Figure 1.--Here we have class portrait of an inidentified school. We beieve it is an Australian school from the 1970s. Noticve he increasingly informal uniform, at least for the boys. Clearly more appopriate for Australia than traditional British school uniforms. .

The 1970s as was the case in many Western countries was a tumltuous decade. We see major social and technological changes. This created an environment for a new look at education and and thus condusive for educational reform. This encouraged a range towards progressive ideas and experimentation in education. There was rising public interest in schools, picked up by the media. There was a discussiomn as to what schooling is. Thiscreslted in new political policies and government initiatives. We begin to see increased interested among parents and even students, to participate in school rule and policy-making. Teachers showed an invreasing interest in experimenting with new teaching methods. Perhaps more than anything there was less less formality and more casual classroom approaches. This was a natural develop following from the unrest of the 1960s. An additional factor in Australia was changes in previously very restrictivee immigration laws. This brought a diversity of new values and outlooks to Australia's previously highly provincial society. One education historian writes abouty, "Greater emphasis on personal choice, tolerance of differing viewpoints, closer human relationships, and the development of self-discipline and self-responsibility are trends in the wider society which have been finding some parallels in the thinking and approaches of educationists, teachers, parents and students. New educational structures to incorporate such trends have been and are being sought in the present decade. Some groups of parents and other citizens have set up their own schools as a direct result of dissatisfaction with existing structures." 【Bambach】 We see a pronounced shift towards ijncreasingly flexible and student-centered learning approaches. This included a decided hift away from the traditional rote learning methods that had been imprtant in Aurtralian classrooms from the very beginning of Australian education. The Labour Party which won the 1972 election, introduced a broad range of reforms.

Sources

Barcan, Alan. "Public schools in Australia from the Late 1970s to the Late 1980s: The seeds of change," Education Research and Perspectives Vol.7, No. 2 (Deceber 2010), pp. 1-37.

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Last updated: 2:31 PM 9/30/2025