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The article analyzes some of the cultural shocks Asian students experience both living in Australia and studying at Australian schools. It describes the transitions the Asian students face in the style of learning and presenting ideas. It suggests that culture shock is an inevitable part of students' experience in immersion programmes which should be perceived and involved as a part of the learning process.

We look across two studies, conducted within the current new managerialist policy context in Australia, which capture the construction of social spaces mediated through the nexus of material, activity, and discursive space. The focus of the first study is the negotiation of identities for a second language (Indonesian) teacher and his Indigenous and non-Indigenous students. The social space of their classroom is carnivalized, parodying traditional teacher/student relationships, and stripping the teacher of his authority. The students position the teacher as Other and, in the process, map the border of "white" space, temporarily allowing Aboriginal students access to dominant discourses. The second study documents strategies for reengaging young people who are not enrolled in mainstream schools. While policy makers have not articulated processes for reengagement, the default or implicit strategy of organizations that fund programs to reconnect young people in learning or earning pathways emphasizes information dissemination, or reengagement as contact. However, some youth workers are remaking the social space of school, enacting a strategy that prioritizes reengagement as commitment. These studies highlight the way processes of schooling dis/place both teachers and students. Our response is to consider ways of dis/placing school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As part of the Commonwealth's drive to enhance Australia's competitiveness in the global economy, Australia is five years from implementing 'National Benchmarks' to leverage measurable literacy outcomes from schools. This 'back to basics' agenda is in tension with another drive to foster advanced thinking skills in children. Teachers are being positioned as deskilled technicians on the one hand and model 'new economy' workers on the other, whilst working to meet the needs of diverse student populations. This article discusses the impact of these tensions on 'Riverside Primary School' located in a culturally diverse, socio-economically disadvantaged suburb of Adelaide. A case study of student-teacher interactions during a literacy lesson is used to illustrate how dominant educational and political discourses operate at a classroom level to construct children as 'normal', 'gifted' or 'slow'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a national roundup of press reports on youth issues in Australia as of September 2003. Results of a series of YouthSCAN surveys by Quantum Market Research involving Australian youths; Rise in violent student behavior against teachers in Western Australia; Status of the child protection system in Victoria according to a draft report.

Training pre-service teachers about lesbian and gay issues and heterosexism is crucial to counteracting the harassment of young people and teachers in schools, in promoting social change and enhancing the quality of life of lesbian and gay individuals. However, this discussion focuses on pre-service teachers' resistance to addressing lesbian and gay issues in schooling. The forms of resistance encountered are many, and include the personal perception of the relevance of lesbian and gay issues to teaching in schools and the various discourses in which these perceptions are situated. This discussion reflects upon the experiences of the authors, who have taught social justice issues in education to pre-service teachers in a metropolitan university in Sydney, Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the attitudes of preservice teachers toward college students with disabilities in Australia. Use of the Interaction with Disabled Persons Scale (IDP); Evaluation of the factor scale of IDP; Factors affected by preservice teachers' attitudes; Assessment of changes in the attitude of student teachers toward disability.