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A project sought to develop a general operational framework for the design of a school-based citizenship education agenda tailored to the specific social and cultural environment of Pacific Island nations. In particular, the project addressed how educational systems in these multicultural societies can forge national identities while promoting social tolerance and understanding, supporting community participation, and strengthening democratic processes. This document contains three project reports. Report 1 describes surveys of school and community stakeholders in Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands concerning cultural diversity, ethnic conflict, citizenship and political participation, civic institutions, and democratic processes. Report 2 presents a review of current school-based practices in the two countries regarding cultural understanding, democratic participation, and social cohesion. Building on the findings of the two reports and on subsequent reflective workshops, Report 3 outlines a framework for development of a school-based "education for mutual understanding" agenda. The framework consists of a set of generic principles and guidelines, which may be useful to Pacific Island policymakers. Following a discussion of findings about social and educational values and important contextual factors impacting education, stages in articulating the schema are described: (1) national educational goals, development of priorities, underlying values and assumptions, impact of global mega-trends; (2) national audit of resources available to education; (3) linking instruction, curriculum, and assessment to national goals; and (4) policy formation and governance. Three national educational priorities are proposed: development of a national youth strategy plan, review of the social-learning curriculum, and devolution of policymaking processes to the community. (SV)

In 2004 the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) published an Australian Education Review (AER) on Indigenous Education: "The Case for Change: A review of contemporary research on Indigenous education outcomes," AER 47 (Mellor & Corrigan, 2004). In the 13 years since its publication, the state of Indigenous education outcomes has remained substantially unaltered. All the social indicators demonstrate that Australia's First Nations people continue to be the most socio-economically disadvantaged population cohort in Australian society. This is after decades of continued policy efforts by successive Commonwealth, state and territory governments to ameliorate Indigenous education disadvantage. We still struggle with understanding how best to get Indigenous children to go to school, keep them in school, help them finish school and then go on to future education or employment. Despite the seemingly elementary nature of the problem, policy practitioners will be all too familiar with the complex nature of Indigenous education in Australia. Consequently, addressing Indigenous educational disadvantage attracts a multitude of solutions that manifest themselves as ever-changing policy approaches, often underpinned by ideology. The authors of this review paper argue that no one solution will remedy Indigenous social or educational disadvantage, but neither will policies premised on ideological views.

Australian Education Review (AER) 61 discusses the contemporary influences on initial teacher education, with particular attention to the notion of quality teaching, and the role of teacher education and teacher educators in the development of quality teachers. Section 1 introduces the key concept of 'quality' and explores the notion of quality in teaching. Section 2 reviews the context of education in Australia with discussion of the organisation and management of the educational systems, with particular attention to the different roles Federal and State/Territory governments play. Section 3 considers teaching as a profession by examining the nature of teachers' work, working contexts and demands, and the variations or regularities that exist. The section reviews the characteristics of quality teachers versus those that are demonstrably competent. Section 4 discusses teacher education and the development of quality teachers and teaching with comment on program accreditation processes and the capacity for differentiating between basic teacher competence and quality. The role of the teacher educator is argued as being key to the development of truly quality teachers. Section 5 examines what it takes to be a quality teacher, what the personal attributes might be and how these extend from the competency framework for effective teaching. We challenge the notion that important personal quality attributes are appropriately accounted for in the current selection regimes for entry to teacher education and in the processes of accreditation. Additionally, the authors argue, it is the role of initial teacher education to target and develop these quality attributes. [Foreword by Tania Aspland.]