Current school students, citizens of the future, will inherit urgent, complex, ethically challenging real world problems affecting social and environmental sustainability, such as anthropogenic climate change. Therefore, they must be prepared at school to understand the diverse issues underpinning anthropogenic climate change so they can make…

In the late nineteenth century, adult and public learning pedagogy were the key instruments utilised in the campaign to achieve Victorian Women's Suffrage. The democratic process of changing state government legislation on franchise demanded multiple pedagogical methods. Through the actions of Bessie Harrison Lee (1860-1950), this paper identifies…

The focus of this paper is whether type of Australian school attended makes a difference in student engagement in political and civic culture. Recently private schools have been said to "undermine cohesion" in Australian society. Similarly, it was argued over two decade ago that Australian private schools have skimmed the elite students…

Australia achieved marriage equality in 2017, following a controversial and divisive postal survey which invited all Australians to 'vote' on whether same-sex couples should be allowed to marry. The 'No' campaign focused on the alleged negative impact of marriage equality on children's education. Scare-mongering television clips claimed that boys…

This paper examines prime minister Robert Menzies decision to support science education in Australian schools in 1963. This was a landmark shift in policy for the federal government, but in many ways mirrors the decision of Eisenhower who brought down the National Defense Education Act (NDEA) in 1958. The paper uses a transnational approach to…

Purpose: Lave and Wenger's Communities of Practice is presented as a conceptual framework for examining extracurricular activities as a part of democratic schools' contribution to students' civic engagement. Data from the IEA Civic Education Study is analyzed to investigate research questions on the association between participation in two civic…