Non-government schools under attack

Ignored is that research, both here and overseas, concludes that one of the characteristics associated with stronger performing education systems is properly funded and autonomous non-government schools.  Diversity, competition and choice, the very things the writers of the Nous report seek to deny, are also critical if schools are to perform as best they should.

As detailed in Mark Harrison’s analysis of school choice, Education Matters: Government, Markets and New Zealand Schools, there is ample evidence that government monopoly over education is counter-productive and that school choice leads to increased social capital, higher academic standards and better educational outcomes as measured by completion rates and tertiary entry.

It’s also the case, countering the argument that the existence of non-government schools automatically leads to state schools becoming residualised, that having a viable and well resourced non-government sector leads to strengthened outcomes in both sectors.

The impetus to do well for many successful government schools in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs is the proximity of non-government schools that compete for students. Many of Sydney’s selective secondary schools are also popular, and academically successful, because they see part of their mission as outperforming non-government schools.

As argued by the Stanford University academic, Caroline Hoxby, the impact of independent charter schools in the U.S., that are free of government regulation and control, is that school choice represents a ‘tide that can lift all boats’.

Both Prime Minister Julia Gillard, when Minister for Education, and the current Education Minister, Peter Garrett, argue that the Gonski review of funding is fair, transparent and impartial, judged by the Nous Group’s paper, this is not the case.

If Peter Garrett is fair dinkum about supporting non-government schools he would promise, under any new model, that funding to such schools is indexed on an annual basis, that such schools are not financially penalised because of raising money locally, such as schools fees, and that such schools are not overburdened and constrained by government regulation and control.