy said that as the only independent, cross-sectoral national organisation, ACEL can play an active role in “facilitating greater dialogue and interaction across academics and practitioners, to benefit the profession as a whole.”
Flinders University Emeritus Professor, John Halsey, said the formation of the group is “a very important development for ACEL for progressing education and educational leadership in Australia and beyond”.
“The partnership of researchers and ACEL provides the critical bridging so essential for testing and translating new ideas into best practice to enhance opportunities for all,” Professor Halsey told The Educator.
“I am especially pleased ACEL has used the Advisory Group initiative to enthusiastically engage with the challenges and opportunities of rural and remote education.”
Dean and Professor Education Policy and Strategy at the Australian Catholic University (ACU), Tania Aspland, said the education sector has never been under such scrutiny by the public, the media and politicians.
“It is timely for key researchers to work collaboratively with ACEL to build an evidence base for decision making about schools, universities, leadership and management,” Professor Aspland told The Educator.
“This could include policy critique, futures position papers, evidence-based advice to leaders and educators and collaborative research with key stakeholders such as government, higher education, schools and early learning centres about key issues and concerns that must be addressed as a matter of urgency.”
Aspland said long individual academics and leaders have engaged in “small scale research” for too long.
“This partnership will facilitate the holistic harnessing of great minds to lead large scale collaborative research across the nation to inform the educational futures of all peoples in ways that are positive, empowering and transformative,” she said.