Whose education revolution is it?

Like them or loathe them, education unions have been talking up these issues for a long time, but for some reason they don’t appear to have penetrated.  Perhaps it’s because the unions have been so demonised by the Coalition?

Against this divisive backdrop, an education revolution not yet properly articulated by either political party is absolutely necessary in Australia for several reasons.

Public education in Australia needs a massive investment injection. Our country needs to inoculate itself against the inevitable minerals export slowdown which will leave a gaping hole in our economy and growth prospects.

Without investing now in a universal education system that is responsible for the critical mass of future human capital needed to address potential skills and labour shortages, Australia is at risk of handing our intellectual property rights to others.

It's the 70 per cent of kids in public schools who will, in just 20 years, comprise a considerable chunk of Australia’s active labour force. Their education is fundamentally tied to the future prosperity and moral fortitude of this great but rather backward-looking country.

What kids learn from K-6 in the local public school formulates the foundational tools with which they can attack the increasing complexity of the middle and senior years’ academic curriculum.

If Australia wants knowledge producers, primary school is when we need to lay the foundations. It is at this juncture that governments need to invest in comprehensive and intensive classroom-based support for those having difficulty.

And it’s simplistic to argue that a borrowed policy of school competition, vouchers to subsidise tuition franchises, or a federally funded dual-system that generates massive cost duplications at taxpayer expense is the only solution.

Public schools around the nation already teach children "to read, to write, to spell and to add up". What needs to be said loud and clear is that in the last 11 years, the Coalition government has had little positive impact on their ability to do so.

In education, as in so many other areas of social policy, the Coalition has been waging a war designed to fundamentally restructure Australian society.

John Howard’s mantras, echoed by Education Minister Julie Bishop and her predecessor Brendon Nelson, regarding the scourge of sociologists in education faculties, the perils of postmodernism in English classrooms, the need for a new grand narrative to counteract the apologists black arm-band view of Australian history and the value of values have been peddled for years.  To the fundamental neglect of what happens in the day-to-day of Australian classrooms.

Julie Bishop’s vision for education at all levels has, rightfully, been quality, quality, quality. However, under the guise of choice, the Coalition has been undermining and under-cutting the public system by subsidising private for-profit organisations in the areas of child care, education and learning support - many of whom deliver anything but quality.

The "pro-choice" policy launched by the Coalition party will not drive better school performance. Instead it will further squeeze state governments who have the unenviable job of public service provision. And that is the primary aim.

This Coalition’s education policy is not about giving parents choice. It is two-pronged attack designed to lure as many away from the public system, leaving these institutions to wither on the vine and to claw back funding for what are suddenly poorly attended and underperforming schools.

So, on November 24, Australian voters will have a stark ‘choice’ to make. Wave goodbye to the prosperous futures of 70 per cent of our kids or give everyone a fair go by ensuring that all our kids can access and benefit from the best education system mums and dads shouldn’t have to buy.