Research Project News
The Song Room Major Research Project – Phase 1 Update
The Song Room has now completed Phase 1 of its major research and evaluation project in partnership with the University of Melbourne.
The project was launched at BMW Edge Federation Square on the 22nd of July 2008, by The Honourable Maxine McKew MP, Parliamentary Secretary for Early Childhood Education and Child Care and Member for Bennelong. Professor Barry McGaw, Director of the Melbourne Education Research Institute, University of Melbourne and Chair of the Government’s new National Curriculum Board, was a keynote speaker at the event. Professor McGaw spoke of the importance of rigorous research, and saw projects such as The Song Room Research Project as the back bone for strong policy direction and program implementation.
To read excerpts from the University of Melbourne’s Report click here: Research /Publications and Reports
The Song Room Major Research Project – Phase 2 Update
Review of Song Room Evaluation (ACER)
ACER has now completed a review of The Song Room evaluation processes, with recommendations feeding into revisions of a number of key program evaluation forms. These updated forms have been implemented for programs starting in 2010.
Work has begun on the independent analysis and review of evaluation data from Song Room programs completed in schools in 2009. A report on this analysis will be published in June 2010.
Program Outcomes in Refugee and Resettlement Contexts (Victoria University)
Research work is currently underway in a number of English Language Schools and mainstream schools with a high proportion of refugee and high needs resettlement students. In depth interviews will be conducted with students, parents, teachers and teaching artists to gain insight into the variety of ways in which the students make sense of their participation in The Song Room workshop program and to help understand experiences of inclusion/exclusion and engagement in the words of the young people themselves. The case studies produced from this process will provide the opportunity for cross-case comparisons that will clarify the theoretical, practical and methodological lessons that can inform future policy and The Song Room programming.
Programs Outcomes in Areas of High Juvenile Crime (Educational Transformations)
Educational Transformations has been commissioned to explore the impact of The Song Room’s arts-based interventions on predictive indicators of juvenile crime. Specifically, the project will investigate the engagement of students at risk of juvenile crime in primary schools below the age of 12, as well as at primary age and older students who are already significantly disengaged and marginalised.
A targeted literature review has been completed. School visits and in-depth observations and interviews will be conducted in Term 2, 2010.
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