Understanding the nature of work: how historians of education deconstruct its pasts Available to Purchase

The articles published in this special edition were selected from papers offered by 82 participants at the second joint conference of the History of Education Society (UK) and the Australia and New Zealand History of Education Society. This conference was held at the University of Sydney from 8‐11 December 2008. The topic was Work! Work! Work!: Work and the History of Education! and presenters were invited to submit papers for publication on one of eight themes including: the work and play of the child; vocational education and preparing the young for work; the work and careers of teachers and administrators; and the work of teaching the young across colonial and national boundaries. These themes were built upon by two general symposia entitled: ‘A picture and a 1000 words’ where presenters, using the immediacy of the single image, offered briefer narratives to construct the notion of ‘work’ as a snapshot of different educational pasts. As such, the conference aim was to embrace many genres of history, to allow access for new scholars, whilst established writers could offer pathways for future individual and collaborative scholarship.