This book examines the connections between policy, school experiences, and everyday activities of children growing up in the global city of Melbourne, Australia. It provides an in-depth consideration of Melbourne primary school childrens lifeworlds, exploring everyday stories and practices inside and outside of school. This includes consideration of the diverse ways that educational success may be understood in the context of Melbourne, productively moving beyond a narrow focus only on academic achievement. Situated alongside policy and curriculum analysis, the book draws on research in Melbourne Year 4 primary school classrooms in the form of student-completed surveys, classroom ethnographies, and student responses to a learning dialogues activity, as well as video re-enactments of out-of-school life. Through this it explores key aspects of childrens lifeworlds with a focus on school timetabling and pedagogical encounters, school engagement and belonging, and activities and everyday routines outside of school. This book offers a comprehensive and holistic exploration of childrens lifeworlds in Melbourne, drawing connections between childrens lives inside and outside of school, and the broader policy contexts.  

Clare Bartholomaeus is a Research Fellow in the Melbourne Graduate School of Education at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Her key research interests include gender, diversity, and children/young people. She has published widely in the areas of education, gender studies, health, and family studies. She is author of the books Transgender people and education (with Damien Riggs, Palgrave Macmillan, 2017) and Home and away: Mothers and babies in institutional spaces (with Kathleen Connellan, Clemence Due, and Damien Riggs, Lexington Books, 2021).  

Nicola Yelland is the Professor of Early Childhood Studies in the Melbourne Graduate School of Education at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Her teaching and research interests are related to transformative pedagogies and the use of new technologies in school and community contexts. She hasworked in East Asia and examined the culture and curriculum of school settings. Nicolas work engages with educational issues with regard to varying social, economic and political conditions and thus requires multidisciplinary perspectives. Nicola effectively links research with practice so that her audience are able to critically explore the nexus of theory and practice.  

Chapter 1: Introducing Childrens Lifeworlds in the Global City of Melbourne.- Chapter 2 The Context of Childrens Lifeworlds in Melbourne.- Chapter 3 The Structure of Schooling in Melbourne: Timetabling and Routines.- Chapter 4: Pedagogical Encounters: Teaching and Learning in Melbourne Classrooms.- Chapter 5 School Engagement and Orientations to Educational Success in Melbourne.- Chapter 6 School Belonging and Wellbeing: Everyday Stories and Practices in Melbourne.- Chapter 7 Screens, Play, Sport, and Homework: Childrens Out-of-School Activities in Melbourne.