Developing Lifelong Learners in the Middle Years of Schooling: A Report about the Practices, Processes, Strategies and Structures That Best Promote "Lifelong Learning" and the Development of "Lifelong Learners" in the Middle Years of Schooling

This report presents the findings of a Project undertaken to address the broad question of how to ensure the engagement with learning of all middle years students and how to encourage in them a higher order of learning objectives and outcomes both now and throughout life. It builds on current nationwide and international efforts at school reform, intended to provide learning programs that are intellectually demanding, connected to the real world, socially supportive, community linked, and engaged with the wide diversity of student abilities, preferences, circumstances, and needs. Given that middle schooling reform is currently a key focus of educational reform in Australia and that lifelong learning is recognised as a highly desirable attribute of learners, it is appropriate to frame this project in the theoretical context of reforming schools. Academic staff from The University of Queensland's School of Education, together with consultants from Educational Priorities Pty Ltd and KPA (Consulting) Australia Pty Ltd, were contracted to undertake this national Project over the period March 2003 to August 2004. The Project brief was managed by Education Queensland on behalf of the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA), and had the following research question: What practices, processes, strategies and structures best promote "lifelong learning" and the development of "lifelong learners" in the "middle years of schooling"? The Project consisted of four elements: (1) A Literature review; (2) "Case-studies" of selected school sites; (3) A Student survey ("School and me!"); and (4) A Discussion paper: "Implementing and sustaining school reform in the middle years." Each of the four elements were presented separately over the course of the Project and were subsequently amalgamated to produce this final Report. Appended are: (1) Case-studies of school sites; (2) Questions for the Middle years survey Instrument "School and me!"; and (3) Extracts from Case-study reports illustrating the Three Phases of reform. (Contains 9 figures, 16 tables and 36 footnotes.)