The senior secondary curriculum in New South Wales : academic traditions face issues of retention

A little over fifty years ago, under the leadership of Harold Wyndham, the basic architecture of the NSW system of secondary education was established. This took the form of a four-year program of comprehensive education leading to the School Certificate, followed by a two-year academic program designed to prepare potential matriculants for university admission. This chapter aims to provide a brief historical review of developments in senior secondary education in NSW, from Wyndham to McGaw, focusing on issues around retention and student diversity. It examines what happens when senior secondary schooling begins to be used by different populations for very different purposes and concerns about academic standards are placed in juxtaposition to the goal of increasing retention rates. Finally, it examines the recent growth in selective and special purpose schools, which is leading to a new segmentation and the possible demise of the comprehensive neighbourhood school. The chapter begins with an outline of the Wyndham system and its essential precepts. The second section covers the 1970s and 1980s, when rapid increases in high school completion rates created the imperative to cater for larger and more diverse student populations at the senior level.