John Smyth is Research Professor of Education at the University of Ballarat, Australia. He was formerly the Mitte Endowed Chair in School Improvement, Texas State University-San Marcos, USA. He is Emeritus Professor, Flinders University of South Australia, where he held the Foundation Chair of Teacher Education, was Associate Dean of Research, and Director of the Flinders Institute for the Study of Teaching. Among his twenty published books are: 'Dropping Out', Drifting Off, Being Excluded; Teachers in the Middle; Critical Discourses in Teacher Development; Activist and Socially Critical School and Community Renewal; Critically Engaged Learning; Hanging in with Kids in Tough Times.