‘Different way of learning’:Is the school textbook almost extinct?

The year was 1975:Centrepoint Tower was still under construction,calculators were too expensive to be used in schools and textbooks were hand-me-down affairs within families when industrial chemist Tanya White bought a small used bookshop in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.

It was called T’s,situated on the main shopping strip at Randwick. She moved it around the corner to Avoca Street,where teachers from nearby Marcellin College sought out novels to make class sets and students came to purchase textbooks.

Tanya White at T’s in the 1980s.

Tanya White at T’s in the 1980s.Supplied.

“Then the boys used to come in and say,‘What can we do with our old textbooks?’,” White said.

The part-time bookseller had a solution.

White became the first bookseller she knew of in Sydney focused on wheeling and dealing in used textbooks on a large scale,working with schools to stock what students would need for the following year.

Her shop soon became a back-to-school hotspot for thousands of students every January as parents ferried their children to save money. The shop became so busy White had to quit her day job.

“The exchange of textbooks would have previously been between families,relations,neighbours – there was no outlet for people to take their textbooks and buy the next year’s booklist,” she said.

The textbook division of the bookshop moved to Alexandria in 2011 when her daughter Simone Parsons took over operations.

Parsons will close the 47-year-old business this year – a difficult decision that was due to personal reasons and factors affecting the second-hand book trade.

“We watch these kids in year 7,we see where they go,we get involved,they talk to us about their subject selection,where they want to go after school. We will miss helping them with their education,” Parsons said.

“The biggest catalyst was schools were moving more to digital platforms,which has been accelerated by COVID in the last two years.”

Another big hit to their business was the advent of subscription services such as Box of Books– a Netflix-style suite of school resources that gives students access to textbooks from more than one publisher for a single fee. This was compounded by the fact textbook publishing companies began updating editions more often due to more frequent curriculum changes and the advent of digital licence codes to access the online component of the textbook.

Australian Publishing Association vice-president Mark O’Neil said Australia was leading the way when it came to digital textbooks,which included features such as student quizzes that provide instant feedback,educational videos and lesson plans for teachers.

“You might have something like a test generator,where you can choose from a bank of questions,it creates a test for you,the teacher can set that for a class with a time limit on it,” he said.

“What publishers are constantly being told is that teachers are time-poor,the easier we can make lesson preparation for them,the better.”

So,does that mean textbooks will soon be extinct? “There is always going to be a place for books,people like to hold things in their hands,” O’Neil said.

“I think because it is what teachers and parents are used to,plus I do think,sitting down and reading a book is a different experience to staring at a screen.”

Eugenie Pepper said she liked holding a physical book in her hand but her daughter Chloe,13,learnt digitally.

Chloe Pepper with her new textbooks ahead of the school year.

Chloe Pepper with her new textbooks ahead of the school year.Steven Siewert

“I much prefer to have something in my hand,I remember getting the pencil out and underlining things,” she said.

Chloe,who attends Ascham,still used a physical textbook for several subjects,but other subjects increasingly utilised online materials. “When I see them with videos and slideshows,it is a whole different way of learning,” Pepper said.

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Christopher Harris is an education reporter for the Sydney Morning Herald.

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