Soon after its establishment in 1863, the Board of Education – “the body responsible for administering public education in Victoria – determined that a system of universal mixed…
Abstract
Purpose
Soon after its establishment in 1863, the Board of Education – “the body responsible for administering public education in Victoria – determined that a system of universal mixed (coeducational) schooling would be adopted in the colony. Existing single-sex departments were “encouraged”, or compelled, to amalgamate, and no new separate schools were established. Although administrators and officials endorsed coeducation, primarily on the grounds of efficiency and economy, opposition from some teachers and parents persisted for many decades. Those opposed to the mixing of children within the schools expressed particular concern about the moral well-being of female pupils, and wished to protect them from what they perceived as corrupting influences. Nevertheless, once decided upon, the policy of universal coeducation prevailed, and when Victoria's first state secondary schools were established in the early 20th century, they too were coeducational.
Design/methodology/approach
Documentary evidence, primarily the records of the various boards responsible for the administration of the public schools, evidence provided to several royal commissions, and various contemporary sources, have been examined to discover how the policy of universal coeducation was developed and implemented, and to examine what arguments were offered in favour of and against such a system.
Findings
The colony of Victoria implemented a system of universal coeducation within the public education sector well in advance of its adoption by other Australian colonies, and before it was generally accepted by similar societies elsewhere. The purpose of this paper is to examine why, how and by whom the policy of coeducation was formulated and implemented, and what opposition it faced.
Originality/value
Although reference is often made to coeducational schooling in histories of education in the 19th century, the information provided is usually of a general nature, without providing specific information about the process by which separate schooling was superseded by coeducation – how and when one type of educational provision came to be replaced by another.
Details
Keywords
Mary Mackillop, the only Australian to have been declared a “saint” by the Roman Catholic Church, co-founded the Institute of the Sisters of St Joseph, a religious congregation…
Abstract
Purpose
Mary Mackillop, the only Australian to have been declared a “saint” by the Roman Catholic Church, co-founded the Institute of the Sisters of St Joseph, a religious congregation established primarily to educate the poor. Prior to this, she taught at a Common School in Portland. While she was there, the headmaster was dismissed. The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which the narrative accounts of the dismissal, as provided in the biographies of Mary, are supported by the documentary evidence. Contemporary records of the Board of Education indicate that Mary played a more active role in the dismissal than that suggested by her biographers.
Design/methodology/approach
Documentary evidence, particularly the records of the Board of Education, has been used to challenge the biographical accounts of Mary Mackillop’s involvement in an incident that occurred while she was a teacher at the Portland Common School.
Findings
It appears that the biographers, by omitting to consider the evidence available in the records of the Board of Education, have down-played Mary Mackillop’s involvement in the events that led to the dismissal of the head teacher at Portland.
Originality/value
This paper uses documentary evidence to challenge the account of the Portand incident, as provided in the biographies of Mary Mackillop.
Details
Keywords
In the mid nineteenth-century Victorian government-aided schools were patronised by a broad spectrum of the community, many of whom sought a higher, or “middle-class”, education…
Abstract
Purpose
In the mid nineteenth-century Victorian government-aided schools were patronised by a broad spectrum of the community, many of whom sought a higher, or “middle-class”, education for their children. The various educational boards responsible for the administration of the public system, while not objecting to the provision of advanced tuition, were determined to ensure it was not offered on a socially selective basis. The purpose of this paper is to examine how accusations that some schools had engaged in socially selective practices led to the eventual removal of higher subjects from the curriculum.
Design/methodology/approach
Documentary evidence, particularly the correspondence between the central educational boards and the local school committees, is examined to assess the validity of the claims and counter claims made by those involved.
Findings
It appears that administrators used accusations of social exclusion to justify the removal of advanced subjects from the curriculum; with the result that it was not until state high schools were established early in the twentieth century that a higher education was again offered in the public sector.
Originality/value
The paper looks at an area of educational provision that has attracted little attention from researchers.
Details
Keywords
Geoffrey Sherington and Julia Horne
From the mid‐nineteenth to the early twentieth century universities and colleges were founded throughout Australia and New Zealand in the context of the expanding British Empire…
Abstract
From the mid‐nineteenth to the early twentieth century universities and colleges were founded throughout Australia and New Zealand in the context of the expanding British Empire. This article provides an analytical framework to understand the engagement between changing ideas of higher education at the centre of Empire and within the settler societies in the Antipodes. Imperial influences remained significant, but so was locality in association with the role of the emerging state, while the idea of the public purpose of higher education helped to widen social access forming and sustaining the basis of middle class professions.
Details
Keywords
Brenda Jones Harden, Brandee Feola, Colleen Morrison, Shelby Brown, Laura Jimenez Parra and Andrea Buhler Wassman
Children experience toxic stress if there is pronounced activation of their stress-response systems, in situations in which they do not have stable caregiving. Due to their…
Abstract
Children experience toxic stress if there is pronounced activation of their stress-response systems, in situations in which they do not have stable caregiving. Due to their exposure to multiple poverty-related risks, African American children may be more susceptible to exposure to toxic stress. Toxic stress affects young children’s brain and neurophysiologic functioning, which leads to a wide range of deleterious health, developmental, and mental health outcomes. Given the benefits of early care and education (ECE) for African American young children, ECE may represent a compensating experience for this group of children, and promote their positive development.
Details
Keywords
Michael Robertson and Carole Jones
Agile manufacturing, a strategy developed from lean production methods, is aimed at providing companies with the capabilities to succeed in the twenty‐first century, serving ever…
Abstract
Agile manufacturing, a strategy developed from lean production methods, is aimed at providing companies with the capabilities to succeed in the twenty‐first century, serving ever more sophisticated customer demand. In this paper, the application of this strategy, originally developed for manufacturing industry, is described in a telecommunications context. Examples of ways in which it is being used in BT are presented.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this theoretical paper is to propose that museums can be useful sites in intervening the theory–practice divide in teacher education. The authors draw from their…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this theoretical paper is to propose that museums can be useful sites in intervening the theory–practice divide in teacher education. The authors draw from their visit to the Center for Civil and Human Rights (CCHR or Center hereafter) to explore the potential of a local museum as a powerful intervention in the preservice teacher education theory/practice divide.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors’ theoretical framework draws off of “thinking with theory,” a method of using concepts to make sense of data by “plugging” a concept “into” data (Jackson and Mazzei, 2011). The authors believe that everyone, even their preservice teachers think with theories in an attempt to make sense of information and events. In their social studies methods courses, the authors offer readings, texts, videos and experiences that present ideas and concepts that are new to their preservice teachers in order to expose underlying theories that frame worldviews.
Findings
The authors provide four “snapshots” or findings. These include: heroification and villainification, White–Black binary and messianic meta-narratives, empathy and simulation and critical Black patriotism. Each of these snapshots is grounded in theories from scholars in the field of social studies, demonstrating one way to put theory to work.
Originality/value
As the aforementioned snapshots show, the authors found a place like CCHR that can serve as important space to think with theory and deconstruct presented narratives. The authors “plugged” concepts from social studies scholarship “into” the narratives presented at the CCHR. Specifically, the authors used villainification (van Kessel and Crowley, 2017), AsianCrit (Chang, 1993), Black Patriotism (Busey and Walker, 2017) and messianic narratives and martyrdom (Alridge, 2006).
Details
Keywords
Carole Sutton, Lynne Murray and Vivette Glover
This paper aims to update the chapter by Sutton and Murray in Support from the Start by providing an overview of: research linking the development and experiences of infants and…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to update the chapter by Sutton and Murray in Support from the Start by providing an overview of: research linking the development and experiences of infants and toddlers with the risks of later antisocial behaviour; and evidence on effective interventions for children aged 0‐2 and their families.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors give a narrative review on the effects on mothers and their babies of postnatal depression.
Findings
The review examines the effects on mothers and their babies of postnatal depression, impaired bonding, insecure attachment as well as the impact of maltreatment in childhood. It considers a number of evidence‐based preventive interventions implemented in the UK to help children aged 0‐2 and their parents.
Originality/value
The paper provides an overview of recent evidence for the factors contributing to difficulties for parents of young children and identifies interventions demonstrated in high‐quality studies to prevent or address these problems.