Catholic teaching sisters and the 1918 influenza pandemic

New Zealand, 1918-1919

By Jenny Collins PhD, Independent Scholar. Posted October 28, 2020.

During the deadly pandemic that killed more than 9000 people in New Zealand and as many as 50 million people world-wide, Catholic teaching orders turned their focus to ministering to the sick. Schools across the country were closed from November 1918 to February 1919. Released from their teaching duties Catholic sisters, with the assistance of teaching brothers, priests and local volunteers, cared for victims of the pandemic from all sections of the community.… Continue Reading »

Tennant, Haysell: Employment of same-sex attracted teachers in schools

Australia, 1975-2020

By Craig Campbell, PhD DipEd. Posted August 17, 2020.

Schools do not exist for the sole purpose of educating young people in the knowledge and skills that are mainly agreed as essential for employment, citizenship and social life in general. They are also about inculcating belief systems that may be more or less explicit, closed or open to critical challenge.… Continue Reading »

Educational Workers League

New South Wales, 1931-1936

By Dorothy Kass, Ph. D., Macquarie University. Posted August 13, 2020.

The Educational Workers League (EWL) was formed in Sydney in June and July 1931 by a group of teachers in the context of the Great Depression and frustration with the New South Wales Teachers Federation. Its existence spanned five years of crippling economic crisis, political upheaval and social distress. Although membership remained small, the League, its formation, its members, its activities and policies were significant in the immediate and long-term history of the Teachers Federation; in movements for change and reform in teachers’ employment and working conditions; and in the reform of the education provided for the children of the state.… Continue Reading »

Selective public high schools

New South Wales, 1960-2020

By Craig Campbell, Ph.D., Dip.Ed., University of Sydney. Posted June 23, 2020.

Selective high schools in New South Wales are those public secondary schools that enrol students who have achieved highly in annually-held, competitive and state-wide entrance tests. There are academically selective schools in the nongovernment sector also, but it is those in the public sector that are commonly known as ‘selective schools’.… Continue Reading »

Victorian Public Grammar Schools

Victoria, 1854 -1950

By Carole Hooper, TITC, BA, BEd, PhD, Independent scholar. Posted December 12, 2019.

Within a few years of Victoria being declared a separate colony in 1851, its legislature voted to grant £35,000 for the establishment of grammar schools – schools intended to prepare scholars for the newly-established University of Melbourne. After some deliberation, it was decided to distribute the funds amongst the four leading religious denominations; and five schools, known as ‘public grammar schools’ were founded – four in Melbourne and one in Geelong; namely, Melbourne Grammar School, Geelong Grammar School, Scotch College, Wesley College, and St Patrick’s College.… Continue Reading »

Correspondence School of Victoria – its first 60 years

Victoria, 1909-1969

By Lesley Preston and Jenny Campbell. Posted June 11, 2019.

Victoria established compulsory schooling for all children in 1872, but there were long-standing problems of access for children in some rural and remote areas of the state. One possible solution that enabled governments to meet their educational obligations was to introduce correspondence schooling. This was effective for families isolated from other families with children.… Continue Reading »

Adelaide High School: Inventing a state high school

South Australia, 1875-1920

By Craig Campbell, PhD DipEd, University of Sydney. Posted March 6, 2019.

The Education Act of 1875 in South Australia provided for the foundation of a system of public, mainly elementary schools. It also allowed “infant schools, evening schools, schools for the teaching of any branch of science or art, and advanced schools for continuing the education of scholars who shall have obtained prizes at public schools, or otherwise proved themselves qualified for admission: Provided that the course of training in all such schools shall be secular” (clause 12).… Continue Reading »

School choice and school markets

Australia, 1788-2018

By Craig Campbell, PhD, DipEd, University of Sydney. Posted January 31, 2019.

For most of Australia’s European settlement history opportunities for parents and others to choose schools for the children in their families and care were absent or highly constrained. The major effort over the long term was to provide schools for increasing proportions of the population, and by the end of the nineteenth century, to compel families with limited interest in schooling children, to force their attendance.… Continue Reading »

New South Wales Teachers Federation: Part 2, The second 50 years

New South Wales, 1968-2018

By Dorothy Kass, Ph.D., Macquarie University. Posted January 4, 2019.

Over the course of its second fifty years, the Teachers Federation remained explicitly aware of its dual roles, industrial and professional, and the interconnection of the two when applied to education and educators. Also remaining important was its role in what the 1968 celebrations called “community activities” and later decades would stress as “social justice”.… Continue Reading »

New South Wales Teachers Federation: Part 1, The first 50 years

New South Wales, 1918-1968