Research
Domain 01
Coeducation
The Barker Institute is undertaking research projects that will provide research-informed practical advice and guidance to educational practitioners and leaders about coeducation.
Many of these projects relate to the efficacy of the transition from a single-sex school to a PreK-Year 12 coeducational environment and the impact this change has had on the academic development and wellbeing of students. Excellence in boys’ education, girls’ education and coeducation are all relevant to the coeducation research domain.
Rationale
This important milestone in Barker’s story presents an opportunity to investigate the way in which transition to coeducation has had an impact on student wellbeing and learning outcomes, tracking the effect of the transition to coeducation from the beginning.
Barker seeks to provide a quality educational environment that meets the needs of boys and girls in every capacity and this goal means there is a priority to be assigned to understanding more deeply how an effective co-educational environment operates.
Research Questions
- What impact has the transition from a single-sex to a co-educational environment had on teaching and learning?
- How does coeducation meet the educational needs of the current student generation?
- How does our knowledge of teaching boys and girls best help us teach well in any classroom?
Selected Projects & Writings
- A Coeducational Future (2017) Teaching in a Coeducational Classroom (2020) - Mel Brady
- Student wellbeing in a coeducational context (2019) - Rowena Dudgeon
- Barker Girls' Rugby Sevens Trial; Breaking Stereotypes (2019) - Alex Butt, Alison Cox
- The Coeducational Barker Journey: The second iteration of the Barker Journey project joins the first coeducational Year 3 cohort and in 2022 reports on a the Barker Journey through four years of a coeducational Junior School.
- Girls and Mathematics - The measurement, structure and trajectories of cognitive and affective dimensions of mathematics interest among Australian grades 7-10 students - PhD awarded to Dr Kester Lee in 2020.
- Gender and STEM
- Gender and self-efficacy
The Barker Junior School Journey: Reporting on Years 3-6 from 2019-2022
The Barker Journey longitudinal study has now completed its fourth year. The subjects of the study are a group of students who celebrated the conclusion of their primary schooling in 2022. Detailed results reporting on the first four years have recently been shared.
- Dr Matthew Hill, Dr Timothy Scott
- 20 March 2023
Publication of the 6th Edition of Learning in Practice: The Barker Institute Journal
Publishing the close-to-practice research that takes place within the Barker community is an important part of the Barker Institute’s role within the school. We are keen to share what has been learnt by experts in education, be those expert classroom practitioners, pastoral care and wellbeing leaders, or school leaders. Learning in Practice is a published conversation in which reflections on practice take place, and professional learning and development benefit.
- Dr Timothy Scott, Dr Matthew Hill
- 20 February 2023
Barker Institute Events for Semester 1, 2023
The first five events of the 2023 Barker Institute event calendar have been released, commencing with the community launch of the Lift@Barker project. Parents, students, teachers, and the wider community are warmly welcomed to our events. More events for Term 2 and Semester 2 will be announced soon.
- Dr Matthew Hill
- 20 February 2023
AARE Conference 2022 – Transforming the Future of Education: The Role of Research
The Barker Institute was represented at the Australian Association of Research in Education (AARE) Conference in Adelaide last week including a presentation on the first four years of the Barker Journey. I had the opportunity to attend sessions on all four days of the conference on topics related to our Research Agenda before our own presentation on the final day.
- Dr Matthew Hill
- 05 December 2022
Memorable Moments for Year 6
What is most memorable for Year 6 as they come towards an end of their Barker Junior School Journey?
- 21 November 2022
The results are in for the Barker Journey 2022 - Year 6
Two big weeks of data collection for the Barker Journey project
- 21 November 2022
Looking back on 2022
While only four years into the ten-year project, 2022 marks the end of the Junior School component of the Barker Journey study.
- Dr Timothy Scott
- 15 November 2022
Year 7 Study Habits
An interactive workshop to help Year 7 students and their parents develop good study habits
- 10 May 2022
The Importance of success and value in career development for Women
An informative and challenging presntation given by Barker College parent and the CEO of Local Government Professionals Australia NSW, Annalisa Haskell
- 31 March 2017