Category: Public education

A Queensland University study has shown that there is no difference in test results between public, Catholic and Independent primary schools after taking account of student background factors that influence school results. Indeed, Catholic schools perform worse than public schools on some results. The study says that its findings are similar to those of overseas studies. Continue reading “Academic Study Shows that Private Primary Schools Perform no Better than Public Schools”

A report by the Victorian Auditor-General has found that parents in public schools are being charged for items and activities that should be free under state legislation and policy. It says that parent payments no longer just support free instruction, but have become essential to its provision.

The report says that there has been a “fundamental failure” in the arrangements for parent payments. The Department of Education (DET) has failed to monitor and enforce compliance to its parent payment policy and there are no consequences for schools who do not comply. Parent payment requests are not sufficiently itemised by schools and consequently it is not clear to parents what they must pay for and what they can choose to pay. The report says there is a need for greater transparency in how parent payments are requested by schools. Continue reading “Parents Are Being Charged for ‘Free’ Education in Victoria”

According to the Australian Scholarship Group, families face a total bill of nearly $500,000 to send their children to Independent private schools and over $200,000 for systemic religious schools compared to about $50,000-70,000 in a public school. This is a huge difference. Year 12 fees in the elite Independent schools are up to around $30,000 a year and more. Just what do parents get for this enormous outlay?

One thing for sure is that they do not get any better school results. Research published recently by Save Our Schools shows that student test results are no better in private schools than in public schools when like schools are compared. The common perception that private schools deliver better results than public schools is a complete myth.

Continue reading “What Do Parents Get for a Costly Private School Education?”

A new research paper from Save Our Schools shows that the often-presumed superior test results of private schools compared to public schools is a myth. Public, Catholic and Independent schools with a similar socio-economic composition (as measured by the Index of Community Socio-Educational Advantage or ICSEA) have very similar results in nearly all states. Continue reading “Public Schools Do Just as Well as Private Schools in NAPLAN”

A report presented to the United Nations General Assembly in New York this week condemned the worldwide trend to privatisation of education. The report warns that the rapid expansion of private education is increasingly replacing public education and exacerbating inequalities in societies. Continue reading “UN Report Condemns Privatisation of Education”

Another academic study has found that the quality of private schools in Australia is no better than public schools. It also found that there is a strong and positive association between the socio-economic status (SES) of a student and their test scores. It is the fourth study in the last year or so to show that there are no significant differences between the test results of private and public schools in Australia after taking account of the socio-economic background of students and schools. Continue reading “Private Schools Are No Better Than Public Schools”

An analysis of the NAPLAN results of nearly 5000 children has found that Public primary school students achieve at the same levels as Catholic and independent school students. The research compared grade 3 and grade 5 NAPLAN results in reading, writing, spelling, grammar and numeracy.

Continue reading “Public Schools Do As Well as Catholic and Independent Schools”

Philanthropy is commonly viewed as a beneficial charitable activity that provides worthwhile supplementary funding for much needed services such as education. The Gonski review of school funding and others support a larger role by philanthropic organisations in funding of public education in Australia. However, a new study of wealthy philanthropic education foundations in the United States suggests caution in resorting to philanthropy to support public education. Continue reading “Wealthy Philanthropic Foundations are Undermining Public Education in the US”

The proposal by the free market Centre for Independent Studies that high-income families should pay to send their children to a public school would spell the end of public education as we know it. It would likely lead to a two-tiered public system with access to a quality education restricted to those who pay. This could be exacerbated by ever-increasing fees. Fees are also likely to encourage a greater shift to private schools and increase social segregation in schooling.

The introduction of means-tested fees would undermine two fundamental goals of free universal public education: to ensure that all children irrespective of background have equal access to high quality education and have children from different backgrounds learn together so as to promote greater understanding and tolerance between different social groups.

Free public education is necessary to ensure non-discrimination and non-selectivity in access to high quality schooling. It ensures that children cannot be excluded from a quality education for reasons of family background and low income. In a democracy, education outcomes should not depend on family background, wealth and ability to pay. Continue reading “Means-tested School Fees Would Undermine Public Education”