Tony Jarrett

This research will explore how volunteer firefighters acting as expert partners in classrooms influence Year 5 and 6 education and disaster resilience outcomes during a bush fire unit of study. There is no research measuring the outside expert's influence on student learning outcomes; little understanding of the enablers and barriers to consistent, sustained and quality support from experts; and limited published research on the application of inquiry learning approaches in the context of teachers.

The new knowledge will reside in the social connections, interactions, collaborations, and knowledge sharing between teachers, students, parents/carers and the emergency service agency expert partners. The work considers the real-world challenges of bushfire risk and disaster risk reduction in a local context and is engaged wholly with educators and emergency services to deliver research that will make a difference to young people in their local setting. The findings will pave the way for longer-term research and scaled implementation of approaches to DRE programming at Stage 3 that supports and integrates school-based and teacher-delivered disaster resilience education.

NSW Department of Education

Warrimoo Public School

NSW Rural Fire Service