From a philosophical and historical analysis of education in Australia since World War II and consideration of the research into school effectiveness and community expectations of education, a concept of "excellence" was derived: "Excellence in education" in its various institutionalised forms describes a state where there is a community perception that worthwhile goals have been formulated, attempts are made to achieve those goals using appropriately defined processes and that those goals are being achieved to the satisfaction of community members. It was also asserted that because of the diversity introduced into Australian society by sociocultural, economic and political developments since World War II, "excellence in education" may take many forms. This demands diversity in schooling so that these different forms of excellence may be achieved. This "excellence" was seen to be a relative concept rather than an absolute one. Information was collected from six primary schools from both the government and non-govenunent sectors of the ACT, using swey instruments, interviews and document analysis. This information related to the perceptions of the family, staff and student sectors of these schools about the importance and achievement of various factors in the areas of goals and philosophy, curriculum, teaching and learning practices, general organisation and school atmosphere. The study found that, while these schools, all being concerned with the education of primary school children in the same local and national context, exhibited certain common elements, they also demonstrated a variety of other features in a variety of combinations, giving each school a distinctive profile. Moreover, these school communities each judged their particular school being "Excellent" and "meeting expectations", and yet were accepting of some discrepancy between what they considered ideal and what was actually achieved. Thus it was shown that excellence in education is a relative concept in the ACT, if not in contemporary Australian society as a whole.