A concern for Catholic educators is how to keep Catholic schools viable and healthy in a milieu of diminishing numbers of religious as well as a very complex and changing world. This article addresses the Augustinians' response to the challenge to keep the Order's mission of education alive and thriving in the 21st century. This article hopes to…

Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is a transdiagnostic cognitive behavioural therapy that predominantly teaches clients acceptance and mindfulness skills, as well as values clarification and enactment skills. Australian treatment guideline providers have been cautious in recognising ACT as empirically supported. This article reviews evidence…

This thesis explores the teaching of values in Australian schools through a framework established by the Australian Federal government during the 2000s. This paper focuses on: the approaches employed by the Australian Federal government in the implementation of Values Education; and the application of cases of values-based education utilized by…

This article describes briefly the growing emphasis in Australia on values education as evidenced by the Australian Government's National Framework for Values Education in Australian Schools (2005), and the responses of the respective States and Territories. Arguing that the major approaches to the teaching of values (the trait approach often…

Drawing on the Spirit of Generation Y project and extensions of that project undertaken in 25 Australian schools by the Christian Research Association, it is argued that the approach to religious knowledge by Australian students can be contrasted with their approach to other forms of knowledge by four features. These are diversity of opinion in…

The "Adelaide Declaration on National Goals for Schooling in the Twenty-First Century" provides a mandate for discussion of the spiritual within secular state schooling, but this discussion has never occurred. This is a serious omission given what could be called an "undercurrent of concern" for the ways in which young people…

Moral relativism, spearheaded by values clarification techniques, has transformed the ethos of South Australian schools. The theory and practice of innovative pedagogy in the realm of moral values is critiqued. Suggestions as to how a secular system of education can avoid moral anarchy without relapsing into ideological indoctrination are made.…

Drawing on Vygotsky's (1997a) concept of "fossilized behavior", this study examines the cultural fault lines between the imagined community (Anderson, 1991) of early childhood education and some Australian Indigenous families. Through creating a social space within which Indigenous families could examine dominant and taken-for-granted…

Reports on a study of 24 Australian secondary teachers before and after an inservice program on the whole-school approach to discipline. Finds that higher principled teachers provided more perspective and guidance than those in the low moral judgment group. Recommends more joint decision making by teachers in developing a school's discipline…

Background: Over the past 20 years, a number of researchers have expressed concern over the lack of confidence and qualifications of primary school teachers to teach PE. Evidently, the influence of personal school PE experiences may play an important role in the development of teachers' confidence to appropriately teach PE. Most research that has…

Discusses the various ways that environmental education is defined. Emphasizes the influence that environmental education can have on values and behaviors. Describes formal and informal approaches to environmental education, along with some of the problems of programs that exist in both of these realms. (TW)

This investigation monitored the perceived effectiveness of a professional development program, called Facilitating Effective Learning and Teaching, in improving teacher practice. The program assumes that improvement is likely when the participants understand and value the learning process and themselves as learners and teachers. Program…

Globalisation has seen diverse cultures becoming increasingly entwined and interdependent as business organisations operate in a borderless world. When organisations operate internationally they often find that countries differ in what is considered wrong or right. The objectives of the research were to identify cross-cultural ethical dilemmas…

An analysis of deficiencies of recent curriculum reform efforts in Australia and recommendations for improvement are presented in this paper. Despite criticisms that have been levelled at the educational system, a conclusion is that educators are well prepared to meet the demands for restructuring. What is needed is not merely restructuring, but a…