In response to a range of problems associated with the direct link between international education and migration, which came to public attention in 2010, the Australian government has sought to address these flaws through various policies, including revisions to post-study work rights. This article explores how the education–migration nexus has evolved. No longer a direct link, it has transformed into an education–work–migration pathway, highlighting the growing importance of work within this nexus. Drawing on a study that includes a survey and 50 interviews with key stakeholders, including international graduates on temporary graduate visas, the article uses spacetime as a theoretical framework to analyse graduates’ post-study journeys and the different spatial-temporal intermediaries they encounter. The findings underscore how the traditional view of the education–migration nexus is now outdated and emphasise the central role of work in shaping the emerging education–work–migration pathway.

While gender-based violence (GBV) is increasingly recognised as a significant social and political issue, its impact on women educators remains underexamined. In the context of growing concerns about violence against educators and the prevalence of GBV in educational institutions, this study investigates gendered patterns of violence against school leaders in Australian schools. Drawing on 18,172 observations from reports by principals and deputy principals, this analysis explores incidents of bullying, threats of violence, and physical violence to identify disparities in the experiences of men and women school leaders. The analysis determined that women school leaders were more likely to experience threats of violence and bullying at work than their male counterparts. Logistic regression analyses revealed that gender, school sector, and role significantly influence the likelihood of experiencing various forms of workplace violence, with women in secondary schools and those in government or Catholic sectors being particularly vulnerable.

This study presents an analysis of the reliability and validity of the long version of the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ III) in Australia and establishes benchmarks for key dimensions of psychosocial work environment. A random sample was sourced from a panel of 2,446 working Australians aged 18–79. The study establishes population benchmarks for key measures of the psychosocial work environment and employee mental health, and assesses variation by gender, employment status, work sector, professional status, and occupational classification. Validation entailed an assessment of internal consistency reliability of the measures, followed by a preliminary Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) to initially examine construct validity of the instrument, and continued with a Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) to validate the scales. Working population mean scores for the key dimensions of COPSOQ-III were calculated and presented as benchmarks for use in workplace risk assessment and management. Except for one measure, the analysis revealed strong reliability coefficients for 31 measures with more than two items (> 0.7). Only one measure for ‘demand for hiding emotions’ with more than two items had a reliability coefficient of 0.663. The EFA unveiled a four-factor structure in psychosocial working conditions, and a two-factor model in factors related to the effects. The CFA involved item-level analysis, leading to the removal of seven items to improve model fit. The present study provides a high-level validation of the long version of COPSOQ, and thus supports its use as an instrument for research as well as psychosocial risk assessment and management in Australia.

This article investigates the key factors associated with Australian teachers' intentions to leave their roles by examining their working conditions, experiences of work and mental health through the concept of the psychosocial work environment. Utilising a dataset of 744 primary and secondary teachers in mainstream Australian government schools, we applied confirmatory factor analysis to validate the measurement model of teachers’ working conditions and health and wellbeing. This was followed by stepwise regression on a total of 36 variables related to teachers’ working conditions and health and wellbeing to select 14 key explanatory variables for our linear regression model. We employed mixed-effects and linear regression analyses to examine the association between 14 key variables and teachers’ intentions to leave. Our analysis indicated that several factors were negatively associated with teachers’ intentions to leave their roles, including commitment to the school, job satisfaction and meaning of work. In contrast, a greater number of factors were positively associated with intentions to leave, including emotional demands, conflict between work and family life, exposure to work-related violence, workload, stress and depressive symptoms. Furthermore, the analysis identified career stage as a significant factor associated with intention to leave, with mid-career teachers and late-mid-career/advanced-career teachers in the sample being more likely to express intentions to leave than their early career counterparts. By drawing on the concept of the psychosocial work environment and considering working conditions, experiences of work and mental health, this study identifies key factors that are worthy of further research attention, provides a broad, exploratory conceptual approach to understand how these variables are interconnected and underscores the necessity of holistic integrated approaches to promoting teacher retention.

Offensive behaviour towards school employees is widespread and involves a number of potentially harmful acts. There is evidence that school employees’ experiences of offensive behaviour are shaped by demographic, role and school-based factors that mediate the likelihood of victimisation. However, very few studies have investigated the prevalence and correlates of offensive behaviour against school leaders. This study analysed 13,028 survey responses from the Australia Principal Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing survey that were completed between the years 2011 and 2019. The analysis determined the prevalence of bullying, threats of violence and physical violence against government school leaders, the main perpetrators of these offenses and the moderating effects of key socio-demographic factors. Results from the study demonstrated that considerable proportions of Australian government school leaders were subjected to offensive behaviour with an average (pooled) prevalence of 36.2% for bullying, 48.6% for threats of violence and 38.7% for physical violence. School leaders report that students and parents are responsible for most offensive behaviours, but that colleagues also contribute considerably to incidents of bullying. Our findings illustrate that offensive behaviours against Australian school leaders are very high and that particular groups of school leaders are at elevated risk of victimization, especially female school leaders and to a lesser extent assistant principals and those inner or outer regional areas.

Australian policymakers are currently attempting to address an ‘unprecedented teacher shortage’. Through a survey of 905 teachers in Australian government schools, this paper examines some of the key factors influencing the career intentions of teachers in Australian government schools. Drawing upon the concept of the psychosocial work environment from the field of occupational health, this analysis examines the relationship between key workplace demands, workplace resources, teachers’ experiences and attitudes towards work, teachers’ mental health outcomes, and their intentions to either remain in or leave their roles. The results reveal significant relationships between teachers’ intentions to leave their roles and challenging working conditions, adverse work experiences, as well as heightened levels of stress, burnout, and depressive symptoms. In contrast, remaining in their role was associated with factors indicative of a supportive psychosocial work environment, such as job recognition, trust in management, organisational justice, positive work experiences, and lower levels of mental health difficulties. The study underscores the urgent need to understand and assess the psychosocial work environments of teachers, and for multi-level strategies that address both protective and risk factors.

While a growing body of literature focuses on international students, their post-study experiences and employment outcomes when they are on temporary graduate visas in the host country are under-researched. The article addresses this critical gap by investigating international graduates' employment experiences and outcomes. It is derived from a study that includes 50 in-depth interviews with employers, graduates and related stakeholders, and a survey with 1156 international graduates from 35 Australian universities . The study widens the lens of the discourse around international student graduates operating in a labour market which is overgeneralised by high-skilled and low/unskilled segments. It shows that international graduates engage with a complex labour market which can see them work in or out of their professional disciplines in multiple forms of full-time, part-time, and casual jobs. In particular, the findings indicate that international graduates on post-graduation visas who studied Information and Technology are more likely to secure employment in their field of study and spend less time to gain the first job in their area of expertise than those in Business and Engineering. This finding underscores the various effects of the structural conditions in different industries on international graduates' employability. The study also provides substantial insights into the increased vulnerability, deskilling, and precarity experienced by international graduates as migrant workers on temporary visas in the host country. It highlights a concern not only for the students, who place a premium on the acquisition of work experience, but also for host institutions and key destination countries and their delivery on promise in such a competitive international education market.

Although a reported concern, few studies have investigated both prevalence and moderating variables associated with offensive behaviors experienced by teaching professionals. This study analyzed 2866 survey responses of New Zealand teaching professionals in 991 primary schools to determine the prevalence of key offensive behaviors against teaching professionals, the main perpetrators of these offenses, and the impact key socio-demographic variables had on victimization. The findings indicate that particular groups of teaching professionals, and those in urban schools—are more likely to experience certain offensive behaviors. The varied nature of offensive behaviors experienced warrants intervention within the school and the broader community.

There is growing evidence that the complex and demanding nature of school leadership subjects many professionals in leadership positions to work-related strain and risk of mental health problems. This study analyses 16,460 survey responses from Government School leaders in general education settings, completed between 2011–2020, from the Australian Principal Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing survey. Over the 10-year period, almost one-third of Australian school leaders frequently experienced symptoms of burnout, and almost one in eight frequently experienced stress. Logistic regression indicated that female school leaders are at higher risk of burnout, while males are more likely to experience higher levels of stress. It was also determined that elementary school leaders were more likely to experience frequent stress or burnout than secondary school leaders, and early career leaders were more likely to experience higher levels of stress and burnout than leaders with more than 5 years’ experience. The analysis demonstrates that a large proportion of Australian school leaders are at risk of suffering from mental health problems and that urgent action is required to provide adequate support, reduce work-related risks, and promote healthy, sustainable work roles.

Over the past decade, a growing number of graduates, originally from key source countries of international students such as China and Viet Nam, have returned home after graduation from overseas universities. In particular, there seems to be a recent surge in the number of international graduates heading home due to the high unemployment, tightening migration, rising national protectionism and emerging challenges, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, in major host countries such as Australia, the UK and the United States. While there has been emerging empirical research on international returning graduates' contributions to their home country development, little is known about graduates' own perceptions of the impacts of the contextual factors on their homecoming decision and their home labour market navigation. Draving on a qualitative study, this article responds to this critical gap in the literature by conceptualising returnee employability as a dynamic interactive process between multiple forces in the host and home labour markets and broader socio-economic contexts, and between these forces and returnee agency. It identified interrelated contextual factors in the host and home contexts that drive Vietnamese graduates home, including challenges in securing migration, and insecure job prospects facing them in Australia and simultaneously, greater employment and business opportunities at home. In particular, the study found that contextual factors such as sector characteristics, types of employers, economic performance and cultural practices create an institutional environment, in which returnees' agency is enacted, resulting in different returnees' labour market navigation experiences and employment outcomes. Significant recommendations for key stakeholders in both home and host countries to support international graduate employability are provided.

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Additional informationNotes on contributorsBen ArnoldDr Ben Arnold's research focuses on the relationship between education working environments and educators' health and wellbeing. He is currently investigating occupational health, safety and wellbeing among education professionals longitudinally with a focus on the demands that educators are exposed to and the resources they have available to them. Ben considers the impact of educators' work on their health and wellbeing and evaluates policies and interventions to promote their health and wellbeing.Mark RahimiDr Mark Rahimi is a data analyst and social sciences researcher. He is experienced in quantitative and mix-methods research, including, statistical analysis, data science and analytical programming methods. His research interest is on applying data science methods in educators' health and wellbeing research in an international context.Phil RileyProf Phil Riley has been the Chief Investigator and Director of the Educator Health and Wellbeing research group at Deakin University. He researches the overlapping space of psychology, education and leadership. Professor Riley has led national research projects of health education professionals' health and wellbeing in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand and Finland.

Purpose International student employability has been accorded increased emphasis in the internationalisation agendas, especially in major destination countries as it shapes universities' attractiveness to prospective international students. Having insights into returning graduates' employability in their home country has become critical given that a majority of international graduates return home after their overseas study. This study responds to this critical need by examining how foreign credentials are valued by employers in the field of accounting in China, based on in-depth interviews with employers, alumni and policymakers. Design/methodology/approach This study draws on a qualitative approach involving literature review and in-depth interviews with 28 key stakeholders: employers, returning graduates and policymakers in China and India. The key research question of the study is how foreign credentials are valued by employers in the field of accounting in China and India. This article focuses on the Chinese context. In-depth interviews with employers and policymakers focused on eliciting nuanced socio-cultural understandings as to perceptions and decisions associated with desirable graduate attributes and the relative value of credentials. Interviews with returning graduates aimed to understand how different capitals were mobilised to gain employment in the Chinese labour market. Findings The empirical findings of the study show that Chinese returning graduates could be seen to lack the localised knowledge needed to work in Chinese companies and ability to adapt to the local environment. However the possible development of a dual local and international guanxi through overseas study can be regarded as a marker of distinction in the home labour market. The associated value of such a dual guanxi signals the importance for Chinese international students to develop transnational networks while simultaneously maintaining their kinship, social and business networks locally during their overseas education. Originality/value The study provides fresh insights into a marked shift in China, with less of a preference for Western credentials, as compared to 10 years ago when overseas credentials were often regarded more favourably. Even though overseas study generally provides Chinese graduates with an exposure to international practices and global perspectives, whether such an overseas exposure and foreign language competency would be an advantage also depends on the business needs and sometimes the business model of organisations.

‘Public’ education systems are among the most obvious achievements of modern societies. Control relates to aspects of control of schools and school systems beyond simple funding, including how far schools are required to comply with statutory obligations; where authority regarding hiring of teachers and other staff lies; and the legal and tax status of schools. School ownership thus is not about ‘bricks and mortar’ ownership, but rather the nature of the organisation managing and thus controlling the school to at least some extent, and how far it might be regarded as a public or private entity. In public school systems, such an indicator might also relate to the level of devolution of responsibility to the local level. Hiring and firing of teachers at the local level, once the province only of private schools, has become a feature of public school systems in many parts of the world.

New abstract: In a competitive international education market, the opportunity to gain post-study work experience in the host country is one of the key drivers of international students' decision making and critical to education export, especially in top destination countries, such as Australia, Canada, the UK and US. Understanding the impacts of post-study work for international graduates is crucial forboth host countries' international student recruitment and employment agendas and their ethical commitment to delivering on promise to the international cohort. Drawing on analysis of government policies and in-depth interview data, this study provides evidence about the effects of the post-study work policy in Australia. The overarching view from international graduates indicates that the temporary graduate visa does not seem to provide them with a competitive advantage in the Australian labour market as employers either are unclear about this visa or hesitate to recruit those on this visa. However, the visa brings multiple side benefits, including the chance to round off theiremployability skills, improve their English proficiency, and get a return on investment in overseas study. Many international graduates see the post-study work visa as a pathway to permanent residency despite the fact that visa reforms have broken the education-migration nexus.

Despite a significant number of international graduates staying in the host countries on post-graduation visas, their experiences in gaining access to the host labour market are less documented. This article addresses this critical but under-researched topic. It discusses the ecological circumstances impacting international graduates’ participation in the Australian host labour market, including the temporality of their visas, employers’ concerns, constraints of the market, time issue and bargaining position. Drawing on agency theory, the study shows two forms of agency enacted by international graduates in navigating the host market: needs-response agency, entailing their choice of field, persistence, and early job-seeking, and agency as becoming, entailing their professional identity development to become more employable. The study found the following common strategies adopted by international graduates: proactively explaining their work rights to employers, using alternative job search channels, reskilling, evidencing their professional skills, undertaking internships, networking and creating jobs for themselves and other peers. The study offered fresh insights into international graduates’ career adaptive behaviours, job-seeking skills and career management skills.

The growing popularity of Asia as a destination for study abroad for Australian students has been largely attributed to the introduction of the New Colombo Plan (NCP) in 2014. Despite the NCP being positioned as a ‘Rite of Passage’ between higher education and employment for Australian’s young generations, to date little is known about how it impacts students’ career aspirations and employability. This paper is a response to this critical gap by examining the potential impact and benefit of undertaking study or internships in Asia on students’ career aspirations and employability from the perspectives of NCP students themselves. It is derived from a study that includes 52 interviews with academics, mobility officers and NCP students undertaking short-term mobility and internships in China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, Thailand, Nepal and India. The findings show initial evidence of how mobility and interaction with Asia via the NCP experience enables Australian students to enhance, modify and transform their career habitus. The paper concludes with recommendations for developing effective strategies for translating study abroad into enhancing students’ employability and real career outcomes.

Very few organisations, even local firms, are insulated from global economic activity or the social and cultural consequences of widespread global migration programs such as international education. Nonetheless, established recruitment processes remain stubbornly local, privileging candidates who conform to the criterion of 'people like us' to produce a 'good fit' in relation to the existing workforce. In a three-year study investigating the employment outcomes of international students graduating from Australian universities in nursing, engineering and accounting, we interviewed potential employers (multinational, medium and small) regarding their recruitment practices. We found employers considered the credential indicated technical competence while the apparently objective criteria like visa eligibility and English language ability (linguistic capital) often filtered out many international student candidates. Additionally, in the context of rising credentialism, employers additionally looked for dispositions of employability or 21st century 'soft skills' considered to be transferrable from education into work. But the final form of distinction between applicants was based on whether the applicant would 'fit in' to the organisational culture and existing teams. Despite employers agreeing with management discourses extolling the benefits of workforce diversity with regard to gender, cultural and linguistic capitals, recruitment practices saw unconscious bias exercised against international graduates, thus reproducing monocultural rather than inclusive organisations.

In Australia, debates around school funding tend to focus on comparisons of funding between school systems and what this means for equity. In this paper, while we look at school-level funding between systems, our emphasis is on private funding in public schools with a particular emphasis on the relationship between private funding and ICSEA. Using data provided by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, we present a series of analyses that document the current funding arrangements of Australian schools. In particular, we focus on how private income and parental contributions are mediated by sector (Government, Catholic and Independent), system (States and Territories) and educational advantage. These analyses show that government schools are generating notable private funding per student with the majority coming from parental fees, charges and other contributions. We further demonstrate that these private contributions advantage may exacerbate inequalities within public systems across Australia.