Gilbert, R


Journal of International Social Studies 

http://www.iajiss.org 

Volume 1  Number 1 48 Fall 2010 

 

 

 
The Use of Tertiary Texts in Australia 

 

Gilbert, R. (Ed.). (2004). Studying Society and Environment: A Guide for Teachers (3rd Ed). 

South Melbourne, Australia: Cengage.  

 

Marsh, C. (Ed.). (2008). Studies of Society and Environment (5
th

 Ed).  Frenchs Forest, 

Australia: Pearson.  

 

Review by Ruth Reynolds, University of Newcastle 

 

     These books are standard fundamental 

texts for teaching Social Studies, called 

Studies of Society and Environment (SSE) 

in most states of Australia, in Australian 

universities’ pre- service teacher education 

programs. Both books are collections of 

articles by key teacher educators in various 

states and cover the disciplinary concepts, 

the historical underpinnings of where this 

curriculum area stands at this time and 

some of the key approaches to teaching 

SSE. The various states develop their own 

syllabus documents so there are differences 

across Australia in the ways teachers are 

expected to teach SSE so it is always a bit 

of a juggling act to be able to cater to all 

states’ needs in a standard textbook. Both 

texts address this by drawing out the 

fundamental underpinnings of SSE and 

demonstrating how various state 

authorities address these fundamentals. 

This is essentially the strength in both 

these texts. The chapters are meant to be 

discussion starters. They don’t simply give 

answers. They bring up crucial issues and 

provide guidance as to how these issues 

can be further enhanced. Both texts 

question everyday understandings.  

      Gilberts’ text, which is about to be 

updated, divides the contributions into four 

areas. The first is an overall framing of 
SSE to discern the approaches to learning 

(critical inquiry), thinking skills, values 

and Information and Communication 

Technologies (ICT) approaches. The 

second area provides a closer investigation 

of cross curricular perspectives evident in 

SSE: active and informed citizenship, 

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 

perspectives, gender, sustainability and 

global futures). The third area speaks to the 

conceptual strands of studies of society and 

environment (time, continuity and change; 

place and space; culture and identity; 

resources, work and enterprise; natural 

systems and social systems including 

decision making). The last and quite small 

area addresses evaluation.  

     Marsh’s text likewise has four sections. 

The first section is an overview of both 

SSE and how to plan and set out lessons 

for learning in SSE. It is followed by a 

section of the fundamentals of planning in 

the areas including concept building, 

useful teaching and learning techniques, 

values and assessment. The third section 

examines the various strands of learning, 

similarly to Gilbert considering some key 

strategies in each area while the fourth 

section discusses issues in the teaching of 

this area of study. Marsh identifies the key 

issues as the teaching of Aboriginal and 

Torres Strait Islander perspectives, civics 

and citizenship education and multicultural 

and global studies.   

     The expansive coverage of these texts is 

both their strength and weakness. There is 

so much to read and digest, most pre-

service teachers do not even attempt to 
read them all, especially when most 

teacher educators in Australia expect 

students to read outside the set text to more 

current readings, journals, debates on the 

internet, and so on. So teacher educators 

tend to dip into the two books and choose 

what they  



Journal of International Social Studies 

http://www.iajiss.org 

Volume 1  Number 1 49 Fall 2010 

 

 

 

like from both. Myself, I prefer Gilbert’s 

stance on values and teaching thinking and 

some aspects of the conceptual strands but 

prefer Marsh’s text on planning and 

assessing. For a country of only 20 million 

people we are lucky to have two texts that 

offer so much. 

     The fact that so much is offered, and 

that both texts are edited collections, is a 

positive and a negative issue. We are given 

a wide range of views but a key drawback 

in both texts is that there is no clear 

uniformity of approach. Some chapters are 

long and conceptually dense, others are 

short and cover everything with a 

brushstroke. Neither book offers the reader 

easily accessible ways to gather key points 

and perhaps flick through to particular 

concepts. They are both very traditional  

 

 

 

texts in that regard and because they are 

both building on previous editions there is 

an element of new tacked on to old in a 

not-altogether seamless manner.    

      I have found both books to be 

invaluable sources of rich knowledge of 

Studies of Society and the Environment 

but my primary and early childhood pre-

service teachers find it difficult to 

understand all of the detail and then 

translate that into practice. To address this 

I have developed my own text to cater to 

this audience. Perhaps this makes me a 

somewhat partial reviewer but I hope I can 

provide this review as one who values the 

contribution that these texts make to the 

area but is still cognisant of how they can 

be improved, particularly for primary and 

early childhood pre-service teachers.  

 

 

 

 

Ruth Reynolds is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Newcastle