Society, Schools and Progress in Australia


Book Description

Society, Schools and Progress in Australia concerns the study of developments in the educational system and decisions affecting it in Australia. This book is part of a series on the same subject involving several countries or regions. This book deals with the main features of the educational system inherited from the United Kingdom and applied in Australia in terms of transformation, modification, and technological advances. After giving a description of the background of education, this book discusses the organization of public education in Australia: secondary education; administrative centralization; and the role of the commonwealth, States, and local communities. This book then reviews the assumptions and philosophies that seem to have influenced the direction and growth of education in the country. This text considers the independent schools, education and equality, leading issues in secondary education, and the influence of universities and catholic schools. This book also examines the patterns of higher education, notably at the university level, the British influence, and postgraduate and research work. This text addresses technical education, adult education, and teacher training. This book then evaluates the broad features of Australian education, the bureaucracy, social change, and some aspects for national development. Education ministers and policymakers, school administrators, city and state officials, and sociologists will find this book very informative.










Introducing Comparative Education


Book Description

Introducing Comparative Education aims to familiarize newcomers with comparative education as a field of study and to provide a continuing reference as people become more actively involved with comparative studies and the problems associated with developing them in rigorous and productive ways. The purposes and methods of comparative education are also discussed. Comprised of eight chapters, this book begins by presenting a neat, simple, and generally accepted definition of comparative education. The reader is then introduced to the history and development of comparative education; the purposes of comparative education; some of the pitfalls in trying to compare education or educational systems across cultural and national boundaries; and some of the alternative methods open to those who would like to develop studies in comparative education. The approaches associated with Isaac Kandel, Nicholas Hans, and G. Z. F. Bereday, Brian Holmes, Edmund King, Harold Noah, and Max Eckstein are considered. The book concludes with a listing of resources for teaching and learning. This monograph is intended for students and educators.




Society, Schools and Progress in England


Book Description

Society, Schools and Progress in England analyzes the changing trend in English education. The title tackles the contemporary issues and problems, along with the efforts to restructure the English education system to fit the needs of an industrial society. The text first examines the historical foundations, and then proceeds to tackling the social and economic foreground. Next, the selection talks about education and government. Chapter 4 discusses the changing schools, while Chapter 5 covers higher education and new needs. The text also deals with education and industry, along with opportunities for education. The book will be of great interest to educators, sociologists, political scientists, economists, and behavioral scientists.




Girls, School & Society


Book Description




Restructuring Schools


Book Description

Education reform has become part of a political imperative in a number of developed countries, including the USA, Japan and the UK. This book questions why this reconstruction occurred at the same time in different places and asks, what common themes are emerging in the restructuring movement?




Schooling and Society in Australia


Book Description

Historical and sociological perspectives on Australian schooling, focusing on the social structures and processes which explain the Australian education system. The fourteen chapters are based on major topics within the sociology of education and are written by specialists in this field.




Teacher Education Policy and Practice


Book Description

This volume addresses both 'evidence of impact' and 'impact of evidence' to reveal the complex dialogue between the enterprise of teacher education and evidence of its effects in the early 21st century, taking a critical position on the very notions of 'evidence' and 'impact' that underpin contemporary policy frameworks. Teacher education programs in Australia and internationally are challenged by contemporary policy frameworks to demonstrate evidence of the impact they have on the capacity of graduating teachers to act with confidence and competence in school and early childhood education classrooms. At the same time, the field of teacher education is increasingly working to build a robust platform of research evidence that speaks to these policy frameworks and to broader issues concerning the role of teaching and teacher education in society.




Making the Difference


Book Description

First published in 1982, Making the Difference has become a classic in the study of education and of Australian society. Hailed on publication as 'certainly the most interesting book written about Australian schools in a very long time [and] arguably the most important', it has since been recognised as one of the 10 most influential works of Australian sociology, 'not just a major argument, and a 'classic' point of reference, [but] an event, an intervention in ways of doing research and speaking to practice, a methodology, a textual style. it was designed to be read by a much wider audience than the standard sociological text, and it has succeeded'. Making the Difference draws on a detailed study of the schools and homes of the powerful and the wealthy, and of ordinary wage-earners. It allows children, parents and teachers to speak for themselves and from what they say it develops strikingly new ways of understanding 'educational inequality', of how the class and gender systems work, and of schools and their social roles. 'Equality of opportunity', co-education, and 'relevant and meaningful curriculum' are all questioned, sympathetically but incisively. Ranging across educational policy from system level to the everyday experience of kids and teachers, from the problems of schooling to the production of class and gender relations, this path-breaking combination of theory, research and politics remains engaging, thought-provoking, and relevant.