• What’s the Evidence: Developing indicators of teacher quality to investigate the predictive validity of teaching performance assessments -  A joint research project with the Sydney School of Education and  Social Work.
• Developing rubrics to assess students across the University’s Graduate Qualities - A joint research project with the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Education).
• Teacher efficacy in reading: K-6 teachers in Catholic Primary Schools in NSW - Sydney School of Education & Social Work (SSESW) NSW Department of Education (DoE): Mid Career changers program DoE Grant (Professor Jim Tognolini).

• NSW Department of Education (DoE)
• Janison
• Education Services Australia (ESA)
• Australian Curriculum
• Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA)
• Australian Education Research Organisation (AERO): With staff from SSESW: Closing the (research) Gap: First Peoples’ review of education databases: (Professor Jim Tognolini)

Our expertise in research extends to helping partners develop research capacity and scholarly inquiry in a range of areas related to the methodology and practice of measurement, assessment, and psychometrics.

Examples of our research-informed Professional Services in Australia and around the world:

• I.DAT: item based review and analysis
• VCAA: International literature review of school student credentialling
• CSNSW: supporting a research inquiry into teacher efficacy in teaching reading
• The AIS’ Evidence Institute: supporting evaluation of the project: Growing Evidence Informed Practice
• In schools: developed a methodology for measuring creativity; measuring 21st Century Skills; developing school-wide practice in formative assessment
• Produced a report for CSNSW on Equity and Excellence in Catholic Schools
• Built scales to measure graduate qualities such as cultural competence, critical thinking, and influence throughout the University of Sydney
• Created projects related to establishing comparability across assessments of teacher effectiveness against professional standards through the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL), the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) and the Schools Curriculum and Standards Authority (WA)
• Unpacking of the assessment standards of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers into elaborations that need to be known and understood before they can be demonstrated
• Validating of the Online Literacy and Numeracy Assessment conducted in Western Australia to enable students to demonstrate that they have met the minimum literacy and numeracy standards required for graduation
• Participated in international capacity-building workshops and conferences in China, India, Lao, Kazakhstan, Indonesia, the United States and the Pacific
• Reviewing and validating items for use in selection of entrants into programs at national and international schools.
• Evaluation of impact of leadership learning programs for the NSW Department of Education
• Consultancy for AITSL

Examples of our applied research professional learning consultancy work in Australia with education bodies:

• Primary Principals’ programs (NSWPPA)
• Secondary Principals’ programs (NSWSPC)
• Courses for Teachers delivered through sectors and unions (CSNSW, AIS, CPL, IEU)
• Courses for Schools (eg Wenona, Cherrybrook HS, Cheltenham Girls)
• Supporting CSNSW schools through a Covid intensive program

The postgraduate research student community of CEMA is a vibrant one. We currently have 25 students – a mix of international and domestic - with a range of research interests, work experience, prior study areas, and cultures. We are fortunate to have researchers and experts from both inside and outside the University of Sydney involved in the supervision of our students. Students support one another, and CEMA staff also actively support students including via fortnightly lunchtime development sessions.

Information on the full range of research degrees is available here. Specific information on how to apply for the PhD is available at this link. There are two intakes per year: 1 March and 1 July.

If you are interested in undertaking postgraduate research study with us, please email CEMA@sydney.edu.au.

PhD candidates

• Salem Alazazi – Topic: Initial topic is “Explore the effectiveness of self- and peer-assessment in higher education for enhancing undergraduate students& acquisition of 21st-century skills “.
• Ishani Banerjee – Topic: The role of Design and Technology education units, STEAM activities and Assessment strategies in enhancing opportunities of learning among middle school students.
• Jerry Kao – Topic: Critical Media Literacy in the Digital Age: Analyzing Sociodemographic Disparities in Misinformation Resilience Among Australian Adolescents.MPhil candidates
• Fuad Hasan – Topic: Opportunity and Challenges in the Work-Integrated Learning (WIL): A Case Study in the Implementation of Equivalency Education Program at Community Learning Center in Indonesia
• Penny Lu – Topic: Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Professional Development, Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) and Students' Learning Achievement
• Pooja Nagpal – Topic: Exploring Validity Evidence in Addressing Cultural and Linguistic Biases in CBSE-SAFAL Assessments
• Georgina Peniel – Topic: Exploring the impacts and effects of assessment on inquiry-based learning in primary education: A comparative study in Hela and Southern Highlands Provinces of Papua New Guinea
• Rhischa Shilla – Topic: Modification of the Lawson Classroom Test of Scientific Reasoning on Physics Based on Formative Assessment and Creating its Performance Bands for Reference to the Minimum Competency Assessment in Indonesia's National Assessment
• Karma Tenzin – Topic: Situating competency assessment in large scale summative assessment: 20th century assessment woes in 21st century learning

Domestic PhD candidates

• Ali Babaeian – Topic: A validation framework for pronunciation assessment.
• Harrison Benbow – Topic: Psychological Mechanisms of Feedback: Unveiling the interplay between motivationally driven cognitive operation and feedback processing on writing
• Sining Ma - Topic: Exploring the School-Running Autonomy of Primary and Secondary School Principals in China
• Robyn Martin – Topic: Investigating teachers’ post- professional development learning when implementing innovation in teaching and learning:  A mixed methods study.
• Katherine Olston - Topic: Preparing for situated action in professional contexts: Designing learning environments to support the development of the graduate qualities
• Kelly Padayachee - Topic: Secondary mathematics teachers’ alternative designs for assessing problem-solving in grades 11 and 12 mathematics.
• Nicholas Reynolds - Topic: Health outcomes measurement: a comparison of classical and Rasch measurement theories.

International MPhil candidate

• Wei Xuan Kong – Topic: Formulate a self-efficacy scale for ECE Educators on their usage of Artifical General Intelligence (AGI) tools within their classrooms.

Domestic MPhil candidates

• David Idstein – Topic: Developing a measurement rubric on character
• Kathleen Walker – Topic: Measuring and Demonstrating the Social Impact and Value of The Sydney Peace Foundation

Domestic BEd Honours

• Bianca Aiello

Alumni

• Dr Shafiza Binti Mohamed, Thesis: Developing a procedure to align the national assessment of curriculum-based high-stake, national examination to the policy requirement for digital literacy.
• Dr Abdullah Alzhrany, Thesis: An inquiry into teacher assessment literacy: The development of an assessment framework and instrument to measure the assessment literacy of teachers in Saudi Arabia.
• Dr Kuliga Tanasavate, Thesis: Framework for validating and measuring English proficiency for Thai tour guides.
• Dr Rahma Al-Alawi, Thesis: Developing a comprehensive framework to enhance technology-based formative assessment practice in higher education courses.
• Dr Sara Ratner, Thesis: Australian schools on the world stage: How well are we performing and how do we really know?
• Dr Wiping Xu, Thesis: Developing and articulating a process to build and validate a measurement rubric for measuring creativity in physics in high schools.
• Dr Rayanne Shakra, Thesis: Perceptions of assessment knowledge and understanding required to demonstrate graduate and proficient career level standards in NSW.
• Dr Chung Yeol Lim, Thesis: Usefulness of translanguaging pedagogy on improving English speaking performance of Chinese EFL university students A mixed methods approach.
• Dr Li Liang, Thesis: Realigning tertiary education and 21st century skills for the millennial generations: Evaluating university teachers’ formative assessment with digital technologies and the effects on students’ learning of 21st century skills.