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This book covers the education systems of the 10 member nations of the Association of South-East Asian nations (ASEAN) plus Timor Leste. The 11 country case studies give readers an overview of each country's education system. There are also thematic chapters on issues including gender, education and development; higher education; language policy; quality assurance; and sustainable development. Adapted from publisher's description.

In May this year an electronic survey was sent out to all members of the Australian Education Union and the Independent Education Unions in each state. Its aim was to gather educators’ views about NAPLAN, and its perceived effects on students. This nationwide survey of close to 8,500 educators probes both the impact of NAPLAN on testing, pedagogy and curriculum practice and on students’ health and well-being. This teacher perspective must be treated with caution and needs to be triangulated with the views of other stakeholders, such as parents and students, for a more complete understanding of the impact of NAPLAN on schools and students. This was not possible within the framework of the current study, but will, subject to funding, be explored in the next stages of this project. Nevertheless, teachers constitute one of the most important stakeholders in the implementation of a testing program such as NAPLAN, and their voice carries legitimate authority in the debate. Adapted from Foreward and Introduction. The full report is available online.

Based on the premise that learning is at the heart of leadership and that leaders themselves should be learners, the Leadership for Learning series explores the connections between educational leadership, policy, curriculum, human resources and accountability. Each book in the series approaches its subject matter through a threefold structure of process, themes and impact. 'Leadership for Quality and Accountability in Education' addresses the interconnected issues of quality and accountability in the education system and provides a framework within which these issues can be analysed. The authors outline the significance of promoting quality in all educational establishments and go on to discuss why quality and accountability have become so essential to the framework of leadership in education, how quality and accountability have been utilised on a national and international scale and what the defining characteristics of these terms are. Adapted from publisher's description.

For thirty years Henry Giroux has been theorising pedagogy as a political, moral and cultural practice, drawing upon critical discourses that extend from John Dewey and Zygmunt Bauman to Paulo Freire. This book starts with the crucial role of pedagogy in schools before extending the notion to the educational force of the wider culture. Giroux focuses on five crucial elements associated with critical pedagogy. First, he presents an overview of the term as it applies to schooling and to larger cultural spheres. Second, he analyses the increasingly empirical orientation of teaching, focusing on the culture of positivism. Section three examines some of the major economic, social and political forces that the author sees as undermining the promise of democratic schooling in both public and higher education. Giroux then outlines increasing attempts by varied political interests to reduce schooling to training, and students merely to customers. The book finishes with a focus on the legacy of Paulo Freire and an exhortation to follow his educational thinking. Adapted from publisher's description.

The Big Win Financial Literacy Program – Primary Package helps teachers to develop financial literacy to students in middle to upper primary school. Students will learn about goals, budgeting, investing, saving 'and, most importantly, believing in themselves'. The package includes the Big Win Primary Financial Literacy Program in workbook format and two novels in the enRICH KIDS series: enRICH KIDS itself and the Big Win and Keep on Track. There is also a Secondary Package that encourages teenagers to develop basic financial management and problem-solving skills. Topics covered include banking, loans, superannuation, investing, credit cards, renting, work world, needs and wants.

Based on the conceptual framework of the educational 'ecosystem', the book engages preservice teachers in activities designed to deepen their understanding of the interrelationship of the community, the school, and classroom dynamics and cultures. Section I deals with individual identity and self-awareness, and Section II on multicultural awareness and intercultural interaction. Section III is titled 'Introduction to classroom inquiry' and includes chapters such as 'Multigenre inquiry project: sharing the process and results of inquiry', 'Asking and developing the overarching inquiry question: finding a focus', 'Writing a rationale for your overarching question', and 'Designing interview questions'. Section IV is titled 'Analyzing pedagogy for the classroom ecosystem'. Chapters include 'Literature circles', 'Rubric protocol', 'Lesson plan' and 'Unit plan'. Adapted from publisher's description.

For early childhood classrooms, Beyond Early Literacy offers a literacy method known as Shared Journal, which promotes young children's learning across content areas. The method covers children's communication and language abilities, writing skills, sense of community, grasp of diverse social and cultural worlds, and understanding of history, counting, numeracy and time. Pairing interactive talk with individual writing in the classroom community, the method seeks to develop the whole child. The book includes sample lesson plans, rubrics and templates; children's artifacts, including examples of oral and written work; teacher accounts examining the use of Shared Journal in the classroom, including strategies and suggestions; and a companion website with templates, additional resources, video clips of in-classroom teaching and examples of ways to use new technologies. Adapted from publisher's description.