ACDS reports and other publications

ACDS Position Statement: Impact of Research on Teaching. ACDS Executive, 2023

Reports commissioned by the ACDS

STEM in Australia: The statistical patterns of university science and technology in the twenty-first century – Ian R Dobson, 2018
Read the executive summary

A Background in Science: What Science means for Australian Society – Kerrie-Lee Harris, 2012
This study looks beyond career pathways to understand the influence of a science education and background on people’s lives more broadly. The study collected input from people who identified as having a background in science irrespective of occupation of field of study. The findings are relevant to universities designing curricula, employers looking to recruit people with scientific ways of thinking and to governments considering science education policies and priorities.

The IT Education Bubble: An analysis of university student statistics 2002-2005 – Ian R Dobson, 2007

Sustaining Science – University Science in the Twenty-First Century – Ian R Dobson, 2007

The preparation of Mathematics Teachers in Australia – Kerrie-Lee Harris and Felicity Jensz, 2006

Who’s teaching Science: Meeting the demand for qualified science teachers in Australian secondary schools – Kerrie-Lee Harris, Felicity Jensz and Gabrielle Baldwin, 2005
Who’s teaching Science reports on surveys of 1207 secondary science teachers and 266 heads of science departments in secondary schools. The schools were a stratified random sample of secondary schools taking into account state, region, sector and socio-economy in determining the sample. The aim was to fill in a paucity of data, noted by the Kwong Lee Dow report Australia’s Teachers: Australia’s Future, on the qualifications in discipline areas of science teachers and the views of heads of science departments on the needs of schools. This report shows that there is a serious difficulty in producing a scientifically-literate and scientifically-expert nation because, for example, 25% of Year 12 Physics teachers have not studied Physics past 1st year at university.

Science at the Crossroads? A study of trends in university science from Dawkins to now, 1989 – 2002 – Ian R Dobson, 2003
Science at the Crossroads is an examination of enrolment trends in Science and Information Technology. It looks at the number of and growth in student enrolments, and the subjects students are studying as components of their university degrees. It considers the period since the reforms in higher education which followed Education Minister John Dawkins Green and White Papers in the late 1980s.

What did you do with your science degree?: A national study of employment outcomes for Science degree holders 1990-2000 – Craig McInnis, Robyn Hartley and Malcolm Anderson, 2000

ACDS Occasional Papers

Is the Study of Science in Decline? An Occasional paper by the Australian Council of Deans of Science – 2003
Crises in education and innovations systems do not occur dramatically. It is hard to pick one particular point in time when they can be said to have happened. The ACDS study Trends in Science Education warned five years ago of the declining trend in Australia’s human infrastructure in science and technology. Science at the Crossroads? provides a second warning, and shows how seriously the first one needed to be taken. A third warning will be unnecessary, either because Governments and public authorities will acknowledge the problem and act, or because it will be too late. We would prefer them to act now.

Why do a Science Degree? – An Occasional Paper by the Australian Council of Deans of Science – 2001
This occasional paper reviews the findings of the ACDS commissioned report, What did you do with your science degree? In terms of investigating the employment profile of graduates of a discipline three, five and ten years post their first graduation, this report is the first of its kind in Australia.

Other publications

Unhealthy Science? University Natural and Physical Sciences 2002 to 2009/10 – Ian R Dobson, 2012

Report commissioned by the Office of the Chief Scientist

ACDS Teaching & Learning Publications

The ACDS commissions and supports studies of particular importance to leadership in science and maths education.
A full list of publications related to the ACDS WIL in Science projects is available here.

Successful WIL in Science: Final project report 2016 – 2018 – now published!

Successful WIL in Science Project, funded by The Office of Teaching and Learning, has been a national project designed to improve the employability of future graduates in science and mathematics, by increasing access to and participation in WIL.

WIL in Science: Leadership for WIL Final project report 2015 – 2016

The WIL in Science: Leadership for WIL project was funded by the Office of the Chief Scientist. This project has established a national network of science WIL leaders, created a national conversation among science faculties and schools about WIL in science degrees, begun the task of building capacity to design and deliver WIL programs, and trialled approaches to WIL program development.

Case Studies of Successful WIL

The Case Studies of Successful WIL have been prepared by The Lighthouse Projects which were sponsored by the ACDS WIL in Science project (2015 – 2016) and funded by the Office of the Chief Scientist.