Politics in Education.

Fifteen selected papers are presented from the Australian College of Education's twenty-first annual conference, held in May, 1980, which focused on politics in education. The first four papers discuss educational equity, covering the problems of educational policy, equality, disadvantaged rural children, and women. The next two articles consider education's financial accountability, particularly in the context of Australian state-federal relations, while two further papers bring in the associated topic of social accountability and the alleged success or failure of Australian education. Six articles then examine educational decision-making in Australia, New Zealand, and the United States, including the issues of local-versus-federal control of schools and parental participation in school decisions. The concluding paper summarizes the conference's main themes and points out future needs in relating theory to experience. (Author/RW)