An Alternative Route to Higher Education: An Evaluation of the Senior Colleges in Western Australia

The establishment of two Senior Colleges in Western Australia in 1983 provided adult students with an alternative route to conventional schooling for completing matriculation requirements for entry to higher education. An evaluation of the Colleges involved large samples of students and staff and the triangulation of information obtained by different researchers working independently and using a variety of methods (interview, questionnaires, nominal groups, classroom and school climate assessments). The study attested to the success of the Senior Colleges in creating a positive ethos suited to its adult students and in allowing previously unqualified people to enter higher education and succeed.     

Torres strait islanders and Australian nationhood: Some educational perspectives

This article analyses the role of education in incorporating Australia's Melanesian minority, the Torres Strait Islanders, into the Australian nation. The analysis begins with the introduction of Queensland government schooling into Torres Strait in 1892, which fostered expectations of Queensland citizenship and employment opportunities available to other races in the economy of the Strait. From 1904 to the outbreak of world war II in the Pacific in 1942 these early directions were altered by educational policies which initially sought to train Islanders for a life in the Islands as a race apart from the rest of Australia. Subsequent syllabus reforms, paralleling but not equalling regular schooling offered in Queensland, did not meet Islanders' aspirations for proper schooling and the jobs they expected would flow from it. Following world war II, regulations confining Islanders to the Strait were relaxed and many migrated to the Queensland mainland in search of better jobs, better pay, and better education for their children. Those who remained in the Islands received an education which, by 1985, had been brought up to the mainland standard. Yet, neither group's educational aspirations were satisfied despite initiatives and financial incentives of the Commonwealth government aimed at keeping Islander children at school. The article concludes that the way ahead for Islanders in staking out their educational future in the Australian nation on a basis of equality with other Australians lies in educational developments in the Islands themselves, where Islanders are playing an active role in developing, managing, and guiding schooling in directions which recognise their identity and their citizenship aspirations.

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Zusammenfassung In diesem Artikel wird untersucht, inwieweit das Erziehungswesen die Integration der Bewohner der Torres-Inseln, der melanesischen Minderheit Australiens, in die australische Nation beeinflußt. Die Analyse befaßt sich zunächst mit der Einführung des Schulsystems auf die Torres-Inseln 1892 durch die Regierung von Queensland, wodurch Hoffnungen auf eine Staatsbürgerschaft von Queensland verstärkt wurden sowie auf Einstiegsmöglichkeiten in den Arbeitsmarkt, die denen der anderen Rassen der Inseln gleichwertig wären. Von 1904 bis zum Ausbruch des 2. Weltkrieges im Pazifik 1942 wurden diese frühen Ansätze durch eine Bildungspolitik geändert, die die Insulaner ursprünglich für ein Leben auf den Inseln als eine vom übrigen Australien abgetrennte Rasse vorbereiten sollte. Nachfolgende Reformen des Lehrplans, die parallel zu dem herkömmlichen, in Queensland praktizierten Schulwesen verliefen, aber nicht gleichwertig waren, hielten den Ansprüchen der Insulaner an eine ordentliche Schulbildung und den daraus abgeleiteten Hoffnungen auf bessere Arbeitsstellen nicht stand. Nach dem 2. Weltkrieg wurden Bestimmungen, die eine Abwanderung der Insulaner von den Inseln untersagten, gelockert and viele zogen auf der Suche nach besseren Arbeitsplätzen, höheren Löhnen und qualifizierterer Ausbildung für ihre Kinder nach Queensland. Den auf den Inseln Verbliebenen stellte man ein Schulsystem zur Verfügung, das bis 1985 dem Niveau des Festlandes angeglichen wurde. Die Erwartungen beider Gruppen bezüglich des Bildungswesens wurden jedoch trotzdem nicht erfüllt, obwohl die Commonwealth-Regierung Initiativen und finanzielle Anreize bot, um die Kinder der Bewohner in der Schule zu halten. Fazit dieses Artikels: Der Schlüssel der Insulaner zu einer mit der Ausbildung anderer Australier gleichzusetzenden erzieherischen Zukunft liegt in der Entwicklung des Schulwesens auf den Inseln selbst, wobei die Insulaner bei Entwicklung, Verwaltung und Leitung des Schulwesens bis hin zu einer Anerkennung ihrer Identität und ihres Strebens nach Staatsbürgerschaft aktiv mitwirken sollten.

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Résumé Le présent article analyse le rôle de l'éducation dans l'insertion de la minorité mélanésienne, les insulaires du Détroit de Torrès, dans la nation australienne. L'analyse commence par l'introduction du système scolaire de l'Etat du Queensland dans le Détroit de Torrès en 1892, qui a encouragé les attentes de citoyenneté du Queensland et les possibilités d'emploi offertes aux autres races dans l'économie du Détroit. De 1904 à 1942, début de la Deuxième Guerre mondiale dans le Pacifique, ces premières orientations ont fait place à des politiques éducatives qui cherchaient au départ à former les insulaires à la vie dans les îles, en tant que race à part du reste du pays. Les réformes éducatives qui suivirent, parallèles mais non égales au système éducatif régulier en vigueur dans le Queensland, n'ont pas satisfait les aspirations des insulaires à une véitable éducation et aux métiers qui'ils pensaient obtenier grâce à celle-ci. Après la Deuxième Guerre mondiale, les lois confinant les insulaires au Détroit de Torrès ont été mitigées et beaucoup émigrèrent sur le continent, dans le Queensland, en quête d'un meilleur emploi, d'un meilleur salaire et d'une meilleure éducation pour leurs enfants. Ceux étant restés dans les îles reçurent une éducation dont le niveau équivalait, en 1985, à celui exigé sur le continent. Toutefois, les aspirations éducatives des groupes n'ont pas été satisfaites malgré les initiatives et les incitations financières du gouvernement du Commonwealth visant à encourager les enfants des îles à rester à l'école. Cet article conclut que le moyen pour les insulaires de définir leur avenir éducatif au sein de la nation australienne, au même titre que les autres Australiens, réside dans la promotion de l'éducation dans les îles elles-mêmes, où les insulaires jouent un rôle actif dans le développement, l'administration et l'orientation de l'instruction dans des directions traduisant leur identité et leurs aspirations en matière de citoyenneté.

     

Riccati differential equations : William T.^Reid. 216 pages,diagrams, 6x9 in. New York,Academic Press Inc. (Mathematics in Science and Industry Series), Vol. 86, 1972. Price, $14.00.

The paper describes methods of carrying out the minimum weight design of finned surfaces of various types. For each type of surface (flat, cylindrical, etc.) two cases are considered. First, a method is described by which it is possible to obtain the optimum surface profile of fins required to dissipate a certain amount of heat from the given surface, there being no restriction on the fin height. This analysis is then extended for the case when the fin height is given. The solutions are presented for a number of cases and the results are discussed to illustrate the importance of various parameters in the design.     

Psychodata: disassembling the psychological,economic, and statistical infrastructure of ‘social-emotional learning’

ABSTRACT

Psychology and economics are powerful sources of expert knowledge in contemporary governance. Social and emotional learning (SEL) is becoming a priority in education policy in many parts of the world. Based on the enumeration of students’ ‘noncognitive’ skills, SEL consists of a ‘psycho-economic’ combination of psychometrics with economic analysis, and is producing novel forms of statistical ‘psychodata’ about students. Constituted by an expanding infrastructure of technologies, metrics, people, money and policies, SEL has travelled transnationally through the advocacy of psychologists, economists, and behavioural scientists, with support from think tank coalitions, philanthropies, software companies, investment schemes, and international organizations. The article examines the emerging SEL infrastructure, identifying how psychological and economics experts are producing policy-relevant scientific knowledge and statistical psychodata to influence the direction of SEL policies. It examines how the OECD Study on Social and Emotional Skills, a large-scale computer-based assessment, makes ‘personality’ an international focus for policy intervention and ‘human capital’ formation, thereby translating measurable socio-emotional indicators into predicted socio-economic outcomes. The SEL measurement infrastructure instantiates psychological governance within education, one underpinned by a political rationality in which society is measured effectively through scientific fact-finding and subjects are managed affectively through psychological intervention.     

Organization,constraints and opportunities: an analysis of adult education in Turkey

This paper discusses the organization of adult education in Turkey. From a historical perspective, it examines the development, organization and problems of post‐school adult education. It shows these to be related to the politics and position of Turkish society in the Middle East and to the high degree of centralization of educational decision making in Turkey. The paper argues a case for the decentralization of adult education services for better training of adult educators and better delivery of adult educational provisions.     

Identifying the challenging factors in the transition from colleges of engineering to employment

The transition from university to a career in engineering is a challenging process. This study examined the perceptions of engineering graduates regarding the difficulties they encountered in their transition from the university to the workplace. Lebanese practising engineers (n=217), living around the world, were surveyed to identify their current employment situations and their attitudes toward their academic preparation. Factor analysis revealed three main challenges facing engineering graduates: communication; responsibility; self-confidence. Seventeen interviews were conducted to gather information on ways to facilitate this transition. Comments reflected the need for better collaboration between engineering schools and engineering firms. The results will provide insight for engineering colleges, faculty members and administrators into the challenges faced by graduates and their aspirations for a smoother transition into employment.