This article reports on the results of a survey of Australian primary pre-service teachers' experiences, conceptions and perceptions of geography. Research was conducted with two cohorts of undergraduate primary pre-service teachers; one group in second year and another in the final year of a four-year teacher education course. The findings show…

The Australian Government has recently introduced a national based curriculum, known as The Australian Curriculum. This new curriculum is intended to provide quality education for all students (Australian Curriculum, Reporting and Assessment Authority, [ACARA], 2013). This article considers some of the possible implications of the Australian…

In this paper, we report on an investigation into initial teacher education students' (ITES) understandings of sustainability and the Australian National Curriculum Sustainability Cross Curricular Priority (CCP). We also explore their willingness and capacities to embed the CCP into their own teaching practices. The ITES (N = 392) completed a…

In 2008 it was agreed by the Australian Education Ministers that a national curriculum be implemented with the rationale that it would help to ensure high quality education for all young Australians (ACARA, 2012b). One reason for the shift to a standardised national curriculum is so that "School and curriculum authorities can collaborate to…

In 2008, the Australian Government established the Artist-in-Residence (AiR) program as a four-year $5.2m initiative to improve young people's access to quality arts education. Managed by State and Territory Government Education and Arts Departments, the program funded professional artists-in-residence in schools, early childhood centres and…

With the development of the English as an Additional Language or Dialect (EAL/D) Teacher Resource, the educational needs and outcomes of refugee and immigrant children have been placed on the national mainstream teaching agenda. This new national resource sits alongside a plethora of other resources, known as scales and standards, which have been…

The Australian Research Centre for Sex, Health and Society (2009) reported a rise in the number of students becoming sexually active at a younger age. Statistics show the rate of people contracting Sexually Transmitted Infections have increased in Australia, with reported numbers of Chlamydia quadrupling in the last ten years, with 80% of reported…

The purpose of the Biennial Survey of Education in the United States is to present to the people of this Nation a picture, as complete and accurate as possible, of the many types of education they finance, administer, and maintain. But this isolated picture is not enough. The worth, activity, and progress of any system of schools are relative…