Professor
Professor Scott Eacott
Doctor of Philosophy (Education). Supervisor: A/Prof James G. Ladwig
Master of Leadership and Management in Education
GradCert in the Practice of Tertiary Teaching
Bachelor of Teaching / Bachelor of Social Science
Arts,Design & Architecture
School of Education
An enduring issue for governments and systems has been how best to organise education to ensure equitable and inclusive education for all. Professor Eacott's research program has been dedicated to developing the necessary explanatory resources (e.g., relational theory) to respond effectively to the empirical question of how best to organise education. A key contribution has been the development of the Relational Inquiry into the Provision of Education (RIPE) analytical framework. This relatively new theoretical approach for organizational theory in education offers a methodological framework for the study of the provision of education at multiple levels.
Building from his relational approach, RIPE analysis comprise five phases:
- Articulating the underlying generative assumptions on the purpose(s) of education (or a given topic);
- Locating assumptions within different perspectives on the topic;
- Investigating how those assumptions play out in practice;
- Describing and explaining activities without imposing judgement; and
- Using all of the above to show how things are and could be different.
Working at the intersection of education, sociology, demography, economics, planning, among others, and therefore leveraging cutting-edge analytical methods from multiple disciplines all held together through relational theory, Professor Eacott's ambitious research program aims to move beyond individual disciplinary based ways of understanding education and its impact to not just inform policy decisions but explicitly contribute to re-designing the provision of education to deliver equitable and inclusive education at scale.
Professor Eacott's distinctive relational approach has led to invitations to run workshops and give talks in Norway, Canada, the USA, Indonesia, South Africa, Mexico and throughout Australia. He has authored more than 100 publications, led major research projects and contributed to teams winning over $3.8M in external funding and successfully translated his research into policy and practice. Typical projects employing his RIPE analysis involve working collaboratively with systems, school leadership teams, and school communities to co-design plans to best meet the needs of all involved.
- Publications
- Grants
- Awards
- Engagement
- Teaching and Supervision
- Research Activities
A representative sample of externally funded grants since 2015 includes:
- Eacott, S. & Baldry, E. (2022). Building education systems for equity, excellence, and inclusion. Academy of Social Sciences Australia Workshop Program.
- Eacott, S. (2021). Steiner Education Australia Leadership (SEAL) project. Steiner Education Australia.
- Beswick, K., Piccoli, A., Roberts, P., Holden, R., Eacott, S., Loughland, T., & Alonzo, D. (2020-2021). Rural and Remote Education (RaRE) project. New South Wales Department of Education.
- Keddie, A., Blackmore, J., Wilkinson, J., Gobby, B., Niesche, R., & Eacott, S. (2019-2021). School autonomy reform and social justice in Australian public education. Australian Research Council Discovery Project [DP190100190],
- Eacott, S., Niesche, R., Loughland, T., Durksen, T., Heffernan, A., & Gobby, B. (2019-2020). School leadership and teaching incentives and impact. Australian Department of Education and Training.
- Wainer, C. & Eacott, S. (2019). Regional secondary school consolidation: experiments in leadership. New South Wales Institute for Educational Research Grant.
- Eacott, S., & Davison, C. (2018-2021). Griffith secondary school reform. New South Wales Department of Education.
- Eacott, S., Davison, C., & Morsy, L. (2017-2018). Secondary school reform: a scoping study. New South Wales Department of Education.
- Eacott, S. (2016-2017). School-university partnerships. External Industry Partners.
- Gallagher, R. & Eacott, S. (2015). Relations, organizing and leadership in education. New South Wales Institute of Educational Research.
- Neil Cranston Lecture, Australian Association for Education Research - Educational Leadership Special Interest Group, 2021
- Education Research Award, Australian Council for Educational Leaders (NSW), 2021
- Most outstanding reviewer, International Journal of Educational Management, 2020
- The Educator's Hotlist, 2019
- Australia's leading researcher in the field of Educational Administration (The Australian Research Magazine), 2018
- Visiting Scholar, University of Saskatchewan (Canada), 2018
- Visiting Scholar, Western University (Canada), 2018
- Hedley Beare Award - Most Outstanding Educational Leadership Writing (Australian Council for Educational Leaders), 2015
- Emerald Literati Outstanding Paper of the Year (2013, International Journal of Educational Management), 2014
- Book Editor of the Year, Untested Ideas Center (Niagara Falls, NY), 2013
- Fellow of the Australian Council for Educational Leaders (NSW), 2012
- Emerald / ALCS African Management Research Award, 2012
- Highly Commended, Emerald Literati Outstanding papers of the Year (2011, International Journal of Educational Management), 2012
- Emerging Research Leaders Program, 2011-2012
- Australian Leadership Award (AusAID), 2010
- Highly Commended, Emerald / EFMD Outstanding Doctoral Research Award, Educational Leadership and Strategy (Sponsor Journal of Educational Administration), 2009
- Runner-up, 7th Annual Emerging Scholar in Educational Leadership Award, 2009
- The University of Newcastle Teaching and Learning Fellowship, 2007-2008
MEMBERSHIP OF EDITORIAL BOARDS
- Educational Management, Administration & Leadership (2017-)
- Educational Leadership Theory book series (Springer, Founding Co-Editor, 2017-)
- Relational Sociology book series (Palgrave, 2015-)
- Journal of Applied Social Theory (2015-)
- Research in Educational Administration and Leadership (Section, Australia/Pacific Editor, 2015-)
- International Journal of Educational Management (2013-)
- Leading & Managing (2013-)
- Journal of Educational Administration and History (2013-, including Book Review Editor 2013-2017)
- International Journal of Leadership in Education (2013-)
- Leadership and Policy Quarterly (2012-)
- Perspectives in Educational Leadership (2011-2014)
- Journal of Educational Administration and Policy Studies (2009-2015)
MEMBERSHIP
- American Educational Research Association 2010-
- British Educational Leadership, Management and Administration Society 2010-2015
- Commonwealth Council for Educational Administration and Management 2010-2015
- Australian Association for Educational Research 2008-
- Australian Council for Educational Leaders 2003-2016
My Research Supervision
Current supervised topics include:
- Regional secondary school reform;
- Middle leaders in regional and rural schools;
- School reform in urban alternative schools; and
- Alternative providers of schooling and context.
My Teaching
Using a variety of approaches in his teaching, Professor Eacott's classes are distinctive for their privileging of rigorous and robust discussion and debate of key issues. Unlike traditional lecture or tutorial models, Professor Eacott explicitly engages with participants by challenging their ways of thinking and seeking to develop a commitment to public intellectualism. Following Michael Oakeshott, his central belief is that to be educated is to join the conversation of the world. This belief shapes how Professor Eacott sees the role of the course convenor, students, curriculum and assessment. In short, he expects students to actively participate in conversations about the content, assumptions, and implications of field shaping ideas for the purpose of organising education to deliver on desired outcomes.
Professor Eacott has been a Teaching and Learning Fellow (University of Newcastle), secured AusAID funding to bring 20 Filipino leaders to Australia for an intensive educational leadership program, and received internal funding (at three universities) for teaching and learning projects relating to online delivery of educational leadership courses.
Current courses taught in the Master of Educational Leadership include:
He has previously offered a term-long course on his relational approach entitled:
- Relational inquiry in the social sciences
Professor Education also offers an online short course (5 weeks) on: