Centre for Youth Policy and Education Practice (CYPEP)
About us
Being young in Australia right now can tell us about wider society and about our future.
By focusing on issues that affect young people, and on developing policy and educational interventions to address youth disadvantage, CYPEP aims to identify the challenges to, and opportunities for, improved life outcomes for young people today and throughout their lives.
Our vision
Our vision is for education that creates lifelong and life-wide opportunities for young people and enables them to thrive.
Our mission
Our mission is to connect youth research to policy and practice.
We do this by working with policy-makers, educators and youth-focused organisations on research that addresses emerging needs, and that respects and includes young people. Working at the nexus of young people and policy, we raise awareness of the challenges faced by young people today and explore how education can harness the capacity of young people to contribute to thriving communities.
Our approach
Building knowledge
We build knowledge by undertaking innovative, interdisciplinary research on the political, social and economic factors that affect young people’s lives
Translate and amplify our research
We translate and amplify our research findings into recommendations for policy-makers and tools for educators so that data is easily accessible and supports good decision-making.
Surprising alliances
We seek surprising alliances between researchers, policy-makers, educators, training providers, employers and youth service organisations to ensure our research has broad practical applications and impact.
Meaningful participation of young people
CYPEP’s activities involve the meaningful participation of young people to ensure our work is informed by the identified needs of young people.
Our areas of focus
Three areas organise our current work. They intersect and will evolve as we grow. Because our aim is to influence education practice, running through each of these focus areas are four threads: people (student voice, school leadership); practices (evidence-based); policies (schools to systems); and participation (in school, communities, economies and societies)
1. Young people and civil society
This area incorporates notions of security, citizenship, belonging and activism.
How can we rethink civics and citizenship education to foster young people’s active participation politically, economically and socially?
How can we better understand and respond to challenging conversations about social disharmonies, prejudice and radicalisation in schools and beyond?
How can we nurture and amplify youth issues, participation and voice to ensure young people are better represented in political decision-making?
2. The purposes of mass education
This area incorporates student assessment, careers education, and in-school and post-school transitions.
To what extent is formal education aligned to the needs and challenges of contemporary society?
How can we involve young people in decision-making related to their education, particularly those experiencing the intersection of multiple forms of disadvantage?
How can we ensure decisions made by and for young people about their education and other needs are informed by evidence, and have used that evidence well?
3. From surviving to thriving
This area incorporates notions of disadvantage, health and wellbeing, and life skills.
How can we develop more holistic educational approaches to interconnected issues of belonging, citizenship, employment, and health and wellbeing?
How can we help young people develop the capabilities (e.g. digital, financial, social and emotional) to successfully navigate their worlds post-school?
How can we encourage the strengths of young people to imagine and build thriving communities?
