With the Australian international borders closed to international students due to the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Australian universities have experienced unanticipated financial losses. At the same time, many international students who would have chosen to study in Australia instead chose to enrol in universities in the US, UK and other…

The evolution of teachers' identities in Australia highlights the struggles between state and civic over the control of schooling and also the contingent nature of the teacher identity itself. A genealogical analysis of this history makes visible these contingencies, but more importantly suggests that little reckoning has been afforded to…

Concerns about creating greater equity in education are often projected outside of teaching. Yet the creation by teachers of more equitable and inclusive educational experiences and opportunities can play an important part in wider struggles for social justice. We argue that equity must become a central dimension of teacher education to challenge…

This article explores factors contributing to unequal patterns of access to languages other than English (LOTE) in Australian universities. A critical analysis of qualitative and quantitative data generated through interviews, surveys and document analysis reveals that underrepresentation in LOTE courses in Australian universities is attributable…

Attempts to make higher education more equitable more readily succeed at the aggregate (sector) level than at the institutional, with students from disadvantaged groups being overrepresented in low-status institutions. It is suggested that this is because policies of "fairness" (i.e. proportional representation) dominate the contemporary…

The intersection of sport and education is a potentially powerful site for the production of class and gender. This paper examines how the relationship between sport and education can also serve to (re)produce ideas about "race". Drawing on research conducted during my time as a coach of the first XV rugby team at an elite private school…

This article explores parents' use of private tutoring services for their primary school children in Sydney, Australia's largest city. Using Bernstein's theories of invisible and visible pedagogies, we look, through the eyes of a small group of middle-class Chinese-background interviewees, at the tensions between certain pedagogic forms associated…

How are elite schools caught up in the changing processes of globalisation? Is globalisation a new phenomenon for them? This paper focuses on the globalising practices that selected elite schools adopt. It also explores how globalisation is impacting on the social purposes of elite schools, which conventionally have been to serve privileged social…

School choice is most commonly considered in the context of private/public schooling and access to university. University entry remains a key element in family decision-making about which school they would like their children to attend. Debates about school choice are most commonly framed in relation to marketisation and the relative popularity of…

New evidence is provided about the degree of social segregation in England's secondary schools, employing a cross-national perspective. Analysis is based on data for 27 industrialised countries from the 2000 and 2003 rounds of the Programme of International Student Assessment (PISA). We allow for sampling variation in the estimates. England is…

In a global society and economy, education and training is essential to a nation's competitiveness and to the standard of living of its people. The need to open the doors of higher or further education beyond the relatively limited enrollments in elite and selective universities has spawned a movement to develop or expand institutions that are…

There are few historical studies about the sex education of Australian youth. Drawing on a range of sources, including the oral histories of 40 women and men who attended two single-sex, selective high schools in a provincial Australian city (Newcastle, New South Wales) in the 1930s-1950s, this paper explores the adolescent experience of sex…

The recent decision of the High Court of Australia in "Griffith University v. Tang" denied judicial review to a student aggrieved by the decision of a university to exclude her. This article analyses the role of judicial review of university decision-making in the United Kingdom and Australia, analysing the justification for…

A study investigated effectiveness of a University of Southern Queensland (Australia) program to improve access to higher education for disadvantaged groups. Results suggest that, although the program improves access, it has inherent inequities, does not provide adequate student support, and does not consider student readiness for the demands of…