Entries Tagged: Curriculum

An archive of entries with keywords: "Curriculum"

Blackburn, Jean, and social justice through education

Australia, 1919-2001

Jean Muir was born on 14 July 1919, to a family that was rising from the working class. After overcoming the difficulty of a father who opposed any more than elementary education for girls, Jean Muir was able to progress beyond Lloyd Street Higher Elementary School in Melbourne. She spent four years at the academically selective University High School (1933-1936).… Continue Reading »

Payment by results: Teachers’ work, remuneration, and student assessment

Victoria, 1863-1906

The performance-based system, known colloquially as ‘payment-by-results’, whereby teachers’ remuneration was partly determined by the success of their pupils at prescribed examinations, was introduced into Victorian government-aided schools in early1864. Although criticised by many throughout its 40-year existence, the system was not finally abolished until 1906, following the recommendation of a Royal Commission on Education (Fink).… Continue Reading »

Residualised public schooling: The case of Mount Druitt High School

Sydney, New South Wales, 1995-2010

From the 1970s in Australia there were rapid changes in the nature and patterns of employment. They especially affected sectors of the population that had been reliant on work in the manufacturing industry. As a result of these and other changes in each of the larger cities of Australia, suburban regions emerged that were marked by high levels of unemployment and increasing poverty.… Continue Reading »

MACOS and SEMP

Queensland (and Australia), 1970s-1990s

The argument for social studies in the school curriculum rested on the idea that subjects such as history and geography were too bound to academic disciplines. Children and youth, especially under the circumstances of compulsory attendance, required subjects that met their individual, social and labour-force entry needs. This was not straight-forward of course, compulsory education was an opportunity for the more pervasive moralisation of children, turning them into acceptable citizen-subjects.… Continue Reading »

Thomas Report, and William Thomas (1879-1945)

New Zealand, 1900-1960

Many national and provincial governments sought to expand access to secondary schooling during the twentieth century. New Zealand was a pioneer of the comprehensive school in its region. There would be a reformed curriculum that could include many more students than an academic elite. The influence of William Thomas was not confined to New Zealand.… Continue Reading »

Technical secondary schools

Victoria, Australia, 1910-2015

The establishment of post-elementary technical schools in Australian states in the early twentieth century was one of several responses to the growing pressure to provide some form of universal secondary education for all adolescents. The Australian state, Victoria, constructed a long-lasting system of such schools that distinguished public education in that state from elsewhere.… Continue Reading »

Milner, Frank

New Zealand, 1875-1944

Among the many New Zealand male and female secondary school principals who served their respective institutions and communities dutifully throughout the twentieth century were a small number of school leaders whose educational and societal contributions were, and are, especially noteworthy. Frank Milner features prominently within their ranks. His educational work has been—and remains—significant for several reasons.… Continue Reading »

Adolescence and the school

Australia, 1880-2014

The words, adolescent and adolescence came into scientific and popular use at the beginning of the twentieth century. They were assisted by the publication in 1904 of G. Stanley Hall’s remarkable study, Adolescence: Its psychology and its relations to physiology, anthropology, sociology, sex, crime, religion and education. This book, though American, was noticed in Australia.… Continue Reading »

Historiography

Australia, 1960-2020

Historiography encompasses the kinds of research, writing and analysis that historians engage for their purposes. Individual historians may be discussed in terms of their historiographical influence and contribution, but more often the study of historiography concerns broader patterns of writing and analysis. The historiography of educational research and writing in Australia has always been responsive to international trends.… Continue Reading »

Nature Study

Australia, 1890-1920

Nature Study was a new subject introduced to elementary school curricula throughout the English speaking world in the 1890s and the early 1900s. It was an important component of the educational reform movement known as New Education. Nature Study was supported by a considerable body of theoretical and practical literature. Its subject matter introduced plant, animal, and geological studies to even the youngest children in elementary or primary schools.… Continue Reading »