Melbourne High School and state secondary education in Victoria

© 1974 John Frederick Allen InchAfter being appointed to the staff of Melbourne High School in 1958, I became aware that this School had a distinctive educational environment which was outside any previous experience as a secondary school teacher. During the next ten years as a staff member, I had frequent opportunity to reflect on the School's peculiar position in Victorian state secondary education. This study has provided a means of examining this issue in greater depth. It should be emphasized at the outset that I have not attempted a chronological account of the history of Melbourne High School. As no satisfactory educational history of the School has been written, I have attempted to make a preliminary study of some aspects of its development in the context of the growth of state secondary education. I have concentrated on the School formative years, and its more recent years, because these seem the periods of greatest change. It was during these periods that the function of the School was in question. Consequently I have not dealt in any detail with the rniddle period, 1934 Lo 1950