Entries Tagged: Public schools

An archive of entries with keywords: "Public schools"

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New Education: Part 1

Australia , 1895-1920

By Dorothy Kass, Ph.D, Macquarie University. Posted .

In the late nineteenth century, widespread interest in the education offered to children was evident throughout the countries of Europe, the United Kingdom, North America, the colonies and former colonies of European empires, and in developing countries. A movement for the reform of education, that became known as “New Education”, was stimulated by educators, students, and authors who travelled to other countries for study or observation; book and journal publications and international conferences.… Continue Reading »

Challenging the system? (2007)

Western Australia, 1980-2005

By Craig Campbell, PhD DipEd. Posted .

Subtitled “a dramatic tale of neoliberal reform in an Australian high school”, Martin Forsey’s analysis of Como Senior High School in Western Australia provides a case study of radical public education reform in the 1990s. It stands as a parallel study to that of Mount Druitt High School in New South Wales.

… Continue Reading »

National schools

Eastern Australia, 1840-1870

By Craig Campbell, Ph.D Dip.Ed.. Posted .

The idea that colonial governments might foster and fund schools detached from church governance belongs to the 1830s. By then, with the religious diversity of the colonies, it was beginning to seem impossible that the Church of England could by itself provide a dominant ‘public’ school system. There were too many Roman Catholics, Presbyterians, Wesleyans, Congregationalists and more for easy acceptance of such a position.… Continue Reading »

School Furniture: Desks, tables and chairs

New South Wales, Late 19th century – 2000

By Dorothy Kass, Ph.D, Macquarie University. Posted .

The design, production, and use of desks, tables, and chairs, perhaps the most obvious objects within classrooms past and present, accompanied changing ideas of pedagogy and physical health from the late nineteenth century to the present day. This was the case in New South Wales along with other Australian jurisdictions and other countries.… Continue Reading »

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander schooling (2)

Australia, 1920s to 2020

By Craig Campbell, PhD DipEd. Posted .

Note: Photographs of Indigenous persons who may have passed away appear in this entry.

In the early twentieth century the main policies and practices organising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander schooling had been set. There was little concern by state governments (in this period South Australia had responsibility for education in the Northern Territory), if many Indigenous children were not schooled at all.… Continue Reading »

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Schooling (1)

Australia, 1788-1925

By Craig Campbell, PhD., Dip. Ed.. Posted .

Note: Photographs of Indigenous persons who may have passed away appear in this entry.

Formal schooling, as the invading British understood it, was alien to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Education among Indigenous peoples occurred quite satisfactorily without it. What needed to be learnt by young people was specific to their age and gender, and the local cultural ties, beliefs and practices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.… Continue Reading »

Selective public high schools

New South Wales, 1960-2020

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

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 .

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 »

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

New South Wales, 1968-2018

By Dorothy Kass, Ph.D., Macquarie University. Posted .

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

By Dorothy Kass, Ph.D., Macquarie University. Posted .

The New South Wales Teachers Federation has, over its one-hundred-year history, operated in two major roles, industrial and professional. As an industrial trade union it has concerned itself with teachers’ salaries, working conditions, and staffing of public education institutions. As a professional body it has endorsed and campaigned for a wide range of matters related to teaching and learning.… Continue Reading »