The Imagined Futures program is part of a longitudinal research inquiry that will follow students' engagement over the first three years of their secondary schooling.
Aim
Our aim is to enhance and explore how a program with a literacy focus can impact on capacity building, students' knowledge of post-school options (not restricted to university study), and to improve student literacy and teacher data literacy.
Specifically, the research will focus on:
- changes (if any) to students' imagined futures, expectations and aspirations, and further education choices over five years of their schooling; and
- capacity building across the full spectrum of participants (university partners, school partners, student ambassadors, teachers, students, parents).
Approach
Each university is responsible for evaluating its own component of the program. We use a shared research and evaluation framework to ensure consistency across the project and in turn achieve greater impact.
The evaluation is centred around our Theory of Change, which outlines the impact we hope to have. It consists of three elements.
Three elements to the Theory of Change
Download more information about our Theory of Change and Evaluation Framework [Download PDF]
Broader impact
We use this research to inform future educational outreach, influence innovative teaching and learning practice and evaluate the impact for students, schools and university partners.