The Australian Academy of Science has a proven track record and unparalleled experience in developing and delivering evidence-based education programs to support effective science and mathematics teaching and learning in Australian schools from Foundation to Year 10.
With the support of the Australian and state governments, the Academy has been developing and delivering rigorous teacher professional learning programs and inquiry-based teaching resources in science and mathematics for over thirty years.
Through our three teacher-trialled programs, Primary Connections, reSolve and Science Connections, the Academy supports a strong foundation in STEM teaching and learning in Australia. Our programs are aligned to the Australian Curriculum and remain free of charge for Australian teachers. Our comprehensively designed programs are grounded in research and showcase exemplary inquiry practices, supporting teachers to maximise the difference they make in the classroom.
To ensure our programs stay useful, practical and connected to what’s happening in schools across the country, we develop and refine our resources in consultation with teachers, state and territory education departments, and national agencies such as the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority.
The Academy’s education team includes expert educators with an array of professional experience, diverse knowledge and skill sets, and a passion for working alongside teachers. We have worked in a variety of education settings, nationally and internationally, in primary and secondary schools, cultural institutions, research organisations and tertiary settings including initial teacher education and research.
Science Connections focuses on developing students' knowledge, understanding, and skills in contemporary science and critical thinking through a guided-inquiry approach.
Offering interactive teaching resources, real-world data, and embedded professional learning, Science Connections collaborates with Australian scientists and classroom teachers to provide a practical program that supports teachers in implementing strategies and pedagogies for inspiring and engaging science learning.
Science Connections is supported by the Australian Government Department of Education.
reSolve is a national program designed to promote relevant, rigorous and engaging mathematics from Foundation to Year 10. Resources for classroom use and professional learning are available free to all Australian teachers and are linked through Scootle, the Mathematics Hub and other sources.
Launched in 2015, reSolve provides a range of carefully designed teaching resources that develop important mathematical ideas. Each is linked to the Australian Curriculum: Mathematics, and is designed to develop the fluency, understanding, problem solving, and reasoning needed for the 21st century.
reSolve is supported by the Australian Government Department of Education.
Primary Connections focuses on developing students’ knowledge, understanding, and skills in science through a guided-inquiry approach.
Offering interactive teaching resources and embedded professional learning, Primary Connections is a comprehensive resource for educators. It draws on contemporary science education research, as well as teacher feedback, to produce a practical program that supports teachers in implementing strategies and pedagogies for inspiring and engaging science learning.
Primary Connections is supported by the Australian Government Department of Education.
Academies of science are typically independent from government and can play an important role in maintaining dialogue between nations when there are serious diplomatic issues.
The Australian Academy of Science believes that scientist-to-scientist engagement should transcend political and religious beliefs and provide continuing opportunity for nations to engage in harmonious dialogue and co-existence.
These principles are consistent with Statute 5 of the International Council for Science to which the Academy subscribes.
Read more: ICSU Statute 5.
Australia’s future economic and social prosperity depend above all else on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). From solving our grand challenges in agriculture, environment and health, to basic research that will deliver unexpected but transformative breakthroughs, science is the engine room of innovation. All Australians depend on a vibrant, well-planned and well-resourced science education and research capability with the capacity to drive innovation and prosperity into the future.
To deliver this future and continue driving innovation, Australian science needs three things:
Australia is at a crossroads. Our economy is in transition as demand for natural resources plateaus, as global manufacturing consolidates in Asia, and as international competition for our services intensifies. More than three decades of exponential growth in Australia’s per-capita GDP is tapering, and if nothing changes, Australia will fall out of the G20 within 15 years.
The only way in which Australia can maintain its long-term prosperity is to follow the lead of comparable nations in Europe, North America and Asia and foster a world-class science and innovation system to drive new and advanced services and high-tech and transformative industries that deliver continued prosperity and solve grand challenges.
The innovation pipeline from scientific discovery to social and economic benefit takes decades, and while Australia has benefited hugely from its commitment to science since the 1950s, investment is needed now to ensure continued prosperity in the future. The Australian Government’s National Science and Innovation Agenda lays the foundation for this investment, and the Australian Academy of Science and members of Australia’s science and innovation community look forward to working with all levels of government to ensure a continued strategic approach to science and innovation in Australia and sustainable growth in research investment in the medium term.
Demand for STEM skills in the workforce is higher than at any time in history, with 75% of the fastest growing occupations requiring STEM skills.1 To succeed in tomorrow’s economy, the majority of school leavers will need a high level of science and maths literacy, and a growing pipeline of university graduates with specialist training in STEM will be required.
High-school enrolments in science and mathematics are decreasing, with these subjects often taught by out-of-field teachers. Primary students are taught on average 45 minutes of science each week, and Australian school science and maths performance is static and falling behind many other countries on international rankings. Early disengagement with science means fewer STEM-literate school-leavers entering the workforce and a declining proportion of university enrolments in STEM disciplines.
Appropriate professional learning opportunities and ready availability of high-quality and engaging curriculum materials support these goals, such as those provided through the Academy’s Australian Government-funded Primary Connections, Science by Doing and Mathematics by Inquiry programs.
Australia’s university sector is globally respected and attracts students from around our region to participate in education and research, but mismatches remain between education outcomes and workforce needs. To retain higher education as a significant and growing export industry, Australian universities need to provide world-class training in STEM through appropriate funding and increased incentives for quality teaching.
Australia has world-leading scientists across a wide range of disciplines, but science also has a serious gender and diversity imbalance. Fewer than one-in-five women hold senior STEM roles, and science is not representative of many diverse groups. To address the magnitude of the social, economic, health, and environmental challenges facing Australia we need all of Australia’s best minds to be working on the solutions, regardless of gender or background.
Securing a career in science is challenging. The path from research student to established scientist is paved with short-term contracts, intense competition for funding, long hours, and low tolerance for career breaks or disruptions. There are also significant barriers to mobility between research and industry; a move from academia to the private sector is almost always a one-way trip. As a result, too many talented and promising young scientists–particularly those with family and other responsibilities–are forced to abandon their passion for science in favour of international opportunities or more forgiving careers outside of science. As a result, Australia loses their talent, their potential, and the significant investment in their training.
The Academy of Science and the Academy of Technological Science and Engineering are piloting a gender equity accreditation and quality improvement program in 32 Australian universities and research institutions, and with support from the Australian Government will roll this program out more broadly in the coming years.
To drive innovation and prosperity and provide solutions to our many complex challenges, Australia needs a world-class research capability underpinned by stability in funding, a commitment to research infrastructure, targeted support for industry-research engagement and a suite of global scientific engagement programs.
As research challenges get harder, science in Australia and around the world is becoming more sophisticated, connected and costly. However public funding for science has been declining as a proportion of GDP for 30 years. Furthermore, limitations on research grant provisions (which exclude lead research salaries, infrastructure and on-costs) leave Australian universities forced to use teaching income to cross-subsidise billions of dollars of indirect costs of research. As the engine-room of innovation, it is vital that stability is returned to science funding, and that policies and strategies are put in place to ensure growth in funding in the longer-term.
Australia has a $3 billion suite of 27 major research facilities, from ocean observation systems to big-data supercomputing centres and a flagship particle accelerator that probes the molecular structure of matter. Almost every researcher in Australia uses government-supported research infrastructure in some way: these facilities enable vital research that would otherwise not be possible in Australia. The 2015 National Innovation and Science Agenda has made a welcome 10-year commitment to supporting operational costs of these facilities, and to working with the Australian Chief Scientist to review Australia’s future infrastructure requirements. For Australia to remain at the leading edge of research in identified priority areas, it will be critical to ensure adequate capital is available to create and upgrade necessary research infrastructure.
Australia ranks near the bottom on international measures of engagement between research and industry, and while this failure is often attributed to reticence on the part of the research sector, it is also true that only a small proportion of Australian businesses engage in the type of new-to-world innovation that can benefit from collaboration with universities. The National Innovation and Science Agenda has introduced welcome measures to encourage industry to collaborate with researchers, and has flagged changes to research funding arrangements to place a greater emphasis on industry collaboration.
Science is a global enterprise, and Australian scientists and innovators need to be closely connected to the rest of the world if Australia is to realise the benefits of the latest discoveries and innovations. While universities and research grants provide some support for individual scientists to collaborate internationally, Australia also needs to come as a nation to the global table on scientific exchanges, bilateral and multilateral partnerships, and a network of science and innovation attachés and counsellors. With the exception of isolated programs targeting India and China, Australia has not had an international science engagement program since 2011, and has missed significant opportunities for scientific and innovation exchange and leveraged funding as a result.
1 Office of the Chief Scientist (2014), Science, technology, engineering and mathematics: Australia’s future, Australian Government, Canberra. Available at: http://www.chiefscientist.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/STEM_AustraliasFuture_Sept2014_Web.pdf
In this statement, the Academy calls on the next Australian government to secure Australian jobs and Australian industries with science through:
These ‘Science for Australians’ articles explore the issues raised in the Academy’s position statement.
The Australian Academy of Science adheres to the principles outlined in the Australian code for the responsible conduct of research. The code guides institutions and researchers in responsible research practices and promotes integrity in research for researchers. The code shows how to:
There are fundamental principles and professional responsibilities for researchers that should be adhered to when undertaking research. The Academy supports the Singapore statement on research integrity and encourages researchers to observe the principles and responsibilities set out in the statement.
Research involving humans should conform to the principles outlined in the National statement on ethical conduct in human research. Ethics and ethical principles extend to all spheres of human activity. They apply to our dealings with each other, with animals and the environment.
Research involving animals should conform to the principles outlined in the Australian code for the care and use of animals for scientific purposes. The Animal Welfare Committee plays an important role in ensuring that the highest ethical standards apply to NHMRC funded research involving the use of animals for scientific purposes and that the NHMRC addresses relevant animal welfare issues as they evolve or emerge.
The promotion of responsibility in the conduct of science in different ways is central to the mandate of the Committee on Freedom and Responsibility in the conduct of Science (CFRS) of the International Council for Science (ICSU), of which the Australian Academy of Science is Australia’s National Member. ICSU has compiled a comprehensive list of codes of conduct from around the globe on the ICSU website at Freedom and responsibility portal.
The Australian Academy of Science is committed to working constructively with governments on the development and implementation of the Reef 2050 long-term sustainability plan, which is critical to ensuring a healthy and vibrant Great Barrier Reef for future generations.
During 2014, the Australian Government called for comments on the draft Reef 2050 long-term sustainability plan and, in response, the Academy reviewed the plan and identified a number of areas where further improvements were warranted. The final plan has since been released, and the Academy sought advice from its Fellows and other experts who reviewed the draft plan on the nature of the changes that have been made and the extent to which they reflect the science.
It is pleasing to note that there have been some positive changes, particularly:
The Academy recommends more actions be added to the plan to overcome or limit the trajectory of deterioration of the reef’s outstanding universal value which has been well established by numerous reports including the Australian Government’s own 2009 and 2014 Great Barrier Reef outlook reports. The plan should also limit the effects of cumulative impacts on the reef from climate change, fishing pressure, coastal development and dredging.
We believe that a better outcome for the reef would be to further refine and improve the plan.
A summary of the major issues and the Academy’s broad recommendations is included below, along with a summary of a number of specific points in the plan that the Academy recommends should be amended or reworded to align with current science.
At a high level, the fundamental driver of reef degradation now and increasingly in the future is climate change. The impacts of climate change on the reef are already being felt, and action cannot be postponed. Climate change is clearly a global issue, and the solutions do not lie within Australia’s direct control. However, Australia remains an influential global player, and significant action on climate change has been initiated by major powers including China and the USA. Protecting the Great Barrier Reef is clearly not either the only or the primary driver of Australia’s need to take action on climate change, but the reef does stand to be one of the major beneficiaries of swift action.
The Academy recommends that the Government continues to explore options to effectively mitigate climate change.
Beyond the broader impacts of climate change, the development of major port terminals that require significant dredging or reclamation is one of the major drivers of increasing current and future impact on the reef.
The Academy recommends that the plan should be amended to:
The 2050 Plan places no restriction on the volume or disposal of maintenance dredge spoil. Maintenance dredge spoil can have even greater impacts than capital dredge spoil through re-suspension of much finer sediments.
The Academy recommends that the plan be amended to:
The Academy is concerned that funding for achieving targets may well be a limiting factor to effectively implementing the positive attributes of the 2050 plan. In particular, it will be difficult to achieve the revised water quality targets with the proposed level of funding.
The Academy recommends that the Government:
Fishing is a legitimate activity within the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area, and this is covered in some detail in the 2050 Plan. However, the Great Barrier Reef Outlook Reports of 2009 and 2014 demonstrate that fishing is causing some impacts beyond those covered in the Plan, and that management of fisheries can be improved.
The Academy recommends that the plan:
The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority was originally designated as the independent statutory authority responsible for the planning and management of the Great Barrier Reef. This plan presents an opportunity to reaffirm this responsibility and to strengthen the expertise and authority of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority to ensure the reef's sustainability for the duration of the plan.
The Academy recommends that:
