Timeline -History of Education in A ustralia
Before 1778
Australian Aboriginal children’s lives were filled with the richness of their
culture, their beliefs, their ‘ways of knowing’ the world in which they lived
(Phillips & Lampert, 2005)
1778 Education had not been factored in to the settlement of the colonies
(Mellor, 1990)
• First Fleet Children
• 26 children and a number of pregnant women
1800
725 European children (34 orphans) (Mellor, 1990)
• Colonial Children
• Aboriginal: diseased dispossessed, destroyed
• Convict: Adult workloads/punishments
• Free: healthier and more independent that their peers in Europe
• Upper class: Groomed to rule (Fabian & Loh, 1980)
1800-1850
• Citizens maintained that crime was the result of ignorance and that
ignorance was the result of a lack of education and, therefore
education would decrease crime and increase productivity (Allen,
2001)
1850-1870s
• Schools
• Cottage: Entrepreneurs – fees (for profit)
• Public: Government & church – fees
• Orphan/mission: Government & church – fee relief
• Private: Government & church – fees
• Home: Governess/ tutor - fees
• Influenced by John Locke and the European reformation
movement the purpose of these early schools was to instil
discipline in order to ‘better’ the offspring of the colonials. (Mellor,
1990)
• No age restrictions or compulsion to attend.
1870s -1900
• Each colony passed a free, compulsory and secular Public
Instruction Act thus ending public funding of education in church
schools and placing the governance of education in the hands of
the individual colonies, soon to be states (Allen, 2001)
• Setting up the division between the compulsory and pre-
compulsory school sectors.
• Due to economic pressures from the depression (1893-1895)
children under the age of 5 years were excluded from schools.
• Kindergartens and preschools and were established to provide
education and care for children (3-5 years). Nurseries were
established to care for children from birth-5 years) (Mellor, 1990)
1900-1950
• Federation of the colonies
• Two world wars - populate or perish
• Less emphasis on the ‘mother country’
• Mass immigration (e.g., snowy river hydro scheme)
• Rise of trade unions
• Population explosion - baby boomers
• Women’s movement - voting, jobs, wages
• Federal interventions – education & health
• Childcare reforms and funding
• Pedagogy based on mass education formations/ theories
• Students viewed as ‘tabula rasae’ (blank slates)
• Borrowed curriculum (British)
• Memorisation of facts = success
• Class sizes 40-50 students
• Schools serve as a selection ladder (e.g., public service)
• Gender based subjects (e.g., sewing/ woodwork)
• Teachers ‘trained’ at colleges and certified to teach
• Period of marked expansion and investment
• Welfare of infants became a national concern – mortality rates
• Introduction of child endowment, pension payments
• Free kindergarten and child-study movements emerge
• Crèches and day nurseries – long day care for working families
• Influenced by Froebel and Montessori
• Teachers ‘trained’ at colleges and certified to teach
1950-2000
• Vietnam war – protests, anti-American sentiment, ‘flower-power’
• Multiculturalism – post ‘White Australia’ policy
• Population explosion – immigration overtakes birth-rate
• Free university education
• Feminist movement – equal pay (1972)
• Childcare reforms and funding restructures continue
• Economic boom – nation building
• Urban drift – changes to subjects/skills e.g., typing
• Politically active youths – 1979 Year of the Child
• Carers advisors and counsellors – competitive job market
• Vocational education options – TAFE & VET programs
• Mass education approaches – outcomes/standards based
• National and international benchmarking – e.g., PISA (2000)
• Mixed gender schools and subjects
• Large class sizes – meeting demand of population boom
• Increased workforce - shortage of staff and facilities
• Increased immigration – mostly monolingual services
• Child Care Act 1972 – increased access and demand
• Emergence of community-based preschools
• Wider range of theories informing programs e.g., Reggio Emilia,
Steiner, Montessori
• 1975 creation of the Office of the Child
• Education and care – fragmented different governance
• Higher participation rates