One of the outcomes of the "Bradley Report" (Bradley et al. 2008) is that Australian universities have a new incentive to enrol students from low socio-economic status. Consequently, a flurry of interest is growing around knowledge concerning the targeting, recruitment and retention of low socio-economic status (SES) students. Working…

The past 20 years or so have seen ongoing concern for the nature of science education in the Anglophone developed world. A particular focus of this concern has been the need to find new ways to frame science curricula that will engage students, yet it is proving difficult to achieve this goal. In this article I argue that the impact on science…

This paper interrogates the relationship between the social distance men have from children, fear, and the social expectation that men will be capable of managing student (mis)behaviours. Briefly, the central argument is that the social distance men, as a group, have from children, and child protection concerns of men working with children can…

We are now at a point in higher education policy studies where we know that neoliberal discursive rationalities and practices are prevalent in the contemporary enterprise university, and we are beginning to get a sense of their impact on academic work and subjectivities. The article asserts that a more pressing question is how to powerfully and…

The field of youth studies appears to have increasingly taken on a self-consciously "international" orientation, characterized by grappling with how to represent local youth identities and social practices within international, transnational, or global contexts. This challenge is repeated across many different types of study and worked…

From the evidence Johnston has presented, it is clear that the number of children being born deaf in Australia has fallen off and that this decline is likely to continue as a result of the technological and social factors he outlines. It also seems that this reduction in numbers is reflected in other countries for which data are available. It is…

This article traces the development of the Dick and Jane texts, examining the dominent intellectual and economic considerations of their authors and publishers in order to demystify their transmission of values, beliefs, and meanings. (MT)

Traces the development of British and Australian television criticism from the mid-seventies. Suggests a conscious study of the characteristics of television as a cultural agent and as a text within a sociocultural context. (MS)

The relationship between literacy achievement in schools, socioeconomic marginality and cultural difference has been a central theme in literacy research since the late 1960s emergence of civil rights movements. Contemporary approaches to literacy education all begin from the assumption that "more" or "better" reading and…

The concept of "social context" for education has become increasingly common in educational research, but closer scrutiny suggests that social context is conceptualized in different and often conflicting ways. These competing conceptualizations should be confronted and evaluated so that research can proceed in a more meanigful way. (MSE)

Discusses developments in adult education in light of the vast number of social changes that have occurred in the last 30 years. Includes discussion of the difference between adult education and adult learning, the need for adult educators to become politically active and astute, the need for research, and training adult educators. (JOW)

Argues that adults' relationship with mathematics has three components: cognitive, affective, and social. Focuses on the affective and social components and suggests that the differences between informal mathematics and formal school mathematics lead to the former not being recognized as mathematics. Believes this situation should be analyzed from…

This paper describes the findings of an OECD project examining ICT impact measurement and analyses based on official statistics. Both economic and social impacts are covered and some results are presented. It attempts to place ICT impacts measurement into an Information Society conceptual framework, provides some suggestions for standardising…

This article outlines the development of centralized education systems in Australia, indicates some of the social pressures that have been inducing change in the patterns and summarizes what research says about school processes and their outcomes. (Author/CT)

Explores the relevance of the concept of cultural capital, seen as an alternative to the more traditional measures of socioeconomic disadvantagement, to the significance of information technology (IT) in contemporary societies. Research into Australian households' involvement with IT is used to examine relationships between IT usage and cultural…