Presented as a series of case studies, this book offers the reader an insider’s account of the power dynamics in Australian education and how the application of that power influences education policymaking. The authors, Adrian Piccoli and Don Carter, have been in the room when some of the biggest decisions in Australian education have been made. This book traverses various theories of power and authority to explore the selected experiences of the authors who come from opposing sides of the political spectrum (a former National Party minister for education and a former teacher, union member and left-leaning academic) to share a behind-the-scenes story of education in Australia not readily available to the public. The chapters capture their personal experiences in senior education leadership roles, where they made key decisions on diverse topics such as how to allocate multibillion-dollar education budgets, the split of school funding between education sectors, contentious curriculum decisions and other policy and political objectives. Drawing on organisational theory, international relations and education, a variety of resources such as hard and soft power, credibility, persuasion and notions of capital are used to make sense of their experiences in education. Through this, the authors explain who has the biggest influence over those decisions and why these complex power dynamics, when not used properly, can mean that the best interests of students are not always at the heart of the decision-making process. Written for teachers, school leaders and other education professionals, this book presents a rare insight into power and authority in the Australian education system.

Presented as a series of case studies, this book offers the reader an insider's account of the power dynamics in Australian education and how the application of that power influences education policy making.

#1 New York Times Best Seller! "Eleanor & Park reminded me not just what it's like to be young and in love with a girl, but also what it's like to be young and in love with a book."-John Green, The New York Times Book Review Bono met his wife in high school, Park says. So did Jerry Lee Lewis, Eleanor answers. I'm not kidding, he says. You should be, she says, we're 16. What about Romeo and Juliet? Shallow, confused, then dead. I love you, Park says. Wherefore art thou, Eleanor answers. I'm not kidding, he says. You should be. Set over the course of one school year in 1986, this is the story of two star-crossed misfits-smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. When Eleanor meets Park, you'll remember your own first love-and just how hard it pulled you under. A New York Times Best Seller! A 2014 Michael L. Printz Honor Book for Excellence in Young Adult Literature Eleanor & Park is the winner of the 2013 Boston Globe Horn Book Award for Best Fiction Book. A Publishers Weekly Best Children's Book of 2013 A New York Times Book Review Notable Children's Book of 2013 A Kirkus Reviews Best Teen Book of 2013 An NPR Best Book of 2013

A social history of cosmopolitanism in Southeast Asia's ethnically diverse port cities, seen within the global context of the interwar era.

Grief on the Playground is a colorful and playful expression on how grief affects us all today. It is a story which takes you on a ride through the 'grief rollercoaster'. Grief on the Playground is necessary for all children who have lost someone they loved. Readers all around confirm Grief on the Playground is a great tool for coping with the loss of a parent, sibling, friend, or pet. The picture book should be used as an aid to help children and adults talk about this very tough subject.

Digital Playgrounds makes the argument that online games play a uniquely meaningful role in children's lives, with profound implications for children's culture, agency, and rights in the digital era.

The People’s Property? is the first book-length scholarly examination of how negotiations over the ownership, control, and peopling of public space are central to the development of publicity, citizenship, and democracy in urban areas. The book asks the questions: Why does it matter who owns public property? Who controls it? Who is in it? Donald Mitchell and Lynn A. Staeheli answer the questions by focusing on the interplay between property (in its geographical sense, as a parcel of owned space) and people. Property rights are often defined as the "right to exclude." It is important, therefore, to understand who (what individual and corporate entities, governed by what kinds of regulations and restrictions) owns publicly accessible property. It is likewise important to understand the changing bases for excluding some people and classes of people from otherwise publicly accessible property. That is to say, it is important to understand how modes of access and possibilities for association in publicly accessible space vary for different individuals and different classes of people, if we are to understand the role public spaces play in shaping democratic possibilities. In what ways are urban public spaces "the people’s property" – and in what ways are they not? What does this mean for citizenship and the constitution of an inclusive, democratic polity? The book develops its argument through five case studies: protest in Washington DC; struggles over the Plaza of Santa Fe, NM; homelessness and property redevelopment in San Diego, CA; the enclosure of public space in a mall in Syracuse, NY; and community gardens in New York City. Though empirically focused on the US, the book is of broader interests as publics in all liberal democracies are under-going rapid reconsideration and transformation.