PROGRESSIVE EDUCATION AND RACE: A TRANSNATIONAL AUSTRALIAN HISTORY 1920-50S

Abstract

This project will provide a new history of progressive education in Australia in the mid-twentieth century by investigating its neglected relationship to and effect upon Indigenous education and colonial governance. Using transnational and comparative methods, it will examine how international progressive ideas informed local initiatives, explore the role of Indigenous advocacy for educational reform and build a genealogy of educability and colonial childhood. Brought together for the first time, these investigations will strengthen understanding of Australian Aboriginal and educational history in global and regional contexts and contribute new knowledge and perspectives to current debates a..