On paper, on air, on screen
‘Teledidactics’ and Education at the Margins, 1920–1950
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12906207 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Colin Symes (0000-0002-9748-7446, Macquarie University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2010 |
| Volume | 51 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 197-208 |
| Publication date | 2010-05-05 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Critical Studies in Education (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1750-8487 • E-ISSN: 1750-8495 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/17508481003731067 |
| OpenAlex | W2135620517 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 11 |
In this paper, I examine the provenance of distance education or 'teledidactics' in Australia. I take as my case studies the New South Wales Correspondence School and the School of the Air and suggest that their emergence was underpinned by a desire on the part of educational and broadcasting bureaucrats to increase the equity of school provision by addressing the problem of educating remote populations. I argue that this problem was ultimately solved by drawing on elements of the medial ecology (as theorised by Friedrich Kittler) that emerged circa 1900 and that the machines associated with this ecology underpinned the realisation of educating such populations. Keywords: correspondence educationdistance educationFriedrich Kittlerremote populationsschools broadcastingteledidactics Acknowledgements I would like to thank the paper's two reviewers, whose comments helped me to construct a 'fairer' view of correspondence schooling. Notes 1. He pointed out that 'withholding of educational opportunity from ... the remote bush youth of far beyond the Darling, may mean the abortion of the birth of a genius that would raise a people to the high advantages of life' (Editorial, Citation1909, p. 2). 2. Cunningham (Citation1931) calculated that its cost per pupil (£6.10s) was lower than that of a standard school. 3. Kittler uses this word generically to refer to any writing system, including non-alphabetic varieties. 4. As the Correspondence School evolved, these criteria were applied more elastically. Infirmed children were allowed to enrol, as were ex-service personnel and prisoners (Rayner, Citation1949, p.38). 5. This is an extract from a Department of Education circular on the Correspondence School prepared by its Director, J.G. MacKenzie in 1948. 6. These words are taken from Leaflet 3 prepared for the 'Lower first class' and which is reproduced in Cunningham (Citation1931, p. 76). 7. The cost of a five-valve set, which was required to pick-up a signal from Sydney, was between £50 and £80 (Hendry, Citation1924, p. 234). 8. The Commission's second chairman, W.J. Cleary made it clear that the ABC would not tolerate mediocrity and that its programmes should exercise their listeners' critical faculties ('An interview', Citation1934, p. 12). Many intellectuals of the time saw this as a foolhardy aim, whilst many listeners saw the ABC's programmes as far too intellectual (Johnson, Citation1988). 9. Rudolf Bronner, then in charge of schools broadcasting, made this observation in a paper (Educational broadcasting in Australia under the direction of the Australian Broadcasting Commission) delivered to the World Federation of Educational Associations Conference, Tokyo, August 1937 (National Archives of Australia [NAA]: Reports Tokyo 1937, SP285/1 B10). 10. It was G.S. Browne, Melbourne's technophile Professor of Education, who made this suggestion (NAA: File School Broadcasts publicity talks, Box 285/1 B3A). 11. For example, Harold S. Wyndham undertook an examination of the differences between directly given lessons and broadcast ones (NAA: School Broadcasts Advisory Committee – Reports and Minutes 1934–1937, SP1558/2 Box 61). 12. Report by the Hon Secretary of the School Broadcasts Advisory Committee of observations made by him of schools in and around Sydney on the use made of school broadcasts, July 1936 (NAA: School Broadcasts Advisory Committee – Reports and Minutes 1934–1937, SP1558/2 Box 61). 13. At first, there was an expectation that families would purchase their own transceiver, until a system for loaning them out was introduced. Even so, the transceiver option, because of Post Master General regulations, was only available to families outside telephone range, though dispensation could be obtained providing the transceiver was only used for school purposes (Gibb, Citation1986, p. 152). 14. ABC managers, who were Federalist by persuasion, intimated that variations in state curricula made the national relay of educational programmes difficult (see Bronner, R.F., Department of Educational Broadcasts, 21.08.1941, NAA: Educational Broadcasts ABC, C3012/1)
Construct (python library · Equity (law · Genius · Political science · Realisation · Sociology · Australian Indigenous Culture and History · Computer Science · Law · Media, Communication, and Education · Political theory and Gramsci · Psychology
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |