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Anglican education in Australia refers to the education services provided by the Anglican Church of Australia (formerly known as the Church of England in Australia) within the Australian education system. Since the late 18th century, the Anglican Church has been an important provider of education services within Australia. There are around 145 Anglican schools in Australia, providing for more than 105,000 children. [1]
The permanent presence of Christianity in Australia came with the arrival of the First Fleet of British convict ships at Sydney in 1788. As a British colony, the predominant Christian denomination was the Church of England. In early colonial times, Church of England clergy worked closely with the governors. Richard Johnson, Anglican chaplain to the First Fleet, was charged by the governor, Arthur Phillip, with improving "public morality" in the colony, but he was also heavily involved in health and the organisation of schooling. [2] The first schools in Australia were Christian schools established by the Church of England in the early days of British settlement in the late 1700s. Free "charity schools" run by other denominations gradually came into existence later. [3] Roman Catholic convicts were initially compelled to attend Church of England services and their children and orphans were raised by the authorities as Anglicans. [4]
At the instigation of the then British Prime Minister and the Duke of Wellington - and with the patronage of King William IV - Australia's oldest surviving independent school, The King's School, Parramatta, was founded in 1831 as part of an effort to establish grammar schools in the colony. [5] The Church of England lost its legal privileges in the Colony of New South Wales by the Church Act of 1836 . Drafted by the reformist attorney-general John Plunkett, the act established legal equality for Anglicans, Roman Catholics and Presbyterians and was later extended to Methodists. [6]
In 1872, Victoria became the first Australian colony to pass an education act providing for free and secular public education. The other colonies followed over the following two decades. [3] Though an enduring network of Anglican schools had already begun to be established, the subsequent withdrawal of state aid for church schools did not prompt the Anglican Church to rigorously set out to establish of an independent network as did the Roman Catholic Church in Australia.
The Anglican Schools Commission (ASC) was established in 1985 and given the role of creating affordable Christian education in the Anglican tradition accessible to the disadvantaged and children with disabilities. The Australian Anglican Schools Network is the Educational Network of the Australian General Synod. [7] The Anglican Education Commission was re-established by the Synod in 2007 in an effort to advance the Sydney diocese's commitment to bolstering Christian education and assisting both teachers and workers involved in education to do so through the lens of the Gospel's values. [8]
In the 21st century, the church remains a significant provider of social welfare and education. There are around 145 Anglican schools in Australia, providing for more than 105,000 children. [1] Church affiliated schools range from low-fee, regional and special needs schools to high-fee leading independent schools such as Geelong Grammar (whose alumni include Prince Charles and Rupert Murdoch); Melbourne Grammar School (alma mater to Barry Humphries) and Sydney's King's School, Abbotsleigh, Sydney Church of England Grammar School, SCEGGS Darlinghurst, Canberra Grammar School and The Southport School in Queensland.
In Australia, the state and territory governments have the primary responsibility for funding state government schools and also provide supplementary assistance to non-government schools, while the Australian Federal Government is the primary source of public funding for non-government schools (while also providing supplementary assistance to government schools). These public funds subsidise the fees paid by parents for the education of their children at Anglican schools, with the overall effect of reducing the numbers and therefore burden on public funding for government schools. Most non-government schools have some religious affiliation (with approximately two-thirds of their students enrolled in Catholic schools). [9] In the final year of secondary schooling, students at both government and non-government schools sit for a government-endorsed certificate that is recognised by all Australian universities and vocational education and training institutions. [9] Thus, Anglican schools may freely teach and encourage religious studies, values and community engagement but must adhere to the broader requirements of Australia's secular education system.
While Anglican schools must adhere to the broad requirements of Australia's secular education system, they are free to provide an "Anglican" ethos and Christian education. Furthermore, Anglican schools adopt the values of the Gospel within the educational domain. [8]
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school.
The separation of church and state is a philosophical and jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the state. Conceptually, the term refers to the creation of a secular state and to disestablishment, the changing of an existing, formal relationship between the church and the state. Although the concept is older, the exact phrase "separation of church and state" is derived from "wall of separation between church and state", a term coined by Thomas Jefferson. The concept was promoted by Enlightenment philosophers such as John Locke.
The Anglican Church of Australia, formerly known as the Church of England in Australia and Tasmania, is a Christian church in Australia and an autonomous church of the Anglican Communion. It is the second largest church in Australia after the Catholic Church. According to the 2016 census, 3.1 million Australians identify as Anglicans. As of 2016, the Anglican Church of Australia had more than 3 million nominal members and 437,880 active baptised members. For much of Australian history since the arrival of the 'First Fleet' in January 1788, the church was the largest religious denomination. It remains today one of the largest providers of social welfare services in Australia.
A Christian school is a school run on Christian principles or by a Christian organization.
A private school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a public school.
The Catholic Church in Australia is part of the worldwide Catholic Church under the spiritual and administrative leadership of the Holy See. From origins as a suppressed, mainly Irish minority in early colonial times, the church has grown to be the largest Christian denomination in Australia, with a culturally diverse membership of around 5,075,907 people, representing about 20% of the overall population of Australia according to the 2021 ABS Census data.
Catholic schools are pre-primary, primary and secondary educational institutions]] administered in association with the Catholic Church. As of 2011, the Catholic Church operates the world's largest religious, non-governmental school system. In 2016, the church supported 43,800 secondary schools and 95,200 primary schools. The schools include religious education alongside secular subjects in their curriculum.
Richard Johnson was the first Christian cleric in Australia.
The history of New South Wales refers to the history of the Australian state of New South Wales and the area's preceding Indigenous and British colonial societies. The Mungo Lake remains indicate occupation of parts of the New South Wales area by Indigenous Australians for at least 40,000 years. The British navigator James Cook became the first European to map the coast in 1770 and a First Fleet of British convicts followed to establish a penal colony at Sydney in 1788.
A faith school is a school in the United Kingdom that teaches a general curriculum but which has a particular religious character or formal links with a religious or faith-based organisation. The term is most commonly applied to state-funded faith schools, although many independent schools also have religious characteristics.
Religion in Australia is diverse. In the 2021 national census, 43.9% of Australians identified with Christianity and 38.9% declared "no religion".
Christianity is the largest religion in Australia, with a total of 43.9% of the nation-wide population identifying with a Christian denomination in the 2021 census. The first presence of Christianity in Australia coincided with the colonial invasion and beginning of the frontier wars in what came to be known as New South Wales in 1788.
Laurence Hynes Halloran was a poet, unordained clergyman and felon who became a pioneer schoolteacher, journalist, and bigamist in Australia, founder of the Sydney Public Free Grammar School.
Education in Victoria, Australia is supervised by the Department of Education and Training (DET), which is part of the State Government and whose role is to "provide policy and planning advice for the delivery of education". It acts as advisor to two state ministers, that for Education and for Children and Early Childhood Development.
Arndell Anglican College is an independent Anglican co-educational primary and secondary day school located in the Sydney suburb of Oakville, New South Wales, Australia. The college includes students from Prep to Year 12.
Catholic education in Australia refers to the education services provided by the Catholic Church in Australia within the Australian education system. From 18th century foundations, the Catholic education system has grown to be the second biggest provider of school-based education in Australia, after government schools. The Catholic Church has established primary, secondary and tertiary educational institutions in Australia. As of 2018, one in five Australian students attend Catholic schools. There are 1,755 Catholic schools in Australia with more than 777,000 students enrolled, employing almost 100,000 staff.
Women in Australia refers to women's demographic and cultural presence in Australia. Australian women have contributed greatly to the country's development, in many areas. Historically, a masculine bias has dominated Australian culture. Since 1984, the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth) has prohibited sex discrimination throughout Australia in a range of areas of public life, including work, accommodation, education, the provision of goods, facilities and services, the activities of clubs and the administration of Commonwealth laws and programs, though some residual inequalities still persist.
Anglican Youthworks is an Australian Christian not-for-profit organisation based in Sydney. Youthworks oversees three divisions, each of which contributes to the organisation's mission: to support the teaching of the gospel in schools and churches, particularly to families. It was formed in 1998, to avoid duplication of resources, by merging the Diocese of Sydney's Anglican Youth Department with the Anglican Education Commission:(
Special Religious Education (SRE), aka 'Scripture,' is optional instruction in a particular religious persuasion in New South Wales government schools ie. students attend after being opted-in by their parents or carers. Time is allocated in NSW government schools for qualified SRE volunteers to teach students about their chosen religion.