Authorised by Academic Registrar, April 1996
Objectives Upon successful completion of this subject, students should have a basic knowledge and understanding of the development of public education in Victoria and the major themes into which those developments can be arranged, eg curriculum, school governance, teacher training and so on; have the basic skills needed to analyse key primary source materials; be able to conduct a simple historical argument in essay form; value the corpus of material presented as providing a source for a collective sense of identity for themselves as members of the teaching profession.
Synopsis The subject commences by surveying a typical modern Victorian public sector primary school. It establishes the role of the school in relation to the needs of the individual student and the needs of the state. The relationship of this school to the bureaucracy and government is then discussed and its current practice in terms of curriculum development, employment and promotion procedures, enrolment policy, funding and industrial relations delineated. The subject then traces each of these elements, in a broad way, as they have developed in the period 1851 to the present day.
Assessment Test: 30% + Short examination: 70%