World War II and Australia\u27s First Rural Teachers\u27 College

This paper examines the effects of World War II on Australia’s first rural teacher’s college in 1945. The paper locates the college in wider national and international contexts. It looks at the effect of World War II on teacher supply and demand in countries affected by war. The war was a genuine reason for the basic conditions of the college in 1945. However, it was not only this that was to blame. Teacher education was conducted frugally in Australia at the time. The conditions at the college had not improved since its original foundation in 1926

Teaching Primary Students about War

This article examines Australians at War: Primary Schools Education Resource and what it teaches students. This resource, for grades 4-6 students, has as its learning outcomes: knowledge of Australia’s involvement in various conflicts; students’ empathising with the experiences of war; the use of a variety of sources about war; engaging with people about war and their experiences of war; and reflecting on Australia’s wartime involvement in the development of identity and heritage. The article first locates the teaching approaches used in the resource within the research on history teaching and the political and public debates on what we should teach students about war. It then proceeds to examine Australians at War and its use of photographs, paintings and diaries to determine what is taught to students about war. The article exposes the difficulties and tensions inherent in teaching primary school students about armed conflict and the interest groups who want to shape what is taught. The article illustrates how Australians at War often presents a sanitised version of the horrors of war when compared to the realities portrayed on television and the internet

Modern Greek in Australia: a study of the current situation and future perspectives

This study, completed in September 2011, examines the situation of Modern Greek in Australia. After a lengthy research the authors were able to find out the exact number of all Modern Greek students in Australia. The authors, in order to make the study more relevant and place it in the wider Australian context, decided to incorporate information regarding the historical settlement of Greeks in Australia as well as the sociocultural dynamics which are influencing the maintenance and teaching of the Greek language. The findings and the analysis clearly indicate that Modern Greek in Australia will face a lot of challenges in the near future and that it is urgent for all parties concerned to come up with practical strategies if this important language for Australia is to stay alive and well in the antipodes

Whose history and who is denied? Politics and the History Curriculum in Lebanon and Australia

TThis paper seeks to explain and develop a better understanding of the relationship between the History curriculum and the consequences of political motive. It compares the History curricula of Australia and Lebanon, and is relevant to understanding the purpose of the History curricula in the two countries as well as, more generally, other countries. In Lebanon, the teaching of that nation’s experience of the 1975-90 Civil War has been withdrawn from schools. In Australia, meanwhile, it now appears that the national curriculum that took shape in 2010 under the Rudd Labor Government has been replaced by what the new Federal Coalition Government wants. Important changes have been made to the nations’ History curricula with different political groups urging the inclusions of different topics.This paper considers the question of the effect of wholesale deletions from the curriculum of a nation’s history, as in the case of Lebanon. Will such changes affect the development of students’ higher-order historical understanding, historical consciousness and historical literacy? And will such changes influence students’ appreciation of historiography? Advanced in this paper is an argument that, generally, History curricula are so politicised that there should be a historiographical component that requires students to understand that history is about many different points of view. Furthermore, students should be taught that it is the understanding of the development of evidence for the various perspectives that matters

Adaptation of Arab immigrants to Australia: psychological, social, cultural and educational aspects.

This study examines the psychological problems that were overcome, and the social and cultural adaptations which were made, by Arab immigrants in the process of settling in Australia. The research was based on a group of forty participants, sixteen of whom migrated to Australia between 1973 and 2004. The other twenty-four were all of Arab descent and born in Australia. The methodology for undertaking this research utilized humanistic sociology principles for the collecting and analysis of qualitative data. The major finding of this portfolio of stodies is that the Arab immigrant families did adjust to the new country wholeheartedly, even in the first generation, partly by maintaining the core values of their Arab home culture.Thesis (D.Ed.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Education, 200

Educational Policies and Schooling for Arabic Speaking Refugee Children in Australia and Turkey

This paper aims to compare refugee settlement and education policies between two geographically and culturally distinct nations, Australia and Turkey. Due to its geographical position in the Middle East, Turkey now hosts millions of refugees especially following the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011. Australia also has a long history of hosting and supporting refugees from many countries and the Arabic-speaking nations are no exception. Conducting a comparative historical analysis, this study aims to fill the gap in our knowledge about the education policies and practices of both countries. Based on the expectations and needs of refugee students, it emerges that new policy practices and approaches backed by adequate academic and financial resources are required in both countries

Children and Television: Vicarious Socialisation Experiences

This article contributes to the understanding of socialisation of children of Filipino immigrants in South Australia by examining their experiences and engagement with media, particularly television. Thirty children, aged 8–12 years, who participated in the study were mainly accessed through social networks. Children’s names, which reflect Anglicised or Spanish influence to Filipinos, were changed to maintain ethical considerations. A qualitative methodological framework grounded the children’s perspectives in symbolic interactionism. The study particularly focused on symbolic interaction concepts of the self (selves) and influence of others, forming perspectives, roles, attitudes of others and coping, as well as how socialisation experiences of children facilitated children’s perspectives on media. These concepts are significant in understanding how children made sense of television content. This discussion on children’s media socialisation is organised into two sections according to children’s engagement with television and parental control of television watching. The children in this article have been exposed to both television content in the Philippines and Australia. Whilst the article focuses on a small cohort of primary school children, the theory and methodology could be applied to children of other cultures and as such may generate comparative results