Professor Stephen Crump

Academic Background and Current Positions

Current

Stephen Crump is the Pro Vice-Chancellor and Director of the Central Coast Campuses and a Professor in Education at the University of Newcastle, Chittaway Road, Ourimbah NSW, Australia, 2258. Stephen is currently chief investigator for an Australian Research Council project on interactive distance e-learning. He led two major reports and an ARC project on Vocational Education and Training for the NSW and Commonwealth governments as well as a Taskforce into NSW matriculation certificate reforms. Email: Stephen.Crump@newcastle.edu.au

The Ourimbah campus is one of three campuses that form an innovative partnership between the University of Newcastle, TAFE NSW - Hunter Institute, Adult and Community Education, local schools and business groups. This partnership provides high quality vocational and higher education options through a wide range of articulated programs and courses that provide pathways from and through school, foundation courses, TAFE and university. The Central Coast Campuses are held in high regard around Australia and regularly receive international visitors exploring our achievements.

The Ourimbah campus is a showcase for a dynamic educational partnership sited in a beautiful sub-tropical valley. The Central Coast region is an area of high population growth and rapid economic development. The campus has an exciting future with new programs under development, extra places for undergraduate programs, and planning for a range of new research centres.

Executive Manager of the Centre for Regional Education, Orange, and an Associate Professor in the School of Policy and Practice, Faculty of Education and Social Work, the University of Sydney. Stephen was the inaugural Head of the School of Professional Studies and held senior management positions within the Faculty including Acting Dean, Pro-Dean and Associate Dean.

National and International Activities

Stephen has presented to a wide range of audiences for over 20 years including keynote addresses at national conferences, individual and symposium presentations to academic and professional conferences in Australia, the United States of America, Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, Vietnam, England and Sweden. He has presented invited colloquia and professional development seminars at, for example, Cambridge University (1992), Boston University (1994), Uppsala University - Sweden (1994) and Kings College London (1994 and 1997) and the University of London 's Institute of Education in July 2004. Stephen has acted as an advocate and researcher at numerous school-level meetings for both staff and parents, and presented to government departments and curriculum authorities about research and educational policy issues.

Research Grants and Awards 1989 - 2008

$2,117,979(as first named Chief Investigator)
(more than $2,400,000 including project costs)

Research Background and Interests

Stephen's key research contributions have been in education policy and practice, across various issues and contexts, focusing on curriculum, policy and leadership in a way that is a particularly relevant to social, political and cultural issues in education.

In 2003-04 , he published a major report (40,000) on outcomes-based assessment and reporting in NSW with Professor Ken Eltis. This report was called Time to Teach - Time to Learn (2003), from which the NSW Government adopted all 29 recommendations.

Between 2000 and 2004 , as first named Chief Investigator, Stephen successfully completed a $501,111 ARC SPIRT, with Bob Connell, Gordon Stanley and David Saltmarsh, on VET and equity in senior schooling based on VET in Schools reforms to the Higher School Certificate in NSW.

Stephen also led a team that trialled the McGaw Green Paper recommendations for reforming Higher School Certificate in NSW (Shaping their Future). The Team's report to the HSC Taskforce was instrumental in shaping the Government's final report, Securing their Future (Aquilina, 1997), that became the driving force for improving secondary matriculation in NSW.

In the 1990s, he led two major reports on Vocational Education and Training (Key Competencies) for the NSW and Commonwealth governments.

Other recent research projects compared school-based and private industry organisational change (with an emphasis on management and leadership - supported by an ARC Institutional Grant), and multi-sector educational initiatives in Australia and internationally.

Stephen has also worked on home-school partnerships funding by an ARC Institutional Grant, and worked with the USA League of Schools Reaching Out.

He is a member of a number of international research networks, a reviewer for journals of high standing, an examiner of research theses, and an 'Ozreader' for the Australian Research Council.