A study in curriculum
We invited our intern Ella Birt, from Australian Catholic University’s History Honours program, to tell us about her Honours research. Ella is writing a 15,000-word thesis on the history of school curriculums in Victoria. Here’s what Ella has to say about her research:
Curriculums are key documents that outline not only what students are expected to learn, but also give an indication of the priorities and goals of their contemporary education system.
From one or two page documents that list classes and possibly a book or two that could be of use, curriculums today are complex policy documents that ultimately inform students’ development and understandings of the world by outlining what they should be learning in the classroom. As with any complex bureaucratic system, the development of both the educational system and the curriculums are built within a context of the wider state, and nation. With this, curriculums inadvertently, and sometimes overtly, reflect the wider societal norms, expectations, and concerns of the colony and state.
Victoria’s education system has evolved dramatically since the first school opening in the Port Philip District [renamed Victoria in 1851] in 1836. The school was only open to Aboriginal students but was short-lived, closing in 1839. Education was often referred to as a key tool in “civilising” Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, particularly through religious education. While no curriculum for the school remains, if one was ever drawn up, the school reported to have taught “reading and religious knowledge.”
Unsurprisingly, it was reported that the removal of children from their daily activities and duties within family and social structures was not met favourably. A 1922 history recorded somebody at the time (unreferenced) wrote that“unfortunately some of the adult natives showed marked animosity towards the little school.” In 1837 the “first school for white children” was opened.
In 1835 Governor Richard Bourke wrote to Lord Glenelg, Secretary of State for the Colonies, to say “I would earnestly recommend that a provision be made for schools in which children of different religious tenets may be instructed without distinction, on the plan now adopted in Ireland.”
These discussions culminated decades later in the 1872 Education Act which secured free, secular, and compulsory education in Victoria.
While the colony had no standardised curricula prior to the Act, the Bible and the Irish National Readers were commonly used in the classroom, providing reading, spelling, and moral education. While the provision for secular education had been included, the basis of the system still had a strong focus on Christianity and the Bible - its “secular” elements were to not teach a specific denomination, rather than no religion at all.
The 1872 curriculum was very basic, featuring “Reading, Grammar, Writing, Arithmetic, Drill Gymnastics (where prac.), Geography, and Needlework.” This expanded in 1896, illustrating new priorities for the still unfederated colony. Most notably are the inclusion of lessons on temperance, snake bites, and drowning which are included in the curricula. Alcohol had been a major issue in Victoria, particularly public drunkenness. In 1842, Melbourne's population was nearing 10,000, and in the same year 1500 men and women were charged with public drunkenness, contributing to early alcohol education being standardised in schools. The need for education around snake bites and drownings is also illustrative of the pervasiveness of snakes in both remote and more built up areas, as well as a lack of swimming education in the years prior. In 1902, shortly after federation, civics education was first included in the curriculum, with hygiene also being included in the 1920 curriculum, a year after Spanish Flu first entered Australia.
While we may not see changes in curriculum as forthright as the introduction of a temperance class, the curriculum is still changing and adapting to the priorities of Victoria and its people. The introduction of safe relationships classes, a greater inclusion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories, and classes that discuss mental health are all reflections of the priorities of the state, and the needs of the people within it.
While not always a page turner, curriculums provide a unique insight into both the historical and political realities of daily life.
Mt Arapiles School #1872 in 1897