Dr Elizabeth Cassity

BA, MA, PhD
Honorary Lecturer
Phone
+61 2 9351 6215
Fax
+61 2 9351 4580
Building/Room
A35 / 506
The University of Sydney
Dr Elizabeth Cassity is a Principal Research Fellow in the Education and Development Program at ACER. Her area of technical expertise is in the discipline of Comparative and International Education. Elizabeth has over 20 years’ experience working in the Pacific, Southeast Asia, Brazil, Zimbabwe and Namibia as researcher and university academic specialising in the education sector. She is a specialist in research design, case study methodology and qualitative research in low-and middle-income country education contexts. Elizabeth is passionate about research partnerships and is an expert in research on teaching, teacher professional learning, research and government partnerships in education, student learning and equity outcomes, and policy research. Her work is systems-based, using a lens of reform and an understanding of comparative growth, policy, and development to address equity, or lack thereof, in education.
 
She leads a 10-year technical partnership with the Educational Quality and Assessment Program (EQAP) of the Pacific Community (SPC) in Suva, Fiji; and leads a number of other research initiatives in the Asia-Pacific region. She is a project lead for the DFAT-funded, multi-year teacher development studies in Timor-Leste and Vanuatu, and provides technical support to the study in Lao PDR.
 
At the University of Sydney, she was a lecturer in the Faculty of Education and Social Work, and she conducted Australian Research Council-funded research on development partner assistance and the education sector in the Pacific and Southeast Asia and supervised several postgraduate students. She was a University expert on education, equity and sustainable development. She was a Visiting Researcher at the State University of Rio de Janiero (UERJ). She was also a teacher in northern Namibia. 
Strategic Partner, GPE KIX (Knowledge and Innovation Exchange) Initiative, Europe, Asia and Pacific (EAP) Hub. Geneva Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies

Silver Medal in Social Justice category, Premier’s Public Sector Awards, Multicultural Programs Unit, NSW Department of Education and Training

Vice-Chancellor’s Excellence Award, Regional and Community Engagement, Centre for Cultural Research, University of Western Sydney
  • Principal Research Fellow, Australian Council for Educational Research
  • Ethics Advisor, Sydney School of Education and Social Work Ethics Committee
  • Editor, International Education Journal: Education Perspectives
  • Member, University of Sydney Pacific Experts Group
Books 
  • Bagnall, N.F. and Cassity, E.A. (Eds.) (2012). Education and Belonging. New York: Nova Science Publishers, Inc. 

Book chapters
  • Lietz, P., Ahmed, K., Cassity, E., Belisle, M., Friedman, T. and Spink, J. (in press, 2020). The role of International Large Scale Assessments (ILSAs) in economically developing countries’ in International Handbook of Comparative Large-Scale Studies in Education (Nilsen, T., Stancel-Piatak, A. and Gustafsson, J., Eds.). Switzerland: Springer Publishing.
  • Cassity, E.A. (2012). ‘Refugees and Belonging’, in Bagnall, N.F. and Cassity, E.A. (eds.) Education and Belonging. New York: Nova Science Publishers, Inc. 
  • Cassity, E.A. (2011). ‘Australian Aid and the Development of Education Policy: Reframing Engagement in Papua New Guinea’, in Hawkins, J.N. and Jacobs, W.J. (eds.) Policy Debates in Comparative, International, and Development Education (pp. 199-224). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Cassity, E.A. (2011). ‘Forced Migration, Identity and Education: Young African refugees in Western Sydney high schools’, in da Silva Araujo, M. and de Fatima Santos Morais, J. (eds.) Vozes da educacao: Formacao de professores/as, narrativas, politicas e memorias. Rio de Janeiro: UERJ, Sao Goncalo. 
  • Cassity, E.A. (2005) ‘Going for Global: Youth Transition in the South Pacific’, in Bagnall, N. F. (ed.) Youth Transition in a Globalised Marketplace. New York: Nova Science Publishers, Inc. 

Journal articles
  • Belisle, M., Cassity, E.A., Kacilala, R., Seniloli, M.T. and Taoi, T. (2016). Pacific Islands Literacy and Numeracy Assessment: Collaboration and Innovation in Reporting and Dissemination. Melbourne and Bangkok: ACER and UNESCO. 
  • Cassity, E.A. and Coxon, E. (Eds.) (2011). Education in the Pacific: Rethinking Partnerships. A special issue of IEJ: Comparative Perspectives 10(2). 
  • Cassity. E.A. (2010). ‘New Partnerships and Education Policy in Asia and the Pacific’, part of a special issue on new partnerships in aid and education in International Journal of Educational Development 30(5): 508-517.
  • Cassity, E.A. (2008). ‘More Effective Aid Policy? AusAID and the Global Development Agenda’ in IEJ: Comparative Perspectives. Vol. 9, No. 2.
  • Cassity, E.A. (2008). ‘Cast the Net a Little Wider: Australian Aid in the South Pacific’ in International Journal of Educational Development. Vol. 28, No. 3, 246-258. 
  • Cassity, E.A. (2007). ‘Voices Shaping Education: Young African Refugees in Western Sydney High Schools’ in IEJ: Comparative Perspectives, Vol. 8, No. 3, 1-11. 
  • Kirk, J. & Cassity, E.A. (2007). ‘Minimum Standards for Quality Education for Refugee Youth’ in Youth Studies Australia, Vol. 26, No. 1, pp. 50-56. 
  • Cassity, E.A. & Ang, I. (2006). ‘Humanities-Industry Partnerships and The ‘Knowledge Society’: The Australian Experience’ in Minerva, Vol. 44, No. 1, pp. 47-63. 
  • Cassity, E.A. & Gow, G. (2005). ‘Making Up for Lost Time: The Experiences of Southern Sudanese Young Refugees in High Schools in Youth Studies Australia, Vol. 24, No. 3, 51-55.
Back