Home education is a well established phenomenon in Australia but little is known about the movement of students between home schooling and formal education and how students view and handle the transitions. A sociocultural theoretical framework has been used to explore student perceptions of their transition experiences between formal education and…

Purpose: The paper sought to clarify the concept of learning organisation/community; to identify the barriers that are perceived to obstruct the creation of learning communities out of traditional schools; to identify how principals go about the task of converting their schools; and the special characteristics of leadership required to transform…

Utilizing conventional laboratory-science classrooms for a flexible science program is done by unitizing the science program and by team teaching. (BR)

Racism in Australian schools is indicated by an attitude survey which reveals that teachers from traditional classrooms believe that Aboriginal students will do less well than White students, whereas teachers from an open school predict that Aboriginal children should do as well as White children, given equal ability. (Author/EB)

Two competing theories of "both ways" (dominant culture access and minority culture maintenance) education are examined: Harris' culture domain separation theory and Kemmis'"negotiated meaning" approach. Analysis along three dimensions (view of culture, language, and epistomology/ontology) suggests Harris' theory is based on a…

Reports on a comparative study of a traditional and an alternative course offered in Victoria, Australia. Student attitudes provided the indices to changes in students' perceptions of themselves and their courses over one-year period. Students from the alternative course showed a greater increase in self-esteem, higher satisfaction with school,…

This study compares open education groups and traditional education groups with respect to student attitudes toward high school; creative thinking of students; collaborative behavior among students; and student preferences for intellectual activities, activities involving change or sameness, and activities involving autonomy or dependence. Groups…

As a part of a longitudinal study of learning in open plan and conventional design classrooms, the present study focuses on school design and its influence on selected behavior of pupils and teachers. The behaviors of pupils and their teachers in eleven learning areas of open plan and seven of conventional design were observed. Among the 18…

This anthropological and sociological study of a Jewish school (the Lubavitcher School) in Victoria, Australia examines the problems of an ethnic group trying to preserve its culture and values within a multicultural society. The study focuses on pressures facing both students and teachers over 15 months. The three major parts of the book discuss…