'Inner City Education Centre Co-operative Ltd. This Education centre has become well known not only for its highly successful combination of general services with specific projects, but also for its strong involvement of management Committee and staff in collective decision making and responsibility. Perhaps more than any other Australian Centre Inner City Education Centre demonstrates the non-hierarchical, shared authority style of operation.
'The Centre is located in a slightly jaded but stately home in inner city Stanmore, metropolitan Sydney. It was set up to identify and support the needs of students and teachers, parents and community people in the area. These needs reflect the nature of the inner city of Sydney: a large percentage of working class people, large immigrant and Aboriginal populations, old schools on crowded sites, serious housing and health problems, high density living and escalating unemployment especially amongst the young.
'Like the other Centres described the Inner City education Centre has a range of facilities available for use in the Centre or for loan. Video porta-paks, editing and basic studio equipment are popular. Darkroom facilities and audio recording and copying equipment, movie projectors, and silk screen printing facilities are available. The library is another important resource, with a specialised collection of radical education literature of particular interest to teachers aware of the inequalities experienced by students as a result of class, ethnicity or sex.
Inner City Education Centre is also a focus and facilitator for significant projects of which the following are two examples. The 'Class and Curriculum Projecf has taken as its focus the transition from year 6 to year 7 and thereby has raised such issues as streaming (tracking) and assessment, parental involvement, and co-operation between primary and secondary teachers. A project officer is employed for the task. Much of her time has been spent in schools and with parents, gaining insights and encouraging co-operation and consideration of changes to current school practices. (Education Centres and Australian Experiment J.P. Howe)
