New publications

'The report examines the timetables and budgets of six diverse schools across the country to identify ways they can change their practices in order to free up time for teacher development. It recommends, among a range of options, that schools make this time by reducing teacher presence at meetings and assemblies, extra-curricular events and professional development days that do not improve teaching.' From publisher's description, linked to the full report online.

'The Australia Council for the Arts commissioned this literature review in response to the decline in children’s reading measured by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The review aimed to summarise current knowledge on Australian children’s leisure reading, and identifies gaps in knowledge and opportunities for further research.' From publisher's description. The full report is available online.

'English for the Natives outlines the rules and structures of our language as they are taught to foreign students - and have never before been explained to us. Harry Ritchie also examines the grammar of dialects as well as standard English and shows how non-standard forms are just as valid. With examples from a wide variety of sources, from Ali G to John Betjeman, Margaret Thatcher to Match of the Day,' the book 'reveals some surprising truths about our language and teaches you all the things you didn't know you knew about grammar.' From publisher's description. The author is a former literary editor of the Sunday Times.

'Education for sustainability is globally recognised as a high priority for education. We are currently in the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014) where sustainability education is widely accepted as a prerequisite for building a sustainable future. Australia currently does not pro-vide high quality and integrated sustainability through formal education and lifelong learning. In Australia there are a number of successful education for sustainability initiatives that already exist, run by various federal and state government departments. These include the Australian Sustainable Schools Initiative (AuSSI) which provides hands-on sustainability learning, and a commitment to embedding sustainability into areas of States’ school curricula. The challenge is that Australia currently lacks the vision and leadership to provide high quality and in-tegrated education for sustainability through our education system.' From report.

While educational inequality can be attributed to a number of economic and political causes, 'in Empowering Science and Mathematics Education in Urban Communities, Angela Calabrese Barton and Edna Tan demonstrate that it is augmented by a consistent failure to integrate student history, culture, and social needs into the core curriculum. They argue that teachers and schools should create hybrid third spaces—neither classroom nor home—in which underserved students can merge their personal worlds with those of math and science... A unique look at a frustratingly understudied subject, Empowering Science and Mathematics Education pushes beyond the idea of teaching for social justice and into larger questions of how and why students participate in math and science.' From publisher's description.

'Informed by conversations with six exemplary servant leaders, this book explores the servant-leadership vocation of Catholic school principals. The culminating conceptual framework emphasizes the importance of personal identity and Faith formation as foundational to the exercise of authentic servant-leadership.' From publisher's description.