"The Cinderella profession" : the state school teachers of New South Wales 1880-1963 : a sociological profile

Abstract

This study uses historical sources and empirical survey techniques to give a ' sociological profile' of one occupational group - the teachers working in the State primary and secondary schools of New South Wales. The study pursues three interrelated themes: (i) It examines the education, training and changing conditions of employment of teachers in the State schools during the period since the full centralisation of public education in the State in 1880 and, related to this, considers the teachers' reactions to their conditions of employment as seen through the development of their professional associations; (ii) It examines, over the same period, the relationship between the education, training and conditions of employment of the State school teachers and their social status in the community. The teachers are considered as a group of semi-professional employees who have long felt that they should be regarded as members of a recognised professional occupation. An appraisal is made of their efforts to achieve the conditions of employment and social status which are usually associated with the achievement of professional status and an attempt is made to assess whether changes have actually occurred in their social status over the past sixty to eighty years; (iii) It considers, within an historical perspective, the social characteristics of recruits attracted to State school teaching as a career and, concomitantly, examines the social factors which have influenced recruitment to the occupation. Attention is given, in particular, to the role which State school teaching has played in the process of social mobility. The existence of a possible link between the occupational traits and attitudes of the State school teachers and their socio-economic origins is also considered. The study is divided into two parts. Part One (Chapters I-IV) consists mainly of an historical profile of the State school teachers. In Chapter I which covers the period 1880-1905, the dependence of Australian education in the nineteenth century on British precedents is briefly discussed and a short assessment is made of the education, training and social status of teachers employed in the State and denominational schools of New South Wales in the period prior to 1880. The development of public primary education in the State is then examined and special attention is paid to the role of the State primary schools in the education of working-class children. The recruitment, education, training and conditions of employment of the teachers working in these schools during the period 1880-1905 are then considered, and some comments are made on the socio-economic origins of the teachers and on the social factors influencing recruitment to State school teaching in the late nineteenth century. Finally, some space is given to the social ambitions of the teachers as seen through the development and policies of the early State school teachers' associations. Chapter II which covers the period 1906-1942 follows a similar approach to that used in Chapter I, but also pays some attention to the development of State secondary school teaching as a means of employment. Chapter III considers the teacher recruitment, training and employment policies of the State Government during the period 1943-1963, examines the level of educational opportunity in post-war New South Wales, and assesses some basic social influences on recruitment at the present time. Chapter IV is devoted to a consideration of the role of the New South Wales Teachers'Federation during the period 1943-1963 and to an analysis of those of its current policies which are aimed at professionalising the occupation of State school teaching in New South Wales . Part Two of the study (Chapters V-VII) presents the findings of a questionnaire survey which was carried out amongst a group of 1,700 students in the final year of their courses at four State teachers' colleges in New South Wales . The questionnaire was largely designed to provide answers to certain questions raised in Part One of the study. It was particularly concerned with examining the social characteristics of the student-teacher s and, concomitantly, with those social influences on recruitment which could not be examined on the basis of documented sources. Chapter V discusses the organisation and coverage of the survey and the response received. It also considers some basic social characteristics of the students - their ages, countries and States of birth and of secondary education, and their previous employment. Chapter VI examines the socio- economic origins of the students and attempts to assess changes in the social basis of recruitment over the last twenty-five years. It also considers the types of secondary school attended by the students, the education of their parents, the element of self-recruitment from the homes of teachers and the possible influence of area of residence on recruitment. Chapter VII examines the alternative types of scholarship for further education or training offered to the students, the alternative occupations which they had considered entering at the time they completed their secondary studies, and their attitudes towards the prospects of a teaching career. Finally, in the conclusions to the study - Chapter VIII - some comment is made on the efforts of the teachers to achieve recognition as members of a profession, and on the role that State school teaching has played in the process of social mobility. Show more