A history of Australian schooling

There are a few books about which one can confidently say that they are both necessary and timely - A History of Australian Schooling by Craig Campbell and Helen Proctor is such a book. THe last great synthesis on this topic, A Hisoty of Australian Education, was written by Alan Barcan for Oxford University Press and first published in 1980. Thirty-four years later, following various "turns" in historiographical theory and method, the re-casting of educational history for a different Australia that had not only moved into a new century, but also into a strangely amnesiac educational universe, was, as the authors themselves note, well overdue. Campbell and Proctor's multivalent treatment in AHistory of AUstralian Schooling gathers up all of these trends and synthesises historical reseach on Austrlaian schooling for the new age. In doing so, the book also makes for fascinating and compelling reading