Events
Student disengagement is a systemic problem. Solving it requires every voice in the room.
The evidence alone does not drive change — the conversation around it does. IER brings together the people who matter most on this issue: students and parents who live it, teachers and principals who navigate it daily, researchers and academics who study it, and the policymakers and associations who have the power to act on it.
Our events create the conditions for honest, informed dialogue — drawing on the best available evidence to deepen understanding, challenge assumptions and build the collective will for reform.
Events
Student Engagement in the Middle Years: A Roundtable Conference - March 2026
Hosted by the Institute of Educational Reform and chaired by Associate Professor Amanda McGraw, this one-day roundtable brought together researchers, teachers, school leaders, students, parents and industry experts to examine the nature and impact of student disengagement in Victorian middle years schooling.
Through structured provocation, discussion and creative activities, participants explored what engagement means in contemporary schools, what pedagogical approaches make a difference, and what research is still needed. The event was designed to act as a starting point for shared understanding, future planning and evidence-based reform.
The infographic functions as a visual summary of the IER Roundtable report’s central argument. Generated using NotebookLM from the roundtable report text and reviewed for thematic alignment, it represents the shift from passive, transactional and disconnected schooling towards middle years learning that is relational, purposeful and engaging. It highlights recurring concerns raised through the roundtable, including rigid structures, age-based grouping and a crisis of connection, and contrasts these with the conditions participants identified as necessary for stronger engagement, such as relational safety, student agency, broader pathways, and a stronger focus on growth, belonging, curiosity and confidence alongside attainment.
Paper Available Soon
The Age Education Sumit
Crown Conference Centre Melbourne
10 June 2026
Shaping the Future of Education in Victoria.
The Institute for Educational Reform is the Gold Presenting Partner of this flagship event that brings together educators, policymakers, researchers, and thought leaders to address the most pressing challenges and opportunities in the education sector. With a focus on shaping the future of education in Victoria, the summit provides a platform for meaningful dialogue, collaboration, and the exchange of innovative ideas to drive positive change in schools and communities.
SPEAKER
Dr Geoff Masters – Director of Research Institute for Educational Reform
Is it Time to Ditch the Industrial Model of School?
This is the question at the heart of Geoff’s recently released book The Children We Leave Behind: How School Could Be Done Differently. His book draws attention to the large numbers of children being sorted out and left behind by the current machinery of schooling—a machinery which, in its design, is inconsistent with what we know about learning and so in need of reform. Features of the current model that he will address are:
- the assumption that students of the same age are about equally ready to be taught the same curriculum at the same time for the same amount of time;
- the requirement that students advance from one curriculum to the next based on elapsed time rather than mastery of what has been taught; and
- assessments and forms of reporting—including marks, percentages and A to E grades—that define success only in terms of aged-based expectations.