The Song Room Research 

Our standard of living in Australia is one of the highest in the world according to the UN Human Development Index, including our ranking in education. Unfortunately, however, we do have large gaps in equity of educational and social outcomes, for example with significant disparities in school completion and attainment for students from low socio-economic circumstance, non-English speaking or Indigenous backgrounds.

Addressing social and economic disadvantage has been an increasing focus for school education in Australia, given the growing evidence of the positive impact of school outcomes in reducing continued systemic disadvantage and other risk factors.

There has also been a growing recognition by educational leaders that improving educational outcomes is not simply achieved with a focus on numeracy and literacy, but that positive school engagement as well as social and emotional wellbeing are also fundamental building blocks to success.

The Song Room programs include a rigorous evaluation model, but we also believe in the importance of independent research. With funding from the Macquarie Group Foundation, The Song Room has conducted a major 3 year research project with a number of University and Research partners. Our two most recent research projects were conducted by Educational Transformations and Victoria University. The research report summaries of both of these projects can be downloaded at Publications and Reports.

Current and future research projects include investigations into new, innovative program models of both Creative Arts Indigenous Parental Engagement (CAIPE) in Queensland; Harmony in Strings program in Victoria; and PING, the online music learning program in Victoria.

For more on these projects, please visit The Song Room Research Projects.