HMNS Seminar : The NAPLANisation of student health and wellbeing

Event Details

Date:

Friday, 11 December 2015

Time:

1:00 pm - 2:00 pm

Room:

127

UQ Location:

Human Performance Laboratories (St Lucia)

Event category(s):

Full Description:: The aim of this project is to obtain insight into how ‘data’ are shaping health and wellbeing practices in Australian schools. The rationale for this project stems from the understanding that alongside traditional academic outcomes, schools are now increasingly accountable for student health and wellbeing competencies. The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), one of Australia’s largest private providers of educational products and services, now offers a standardised test for schools to assess the wellbeing of students.

This project seeks to understand the advent of standardised testing of social and emotional wellbeing and characterise how data are shaping health and wellbeing practices in Australian schools. There are concerns here that private sector organisations are capitalising on a concern for student health and wellbeing as a way to establish a presence within schools on a for-profit basis. This commercialisation of student health is a complex phenomenon that requires in-depth investigation.

Dr Anna Hogan is a lecturer within the School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences at The University of Queensland. Anna’s research interests focus on the privatisation and commercialisation of education policy and practice.