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Education, Health and Welfare – Education Records
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Prior to 1872 religious/denominational schools were
maintained separately from government schools. The Denominational School Board
provided for denominational schools and the National School Board, later the
Board of Education, provided government sponsored secular education. In 1872,
following growing dissatisfaction with State aid to religious schools and the
burgeoning cost of funding and administering a dual school system, the
government introduced free, compulsory and secular education and established
the first Education Department. The Department became the employer of
government teachers and Victoria had a Minister for Education. State aid to
denominational schools ended in 1874.
Public Record Office Victoria holds records for the central
administration of education including:
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National School Board
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State Council of Education
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Denominational School Board
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Teachers and Schools Registration Board
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Board of Education
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Council of Public Education
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Education Department
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Victorian Inquiry into Teacher Education
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Department of School Education
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Advisory Council on Tertiary Education
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The records of over one thousand educational institutions
including primary and secondary schools, Colleges of Advanced Education, the
Victorian Institute of Colleges and some tertiary bodies are also held at PROV.
While some records about government regulation of private schools are held, the
records of private schools themselves are not.
Searching in PROV’s Online Catalogue
·
For records about individual schools search PROV’s Online Catalogue using
the school name in the Advanced or Simple search.
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For records concerning the construction and maintenance of school
buildings use PROV’s Online Catalogue to search VA
669 Public Works Department records.
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For records about National Schools, Denominational Schools,
grants to schools, especially grants of land, use PROV’s Online Catalogue
to search VA
475 Chief Secretary, VA
919 National School Board and VA
703 Denominational School Board.
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There are also a number of Royal Commissions and Boards of
Inquiry relating to Education, use PROV’s Online Catalogue to search VRG
14 Royal Commissions and Boards of Inquiries for the records of the various
Commissions and Inquiries relating to education.
A Select List of the Most Commonly Used Series
Primary Schools
VPRS
640 Primary School Correspondence Files 1878 – 1962
This includes correspondence from each primary school to the
Education Department.
VPRS
795 School Building Files 1863 – 1975
These files can include information about requests for
schools, obtaining grants, raising local money, site selection, building and
maintenance of school buildings and equipment, residences, maintenance of
school grounds. Some files contain a list of students attending or who would
attend the school.
VPRS
796 Outward Correspondence - Primary Schools 1868 – 1938
VPRS
10059 Outward Letter Books c.1886 – 1965
These series contain correspondence sent from the Education
Department to schools. To use the Series Information Registers to find
correspondence relating to a particular school you need to know the school
number. Education Department Victoria’s 1968 publication Alphabetical
Listing of Primary Schools: Operating and Otherwise, lists school names and
numbers and is available in PROV’S Reading Rooms.
High Schools
VPRS
10249 Inward Registered Correspondence from High Schools, c.1907 – 1960
This series includes correspondence from each High School to
the Education Department.
Outward correspondence from the Education Department to post
primary schools is found in VPRS 10275 to 1938 and VPRS 10059 from 1938. Both series are accessed by
school name.
VPRS
3916 School Building Files (High Schools) 1905 – 1964
Information about many aspects of the building and
maintenance of the schools is found in these files.
Teachers
VPRS
907 Examination Papers for Appointments and Classification 1863 – 1872
This series gives the examination reports/results sent to
individual teachers. An online
database index gives the teachers' names, their school names and numbers
and the examination report number.
VPRS
13718 Teacher Record Books 1863 – 1959
This series contains records of teachers that worked in
Victorian public schools. It is a microfilm copy of a number of teacher record
book series: VPRS
13579, 13974,
13973,
11481,
14005,
11469,
14012,
13971
and 13970.
The microfilm is available in PROV reading rooms. VPRS
13719 Database Index to Teacher Record Books can be used to search for
teachers’ names and locate teacher record numbers. These numbers can be
used to locate a teacher record in the microfilm.
Other Series
VPRS
794 Central Inwards Registered Correspondence 1873 – 1963
This series includes correspondence sent to the Education
Department from government departments, teachers, schools, inspectors and
others. The correspondence deals with a very wide range of subjects. To
identify correspondence it is necessary to use the index VPRS
893 Classified Subject Index to Inward Registered Correspondence c1864 –
1984.
VPRS
892 Special Case files 1853 – 1946
These files deal with a wide variety of subjects from
inquiries into teachers' conduct to polio epidemics and free milk. An
alphabetical index to subjects and parties is available VPRS 5675 Index to Special Case Files c1883 –
1977.
See also, VPRS
5676 Register of Special Case Files c1883 – 1977.
VPRS
10537 Classified Headings Correspondence 1926 – 1969
These files are arranged in large subject groupings and deal
with topics such as Curriculum and Research, Libraries, Physically Handicapped
Children, Psychology and Guidance and the Teachers Tribunal. A complete list of
topics and date ranges is given in the Series Information Folders in each
Reading Room. See PROV’s
Online Catalogue for information on accessing these files.
Regulation of Private Schools
VPRS
10061 Teacher Registration Files 1905 – 1964
This series documents the registration of teachers in
private schools. The files are arranged numerically by teachers' registration
numbers. Registration numbers can be obtained by consulting the Register of
Teachers published annually in the Government Gazette. Public Service Lists
will also provide this information.
VPRS
10300 Closed Registered School Files 1906 – 1996
This series appears to document the closure of private
schools which failed to qualify for registration or which subsequently closed
for other reasons. The series is arranged by school number and there is a card
list index by Principal/Proprietor and by school name in the Victorian Archives
Centre Reading Room.
Online records