Teachers (n = 125) and students (n = 1478) evaluated a trial RE curriculum in Australia using an online survey. Results showed that teachers rated the curriculum significantly more highly than students. Type and size of school influenced teacher and student perceptions. Four conclusions were drawn: The trial RE curriculum was positively received…

Transformations in contemporary higher education have led to an explosion in the number of degrees delivered online, a significant characteristic of which is the incorporation of multimedia to support learning. Despite the proliferation of multimedia and growing literature about the affordances of various technologies, there are relatively few…

This paper details the lived experience of the author as an education consultant from the mainstream of Australian education, attempting to assist a remote Aboriginal corporation establish its own secondary school, in its own cultural context on its own land. It is about the experience of an Anglo Australian servant of an Aboriginal corporation.…

Little has been written about academic developers (ADs) working in teams leading other ADs. This paper chronicles the experience of a group of ADs in one Australian university working on a curriculum realignment exercise. Unexpectedly the dominant theme in participants' reflections was group dynamics, not the process. We were confronted by…

This paper outlines the complex contemporary milieu of Australian teacher education within which curriculum leaders responsible for designing teacher education programs must make their program design decisions. Particular attention is paid to the collision of vertical ("hierarchical" or "academic rationalist") and horizontal…

This paper examines the internationalization of postsecondary education in Australia and Canada. The author discusses the contextual similarities and differences between the two countries, the shifting rationale "from aid to trade" behind Australia's internationalization attempts and some of the reasons for Australia's success.…

The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) is one of the world's leading educational research centres. ACER's mission is to create and promote research-based knowledge, products and services that can be used to improve learning across the life span. This annual report describes ACER's milestones and accomplishments for the 2013-2014…

This paper argues for the re-integration of academic development (AD) and a academic language and learning (ALL) practitioners in Australian higher education. This argument is made as universities aim to develop internationally recognised, inter-disciplinary and standards-based curricula against the backdrop of international comparative education…

Development of pedagogies within schools that inform adolescent learning has been an ongoing struggle within education systems. A novel approach to this issue was taken by the Non Government Organisation (NGO) "Evolve" based in Victoria, Australia, who worked in partnership with disadvantaged secondary schools to develop a multi-faceted…

This article presents a transcript of the 21st Fritz Duras Memorial Lecture, presented at the 27th ACHPER International Conference on Tuesday April 19 2011, at Prince Alfred College, Adelaide, South Australia. In this lecture, the author focuses on Physical Education, rather than the broader field comprising all those areas that, at least in…

While the calm waters metaphor might explain the changes navigated by Australian agricultural education through most of its history, the last 20 or so years have been very turbulent. Now, the new millennium sees agricultural education in both Australia and the Western world facing a different and less certain future. This paper analyses some of…

Purpose: This article outlines the development of extension as a discipline in Australia, its organization, and the ideological changes that have occurred from the second half of the nineteenth century through to the present. Design/Methodology/Approach: It considers the evolution of extension across the different states of Australia from a…

There is no doubt that the increasing politicisation of education in an economically rationalist climate is contributing to less equity, access, participation and, therefore, social justice for many Australian primary children. This article initially explores how the development of the impending national Australian curriculum replete with a high…

This paper explores contemporary Health and Physical Education (HPE) curriculum in Australia in the context of the ongoing development of a new national curriculum. Drawing on policy documents and academic commentaries it reviews and problematises the current position and prospective development of HPE in the Australian Curriculum, examining key…

The period from the late 1970s to the late 1980s were transition years for most public(government) school systems in Australia. A reaction was developing against the neo-progressive and radical (neo-Marxist) innovations of the late 1960s and 1970s such as school-based curricula, activity methods, and "open education". By the early 1980s…