AGY-4727 | Committee of Review of New South Wales Schools [Carrick Committee]

Full description

On 16 September 1988 the Premier, the Honourable N.F. Greiner MP, announced the establishment of a Committee of Review of New South Wales Schools. (1) The Committee of Review was also known less formally as the Carrick Committee. When the 1987 Education and Public Instruction Act was passed there were “concerns in many sections of the community especially over the inadequacy of the consultative process for such a far-reaching overhaul of the central piece of legislation for the total New South Wales education system.” (2)

The Committee of Review was to undertake a comprehensive review of education in New South Wales schools, in particular to study all aspects of the Education and Public Instruction Act 1987 and any additional or alternative legislation deemed desirable, to examine ways of further improving the quality of education in New South Wales schools, to seek public submissions and responses to its proposals from educational interest groups and the community in general, and to prepare and submit a complete draft of a new and comprehensive Education Act. (3)

The 14 person Committee comprised the following members drawn from primary, secondary and tertiary education; Government and non-Government schools; the union movement; business and educational administration:
Sir John Carrick (Chairman), former Commonwealth Minister for Education;
Professor S. Ball, Professor of Education, University of Sydney;
Mr R.H. Cavenagh, Deputy President, New South Wales Teachers' Federation;
Mr T. Chapman, Executive Director, Association of Independent Schools of New South Wales;
Mr W.R. Clark, General Manager, Corporate Affairs, AMATIL Ltd;
Mr B. Gregory, former President, New South Wales Primary Principals' Council (retired);
Mr J.L. Lambert, Assistant Director-General (Resources), New South Wales Department of Education;
Mrs J. Lonergan, Executive Officer, New South Wales Parents' Council Inc.;
Mr J.H. Lowe, Principal, Sylvania High School;
Dr L. Lynch, Executive Officer, Social Policy Unit, Ministry of Education, New South Wales;
Mrs L.K. McPaul, President, Federation of Parents and Citizens Association of New South Wales;
Dr I.W. Paterson, Headmaster, Knox Grammar School;
Brother J.A. Taylor, Executive Director, Catholic Education Commission, New South Wales; and,
Dr N.K. Weeks, Senior Lecturer in History, University of Sydney. (4)

The Committee received 859 submissions, held 61 formal business meetings and eleven days of public hearings, and made available 14,000 copies of a Discussion Paper. Sub-committees visited all country regions as well as selected Sydney schools, and the Chairman visited all other Australian states and the Australian Capital Territory. (5)

The Committee lasted from 16 September 1988 to the end of August 1989. The Committee’s sixteen chapter Report to the Premier was submitted on 5 September 1989 and contained recommendations at the end of most chapters.

Endnotes
1. Report of The Committee of Review of New South Wales Schools, New South Wales Government, September 1988, p.1.
2. Premier of New South Wales, 16 September 1988, News Release, Sydney: Office of the Premier, p1, cited in Report of The Committee of Review of New South Wales Schools, New South Wales Government, September 1988, p.1.
3. Report of The Committee of Review of New South Wales Schools, New South Wales Government, September 1988, p.1.
4. loc. cit.
5. ibid., p.5.