Research Agenda 2025
The Australian Education Research Organisation (AERO) was established by the Commonwealth, State and Territory Education Ministers to contribute towards the shared vision of excellence and equity in educational outcomes for all children and young people. AERO makes its contribution to this vision by generating, presenting and promoting the adoption and effective implementation of high-quality education evidence in practice and policy.
AERO works on research themes set out in its annual Research Agenda. These themes have been identified by considering:
- demand – the areas the education community nominate as the most pressing challenges, jointly prioritised with jurisdictions
- impact – the areas the evidence base suggests would most improve excellence and equity in educational outcomes
- capability – the areas in which AERO is distinctly capable of making an impact on educational outcomes.
In 2025, AERO will work on:
- Evidence-based practice in ECEC and its implementation
- Quality and equity in ECEC
- Evidence-based teaching in schools and its implementation.
Australia is committed to achieving a more equitable education system. Accordingly, AERO and governments have jointly prioritised the following topics for AERO’s new research:
Evidence-based practice in ECEC and its implementation
A high-quality and equitable ECEC system relies on educators, teachers and service leaders having the skills and capabilities to support all children’s learning and development. AERO will work to expand understanding of the practices that best support learning for all children in ECEC contexts, bringing together contemporary and high-quality evidence to develop clear, actionable advice that synthesises, translates and promotes this evidence. Knowledge of how children learn and the practices that maximise children’s learning and development provides further opportunities to understand how teaching practice in ECEC can contribute to continuity of learning. AERO will work directly with agreed services to support a deliberate and structured approach to implementing evidence-based practices, sharing insights and key learnings.
Aligned to Strategic Plan goal: Early childhood education and care (ECEC)
Quality and equity in ECEC
A high-quality and equitable ECEC system also relies on decision-makers having access to data and research learnings about what works in ECEC, for whom and in what contexts. Given the differentiated responsibilities and mixed delivery models across early childhood, understanding the pathways and experiences of children and families requires bringing together data and information from multiple stakeholders across the system. AERO will work in partnership with interested systems and sectors to investigate and generate insights on complex policy questions related to ECEC participation, equity and quality.
Aligned to Strategic Plan goal: Early childhood education and care (ECEC)
Evidence-based teaching in schools and its implementation
There is a clear, robust and extensive evidence base on the teaching practices that best support all students to learn, including practices that foster engagement and equity within diverse classrooms and identify additional supports students may need. AERO has brought these practices together in its learning and teaching model. AERO will expand the suite of resources that assist teachers and school leaders to implement these practices. AERO will work with agreed schools to support a deliberate and structured approach to implementation, as well as continue its evaluations of mechanisms of professional learning, to generate insights for schools and systems about implementing evidence-based practices. AERO will partner with interested systems to support implementation of these practices and promote examples of success.
Aligned to Strategic Plan goal: Teaching practice in schools
First Nations
AERO’s First Nations team and Expert Reference Group work across all AERO projects to ensure those projects benefit from First Nations perspectives and support enhanced cultural responsiveness in both practice and policy. AERO will also begin to identify and document approaches that are successfully supporting First Nations students to achieve their education goals, drawing out common features that can inform policy and program development.
Aligned to Strategic Plan goal: Evidence for policymakers
Disability and inclusion
AERO will commence a new stream of work to provide actionable insights for improving educational outcomes of children with disability. This will include developing resources for teachers on what is known about creating inclusive classrooms, and working with systems, sectors and other stakeholders to scope and conduct research to inform future policy choices.
Aligned to Strategic Plan goal: Evidence for policymakers
Equity
AERO will work with systems and sectors to examine best-practice approaches to supporting the learning of students experiencing disadvantage. AERO will research how inequity – particularly socio-economic concentrations of disadvantage – impacts outcomes, opportunities and experiences of education, and investigate the school and system-level levers that hold the greatest promise for strengthening equity in Australian education.
Aligned to Strategic Plan goal: Evidence for policymakers
Keywords: research agenda, education data, evidence, outcomes