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Corporate reforms have taken place in Australian and Chinese higher education systems to increase efficiency and productivity, and to accommodate the emergence of global markets by exposing universities to market competition. The competing demands of teaching and research arguably have emerged as an important issue for both Australian and Chinese higher education. This study provides insights into the two primary functions of higher education, namely teaching and research. Expectancy Theory is used to investigate Chinese and Australian university academics' valence for teaching and cross-disciplinary research, with reference to the key individual cultural values at the individual level, allocentrism and idiocentrism. A two-stage cluster sampling method was employed to select Chinese and Australian university academics. The Chinese sample comprised 213 universities academics from Beijing and Hangzhou, and the Australian sample consisted of 112 academics drawn from universities in Australia. Exploratory factor analysis was applied to identify factors in the Chinese and Australian data. The common factors identified for the Chinese and Australian samples were then compared, and posited hypotheses tested. There was no statistically significant difference between the Chinese and Australian participants' valence for teaching. However, the Australian academics reported significantly higher valence for cross-disciplinary research than the Chinese academics. In general, the Australian academics scored significantly higher on idiocentric factors and lower on allocentric factors than their Chinese counterparts. Findings suggest that it may be helpful to categorise academic activities according to individual and group orientations and matching academic activities with academics' cultural orientations may improve their motivation. In order to promote cross-disciplinary research, an environment of in-group cooperation may need to be fostered before any real progress can take place, especially when academics with allocentric orientations are involved., Author(s): Edward Feng Li[sup.1] , John McCormick[sup.2] , Kerry Barnett[sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia (2) Interdisciplinary Educational Research Institute, School of Education, The [...]

The investment by government and individuals in three-year and four-year bachelor degrees leads to significant economic benefits for both parties. Science and Technology (S&T) bachelor degrees yield higher private rates of return, 20.1 per cent (three-year) and 15.0 per cent (four-year), than for Humanities and Social Science (H&SS) degrees, 13.7 per cent and 10.3 per cent respectively. The social rate of return for all degrees is in the range 8.7 per cent to 12.1 per cent. A balance sheet analysis reveals that the return to government is 1.3 to 1.7 times for S&T degrees and 1.7 to 2.1 times for H&SS degrees. Net present value (NPV) lifetime earning increases to the graduate, relative to private degree costs, range from 1.4 to 3.7 times. For two-year Masters-by-research degrees and four-year Doctor of Philosophy degrees in S&T and H&SS disciplines the NPV lifetime earnings, relative to private degree costs, range from 1.2 to 2.9 times for research degrees. Private rates of return are in the range 12.0 per cent to 12.7 per cent for S&T and from 8.8 per cent to 10.4 per cent for H&SS research degrees. Social rates of return are in the range 5 per cent to 7 per cent if the spillover effect of university R&D on growth in gross domestic product is ignored. R&D spillover increases the social rate of return to a range of 9 per cent to 11 per cent.

Critical literacy has sometimes been considered the realm of the upper grades or even just for adults. Others have seen critical literacy as extension work for able students. This paper considers why some early years educators may have seen critical literacy as inappropriate for young children, and examines some of the work that has been done by educators. It conceptualises critical literacy in the early years as involving three pedagogical moves: identifying and mobilising children's analytic resources, examining critical texts and offering children new discursive resources. It also tackles some common questions early childhood teachers ask about critical literacy and argues that critical literacy is by no means an optional extra for early childhood curriculum, but a centrepiece in educating young children., In Australia, critical literacy enjoys a new prominence in most state curriculum frameworks. Internationally it is being explored by a joint Critical Literacy Task Force (an International Reading Association and [...]

Australian schools and universities are increasingly becoming involved in earning revenue from foreign students. This process is strongly associated with the broader concept of `internationalisation of education'. To explore the [...]

Two groups of students, 121 Australians and New Zealanders who participated in the Reading Recovery program and 121 students who did not, were compared regarding their reading performance. The author maintains that both groups had a similar educational background, and the group that participated in the program demonstrated a higher reading performance over the long term.

Data from the Australian Twins Survey are analysed in order to compare the relative importance of the role of family background as a mediating influence on the relationship between schooling and income for males and females. The analysis reveals that family background is a considerably greater influence on males than on females. This finding is consistent with a greater screening role for education in the case of females and with a process of intergenerational transmission of inequality for males but not for females.

The introduction of languages as subjects for secondary schooling and univeristy entrance exams in Australia is examined as a facet of cultural history.

This article critically examines ways in which futures are conceptualized in the language of Australian education. From an analysis of selected examples of research reports, policy documents and other texts, it is suggested that futures in Australian educational discourse are often conceived in terms of (1) tacit inferences, (2) token invocations or (3) taken for granted assumptions. Conceptualizing futures in such ways may be disempowering and allows education in Australia to be vulnerable to forces of economic and technological determinism. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Drawing on the experience of Victoria, Australia, the authors show that the adoption of statewide standards does not have to mean the sacrifice of school-site autonomy. AFTER A decade of [...]

The 2001 Annual Theme issue of Childhood Education focused on migration and education. Guest Editor Navaz Bhavnagri located too many excellent articles on that important topic to include in one [...]

As societies and cultures change, educators have been rethinking their understanding of the nature of knowledge and human learning processes, and coming to a recognition that they cannot rely on [...]

The active role of early childhood educators is supported and confirmed in this review of recent research. Diversity of individual developmental pathways, the significance of life experiences, and the relationships between what is already known and new knowledge are highlighted. The role of `critical periods' during development is considered and evaluated in the light of concepts such as `dynamic' development, and the notion of a gradul unfolding of skills and abilities as children grow older is challenged. The significance of planned interventions is illuminated within this wider context. Curriculum for early childhood settings is addressed in the light of community values., Introduction This paper contrasts frameworks for pedagogy and curriculum design that have emerged from traditional theories with those arising from recent research evidence. Importantly, with the development of brain imaging [...]

This paper canvasses four possible reasons why some Australian early childhood teachers seem more supportive than some Australian English teachers of the professional standards for exemplary teaching developed by the National Board in the US. It explores whether the difference is due to the nature of the teachers, the needs of the learning area, the standards themselves, or the research processes. A key contention emerging from an analysis of the early childhood teachers' response is that the US National Board standards should not be regarded as belonging to the Americans just because they were the first to document them. Certainly, we need to construct our own standards in order to develop a sense of commitment and ownership. But this does not mean having to start from scratch. Along with educators across the world, we already `own' the values, skills, and knowledge documented in the USNational Board standards. What we can profitably do is take the US standards and build on them., The need for professional standards The introduction of career paths in teaching and performance management for staff in Australian schools over the past decade has highlighted an urgent need to [...]

The concept `disposition' is discussed in relation to its philosophical background. It is found to be a different `thread' from the main theories of cognitive development. From this perspective some questions arise about the appropriate use of a dispositional view of cognition, especially in relation to proposals for dispositions to form the basis of assessment procedures in early childhood (Carr, 1998). An argument is advanced in favour of consistency in cognitive matters and three questions are raised as a result of this inquiry. The title of the paper links the search for the origins of the term `disposition' with the need to have a clear meaning of the concept in order to see where it fits in the context of early childhood and cognition., Introduction In the early childhood context Carr (1998) has proposed that dispositions about learning can form a framework for assessment. Disposition is a word which has gradually become linked to [...]

This paper focuses on the power of collaboration, professional dialogue, and social interaction in teacher-researchers' professional growth. It calls for a departure from the traditional theory-into-practice model which has historically seen university-based researchers generating knowledge or research questions for teachers who, in turn, are expected to respond. New conceptualisations recognise the teacher as knowledge generator and see knowledge production as a shared responsibility of school-based and university-based researchers. A change in the research culture is advocated. This paper emanates from a qualitative research project, conducted collaboratively by school-based and university-based researchers, that aimed to explore the home literacies of children from socioculturally diverse contexts. The aspect that became a focus of the project was the role of collaboration in challenging and generating new professional understandings about the complexity of teachers' work. The paper identifies a fundamental dilemma for the education profession., Introduction Conspicuous by their absence from the literature of research on teaching are voices of teachers themselves --the questions and problems teachers pose, the frameworks they use to interpret and [...]

This paper examines ways in which schools and their communities might work together to support young children's literacy development as they make the transition from home to school. Recent research in the area of family literacy is discussed and the terms `literacy' and `family literacy' defined. Implications and recommendations for schools are discussed in terms of a participatory, empowering model of family literacy This model is illustrated by examples from a recent family literacy initiative conducted by the author. Jenny Jayatilaka completed this research as part of her Masters degree at Edith Cowan University, Western Australia. She has been an early childhood educator)Or more than 20 years., Introduction Much research has shown a relationship between increased risk of low literacy achievement in young children and the low socioeconomic status of families (Snow, Burns & Griffin, 1998). The [...]

There is an increasing recognition of the importance of literacy learning in the years before school. Key principles of high quality literacy programs for young children have been developed as the result of a recent study of 79 preschool and long day care centres in New South Wales. These principles include communicating with families about literacy, building on children's home experiences, planning to support individual literacy needs, integrating literacy experiences across the curriculum, and adult-child interactions that scaffold literacy understandings., Introduction The past few years have seen several important advances in early childhood education. Among these are increasing recognition of the importance of the first years of life in terms [...]

Responses to the standardised guidelines for developmentally appropriate practice (DAP), as developed by Bredekamp in America, have sparked a debate about the usefulness of DAP as an approach to early childhood education. Australian commentators have joined this debate and are beginning to question the application of DAP in the Australian context. This article attempts to put the DAP debate into perspective by comparing aspects of the American and the Australian perspectives. Understandings of child development as a key determinant of early childhood practice are examined. Problems with detailing and articulating the evolving knowledge base from which early childhood educational practice is drawn are acknowledged. Further, the usefulness of following American trends that may not be applicable to the Australian scene is questioned., The 1987 release of the National Association for the Education of Young Children's (NAEYC) Developmentally appropriate practice guidelines for early childhood programs (Bredekamp, 1987a) in the United States sparked an [...]

A major challenge facing teachers is how they can help children to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to become scientifically literate citizens. Early childhood teachers are often hesitant about teaching science because they lack confidence in their conceptual knowledge and understandings. This paper describes a professional development initiative which enhances teachers' understanding of science concepts, and supports their teaching of the subject. The workshops adopted a `child-centred' approach that was scaffolded by teacher educators. Thus, the teachers' learning paralleled those exemplary experiences advocated for children. Feedback from teachers was overwhelmingly positive and they reported an increased motivation for teaching science coupled with a better understanding of contemporary strategies. By capitalising on personal experiences of investigation of everyday phenomena in the workshop, teachers were able to identify those contemporary approaches consistent with effective science teaching and to understand why these approaches are effective., Introduction Internationally, science education is under intense scrutiny with calls for reform that acknowledges the importance of creating a scientifically literate populace (e.g. Millar & Osborne, 1998). Key publications in [...]

This article provides a policy analysis of how one recent curriculum development in early childhood education acts to regulate the field. It argues that this and similar documents are based on economic rationalist principles and are the result of particular approaches to policy-making. Such documents show an increasing regulation of children, childhood, and early childhood educators because they set out to control early childhood curriculum practices through legislation at state and national levels. These developments are responses to broader economic, social, cultural, and political change and serve particular purposes of the state., Policy and the state The state (at both national and state levels) has always played an important part in educational policy-making and today represents a large and complex organisation that [...]

This paper examines the argument of a previous article published in this journal by Boufoy-Bastick (1997). In that article, Boufoy-Bastick made some comparisons between the language policies of Australia's and [...]

This research examines potential barriers to learning Personal Development, Health and Physical Education in schools characterised by religious diversity. Year 9 students at four high schools were surveyed. Participants completed [...]

I found Brian Caldwell's response to my article both illuminative and informative. He is quite right to point to the differences in the policy context between the United Kingdom and [...]

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. I would like to dedicate the 1998 Wentworth Lecture to the late HC Coombs, and I will begin with my story. Yakum ngaya Raymattja. Likan [...]

Issues concerning the communication behavior of science teachers in Australia and Taiwan are discussed. A student questionnaire assessing aspects of teacher behavior is developed, with focus on teachers' non-verbal support, encouragement and understanding.

Greenwich University, a distance university based in Norfolk Island, is suing the Australian Council for Private Education and Training for making defamatory remarks. Tim Smith, the council's national executive officer, referred in a December 2000 newspaper report, to an education department finding that the former-US university did not meet Australian university standards.