Geoffrey Sherington and the history of Australian education: ‘ideas of use to a needy world’

Abstract

This paper provides an overview of the contribution of Professor Geoffrey Sherington to the study of the history of Australian education and immigration. His academic and leadership roles are summarised and the main themes of his work are briefly discussed. These themes comprise: Australia as an immigrant nation, British colonial values and meritocracy, public, private, and corporate schooling, and the interconnectedness of educational institutions. These themes recur in the discussion below and are aimed at providing a context for the analyses and assessments of his major scholarly projects.

Keywords:

• history of education
• Australian schooling
• University of Sydney
• immigration
• youth studies

Notes on contributor

Peter Freebody is an Honorary Professorial Fellow at the University of Wollongong. He was most recently a Professorial Research Fellow in the Faculty of Education and Social Work at The University of Sydney. Before that he held various positions, including at The University of Queensland and the National Institute of Education, Singapore. He has published in the areas of literacy education, educational disadvantage, and educational research methods. He is a member of the Literacy Research Panel of the International Reading Association. He is a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia.