{"product_id":"2026100008843-secondhand-frank-tate-a-biography","title":"Frank Tate: A Biography","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition remarks:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBook: Very good\u003cbr\u003eJacket: Very good\u003cbr\u003ePages: Tanning and foxing\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAt the heart of Australian educational reform stands one man whose vision shaped a nation's classrooms — Frank Tate: A Biography by R. J. W. Selleck chronicles the remarkable life of Frank Tate, Victoria's first Director of Education, who transformed a fragmented colonial schooling system into a modern, cohesive public institution at the turn of the twentieth century. Appointed in 1902 and serving for nearly three decades, Tate championed progressive pedagogy, championed teacher training, and argued passionately for a curriculum that spoke to Australian identity rather than simply mirroring British models, making him a towering and sometimes controversial figure in the history of Australian public life.\n\nSelleck, a distinguished historian of education at Monash University, brings rigorous archival scholarship to bear on Tate's personal and professional world, illuminating the political pressures, bureaucratic battles, and philosophical convictions that defined his long tenure. Written with clarity and measured authority, the biography situates Tate within the broader currents of Federation-era nation-building, revealing how decisions made in one man's office reverberated through generations of Australian schoolchildren. For anyone curious about the forces that forged modern Australia, this meticulously researched account raises a compelling question: how much does the character of a single administrator shape the soul of a society?\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Secondhand Stock","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49336810897627,"sku":"2026100008843-SECONDHAND","price":30.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0523\/7646\/9701\/files\/8bc7e1b8-c184-4f26-b063-63e5fd39be2e.png?v=1789958376","url":"https:\/\/bookgrocer.com\/products\/2026100008843-secondhand-frank-tate-a-biography","provider":"Book Grocer","version":"1.0","type":"link"}