Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemThe work of the denominational and national boards of education in Victoria 1850-1862( 1965)Any historian has many difficult decisions to make concerning his choice of material, for the educational historian the problem is no less difficult. Should be concentrate on the complex issue of relations between church and state which influence both education and the life of the whole community, or should he allow his educational interests to anchor him in the classroom itself, and so develop a history of pedagogies which only rarely asks what is happening in the wider community? Should he take some issue, such as teacher training or inspection, and trace it through a period of time, or should he endeavour to see the way in which various activities are carried on in a more limited period? Both these vertical and horizontal views of history are necessary, for without the one history can appear static, and without the other the interaction of various forces can often be ignored.
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ItemThe educational ideas and influence on Victorian education of Dr. John Smyth: principal of the Melbourne Teachers' College, 1902-1927 and the first professor of education in the University of Melbourne, 1918-1927( 1967)Second in authority and influence only to Frank Tate, Dr. John Smyth was uniquely qualified to interpret the ideas of the "New Education" movement for Victorian schools at the turn of the century. Instead of using a biographical approach, this thesis outlines the diverse intellectual backgrounds which together formed the basis of Smyth's ideas. His New Zealand teaching experience coincided with the beginnings of reform there and his understanding of the "New Education" was deepened through study in Germany and Scotland from 1895 to 1901. German demands for realism in education; kindergartens and the theories of Froebel and Pestalozzi; the new techniques of Herbart and Rein; the establishment of teacher-training as a legitimate function of the university; and the beginnings of experimental psychology at Leipsic, were experienced by Smyth at first hand. The philosophy of Neo-Idealism which he espoused explains his ability to synthesize conflicting elements of the complex "New Education" movement. These major influences can be seen as the thesis examines Smyth's impact on Victorian education as Principal of the Melbourne Teachers' College (1902-27) and as the first Professor of Education at the University of Melbourne (1918-27). Separate chapters develop Smyth's attitudes to teacher-training and the College's growth under his control; his direct responsibility for the creation of the Free Kindergarten Union of Victoria and the improvement of Infant Schools; his idealistic philosophy translated into practice in the rural schools; and the significant contributions he made to the development of a School of Education at the University of Melbourne. A final assessment of Smyth the man reveals him as an intensely religious, dedicated educationist who had a lasting impact on the pattern of Victorian education. His relationship with Frank Tate emerges as that of an idealistic reformer unable to accept happily the limitations of compromise forced on Tate, the shrewd administrator, by a political and economic climate hostile to any but utilitarian educational reforms. Whilst Smyth’s educational ideas were not always fully implemented, the part he played in a period of educational history hitherto dominated by the name of Tate cannot be ignored. His intellectual stature and his actual accomplishments mark him as a key figure in our understanding of the development of Victorian education.
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ItemThe system of payment by results in Victorian elementary schools, 1864-1905( 1977)"Payment by results" was a system used to determine teachers' salaries, in full or in part, in some parts of the world in the second half of the nineteenth century. It was originally conceived in England by Robert Lowe, Vice-President of the Education Department, and incorporated in regulations issued in 1861. These regulations led to considerable dispute but reappeared, in a slightly modified form, in the Revised Code of 1862. The system came to an end in England in 1897 but at the turn of the century still remained in Mauritius and Victoria. It was first proposed in Victoria in 1862 by the Premier, (Sir) John O'Shanassy but was firmly rejected by the Legislative Assembly. Nevertheless a modified version came into operation in 1864. The Board of Education, newly created under the Common Schools Act was responsible for this. Whether O'Shanassy put covert pressure on this Board whose members were appointed by his Ministry is open to conjecture. Certainly at the time a large number of people, inside and outside Parliament, thought so. Educationists and historians have tended to view the system as something of a curio. However its ramifications were so great that it has to be viewed more seriously. The system lasted in Victoria for forty-one years - almost one-third of the history of the State - and therefore cannot be lightly dismissed. Not wanted in the first place, it nevertheless remained in operation until the end of 1905. It survived Royal Commissions, newspaper campaigns, political criticism, opposition from teachers, educationists, and the general public. However its grip on Victorian elementary education was broken only when the forces of change, heralded by the "New Education" towards the end of the nineteenth century, made it an anachronism.
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ItemOrigins of the Victorian Apprenticeship Commission: a history of apprenticeship regulation in Victoria 1896-1927( 1970)By the eighteen nineties, factory methods had encouraged looseness or avoidance of apprenticeship contracts. The improver system, under which employers were not responsible for teaching, flourished. Youths grew up insufficiently skilled to command full tradesman's pay, thus threatening adult jobs and wages. In 1896, following anti-sweating agitation, wages boards were established to determine minimum rates and maximum numbers of juveniles in certain seriously exploited trades. By 1900, this system was extended to other trades, but the minimum duration of apprenticeship contracts was set at only one year. Because employers resented limitation, wages boards in 1903 lost the power to fix the proportion of apprentices; but in compensation an apprentice was redefined as one bound to be taught for at least three years. Nevertheless, without adequate means of training, adequate definition of trade skills, or an adequate tribunal, the situation remained unsatisfactory. Trade classes were developed to supplement workshop experience, but they had little effect. In 1907 a Conference recommended that an Apprenticeship Commission take control of certain skilled trades and establish the numbers to be admitted as apprentices, their wages, and the goals and methods of their training, including technical education. Improvers would be excluded from those trades. Although wages boards gained power to prescribe indentures in 1909, and regained their limitation powers in 1910, when Bills to establish a Commission were presented in 1911 and 1912, both the form of the proposals and the antagonism of employers resulted in their rejection. A second Conference in 1911 recommended that apprenticeship be left to the wages boards. Between 1911 and 1921, the Federal Arbitration Court improved apprenticeship conditions in some trades; the technical school system developed its capacity, especially in preparatory work; and a Repatriation Training Scheme adopted organisational machinery similar to that proposed in 1907.
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ItemThe educational work of the Presentation Sisters in Victoria, 1873-1960( 1965)The general aim of this study is to examine the activities of one congregation of religious teachers, the Presentation Sisters, in one state, Victoria. Within such a small world it is possible to recognise in very human terms the working out of forces set in motion by political procedures, developments which in a more general history would be dismissed in one or two rather abstract statements. Who would expect to find more than a brief reference to Dr. James Francis Corbett in a general history of formal education in Australia? Such trifles as the names and the fortunes of the nuns caught up in the stream of events would be too infinitesimal to be considered, except in so far as, for better or for worse, in some vague, shadowy way they helped maintain a system of independent schools. It is the human element that interests the writer most – the impact of events on people of certain character and temperament, the interaction of widely differing personalities, the emergence of leaders, the formation of opinions, the movements towards decisions, the careful plans, the apparently haphazard developments. The specific aims of the study are to provide a record of the work of the Presentation Sisters in Victoria from 1873 to 1960, and to show how far latter day trends, within the Congregation, are explained by its history. The framers of policy in 1873 could not envisage the scene of 1960, yet that scene can be interpreted only in terms of the forces set in motion during the early years. Those forces have gathered momentum and have resulted in the development of distinctive characteristics in the Victorian convents. Amalgamation is an interesting case in point. The two oldest foundations, Presentation Convent, Windsor, dating from 1873, and Star of the Sea, Gardenvale established in 1885, had their roots in Limerick and Kildare respectively. These Irish houses, though essentially the same, developed as separate foundations with strong local traditions. By 1960, however, there are twenty four Victorian convents amalgamated under on Mother General resident at O’Neill College, Elsternwick. Parallel to this development is the process of adaptation, as essentially European traditions have been reinforced, modified or completely changed, under the impact of the Victorian educational environment over a period of nearly one hundred years. This is not to imply that amalgamation and acculturation are developments peculiar to the Australian communities, but merely to point the fact that certain characteristics may be explicable only in terms of the Victorian educational scene. The phrase “certain characteristics’ calls for emphasis. As a religious order working within the Catholic Church in five continents, the congregation must be viewed within this wider context if its Victorian story is to have any real significance. Valuable data preserved in the archives of the twenty four Victorian Houses : there are many senior nuns who lived with the Foundresses of the earlier established houses, and who are well informed about the origin and growth of the Congregation in Victoria. As yet, no systematic attempt has been made to assemble this information for the benefit of the younger members of the communities. It is the writer’s sincere wish that this first effort may open the way for further research. This work is presented in two parts. Each chapter of Part I deals with a major chronological period: Part II is concerned with major developments in the schools, therefore each chapter cuts across the chronological periods.
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ItemThe Victorian agricultural high schools : origins, development and failure: with special reference to Ballarat, Sale, Shepparton and Wangaratta agricultural high schools( 1977)The concept of the vocational secondary school is not unique to Victoria and, as in other places, the questions of its origin, development and success or failure are integrally tied to the political, social and economic conditions of its environment. The agricultural high schools of Victoria, established in the first decade of this century, were not, as some would have us believe, poorly considered experiments proposed by a few optimistic educators in a fledgling State which provided education for its children only up to grade six level. Rather, they represented the first major move by an ambitious young Director of Education, Frank Tate, into a field hitherto dominated by independent interests. That they were vocational, that they were rural, was determined by the political and economic realities of the time: that they were failures was determined by the liberal philosophies and, therefore, approach of Tate and other department men, and by the social realities in a State where industrialization and resultant social mobility militated against any attempt to keep the boys "down on the farm". Poorly constructed, and unwanted by the rural populace, the vocational aspect of the agricultural high schools was, in the main, dysfunctional to the composition of Victorian society, and the thinly veiled contempt of the Education Department could be seen in the words and deeds of its administrators. But they had to pay lip-service to their political masters, and the façade was necessarily maintained until long after the passing of the 1910 Education Act, the composition of which, had Tate been so allowed, would have brought to fruition his dream of a large and integrated State secondary system. When it finally disappeared from the Victorian educational scene, the agricultural course was lamented by few. It had been, however, the necessary medium through which the initial steps along the road to a State-wide system of secondary education had been taken. The schools lived on, as district high schools, and helped to provide the model for that system.