Dean Ashenden (Inside Story) has written an excellent article on the poor policies that made Australia's schooling system so bad. And why the schooling system is acting to entrench a class based social system, when Australia used to be quite egalitarian.
We have inherited a “two-track” public–private system from the sectarian conflicts of the nineteenth century. This system was entrenched by the Whitlam Government, and there has been a downward spiral in bad policy choices ever since, made by all Governments.
The least needy students get more — a lot more — than those who need it most, and governments over-fund private schools while short-changing public schools. The big losers, almost all of them in government schools, are “the disadvantaged”. A three-year gap exists between the educational attainments of the highest and lowest socioeconomic groups; kids who start behind stay behind because nothing in our school system helps them catch up — in fact we put barriers in their way.
Disadvantage goes hand in hand with social segregation. Thanks to the workings of “parental choice”, disadvantaged students are increasingly concentrated in disadvantaged schools — more so now than in any other OECD country. Public schools have been “residualised”; “privilege” and “disadvantage” are being entrenched. Australia’s high social mobility, supported by a strong system of school education, is now at risk.
In an egalitarian society, opportunity should be equally available and its rewards should be equally distributed as between social groups.
Inside Story
