Reel Schools takes a fresh look at the history of Australian schooling through the lens of Australian cinema from the silent era until 2010. In exploring the relationship between cinematic representation and educational history, Josephine May shows how numerous Australian feature and documentary films offer access to powerful vernacular imaginings about school education in Australia.
May argues that the cinematic school is a pervasive metaphor for the Australian nation. She demonstrates that, while Australian films about schooling have consistently commented on the relationship of...

The expansion of womens higher education in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Australia and New Zealand offered educated women opportunities to broaden their aspirations, horizons and experiences across many professional fields. Engaged in the public activity of teaching in a range of educational institutions, women were able to exercise a level of professional expertise, authority and independence. Paradoxically, women were both empowered by the possibilities of educational careers yet at the same time restricted by the historical era in which they lived and the feminized positions...

The expansion of womens higher education in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Australia and New Zealand offered educated women opportunities to broaden their aspirations, horizons and experiences across many professional fields. Engaged in the public activity of teaching in a range of educational institutions, women were able to exercise a level of professional expertise, authority and independence. Paradoxically, women were both empowered by the possibilities of educational careers yet at the same time restricted by the historical era in which they lived and the feminized positions...