Education, Change and Society

Book excerpt: The highly successful Education, Change and Society is now in its second edition and continues its purpose to help students situate educational activity in its broad social and policy contexts. In Australia the way that schools, school funding, school markets, universities and theresponsibilities of government for education are organised have all been subject to radical reform in recent decades. It has never been more important for students of education to be able to understand the connections between the local and the global in explaining contemporary educational change.Every chapter not only describes and analyses what is going on, but each interprets the evidence in particular ways. Discussion of the issues raised in this book is encouraged, and students are given every opportunity to analyse and question. Questions raised in this book include:* How do Aboriginal students experience Australian schools?* Who writes policy documents and for what purpose in education?* Why did state, private and corporate schools emerge as they did in Australia?* How do social class and gender differences affect schooling and its outcomes?* What constitutes the work of teachers, and can teachers 'make a difference'?* How has the role of research become increasingly significant in education and to teachers in particular?