Introduction and overview / George Cooney -- The beginning teacher / Mon Khamis -- Teacher satisfaction in an age of change / Steve Dinham -- Teachers' professional self-concept / Lyndon Brooks and Catherine Scott -- Multicultural education and intercultural understanding : ethnicity, culture and schooling / Greg Noble and Scott Poynting -- Gender, schooling achievement and post-school pathways : beyond statistics and populist discourse / Victoria Foster -- Students at risk / Jo Milne-Home -- The international context of education / Beth Southwell -- School leadership and the school principal / A. Ross Thomas -- School effectiveness, school improvement and assuring quality / John Bentley -- The professional education of teachers / Jim Walker, Barbara Preston and Jim Mitchell -- The present and future context of education / Steve Dinham and Catherine Scott