The educational policy emerging from the 1930s Depression in Aus tralia is reviewed, in order to show how its emphasis on curriculum reform and diversity of courses, concentrated in State secondary schools, was premised on contemporary understandings about 'natural' individual ability. The psychological theory of individual differences, which developed during the first three decades of this century, constructed State school users as a social group having dif ferent educational needs from the traditional users of secondary education. However, the evidence for these differences was drawn from the actual operation of the State system, its stage of develop ment and the level of resources it attracted, and the way it functioned relative to the sphere of educational activity already car ved out by the private system.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Atkinson, M. (1920), The New Social Order, Melbourne, Macmillan, 96-7.
2.
Bessant, B. (1971), 'Education and Politics in the Development of the Education Systems of NSW and Victoria 1900-1940, with particular reference to Post-primary Education', PhD thesis, Monash University , 82.
3.
Board of Education, England (1926, 1944 Reprint), Report (Hadow) of the Consultative Committee on the Education of the Adolescent, London, HMSO.
4.
Board of Education, England (1941, 1943), Curriculum and Examinations in Secondary Schools, Report (Norwood) of the Committee of the Secondary Schools Examinations Council , London, HMSO.
5.
Carrier, J.G. (1984), 'Cultural Themes in Educational Debates: the nature-cultural opposition in accounts of unequal educational performance', British Journal of Sociology of Education, 5, 1, 33-47.
6.
Connell, W.F. (1980), The Australian Council for Educational Research 1930-1980, Hawthorn, ACER
7.
Cunningham, K.S. (1922), 'The Theory and the Measurement of Intelligence' , Education Gazette and Teachers' Aid , April.
8.
EducationJournal of the New South Wales State Teachers' Federation, 15 June, 1932; 29 January, 1936.
9.
Henderson, P. (1976), 'Class Structure and the Concept of Intelligence' in R. Dale et al.(eds), Schooling and Capitalism: A Sociological Reader, London, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 142-51.
10.
Law, A.J. (1921), 'A Plea for the Bright Child', Education Gazette and Teachers' Aid, April 19.
11.
McCallum, D. (1984), 'The Theory of Social Differences in Early Twentieth Century Education in Australia', Discourse , 1, October, 19-41.
12.
McCallum, D. (forthcoming), 'Education, Educationists and Cultural Inertia', Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the Australian and New Zealand History of Education Society, Sydney, August, 1885.
13.
McRae, J. (1922), 'Education of Subnormal Children', Education Gazette, 17 August.
14.
Mackie, A. (n.d. [1932] ), 'The Elements of Welfare' in A. Mackie and P. Cole, Studies in Contemporary Education , Sydney Teachers' College Press and Angus and Robertson.
15.
Marshall, R. (1921), 'Intelligence Tests', Education Gazette, June 21.
16.
Minister of Education (Victoria), Reports, 1915-16; 1922-23; 1925-26; 1927-28; 1932-33.
17.
'Psychology in the London Schools', (anon. 1922), Education Gazette, 20 April.
18.
Reiger, K. (1985), The Disenchantment of the Home. Modernizing Australian Families 1880-1940, Melbourne, Oxford University Press.
19.
Rowse, T. (1978), Australian Liberalism and National Character , Melbourne, Kibble Books.
20.
Royal Commission(Bryce) on Secondary Education (1895), VoL 1, Report of the Commissioners, HMSO.
21.
Tate, F. (1920), Continued Educationfrom 14 Years ofAge Upward: Our Opportunity and Our Obligation , Melbourne, Government Printer, quoted in Education Gazette, 21 October, 1920.
22.
Thomas, G.R. (1933), Report of the All-Australian Education Conference, Sydney, Philip, Introductory Address.
23.
Torrance, H. (1981), 'The Origins and Development of Mental Testing in England and the United States', British Journal of Sociology of Education, 2, 1, 45-59.
24.
Trow, M. (1977), 'The Second Transformation of American Secondary Education', in J. Karabel and AH. Halsey (eds), Power and Ideology in Education , New York, OUP, 105-118.
