A Secondary Education for All? A History of State Secondary Schooling in Victoria. By John Andrews & Deborah Towns

Description ‘A secondary education for all’? reveals the lively history of how successive state and federal governments, the Department of Education, students, teachers and school communities have participated in creating and maintaining our government secondary schools. A social history, it shows that the provision of a ‘comprehensive’ secondary education for all is dependent on the resources made available either through government funding or community support. It reflects the changing governments’ policies and the needs of each student generation. Bringing together official documents, publications and photographs, presenting and analysing the challenges that have confronted politicians, bureaucrats, teachers and wider school communities, it explores the ongoing challenge to provide a comprehensive, quality education for all. Local school histories and educational commentary enriches that story combining scholarship, reader engagement and a degree of humour and cynicism to present the serious responsibility of educational provision, the idiosyncrasies that have worked in tandem and records the efforts of a bureaucracy, its schools and their communities to achieve the best for every student. Softcover, index, bibliography, 394 pages. 9781925588491