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This paper is theoretical and presents a synthesis of research and literature on sustainable education. The notion of sustainable education as used in this critique is about educational organisations and should not be confused with education for sustainability which can be viewed as concerning the teaching and learning of sustainability. Sustainability often refers to persistence, sustenance or endurance. It can also refer to preservation of environments, facilities or cultures. And often is connected with development, for example the notion of sustainable development. Notwithstanding these multiple meanings, it is generally recognised that sustainability endeavours involve social, economic, and ecological considerations. Also these three forces are inter-related and inter-dependent. When economic sustainability, social sustainability and environmental sustainability are being examined from a sustainable development perspective, it is typical for indicators to be specified. For example, economic indicators that measure monetary flow when assessing organisational sustainability. While the types of indicators vary according to the aspect of sustainability being assessed (i.e. economic, social, or environmental), these are also dependent on the object of the assessment. For example, the indicators for social sustainability applicable to a corporate organisation will be different to those for a local community organisation (e.g. city council). From this traditional orientation, the paper examines examples of indicators for different types of sustainability for different contexts. Some alternative ways of understanding sustainability are examined. For example, types of capital (e.g. human capital, social capital and constructed capital), the construct of 'carrying capacity', systems approaches, and sustainable development as a process of learning. Educational sustainability is then approached through understanding sustainability quotients. These quotients which can be applied to many forms of sustainability, are about the balance between what is consumed in relation to what is available. Significantly, because social capital can be created, social sustainability concerns production of human, social and constructed capital. This can be contrasted with ecological sustainability centring on the impact on finite natural capital. Educational organisations that improve the knowledge and skills of learners have the potential to profoundly affect social sustainability with consequent impacts on ecological and economic sustainability. The paper concludes with a series of propositions about researching educational sustainability. These are structured around epistemological, methodological, and organisational dimensions.

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In working with people and communities, education is a major force for bringing about positive transformations. There are many reasons why this is so. Education means knowledge, skills, intellectual stimulation, social interaction, and entertainment. Along with these more specific benefits, it is argued that increased hope is a general, underlying benefit of education, and one that is especially relevant to the community engagement mission. When educational initiatives help to create more hopeful communities, community members can benefit in ways that stretch far beyond the positive outcomes typically associated with education. Enhanced hope in the educational sphere translates into broader increases in hope throughout one’s entire life. This paper gives examples of community engagement and transformative educational experiences that aim to empower people and communities who have experienced disadvantage, and, in the process, to increase their levels of hope. It is argued that education is a key process in any effort to engage with communities, not only because of its specific benefits, but because it builds and promotes hope.

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The world has changed a lot since the term inclusion was first used in relation to education, especially special education. Inclusion and education cannot be part of a conversation without due consideration of issues related to poverty and the international mechanisms which have been touted to eradicate poverty from the planet. Poverty is inextricably linked to many of the world's social ills whether it resides in the slums surrounding the major cities of the richest countries of the world or the countries of the developing world. It is both timely and important to look at the ways in which educational needs have changed and how we might now understand inclusive education. Over the past 20 years inclusion has come to mean much more than the term special education ever suggested and has become a popular idea in education and social policy forums with broader social and political dimensions. As academics and policymakers engage with concepts such as special education, globalisation, education for all and inclusion, other terms such as social justice, equity, equal opportunity, human rights and diversity in education, citizenship and social inclusion have crept into the populist international vocabulary as well as the language of academia. In this paper, we will explore various issues that are currently pertinent to inclusive education, especially within the context of Education For All (UNESCO, 1990) and the Millennium Development Goals (United Nations, 2001). We will consider the international, historical and social contexts of inclusive education policies and practices from the 1980s onward. Our discussion uses a range of methods which include documentary analysis of policy and theoretical perspectives as well as examples from both the Northern and the Southern hemispheres. We argue that ideas like inclusion, inclusive education and poverty are multi-dimensional and cannot be considered as isolated events which could be cured or fixed with a mathematical formula or a few recipes. The world cannot realistically address issues related to inclusion and education without exploring the wider interconnected issues of poverty, debt relief and health for all, but more especially for women.

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This paper introduces a new occupational status scale, the Australian Socioeconomic Index 2006 (AUSEI06), which can be used to explore a wide range of equity issues relating to educational aspirations, early school leaving, access to higher education, literacy and numeracy levels, and other aspects of educational access, achievement, and attainment. AUSEI06 was developed in response to the introduction of the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO) by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The scale provides a simple means for educational researchers to convert ANZSCO codes into more sociologically meaningful occupational status scores. The aims of this paper are fourfold: to outline AUSEI06’s theoretical underpinnings; to describe the development of the scale; to validate it for use in educational contexts; and to offer some practical suggestions for its use. AUSEI06 is a socioeconomic index. The scaling of occupations is based upon the assumption that occupations provide the means of converting a person’s human capital (education) into material rewards (income). That is, the relationships between education, occupation, and income are conceptualized in terms of a simple causal chain whereby educational effects on earnings are mediated, as far as possible, by occupational attainment. Data from the 2006 Census were used to generate the AUSEI06 scale. An iterative scaling algorithm, first developed for the International Socioeconomic Index (ISEI), was used to scale occupations in such a manner as to maximize the indirect effect of education on earnings (via occupation) while simultaneously minimizing its direct effect on earnings. The resultant AUSEI06 scale ranges from zero to 100, with labourers at the bottom of the scale and medical practitioners at the top. Data from the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) and the Negotiating the Life Course (NLC) project were used to validate the AUSEI06 for use in educational research. Concurrent validity was assessed by examining whether AUSEI06 was related to a range of educational outcomes in an expected way. Consistent with previous research, the results suggest that access to educational resources, school achievement, educational aspirations, school completion, obtaining a post-school qualification, and the type of qualification obtained are associated with the socioeconomic characteristics of a person’s family when they were growing up as measured by AUSEI06. In summary, AUSEI06 provides a means for educational researchers to convert ANZSCO codes into occupational status scores. In the past, parental occupational status has been linked with the educational outcomes of their offspring. Validation results suggest that family background, as measured by AUSEI06, continues to be related to these outcomes.

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The 'Tasmania: a state of learning' structures were borne from widespread discussion with the Tasmanian community between 2000 and 2003 to identify the optimum model for lifelong learning within the state. At secondary high school level, with compelling research supporting the benefits of education and training beyond Grade 10, a major component of this initiative is guided by legislation introduced in 2005. This legislation is a response to the communities overwhelming support which now requires students exiting from Grade 10 to participate in training and learning. To support this initiative each government high school now has the additional resource of a pathway planning officer who conducts a minimum of three interviews of 45 minute duration with each student through Years 8, 9 and 10. This pathway planning process now accurately identifies student vocational interests. Utilising the strengths of this structure a partnership has been developed between the new Tasmanian polytechnic institution and government high schools to complement student vocational interests and target skills shortage areas within the Australian workforce. This innovative program has drawn plaudits from each of the key stakeholders due to its unique interactive pedagogy and the breakthrough in industry/training/education interface to create this educative model. The program provides students prior to electing an academy or polytechnic educative direction with the opportunity to gain an extended experience in one of 15 vocational options. The program has been so popular that schools have dedicated Traineeship and Apprenticeship Pathway Program (TAPP) classes within their senior curriculum timetables. The educative structures created allow students to complete units of competence from within training packages for apprenticeships and traineeships qualifications accredited within the Australian Qualifications Framework. This paper examines the outcomes from the program and the schools results on student involvement from attitudinal and academic perspectives.

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Aspiration is currently a prominent concept in higher education policy debates (Bradley, et al. 2008). However, reference to this concept is often made in terms of low [socioeconomic status] SES students simply lacking aspiration, which schools and universities must work to instill. In contrast to this potentially deficit view, this paper draws on Appadurai's (2004) notion of the 'capacity to aspire', which reframes aspiration as a cultural category rather than an individual trait. It discusses the proposition that low SES students do have substantive aspirations, but may have less developed capacities to realise them. Bourdieu's (1984; 1998; 2004) theories of cultural capital, habitus and field provide a supplementary theoretical framework, which draws attention to the complex relationships between socio-cultural background and life-world experiences that inform students' and families' dispositions toward school and their capacities to aspire to higher education.

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The Australian government’s social inclusion agenda and the Bradley Review of Higher Education profile the importance of transformative education for people from disadvantaged backgrounds. While the challenge is public knowledge the means for addressing the challenge could involve revealing a well kept secret about the nature of transformative education. Transformative partnerships between Australian Catholic University, communities, local governments, community organisations and health agencies have been foundational to the development of the Clemente Australia program. Clemente Australia is ‘community embedded, socially supported university education’ [CESSUE], delivering key personal, social and economic benefits for people and communities who are marginalised or disadvantaged. This CESSUE program values and respects people for who they are and for where they are within their individual life journeys. Clemente Australia builds student capacity to be more proactive: to examine, contemplate and question the world around them, and to then engage with it. Clemente Australia focuses on learning and appreciating one’s potential and abilities to engage with others. Students are supported in their transitions into, through and from the program. CESSUE provides access to higher education in ways which enhance self esteem and self efficacy; increase capacity to see new possibilities; develop communication skills and the capacity to work in a group; to provide a wider network of social and community contacts, networks and supports; and, to provide opportunities for increased interest in learning and different ways of learning, including on-line. This paper presents the roles of the university together with welfare, health and corporate organisations in the delivery of the program. It also examines the contributions of the partnership in terms of quality services, personal wellbeing of the course participants, personal, community and institutional capacity building, enhancing social capital and advocacy.

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Bernstein's (1977) conceptualisation of the relationship between school and work in terms of contestation over their isolation versus integration can be questioned for excluding environmental considerations from concerns about education and production. This paper uses a case study of an Australian 'hub, spoke and zonal' mode of organising vocational education and training in schools (VETiS) to explore this question. Policy-driven, organisational innovations that link learning and earning promise to improve the curriculum offerings and outcomes for young adults in Years 10-12. Publicly available statistics and documents from the Queensland Mineral and Energy Academy (QMEA) and its constituent schools have been analysed. The ambivalent positioning of vocational education and training in the core curriculum and variability in key outcomes for young adults provide insights into the correspondences and contradictions in combining learning and earning, while neglecting environmental issues.

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The purpose of this paper is to identify leadership qualities involved in reform of Senior L/earning through the introduction of vocational education and training in schools (VETiS). This research is situated in relation to the current literature theorising hope and its relationship with leadership. A case study methodology is used. The data analysis begins with an examination of the five leadership capabilities identified in Queensland’s Leadership Matters which are interpreted in terms of the theoretical dimensions of hope. Further, given that this Senior L/earning reform is multi-layered and cross-sectoral, interviews have been conducted with educational and training leaders at the school, regional and State levels, along with officials in registered training organisations and technical colleges. Data from interviews with 40 leaders in Queensland have been analysed with the aid of NVivo and explored for what they reveal about the concept of hope as a defining attribute of leadership, especially in times of significant cultural change. The data analysis focuses its theorisation on the issues leaders meet, the solutions they pursue, the qualities they display in the process of reform Senior L/earning through VETiS. This paper concludes with a discussion of the value of theorising educational leadership from the perspective of hope, rather than just mentioning it as is often the case.

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The need to enhance adults' foundation competencies in literacy is recognized worldwide (Appleby & Bathmaker, 2006; Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 2001). The community is interested in improved levels of literacy amongst its members because literate people contribute more to the greater good of the community, both in economic and social terms (Benseman, 2006; Biddulph, Biddulph, & Biddulph, 2003). Furthermore, low levels of literacy are considered to be a serious issue for the development of the skilled workforces (Satherley, Lawes, & Sok, 2008) in an era of rapid growth in technology, not only in the workforce but also in everyday life. This study investigates literature to develop a framework for understanding the factors that influence literacy learning. The research records the stories of two adult female, culturally diverse, second-chance students while they were completing their first semester of study in a foundation qualification that included a course in adult literacy. Many Pasifika and Maori students underachieve in literacy and exhibit disengagement and alienation at school (Alton-Lee, 2003; Flockton & Crooks, 2005, 2006; Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 2001). This small study specifically invited Maori and Pasifika adult students to tell the researcher of their quest to improve their literacy levels. The purpose was to draw from the women's accounts implications for adult educators working with culturally diverse, second-chance learners to determine what acts to motivators and/or barriers, and explore aspects that enhance their learning. In accordance with Pasifika research guidelines (Anae, Coxon, Mara, Wendt-Samu, & Finau, 2001) as I, the researcher, am a palagi/pakeha, Maori and Pasifika stakeholders agreed to support the research in order to speak for their cultural communities and ensure cultural sensitivity. Together, we discussed key issues surrounding the proposed research methodology. This included the selection of the research topic, methodological approach including sampling and instruments used to gather the data, analyzing the data, identifying themes and the dissemination of the research findings. The emerging issues were the cultural capital and life experiences that the two students brought to their study; their goals and motivation to undertake the courses; the atmosphere and support within the courses; barriers to their study and differing cultural practices and expectations within the course.

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