This book is concerned with examining how the processes involved in decision-making at the political and administrative levels have affected the school systems in Australia over the years since World War I. Schooling is distinguished from education in that schooling may well provide the individual with an introduction to an education, but it is essentially in the interests of society, not of the individual. Individual chapters are concerned with: (1) schools and the state; (2) the politics of providing schools; (3) the Australian government and the schools; (4) tertiary schooling; (5) the politics of change in the school; and (6) the politicization of schooling. Extensive references are provided. (DS)