This monograph, one in a series on theory and educational issues in Australia, explores links between education and political and economic structures. Two sections provide an analysis of an education-work program and five readings. The Transition Education Program is described as a government response to the 1979 economic crisis. The policy and conventional economic theories are analyzed in view of Jurgen Habermas' theories of crisis tendencies of advanced capitalism. Habermas' schema is reflected in government's attempt to overcome the "legitimation crisis" by redirecting attention to education. The readings which follow also examine the links between education, economics, and politics. R. E. Young's "The Karmel and Williams Reports as Policy Theories" places the reports on education within theoretical frameworks to reveal assumptive values. B. Bessant and A. D. Spaull, in "The Australian Government and the Schools," detail government financing, attitudes, and politics behind the Karmel report. Economic influences on education since postwar years are discussed by P. Dwyer, B. Wilson, and R. Woock in "Education and Economic Policy." Change is explored within sociological frameworks to understand educational outcomes in L. E. Foster's "Social Policy and Educational Reform." In "The Control and Rationalisation of Schooling," M. Pusey argues that education in the 1980's is dominated by conflict over control. Entries include references; an annotated bibliography is appended. (CJH)