School vouchers: choice and ‘empowerment’

Former ACCC chief, Professor Alan Fels, says: “You give the money to (less well-off) parents and they have to spend it on education and that puts more pressure on schools to meet their needs”.

Yet the purpose of creating a market for education - and to really break the divide between public and private supply - means that vouchers should be extended to all families with schoolchildren.

A differential voucher that gives more money to the lower socio-economic groups provides increased access choice to those who have had none on the quality of education.

The strongest argument against vouchers may be - that given choice - lower and middle-income children will leave the public system, creating a less well-off public system.

However it is this threat that can create the biggest reward from change. The public system will, in the face of competition, respond to this threat: competing to keep students and meeting their needs better in the process.

If public school prices were centrally controlled under regulation, and as is likely, cheaper than the private counterpart, then less well-off parents choosing public schools with a differential voucher would still have additional funds for books, computers, software, one-to-one tuition and other necessary or desirable elements in an education “toolkit”.

Choice for less well-off parents with this new resource would be complex for parents: whether the best value is public (with additional spending on educational “tools”) or private (and possible top-up fee in high fee schools).

In responding to competition public schools will need to compete hard as individual schools. Improving public schools will bring students from the private sector if they successfully compete and could expand school resources.

Quality public schools in an educational zone will also put pressure on the under-performing schools.

State school measures to improve competitive standing may involve parental boards having oversight of the quality of education at individual schools. Head teachers may need greater capacity to set school direction, and rewards for teachers who achieve excellence should also be implemented.

Building bonus schemes into teacher pay structure can encourage excellence as well as one-to-one and small group tuition. Teachers could also raise their incomes derived from vouchers by providing after-hours services directly to children.

With vouchers the consumer power instilled in them will drive teachers and the educational establishment to respond directly to the requirements of children. This consumer pressure will be felt most in deprived areas where the differential voucher is higher in value. Teachers will more likely (than is currently the case) want to teach in deprived areas where more resources are invested in each voucher.