Academic freedom for precollegiate teachers in the United States is less clear than that expressed and confirmed in law and custom for college faculties. The question studied was how academic freedom is perceived in theory and practice by secondary school teachers outside of the United States. The interview schedule was modeled after schedules used in interview studies in secondary schools in New Jersey, California, and Cambridge, England. This study involved nine social studies teachers in a suburban secondary school near Perth, Australia. The responses found that Australian and United States teachers were essentially similar in their views of academic decision-making, their own academic freedom, and the kinds of restrictions on topics. United States respondents consistently identified other teachers as more conservative than themselves, regardless of their self-identification on a spectrum. The Australian respondents, however, identified other teachers as having more liberal political views than their own. There was a general feeling among Australian respondents that academic freedom for teachers was not an issue. United States interviewees in previous studies were much more sensitive to local politics, parent groups, and incidents where academic freedom had been compromised by administrators or boards. Interviewees were also questioned concerning the length of their teaching experience, subjects of preparation, and current teaching subject. (BZ)