FEDERAL GOVERNMENT INVOLVEMENT IN AUSTRALIAN EDUUCATION 1964–1975
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb009757 |
| Pages | 236-251 |
| Published date | 01 February 1976 |
| Date | 01 February 1976 |
| Author | DON SMART |
| Subject Matter | Education |
THE JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION
VOLUME XIV, NUMBER 2 OCTOBER, 1976
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT INVOLVEMENT IN
AUSTRALIAN EDUUCATION 1964-1975
DON SMART
The years 1964-1975 saw an unparalleled expansion of the Commonwealth Government's
involvement in Australian education at all levels. At the beginning of that decade the Men-
zies Liberal-Country Party Government, which had repeatedly asserted that education was
a State not a Commonwealth responsibility, was directly involved only in the university sec-
tor. Yet by 1975 Federal involvement had been extended to include not only the creation of
a Federal Department of Education and Science but also the assumption of broad respon-
sibility for determining the national priorities and levels of funding in the college, school,
technical and further education and pre-school sectors.
THE RAPID GROWTH OF COMMONWEALTH
AUTHORITIES AND EXPENDITURE
IN EDUCATION
In 1964 there were only two Commonwealth education authorities—the
Commonwealth Office of Education (COE) and the Universities Commis-
sion (AUC). By 1975 there had been added the Commission on Advanced
Education (CAE 1965),1 the Department of Education and Science (DES
1966),
the Schools Commission (SC 1973), the Commonwealth Teaching
Service (CTS 1973), the Technical and Further Education Commission
(TAFEC 1975) and the Curriculum Development Centre (CDC 1975).
The last four authorities were added by the actively centralist Australian
Labor Party (ALP) Government which came to power in 1972 with a
strong mandate for educational change.2
Perhaps there is no more striking illustration of
the
dramatic growth of
Federal involvement in education over the decade than the growth in
Federal financial outlays portrayed in Tables 1 and 2. In real terms
Federal expenditure on education increased more than seven-fold—an ex-
pansion of Commonwealth effort probably unsurpassed in any other es-
tablished major national policy area over this period. The growth of ex-
penditure over the period was uneven. Whilst it took eight years (1964-
1972) for the Liberal—Country Party Government to quadruple educa-
tion expenditure, it took only the first two years of reformist ALP Govern-
ment to quadruple again. These marked variations were related, amongst
other things, to differing rates of inflation, to the different educational
policies and political philosophies of the two Governments and to chang-
ing public attitudes and demands in relation to education.
DON SMART [M.A. (Hons.), Dip.Ed. (U.N.E.), Ph.D. (A.N.U.)] is Postdoctoral Fellow in
Sociology, Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University. Prior to this
appointment Dr.Smart taught in secondary schools in N.S.W., U.K. and Canada and lec-
tured at the Wagga (N.S.W.) Teachers College. He is currently engaged in a study of the
Australian power elite.
Federal Government and Education 237
Table 1
Commonwealth Government Expenditure on Education * 1964-65 - 1971-72
$'000
Category of Expenditure
Expenditure on Goods and Services:
Department of Education and Science
Australian Universities Commission
Australian Commission on Advanced
Education
Commonwealth Teaching Service
Australian National University
Canberra College of Advanced Education
Education in the ACT
Education in the Northern Territory
Research and Development in Education
Other
Payment to the States:
Universities
Colleges of Advanced Education
Teacher Training Colleges
Pre-School Teachers Colleges
Technical Training Facilities
Science Laboratories
School Libraries
Government Schools - Capital
Independent Schools - Per Capita Grants
Australian Research Grants Committee
Grants
Aboriginal Advancement
Child Migrant Education Program
1964-65
1,856
159
–
–
16,692
–
6,902
2,714
–
1,218
41,274
–
–
–
10,000
9,906
–
–
–
–
–
–
1965-66
1,878
155
–
–
17,720
–
8,195
3,083
–
1,351
46,778
982
–
–
6,230
9,635
–
–
–
1,378
–
–
1966-67
2,541
195
–
–
19,619
25
10,076
3,056
–
1,658
50,616
6,153
–
–
9,894
10,163
–
–
–
2,038
–
–
1967-68
3,655
197
–
–
23,704
482
10,977
5,547
–
1,565
56,241
11,920
4,518
–
13,877
12,587
–
–
–
3,154
–
–
1968-69
4,636
217
–
–
24,882
1,263
12,687
6,369
–
1,652
62,631
14,362
6,322
170
7,587
11,762
1,703
–
–
2,879
843
–
1969-70
5,950
229
–
–
25,952
2,500
16,167
11,503
–
1,926
67,669
20,144
13,160
309
9,878
12,898
7,540
–
12,177
3,446
909
109
1970-71
7,786
223
–
–
32,078
4,988
17,867
13,133
100
2,276
75,224
30,580
2,470
856
12,535
13,062
13,257
–
24,253
4,170
946
1,845
1971-72
8,983
301
143
–
35,065
5,529
21,160
17,389
248
2,784
90,598
34,013
11,153
631
7,411
10,824
9,780
6,660
29,594
4,341
1,214
3,264
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