In this detailed study of the history of universal literacy in Sweden, a group of renowned scholars review and explore the possibilities for the wider circulation and broader application of central dimensions of the early literacy studies, expounding upon the work of the Swedish Lutheran pastor and pioneering social historian Egil Johansson. Working initially with parish registers, especially examination registers from northern Sweden, Johansson discovered the extraordinary usefulness of t...

Under nära 30 år har den svenske pastorn och socialhistorikern Egil Johanssons forskningsinsats förbluffat den internationella akademiska världen. Johansson, som tidigt kom att intressera sig för kyrkoförsamlingarnas arkiv i norra Sverige, och särskilt för kyrkornas undervisningsregister, upptäckte dessa dokuments unika potential för att få en inblick i läs- och skrivkunnighetens historia i Sverige.I Understanding Literacy in its Historical Contexts undersöker en grupp int...

The reconstruction of higher education in Australia at the end of the 1980s radically reshaped many existing universities. However, in South Australia, Dawkins's educational changes brought into existence an entirely new university, the University of South Australia, formed by the merging of two former institutions from the advanced education sector, the South Australian Institute of Technology and the South Australian College of Advanced Education.This volume first traces the unsu...

Is water a resource or is it the source? Is it something to be consumed or does it have a life of its own? Recent histories of environmental misunderstanding and exploitation shadow our current regime of water management and use. While governments grapple with how to respond to widespread drought, the situation worsens. There is something amiss in current approaches to water. This timely collection of essays addresses the critical and contentious issue of water in Australia today and sugge...

The combined effort of 19 feminist educators and theorists from four continents, this exciting collection of essays is designed to be as wide-ranging intellectually as it is geographically. Probing the abilities (and dis-abilities) of women in education from the mid-19th century to the present, it brings historical analysis, classroom research, and theoretical reflection to bear on gender issues in schooling and higher education. 'What about the boys?' cry alarmists who fear a feminist tak...

Unpacking inequality in Australia by renowned economist and MP Andrew LeighIs Australia fair enough? And why does inequality matter anyway?From egalitarian beginnings, Australian inequality rose through the nineteenth century. Then we became more equal again, with inequality falling markedly from the 1920s to the 1970s. Now, inequality is returning to the heights of the 1820s. The housing and cost-of-living crises we face are some of the defining issues of our time.

Environmental ethics is a relatively new branch of philosophy, which studies the values and principles involved in combatting environmental problems such as pollution, loss of species and habitats, and climate change. As our environment faces evermore threats from human activities these core issues are becoming increasingly important. In this Very Short Introduction Robin Attfield traces the origins of environmental ethics as a discipline, and considers how it defends the independ...

For every group that is oppressed, another group is privileged. In Undoing Privilege, Bob Pease argues that privilege, as the other side of oppression, has received insufficient attention in both critical theories and in the practices of social change. As a result, dominant groups have been allowed to reinforce their dominance.Undoing Privilege explores the main sites of privilege, from Western dominance, class elitism, and white and patriarchal privilege to the less-examined sites...

Aboriginal design is of a distinctly cultural nature, based in the Dreaming and in ancient practices grounded in Country. It is visible in the aerodynamic boomerang, the ingenious design of fish traps and the precise layouts of community settlements that strengthen social cohesion. Alison Page and Paul Memmott show how these design principles of sophisticated function, sustainability and storytelling, refined over many millennia, are now being applied to contemporary practices. Design: Bui...

Why is education in Australia failing? Where did we go wrong, and how do we fix it? The Gonski Review seemed like a breakthrough. Commissioned by Prime Minster Julia Gillard and chaired by leading businessman David Gonski, the 2011 review made clear that school education policy wasn't working, and placed a spotlight on the troubling and growing gap between the educational outcomes of disadvantaged children and their more privileged peers. Gonski proposed a model that provided targeted fund...

What do you need to know to prosper as a people for at least 65,000 years? The First Knowledges series provides a deeper understanding of the expertise and ingenuity of Indigenous Australians. Plants are the foundation of life on Earth. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have always known this to be true. For millennia, reciprocal relationships with plants have provided both sustenance to Indigenous communities and many of the materials needed to produce a complex array of techn...

In this trenchant inquiry into the state of feminism, Angela McRobbie breaks open the politics of sexual equality and ′affirmative feminism′ and sets down a new theory of gender power. Challenging the most basic assumptions of the ′end′ of feminism, this book argues that invidious forms of gender re-stabilisation are being re-established. Consumer and popular culture encroach on the terrain of so-called female freedom, appearing supportive of female success, yet tying women into new post-f...