y separately published work icon School Paper [Victoria] series - publisher   periodical  
Alternative title: Victorian School Paper
Date: 1925
Date: 1896-1925
Issue Details: First known date: 1896-1968... 1896-1968 School Paper [Victoria]
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

AbstractHistoryArchive Description

The School Paper, a monthly publication of the Victorian Education Department, was first introduced into Victorian schools in 1896, following dissatisfaction with the Royal Readers used in elementary schools. The first general editor of the series was Charles Richard Long. Until its replacement in 1929 by the Victorian Readers the School Paper was the official reading material in schools; and for long after 1929 it was used as supplementary reading material.

The series comprised individual monthly publications for each grade. These texts were used primarily to teach the children to read. 'Other broad aims included the fostering of a love of reading, and the introduction of some of the great literature of our culture to the pupils. Opportunity was also taken by the compilers of these texts to include material designed to influence the students into modes of thinking that were considered to be appropriate to the times. Attitudes to such concepts as sexism, racism, warfare, nationalism and patriotism have been imbued into the consciousness of the readers by overt and sometimes by covert means' (K. Edwards, 'School Reading Texts: The School Papers and the Moulding of Young Minds' Post-Script; v.5 n.1 p.31-53; August 2004 ).

Includes

y separately published work icon The School Paper for Class III Melbourne : Victoria Education Department , 1896-1911 Z1414689 1896 periodical (159 issues) Melbourne : Victoria Education Department , 1896-1911
y separately published work icon The School Paper : Grades VII and VIII Melbourne : Victoria Education Department , 1896-1932 Z1440433 1896-1932 periodical (209 issues) Melbourne : Victoria Education Department , 1896-1932
y separately published work icon The School Paper for Class IV Melbourne : Victoria Education Department , 1897-1911 Z893524 1897-1911 periodical (140 issues) Melbourne : Victoria Education Department , 1897-1911
y separately published work icon The School Paper for Classes V and VI Melbourne : Victoria Education Department , 1898-1911 Z1417242 1898 periodical (150 issues) Melbourne : Victoria Education Department , 1898-1911
y separately published work icon The School Paper for Grade IV Melbourne : Victoria Education Department , 1912 Z1648393 1912 periodical (11 issues) Melbourne : Victoria Education Department , 1912
y separately published work icon The School Paper for Grades III and IV Melbourne : Victoria Education Department , 1913 Z1651355 1913 periodical (33 issues) Melbourne : Victoria Education Department , 1913
y separately published work icon The School Paper : Grades III and IV Melbourne : Victorian Education Department , 1928 Z1439522 1927 periodical (55 issues) Melbourne : Victorian Education Department , 1928
y separately published work icon The School Paper : Grades V and VI Melbourne : Victoria Education Department , 1929-1968 Z1417268 1912 periodical (226 issues) Melbourne : Victoria Education Department , 1929-1968

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

      Melbourne, Victoria,: 1896-1968 .

Works about this Work

Growing up Australian: The National Imaginary in School Readers Jane McGennisken , 2012 single work criticism
— Appears in: Papers : Explorations into Children's Literature , vol. 22 no. 1 2012; (p. 142-155)
From the late 1800s to the 1950s, the ‘School Reader’, a graded and illustrated anthology of stories, poems, essays and extracts from longer works, was an indispensable part of Australian classroom life. This paper considers the Readers’ literary and visual production of the child/nation (Author abstract).
The Forum : Robert Murray on Primary Knowledge Robert Murray , 2007 single work column
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 24-25 November 2007; (p. 2)
Robert Murray recalls learning his school lessons from the Victorian Readers : Fifth Book and notes the advantages of this learning method.
y separately published work icon Imagining the World from the Classroom : Cultural Difference, Empire and Nationalism in Victorian Primary Schools in the 1930s and 1950s Vicki Macknight , Melbourne : 2005 Z1449220 2005 single work thesis
Readers in Victoria, 1896-1968, I: The School Paper and Children's World P. W. Musgrave , 1994 single work criticism
— Appears in: Paradigm , December no. 15 1994;

'The aim of this and the succeeding paper (in Paradigm No. 16) is to present an outline of the history and contents of the prescribed reading materials at the elementary/primary level in all State and the majority of independent schools in Victoria, Australia, from just before Federation in 1901 until the 1960s when mass migration began to change the nature of the Australian population.'

y separately published work icon Victorian School Books : A Study of the Changing Social Content and Use of School Books in Victoria, 1848-1948, with Particular Reference to School Readers Desmond R. Gibbs , Melbourne : 1987 Z1422959 1987 single work thesis

Author's abstract: The books from which Victorian children learned to read last century held a variety of implicit social and moral values. To many children in isolated, pioneering districts of Victoria, the secular Reader was the principal source of information and ideas. The more advanced of the Irish and British Readers contained a huge variety of factual knowledge in combination with extracts from the best of English literature. Although these imported Readers underwent exclusions, adaptations and revisions, the content remained essentially foreign to colonial Australia, with a pervading moral stance originating in the high-minded intellectual and cultural traditions of Europe.

Throughout the nineteenth century, there was undue emphasis on the mechanical aspects of grammar in the elementary school curriculum. In the minds of Victorian educators, the study of grammar was firmly linked with the cultivation of high ideals and an intellectual understanding of life. In reality, the grammar books were sensible and straightforward, but badly used by the poorly-educated teachers. The popularity and cheapness of the Irish and British grammar books prevented the adoption of a number of locally-produced texts.

This thesis examines the changing content and use of school books during three distinct periods: the Irish monopoly, 1848-1877, the British phase, 1877-1896 and a National phase, 1896-1948. During the first phases, there were impressive local text-book publications, reflecting a desire for more local, relevant knowledge for Australian school children and a developing independence from the Home country. Most failed to secure official patronage and had limited circulation. The more successful ones attempted to meet the needs of new curriculum programmes, emphasising local knowledge relevant to colonial children.

In 1896 Charles Long produced the monthly School papers which were eminently Australian and less literary than the Readers, but which continued to support conservative social values and the concepts of British imperialism. Long's Victorian readers from 1928 were set in the same mould of Victorian morality, but with an Australian theme: a rural romantic dream of the Australian bush. This series was to dominate Victorian schools for another thirty years. During this period many successful and impressive Australian text-books were written and adopted by the Education Department to meet the needs of a changing curriculum. Centralised control of the school curriculum, from the formation of a Board of Examiners, coincided with a period of enormous colonial expansion and major administrative changes in colonial education. A 'uniform supply' of text-books gave some stability to the school curriculum, establishing set standards of work and a range of graded reading material. The scantily-educated teachers depended on the books, and teaching involved excessive drill and learning by rote. The aim was not to entertain, but to develop skills in reading and writing. Inspectors' reports suggest that much depended on the manner in which the books were used, and there is evidence of successful teaching.

The books were comprehensive and cheap, but there were problems of supply and distribution which went unresolved, despite brisk local trading and the establishment of book depositories. Isolated rural schools suffered most from inadequate resources and support. The gradual Australianisation of texts and inclusion of items of quality Australian literature gave a sounder basis for learning and stronger cultural identity for young Australians. But even the best of the Australian texts maintained conservative assumptions on class, race, religion, work and morals. The selections from all the principal, nineteenth-century British and American writers suggest that the "cultural cringe" in Australia was alive and well throughout the period and that the curriculum was set to maintain the conservative social order, within the structure of a liberal education.

y separately published work icon Victorian School Books : A Study of the Changing Social Content and Use of School Books in Victoria, 1848-1948, with Particular Reference to School Readers Desmond R. Gibbs , Melbourne : 1987 Z1422959 1987 single work thesis

Author's abstract: The books from which Victorian children learned to read last century held a variety of implicit social and moral values. To many children in isolated, pioneering districts of Victoria, the secular Reader was the principal source of information and ideas. The more advanced of the Irish and British Readers contained a huge variety of factual knowledge in combination with extracts from the best of English literature. Although these imported Readers underwent exclusions, adaptations and revisions, the content remained essentially foreign to colonial Australia, with a pervading moral stance originating in the high-minded intellectual and cultural traditions of Europe.

Throughout the nineteenth century, there was undue emphasis on the mechanical aspects of grammar in the elementary school curriculum. In the minds of Victorian educators, the study of grammar was firmly linked with the cultivation of high ideals and an intellectual understanding of life. In reality, the grammar books were sensible and straightforward, but badly used by the poorly-educated teachers. The popularity and cheapness of the Irish and British grammar books prevented the adoption of a number of locally-produced texts.

This thesis examines the changing content and use of school books during three distinct periods: the Irish monopoly, 1848-1877, the British phase, 1877-1896 and a National phase, 1896-1948. During the first phases, there were impressive local text-book publications, reflecting a desire for more local, relevant knowledge for Australian school children and a developing independence from the Home country. Most failed to secure official patronage and had limited circulation. The more successful ones attempted to meet the needs of new curriculum programmes, emphasising local knowledge relevant to colonial children.

In 1896 Charles Long produced the monthly School papers which were eminently Australian and less literary than the Readers, but which continued to support conservative social values and the concepts of British imperialism. Long's Victorian readers from 1928 were set in the same mould of Victorian morality, but with an Australian theme: a rural romantic dream of the Australian bush. This series was to dominate Victorian schools for another thirty years. During this period many successful and impressive Australian text-books were written and adopted by the Education Department to meet the needs of a changing curriculum. Centralised control of the school curriculum, from the formation of a Board of Examiners, coincided with a period of enormous colonial expansion and major administrative changes in colonial education. A 'uniform supply' of text-books gave some stability to the school curriculum, establishing set standards of work and a range of graded reading material. The scantily-educated teachers depended on the books, and teaching involved excessive drill and learning by rote. The aim was not to entertain, but to develop skills in reading and writing. Inspectors' reports suggest that much depended on the manner in which the books were used, and there is evidence of successful teaching.

The books were comprehensive and cheap, but there were problems of supply and distribution which went unresolved, despite brisk local trading and the establishment of book depositories. Isolated rural schools suffered most from inadequate resources and support. The gradual Australianisation of texts and inclusion of items of quality Australian literature gave a sounder basis for learning and stronger cultural identity for young Australians. But even the best of the Australian texts maintained conservative assumptions on class, race, religion, work and morals. The selections from all the principal, nineteenth-century British and American writers suggest that the "cultural cringe" in Australia was alive and well throughout the period and that the curriculum was set to maintain the conservative social order, within the structure of a liberal education.

Readers in Victoria, 1896-1968, I: The School Paper and Children's World P. W. Musgrave , 1994 single work criticism
— Appears in: Paradigm , December no. 15 1994;

'The aim of this and the succeeding paper (in Paradigm No. 16) is to present an outline of the history and contents of the prescribed reading materials at the elementary/primary level in all State and the majority of independent schools in Victoria, Australia, from just before Federation in 1901 until the 1960s when mass migration began to change the nature of the Australian population.'

The Forum : Robert Murray on Primary Knowledge Robert Murray , 2007 single work column
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 24-25 November 2007; (p. 2)
Robert Murray recalls learning his school lessons from the Victorian Readers : Fifth Book and notes the advantages of this learning method.
y separately published work icon Imagining the World from the Classroom : Cultural Difference, Empire and Nationalism in Victorian Primary Schools in the 1930s and 1950s Vicki Macknight , Melbourne : 2005 Z1449220 2005 single work thesis
Growing up Australian: The National Imaginary in School Readers Jane McGennisken , 2012 single work criticism
— Appears in: Papers : Explorations into Children's Literature , vol. 22 no. 1 2012; (p. 142-155)
From the late 1800s to the 1950s, the ‘School Reader’, a graded and illustrated anthology of stories, poems, essays and extracts from longer works, was an indispensable part of Australian classroom life. This paper considers the Readers’ literary and visual production of the child/nation (Author abstract).
Last amended 15 Oct 2019 10:02:43
Newspapers:
    Powered by Trove
    X