This project is focused on the second element noted by the Australian Industry Skills Committee (AISC) to streamline the national vocational education and training (VET) system so that it can better respond to the needs of industry -- faster development of qualifications. It looks at the vocational qualification development processes in different…

This report contains the results of a formative evaluation of the subschool system at Hamilton Senior High School in the state of Western Australia. To implement the subschool system, the school, housing grades 8 through 12, was divided into smaller administrative and social units. In the final stages of reorganization, the school was made up of…

Presents interim report on Loss & Change, preventive health education school-based program developed, in conjunction with teachers, by health workers from Australian community health agency. Describes program as generalist, exploring losses adolescents experience within context of healthy adolescent development. Sees this death education…

The Catholic Education Office of the Diocese of Parramatta in New South Wales (Australia) sponsored a large scale professional development program to help its secondary teachers deal with recent curriculum developments. Principals of the 24 diocesan secondary schools were allowed to choose whether their school would participate in the systemwide…

Described is a rationale for field study programs and descriptions of field study programs in Great Britain and Australia. Development and support of programs, both financial and staff, are discussed. (RH)

It is an underlying principle of Australian Education Review (AER) 54 that active efforts should be made to cultivate the latent bilingual potential within Australia's wider population and that this should be linked to major improvements in the quality of language teaching in schools. A combined approach of this kind will require investment in…

This article describes the establishment of a mentor program in New South Wales (Australia) as one initiative in the education of gifted and talented children. The program focuses on linking motivated students with mentors through development of a mentor database, interviews with student applicants, on-going monitoring, and program evaluation and…

An introduction and a case study are provided from a seminar concerned with the extension of transition-from-school-to-work initiatives to secondary schooling. The introduction discusses the purposes of drawing together the case studies--to indicate how Australian government policy concerned with school-to-work transition was implemented at the…

Provides background information on the McGaw report, which addresses literacy assessment in secondary education. Presents the Western Australian Education Department's view of literacy. Describes the guidelines and assessment procedures in the Department's investigation of the McGaw report's implications. Discusses the 1986 school trials that…

This article notes the trend in Australia toward school-based decision making through school/community councils and describes the school evaluation conducted by the Council of the Huntingdale Technical School in Melbourne. (SJL)

Existing Department of Technical and Further Education (TAFE) policy and practice in link courses are reviewed, and some proposals are made on the development of that policy. Issues or questions raised by these policies are juxtaposed with the presentation of link program policy. Chapter 1 considers the background of the link course program and…

Because more Western Australian students are now completing years 11 and 12 and because many of these students are not interested in the traditional college entrance program, a growing number of schools are offering alternative programs. These programs are extremely diverse across the state and may be either prevocational or general, may contain…

The development of "New Apprenticeships" reflects the need to strengthen employment-based training in Australia. The strengths and tradition of Australia's existing system must be built upon; inflexibilities that reduce options and choice must be removed. It is a four-stage process: development of policy principles, establishment of a…

The use of language proficiency rating scales in Australian school language programs is discussed, focusing primarily on the Australian Second Language Proficiency Ratings (ASLPR), the only direct instrument developed in Australia that is in widespread use and that has been extensively tested. It is also the only one developed for use with a…

The Project for Enhancing Effective Learning (PEEL) is a well-established Australian example of teacher collaborative action research. The aim of the project, which began in a secondary school in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia) and later spread to other countries, is to improve the quality of students' classroom learning through practice in…