ABSTRACT

This chapter demonstrates the extent to which the constitutional, political and legal frameworks of education in Australia provide a context conducive to the exercise of the concepts of democracy. The colonies which emerged after 1788 were gradually granted forms of government and constitutions. The High Court decided that the grants made by the Commonwealth government in support of aid to students in Church schools were constitutionally justifiable. The legal framework of Australian schooling has inevitably been touched upon in the foregoing sections addressing the constitutional and political frameworks for such schooling. The evidence from the foregoing suggests that, while Australian constitutional provisions may be restrictive — and that is still a very debatable matter — they cannot be said to be restrictive of the provision of education according to whatever counts as democratic.