School Autonomy

What about curriculum matters? The Western Australian independent public schools are given some scope to vary the curriculum that is taught. But with the federal government’s enthusiasm for a national curriculum, to be imposed on both government and non-government schools alike, curriculum flexibility is also unlikely to be a component of the national strategy.

So what is left? Hiring and firing by schools, but subject to state-wide enterprise agreements, that are likely to contain constraints on hiring and firing. (Limits on the use of contract staff are being proposed as part of the new public education agreement in Victoria – something to which the new Minister has lent some support). Managing the budget, but many schools currently have this responsibility in any case, save for large capital spending.

There is no doubt that the issue of school autonomy has become very fashionable overseas. Examples include: charter schools in the US; student vouchers in Sweden, leading to the creation of new private schools, including chains of for-profit ones; and free local schools in the UK. The common theme is to remove the monopoly element of public schools – an element that was always more prevalent in those countries than in Australia, where over one-third of school students attend non-government schools.

Part of breaking up this monopoly has been the diminution in the power of the teachers’ unions which seek to impose system-wide regulation of the teaching profession, depriving the schools of the autonomy needed to make them successful.

In Australia, the coverage of teachers by the Australian Education Union in public schools is close to 100 per cent. It is not surprising therefore that union, particularly through its federal president, Angelo Gavrielatos, seems intent on fighting any moves in the direction of greater school autonomy. “Why is the government hell bent on taking the word public out of education?” he has been quoted as saying.

Because, it would seem, that the current model of centrally controlled schools, obeying union-negotiated rules, does not serve the public very well. At the same time, Angelo need not be too fearful: any national version of school autonomy seems likely to very restricted and ineffectual.