What Really matters in the great school debate

by Dr Briony Scott, Principal of Roseville College, Sydney, February 2009

Choice in education is a topic that has been around since the landing of the First Fleet. There was a lot of jostling and carrying on back then too. It was believed that schools were necessary to ensure that children of convicts had religious instruction, developing a moral compass in a climate that was perceived as amoral. Thus, a key priority of the government was to educate the next generation, primarily to ensure they didn’t end up like mum and dad.

Time passed. Different churches and organisations established new schools. In fact, schools were so widely established that emotions began to run high. Competition for funding and students meant everyone got a little fractious. In response, in 1880, the Public Instruction Act was enacted, allowing for the provision of free, compulsory and secular education. The government, at that time, poured their money into the expansion of a state system of schools.

A lot has happened since then. Both government and non-government schools have gone through enormous changes and expectations in terms of accountability and funding, autonomy and growth. Yet, as in the 19th and 20th centuries, the education debate today primarily and obsessively revolves around this perceived competition between government and non-government schools.

Choice in education has been around since the beginning of Australia’s white history. It isn’t going to go away. Parents have the right to choose. So, bluntly speaking, the constant focus on government vs non-government schools needs to end. Pick a side if you must, and be happy. But don’t bag out the other team. As a teacher, I don’t expect my team to tear down or disparage another team. I don’t allow them to be disrespectful in how they address others. I do expect them to get on with the game in front of them.

And the game in front of us is, as always, about committing to young people: doing all we can to ensure they have the information and the opportunity to make good choices about who they will be and what they will do. Education has always been about character, and being wise, thoughtful and compassionate. It is about understanding that while there is always more than one perspective, one type of school, and one way to learn, there are absolutes. And these absolutes revolve around the way we treat each other, our attitude to life, and our contribution to the wider community.

We cannot understand maths, if we haven’t mastered self-discipline. Chemistry is impossible without learning how to persist. Literature is unfathomable until you learn to appreciate the beauty of language.

Across all types of schools, those for whom education is a vocation, and not just a job, exist and thrive for this purpose: to truly educate our young, in whatever setting we find ourselves. Teachers may use different words, or describe their influence differently, but the passion for what they do is palpable. They may attend a small rural school in outback Australia, or a thriving inner city school, but their love for bringing out the best in young people around them, motivates all they do.

There are choices in education. There always have been. Single sex versus co-education, private versus public, large school versus small, mainstream or alternative... what you choose to believe about the best form of schooling is up to you. We can also choose to make these differences the issue, as we have done now for over 200 years, or we can choose to focus on what really matters: the provision of top quality teachers, an investment in resources, and a united belief that the education of our young people is our highest priority.

 

 

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