New publications

The data in this publication is based on responses from primary schools and secondary colleges to a web-based languages survey. The data provides a comprehensive picture of the provision of languages education at that time in Victoria. This report focuses on the provision of languages programs through mainstream government primary schools and secondary colleges and the Victorian School of Languages (VSL). Programs conducted outside regular school hours by Community Languages Schools (CLS) have not been analysed in this report, although students who study a language to the VCE level through a CLS are included in languages study at the VCE level section. In 2011, 19 languages were taught in government schools and colleges, while 46 languages were studied through the VSL, representing 48 languages in total. Adapted from Preface. The full report is available online.

Student disengagement is a growing societal concern and responses to this concern have included a proliferation of re-engagement programs (REPs) across Australia. Evaluations by the Brotherhood of St Laurence (BSL) and anecdotal feedback have suggested that teachers find it extremely difficult to adapt to REP settings and cater for ‘high needs’students. This prompted a Research and Policy Centre scan ofthe extent to which teacher training programs prepare teachers to work in more flexible learning environments. This scan provides a glimpse of whether disjunctures exist between policy, training programs and needs, and whether these can be resolved. From Introduction. The full report is available online.

This volume of essays examines educational technology from diverse vantage points. Each chapter aims to provide school leaders with both conceptual insights and practical guides. The authors include current K–12 school educators and students, professors and graduate students of educational technology and educational leadership, and technology-industry leaders. The audience for this book includes teachers, school and district leaders, educational technologists, educational policymakers, and higher-education faculty. Chapters examine a number of specific uses of advanced technologies in schools, in educational leadership and in leadership-preparatory programs. Chapters are accompanied by screen-captured images and links to multimedia examples that are accessible to readers via the internet, including digital artifacts of leadership and learning that will guide readers to implementation in diverse educational settings. Adapted from publisher's description.

This book examines issues of citizenship, citizenship education, and social change in China, exploring the complexity of interactions among global forces, the nation-state, local governments, schools, and individuals - including students - in selecting and identifying with elements of citizenship and citizenship education in a multileveled polity. It also provides guide to studies on China, discussing the country's responses to global challenges and social transitions for over a century - from its military defeats by foreign powers in the 1840s to its rise as a world power in the early 21st century - on its path toward reviving the nation and making a modern Chinese citizenry. Citizenship and Citizenship Education in a Global Age is covers the fields of sociology, globalization, citizenship studies, comparative education, and China's development. Adapted from publisher's description.

Uneducated Guesses challenges everything our policymakers thought they knew about education and education reform, from how to close the achievement gap in public schools to admission standards for top universities. In this explosive book, Howard Wainer uses statistical evidence to show why some of the most widely held beliefs in education today – and the policies that have resulted – are wrong. He shows why colleges that make the SAT optional for applicants end up with underperforming students and inflated national rankings, and why the push to substitute achievement tests for aptitude tests makes no sense. Wainer challenges the thinking behind the enormous rise of advanced-placement courses in high schools, and demonstrates why assessing teachers based on how well their students perform on tests – a central pillar of recent education reforms – is woefully misguided. He explains why college rankings are often lacking in hard evidence, why essay questions on tests disadvantage women, why the most grievous errors in education testing are not made by testing organisations – and much more.

Adapted from publisher's description.

For Andy Hargreaves and Michael Fullan the quality of teaching is captured in a compelling new idea: the professional capital of every teacher working together in every school. The book examines the nature of professional capital, competing views and stereotypes of teaching, individualist and collaborative cultures, and how change occurs in schools. Adapted from publisher's description and table of contents.