Prior studies suggest that adjustment is a significant contributor to the academic success of international students, and cultural differences can lead to adjustment problems. However, while Australia takes many international students from Indonesia, and there are substantial cultural differences between Indonesia and Australia, there has been…

The distance teaching counseling program for mature students at Deakin University, Australia, is discussed, along with the extent to which adequate counseling is provided for the distance student in Australia and other countries. Completion of admission and enrollment procedures for new off-campus students between June and December in the year…

Stress adaptation research suggests that individuals need not only strategies and skills to solve problems, but also supportive environments in which solutions can be accomplished. A general profile of Australian freshmen education majors was drawn to examine their adjustment to and behaviors in the college environment. Results indicated that 80%…

Orientation in this report refers to the various adjustment processes that students need to make to function effectively within a postsecondary institution. The major aim of the study was to obtain an outline of the range of problems encountered by respondents at Flinders University in a 1975 questionnaire survey of their adaptation to the…

Starting school is a transition marked by excitement, trepidation, happiness, or sadness for all involved. This issue of the Australian Early Childhood Association Research in Practice Series discusses some of the issues described as important by children, parents, and preschool and elementary educators in an interview study of children's…

A 56-year-old Canada Native took a college course on Australian Indigenous approaches to knowledge. He observed that initially many students were hindered by their past experience with linear paradigms of structured academic processes. Eventually they let their minds access spirit and feeling in addition to thought, allowing a recall of life…

A study was conducted to identify the extent to which the needs of overseas students enrolled in the Queensland, Australia, TAFE (Technical and Further Education) system are being met and to identify ways in which student support services may be improved. A multiple case study methodology was used and data were collected using the following…

Child and parent adjustment to the child's primary schooling were related to six measures of social inequality: parents' occupational status, education, marital status, and cultural background, neighborhood quality, and child's sex. Outcome variables such as parental aspirations, expectations, assistance, satisfaction, and coping strategies were…

An Australian national task force examined a number of areas related to achieving educational equality for Australia's Indigenous peoples. Young Indigenous Australians are disproportionately represented among young people who do not successfully negotiate the transition from school to independence and employment. This paper focuses on issues of…

To collect data about the first-year university experiences of rural students, 15 students were drawn from a pool of 125 Riverina (Australia) students who had participated in an earlier study on factors that influence academic persistence. The sample consisted of approximately equal numbers of males and females, about equal proportions of students…

A study of 126 traditional-age freshmen at the University of Wollongong (Australia) found student social and emotional adjustment was influenced by both circumstances and student attitude. Membership in a particular discipline group predicted better adjustment, and male and female students adjusted in different ways. Implications for counseling…

A Queensland University (Australia) action research project to help foreign students develop skills in the language of mathematics and adjust to the university environment is described. Student, teacher, and observer diary entries indicate students became aware of their language and cultural adjustment needs and made some progress in this…

The focus on parent participation in the Australian school community has intensified over the last few years, but both parents and teachers still hold many erroneous notions with regard to their shared responsibilities. Rather than viewing parents and teachers as two separate camps with children in the middle, it must be recognized that…

Children have long been "objects of inquiry", that is, research has been "done" on children. Research into starting school is but one example, where children have been observed, tested and assessed at various points, as a means of evaluating their adjustment to the school environment. The Starting School Research Project aims…

A research project using a non-random sample of seven high schools within metropolitan Melbourne during 1985-86 aimed to establish whether prejudice and discrimination were affecting the occupational socialization of senior students. Three sources of discrimination were hypothesized: curriculum, interactions between non-English-speaking and…