The ‘games playing ethos’ in Australian Independent Girls' Schools: from origins to the National Curriculum

Abstract

This paper traces the history of sport in Australian Independent Girls' Schools (IGS) from its origins until the proposed introduction of the National Curriculum in 2014. In particular, the paper focuses on the role played by the Girls' Secondary School Sports Union and its successor the Independent Girls' School Sport Association to coordinate inter-school sporting exchanges. While there have been a number of studies that have documented the history of sport in Australian Independent Boys' Schools, there has been little equivalent scholarly interest in the role of sport in Australian IGS. This paper demonstrates that sport loomed large in IGS and became central to the education of middle-class girls in Australia. Modelled after the English Public Schools that had adopted the educational ideology of the ‘games playing ethos’, Australian IGS used sport to create a female public space.