Twenty-Five Years: a History of Claremont Teachers College 1952 - 1977

Edith Cowan University Research Online ECU Publications Pre. 2011 1981 Twenty-five years: a history of Claremont Teachers College 1952 - 1977 John A. McKenzie Follow this and additional works at: https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ecuworks Part of the Education Commons, and the History Commons McKenzie, John, A. (1981). Twenty-five years: a history of Claremont Teachers College 1952 - 1977. Claremont, Australia: Claremont Teachers College. This Book is posted at Research Online. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ecuworks/6790 Edith Cowan University Copyright Warning You may print or download ONE copy of this document for the purpose of your own research or study. The University does not authorize you to copy, communicate or otherwise make available electronically to any other person any copyright material contained on this site. You are reminded of the following: Copyright owners are entitled to take legal action against persons who infringe their copyright. A reproduction of material that is protected by copyright may be a copyright infringement. A court may impose penalties and award damages in relation to offences and infringements relating to copyright material. Higher penalties may apply, and higher damages may be awarded, for offences and infringements involving the conversion of material into digital or electronic form. Twenty-Five Years A HISTORY OF CLAREMONT TEACHERS COLLEGE 1952-1977 Twenty-Five Years tells the story of Claremont Teachers College, from 1952 to 1977, against the background of the economic, demographic and . social changes taking place in Western Australia, and shows how these pressures led to the post-war shortage of teachers, the subsequent dramatic in crease in teacher-trainee enrolment and the need to create four additional colleges, their removal from Education Department authority to become autonomous institutions, and their later amalga mation into the Western Australian College of Advanced Education. The unique character of Claremont-the state's oldest tertiary institution-is explained through a close look at the elements that went into the mak ing of a teacher, and at the calibre of the staff, whose qualifications and duties are presented in some detail. The impact of the personalities and policies of four principals and the first warden of women students is also assessed. There could be no college without students. Entry qualifications, the traumas of the bonding system and the termination of courses, the quality of leadership given by the Student Council, etc. are discussed at length. And an important part of the book deals with the college as an intra-mural community and as an institution operating in the community at large. Twenty-Five Years tells the story of Claremont Teachers College, from 1952 to 1977, against the background of the economic, demographic and social changes taking place in Western Australia, and shows how these pressures led to the post-war shortage of teachers, the subsequent dramatic in crease in teacher-trainee enrolment and the need to create four additional colleges, their removal from Education Department authority to become autonomous institutions, and their later amalga mation into the West ern Australian College of Advanced Education. The unique character of Claremont-the state's oldest tertiary institution-is explained through a close look at the elements that went into the mak ing of a teacher, and at the calibre of the staff, whose qualifications and duties are presented in some detail. The impact of the personalities and policies of four principals and the first warden of women students is also assessed. There could be no college without students. Entry qualifications, the traumas of the bonding system and the termination of courses, the quality of leadership given by the Student Council, etc. are discussed at length. And an important part of the book deals with the college as an intra-mural community and as an institution operating in the community at large. A HISTORY OF CLAREMONT TEACHERS COLLEGE 1952-1977 John A. McKenzie 1981 First published in 1981 by Claremont Teachers College Claremont Campus, Western Australian College of Advanced Education Goldsworthy Road, Claremont 6010 Photoset by the University of Western Press Printed by Frank Daniels Pty Ltd Perth Bound by Printers Trade Services Belmont This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission. Enquiries should be made to the publisher © Claremont Teachers College McKenzie, John A. (John Alexander), 1916-. Twenty-five years. Bibliography. Includes index. ISBN 0 908503 02 4. 1. Claremont Teachers College (W .A.)-History. I. Claremont Teachers College (W.A.). II. Title. 370' .7'3099411 To MABEL FLORENCE McKENZIE For her lifelong devotion to education and the care of children FOREWORD The years from 1950 to 1980 may be remembered by many as the golden age of Australian education. The period was everywhere characterized by expansion and development. Enrolments in all sectors enjoyed spectacular growth with enriched opportunities and higher retention rates augmenting the effects of population increase. Greater public investment in education, notably in the seventies, occurred to a remarkable degree and produced new institutions and improved facilities in rural as well as urban regions. Increasing participation on the part of the Commonwealth, particularly in the tertiary sector, trans formed the level and nature of educational funding in Australia with far reaching consequences for the relative state and federal decision-making roles. Encouragement of innovative practices, concern for disadvantaged sub populations, and the operations of newly created national agencies were addi tional noteworthy features which incidentally reflected Australia's closer involvement with international educational developments. Although growth was sustained throughout the period, the closing years of the seventies con fronted Australian education with uncertainties due to changing economic conditions, signs of declining enrolments, and doubts about standards. As could be expected, teacher education during the three decades 1950-80 closely mirrored the nation's general educational experience. Expansion in student numbers, the emergence of new institutions, and better buildings and facilities, were everywhere apparent. Administratively the assumption by the Commonwealth government of financial responsibility for teacher education was the development of overriding importance. Associated with it was the abandonment of the long-established pattern of departmentally supervised teachers colleges. The replacement of employing authority control by the autonomous institution was conspicuous' among the reforms of the period. Unfortunately, the educational uncertainties which manifested themselves later in the seventies became apparent shortly after the achievement of independence, and applied with special force to teacher education. As teacher shortage was replaced by teacher surplus, teacher education shifted rather dramatically from conditions of unusual expansion to those of curtailment. Studies of Australian education are complicated by the fact that while there is much that is similar throughout the nation, interstate differences are never theless significant. In order to minimize the dangers of generalization and oversimplification, state-based studies and, more particularly, the examina- Vll FOREWORD tion of individual institutions have much to recommend them. As a microcosm of teacher education developments in Western Australia during the post World War II period Claremont Teachers College immediately suggests itself as the appropriate unit for analysis. Being the longest established teacher train ing institution in the state its achievements and fluctuating fortunes reveal much of the common experience of the time. Certainly this is so with regard to preparation for primary school teaching. Also, as a small single-purpose insti tution, Claremont's recent history offers some prospect for assessment of the quality of the training as demonstrated by the performance of its graduates in the schools. For these reasons the Council of the College, and Mr John McKenzie, respectively, in commissioning and undertaking this project to chronicle the post-World War II history of the college, merit the appreciation of students of Australian educational history. Not uncommonly in the past, large-scale changes in educational structure and organization have been implemented without furnishing evidence to demonstrate their effectiveness. A case in point is the consolidation of small schools which proceeded so energetically a generation ago. Today this policy is being questioned, and of particular relevance, the claim that the process achieves significant economies is under challenge. It will be ironic if amalga mations to produce larger institutions, and pressures to create multi-purpose institutions, so characteristic of current developments in Australian teacher education, reproduce the small school consolidation lessons of the past. The need certainly exists for a critical appraisal of the bold assertions which at present are determining policy formulation in teacher education in this country. With few, if any, alternative means of evaluation available for such a purpose, the case study possibilities provided by the detailed examination of a small single-purpose teacher-training

Load more