The Australian Curriculum Science has "Patterns, Order and Organisation" as one of its six Key Ideas. In the biological sciences, the structural patterns revealed by observing living things are used to order and organise them in a hierarchical system of binomial nomenclature, in which living things have a generic name and a specific…

Australia first documented national goals for primary and secondary education in 1989 with the Hobart Declaration on Schooling. Since then, Australia's goals for the education of children have been updated in three subsequent National Education Declarations. Each of the Declarations includes specific goals for Indigenous Australian students, as…

The purpose of this study is to identify and characterize the state of social construction of learning in virtual communities within online learning environments and to identify the advances and research challenges of social learning. The method was a systematic mapping to analyze the evidence published on the topic in 2015-2020. We automatically…

In spite of advances in recognising that girls and boys, and women and men, do not have to be bounded by traditional roles, gender stereotypes persist in education and beyond. Children and youth are affected by gender stereotypes from the early ages, with parental, school, teacher and peer factors influencing the way students internalise their…

The three-dimensional design of the Australian Curriculum includes the cross-curriculum priorities (CCPs), learning areas and general capabilities (GCs). Geography teachers are uniquely positioned to address the CCPs through the subject's disciplinary focus on interrelationships between physical features of the earth with individual, social and…

Purpose: This paper explores the economic and social effects of human capital investment in the 20th century. As well as drawing on census data and statistical yearbooks in Australia and Aoteoroa/New Zealand, the paper develops its argument by an intersection of scholarly work in sociology, economics and the history of education to consider the…

This paper features the first-hand 'lived' experiences of one current university researcher on how social class across his lifelong educational journey has impacted his political dispositions. Written in an autobiographical style, the paper examines four successive life phases, beginning with working-class life in East London in the 1950s, failure…

Results of international achievement surveys such as the Programme in International Student Assessment have consistently reported an achievement gap between immigrant and non-immigrant student populations around the world. This paper unpacks this persistent achievement gap by examining key characteristics that influence the performance of first-…

Children with disability continue to experience disadvantage in their school lives; thus, the question of what makes up an optimal school life, and whether this is different for children with disability, becomes critical. This paper reports on research into parental views about an optimal school life and the usefulness of Social Role Valorization…

Gendered educational and occupational pathways are entrenched in many countries. The underrepresentation of women in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields has ramifications for individuals and for workforces. Girls' declining interest in STEM coincides with an increasing demand for STEM-skilled professionals across the…

This report summarises evidence on progress towards the seven Closing the Gap targets agreed to by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG), along with an analysis of the underlying key drivers of change. The COAG targets are set out in the National Indigenous Reform Agreement (NIRA) between the Australian Government and the state and…

It is argued that gender-related inequalities in education and elsewhere are embedded in ideology about the family, which is at least partially reproduced through the educational system. Western Australian educational reform from 1900-1929 is described from this perspective and in the context of the formal educational system of the time. (MSE)

An analysis of the social and political context of English teaching in Australia is presented in this paper. The paper emphasizes that the leading theorists from England such as James Britton, Harold Rosen, Nancy Martin, and Douglas Barnes, are providing theories that either ignore or misinterpret the social reality in which teachers and pupils…

Analyzes developments in the Western Australia educational system between 1983 and 1989, a period of dramatic, unprecedented change. Shows how patterns of control are underpinned and shaped by ideologies existing in a wider sociopolitical context. Major changes proceeded from opposing ideological strands--a social imperative that ultimately became…

Includes "Introduction" (Chitty); "Political Parties, Ideology, and National Curriculum" (Lawton); "First Three National Curricula and Millenium" (Graham); "Politics of Curriculum in European Perspective" (McLean); "Curriculum Scene in the United States" (Holt); "Similar but Different"…