Abstract
The first issue of the Australian Journal of Education for 2014 was a special issue: Technologies for Intentional Learning: Bridging Research and Practice. I take this opportunity to thank and congratulate the two guest editors, Chwee Beng Lee and Woei Hung, on their splendid work in bringing this project to fruition. The work involved was much greater than it may have appeared from the outside. Over a period of two years, they planned the content, identified the authors, secured their agreement to participate, nagged them until the papers were written, arranged reviewers for each paper, and managed the inevitable revisions that followed. The result is an issue of which Chwee Beng and Woei should be proud and which will stand for many years as the “Go to” reference in this important area of work.
In one sense, this, the second issue for 2014 is back to normal. The range of topics covered is substantial, and I am confident that there will be something in this issue to catch the interest of every reader. There is a strong focus on educational practice in settings that include
pre-school (Michelle Neumann); the primary years (Renae Hawkyard, Ian Dempsey and Michael Arthur-Kelly; Gayle Hemsley, Alison Holm and Barbara Dodd); the transition from primary to secondary education (Stacey Waters, Leanne Lester and Donna Cross); the transition from secondary to tertiary education (Andrew Harvey); tertiary education (John Polesel and Malgorzita Klatt); and teacher professional learning (Robyn Pierce, Helen Chick, Jane Watson, Michael Dalton and Magdalena Les).
I am both pleased and proud to be able to offer a range of readings that so comprehensively spans professional practice in its many forms.
For me, as Editor, this issue is far from “back to normal,” as it will be the last issue of the AJE to appear under my editorship. After six years in the role, I am standing down and handing over the reins to my colleague Petra Lietz. We have been working together for some time now, but with this issue completed, I will be stepping aside, and Issue 3 will be produced entirely under Petra’s editorship. For the first time in six years, I will be able to open the latest AJE and be surprised.
Many changes have taken place in the six years since I became Editor. At that time, almost everything was done by email (the exception being the occasional submission by snail mail). The flow of emails was mind-boggling—in 2007, we received 71 submissions, and in 2008, the number grew to 100. Each of these would have generated, on average, 8–10 emails, and in many cases substantially more.
As the rate of submission increased, it became apparent that change was needed. In 2009, we initiated a system of computer-managed submission and review (provided by BePress), and this served us well for the next four years. In 2013, when SAGE Publications took over as our publishers, we switched to ScholarOne, the system used by all SAGE journals, and therefore relatively familiar to many of our authors and reviewers. The only constant is change! Without these changes, managing the flow of material (by now approaching 200 submissions per year) would have been impossible.
I pay tribute to the many anonymous reviewers, whose contribution to the journal is beyond measure. They have given generously (and mostly promptly) of their time. For their hard work, they have received far too little in the way of reward and recognition (although this is beginning to change). They cannot please everybody, and the decisions that flow from their advice will, inevitably, displease many. Without their assistance and support, this journal could not have survived, nor could it have retained its reputation as a quality journal.
My appreciation goes also to those hundreds of authors who have submitted manuscripts over the past six years. For most of them, the outcome was disappointment. It can be painful and difficult for an editor to write to authors informing them that their articles cannot appear in the AJE. It is, I know, painful and difficult for an author to receive such news. Nevertheless I have been surprised and delighted by the many authors who have written back expressing gratitude for the appraisal of their work and for the constructive and helpful advice given by reviewers. This reflects great credit on the reviewers, as it does on the disappointed authors.
In 1939, Jerome Weidman (1939, p. 217), a novelist, wrote words that I have often had cause to reflect upon: On the whole, I have found editors friendly and pleasant, but unpredictable and occasionally embarrassing in their desperation. So seldom do they get what they want that they tend to become incoherent in their insistent repetition of their needs. A writer does well to listen to them, but not too often, or too long.
It has been a privilege for me to serve as Editor of the AJE. This journal has been published without interruption since 1957, and I would like to think it will still be with us in 2057, although very few of us are likely to be attending the party. It has continued to play an important part in framing debate about educational practice and policy in Australia and, increasingly, in surrounding regions. I have no doubt that, with Petra Lietz as its Editor and SAGE as its publisher, the Australian Journal of Education will continue to grow in readership, in scholarship, and in influence.