Tony has published extensively in the areas of school effectiveness, school improvement, teacher education and community education and development, in Australia, Europe and North America. He has authored or edited ten books and over 50 journal articles or chapters and has delivered more than 75 keynote addresses internationally. His recent publications include:

Books:

• International Perspectives on Teacher Education (2013), Routledge, London (Edited)
• The International Handbook of Leadership for Learning (2011), Springer, Dordrecht, the Netherlands and New York (Edited with John McBeath)
• The International Handbook of School Effectiveness and Improvement (2009), Springer, Dordrecht, the Netherlands and New York
• The Elusive What and the Problematic How: The Essential Leadership Questions for School Leaders and Educational Researchers, (2008), Sense Publishers, Rotterdam and Taiwan (Edited with Ira Bogotch)

Chapters/journal articles:

• Townsend, T., Dempster, N., Johnson, G., Wilkinson, J. & Bayetto, A. (in press) Principals as Literacy Leaders: Case Studies of Leadership with a Purpose. In Grzegorz Mazurkiewicz (Ed) How to build a good school. Potential and barriers of evaluation, Krakow, Poland: Publishing house of the Jagiellonian University
• David Reynolds, Pam Sammons, Bieke De Fraine, Jan Van Damme, Tony Townsend, Charles Teddlie & Sam Stringfield (2014) Educational effectiveness research (EER): a state-of-the-art review, School Effectiveness and School Improvement: An International Journal of Research, Policy and Practice, 25:2, 197-230
• Townsend, T. (2014). School Improvement and School Leadership: Key Factors for Sustaining Learning. The Impact of Change on Education. In: H.G. Holtappels (Ed.), Schulentwicklung und Schulwirksamkeit als Forschungsfeld Munster and New York, Waxman, pp 99-122.
• Townsend, T., Pisapia, J., & Razzaq, J., (2013) Fostering Interdisciplinary Research in Universities: A Case study of Leadership, Alignment and Support Journal of  Studies in Higher Education, p 1-19 (DOI: 10.1080/03075079.2013.842218)
• Razzaq, J., Townsend, T., & Pisapia, J., (2013) Towards an understanding of interdisciplinarity: The case of a British university Issues in Interdiscipinary Studies 31, p 149-173.
• Townsend, T. (2013) ‘Searching High and Searching Low, Searching East and Searching West: Looking for Trust in Teacher Education’ in Townsend, T., International Perspectives on Teacher Education, London, Routledge, pp. 111-127.
• Townsend, T., Ivory, G., Acker-Hocevar, M., Ballenger, J., & Place, A.W. (2013) School Leadership Challenges Under No Child Left Behind: Lessons from UCEA’s Project, “Voices from the Field: Phase 3” in Barnett, Soho, & Bowers School and District Leadership in an Era of Accountability IAP International Research on School Leadership Book Series – Volume 4. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishers
• Townsend, T. (2013) Nauczyciele jako „przewodnicy w uczeniu się” (Teachers as leaders of learning) in G. Mazurkiewicza (Ed) Jakość edukacji: Różnorodne perspektywy (Quality Education: Diverse Perspectives) Krakow, Poland: Jagiellonian University, pp 113-125.
• Townsend, T., Acker-Hocevar, M., Ballenger, J., Place, A.W. & Ivory, G., (2013) Voices from the Field: What We Have Learned about Instructional Leadership? Leadership and Policy in Schools, 12:1, 60-88

Research Reports

• T. Townsend, J. Wilkinson and E. Stevens (2015) Leadership with a Purpose: A Report on Four Case Studies of Principals as Literacy Leaders (PALL) Schools (Victoria), Brisbane: Griffith Institute for Educational Research, Griffith University. 92 p.
• T. Townsend, Dempster, N., Johnson, G., Bayetto, A. and E. Stevens (2015) Leadership with a Purpose: A Report on Five Case Studies of Principals as Literacy Leaders (PALL) Schools (Tasmania). Brisbane: Griffith Institute for Educational Research, Griffith University. 126p.