Public Education

If you had to rank the most important professions, teaching would be right up the top of the list. There is something noble about entering a profession which offers comparatively low rates for so vital a service as preparing children for a productive working life and a rounded social and intellectual life.

The teachers who most impress me are those who choose to work in the toughest public schools, where the idealised view of teaching spelled out above jars with the reality that “teaching” probably feels more like child-minding, with dysfunctional parenting and the absence of male role models in the family home leaving classrooms looking more like crèches for young adults who still act like little kids.

I was talking to a mate this week who also attended a fairly standard public school. She was saying that she can’t remember too many bad teachers from her school days, but will always remember the many excellent teachers she had. It’s an assessment which gels with my experience at a state school, where so many teachers went the extra yard, often outside of school hours, not just for kids who wanted to learn but also for those who did not.

Continue reading "Teachers and the union that doesn’t like payrises" »

In the lead-up to the 2001 federal election, a Labor backbencher from Melbourne’s outer west weighed into the national debate on schools funding.

In a media release headed Howard’s Unfair School Funding Model Must Go, the MP attacked the Coalition Government for the funding arrangements it had introduced earlier that year.

As evidence of the inequity the release pointed out that the model treated elite private schools as more needy than public schools and gave them almost twice the funding per student. That was both “ridiculous and unfair”, the MP said. Fast forward ten years and that backbencher is now our Prime Minister.

Continue reading "Sorry, but public schools are neglected" »

Last week’s decision by the Independent Education Union of Australia to split from the Australian Council of Trade Unions because the ACTU supports the Green’s stance against non-government schools is the correct one.

On reading the Greens’ education policy document, there is no doubt that Catholic and independent schools are in the firing line.  While the Liberal-National Coalition is committed to properly funding such schools and respects their right to manage themselves, the Greens are dedicated to cutting funding and destroying the autonomy such schools currently enjoy.

Given that the Gillard-led government is beholden to the Greens for its continued survival, and the equivocal nature of its commitment to properly funding non-government schools, then there is every chance that those opposed to Catholic and independent schools will get their way. 

Continue reading "Green with class envy and bent on change" »

On face value, Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s decision to extend the current non-government school funding model for an additional year looks like a plus for Catholic and independent schools. 

The socioeconomic status (SES) model is due to expire at the end of 2012 and maintaining it for one more year will give some satisfaction to non-government school parents.

In fact, Gillard’s decision on school funding is just another example of desperation politics and of a government lacking conviction.  It’s apparent that the Prime Minister will do anything to win the election and that she is only concerned with short-term political gain.

Continue reading "Can Julia Gillard be believed on school funding?" »