Australia Yearbook - 2001

Chapter 9—Health 389
Schools, preschool and education
During the 19th century, the church dominated
education, initially only available to selected
groups. By 1900 education was firmly established
on a non-sectarian basis in all States, and by
1910–20 governments also developed technical
and high schools. Distance and transport
influenced Australian education, and
correspondence schools date back to 1914. Use
was quickly made of radio, and the pedal wireless
was introduced soon after, along with the Flying
Doctor service (Gandevia 1978).
Preschool education and the kindergarten
movement started in NSW in 1895, and were in all
States by 1910. Twenty years later Lady Gowrie
preschool centres supported by Commonwealth
grants commenced, and in 1938 the Australian
Association of Preschool Child Development was
formed.
After 1900 the public health concern for infant
welfare expanded to preschool and school aged
children. School Medical Services were operating
in all States by 1920. Education was given about
personal hygiene, cleanliness, physical education
and fresh air, good food and healthy thoughts.
School doctors and nurses inspected children for
spinal curvature, visual defects, dental caries and
other abnormalities. Science and domestic
economics were taught to girls to enable them to
be good mothers. This commitment to improved
conditions, healthy environments and educating
future mothers certainly contributed to the early
declines in child mortality in Australia.
However there was obviously a difference of
opinion between the public health advocates in
schools and the teachers, highlighted in a quote
from J.W. Springthorpe who, in 1914, attributed
the decline in the physique and health of the
current generation to “teacherdom which
neglected the bodies, which never qualified itself
to impart the knowledge of protection from
health and disease …. the same teacherdom is
with us now, resisting the medical inspection of
schoolchildren… prattling of child-soul gardens,
and manufacturing child-body cess-pools;
spending years in teaching how to model
baby-elephants in plasticine, and never an hour
on how to use a toothbrush; dawdling over
book-learnt nature study, in dark, overcrowded
classrooms, redolent with the air-sewage of
unwashed children” (quoted in Gandevia 1978).
This commitment to school health reflected the
medical feeling of the time about the close
relationship between environment, health and
disease (both mental and physical), and a
rapidly growing interest in preventive
medicine.
Screening and surveillance of school children
and the provision of preventive services
through schools continues today. The WA
Child Health Survey identified that 20% of
12–16 year olds had a significant mental
health problem (table C6.25).
C6.25 MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS(a),
Western Australian Child Health Survey
%
Males 20.0
Females 15.4
4 to 11 years 16.0
12 to 16 years 20.6
(a) Delinquent, attentional and social problems,
aggressive, anxiety/depression, withdrawn, thought
disorders.
Source: Zubrick, Silburn et al. 1995.
Thus one in five teenage school children will
have a mental health problem and most will
not seek or receive treatment. The
implications for school health services is that
this level of morbidity demands a preventive
approach, aimed at reaching large numbers
of children and adolescents. In addition to
the detection and surveillance of disabilities
in school children and giving them health
education, there is a huge unmet need to
provide preventive strategies—both in and
out of school.
Infancy and early childhood are critical times
for the social and physical development of
the child, and his/her resiliency and success
as an adult. By the age of 4–5 years, when
most Australian children are about to start
school, the stage for good or bad health and
educational outcomes has been set. Research
around parenting and its impact on this early
period has also highlighted how important it
is for that child’s own capacity as a parent.
This research must be considered when
designing appropriate interventions—the
earlier the better if we wish to make real
differences to child development and adult
competencies.
This research also suggests that any activities
that undermine parents, or interfere with
their capacity to be good and loving parents