Author Description

A set of four surveys conducted on behalf of the Committee of Inquiry into Education and Training (Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Australian Government), 1977, is presented. The National Educational Survey, 1977, was a survey of 8000 students enrolled in the major sectors of post-secondary education in Australia: universities, colleges of advanced education, and technical and further education colleges. It interlocks with the National Survey of Post-Secondary Teaching Staff, of which there were three versions tailored to each of the major sectors. Some 4000 staff members were surveyed. The major variables of the National Education Survey were students' career planning and history, quality of the educational experience, and expectations for the future. The staff survey probed career paths of teaching staff, assessments of the educational experience being offered to students, and their views on the future of post-secondary education in Australia. Many questions were common to all four surveys, permitting inter-survey comparisons for selected items. As the first nationwide survey of the post-secondary education system, the data are of considerable significance for the establishment of national and cross-sectoral norms. Several variables are also suitable for international comparisons. (Author/PN)