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
- Awards
- Grants
- Media
- Engagement
- Teaching and Supervision
Publications
Awards
- 2021 Education Research Award, Australian Council for Educational Leaders (NSW)
- 2020 Most outstanding reviewer, International Journal of Educational Management
- 2019 The Educator's Hotlist
- 2018 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)
- 2015 Hedley Beare Award - Most Outstanding Educational Leadership Writing (Australian Council for Educational Leaders)
- 2014 Emerald Literati Outstanding Paper of the Year (2013)
International Journal of Educational Management - 2013 Book Editor of the Year, Untested Ideas Center (Niagara Falls, NY)
- 2012 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 - 2011-2012 Emerging Research Leaders Programme
(Sponsored by Deputy Vice Chancellor – Research) - 2010 Australian Leadership Award – Fellowship (AusAID)
- 2009 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
(Sponsored by International Journal of Leadership in Education) - 2007-08 The University of Newcastle Teaching and Learning Fellowship
Grants
A representative sample of grants since 2015 includes:
- 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.
Media
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
One of A/Prof Eacott's key areas of contribution and research interest is school leadership preparation and development. He has published in the area, has ongoing projects in Australia and overseas (with collaborators), successfully attracted funding through the Emerald African Management Research Award programme and used his scholarly approach to tertiary teaching to secure an AusAID funded project to bring 20 Filipino leaders to Australia for an intensive educational leadership programme. In 2007-2008 A/Prof Eacott was awarded an inaugural Teaching and Learning Fellowship at the University of Newcastle (Australia) to develop an entirely online educational leadership course. He has subsequently held multiple competitive teaching and learning grants while at ACU and UNSW for innovative educational leadership course and program designs.
Using a variety of approaches in his teaching, A/Prof Eacott's classes are distinctive for their privileging of rigorous and robust discussion and debate of key issues. Unlike traditional lecture or tutorial models, A/Prof 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.
Courses taught in the Master of Educational Leadership include:
He also offers a term-long course on his relational approach entitled: