The Theory of Social Differences in Early Twentieth Century Education in Victoria

This paper examines the beginnings of State involvement in secondary education in Victoria in the early twentieth century and describes the emergence of a body of theory about educational differences which accompanied this important expansion in State activity. It shows that publicly-funded secondary schooling was supported as part of a national effort for increased industrial and social efficiency, and further, as a means towards realizing a broader political demand for social equality. In respect of educational policy, the latter was understood as the provision of secondary places for children shown to be capable of benefiting from more advanced learning. This move into State secondary education was accompanied by an important shift in the direction of educational theory, away from a more generalized philosophy about education which characterized the study of pedagogy in the nineteenth century, towards a concern with individual differences and the question of ‘fitness’ for secondary education. The shift was in line with the demand that educational resources be allocated in a technically-rational and efficient way. Theory began to shift from a more general pedagogical inquiry towards an inquiry into differences in the school population. It put aside an emphasis on moral philosophy in favour of a scientific methodology in teaching and school organization, aided by the rediscovery of ‘child-centred’ approaches to modern education. It became wedded to State-provided schooling and addressed itself to problems understood as implicit in the education and overall social management of subordinate social groups. It adopted a specifically psychological framework through which it sought to explain social differences in the school system in terms of differences in the operations of the mind (or intellect) of individual pupils. Moreover, although the theory was called upon to ensure an efficient allocation of educational resources, it did so within a predetermined framework of educational use which reflected the culture, social power and political influence of the established users of secondary education

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