Whole-of-School and Professional Experience Reviews

Overview

Deakin University commissioned dandolo to undertake two related reviews. The first review, commissioned in 2020, examined the School of Education’s (the School’s) overall positioning and performance. The second review, commissioned in 2024, assessed the professional experience (also known as practicum or practical placement) offering of the School’s Initial Teacher Education (ITE) courses.  

These reviews were prompted by external environment operating pressures, such as changing student demand patterns and regulatory requirements. The reviews aimed to equip the School with the insights needed to redefine its value proposition for students, streamline its operations, and better align its offering with broader education system needs.

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Approach

Performance measures and strategies  

Both reviews involved the design and application of fit-for-purpose frameworks to assess and improve performance of the School.

In the strategic review, our structured framework focused on:

Understanding external changes in the education ecosystem – including ITE regulatory reforms, shifting government expectations around education delivery, and changing approaches of competitors.

• Assessing Deakin’s positioning to respond to change – exploring its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, and unique advantages compared to its competitors.
• Recommending strategic responses – including short-term actions and three longer-term strategic actions or “big bets” to reposition the university around practical, technology-enabled teacher education.

In the professional experience review, dandolo developed a performance framework focussing on four criteria: strategic alignment with Deakin’s values, compliance with ITE standards, alignment with best practice principles, and efficient use of resources. The framework was used to assess the structure, governance, and stakeholders’ experiences, and to identify improvement opportunities.

Measurement and reporting of efficiency and effectiveness

Our reviews provided a clear, evidence-based understanding of the efficiency and effectiveness of the university’s offerings.

For the strategic review, we undertook a structured analysis of cost and delivery performance. This included:

• Demand and viability analysis, highlighting where course supply had outpaced student demand and where consolidation across courses could be achieved.
• Benchmarking the cost of teaching, which showed that the cost per student was significantly above the sector median, driven by course duplication, fragmented delivery, and inefficient use of senior staff.
• Scenario modelling, exploring options to consolidate the course portfolio and reconfigure staff loads to achieve a more sustainable and quality-focused operating model.

For the professional experience review, dandolo assessed its performance against a structured framework adapted from the Teacher Education Expert Panel (TEEP) for what high-quality professional experience should look like. This framework enabled a practical, end-to-end review of the journey of ITE students undertaking their professional experience, including before, during, and after their placements.

Quantitative and qualitative analysis

Our reviews analysed both quantitative and qualitative data to inform our findings and recommendations.

For the strategic review, we analysed quantitative university data on enrolment, staffing and costs, in order to identify patterns in course performance and resource allocation and to support scenario testing of future delivery models. We reviewed a suite of Deakin’s strategic documents, including business cases and faculty planning papers to understand the context and existing assumptions about the current state of the School, as well as potential opportunities. dandolo collected qualitative data through interviews with Deakin stakeholders within and beyond the School of Education (such as those in other university faculties), as well as with relevant external system stakeholders who understood Deakin’s context and positioning.

For the professional experience review, we collected qualitative data through 31 staff interviews, three student focus groups and a targeted survey of staff involved in delivering placements, which received 83 responses. We analysed these inputs to highlight areas of delivery inconsistency, pressure points, and opportunities to strengthen the level of coherence across ITE students’ professional experience learning.

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‍Outcomes

The strategic review enabled the Deakin School of Education to make key decisions about the future direction of its overall portfolio of programs / degrees, including changes to its course structures, overall strategic priorities, and positioning in relation to the market. This set the School up for success to continue to deliver high quality programs to its students.

The professional experience review assessed Deakin’s professional experience offering against best practice. We provided targeted recommendations to improve consistency, reduce administrative burden, and enhance the quality and coherence of professional experience across ITE programs. Our shortlist of must-do actions and long list of future opportunities were taken on board by operations and pedagogical leaders and praised by the Head of School.