The only thing we learn from history is we don't learn from history.

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Our nation's Constitution in 1901 deemed our education system should be "Free, Compulsory and Secular."  How far from those ideals have we come over the past century, and more!  

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Parent Choice is the euphemistic term that successive governments, particularly on the conservative side, have adopted for the purpose of privatising the nation’s education system. This then is the root cause of the inequity of the educational opportunities for so many of our nation’s families, their children being those most left behind. Menzies for PM in 1963 is praised in full in the words of John Howard in his book "Lazarus Rising," published in 2010.

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P31 - To my mind one of John Carrick’s immense contributions to the continuing success of the Liberal party was the role he played along with others in persuading the Prime Minister to embrace a policy of direct government assistance to the independent (principally Catholic) schools. This change was an important factor in the Liberal victory, federally, in 1963. Thus began the most enduring demographic shift in Australian politics in the past generation, namely the change in allegiance of a whole swag of middle class Catholic voters, who hitherto had remained loyal to the Labor Party for none other than tribal reasons.’ John Carrick at the time was general secretary New South Wales Division of the Liberal Party. 

 

P243 – I was very grateful to Brian Harradine for the support he gave in the Senate for our New Schools policy.  Under the previous government it was extremely difficult for a new independent school started in a government and a Catholic parish school – which was the case in most areas – to attract federal government funding.  In response to urgings from Sydney Anglicans, who wanted to establish a system of low-fee Anglican schools, I announced a policy change to achieve this.

 

We legislated for the change, and predictably the Labor Party, still cornered by the education unions, opposed it.  So did the Australian Democrats.  To his great credit Brian Harradine saw the virtue in what we were now proposing to do.  He was a true believer in freedom of choice in education.  When the Labor Party moved an amendment which would have severely undermined our proposal, Harradine voted with the Government, as did Senator Mal Coulston, to whom I will return later, and the Labor Party abandoned its tactics, lest it be seen as too opposed to more independent schools.  I remain extremely proud of this change as it has resulted in a rapid expansion in the number of low-to moderate-fee-level

independent schools.  The Anglicans have been active but so have others, and this of course is an area where, subject to the requisite educational standards being met, the assistance is available irrespective of religious affiliation or to a group that has no religious affiliation at all. 

 

P487 – Abolishing Labor’s restrictive schools policy led to rapid growth of low-fee independent schools.   As a consequence some 34 percent of Australian children in primary and secondary education are now in non-government schools.  There is no country in the world which has embraced freedom of choice in education more faithfully than Australia.

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So there you have the beginning of the great change to our nation's education system, to our nation's future.  John Dawkins played his part also when the role of training our teachers was taken from Teacher Colleges to Colleges of Advanced Education and finally to the Universities, the role that the forty eight bodies so charged have failed so dismally.

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The final death knell was rung with the political decision to adopt the Global Education Reform Movement in the late eighties to early nineties as the preferred political model, heavily supported by the faith-based and private school sectors..  With the adoption of a National Curriculum driven by Julie Bishop and the NAPL:AN hammer by Julia Gillard the future of our nation's vision for education was almost complete.  Under the auspices of ACARA we have our National Curriculum with the NAPLAN hammer to provide the data for the MySchool website to ensure Parent Choice is emabeded, signed, sealed and delivered.  What could ever go wrong with such model?

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In 2011 David Gonski had presented a new funding model to try to address the great inequity that had blossomed under successive Coalition governments who chose Parent Choice as their continued ballot box strategy.  Following the demise of the Rudd/Gillard/Rudd governments Federal Education Ministers Pyne, Birmingham, Teehan, Tudge and Robert, strongly backed by their Prime ministers Abbot, Turnbull and Morrison,  all vehemently resisted the Gonski Report recommendations for the funding of public education whilst ensuring the funding of the faith based and private sectors increased.

 

 That past decade and more of the great inequity the model has fostered are here now for all to see, with awful socially disruptive outcomes.

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For an in-depth interview with acclaimed teacher, principal,  author and education consultant, Mike Middleton, go to this site for a lounge chair chat.

 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bR1RZtTtp26bf3TzVb11tRIYLHyAhIS0/view?usp=drive_link