Professor Scott Eacott

Professor Eacott is constantly seeking outstanding researchers to undertake post-doctoral, doctoral (PhD, EdD), research masters and/or honours projects that advance his research program on the provision of education through rigorous and robust social science. Prospective students are encouraged to apply for fellowships / scholarships in their country of origin, or from Australia, that would allow them to travel to Sydney. UNSW offers several highly competitive scholarships for researchers. These range from annual stipends, living allowances, and coverage of tuition fee costs, as well as funding for travel. Further details can be found at the UNSW Graduate Research Scholarship Page.

In addition, Professor Eacott welcomes unfunded applicants wanting to work in the research program. Most importantly, we are looking for highly motivated and talented researchers who believe they have the potential to make a significant contribution to the team.

Professor Eacott's research program is concerned with the central question of How do we organise education to get the outcomes we desire? Within this agenda, he is currently looking for higher degree researchers (PhD, Honours) to work on multiple projects:

Project 1: Empirical models of school system design
Schools are charged with serving as catalyst for more equitable and inclusive societies. As such, many reforms target improving schools (or even educators) in order to improve outcomes. However, no school is an island. The full social and economic potential of schooling cannot be harnessed through a focus on the school or educators. This project concerns the development of systemic design principles as a genesis for assessing the relevant costs and benefits of initiatives for government and system designers. This work is crucial for the provision of a more principled, and data-driven, way of prioritising the competing demands on public investment in education. An initial presentation from this project can be found here. You can read the latest paper from this project, Schooling for Equitable Excellence: Principles of Systemic Design in the Journal of Educational Administration. 

Project 2: Snapshots of provision
Where you live or what your parents do should not be determinants of educational outcomes. This work focuses on linking education data (e.g., school profiles) and social / community data (e.g., ABS census data) to study the provision of education over time. Of particular interest is the differentiation of provision and variance of outcomes within and across communities. This work is fundamental for informing policy making and reforms targeting factors outside the school gates and influential for schools and system looking to establish new schools or campuses. Sample publications from this project include papers on small schools, special schools, and reports on Steiner and Montessori schools.

Project 3: Housing affordability and teacher salaries
On a global scale, education systems are struggling to staff schools. There are many factors within and beyond schools impacting on the attractiveness of teaching as a profession. One under-explored issue is how the affordability of housing near (or at least within commuting distance) to schools impacts on staffing. The objective of this research is to develop an improved and expanded data-driven approach to the relations between housing affordability and teaching salaries. With new teacher particularly vulnerable to housing cost pressures, this work is crucial to developing important failsafe mechanisms to ensure the equitable provision of schooling irrespective of postcode. You can read the latest (open access) paper from this project, The Systemic Implications of Housing Affordability on the Teacher Shortage: The Case of NSW, Australia in The Australian Educational Researcher. 

If interested in any of the above projects, and eligible, consider applying for a Scholarship. The next round closes on 22 Sept 2023 for a T1 2024 start. Details for scholarships can be found: Key Dates | UNSW Research. The ideal candidate will have: i) A 1st class Honours degree, or equivalent, in education, sociology, history, community development, public administration, politics, public policy, cultural studies or related fields; ii) Previous experience with either empirical research (e.g., GIS analysis, data mining of ABS and/or education statistics, qualitative skills in interviews or focus groups) and/or the application of social science frameworks to social problems; iii) Excellent time, data management, and interpersonal skills; and iv) Evidence of well-developed verbal and written communication skills. If you have any queries about the positions, please contact Professor Scott Eacott.