Preservice teachers and teachers wishing to deepen their understanding of working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in the classroom context are the target audience for this book. There is an emphasis throughout on the importance of an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island perspective for all students, which makes this book relevant to environmental educators who are in a unique position to engage Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and communities. Working with advice and direction from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island groups and educators is a major theme that runs throughout the book.

The book is an eclectic mix of chapters that work together to build a picture of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education in Australia, the problems and successes, the history and the future. There are 11 chapters written by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander academics, who relate their personal and professional experiences and from which the reader can benefit. Included are chapters on the history of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education, English, Maths, ICT, and working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and communities. I will focus this review on the chapters that might be most relevant to environmental educators.

Christin Evans questions preservice teacher education for not building in opportunities for university students to work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders students and communities in Chapter 4: ‘Your Professional Experience and Becoming Professional About Working With Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Students And Communities’. Among other suggestions, she suggests that to become competent in working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and communities, the practitioner should identify the local custodians of the land and identify potential Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education consultants and organisations that could offer assistance.

Chapter 5, ‘The “Silent Apartheid” as the Practitioner's Blind Spot’, by Mark Rose, is of particular relevance to environmental educators. Rose cites scientific evidence that suggests Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples embody the world's oldest living cultures, and he goes on to state that it must also embody the oldest living intellectual tradition. Historically, this intellectual tradition has been supressed and even muted. Environmental educators are placed in a good position to value this intellectual history as it is often closely linked to the land; but, as Rose argues, there is a spin-off to the ‘silent apartheid’, that being ‘racism by cotton wool’. What it does is to exclude or even excuse professionals afflicted by it from full professional engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in case their attempts at engagement may cause offence. It is prevalent in professionals of social conscience who are cautious not to be deemed ‘politically incorrect or racist’ (p. 72).

Kaye Price suggests in Chapter 10, ‘Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies in the Classroom’, that there should be study and teaching of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and culture in the classroom. She suggests using books and artefacts by authors and artists of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander backgrounds as the ‘jumping-off point’ for working with the Australian Curriculum cross-curriculum priorities. She advocates for the use of these resources as a mirror for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students to see themselves reflected in the stories around them.

Peter Buckskin ascertains that educators need to develop their cultural competencies to foster engagement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in Chapter 11, ‘Engaging Indigenous Students: The Important Relationship Between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Students and Their Teachers’. He stresses the importance of listening to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander educators.

One of the small but incredibly useful gems of this book is contained in Appendix B: Terminology. These three pages contain a current list of appropriate terminologies to describe groups of people and their correct use for documents and reports. The terminology could be shown to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island groups an educator is working with to ensure there is consensus on appropriate use of terms for that community.

Armed with this book, the environmental educator will begin to understand the broader context that forms the educational background for current Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island students, and it will provide tools that empower building of rich cultural connections. However, there is little advice on how to push forward if the needs and timeframes of the educator and the community are at odds. Consensus can be difficult to reach and uphold over time. A situation such as this could easily hinder advancement toward the kind of proactive understanding and valuing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island culture the book is advocating for. Without addressing this integral point, educators run the risk of unintentionally embodying Rose's ‘racism by cotton wool’, or prolong a ‘silent apartheid’, due to a lack of practical advice on how to sensitively navigate potentially difficult or politically charged situations.