Category Archives: History of Education

Q probably decided to be a teacher because teachers were the only female role models she had.  As she grew up, she formed a view that education could make a big difference to individuals and to the world. She saw education … Continue reading →

Like many of her generation, O was the first of her family to go to university. She came from a family that did not have much money. She attended Walford Girls’ Grammar on a scholarship and knew from an early … Continue reading →

N followed her two older sisters to Woodville High School in Adelaide. Her mother enrolled her in the Commercial stream following the common wisdom that if you can type you will always have a job. Port Adelaide Girls High would … Continue reading →

M entered teaching almost accidentally. She and her sisters attended Vermont Girls’ Technical High School. M was 4 years behind her sisters. It was a time of change and energy. Her teachers were young, bright and committed. They switched her … Continue reading →

L was the son of hard-working Italian migrants with a very successful market garden business. He attended St Joseph’s Primary School and St Michael’s College in Adelaide and cannot remember a time when he did not want to be a … Continue reading →

H was living in a small far north town in South Australia when she did her Leaving Certificate.  She wanted to leave home and be independent. She also wanted to be a doctor, but, with 2 younger brothers and her … Continue reading →

Religion played an enormous role in how J ended up teaching. J was born into a Seventh Day Adventist Family. His father was a thinking man within a narrow framework. His mother was intuitive, warm but no academic. His elder … Continue reading →

K grew up in Sydney and went to a selective boys’ high school. As he remembers it, his choices at the end of high school were to go to Sydney Teachers’ College or talk to a friend of his uncle … Continue reading →

As a child, F vaguely wanted to be a mathematician. His mother wanted her children to go to university. She had been thwarted in her ambition to go herself. F’s brother, 14 years older than him, had gone to Teachers’ … Continue reading →