The historical development and current status of multicultural education in Australia are reviewed, without, however, focusing on the education of Aboriginal people. In Australia, the term multicultural education is generally understood to exclude Aborigines, a distinction in which Aboriginal educators concur as they assert the unique identity and…

The Hawke Labor government in Australia, elected in 1983, conforms to a well-defined international trend away from stong public support for education and welfare spending. This paper focuses on the education policies of the Hawke government and compares them with those of the previous Fraser government and with those of the Reagan administration…

The struggle of Aborigines in Australia in the 1870s highlights the importance of literacy in cross-cultural relations and argues that literacy enables individuals and groups to retain greater control of their lives and respond more effectively when that control is threatened. (Author/SK)

A comparison of 24 Canadian aborigines who withdrew from college and 25 who persisted showed that withdrawers were often nonmatriculated, lacked time management skills, frequently missed class, worked over 25 hours per week, felt lonely and alienated, had family problems, and socialized excessively. (SK)

The development of the varied strategies that have been introduced in order to improve access for disadvantaged groups at Monash University is discussed. The Junior University Programme, the Monash Orientation Scheme for Aborigines, the Mature Age Special Admission Scheme, Special Entry Scheme, and the Schools Link Programme are described. (MLW)

This book starts with a review of the evolution of the notion of intelligence in its first chapter. In 1969, an article by psychologist Arthur R. Jensen suggested that there may be innate differences in intellectual potential between blacks and whites, and, if so, these differences should be taken into account in educational planning. The…

The relationship between teachers' theories of language and learning and the nature of classroom discourse is explored. Data from two classes on Aborigine lifestyles suggest that there are three components functioning in all lessons: interpersonal, content, and metalanguage. The quality of the metalanguage component influences the overall quality…

The Department of Adult Education of the University of Sydney (Australia) has been conducting an action-research project in family education for the Aborigines. The staff is to be available on request to visit communities, listen to expressed needs, and find ways of translating professional knowledge into media that can be understood. Gradually,…

This paper discusses the pre-colonial aboriginal societies that in part established laws, customs, and history through art. The paper cites their artistic mediums and methods and explains that art among the aborigines was used for learning to know, learning to do, learning to live together, and learning to be. The paper describes the role of art…

Six papers on the relationship of language and culture in the Australian Aboriginal context are presented. "Some Thoughts on Yanyuwa Language and Culture" by Jean Kirton gives an overview of some language-culture relationships and examines seven kinds of possession in one language. "Nyangumarta Kinship: A Woman's Viewpoint" by…

This book consists of 18 selected papers that focus on the broad topic of the educational process. All the papers were originally presented at the Fourteenth Annual Conference of the Australian College of Education, which was held in May 1973. Titles of the papers include "The Educational Process: The Raw Material,""Towards a…

Problems raised by a conflict between culture of the school and culture of the pupil's home community are brought into focus when looking at schooling for children from a culture which has no links into culture of the dominant group, and in fact rejects as "worthwhile activities" the very things that members of the dominant group regard…

This paper outlines an Australian bilingual education program for aboriginal children, and describes the role of linguists in such programs. The program consists of four stages, roughly coinciding with the first four elementary grades. During the first stage, the child becomes literate in the vernacular, is exposed to beginning content material,…

Because of recent criticism of the use of standardized tests to identify gifted individuals, the focus for identification of gifted adolescents has shifted to acceptance of three interrelated aspects: (1) above average ability; (2) task commitment; and (3) creativity. It is now recognized that talented individuals will only do well in…

A conference was held to develop a plan of research into rural education in Australia and to form a consortium of rural education researchers. Part I of this proceedings contains an introductory paper, "Rural Education: The State of the Art" (Steve Clark), which analyzes research in rural education in Australia in recent decades with…