Society, Schools and Progress in Australia by P. H. Partridge
Partridge, P. H. (1973). Society and Progress in Australia. Sydney: Pergamon Press Australia.
https://find.slv.vic.gov.au/permalink/61SLV
Partridge’s text focuses on exploring the main features of the Australian educational system that have been inherited from England. It looks closely at the background, history and organisation of the state education system throughout Australia as well as the relationship between education and national growth.
The Future of Schools: Lessons from the Reform of Public Education by Brian J. Caldwell and Don Hayward
Caldwell, B. J., & Hayward, C. (2002). The Future of Schools: Lessons from the Reform of Public Education. Milton Taylor and Francis.
https://primo.csu.edu.au/permalink/61CSU
Although this text – co-authored by a former Minister of Education and current Professor of Education – has an international focus, its exploration of systems of self-managing schools centres around the education system in Victoria because it is a prime example of a system that went from being highly-centralised to self-managed. The text looks at the state or public education system globally before narrowing its focus to the state system in Victoria, Australia.
A History of Australian Schooling by Craig Campbell and Helen Proctor
Campbell, C., & Proctor, H. (2014). A History of Australian Schooling. Allen and Unwin.
https://librarysearch.melbourne.vic.gov.au/cgi-bin/spydus.exe/ENQ
Campbell and Proctor’s history of Australian schooling covers the period from 1820 to the present day, looking specifically at the landscape before the formation of state schools, the key pioneering figures in early Australian education as well as the formation of state education throughout the country. Their comprehensive text focuses on the way in which schooling has influenced Australian society and vice versa.
‘A Secondary Education for All?’: A History of State Secondary Schooling in Victoria by John Andrews and Deborah Towns.
Andrews, J., & Towns, D. (2017). ‘A Secondary Education for All?’: A History of State Secondary Schooling. Australian Scholarly Publishing.
https://find.slv.vic.gov.au/permalink/61SLV
Tate and Towns’ text is a comprehensive history of the secondary state school system in Australia. Described as a social history, it looks at the formation of the state system and the lingering effects of that formation on the modern day system. Despite, its broad, Australian focus the text looks at the development of the system in all of Australia’s states.
National Identity and Education in Early Twentieth Century Australia by Jan Keane
Keane, J. (2018). National Identity and Education in Early Twentieth Century Australia. Emerald Publishing Limited.
https://primo.csu.edu.au/permalink/61CSU
This text explores the education history and curriculum in Victoria. It looks specifically at the relationship between the state school curriculum and the sense of national identity that existed in Victoria in the early twentieth century. Keane contends that the Department of Education in Victoria actively sought to integrate children of different backgrounds via its state school curriculums from the early days of the state school system.