The Benefits of Study Leave

The benefits of study leave have paid off for Lecturer in Early Childhood Education, Dr Margot Ford, with her recent article, Achievement gaps in Australia: what NAPLAN reveals about education inequality in Australia, becoming one of the most read articles on Race Ethnicity and Education.

The article has currently had 1311 views, and is the second most read article of the journal.

The article examines results from NAPLAN testing and analyses the inequality of achievement between indigenous and non-indigenous students, particularly in New South Wales and the Northern Territory.

Margot's article argues that there has not been any significant change to indigenous education outcomes in comparison with their non-indigenous cohorts, since the introduction of government funded education in the NT.

Study leave enabled Margot to travel to the United Kingdom and to work with the editor of the journal.

"Study leave was so beneficial to me as it allowed me to have a face-to-face connection with the journal editor. This meant I was able to use his methodology for the article and his immediate feedback helped me give the article a great connection to the journal," Margot said.