Recurrent Education. Policy and Development in OECD Member Countries: Australia.

Overview & Synopsis

This report on Australia is one of a series of reports on the development of recurrent education in member countries by the Center for Educational Research and Innovation. The report outlines the Australian educational system, surveys official views and policies in education and government, and compares these to a checklist of the basic principles of recurrent education. The first part of the document briefly explores the meaning of recurrent education as the term is being employed in OECD and other circles. Recurrent education is an alternative educational planning strategy, the purpose of which is to provide opportunities for alternate post secondary education with other activities throughout life. The difference between the concept of recurrent education and permanent, continuous, or life long education is that recurrent education stresses a specific long-range strategy which relates to economic and manpower policies and restructuring the present formal system of education. The educational changes implied by recurrent education are inseparable from wider social changes. In Australia there is no official commitment to a policy or strategy of recurrent education although official statements and initiatives have included component elements. The latter half of the document analyzes trends toward recurrent education within the formal educational system and within Australian society, the professions, the world of work, and adult education. In the conclusion the problems in planning and implementing recurrent education in Australia are discussed. (Author/SH)