The history of school types

In 1862, the common school system grew out of the earlier national school system (see 'national schools’ below).

The Common Schools Act 1862 was meant to make funding fair for both church and secular schools. This act combined the Denominational Schools Board and the General Education Board into one group: the Board of Education. This board managed schools and included members from both church and secular school systems.

The common school system ran from 1862 to 1872.

(More information on the common school era can be found in Book 2, The Common Schools Period in Vision and Realisation Volume 1. 1973).

Dame schools operated from the early days of Melbourne in 1836 to the start of the state school system in 1873. They were small, privately-run local schools that often combined child-care with basic education. They were each run by a woman known as the ‘school dame’.

Denominational schools were primary-level schools that were set up by religious denominations. They ran alongside national schools from 1848 to 1862.

These schools were managed by the Denominational Schools Board, and many became common schools in the 1860s.

The national school system ran from 1848 to 1862. It was an early type of government-funded school, based on the National System of Education set up in Ireland in 1831.

National schools began in New South Wales, which included Victoria before Victoria became its own colony in 1851. The General Education Board was set up to manage and check these schools. The Denominational Schools Board looked after church schools.

This system, with its two governing boards, was criticised. Many said there was uneven funding between church and secular schools. Some people argued for government money for church schools, while others wanted it only for secular schools. (For more on this period, see Book 1, Origins and Foundations in Vision and Realisations, Volume 1, 1973).

The new colony of Victoria used the national school model until 1862, when it changed to common schools (see ‘common schools’ above).

Ragged schools were for poor or homeless children in Melbourne’s slums. The children got free meals and simple lessons.

The term ‘ragged’ described the appearance of the students who were also insensitively called ‘gutter children’.

These schools ran in Victoria from 1859 to 1872.

These were small schools set up between 1869 to 1873 in country areas. They didn't have enough students for a common school (see ‘common schools’ above) but still needed to provide an education.

Some rural schools later became common or state schools as their enrolments grew.

For further details, see Rural schools explained.

The first technical school in Australia was the Ballarat School of Mines (or School of Mines, Ballarat) which opened in 1870.

It taught subjects like surveying, maths, chemistry, metallurgy, assaying and geology. Later, other schools of mines opened in different towns and offered similar training.

Since 1848, the term “vested” has been used. This means the school land and buildings are owned by the education authority, such as the Education Department or Board of Education.

"Non-vested" means the buildings are leased from local owners, the government, or churches.

Common schools could be either vested or non-vested. But all rural schools were non-vested. These schools were usually built on locally owned land and paid for by the community. The government then leased the buildings for school use.

An early type of post-primary school (see ‘continuation school’ below), was started in rural centres to train future farmers.

The first agricultural high schools opened in 1907 in Ballarat, Sale, and Warrnambool. Like continuation schools, they taught both academic and vocational subjects.

Started under the 1872 Education Act, some church schools got a payment for each student so they could stay open. These payments were known as a capitation grant. This usually continued only until a nearby state school opened.

The Education Act 1872 stated that these payments had to stop by 1878, even if no state school had yet replaced the capitation school.

Central schools taught Prep to Grade 6 and also included Years 7 and 8.

Students leaving a central school in Year 8 could start work or, with a scholarship, go on to another secondary school. This could lead to university.

Continuation schools, so named because they continued from primary school, were an early type of secondary education.

The first official government secondary school, the Melbourne Continuation School, opened in 1905. It mainly trained teachers, but some students studied other academic subjects too.

More continuation schools opened soon after the Melbourne school.

Schools of domestic arts were vocational secondary schools for girls. They taught cooking, needlework, dressmaking, and home economics.

The first school opened in 1915, and they stopped operating in the 1980s.

The Education Act of 1910 put the department in charge of secondary education.

The Act allowed the opening of district high schools. These schools taught Years 7 to 12, and could lead to university study

Continuation schools and agricultural high schools (see references above) were renamed as high schools.

The 1910 Act also introduced higher elementary schools (HES). These schools taught Years 7 to 10.

Higher elementary schools were opened in places that didn't have enough students for a full high school.

The Education Act of 1901 allowed the creation and running of so-called ‘special schools’.

Dedicated schools were set up for children:

• who had disabilities
• were in detention facilities
• were in children’s homes or orphanages.

Later, schools were also set up in hospitals.

State schools began after the Education Act 1872. This replaced the older common school system (see 'common school' above).

The common school system had many problems:

• Many children did not attend regularly.
• The Board of Education was made up of volunteers who could not commit the time that was needed for their oversight role.
• Church schools complained that they did not get enough funding.

After years of debate, the Education Act 1872 created a new system of free, compulsory, and secular education for all children. It also set up the Education Department, led by a Minister for Education. Schools opened under this new law were called state schools.

By the late 1800s, there were growing calls for government-funded high school education for all children in Victoria

Before then, schools of mines and other technical colleges offered some classes for a fee. These helped students move from primary school to higher-level training at technical colleges.

The Education Act 1910 gave the Department of Education the power to create secondary schools. This led to junior technical schools, often based within existing technical colleges for adults. These schools taught students finishing primary school, focusing on practical subjects that led to apprenticeships or further study.

(For more information on the history of technical and secondary schools, see ‘A Secondary Education for All’? A History of State Secondary Schooling in Victoria. 2017, by John Andrews and Deborah Towns.)

For further details, see Technical education in Victoria.

In the 1950s, camp schools were set up to support children’s social development. They gave students the chance to live and learn together in a healthy outdoor environment and to connect with the natural world.

The first official camp school was Somers School Camp, which opened in 1959.

In the past, community schools were usually schools that supported students at risk of leaving school early. They focused on individual learning needs and used different ways of teaching in flexible settings.

Today, some mainstream schools and colleges also use the name 'community school'. These schools teach the usual subjects but place strong focus on community involvement.

During the mid-1900s, small country schools with few students combined to create consolidated schools. These larger schools had to have at least 200 students. Buses brought children from surrounding areas to attend.

Group schools were similar but had fewer than 200 students and taught children only up to the age of 14.

Consolidated schools opened between 1944 and 1958, and both consolidated and group schools had closed by the late 1960s.

Between 1987 and 2002, four schools were opened in Victoria to support Koorie education. These schools offered programs and teaching methods designed to meet the specific needs of Koorie students.

The four schools were:

• Ballert Mooroop (in Glenroy)
• Chaffey KODE (in Mildura)
• Swan Hill KODE
• Woolum Bellum (in Morwell)

The schools later joined together as campuses of the Victorian P–12 College of Koorie Education. In 2009, the campuses separated, and all had closed by 2014.

From November 1969, 'primary school' became the official name for Victoria’s junior schools, replacing 'state school'.

The change helped tell them apart from the growing number of high schools (see 'high school' in the section above).

In 1989 and 1990, most high schools and technical schools in Victoria were renamed secondary colleges.

This change followed the 1985 Blackburn Review of post-compulsory schooling. The review suggested joining high and technical schools into one type of secondary school.

The Government accepted the idea, and by 1990 almost all had become secondary colleges or merged with other schools.

Cobram Technical School kept its technical school name despite pressure to change. And some high schools, such as Balwyn High School and Melbourne High School, also kept their old names.