Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

The Centralization Problematic

The Centralization Problematic The paper examines a debate in the history of Australian education between historians G. V. Portus, A. G. Austin and J. B. Hirst, concerning explanations of the centralized organization of Australia's public education systems. It is argued that the historians have defined the problem of centralization in education as part of a wider problem of explaining the interventionist nature of the state in nineteenth century Australia. W. K. Hancock's explanation of the origins of the “interventionist” state is presented to show the limits of the problematic within which Portus, Austin and Hirst are writing. A consensus among the historians is revealed in the construction of historical problems, in methodology and, most particularly, in assumptions about the nature of the nineteenth century Australian state. A critical examination of the organizing presuppositions of the historians' work, that is, of their problematic, questions its adequacy and points to what might be a more adequate problematic predicated on a different concept of the state. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Australian Journal of Education SAGE

The Centralization Problematic

Bannister, Helen
Australian Journal of Education , Volume 24 (3): 19 – Oct 1, 1980
Download PDF
19 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/sage/the-centralization-problematic-lv4M4o4w3w

References (42)

Publisher
SAGE
Copyright
© 1980 Australian Council for Educational Research
ISSN
0004-9441
eISSN
2050-5884
DOI
10.1177/000494418002400302
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

The paper examines a debate in the history of Australian education between historians G. V. Portus, A. G. Austin and J. B. Hirst, concerning explanations of the centralized organization of Australia's public education systems. It is argued that the historians have defined the problem of centralization in education as part of a wider problem of explaining the interventionist nature of the state in nineteenth century Australia. W. K. Hancock's explanation of the origins of the “interventionist” state is presented to show the limits of the problematic within which Portus, Austin and Hirst are writing. A consensus among the historians is revealed in the construction of historical problems, in methodology and, most particularly, in assumptions about the nature of the nineteenth century Australian state. A critical examination of the organizing presuppositions of the historians' work, that is, of their problematic, questions its adequacy and points to what might be a more adequate problematic predicated on a different concept of the state.

Journal

Australian Journal of Education – SAGE

Published: Oct 1, 1980

There are no references for this article.