Catholic schools represent the major alternative to
government schools in providing formal primary and secondary
education for the Australian school-going population. The
organisational structure of the Catholic school "system", however,
differs significantly from that of government systems. Traditionally,
Catholic schools form a decentralised network of administrative and
governing authorities. Within this tradition, there are difficulties
in developing a conceptual model fur a state or national view of
Catholic school structures.
During the past couple of decades, changes of a sociopolitical,
economic, and ecclesiastical nature have caused public
and private education authorities in Australia to view Catholic schools
in an aggregated as well as individual sense. Along with increased
public subsidies for the establishment and operation of schools, public
accountability ana scrutiny for fiscal and other policy development
purposes have likewise grown. The future of the Catholic school system
is therefore of interest to both government agencies and Catholic
authorities.
To facilitate an analyses of the broad future for a school
system, one useful tool is a model of the system which can be used to
project enrolments. Enrolment projections in the very best of
organisationally structured environments are precarious predictors
of the future, so the business of applying a projection model to base
data requires qualification. Since Catholic schools form an irregular
organisational pattern which is undergoing change, projections of
Catholic school enrolments at state or national levels in Australia
require particular qualification.
This study is mainly concerned with the development of a
model for projecting Catholic school enrolments. It is aimed at taking
advantage of data produced by the 1976 Australian Census of Population
and Housing when this becomes available. However, it also analyses the
historical development of Catholic schools in a general sense, and
looks to a number of social, political, and economic trends which may
act as pointers towards future developments.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/219461 |
| Date | January 1978 |
| Creators | Williamson, Denis P., n/a |
| Publisher | University of Canberra. Teacher Education |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | ), Copyright Denis P. Williamson |
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