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Period: to
Industrial Age
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The Colony's first school
First school in the Colony of New South Wales established. It was run by convict Isabella Rosson. This suggests that the colonial administration acknowledged the importance of education for the colony's future prosperity, considering its abnormal demographic, social structure and geographical isolation. Image: Captain Phillip's First Fleet arriving in Sydney Cove (Mitchell Library) -
Taxes used to benefit schools
Governor King imposes a tax on goods brought into the colony at Sydney Cove and uses this money to fund schooling. This is an example of the first education oriented fiscal policy in Australia, demonstrating the important relationship between government and education. Image: Governor Philip Gidley King (Australian Dictionary of Biography) -
Black Town Native Institution opened
The Black Town Native Institution was opened in 1815. Set up to assimilate Aboriginal children to European culture, it closed around 1830 due to difficulty acquiring and sustaining student numbers since children were frequently absconded or were removed by family. This is an early example of the difficulty dealing with the complex issues regarding the socio-cultural divide between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians. Image: Black Town Native Institution (University of Sydney) -
Public and private schools
"The earliest Australian schools were either endowed private schools (modelled on English grammar schools) or charitable church schools which focused as much on Bible studies as they did on literacy and numeracy" (Cahill & Gray, 2010). Gov. schools were not opened until 1848. Image: Shield of The King's School, Aust.'s oldest indep. school (est. 1831) (The King's School) Cahill R & Gray J (2010). Funding And Secondary School Choice In Australia: A Historical Consideration, AJTE, 35(1), 121 -
Board of National Education set up
Gov. FitzRoy set up the Board of National Education to open government schools throughout Australia. This initiative can be attributed to demand (the population was increasing), need (many families couldn't afford to send their children to the schools that did exist) and a trend toward sociological political ideology. Strong links still existed between the State and the Anglican Church however. Image: Govenor Charles Augustus FitzRoy (Australian Dictionary of Biography) -
Compulsory schooling for children
According to The Education Act 1872 (Vic.), if you were Victorian and aged 6-15, then attending school was compulsory. It also held that school should be free and secular. Other settlements followed in the years 1872-1895. In this time of the industrial revolution, child labour was a big problem. Many industrialised countries had started to protect children through child labour and compulsory schooling laws such as this Act. Image: Xavier College, Melbourne, 1876 (State Library of Victoria) -
Slate, chalk, ink wells and blotting paper
Before the pens and paper of today's classrooms... there were slate boards and chalk, ink wells and blotting paper. Image: Slate board (Dept. of Education and Communities, NSW Gov.) -
Period: to
Lev Vygotsky
Lev Vygotsky. Founder of socio-cultural psychology. -
Period: to
World War I
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Getting to school
Riding a horse to school was commonplace before urbanisation, family cars and public transport. Image: Burdett Public School 1920s (Dept. of Education and Communities, NSW Gov.) -
Period: to
Great Depression
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Period: to
World War II
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Sudden demand for preschool education
While kindergartens had been in existence since the early 1900's, the economic and social impact of World War II created a demand for child minding facilities and the demand for trained kindergarten teachers in the post-war period increased dramatically. Image: Painting at Kindergarten, NE Victoria, 1970 (State Library of Victoria) -
Small schools
Before the majority of Australia was urbanised (and most families had cars or access to public transport) it was often too far to go into town for school. Small, single teacher, multi-school year level school houses were common throughout regional areas. Image: Glencairn Public School 1948 (Dept. of Education and Communities, NSW Gov.) -
School of the Air
The first School of the Air lessons were officially broadcast from the Royal Flying Doctor Service in Alice Springs on 8 June 1951. These services enable children living in remote areas to be formally schooled without having to spend long periods of the year away from home, and relate to peers otherwise rarely accessible. This is a unique solution utilising relatively inexpensive equipment in order to serve the needs of children in a unique socio-geographic situation. Image: The Advertiser -
Gender roles
Gender roles in most schools often reflect their social counterparts. This was certainly the case with classes such as home economics, textiles and typing up to the 1950s. Things slowly changed in the 1960s and 70s however, and by the 1980s, co-educational home economic classes were common. Image: Home economics at Narrabeen Girls High, 1960 (Dept. of Education and Communities, NSW Gov.) -
School libraries
Libraries (or, increasingly likely, resource centres) are still important spaces for students in today's schools. There's likely to be fewer books, more noise and more electronic resources available compared to this library at Ballina High School in 1968. Image: Ballina High School 1968 (Dept. of Education and Communities, NSW Gov.) -
School fetes
School fetes play an important role in fostering a sense of school community as well as raising funds. You can't spell 'funds' without 'fun'! Image: Saint Bede's School Fete, Canberra, 1970 (National Archives of Australia) -
Sport and physical education
Sport and physical education has been a part of Australian schools since the latter part of the nineteenth century (Powell, 2012). This is hardly surprising considering the prominent role sport has played and continues to play in the Australian psyche. Image: Physical education at Fort Street Boys High School, 1920 (Dept. of Education and Communities, NSW Gov.) -
School bus
For many children in provincial or metropolitan centres, the school bus was the means of transport. Image: School bus of the 80s (www.busaustralia.com) -
Period: to
Information Age
Also called the Digital Revolution. -
Australian Education Union founded
The school system itself was split between three main groups: British-style private schools, often underfunded Catholic church-run schools, and Government-run state schools. The Catholic system usually shared the poor working and teaching conditions of the state schools. During the 1950s teachers in the state school system became more unionised and better organised. In order to represent teachers in these systems, the Australian Education Union (AEU) was founded. Image: AEU banner (AEU) -
Corporal punishment
Corporal punishment was banned in government schools in the state of Victoria in 1985 (though not in non-government schools until 2006). Other states followed, however, in some states corporal punishment remains lawful in private schools. The Northern Territory do what they want. Image: The threat (www.motherpedia.com.au) -
Ride to school
Owning a bike and knowing how to ride it is a ticket to independence for children. Riding a bike to school is still cool (now that Stack Hats are fashionable again!) Image: Riding to school (Bicycling Western Australia) -
Migrant education
English language schools still play an important role for the increasing number of Australian immigrants. After spending time in language school, school-aged children are better prepared to participate in normal schooling. The basis of this support for new arrivals is very broad, having historical, social, political, economic, global and philosophical arguments. Image: Migrant education (learning English) - Japanese school in Sydney (National Archives of Australia) -
Computers in the classroom
Although computers could be found in the classroom in the 1970s, by the mid-90s they were more widespread and signified a change in the use of technology in education for the future. Modern classrooms now utilise ICT daily - projection has replaced chalkboards, many schools have a student laptop program and almost every student has their own mini-computer in their pocket in the form of a smart phone. Image: Batlow Primary school, 1995 (National Archives of Australia) -
School profiling
The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority's (ACARA) My School website. My School enables anyone "to search the profiles of almost 9 500 Australian schools. You can quickly locate statistical and contextual information about schools in your community and compare them with statistically similar schools across the country" (ACARA, 2013). Many people disagree with the ways and means this information is collected and what it (and fails to) represents. Image: My School (ACARA) -
Teacher ratings
RateMyTeachers is an unmonitored review site used to rate teachers. It is extremely controversial due to the fact that, among other reasons, it is unmonitored, ratings are made voluntarily and teachers are effectively powerless to protect their professional reputations. This is another example of the power of modern information technology. Image: RateMyTeacher website banner (au.ratemyteachers.com) -
Victoria 'signs on to Gonski'
Will this mean "Better Schools" for the future? Image: Denis Napthine, Premier of Victoria (The Age) -
New school subjects
Subjects such as Computer Science and Sustainability are introduced into the Australian curriculum to meet the needs of industry, catalysed by the realisation that you can't choose to believe in global warming since it is an indisputable scientific fact and not a religion. Image: Wind turbine (REVE, www.evwind.es) -
Sustainable Australia Education Act
Co-Prime Ministers Bill Shorten and Malcolm Turnbull (yes, you read correctly) initiate the Sustainable Australia Education Act. This Act modifies the P-12 and tertiary curricula, gearing them for the needs of an energy-wise and aging nation. Key drivers include: sustainability (including climate change adaption and food security), support for an aging demographic and education for a rejuvenating immigrant population. Images: Bill Shorten and Malcolm Turnbull (The Age) -
End of English
Driven by the global and multilingual nature of Australia's new demographic, English is replaced by Communication. Image: Language (Languages United, www.languagesunited.co.uk) -
The Australasian Alliance
With the demise of the USA as a global superpower, Australia's alliance with its asian neighbours grows. The Australasian Alliance features strongly in the curriculum of the multicultural Australian nation and the American influence in our popular culture finally fades into insignificance. Image: Google Maps -
School networks
Smaller school hubs are connected through the next generation of the internet in an almost exclusively urbanised society. While large traditional schools still exist, the majority of students learn through inter-hub ICT. The role of teachers tends toward that of facilitators except for a few selected institutions. Image: Networks (Advanced Networks Research Group, University of Sydney)
