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ABSTRACT
This article charts how a disdain for progressivism in schooling was central to the development of conservative interests across the 1970s and 1980s. It does so by examining the Australian Council for Educational Standards (ACES) Review (1973–1987). This under-examined newsletter offers important insight into the cultivation of cultural conservatism, having links with the influential Australian conservative think tank the Centre for Independent Studies and the literary journal Quadrant, as well as comparable international outlets. First, this article identifies the diverse conservative interests and actors—including prominent conservative Australian figures—who set an agenda to intervene into educational practice via the newsletter. Second, I demonstrate how ACES Review writers depict progressivism as dangerous social engineering in contrast to their defence of traditional disciplines and educational standards. Third, I examine how ACES Review writers position themselves as speaking on the outside of power, as providing a voice of dissent against progressivism in government bureaucracies, and taking a leading role in conservative challenges to union leadership.
Acknowledgements
I am grateful for the insight and ongoing collaboration of Helen Proctor and Sue Goodwin, research collaborators on our ARC project on community organising and education reform in Australia (1970s–1980s).
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Michelle Arrow, The Seventies (Sydney: NewSouth Publishing, 2019); Michelle Arrow, “‘How Much Longer Will We Allow this Country’s Affairs to be Run by Radical Feminists?’ Anti-Feminist Activism in Late 1970s Australia,” Australian Historical Studies 52, no. 3 (2021): 331–47; Jessica Gerrard and Helen Proctor, “Activist Women, Schooling and the Rise of Grassroots Christian Conservatism,” The Australian Educational Researcher 49 (2021): 1–17; Timothy Willem Jones, “Australian Secularism, the Sexual Revolution and the Making of the New Christian Right,” Australian Historical Studies 52, no. 3 (2021): 317–30; Geoffrey Robinson, “From Georges Sorel to Peter Costello: Peter Coleman and the Making of Australian Liberal Conservatism,” Australian Journal of Politics and History 68, no. 3 (2022): 447–66.
2 Arrow, “How Much Longer?”.
3 Isobelle Barrett Meyering, “Children’s Rights, the Family and ‘Sexual Permissiveness’: Conservative Mobilisations and the Australian Response to International Year of the Child,” Australian Historical Studies 52, no. 3 (2021): 349.
4 Alan Barcan, “Ten Years of ACES Review,” ACES Review 10, no. 5 (1983): 1–4.
5 See Michael Apple, “Between Neoliberalism and Neoconservatism: Education and Conservatism in a Global Context,” in Globalization and Education: Critical Perspectives, ed. Nicholas C. Burbles and Carlos Alberto Torres (New York: Routledge, 2000), 57–78; Michael W. Apple, Educating the “Right” Way: Markets, Standards, God and Inequality, 2nd ed. (New York: Routledge, 2006); Judith Bessant, “Conservatives, Politics and the Crisis of Modern Education in Australia,” Policy Studies 32, no. 6 (2011): 631–47; Kristen L. Buras and Michael W. Apple, “Radical Disenchantments: Neoconservatives and the Disciplining of Desire in an Anti-Utopian Era,” Comparative Education 44 no. 3 (2008): 291–304; Colin Symes and Kalervo N. Gulson, “Faith in Education: The Politics of State Funding in the ‘New’ Christian Schooling in Australia,” Educational Policy 22, no. 2 (2008): 231–49; Marion Maddox, Taking God to School (Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 2014).
6 Arrow, The Seventies; Frank Bongiorno, The Eighties: The Decade That Transformed Australia (Melbourne: Black Inc., 2015).
7 Robert Manne, “Introduction,” in The New Conservatism in Australia, ed. Robert Manne (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1982), vii–viii.
8 See also Robinson, “From Georges Sorel to Peter Costello”.
9 Chip Berlet, “The Write Stuff: U.S. Serial Print Culture from Conservatives out to Neo-Nazis,” Library Trends 56, no. 3 (2008): 570–600.
10 Michael Warner, “Publics and Counterpublics,” Public Culture 14, no. 1 (2002): 49–90.
11 Frank P. Just, “Preserving Present Standards—Education ’74—an Occasional Series,” Canberra Times, 1 July 1974, 2.
12 Barcan, “Ten Years of ACES Review,” 1–4; see C. Brian Cox and Rhodes Boyson, eds., Black Paper 1975: The Fight for Education (London: J. M. Dent & Sons, 1975); C. Brian Cox and Rhodes Boyson, eds., Black Paper 1977 (London: Maurice Temple Smith, 1977); C. Brian Cox and Anthony Edward Dyson, eds., Fight for Education: A Black Paper (London: Critical Quarterly Society, 1969); Mortimer Brewster Smith, A Decade of Comment in Education, 1956–1966 (Washington, DC: Council for Basic Education, 1966).
13 See Paul Gordon, “UK Commentary: The New Right, Race and Education—or How the Black Papers Became a White Paper,” Race & Class 29, no. 3 (1988): 95–103.
14 Brian Cox, “Letter,” ACES Review 10, no. 5 (1983): 5.
15 Australian Council for Educational Standards, “Statement of Principles,” ACES Review 8, no. 4 (1981): 9–10.
16 Alan Barcan, “Reply to a Letter,” ACES Review 9, no. 5 (1982): 13.
17 Gerard Henderson, Santamaria: A Most Unusual Man (Carlton, VIC: The Miegunyah Press, 2015); Cassandra Pybus, The Devil and James McAuley (St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1999).
18 See Adam Farrar, “Education Unions Fight NCC Backed Union over Federal Registration,” Tribune, 13 June 1984, 4. The ACT branch of the Australian Education Union also documents a range of NCC interventions into teacher union campaigns and activities. See “Out of Many, One,” Australian Education Union ACT Branch, https://www.aeuact.org.au/about/our-history/articles/out-many-one (accessed 14 June 2022).
19 “Editorial, Rightwing Offensive,” Tribune, 15 February 1984, 2.
20 Special Correspondent, “Exclusive: Santamaria’s Brisbane Xmas Party—Union Takeover Plans Outlined,” Tribune, 7 December 1983, 16.
21 Dominic Kelly, Political Troglodytes and Economic Lunatics: The Hard Right in Australia (Carlton, VIC: La Trobe University Press, in conjunction with Black Inc., 2019).
22 Ronald Conway, “Santamaria-and Goodbye to All That,” Quadrant 34, no. 12 (1990): 32–37.
23 See, for example, Kramer is listed as Senior Fellow and Conference Chairman within the Institute for Public Affairs: Education: Pathways to Reform, papers presented at the IPA Education Policy Unit Conference (Melbourne: Institute of Public Affairs, Education Policy Unit, 1989).
24 Kelly, Political Troglodytes, 35.
25 Leonie Kramer, “James McAuley: Obituary,” ACES Review 3, no. 8 (1976): 2.
26 Pybus, The Devil and James McAuley, 237.
27 Pybus, The Devil and James McAuley, 241.
28 Pybus, The Devil and James McAuley, 241.
29 Pybus, The Devil and James McAuley.
30 Pybus, The Devil and James McAuley, 242.
31 Alan Barcan, “Requiem for Defunct Magazines,” Quadrant 53, no. 11 (2009): 71.
32 John W. Doyle, “Black Paper 1977,” ACES Review 4, no. 3 (1977): 16. Doyle was also author of a pamphlet arguing in favour of school vouchers, New Schools for a New Society (1976). See Kathleen Abbott, “Education Vouchers,” Canberra Times, 15 September 1976, 24. He was personally mentioned by Liberal MP John Martyr when arguing in favour of school vouchers in parliamentary debate. See Commonwealth, Parliamentary Debates, House of Representatives, 5 October 1977, http://historichansard.net/hofreps/1977/19771005_reps_30_hor106/.
33 For example, D. K. Moore, “The Ideology of the Beazley Report,” ACES Review 13, no. 1 (1986): 14–17.
34 ACES, “Statement of Principles,” 10.
35 J. M. Ankhurst, “The Aims of Primary Education in NSW,” ACES Review 7, no. 1 (1980): 10.
36 Alan Barcan, “Editorial,” ACES Review 12, no. 2 (1985): 12.
37 ACES Review notes Levin’s upcoming tour in Australia in August–September 1983.
38 Michael Levin, “Feminism and Textbooks,” ACES Review 10, no. 3 (1983): 12–15.
39 Alan Barcan, “Editorial,” ACES Review 9, no. 5 (1982): 6.
40 Leonie Kramer, “Speculation on Education,” ACES Review 3, no. 1 (1975): 5.
41 Don Moore, “Why Have Educational Standards Fallen?,” ACES Review 13, no. 4 (1987): 5–10.
42 Moore, “Why Have Educational Standards Fallen?,” 7.
43 ACES Review Sponsors, “Statement of Opinion on Peace Education,” ACES Review 13, no. 3 (1986): 8.
44 ACES Review Sponsors, “Statement of Opinion on Peace Education,” 8.
45 Alan Barcan, “The Grievance Society,” ACES Review 11, no. 3 (1984): 6.
46 Geoffrey Partington, “Women in Australian Universities,” ACES Review 11, no. 1 (1984): 13–15.
47 The Beazley Report refers to the Report of the Committee of Inquiry into Education in Western Australia—Education in Western Australia, March 1984, chaired by Kim Beazley, Sr.
48 Don K. Moore, “The Ideology of the Beazley Report,” ACES Review 13, no. 1 (1986): 16.
49 Alan Barcan, “Left, Right and the Curriculum,” ACES Review 13, no. 2 (1986): 12.
50 Geoffrey Partington, “Problems Afflicting State Schools,” ACES Review 11, no. 4 (1984): 1–4; Geoffrey Partington, “Technology in our Schools: Recent Thinking in South Australia,” ACES Review 13, no. 4 (1987): 12–14.
51 Barcan, “Left, Right and the Curriculum,” 12.
52 Alan Barcan, “A Decline in Literacy Standards,” ACES Review 10, no. 4 (1983): 6.
53 Barcan, “A Decline in Literacy Standards”.
54 Leonie Kramer, “Monday Conference—148,” broadcast transcript, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 16 June 1975, 5.
55 Raymond Watson, “Educational Leftists Who Betray the Working Class,” ACES Review 13, no. 2 (1986): 14.
56 Watson, “Educational Leftists,” 14.
57 Peter Hunt, “The Central Role of Literature in English Teaching,” ACES Review 5, no. 1 (1979): 7–10.
58 John A Barrie, “Towards a Neo-Conservative Approach to Education,” ACES Review 13, no. 2 (1986): 15–17.
59 Barrie, “Towards a Neo-Conservative Approach to Education,” 17.
60 See Jones, “Australian Secularism”; Arrow, “How Much Longer?”.
61 For example, Clare Howard, “The Future of Secondary Education in Tasmania,” ACES Review 13, no. 2 (1986): 9; In Geoffrey Partington’s autobiography, Party Days, he lists the many groups he and Dr Mageean had addressed through their work at ACES in South Australia, including (among schools and Liberal Party clubs) the Festival of Light and the Australian Family Association, an offshoot organisation of the NCC and the Christian Pro-family Forum in Melbourne.
62 Ronald Conway, “The New Establishment in Education,” ACES Review 12 no. 2 (1985): 1.
63 Moore, “Why Have Educational Standards Fallen?”.
64 Max Badcock, “Local Curriculum Control in Victorian High Schools,” ACES Review 6, no. 3 (1979): 1–4.
65 Bryan Thwaites, “Visions of Greatness,” ACES Review 9, no. 4 (1983): 4. Thwaites’s article is noted to be an edited version of a speech given at the National Council for Educational Standards Conference of 28 September 1980, first printed in the NCES Bulletin ("Repairing the Foundations"), Autumn 1981.
66 In early 1978, the Queensland state government banned two social studies curriculum packages, MACOS (Man: A Course of Study, an internationally distributed set of teaching materials written by a team led by the US psychologist Jerome Bruner, 17 January) and SEMP (Social Education Materials Project, developed by the Australian Government’s Curriculum Development Centre, 21 February); see Gerrard and Proctor, “Activist Women” for further discussion on the conservative campaigns against these curriculum materials.
67 Geoffrey Partington, “MACOS, SEMP and the Study of Society in Schools,” ACES Review 6, no. 2 (1979): 1–7.
68 For example, Dan O’Donnell, “The Churches and SEMP,” ACES Review 7, no. 4 (1980): 9–12. This is also a central argument of O’Connell’s self-published 100+ page pamphlet against SEMP: Dan O’Donnell, SEMP: One Page an Issue? (Stafford Heights: self-pub., 1980).
69 Conway, “The New Establishment,” 1.
70 Conway, “The New Establishment,” 1.
71 Eugene Kamenka, “Education and the Private School,” ACES Review 13, no. 4 (1987): 3.
72 Kamenka, “Education and the Private School”.
73 Alan Barcan, “Editorial,” ACES Review 9, no. 4 (1983): 16.
74 Barcan, “Editorial,” 16.
75 Alan Barcan, “Fashions in Teacher Training,” ACES Review 10, no. 2 (1983): 5.
76 See, for example, Lucy Meo, “The State of the Nation’s Schools,” ACES Review 7, no. 3 (1980): 14–15. Meo describes the association as a “non-party political non-sectarian body” in her complaint for not receiving airtime on the radio station 3CR, which, she argued, favoured guests who were “militant” and from the “extreme Left”: “Teachers Join 3CR Criticism,” Australian Jewish News, 14 December 1978, 3.
77 Martin Peers, “NCC-Backed Teachers Set Up National Union,” Tribune, 14 December 1983, 5.
78 Don Moore, “A Case for the Reform of A.C.T. Education,” ACES Review 10, no. 2 (1983): 4; Moore, “The Ideology of the Beazley Report,” 14.
79 Don Moore, “Letter to the Editor—Basics in Education,” Canberra Times, 29 April 1988, 2.
80 “Teachers Sponsor Education Debates,” Canberra Times, 6 March 1986, 9.
81 Moore, “Why Have Educational Standards Fallen?,” 5–10.
82 Keith Brodie, “The Education Fiasco,” ACES Review 12, no. 2 (1985): 17–20.
83 Lucy Meo, “Teachers and Pupils Need Mutual Good Faith, Not Slogans,” ACES Review 14, no. 4 (1988): 14–15.
84 Meo, “Teachers and Pupils,” 15.