Work in the kindergarten. An Australian programme, based on the life and customs of the Australian black.

Paper contributed by Miss M. M. Simpson, Teachers’ College, Sydney. Series title: New South Wales. The Teachers’ College, Sydney. Records of the Education Society. No. 2. Sydney : Teachers’ College, 1909. (Sydney : William Applegate Gullick, Government Printer). Octavo (245 x 155 mm), original printed wrappers; pp. 44, with numerous b/w photographic illustrations of childrens’ artwork, classroom activities, and the Gunyah constructed at the Riley Street Infants’ School; double-page table of the curriculum at Blackfriars School in Surrey Hills (a model school for Sydney Teachers’ College at this time), plus music notation; a fine copy.

This scarce booklet showcases the revolutionary curriculum and teaching methods of Martha Margaret Simpson (1865-1948) – over a century ahead of their time – which had been successfully trialled at inner-city Sydney schools such as Riley Street and Blackfriars Public School since around 1906. In fact, the publication more or less served as the blueprint for the introduction of her educational and social philosophies into the broader New South Wales school system – though sadly, they were ultimately not adopted further afield. Simpson later became the leading advocate for Montessori education in Australia.

From the ADB:

‘In 1906 Miss Simpson took charge of the kindergarten department of Blackfriars Public School, part of Alexander Mackie’s new Teachers’ College. She immediately had the fixed desks removed and the children sat on the floor until chairs, tables and other equipment were installed later in the year. Her enthusiasm for Froebel’s kindergarten principles was encouraged in this period of extensive educational reform in the State, and in 1908 she became the lecturer when a special course was established at Teachers’ College to prepare women kindergarten teachers. In 1909 her slim book of plans for kindergarten lessons was published as Work in the Kindergarten, based on the life and customs of Aborigines. Her aim was to follow the Herbartian principle of basing children’s learning on familiar things: the Australian bush, its flowers, birds and insects; and the legends and stories of the Aborigines.’