The French philosopher Rene Descartes (1596-1650) wrote that "to read good books is like holding a conversation with the most eminent minds of past centuries and, moreover, a studied conversation in which these authors reveal to us only the best of their thoughts" (translation of the "Discourse on Method" by F. E. Sutcliffe…

This paper examines the Rural Schools of Queensland. Starting with Nambour in 1917, the scheme incorporated thirty schools, and operated for over forty years. The rhetoric of the day was that boys and girls from the senior classes of primary school would be provided with elementary instruction of a practical character. In reality, the subjects…

The standing of vocational education is salient for how it is perceived by those who sponsor, participate in and work within it and how its provisions are supported and administered. Yet, this standing continues to be intractably low, compared with other education sectors, more so in some countries than others. The consequences for this low…

In this paper I'll share a personal overview of pedagogy in general. This will include a listing of my personal choices of the major events, from about 1950 onwards, that have had an impact on how I try to facilitate learning. The events occurred in Canada, the United States, UK and Australia. Some were publications; some were local,…

Recently scholars have called for more detailed historical study of the teaching lives of academics across countries, systems and institutions. This article contributes to the research on the professoriate in its widest sense. The article focuses on the disciplinary perspectives and cultures of academic staff employed in one of Australia's oldest…

Ideas about what makes a good teacher are important in thinking about educational reform, and have come into focus recently. These ideas are contested and open to change. The first part of this paper traces models of the good teacher in Australia from the colonial-era good servant, through an ideal of the autonomous scholar-teacher, to…

From the 1850s to the 1970s the teaching force in Catholic schools in Australia was dominated by priests, female religious and brothers. This paper details the scope of existing research on these teachers, the demands of their religious vocation, their own education, the atmosphere which they established in the schools, leadership opportunities,…

This paper highlights ways in which understandings about masculinity intersected with concepts of vocation, career and character in the life and work of an Australian teacher, Victor Pavia. Firstly, it outlines his vertical career path from teacher to headmaster and then inspector, made possible in a bureaucratised state school system that…

This paper is designed to portray the historical development of teacher education in Australia. The paper is presented in three parts, each of which represents a "turn" in the evolution of teacher education. The first details the historical development of teacher education prior to the establishment of the first teachers college in…

In early twentieth-century Australia, men managed coeducational state training colleges (equivalent to normal schools) but teacher education programmes for kindergartners were initiatives of the free kindergarten movement and firmly in women's hands. The Kindergarten Training College in Adelaide, South Australia, was established in 1907 with…

In an ideal world, review and changes to computing curricula should be driven solely by academic concerns for the needs of students. The process should be informed by industry accreditation processes and international best practice (Hurst et al., 2001). However, Australian computing curricular review is often driven by the need for financial…

Focuses on the diary and teaching career of William Cawthorne in an effort to explore the concepts of masculinity and professional identity present in South Australia during the mid-nineteenth century. Discusses the process of converting teaching into a profession that aimed for the middle-class and the presence of female teachers. (CMK)

In this chapter, the authors examine developments in the teacher workforce and in the occupation of teaching across recent generations. They take their point of departure from the perspective of prevailing policy discourse on enduring problems of educational equity, asking not only how teaching has evolved in recent decades but more specifically…

This paper discusses representations of women teachers' work in early twentieth-century state schools, especially well-qualified and experienced women who taught in the city of Adelaide, South Australia. While there is a range of discourses that could be applied to these members of the profession, the paper focuses on three discourses in…

Historical developments in higher education are considered in six articles. Topics include: evangelism at Harvard University in the early 1740s; the New Haven scholars of the 1860s and 1870s and the adaptation of scholarly approaches usually associated with the modern university to secure the religious ends associated with the old-time college;…