Girls Becoming Teachers: An Historical Analysis of Western Austra ...

A law graduate from Oxford, he engaged in a variety of social and educational ventures in London’s East End instead of entering legal practice. He was, for example, involved in Toynbee Hall and in projects aimed at reforming and giving opportunities to boys from the slums. From 1891 to 1896, he served as a member of the education committee of the London County Council and the London School Board. His appointment as Western Australia’s inspector general of schools in 1897 continued and consolidated the British influence on education here. During his brief period of office, two of his most significant innovations were an extensive revision of the school curriculum and the establishment of the teachers’ training college at Claremont. Both of these had important implications for teachers’ work and professionalism.

Two important features of Western Australia’s public education system had, within the growing structure of the department, been institutionalised. First, most teachers were women. Second, most administrators were men. The gender lines were drawn. There is little historical commentary on this, and even key texts like Mossenson’s State Education in Western Australia: 1829–1960 give little insight. What is evident is that there was, until the establishment of the training college, a shortage of suitably qualified persons and that ‘the daughters and wives of settlers’⁵⁴ were an important source of supply. The census of 1881 indicated that it was during this period that teaching became a distinctly female occupation. But this distinctly female occupation had a distinctly male administration. In addition, the salary structures displayed strong gender inequalities. As early as March 1855, the report of the General Board of Education to Governor Fitzgerald made the following recommendations on employment and remuneration: