Australian Education: An Overview of a System Adapting to a Post-Industrial Economy.

Overview & Synopsis

This paper offers a brief overview of the Australian education system and compares it with the United States system of education. The Australian economy presents no threat to U.S. hegemony, but its education system presents an interesting contrast. The paper describes the following features of the Australian education system: governance; school organization; private-school aid; the national curriculum; high school completion rates; examinations and credentials; higher education; aboriginal education; distance learning; devolution of authority; equality of opportunity; non-English-speaking students; and the status of the teaching profession. Education and training in Australia has been based on the labor-force needs of an industrial economy, a pattern that is now obsolete in a postindustrial economy. In response to the change, the Australian education system has taken on some characteristics of the American system, such as greater high school retention rates accompanied by a flow on to tertiary institutions, and increased total numbers of teenagers enrolled in full-time education. (Contains 7 references.) (LMI)