About the Authors

Tom O'Donoghue is a Professor Emeritus in the Graduate School of Education at The University of Western Australia. He is also an elected member of both the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and the Royal Historical Society, UK. He specialises in the social history of education. Along with Professor Teresa O'Doherty and Judith Harford, he is series editor of the Emerald Series in Teacher Preparation in National and Global Contexts. He is also a former President of the Australian and New Zealand History of Education Society, and in 2023 he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Educational Studies Association of Ireland.

John Mortimer graduated from Claremont Teachers' College in Perth, Western Australia, as a primary school teacher in 1966. Several years later, he transferred to teaching at secondary school level. His qualifications include an MEdAdmin from Curtin University, Australia, and an EdD and a PhD both from The University of Western Australia. In 2006, he retired as Principal of State senior high schools in Western Australia, and accepted positions in the United Arab Emirates as Principal of the Fujairah Campus of the Institute of Applied Technology and later as Head of Career and Technical Education in the Knowledge and Human Development Authority, Dubai.