This report examines the influence of a range of factors on the literacy and numeracy achievement levels of Year 9 students in Australia. The data are from the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY), which studies the progress of cohorts of young Australians as they make the transition from school to work and further education...

This paper contains a comparison of high school completion rates across Australian states and territories from 1989 to 2002. Because the 'official' statistics contain a number of flaws, Chris Ryan and Louise Watson have produced adjusted figures which show that the peak in school retention rates in the early 1990s was less pronounced and the...

What can secondary schools do to develop lifelong learning skills? ACER conducted research into lifelong learning in 1999-2000 to identify key educational concepts that are argued to provide the foundations for lifelong learning. ACER has now produced a second report that extends the research in a practical way by providing a set of case studies...

Marjorie Griffin Cohen writes that at the end of February 2000 a new round of World Trade Organisation negotiations began, focusing on trade in services. The WTO has identified a number of 'barriers' to free trade in education services which it aims to eliminate. These include the existence of government monopolies, restrictions on recruiting foreign...