THE STRUCTURE OF SECONDARY EDUCATION Introduction
Government secondary schools in Western Australia are non-selective, co-educational, comprehensive district schools. They offer an education over five years following seven years of primary school education. With a policy of
TABLE 3.1
DISTRIBUTION OF SECONDARY STUDENTS, GOVERNMENT AND NON-GOVERNMENT, WESTERN AUSTRALIA-AUGUST 1972
Years 4-5, total .... 9,749 2,459 2,062 14,270
Years 4-5, percentage 68.32 17.23 14.45 100
Years 1-5, total .... 55,841 10,880 6,021 72,742
Years 1-5, percentage 76.77 14.96 8.28 100
87.4 82.5
12.6 17.5
Years 1-3 Years 4-5
76.4 73.2
23.6 26.7
chronological promotion operating in primary schools entry into secondary school normally occurs at the age of twelve-plus and, with the leaving age set at the end of the year in which a student turns fifteen years, most children remain at high school until the end of the third year.
In 1972 there were 72,742 students enrolled in both Government and non- Government schools. Approximately 76.8 per cent of these were attending
Government schools, 14.9 per cent Catholic schools and 8.3 per cent other non- Government schools. Table 3.1 sets out enrolments by year in Government, Catholic and other non-Government schools for the year 1972.
Fourth and Fifth Year enrolments
It is apparent from the percentages given in Table 3.1 that non-Government schools are responsible for a larger proportion of students at Fourth and Fifth Years than they are at the earlier years. This was also the case at the time of the Dettman Report, 1968. However, Table 3.2 shows that the proportion of upper school enrolments is increasing in all schools, and more rapidly in Govern- ment than in non-Government schools.
TABLE 3.2
PERCENTAGE OF ENROLMENTS IN UPPER AND LOWER CLASSES IN GOVERNMENT AND NON-GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS
Government- Non-Government
1968 1972 1968 1972
100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Numbers and sizes of secondary schools
Secondary students in Western Australia are educated in three main types of schools:
Senior high schools—catering for years 1 to 5 High schools—catering for years 1 to 3
Junior high schools—primary grades and secondary years 1 to 3.
Type Enrolment
A small number of students also receive secondary education in primary schools or by means of correspondence lessons. Table 3.3 sets out, by type of school, secondary enrolments in this State.
TABLE 3.3
SECONDARY STUDENTS ENROLLED IN GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS BY TYPES
(WESTERN AUSTRALIA 1972)
Senior high ....
High
Junior high • ....
Other ...
43,794 78.43 7,266 13.01
4,452 7.97
329 0.59
Total 55,841 100.00
• Junior high schools are classified for certain administrative purposes as primary schools, and do not appear in some of the following tables.
The sizes of Government secondary schools are shown in Table 3.4. In the four year period since the Dettman Report, the total number of secondary schools (not including junior high schools) has increased from 48 to 56.
TABLE 3.4
GOVERNMENT SECONDARY SCHOOLS—ENROLMENTS AND CLASSIFICATIONS, 1972 Classification 101— 201— 301— 401— 601— 801— 1001— 1201— 1400+ Total
200 300 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400
Senior high .... .... 2 5 2 6 8 12 7 42
High .... 1 3 2 3 .2 2 1 .... .... 14
Total 1 3 4 8 4 8 9 12 7 56
Rural-urban distribution of students
Table 3.5 sets out for both Government and non-Government schools the distribution of secondary students in metropolitan and country areas for the year 1972.
TABLE 3.5
DISTRIBUTION OF SECONDARY STUDENTS METROPOLITAN/COUNTRY (WESTERN AUSTRALIA 1972)
Metropolitan Country Whole
Enrolment % Enrolment % State
Government .... 38,219 68.44 17,622 31.56 55,841
Non-Government .... 14,335 84.72 2,566 15.18 16,901
Total .... 52,554 72.25 20,188 27.75 72,742
The figures in this table illustrate the concentration of Western Australia's secondary school population within the metropolitan area. Almost three-quarters of the students obtaining a secondary education in Western Australia do so in schools in the Perth metropolitan area.
Student/Teacher Ratios. The student/teacher ratio in Government secondary schools in Western Australia in 1971 was 17.6. This is calculated by dividing the total number of students by the total number of professional staff employed in schools, including principals, for example, but not including clerical staff and teachers on leave. The ratio should not, of course, be confused with the size of classes. The number of students in a class varies widely depending on the nature of the subject being taught at a particular time and place. As all teachers need time for preparation and marking of work, the average size of classes would be considerab y greater than 17.6.
230
Students per Teacher
200
19.0
18.0
17.0
Figure 3.1 shows that there has been a consistent improvement in the student/teacher ratios since 1962.
n 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971
Figure 3.1 STUDENT/TEACHER RATIO
THE FIRST STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT
The development of the present system of secondary education in Western Australia may conveniently be considered to consist of two main stages. The first stage includes the period of approximately thirty-five years from the foundation of the first Government high school (Perth Modern School) in 1911 to the beginning of a reorganization of secondary education in the years following World War II. During this period central schools—large primary schools which catered for the vocational needs of early school leavers—were extended by the addition of courses which catered for a three-year professional or academic stream. In some central schools, the primary and post-primary sections were separated and
established as separate schools, often catering for pupils of one sex only. It was during this period that district high schools, in many respects resembling Perth Modern School, were established at Kalgoorlie, Northam, Sunbury, Albany and Geraldton.
This first stage in the development of secondary education may be described as being "elitist" in character and only a comparative few of those who completed primary school went on to complete five or even three years of secondary education.
Table 3.6, which sets out by ten yearly intervals the total and secondary enrol- ments in all Government schools, illustrates this fact.
TABLE 3.6
TOTAL AND SECONDARY SCHOOL ENROLMENTS IN WESTERN AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS
1920-1970
Year Total Secondary Secondary as enrolments enrolment % of total
1920 .... 43,102 5,000 10.39 1930 .... 55,197 6,227 11.28 1940 .... 55,594 8,855 15.92 1950 .... 69,503 11,348 16.32 1960 .... .... 119,788 27,552 23.00 1970 .... .... 174,024 50,769 29 53
In 1920 only 10.4 per cent of the total enrolments in Government schools in Western Australia were accounted for by secondary enrolments. By 1930 secondary enrolments had risen to 11.3 per cent and by the period of the War,
this had risen to approximately 16.0 per cent of enrolments.
The highly selective nature of secondary education in the period under consideration is further illustrated by the fact that entry to Perth Modern School, the most prestigeous Government secondary school in the State, was granted on the basis of performance in a Government controlled scholarship examination.
Educationally, selection to this school was considered a high honour. Entry to other high schools in the State was also strongly competitive. A school entrance examination held in association with the scholarship examination, coupled with a
system of recommendations from primary headmasters, ensured that only those students with above average achievement found their way into a high school. The selection process continued less formally through the high school years owing to the limited range and lack of flexibility of courses available. Students who found that they were not suited to the courses in which they were enrolled had no alternative but to leave.
In general, those who were successful in gaining entrance to a high school had good reason to conform to the norms and rules of the school. They were a select group for whom the community had high expectations. To fail after selection would bring discredit to the student and disappointment to his family and friends. Further, a satisfactory secondary school performance leading to the attainment of the Junior and Leaving Certificates was a strong guarantee of entry into the professions, the Commonwealth and State Public Services and career positions in private industry. In a period of slow economic growth or in time of economic uncertainty such as this State witnessed in the period of the 1930's these were strong inducements to conform.
Students who were not selected for entry to high schools but continued their education in central schools may have lacked the high expectations characteristic of the selected ones. However, the ability to leave school on the fourteenth birthday meant that students who were not performing well, who were alienated from school or who were economically unable to remain at school could leave at the end of the first year or during the second year of their secondary schooling.
Thus, in central schools, too, those continuing at school were likely to conform voluntarily to the behavioural requirements of the school authorities.
THE SECOND STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT
The second stage of secondary school development in Western Australia has coincided with a period of rapid population and economic growth. This growth has imposed considerable strains upon the economy of the State and upon its education system. Within the past twenty-five years primary school enrolments have more than doubled, secondary enrolments have almost tripled and the number of teachers employed has increased threefold. Table 3.7 sets out for selected years the numbers of primary and secondary teachers and the numbers of primary and secondary enrolments in the Government schools in Western Australia for the period 1920-1970.
The provision of educational facilities within Western Australia since World War II has been complicated by geographical shifts in population. Developments that have occurred in agriculture and in mining have resulted in sudden growth in school enrolments in areas where facilities were non-existent or where they were designed to cater for only a very small population. In the field of secondary education this has added another dimension to a perennial and increasing problem
Primary Secondary enrolment enrolment
Primary Secondary teachers teachers
Year Total Total
-that of providing for all areas of the State a secondary education comparable in quality to that available in the metropolitan area of Perth and in larger country areas.
TABLE 3.7
GOVERNMENT SCHOOL POPULATION STATISTICS 1920-1970
1920 43,102 5,000 48,102 1,418 83 1,501
1930
....
48,970 6,227 55,197 1,890 128 2,0181940 46,739 8,855 55,594 1,872 181 2,053
1950 58,155 11,348 69,503 1,802 436 2,138
1960 92,236 27,552 119,788 2,640 1,310 3,950
1970
.... ....
123,255 50,769 174,024 3,901 2,787 6,688Reorganization
During 1946 and 1947 an important reorganization of secondary education in Western Australia was instituted. Central schools were renamed three-year high schools and were aligned administratively and organizationally with the existing five-year high schools. For the first time a full-time inspector of secondary schools was appointed.
The junior high school. Foremost among moves to provide secondary education in the rural areas of Western Australia was the development of the junior high school system in 1950. These schools developed rapidly with consoli- dation measures such as the use of school buses and the closure of some rural primary schools. Under the Education Regulations, a school which has an average daily attendance of over 150 primary pupils and over 25 secondary pupils in the first, second and third years combined may be declared a junior high school if the Director-General thinks fit.
While the junior high school may not be able to offer the large range of courses available in a modern Western Australian high school, it has enabled many students in rural areas to obtain a secondary education which would have been otherwise denied to them or which could only have been obtained by residing at a distant town at considerable expense to parents.
Expansion
The rapid growth that has occurred in secondary education in this State in the post World War II years has been due to a combination of factors including the raising of the school leaving age, population growth, and a general relative increase in the demand for secondary education.
The raising of the school leaving age. In 1943 the Government was empowered by the Education Act Amendment Act (No. 30 of 1943) to raise the compulsory age from 14 to 15 years. It was another twenty years before this was implemented. After the permissible leaving age had remained at the four- teenth birthday for almost 90 years, it was in 1963 raised to the end of the year in which the student turned fourteen and in 1966 to the end of the year of the fifteenth birthday. From a retention point of view, this amendment had important implications. With children generally attending school in the year in which they turn six, most were now obliged to complete ten years of schooling—seven primary and three secondary. To students whose birthday falls early in the year this meant an additional two years of compulsory education, from the day of their fourteenth birthday to the end of the following year.
Population growth. Table 3.8 gives an indication of the increasing rate of growth of the population in Western Australia during the last forty years, including the very significant contribution of the immigration programme. It is obvious that such rapid population growth has been a major factor in the pressures for expansion of the education system.
TABLE 3.8
POPULATION GROWTH IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA, 1920-1970
Years Total Increase Due to migration Percent due to migration
1920-1930 .... 100,287 50,558 50.41
1930-1940 .... 42,466 —1,456 —03.43
1940-1950 .... 98,573 31,931 32.39
1950-1960 .... 158,384 49,085 30.99
1960-1970 .... 280,230 153,733 54.86
Increase in demand for secondary education. Table 3.7 shows that in the past fifty years there has been an increase in excess of 250 per cent in the numbers of children enrolled in Government schools in Western Australia, but that secondary enrolments have grown at a much faster rate than primary. In the period 1920- 1970, primary school enrolments increased by 186 per cent whereas secondary school enrolments increased by 916 per cent. This greater growth rate in secondary enrolments reflects the changing economic conditions within the State, including the remarkable technological progress that has occurred in recent years, and the realization on the part of students and parents that a high correlation exists between levels of education attained and future earnings. Education is seen by many, particularly those in lower and middle socio-economic groups, as a powerful means of attaining upward social mobility. Governments, too, have recognized the value to economic growth of an educated workforce, and have increased the provision of scholarships, grants and subsidies at State and national levels.
THE REPORTS OF COMMITTEES OF ENQUIRY
In the past twenty years there have been four significant committees of enquiry into secondary education in Western Australia. The reports and recommendations of these committees have had the effect of radically altering the character and direction of secondary education in this State.
The Committee on Secondary Education (1952-54)
The first of the committees of enquiry under the chairmanship of the Superin- tendent of Secondary Education, Mr V. Box, met at a time when secondary education "was on the verge of a tremendous expansion, not only as a consequence of the post-war `population explosion', but also because of a rapidly changing social structure, characterized by a technological advance hitherto unknown in this State". This committee made eleven recommendations, some of which were to have far reaching effects upon the operation of secondary education in this State.
The Secondary Schools Curriculum Committee (1957-58)
This committee under the chairmanship of Dr T. L. Robertson issued a report which was "an attempt to outline the general aims and areas which the Committee feels should form the basis of a secondary schools curriculum programme in this State". This Committee was concerned only with the "basic requirements of secondary pupils in the upper 85 per cent of the ability range of the school population", and it recommended that a special investigation be carried out into the needs of the lower 15 per cent.
This report is significant in that it foreshadowed much of what was to emerge in later years. It proposed such matters as core and elective subjects, varying student progress, units of work, streaming and cumulative assessment.
The Committee of Enquiry into Secondary Education (1962-63)
This committee, also under the chairmanship of Dr T. L. Robertson, reviewed the progress made in secondary education from the 1954 Report. It noted that six of the eleven recommendations made in that report had been implemented. All of these have significance for the present report:
( 1 ) That children completing the primary course transfer to high schools if possible; and that, in addition, all children who have not qualified by completing the primary course and whose thirteenth birthday occurs during the year be transferred to high school, irrespective of attainment, so that they may have the advantage of a secondary school environment before they leave school.
(2) That in the metropolitan area high schools be co-educational and comprehensive in type with enrolments of 1,500 plus.
(3) That, in the country, high schools be co-educational and multi- lateral in type.
(4) That secondary school scholarships be abolished.
(5) That all new metropolitan high schools be situated in the outer suburbs.
(6) That high schools near city, Fremantle and Midland Junction business centres be removed to the suburbs as soon as possible.
In addition to a review of the recommendations made in the 1954 Report, the committee also made recommendations regarding the future direction that secondary education should take in Western Australia. Most of the recommendations set the stage for the future development of the Achievement Certificate, but what is of particular interest to this present Discipline Committee was the re-affirmation of the principle of a secondary education for all children regardless of ability.
With the publishing of the 1954 Report, the principle of a secondary education for all children was firmly established. With the removal of the secondary school scholarship the last vestige of selective entry into high schools was abolished. Thus, in a space of several decades, secondary education in Western Australia had changed from a highly selective and "elitist" education in which academic considerations dominated to a non-selective general education for all children. The provision of some secondary education for all children was śtrengthened by the raising of the school leaving age in 1964 to the end of the year in which a child attained the age of fifteen years.
The extension of the school leaving age was in keeping with the new philosophy of secondary education expressed within the reports of the various committees but it placed demands upon the system to provide a range of courses
suited to the needs of a much wider range of abilities and interests than had been the case in the pre-war years. Students who, because of problems relating to motivation, achievement, economic circumstances or other factors, previously would have left at the end of primary or the first year of high school were now required to remain until at least the end of the second and probably the third year of high school. The extension also placed organizational and administrative demands upon secondary schools because they were now required to accept some students who were unable to benefit from most available courses at a secondary level, and many others for whom courses of an academic nature were unsuited.
The effects of non-selective entry and increased school leaving age were indeed far reaching. Their effects are still being felt in curriculum, in administration, in school organization, in teacher attitude and indeed in all areas of secondary schooling.
The changes that had been effected in the post World War I years with regard to entry and school leaving age, and the change in philosophy that occurred as the result of the recommendations of various committees investigating secondary education, necessitated a complete re-thinking of the structure of secondary education in Western Australia. This re-thinking was to take place through the deliberations of the Dettman Committee.
The Dettman Report (1967-69)
The recent course of secondary education in Western Australia has been charted by the recommendations of the Dettman Report. In 1967, on the advice of the Director-General of Education, the then Minister for Education (the Hon.
E. H. M. Lewis) set up a committee to investigate and report on the future of secondary education in Western Australia. This committee, which was under the chairmanship of Mr H. W. Dettman (Director-General of Education) came to be known as the Committee on Secondary Education. In its membership were representatives from non-Government schools, Catholic Education, the University of Western Australia and the Education Department. The following broad statement set down by the Minister constituted the terms of reference:
To investigate developments elsewhere, assess the needs of Western Australia and, in due course, report on the future organization, structure and courses required to meet those needs, and to make recommendations.
The recommendations of the Dettman Report cover almost every aspect of the operation of secondary schools. Basically they may be divided into those which relate to structure and those which relate to educational principle and practice.
Recommendations relating to structure. The recommendations of the Box Report (1954) had brought about considerable change in the operation and structure of secondary schools in Western Australia. Important within this was