Melbourne Graduate School of Education - Theses

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    Taking social capital into account when implementing educational policy : implications of the Kirby report for social capital in Ironbark
    Tinkler, Jacqueline A ( 2002)
    There is a growing body of research around the concept of social capital that suggests that there are connections evident in relation to successful educational achievement and employment, and high rates of social capital. Social connectedness - one of the outcomes of having social capital - is held to be very important for young people of post-compulsory school age, particularly in the current economic climate. This exploratory study will examine the problem: What can social capital mean in post-compulsory education policy, and in the manifestation of that policy?' This study examines The Ministerial Review of Post Compulsory Education and Training Pathways in Victoria, commonly referred to as The Kirby Report. Kirby takes the view that the links are strong between community and social values, the economic future of the state, and educational outcomes for young people. Within this report and its recommendations, the concept of social capital and its contribution to building community values is deemed to be one of the broad requirements of the community in relation to young people and their experiences in education and training. The concept of social capital and the effects of the growth or reduction of social capital within rural communities is also examined, and it is the links between social capital, the implementation of the recommendations of a report such as Kirby, and the ramifications of these links for a rural town in North-East Victoria of 2,500 residents, that provide the framework for this study.
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    Statistics of public expenditure on education in Australia : requirements for the formation of national policy
    Segall, Patsy (1942-) ( 1976)
    In Australia's federal system the provision of educational services is the responsibility of the state governments. However, the federal government has also acquired responsibilities for. education. Since the second world war, the state governments have been dependent on the federal government for a large proportion of the funds needed to discharge their responsibilities. More directly, the federal government has greatly extended the scope of its activities in education, mainly through the use of specific. purpose grants to the states. By 1970 these grants affected all levels of education in the states. To be effective, national 'educational policies should take account of differences between the states as well as of 'national needs. Necessary information includes national statistics which are compiled on the same basis for each of . the states. The coverage and quality of national educational statistics has improved considerably, but there are still deficiencies. In particular, the statistics of public expenditure on education do not provide an adequate account of the states individually, or of national trends. Unpublished records of the Australian Bureau of Statistics provide the basis for a set of figures of public expenditure on education which are both more comprehensive and more detailed than those published. Analysis of these figures for the period 1963-64 to 1973-74 shows large differences in the patterns of educational expenditure in each of the states. Nationally there have been considerable changes in the composition of total public outlay on education, the rapid growth of the tertiary sector outside universities being particularly noteworthy. Official statistics of this kind are needed to make possible an effective assessment of the priorities and directions of Australian education.
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    The Schools Commission: national policies and administration in Australian schooling
    Bartos, Michael ( 1992)
    The Schools Commission was the Australian Federal Government's policy making agency in schooling from 1973 until it was abolished in 1987. The creation of the Commission as an election promise of the incoming Australian Labor Party Government came after three decades of growing support for a national role in supporting schooling. The Interim Committee for the Australian Schools Commission established the funding programs and the main educational values followed by the Commission. The largest program provided recurrent resources to government and non-government schools or school systems, on the basis of need. The needs principle was compromised because funding targets were achieved by government schools earlier than anticipated and because from 1976 to 1982 the Government increased support to wealthier non-government schools in the face of contrary advice from the Commission. In 1985 the Government transferred the general resource programs away from the Commission following the report of the Quality of Education Review Committee, leaving the Commission with only its specific purpose programs which were directed to areas of special educational need. The Schools Commission's educational ideas all reflected well established issues in national schooling policy. They represented a policy elaboration of the two basic ideas that schooling should promote greater equality of opportunity and that it should be progressive and child-centred. Traditions in policy analysis and the sociology of education in Australia, Britain and the U.S.A. reflected changes in and informed the policy making environment of the Schools Commission and comparable international developments. Ultimately, however, an historical policy analysis reveals that broad theorisation fails to capture the dynamics and continuities in policy making. The first main set of policy notions of the Schools Commission concerns schooling and the nation. A close examination of these notions illustrates the development of the Schools Commission's ideas about the national purposes of schooling, schooling for citizenship and democracy, and equal outcomes and opportunities.