This book explores the career paths of Australian women who have succeeded in achieving professorships and beyond, where for the most part, such positions are predominately occupied by males. It also explores the gendered culture that exists across faculties and universities as reported by participants in a survey questionnaire of 525 new professors (female and male), and nearly 30 interviews of women in Australian higher education, either in small focus groups or individually. Futher, it identifies catalysts for and inhibitors of success for women and looks in depth at "the boys' club" and how it impacts women's progression. The book also highlights how critical life decisions - doctoral study, work and family - shape the careers of academic women. It identifies five distinct career profiles for women academics and the pressure points and effective support for each profile. Thus, this book can assist women academics who are making life decisions and those supporting their career progression. It also provides insights into why affirmative action initiatives to improve the proportion of women in the professoriate have had minimal impact despite considerable investment over the past 30 years.

Both traditional and progressive curricula are inadequate for the task of responding to the economic, political, social, and cultural changes that have occurred as a result of globalization. This book documents some of the ongoing work occurring in early childhood settings that is aimed at improving, and ultimately transforming, early childhood practice in these changed and changing times. The authors do not simply critique developmental approaches or the increasing standardization of the field. Instead, they describe how they are playing around with postmodern ideas in practice and developing unique approaches to the diverse educational circumstances that confront early childhood educators. Whether it is preparing teachers, using materials, or developing policies, each chapter provides readers with possibilities for enacting pedagogies that are responsive to the contemporary circumstances shaping the lives of young children.

Contents:
1. Parent and child conflict as a modernist understanding 2. Parent and child conflict as social control and regulation 3. Parent and child conflict as relationships of power 4. Researching with families 5. Gendered conflict 6. School is in 7. Tidying 8. Daily living as normalization and regulation

This book draws from Foucault's notion of power-knowledge-resistance and feminist poststructuralism to offer a re-theorisation of parent-child conflict that takes into account relationships between the individual and society. Employing this non-traditional perspective, Grieshaber studies four families and considers how issues such as race, class, gender and age, interact with daily domestic practice to produce parent-child conflict.

This book investigates the unique and dynamic approaches to key issues of changing images of child and childhood, by different countries in the Asia-Pacific. Key concepts considered are re-conceptualizing early childhood education and care, re-eaxming early learning standards and redefining professionalism. The Asia Pacific region includes countries belonging to both the Majority and Minority worlds and which vary widely in terms of their cultural geography, social-cultural beliefs, and levels of development, demographic profiles, political systems and government commitments to early childhood services. An international team of experienced researchers from different countries guarantees diverse perspectives. By examining different countries' policy choices and evidence-based practices, the authors show how best to provide for young children based on their countries' strategies.

This book questions some of the ideas about play that are held dear by many in early childhood education. For many early childhood professionals play is viewed as the essential aspect of children?s development and learning and play is often promoted as a universal and almost magical `fix? in the early years. Although play does have many benefits for children, there are other sides to play that are not so romantic, natural, or even particularly educational. 'The Trouble with Play' challenges such taken-for-granted understandings of play in early childhood education and shows how play is not always innocent or fun, that it can be unfair and unjust in the interactions children have with each other and with staff in early childhood settings.In addition to encouraging early years professionals to have new ways of seeing and thinking about play, the book also explores new approaches to pedagogy and the role for the teacher, including the use of 'play' as a powerful strategy for teaching and learning, as well as practical and productive strategies for bringing a critical perspective to issues around play.