Understanding Early Childhood Education and Care in Australia

Practices and perspectives

Joanne Ailwood, Joanne Ailwood, Wendy Boyd, Maryanne Theobald

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781000248272
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Pedagogía
• Subtopic: Educación infantil

In order to effectively practise as an early childhood educator it is essential to understand the theories, policies and pedagogy that shape the discipline. Understanding Early Childhood Education and Care in Australia provides core foundational knowledge that is critical for best practice.Part One looks at concepts of childhood and the development of mass education before examining influential theories including developmental psychology, sociology, feminisms and critical theory. Specific approaches are also analysed including Reggio Emilia, Montessori, Multiple Intelligences and HighScope. Part Two focuses on the guiding frameworks and policies in Australia and explores in depth issues affecting Indigenous children and provisions for recognising diversity and the practice of inclusion. The final section examines teaching and leadership and considers curriculum, pedagogy and assessment, building relationships between staff and families, the care of babies and infants, the environment in which early childhood education takes place and the responsibilities and professional development of teachers.This essential reference will ensure pre-service teachers develop a sophisticated understanding of how theory underpins effective practice in early childhood education.

PART ONE
Historical, theoretical and philosophical perspectives of ECEC

Chapter 1
The development of early childhood education and care in Australia

Sandie Wong and Frances Press

In this chapter you will find an outline of:

• the history of compulsory education in Australia
• how early childhood education and care emerged
• the role of the government in supporting child care
• the move towards accreditation of child care facilities.

Contemporary provision of early childhood education and care (ECEC) for children aged birth to eight years in Australia is complex. It is currently made up of a number of different service types that are funded, legislated and regulated by two different levels of government (state and federal) and are operated by a diverse range of providers. In some states, local government also plays an important role. While recognising that education, in its broadest sense, existed for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples for tens of thousands of years prior to colonisation, this chapter provides a brief history of the provision of formal education for young children in Australia since colonisation, exploring its complexities in a way that we hope helps readers better understand why things are the way they are today.

First we describe the establishment of the earliest schools in colonial Australia and outline the origins of Australian public schooling systems. We then focus on the development of early childhood education as a specific field of professional endeavour. We explore the establishment of kindergartens and day nurseries/crèches at the turn of the nineteenth century, the establishment of the Australian Association for Pre-School Child Development and the creation of Lady Gowrie Child Centres in the 1930s–40s and the expansion of preschools in the 1960s. We describe the rise of child care and the introduction of the Child Care Act in 1972. We finish by outlining the commercialisation of child care and the accompanying development of an accreditation system for ECEC in the 1980s. Our aim in this chapter is to demonstrate links between these past events and the current configuration of ECEC.

Formal Schooling in Colonial Australia

Prior to the late nineteenth century most colonial children received informal education from their families, not from formal school institutions (Ward & Macnab, 1962). Children of the poor learnt the skills they needed to survive and, hopefully, thrive from working alongside their parents. Children of wealthy colonists, on the other hand, were mostly educated at home by governesses and then, when older, sent back to England for further education. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were taught culture and skills through participation in song, music and dance, as well as through direct observation and instruction.

The very earliest colonial schools were established by governments in the early nineteenth century, under the direction of governors of the colonies (Campbell & Proctor, 2014). At this time, schooling was viewed as an important instrument for shaping the moral development of the colony and maintaining social order. The convicts who populated Australia as a penal colony were considered morally and socially corrupt and it was feared that their children would grow up to be similarly dangerous and uncontrollable, thus endangering the stability of the fledgling society. There was, however, belief in the redemptive power of education. By intervening early in children’s lives and providing them with a moral education, it was believed the children of convicts could be shaped into respectable and compliant citizens.

In these early colonial schools, both boys and girls were taught reading, writing and basic arithmetic (Barcan, 1965). The curriculum was closely tied to religious and moral instruction, often using religious texts. Instruction was largely through rote learning, memorisation and drill. Children were also taught gendered work skills considered important for preparing them for their ‘place’ in society. For instance, boys learned gardening and carpentry, and girls needlework. These schools were highly structured, children were tightly controlled, and discipline was often harsh and included corporal punishment. Interestingly, and somewhat ironically, because of a shortage of teachers in the colonies, the teachers in these schools were often convicts (Campbell & Proctor, 2014).

As the population expanded, the number and diversity of schools increased. From the early 1800s, schools were established by religions of various persuasions. There was also an increase in private schools. Some, such as Dame schools (usually run by widows or spinsters), charged small fees and catered for the children of poor families. Others, such as boarding schools and preparatory schools, catered for the emerging middle class, and were often run by families of teachers. Governments also established schools for particular groups of children, including ‘Orphan’ schools and ‘Native’ schools, where children—some of whom were orphans, but many of whom were coercively or forcefully removed from their families—lived out their childhood in highly regulated institutions (Barcan, 1965). The quality of schools varied considerably. As schooling expanded, there was limited supervision, and most schools were staffed by teachers who had little pedagogical training, were often poorly paid and had little access to support.

In these early days only a small percentage of children attended schools, and attendance was often sporadic (Weiss, 1993). School attendance was optional for all but orphans and other state wards. It was the children of the poor who were the least likely to attend as many poor parents relied on their children’s work to support the family, either labouring or working in the home. Moreover, as the establishment of schools was haphazard, many children, especially those living in remote areas, were not within reach of a school. Formal schooling for Aboriginal children remained largely a role of the churches and missionary societies (Dickey, 1979). In a naïve and racist plan to assimilate Aboriginal children, they were often separated from their families and transported to schools where attempts would be made to convert them to Christianity and/or to teach them work skills that would make them ‘useful’ to white settlers. Often such schooling merely committed them to a life of servitude.

Until the mid to late 1800s, the provision of schools across the colonies was unsystematic. Different types of schools catered for different classes of people and upheld class and religious divides. Much of this situation changed in the late nineteenth century with the introduction of ‘compulsory, free and secular’ education in all colonies.

Compulsory secular education begins

By the late 1800s there was strong support for public education (Cook, Davey & Vick, 1979). Some argued that schooling was necessary to ensure an educated population to fulfil its (male) franchise responsibilities because ‘An intelligent democracy must be founded on education’ (Black, 1893, p. 6750). Others argued that education was necessary for developing a knowledgeable, skilled and capable workforce that would in turn lead to greater prosperity for the nation. Yet others envisaged public schooling as an equalising and socially just endeavour that would improve the prospects and potential of the poorest in society.

Nevertheless, the concept of universal education faced strong opposition. Churches vigorously resisted public schooling, fearing that secular education would result in a godless society. Others argued against education for the working class on the grounds that educating the ‘under-class above their station’ could lead to civil uprising. Despite such objections, the provision of state-funded public schools was broadly supported by the growing populace and by the end of the century each colony had introduced Education Acts (see Table 1.1).

Figure 1.1: Woolloomooloo Day Nursery, 1906

Source: Sydney Day Nursery Association, image courtesy of SDN Children’s Services

Table 1.1: Passing of Education/Instruction Acts and establishment of early childhood organisations in Australia

State	Passing of Education Acts	Beginning of early childhood organisations	Establishment of first free kindergarten/day nursery	Teachers' colleges established
Western Australia	Education Act 1871	1911: Kindergarten Union of Western Australia	1912:	1913: Western Australia Kindergarten Training College
Victoria	Education Act 1872	1908: Free Kindergarten Union of Victoria	1901: Carlton	1922: Kindergarten Training College (later Melbourne Kindergarten Teachers' College)
		1910: Victorian Association of Creches
South Australia	Education Act 1875	1905: Kindergarten Union of South Australia	1906:	1907: Adelaide
Queensland	Education Act 1875	1907: Creche and Kindergarten Association		1907: Brisbane Kindergarten Training College 1907
New South Wales	Public Instruction Act 1880	1895: Kindergarten Union of New South Wales	1896: Woolloomooloo	1896: Sydney Kindergarten Teachers' College
		1905: Sydney Day Nursery Association	1905: Woolloomooloo	1932: Nursery School Training Centre (later Nursery School Teachers' College)
Tasmania	Education Act 1885	1910: Hobart Free Kindergarten Association (Kindergarten Union of Tasmania formed in 1938)	1910: Hobart 1910: Launceston	No training college was established in Tasmania. In 1967 a training course commenced at Hobart Teachers' College

Source: Adapted from Brennan, 1998, p. 18; Wong & Press, 2013, p. 100

Figure 1.2: Children at Lady Gowrie Child Centre, South Australia, c. 1940–50

Source: Courtesy of Gowrie South Australia

It is often stated that the introduction of Education Acts made public provision of schooling ‘free, secular and compulsory’, but this is not strictly accurate. First, they were not ‘free’; most public schools charged a small fee for attendance from all but the poorest families. Second, education in public schools was not completely secular; it was broadly based on Christian values, often with a considerable part of the day devoted to scripture. Third, compulsion was not really enforced by Education Departments as many poorer families were dependent on their children’s labour, while many middle-class families objected to their children attending schools with children from lower-class, ‘less desirable’ families. Towards the end of the century, when the idea of public schooling became more entrenched, non-attendance began to be taken more seriously by School Inspectors, except with regard to Aboriginal children. Many Aboriginal parents sought school education for their children, but in practical terms Aboriginal children were often denied access. Although they were not officially excluded from public schools, in some cases non-Aboriginal parents would remove their children from schools that Aboriginal children attended, and, for want of sufficient pupils, the schools were forced to close. Moreover, many Aboriginal children lived in more remote areas where public schools were not established. For those who did attend school, the practices they experienced were often aimed at assimilation and preparation for low-paid manual and domestic work. Further, the language of instruction was English and traditional languages and cultural practices were prohibited. At the same time, some Aboriginal parents actively refused to send their children to public schools as a way of resisting schooling’s colonising influence.

Each colony had its own curriculum, but they all included reading, writing and arithmetic. Gradually, curricula and curricula materials developed an Australian flavour, reflecting a growing national identity that culminated in Federation in 1901 (Clarke, 1981). Students began to learn about Australian as well as British history (albeit from an Anglo-European perspective) and school ‘readers’ began to depict Australian scenes, flora and fauna, replacing the previous ones from the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Supervision of schools increased. School inspectors would visit schools to assess their conditions and compliance with regulations. Teachers were assessed on the basis of their students’ success. Inspectors would ‘test’ the children on arithmetic and reading and should children’s knowledge be found wanting, the teacher’s salary could be docked. There are anecdotes of teachers banning their less able students from school on the day the inspectors came to visit so that their pupils’ test scores would remain high. We hear of similar stories in relation to today’s high-stakes tests.

From the mid-1800s, new pedagogies had begun to emerge (Campbell & Proctor, 2014). Teachers newly arrived in Australia brought with them progressive educational ideas that had emerged in Europe (the New Education). Proponents argued for a movement away from the ‘mass’ production model of the monitorial system, largely based on rote learning, towards more individualised pedagogies that explained the underlying principles of ‘facts’ and which were geared to students’ ages and stages of development. To support this style of learning, children were separated into ‘infants’ and ‘primary’ classrooms. These pedagogies required skilled teachers, and so began a more systematic approach to teacher education (Whitehead, 2003). Beginning in Sydney in 1896, teacher education colleges were established in many states to train teachers for the public schools and teachers’ associations and unions were established to support the professionalisation of teaching.

Despite these positive developments in public education, school practices largely remained ill-suited to the needs of young children. Thus, at the end of the nineteenth century, advocates for progressive education established separate educational settings for children younger than six years of age.

Beginnings of Early Childhood Education and Care

A number of educational reformers made some progress in bringing about changes to pedagogy in the public school system in New South Wales based on Fröebelian kindergarten methods (Walker, 1964; Wong, 2013). Indeed, several parliamentarians commented on the value of the kindergarten in debates in the House. Sir George Houston Reid (MP), for instance, ...