This book, first published in 1992, provides an overview of programs for young children in countries and territories of the Pacific Rim. It focuses on programs which precede the beginning of formal schooling and that are part of the institutional structure of the country. The term early childhood education is used in a broad sense, and refers to education and care. The contributors to this volume have extensive knowledge and experience of early education in the countries that they write about.

In the chapters that follow, the history and current status of early childhood education in selected countries, along with a review of current research that is being conducted in these countries will be presented. In essence this will provide a glimpse of the intellectual base of early childhood education in many parts of the world.

The book is a study of teacher preparation policy and practice in Australia from the establishment of the first colony there in 1788, to the present day. It will highlight, within an international context, how the focus of preparation moved through the following five interrelated and overlapping phases.

In the early nineteenth century, governments introduced kindergartens and infant schools to give children a head start in life. These programs hinged on new visions of childhood that origin-ated in England and Europe, but what happened when they were exported to the colonies? This book unwinds the tangled threads of this history, from early infant schools in England to three Commonwealth countries Canada, Australia, and New Zealand where systems of educating young children were transplanted but adapted to suit local ideas, politics, and populations. This unique, comparative approach to the history of early childhood education provides fresh insight into how to reconcile educational theory and practice in an increasingly global world.

Guy Grey-Smith (1916-1981) remains one of the most important Australian artists of his generation. His artwork has been collected by every major public gallery in the country. Based in Western Australia, Grey-Smith exhibited nationally, participated in key international exhibitions, received Queens Honors Awards, and was a spirited contributor and active participant in the national arts scene. Granted access for the first time to Guy Grey-Smith's notebooks, war-time sketches, correspondence, and estate, author Andrew Gaynor draws a fascinating portrait of a country boy whose life was first liberated, then stalled, by the brutality of war. Teaching himself to draw while interned in prisoner of war camps, Grey-Smith went on to create some of the most enduring and powerful images of the Australian landscape, redolent with color, texture, and an unmistakable life force. He studied under the modernist sculptor Henry Moore at the Chelsea School of Art, London. Although primarily a painter, Grey-Smith also produced sculptures, pen and ink drawings, etchings, and wood blocks. This is the first book about this outstanding Australian artist and his remarkable 35-year career.